Swirling Darkness

This is the first book in the Spirits series written by User:Gingerear.

Prologue
Two cats, one tom and one she-cat, slipped through the shadowy forest in the darkness of the night, trying to avoid being seen. The she-cat's jaws carried a newborn kit. The kit let out a whimper. The she-cat stopped, put the kit on her forepaws, and murmured, "Hush, little one. This will be over soon." Then she licked the kit affectionately.

The tom silently trotted back to the she-cat and the kit. It had taken him a moment to realize that the she-cat had stopped, and he had hurried back to make sure she and the kit were okay. "Would you like me to take it for a while?" the concerned tom offered.

"No, I'm fine," the she-cat told him. "Let's keep going."

So the she-cat picked up the kit and the two of them continued on. On and on they went. Suddenly, the tom thought he smelled something. He opened his mouth and tasted the air. "Do you smell that?" he whispered.

The she-cat placed the kit on her forepaws and tasted the air. "Yes," she meowed quietly. "It's this way."

The she-cat picked up the kit and headed toward the scent. The tom opened his mouth to argue, but then he decided that fighting would not do any of them any good. He padded on after the she-cat.

Both cats stopped at the edge of the clearing, stained silver by the moonlight. A bush thick bush marked the edge of the clearing. In front of the bush, a long-haired black tabby she-cat sat beside the bodies of three stillborn kits.

The tom closed his eyes lowered his head in sorrow. Dead kits were always things to be mourned, and these three did not even have a chance to live.

Someone tugged at the fur on the tom's shoulder. The tom opened his eyes and lifted his head. It was the she-cat - and she didn't have the kit. The tom opned his mouth to ask where the kit was, but the she-cat sprinted into the bushes. The tom followed.

Both of the cats looked back. The black tabby stood over the newborn kit, who squirmed and whined, wondering why it had suddenly been abandoned. "Hello?" the black she-cat called out. Neither the tom or the she-cat flinched. "Is anybody there?" the black cat asked. Once agian, neither the tom nor the she-cat budged. "Who's kit is this?" the long-haired cat demanded. The tom and the she-cat gave no reply.

The mother of the stillborns looked at the helpless kit. The black she-cat had lost her kits, and the newborn kit had lost its parents. They both needed each other. And since no one claimed the kit, the black tabby picked up the kit and carried it under the bush.

The tom and the she-cat glanced at each other. Then they silently raced away, into the folds of the night.