Whispers in the Dark

Prologue
The cold wind rustled the small she-cat's fur, making her blood-covered flank cold. Not long earlier, she had watched a very familiar tom leave her there after he had sliced open her flank, telling her she was useless, and that she would destroy the Clan.

She watched as the leaves of a tree above her rustled. She wished her mother was there, to warm her, to clean her, to treat her wound. But her mother couldn't find her. Not here. The wind was calming, and she listened calmly as it swayed through the leaves. She looked passed the tree, and into the face of the moon.

The moon's mouth was an O, and that never changed. But for this night, she decided that the moon was pitying her. She decided that every night, some cat had been suffering, just like her, and the moon watched in horror, unable to save them from it's perch.

She sighed, watching as her breath swirled in a smoke screen above her head. She knew blood was still pouring from her flank, onto the pearl white snow. The snow beneath her was obviously red by now. But she couldn't bring herself to look. Her exhausted body couldn't take much more.

She suddenly felt a hunger pang in her belly, and she groaned in pain. The effort of that tiny sound tore her throat up, and she ignored all feeling. ''Oh, mother. Why did you leave to hunt today. Why did you leave him to watch us. Why me?''

She let her young mind wander back to when she opened her eyes. The first thing she'd ever seen was her mother's dark gray fur. She shook herself mentally out of her thought. She didn't need to remember this now. Her eyes began to droop. Her flank was numb from cold, she couldn't feel the blood pouring now. Had it stopped? She refused to look, fearing the pain it would giver her.

She closed her eyes, letting herself come and go from consciousness. She wished the pain would just end. She wished she would die already.

Suddenly, she heard a loud crunch from nearby, and she snapped her head to the sound, and saw a pale ginger she-cat watching her, horror plainly across her face. She felt a horrible throb from the back of her head, but refused to slip into unconsciousness.

"Hello? Who are you?" her kit-soft voice shook with the effort, and her throat seared in pain.

The she-cat sighed in relief, and came forward. "Its ok now, young one. You'll be ok." The pale ginger she-cat grasped her scruff, and pulled her up off the snow. The she-kit looked at where she had lain, and saw a puddle, a puddle, of blood. She gasped in horror, and shut her eyes. Slowly, agonizingly, she fell into unconsciousness again.

Chapter 1
Breezepaw shook out his ruffled fur. His apprentice ceremony had only been last night, and already he felt like he was older and wiser. But nobody seemed to like him. Did they blame him for his sister's death? His father had been destroyed when his sister had disappeared and been claimed dead after days of searching. My mentor, then Morningpaw, had found a round circle of blood at the border two days later. It had been claimed the Whisperkit had been, indeed, murdered.

Most had decided it was a fox. But some, like the older apprentices, who were almost warriors at this point, blamed him for it. They said he was too much of a restless sleeper and tore his sister to pieces.

Breezepaw watched his father, Jaywhisker, leave the warrior den, followed by Morningwind. Breezepaw bounded excitedly up to Morningwind. "Hey! What are we learning today?"

Jaywhisker purred in amusement. "You're going to have you paws full, Morningwind. Breezepaw will have you tired out before sunhigh!"

Morningwind purred to. "No way!" He stopped purring suddenly. "I wonder if his sister would have been the same?"

Jaywhisker's eyes darkened, and Breezepaw looked again to see if it really was there. But whatever was there, it was gone now. Jaywhisker's eyes sparkled in sadness. "I wish she was here. She would have been a great warrior."

Was Breezepaw the only one who heard sarcasm from him? He checked to see if Morningwind had noticed, but Morningwind was shaking his head. "It must be hard, seeing your son grow up without her."

Breezepaw looked back at his father, and noticed that he was hesitantly nodding his head. Breezepaw narrowed his eyes. ''That's fake! Jaywhisker doesn't even care that she's gone!'' Breezepaw took a deep breath.

"Come on, Morningwind! This is boring! I want to learn how to fight!"

Morningwind was shaken out of his thoughts. "Oh, right!" He nodded farewell to Jaywhisker, before leading Breezepaw out of the StormClan camp, out onto the moors for training.