The Traitor

prologue - the traitor
“Bring her in to testify.” This is the voice of a cold-hearted she-cat. Her name is Shadow, and she can kill faster then you can say ‘please don’t kill me’. She is pure black, with green eyes that appear to stare into your soul.

“She hasn’t done any wrong.” This is Hail, a black and white splotched tom who is so high-ranked he can stand up to Shadow, the leader.

“Look at me and tell me that is true.” Shadow demands.

Silence.

“She deserves to die for her crimes. She tried to stop us, and to steal prey and information. Bring her in, Sand.” Hail’s sister, Sand, nods, and brings the she-cat in. Her eyes are alight with terror, and her pale brown coat is fluffed up. There is a pink collar around her neck, reading Samantha in black letters.

“Please- no- please, don’t kill me, it was the Clans, they said they’d kill me if I didn’t help them, and they killed my father..” Samantha pleads, beginning to sob. Shadow looks at me, and I can see she senses an ally.

“We never intended on killing you,” Shadow lies smoothly, “That sort of brutality is what the Clans do.” Samantha’s shock reflects in Shadow’s eyes. “Now, how did it feel when they killed your father?”

“What?”

“How did it feel?”

Samantha shifts her position, looking uncomfortable. “Terrible. Like they had not only ripped away a bit of my soul, but could bend it and shape it to their will.”

“Do you want revenge?”

Samantha is silent. But now, there is a mad gleam in her eyes that wasn’t there before. Shadow has that affect on cats. “Yes. I want them to feel my pain.”

“Good. Sand, introduce her to all the toms- we need more kits.” For a moment, Samantha looks horrified, realizing what she’s committed to doing, but now realizes there’s no going back.

“Can I go with them?” I ask, and Shadow looks up at me. She trusts me. It’s a strange thing.

“If you want.” She replies, and I walk out of the den door to catch up with them.

“So.. Um, what do I do?” Samantha asks Sand as I walk up to her. Sand looks over and smirks at me. She has always found this process amusing.

“Find a tom you like.” Sand says airily, “Or just pick a random one. Whichever mouse you choose.” Samanatha looks confused, so hastily, Sand adds, “That’s just an expression I made up.”

“Who were the cats back in there?” Samantha asks. She still hasn’t noticed me – hopefully she’ll be a good mother, her senses are terrible. I double back to Shadow’s den before she answers.

“Hail!” I call, stifling a laugh.

“What?” Hail asks, walking over to me, as Shadow watches disapprovingly. In the end, we all act like immature kits outside of our work.

“The kittypet likes you,” I whisper, bursting out laughing at Hail’s expression, a mix of horror, shock, and revulsion.

“Urgh! No! Go away, go follow them!” Hail orders, even though we’re ranked the same.

“Alright, fine.” I say, laughing and walking over to Sand.

“And that’s Wes and North, they’re brothers. They’re both scouts – see, they’re going off to check the borders.. Over there’s Flash- oh, hey! What were you doing with Hail?”

Sand asks, turning around to look at me. Samantha looks bewildered.

“Nothing. I had to tell her something,” I brush her question off lightly, and turn to Samantha, “Found anyone yet?” I meant for it to sound kind, but judging by the look on her face it sounded plain amused.

“She doesn’t like you,” Sand pointed out with a smirk, and I laugh. “She won’t talk to you – I think you scare her.”

“Nooo. Don’t be scared of me, I’m just a vicious little killer!” Samantha seems to shrink, trotting backwards a few steps. “Anyways, you’ll have no trouble winning over a tom.” Samantha looks at me, shocked, but before anything happens, Sand seems to sense something. She loses her playful manner, and looks at Samantha harshly.

“You should get inside of the Mother’s Den. They’ll show you around, it’s over there.” Samantha seems to falter, but Sand adds, “Now!”

Wes, North, Leaf, and Sayla come storming back into the camp, yelling loudly over each other. Sand and I run over to see what’s happening, as we are ranked right below the leader.

“Leaf, what’s going on?” I ask. Leaf is the highest-ranked in the group.

“Clan cats. They’re moving closer and closer. We need to drive them out, like they did to us!” Leaf hisses. Shadow comes out of the den, and Sand reports what’s happening. Shadow looks at me.

“Get back there. Now. Disguise your scent, get back to the Clans!” Shadow orders.

I know what I must do.

My job.

Spying on the Clans.