Prior Trials

Episode 1: Prior Trials
Episode 1 of Anarchy! Enjoy and please comment what you think.

The blood red sun rose high into the scorching desert sky. A small, thin, sandy she-cat sat alone a a large rock to watch the opening of a new day. The heat shimmered off of the ground turning the sun into a red wave rising into the light blue sky. The young apprentice felt the dry heat of the desert begin to rise off of the sand. The sandy cat turned to face the only place she has ever called home. It was not anything close to glorious. Half of the cats were infested with fleas and ribs jut out of pelts. Eyes sunk into skulls and all light of hope was gone. Flies swarmed around remains of sand snakes, anything these cats could hunt.

“Sandpaw.” A gruff voice called form behind the young cat.

“Yes?” Sandpaw called behind her shoulders.

“Hunting time.” Sandpaw ripped her eyes away form the desert around her to follow her mentor out into the barren world. Sandpaw thought the same thing every day; was our world always like this? Sandpaw had asked many times but no one seemed able to tell her. There were four clauses where each had special skills to teach their young. Sandpaw lived in the hunters clause. Many of her friends were scattered throughout the clauses but Sandpaw visited them often. Her best friend was in the healers clause but came to visit Sandpaw almost every day. Her name was Fawnpaw and she had a sister in the hunters clause named Heather who was a lead hunter. Sandpaw looked up to Heather because Heath was well Heather. She was sweet, funny, caring, and the best huntress in all of the clauses. Someday I will be a lead hunter, Sandpaw always told herself. Heather and Sandpaw were very close but not as close as Sandpaw and Fawnpaw. Heather was like the sister Sandpaw never had. She had known Heather since kit hood and Heather was basically the once to take care of her even though Heather was very young. There were no strict rules for the enslaved besides never go to ShadowClan. Enslaved weren’t allowed there, ever.

“Sandpaw we are going to the dunes to see if we can find any desert voles or sand mice.” Her mentor meowed.

“Alright Snake.” The young cat agreed. Here in the enslaved, no cat revived a warrior name unless you won the desert games or you were a warrior to ShadowClan. Sandpaw was only an apprentice but soon enough she would be known as just Sand, a hunter of the enslaved. And thus they began their long walk into the desert.

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Sandpaw stalked under a large rock near the dunes. Her whiskers twitched with the faint scent of a jack rabbit. It’s burrow! Sandpaw stalked farther into the burrow until the scent was overwhelming.

“A whole family.” Sandpaw whispered under her breath. She took in a large breath then stalked farther, careful to place her paws so the sand doesn’t shift and cause a commotion, alerting the largest batch of prey she has seen in moons. She carefully padded deeper into the burrow. She saw dark shapes moving around. She began the hunt. She yowled and lunged at the largest rabbit bringing it down and snapping it’s neck very quickly and lunged to the next one. She raked her sharpened claws down its flank and bit it hard in the neck, killing it quickly. The little ones squealed as she went through killing each one swiftly. She began to drag the prey out of the burrow to show Snake her catch. Sunlight broke as she emerged. Sandpaw had to squint to adjust to the bright light of the desert day.

“Snake, come quick!” Sandpaw hollered. She watched the brown form of her mentor materialize over the dunes. He sprinted down coming to a halt right in front of Sandpaw.

“I’m here, what happened?”

“I found a burrow!” Sandpaw exclaimed.

“What? Thats fantastic! We haven’t seen a full burrow in moons! Did you get all of them?” Snake  cheered.

“I think so. Can you help me get them out? They are so heavy!”

“Sure lets go.” Snake led the way back into the burrow. They entered the rabbits den and Snake bag to drag the female out. Sandpaw brought the smaller ones out and laid then down gently to make sure none got mangled.

“Was that all?” Snake asked.

“I didn’t see any more in there.”

“Alright, lets bring these back to the base. Everybody will eat good tonight.” Snake grabbed the largest one and tossed it onto his back. He picked up two of the three smaller ones and began to track back in the direction they came. Sandpaw picked up the others and followed her mentor back. The walk back was silent because neither cat could talk with their mouths full of thick fur.

