Stories and Tales



 St or ies an d T a l es

Episode Three, Season One, of Beauty.

Enjoy <3

Stories and Tales
“Today,” Blackstripe purred, “You will hear seven stories from the seven of us.” He pointed with his tail at the six instructors behind him.

“Let these stories be a lesson to you all.” Gorseheart added.

Brightleaf nodded, “And let us hope you learn from these mistakes made by apprentices before you.”

I tried to concentrate on their words, but Brownpaw’s words echoed in my mind. What else did Redstar have planned for us? What is she going to do to FireClan?

Blossomflecks stepped forward and the Hollow grew silent. “Many of you have heard about the legend of Shadowpelt.” I nodded with the rest of the apprentices. Everyone had heard about the she-cat, she was a hero to everyone. “Well even our heroes have flaws.”

The instructor paced in front of the audience. “When she was merely Shadowpaw, she had done the unthinkable: love. She had loved another tom during her training. The tom’s name was Brackentail.”

There were gasps around me. Brackentail was the famous criminal of the Beauty System.

“The two nearly,” Blossomflecks let the word linger in the air, “got away with it, but we managed to catch them, just as we do with every other couple.”

They’re warning us. I realized.

“Her love for Brackentail, Brackenpaw then, caused her to do the wrong thing. Instead of rejecting love, she had embraced it. Together, they had tried to destroy the System entirely. They failed tragically.” Blossomflecks sneered.

“Now as you probably wonder, what exactly happened to these tragic lovers? Allow me to let you relive the scenes…”

~

Shadowpaw darted forward, chasing after Brackenpaw. Shouts of dismay and anger sounded from behind her. “Hurry!” Brackenpaw growled, “We can’t let them find us!”

The black she-cat pushed harder, her paws slipping in the mud. The two ran for their lives, but they weren’t about to leave in peace.

“Halt.”

Shadowpaw skidded to a halt, her eyes wide with horror. “Brackenpaw!” She whispered.

The tom was struggling in the instructor’s grasp, his eyes bulging in pain. “Let him go!” Shadowpaw shrieked, lunging for the instructor. She was held back by another Beauty warrior, who pinned her down easily.

“You two are disobeying Beauty laws.”

Shadowpaw bared her teeth, “We’ll do whatever we can to demolish this System!” She raked her paws against her assaulter, but had no luck in freeing herself.

“Watch closely, Shadpwpaw.” The first instructor purred, “May you learn from this lesson.”

She lifted Brackenpaw by his throat and dug her claws into his neck. “Love will always be punished.” She hissed, letting Brackenpaw’s body fall to the ground.

Shadowpaw didn’t move. She stared at the body of her love, and she let out a choked sob. The first instructor stalked closer and whispered, “You can never get away with love. Now, your friend over there happens to be alive. We will make a deal.”

“Anything,” Shadowpaw sobbed, “Anything to keep him alive.”

“You will become the Beauty’s hero. You will demolish those who love others, and fight for this System. If you do this, your little friend will stay alive, but in our custody.”

“I promise.” Shadowpaw managed to whisper.

“Good,” the instructor purred, “This is what love does to a cat, Shadowpaw, now go, and do not fail.”

~

Shocked silence met Blossomflecks’ story. “Love cripples everyone,” she hissed, “May this be a lesson for you all to never love.”

Snowpaw leaned over and whispered, “And to think Shadowpelt had been given her position as a punishment.”

“Yeah…” I agreed.

Blossomflecks stepped back and Blackstripe padded forward to take her place. “The story of Shadowpelt ends there for now, but the story of Brackentail will be mine to tell.”

“After Shadowpaw’s promise to serve as the Beauty’s hero, Brackenpaw was under careful watch. The two passed their final assessment and were given their names. While Shadowpelt went out to become the most famous Beauty warrior, Brackentail was in prison. The story goes on like this…”

~

Brackentail gingerly turned on the sandy floor, glaring at the walls of brambles surrounding him. He had been informed of Shadowpelt’s promise and his part of the deal.

As if, Brackentail thought.

He managed to escape instead, living his life out as a criminal and continuing the quest he had started as an apprentice. Shadowpelt was not informed of Brackentail’s escape, and she continued to be the “hero”.

As the moons went by and Brackentail continued to terrorize the System, the leader of the System decided to draw Brackentail in.

“Bring Shadowpelt,” the leader ordered, “This will be the demise of Brackentail.”

