Broken Tides

Prolouge
'We have to find her!' A golden she-cat was arguing with a creamy brown tom in a large stone hollow, on a cave-bearing ledge on top of a huge pile of fallen stones.

'We can't, Goldenhare. Even ForestClan's finest trackers lost her scent at the Thunderpath. You know as well as I do that the Twoleg stench covers all scents,' the brown tom replied, sadness clear in his gaze.

'She was my apprentice, Molestar!' Goldenhare's eyes were locked furiously on Molestar's.

'And she was my kin,' he replied calmly. 'But instead of arguing over her, we should mourn our loss. Daystream will be remembered as a fine warrior.'

'Why do you say she 'was' your kin? She is still alive, I know she is!' Goldenhare slumped to the ground, defeated. Molestar was right. It was pointless to argue over a lost cat. 'It's all my fault... if I hadn't been such as stern and ignorant mentor...' She trailed off and gazed into the distance sorrowfully.

'No. The fault was mine,' Molestar corrected her.

'She would have stayed had I told her I was her father.'

Chapter 1
Sunlight filtered in through the walls of the Twoleg nest. Birds twittered outside, but Day lay limply in her hard Twoleg bed, trapped in a small room by the barking dog outside. The fur on her neck bristled and fear prickled through her pelt as the door to her room opened. ''Did the dog manage to open the door? ''She couldn't bear the thought of that lumbering beast. A Twoleg stumbled into the room, packet of bland 'cat' food in hand, kicking the dog out of the way. It filIed up one of the two bowls next to her nest with food, grabbed the other to get her water and lumbered out of the room, slamming the door shut with one paw. had been six moons since she had left ForestClan, six moons since every cat she loved had died. Not that she had had many cats to love. There had only been her mother, Whisperbreeze, and her mentor, Mattedfur. Mattedfur and Whisperbreeze had both died at the hands of BrambleClan cats. After three moons as a rogue near the various Thunderpaths, hunting in various Twoleg gardens, she had been caught by three Twolegs. They had thrown her in a shiny metal cage and taken her to a room so white that her eyes had burned. Cold Twoleg paws and straight, shiny, pointy Twoleg claws sharper than those of a lion had poked and prodded her until her body throbbed and ached all over and she yowled in pain. She was then taken to another room, a light grey room this time, and thrown behind wretched shiny bars again. Two days later the cruel Twolegs and Twoleg kits who owned her now had taken her out of the cage. She was then taken inside a real monster. As they had sped through the countryside and back towards the forest, for a minute she had thought they were going to release her. But then the monster veered off onto another Thunderpath to their huge, vulgar nest. She had been there ever since with that wretched, dumb dog and the ignorant Twolegs. A rapping at the window in the room snapped her back into the present. A young, fire-coloured tom was sitting on the windowsill. She hissed and spat at him and curled back up in the cold nest she was sitting in.

She was awoken by the sound of something metal rattling. She tried to keep her eyes shut but curiousity somehow managed to force them open. The tom was back at the window, but this time he was undoing the catch! He pushed the window open and she padded forward to it. She scrunched her haunches up, ready to leap. Suddenly the Twoleg burst into the room with the bowl filled with water. It yowled angrily and started towards her. Fear rushing through her like fire, Day leapt onto the window and pulled her self up. The tom beckoned to her with his tail and the two cats jumped out of the window. They raced across the garden and into the surrounding pine forest just as the Twoleg flung open the front door.

More tomorrow.