The sun was at its peak but none of the enslaved minded the heat. For as long as any cat could remember this was just the way things were in the oasis. Sandpaw had heard many times that the cats of the enslaved had come form a place once called the lake. Apparently this was a large body of water that four different clans of cats lived around. Many of the elderly cats told Sandpaw that she was from one of the clans called Windclan that was known for its speed and hunting skills. Sandpaw was one of the best hunters apprentices among the enslaved so she believed what they said. But she couldn’t wrap her head around the thought that there, at one point, wasn’t a monarchy but all clans lived together as equals. But that was a very long time ago and no cat, not even the most elderly among the elders, could remember that time. Now all of the old clans were muddled together and were ruled under ShadowClan. And thats just the way things were. The enslaved lived on the very edge of the oasis where a few scrubby trees and bushes stood and provided protection to the enslaved. They had a large stream close by for water and the hunters went out daily to collect food for the clauses.

“Sandpaw.” Snakes voice shook her out of her daydream. “ We are back.” Sandpaw hadn’t even noticed that they had returned back to the clauses. She dropped her share of kill in the pile and went to go brush the sand out of her matted fur. She heard many gasps to see the abundance of kill in the pile for once.

“There has never been so much kill in the pile before!” One voice exclaimed. The voice belonged to Lilac who a a beautiful white she-cat with stunning green eyes.

“Who did this?” Another asked. It was Peat, a light brown tom with dark amber eyes. Snake stepped in to fill them in.

“It was Sandpaw who found a jackrabbit’s burrow!”

“Sandpaw?” a voice meowed. Sandpaw peered up and jumped in fright to see that the whole clause had gathered close to her. Loud cheering erupted from all around and Sandpaw sunk to the ground. She hatted being the center of attention beaches she always managed to do something very, very stupid. And of course, she did. Snake nodded at her to stand up and embrace the praise but in her attempt, she managed to trip and fall muzzle first onto the hard sandy ground. The cheering stopped until she sat up and dusted herself off. Everybody began to leave and soon, Sandpaw was alone again.

“Good job, scrub,” somebody meowed form behind her. Sandpaw turned to find her brother, Glade, standing behind her. Glade was much older than Sandpaw but they were still very close. “Thanks jack rabbit,” Sandpaw retorted. Glade padded closer and Sandpaw nuzzled into his short fur, finding comfort in her brothers darker sandy fur. Ever since her parents died for unknown reasons, Glade was all she had now.

“Hey good catch today scrub.” Glade joked.

“Thanks Glade,” Sandpaw chest filled with pride form her brother complement.

“Your turning out to be e really good hunter.” Snap snuggled closer to her brother, thankful for his presence. Suddenly, yelling erupted from behind a small cliff the stood at the edge of a small hill that protected the base from some of the harsh elements of the desert.

“Lets go see what going on.” Glade meowed as he left up, startling Sandpaw. He sprinted across base and disappeared down the hill. Sandpaw hopped up and started after Glade. She bolted over the hill only to find a small root caught in her paw. But it was too late. Sandpit rolled down the hill and plopped onto the hot desert sand. It flew everywhere and caused Sandpaw to start madly coughing. She stood and shook the sand out of her short, sandy fur. She walked over the the large group of cats that stood there, all silent. Sandpaw pushed her way through a tangle of legs to come to something truly horrifying. A mangled body lay there, twisted at an angle living cats couldn’t even begin to replicate. Half of the neck hung on by small strands of membrane. Fur was scattered in tufts everywhere and so was blood. Intestines lay strewn across the ground and some parts Sandpaw couldn't even begin to name lay next to them. In the sand next to the body was: “This cat died because you didn’t make a stand. You never know who might be next.” Sandpaw was to horrified to even say a word. Glade blocked her view of the body and began to lead her away.

“Come on Sandpaw, you don’t need to see that any more.” Glade tried to sooth. But the kind words didn’t help at all. Because Sandpaw knew that body. She let out a ear piercing yowl to mourn.

“Heather no!”