And so Shadowpelt was told she was needed to capture a criminal. She hadn’t been told who it was, and what happened to Brackentail. “You are needed to pretend to be hostage,” the leader hissed, “Just play along, and Brackentail will live.”

So Shadowpelt stood there that day, claws at her throat. Brackentail, in the midst of a theft saw his love standing there, being held hostage. His thoughts turned to her, and he left what he was doing unfinished and rushed to her aide.

“Come out,” the leader called, “or I’ll kill who you care about.”

In that fraction of a second, Shadowpelt understood. The only cat who truly cared about her was…

“There he is,” a shout rang from below, “Get him!”

Racing through the cats snarling was a cat Shadowpelt thought was in prison. “Brackentail!” She screamed, struggling against the leader now.

“Shadowpelt!”

“Don’t kill him!” The leader ordered, “Imprison him and keep a guard on him at all times.”

Shadowpelt had restrained, and Brackentail was dragged off to prison. Instead of imprisoning him, the leader met up with the guards and hissed, “Any final words?”

“Just tell her I’m dead,” Brackentail snarled, “stop using her!”

The leader sneered, “Never!” He grabbed Brackentail and snapped his neck in a clean break. The leader threw his body down and growled, “Dispose of him, do not spread the word.”

~

Blackstripe stepped away and rumbled, “Criminals are always punished the right way. Do not think you can get away with anything.”

Flowerbeam took his place and mewed in a soft voice, “The story of Brackentail ends there, but the story of Shadowpelt continues on. She may be a hero now, but she had broken Beauty laws, and had to be punished.”

“Listen to the story of Shadowpelt…”

~

Shadowpelt led a squad of warriors, defending FireClan from the neighboring Clans. But her thoughts were on Brackentail. She was to do as she was told and he would be unharmed.

Series and series of battles raged between FireClan and other Clans, but also between the poor and the Beauty.

Constantly, Shadowpelt had to answer to the leader, and when she wasn’t out on the battlefield, she was held as a prisoner instead. In her prison life, she was tortured and repeatedly questioned of her loyalty.

But as the days went on, Shadowpelt began to forget her cause of saving the poor. She fought back harder and harder against them, regardless of what the leader wanted. Brackentail was still in her mind though.

One day though, Shadowpelt was called to pay the final price of loving.

“Shadowpelt,” the leader greeted her, “Today will be your final imprisonment day. You will be told a number of things, and you must pledge your loyalty once again. If you fail to do so, then your family, not you, will suffer.”

She couldn’t risk her parents and siblings, they had done nothing wrong. “I’m ready.”

“Brackentail’s dead.” The leader told her.

Instantly Shadowpelt recoiled. “You promised you wouldn’t hurt him!”

“You already disobeyed me by loving in the first place. And the punishment for loving is death.”

After the news, Shadowpelt was asked to pledge her loyalty to the Beauty System. Reluctantly, she did. From that moment on, she was to serve without a second thought.

She died soon after in a bloody rebellion, killed by the poor she had wanted to save so long ago.

~

“And that ends Shadowpelt’s story,” Flowerbeam mewed softly, “But learn from our hero, even though she managed to stop the rebellion, criminals are always punished. Don’t make the same mistake as her.”

Next to speak was Brightleaf. “I will tell you about a young apprentice called Pinepaw, who thought she could try to defy Beauty rules by sneaking prey to the poor.”

“She was very loyal as an apprentice, but when she took on the name Pinesong, she did the unthinkable…”

~

Pinesong knew she wasn’t supposed to be doing this. She, as most Beauty she-cats, was part of the hunting and kitting groups. But instead of hunting for herself today, she was hunting for the poor.

She snuck through the forest, trying to find an appropriate place to cross the border with her prey.

The forest was the least guarded area, and only a few soldiers, probably only one squad, patrolled the area. Pinesong, knowing this, chose this route to take.

She crossed the border and quickly padded into the first den and placed the prey on the ground. “It’s for you,” she told the family, “Take all this.”

The family stared in shock at the prey she had deposited on the ground. “Thank you,” the older she-cat whispered.

Pinesong dipped her head to the family and headed back towards the forest. She crossed the border again and picked up a few more pieces of prey. She repeated the process several times, and then headed back to hunt more prey.

Pinesong did this several days, confident she wouldn’t be caught. But as she set out once again to go hunting, someone was tailing her. She should have known that nobody ever moves around the Beauty without being watched.

This other Beauty warrior followed her and found her hunting like she was supposed to. Except, she was gathering a huge amount of prey. Pinesong did indeed notice the warrior trailing behind her and brought all the prey home to where she lieved.

