SHATTERED BARRIERS
Episode Four, Season One, of Rise.
Enjoy <3
Shattered Barriers[]
“Aura, do you think I could take the three of them out for a bit of fresh air?” I glance down at the tiny kits of my mother’s second litter. The pure black one is already squirming and crying for milk. The orange one is kicking about while the tiny gray one stays completely still.
“Not now, Bryce,” my mother cautions, “they’re only a moon old.”
“You took me hunting when I was a moon old,” I tip my head to the side, “we caught fish in one of the kittypets’ pond!”
Aura gives a small chuckle. “You were a lot stronger back then, Bryce. There wasn’t so much smoke filling the air, poisoning the prey and killing them. Jewel, Ruby, and Emerald aren’t getting as much as you did back then. Give them some time.”
Time… I gaze down at my three sisters. “Is Smokey out hunting?”
Aura gives a hesitant nod. I notice it instantly but I don’t say anything. “Should I go hunting too? There’s not much prey out there and he can’t possibly catch that much.”
“Maybe later, dear. You just went out a few hours ago. You should get some rest. Your father will come back with prey soon.”
Just at that moment, Smokey stumbles into the den, blood staining his coat red. Aura lets out a gasp and she shakes off the three kits and scrambles over to her mate. Ruby lets out a squeal and I hurry to shush my sisters.
My father collapses on the floor of the shack, his pelt crisscrossed with wounds. Aura hurries to try to clean them up but I can tell my father has lost too much blood to be saved.
I shield my sister’s eyes away from the gruesome scene just as my father gives a shuddering breath before my mother let out a wail of pure anguish.
~
“Bryce,” someone is nudging me, “you’re moaning.”
“Jewel, please let me sleep--” I wake in an instant, “You’re not Jewel.”
“No,” Terran peers at me, “I’m Terran.” His sky-blue eyes, I realize, are slightly speckled with tiny white dots. Like clouds in a sky.
“You don’t say,” I groan, rubbing my eyes with one paw. The bramble digs into my paw and I wince slightly as drops of scarlet blood splats against the dirt floor. I flinch again, as it reminds me of Karina pinning Emerald down.
“Are you alright?” Terran frowns, obviously concerned, “I can leave if it’s just me.”
“No,” I say, bit too quickly, “I like the company. I didn’t have many friends in the Twolegplace. In the Coalition, I had two friends I guess. I only knew them for five days though.”
Images of Nightshadow and Feathershine wrapped in each other’s embrace makes me ache for some sort of friendship. In the Twolegplace, Cloud and Sara were the closest to being my friends, as my sisters were really my baby sisters to me.
When I finally jerk out of my stupor, Terran is watching me with those pale blue eyes. Right now, they’re so full of light and emotion, but around other cats, he’s as hard as a rock.
“Why are you and your sister in the Vipers anyways?” I find myself asking, “Why are you against the Coalition?”
“I don’t dislike them,” he admits, “My father was a Viper. He died a few moons ago in a bloody battle between the Vipers and the Coalition.”
“I’d hate them,” I murmur mindlessly, “if my parents were murdered by them, I’d hate them.”
“What happened to your parents?” He frowns, “They weren’t…the two that were killed the other day, right?”
“No,” I close my eyes and let the memories wash over me, “those were just a kind, elderly couple that took care of my sisters.”
Terran must see the pain etched on my face because he heads for the entrance. “I shouldn’t pry,” he tells me, “I need to meet up with Karina and – just Karina actually.”
I blink at his stumble but before I can ask him what’s wrong, Terran is gone.
~
“Bryce,” my mother coughs, “please fetch me the medicine I brought in earlier.” I do as she says, dragging the parched leaves over. My mother bends over and swallows the leaves dry.
She coughs a few more times before settling into her nest. “Take Jewel, Ruby, and Emerald out to the sick den,” she tells me, “I’d move there but I’m too weak to get there. You must keep the three of them from getting sick.”
I nod and usher my two moon old sisters out to the “sick den”. It’s tiny and not nearly enough space for the four of us but we manage to squeeze in and form a tiny nest for us. I’ll probably end up sleeping outside, I decide.
“What’s happening to Aura?” Jewel asks pitifully, her blue eyes meeting mine. “Will she be okay?”