She knew that all leftover, stale prey was given to the poor. This was just another way for Pinesong to give the prey to the poor.

The next few days she stayed out of sight, hunting for herself and handing leftover prey to be turned in.

A week went by, and Pinesong decided to take the risk. She brought loads of prey to the border, ready to help the poor once again.

But squads of Beauty warriors were waiting for her when she arrived. “Hello,” the leader purred, “And what might you be doing, Pinesong?”

She stuttered out a reply, “I’m hunting?”

“Oh really,” the leader blinked, “So far out here? You were carrying prey towards here.”

“I left some over here so I returned to get some.” Pinesong lied.

The leader smiled, “You mean you were trying to assist the poor.”

Pinesong knew she was surrounded. There was no escape for her. “The penalty for helping the poor is imprisonment for life.” The leader mewed, “You are hereby accused of this crime.”

~

Brightleaf paused, and then mewed, “The poor is our enemy, and they will always be. You can never assist them in any way, or you will be punished just as Pinesong has been.”

Gorseheart took Brightleaf’s place, “I will talk about a poor cat named Lightningheart, who tried to start a rebellion against the Beauty and was silenced by Shadowpelt.”

~

Lightningheart’s eyes flashed in the dark. “Tonight, I will lead you all to victory! Tonight we will earn our freedom!” Roars of approval sounded behind him, “It will be the final battle against the Beauty, and we won’t lose!”

The confidence in his mew showed in his stance. The crowd cheered again and Lightningheart called out. “Get in your groups and let’s go!”

Groups of cats who were out for blood flooded towards Beauty homes. The guards shouted in warning at the border, but the number of rebelling poor overwhelmed the guards. “Victory for the poor!” Someone shouted as the wave of cats moved on to their next victims.

The cats kept forging deeper into enemy territory, led by Lightningheart himself. But their rebellion wouldn’t last long. Most don’t even make it past the border before they’re vanquished by Beauty squads.

“Come out and fight!” Lightningheart dared the Beauty soldiers and residents, “Or are you too scared to face poor cats?”

His taunts and barbed comments stirred the Beauty into action. Lightningheart was too confident, believing his small, puny army could take on any Beauty army.

The rebellion’s strength and courage was tested when Shadowpelt and her famous squad stepped out. They usually dealt with the biggest threats, which pleased Lightningheart to know that they were here to deal with him. Others, found her appearance mortifying and tried to run for their lives. They were captured by other Beauty soldiers and dragged away quickly.

Here, Lightningheart had two choices. One, he could turn around and fight his way back to safety. Shadowpelt’s squad never failed in their missions. Or two, he could charge forward and somehow defeat our hero, Shadowpelt.

Many advised Lightningheart to take the first choice, but Lightningheart was naïve. He thought he was invincible, and that he and his band of poor cats could truly defeat the Beauty System, no matter how many warriors they faced.

“Attack!” He shouted, lunging for Shadowpelt.

The results of the rebellion is obvious. Lightningheart was pinned down by Shadowpelt’s claws and she addressed the poor cats fighting for a foolish cause. “You all think you can get away with his, but in truth, the Beauty will always crush you down. The Beauty always wins.”

With her ominous words, Shadowpelt dug her claws into the rebellion leader’s throat, making an example out of yet another Beauty enemy.

~

Gorseheart let the words hand in the air. As he retreated to his earlier place, Gorseheart concluded. “Anything done against the Beauty will be quelled. Disobedient cats will be dealt with the proper way. Let this be a lesson to you all.”

Thornstrike moved to take Gorseheart’s place.

“I shall tell you a story about one young apprentice, who thought she could hurt her own Beauty mate.”

~

Creampaw was hiding in the shadows, pressing herself carefully so she would blend in the dark and so she would not prick her pelt on the thorns.

She knew Goldpaw would come hunting soon near here. She was desperate to grab her at this moment; Creampaw did not wish to have Goldpaw flirting with Stonepaw any longer.

Stonepaw was hers.

Goldpaw had dared to think she could try to snatch Stonepaw away from Creampaw. The pale she-cat had enough of Goldpaw’s tricks and knew what she wanted to do.

She wanted to make sure Goldpaw never got another chance to impress Stonepaw.

It was rather quiet outside, but Creampaw knew Goldpaw would be coming along soon. She had been spying on Goldpaw, and knew what the golden apprentice planned to do tonight.

She was going to meet Stonepaw just behind a wall of rocks.

So Creampaw waited for the she-cat, knowing she would have to come this way in order to reach the meeting area.

Creampaw had this all planned out.

Her long minutes of waiting were rewarded when she heard rustling. Goldpaw’s scent washed over her, and Creampaw tensed.

It was time.

The moment Goldpaw appeared, Creampaw lunged forward. She clamped a paw over Goldpaw’s mouth, disabling the golden she-cat’s ability to speak. She then hissed in Goldpaw’s ear.

“Stay away from Stonepaw,” Creampaw snarled.

Goldpaw struggled to reply, “Never!” was her muffled hiss.

Creampaw smirked, “Then face your doom.” She sunk her teeth into Goldpaw’s neck, and the golden she-cat collapsed in her grip.

She released the crumpled form in disgust and hurried away to find something to disguise the scents.

When the area was fully covered by fox dung, Creampaw made a few fresh wounds on her own pelt and stumbled back to camp, wailing, “Fox attack! Goldpaw is dead!”

~

Thornstrike stopped talking and his gaze swept over everyone. “Creampaw thought she could get away with killing Goldpaw and loving Stonepaw. But love makes you do weird things, and all criminals are caught.”

The last to speak, Willowbreeze, walked forward. “I will tell you about what happened to Creampaw after she killed Goldpaw…”

~

Creampaw was having a small talk with Stonepaw. He was sincere as he had always been, but he seemed uninterested in what Creampaw wanted to say.

“It’s such a shame a fox had to catch Goldpaw that night,” Stonepaw sighed, “She had something to tell me, you know? She had important information that she wanted me to know.”

Creampaw tried not to flinch, “Oh, really? How unfortunate she couldn’t deliver the information to you.”

Stonepaw nodded, but his gaze was now on her. This would have made Creampaw happy, but the intensity of his gaze made her shiver. He looked so determined to figure out something. “She mentioned something about telling a few secrets.”

“I wonder what they were.” Creampaw tried to sound nonchalant about it. ''What did Goldpaw want to tell Stonepaw? What kind of secrets?''

The gray tom leaned closer, “Say, where were you that night Goldpaw died?”

“I told you,” Creampaw struggled to stay calm, “I was hunting at night because I couldn’t sleep. Then I heard Goldpaw’s screams and I tried to save her. I was too late.” She bowed her head, hoping Stonepaw would believe her story.

Stonepaw closed his eyes, “I didn’t hear a thing, Creampaw. The place where you found her was only a few fox-tails away from our meeting place. I didn’t hear anything.”

Creampaw frowned, “You must have been back at your camp then. It was pretty early in the night.”

Stonepaw opened his eyes, and his blue eyes bore into hers, “Maybe,” he didn’t sound convinced, “Good day, Creampaw.”

“Wait,” Creampaw breathed.

The tom paused, “Yes?”

Creampaw stepped forward, “Do you love me?” She had to know. She didn’t want this all to be a lie.

Stonepaw stared at her, and then mewed, “Love is hard to determine. Do you love me?”

“Yes.” Creampaw replied without hesitation.

The gray tom stared at her. Then he crossed the distance between the two of them and touched his nose to hers. Creampaw let out a little gasp and found herself enjoying the situation. Stonepaw’s tail wrapped around Creampaw’s and she breathed in his scent hungrily.

Then he was pulling away and Creampaw let out a disappointed breath. Stonepaw stepped away and turned and walked away.

The next day, Creampaw was dragged out of her nest. “Creampaw, you are hereby accused of killing Goldpaw and loving a tom.”

They found out. Creampaw felt panic coming off of her in waves. She saw Stonepaw behind the instructors and felt a stone of dread for in her stomach. They caught him too. But then she noticed he looked comfortable and smug.

“You told them what I felt!” Creampaw couldn’t stop herself.

Stonepaw smirked, “Goldpaw did her job, too bad you had to kill her before she could tell me whether or not you loved me.”

The leader interrupted, “Usually the penalty for harming a Beauty mate is going to the poor. But because you also loved, your punishment is death.”

Creampaw locked eyes with Stonepaw and betrayal stung her. You turned me in…

~

Willowbreeze’s gaze glared at us, “We have ways to catch every criminal,” she mewed darkly, “Let these seven stories be a reminder to you all that the Beauty will not toerlate any breaking of the rules.”

I caught Brownpaw’s gaze and I exchanged terrified glances with him.

We have to stop this madness soon.

The End.