“She’ll be fine,” I reassure them. “She’s just very sick right now.”
Ruby glances at Emerald. “Like her?”
I wince. Emerald wasn’t sickly. She was just weak and the runt of the litter. Aura always told me that if hunger were to take any of us, it would be Emerald first.
“Emerald isn’t sick, Ruby,” I tell her, “She’s fine and healthy.”
Ruby snorts but she nudges her sister anyways. “Emerald, let’s play!”
“Not now,” I quickly break the two of them up as Jewel is being jostled by her rowdy sisters. “There’s not enough space here for you two to play.”
Jewel pads over to her sisters. “I’ll watch over them,” she says proudly.
I purr and lick the top of her head before telling them to stay put. When I reach the shack, I realize that I can’t hear Aura’s hacking and coughing.
Something moves at the edge of my vision and I whip my head in that direction. I don’t see anything. Fear shoots through me and I head into the shack, only to find a gruesome scene waiting for me.
Aura lays unmoving in her nest, her eyes glazed over, blood seeping from her mossy nest. I let out a little gasp of horror. Who would come in here and murder my mother?
But I would never find the answer. I could only stare wildly at my mother’s broken body as one by one, my sisters pad into the den, their screams of horror filling my ears.
~
I close my eyes as the memory comes back in vivid focus. None of my sisters ever mention any of those tragic days, but I know Jewel remembers it just as vividly as I do. Sometimes she wakes up in the middle of the night, her whimpers filling my ears.
Ruby acts nonchalant about it, like she does with most of the other subjects involving their early kithood.
Emerald is quiet as always, her emerald eyes filled with unspeakable sorrow. I don’t understand where her inner pain comes from, but I suspect it has something to do with Ruby’s slight bullying.
I sigh to myself. I hope my three sisters are alright. It’s only been five moons – nearly six – and they’ve already gone through so much.
First Smokey’s mysterious sort of death, and then losing their mother to another gruesome death.
I still don’t know what killed the two of them. They must have had enemies.
I shake my head to clear my thoughts and try to ignore the on flow of memories but fail.
~
I drag my prey into the shack just as I hear voices filling the den. I frown. My sisters are never this loud. I’ve always warned them against being loud or doing anything that would attract unwanted visitors that must have killed my parents.
I peek my head inside and surprise myself by finding a couple arguing in the den. “Hello?” I say nervously.
They stop their conversation in an instant. “Oh, I’m so sorry!” The she-cat coos, ushering me into the den, prey and all, “Do you live here?”
I nod once.
“I told Cloud that someone must have lived here as there are nests and kit scent everywhere! Where are your parents?”
I stiffen at that. “They’re dead,” I say flatly.
The she-cat recoils instantly. I wonder if dead parents are a bad omen or something. “Do you live alone?”
I hesitate but at this moment, Ruby rolls into the den, tussling with Emerald. I hiss in shock and frustration. The three of them must have hid because of precautions I have drilled in their heads but Ruby must have gotten too impatient to wait for safety before playing. Of course Emerald wouldn’t resist either.
The she-cat’s eyes widen in surprise. “Oh! You have kits?”
“They’re my sisters,” I flatten my ears, “I’m only fifteen moons old.”
“I’m Sara,” the she-cat introduces herself, “Cloud and I are just trying to find a nice place to stay. We thought this place was empty.”
“It’s fine,” I wave my tail, “there’s plenty of space anyways.”
“You seem to need help with prey too,” Cloud points out, “we do trading around the Twolegplace. Perhaps we can salvage some extra prey for the four of you.”
“Thank you,” I say gratefully, noticing that Jewel has come out of her hiding place as well. “We appreciate it.”
~
“Bryce,” a hiss wakes me up once more. I see Terran has entered the den once more. “Bryce I wanted to tell you--”
Korin enters and Terran shuts his mouth instantly, a blank expression sliding over his face. “Sir, what do you need?”
“I need this she-cat.”
Terran tenses but nods. He begins to untie my brambles from where they are connected to the back wall of brambles. After doing so, he drags me towards wherever Korin wants to take me.
I don’t ask any questions. I don’t want to risk them harming my sisters.
“Tie her to that tree,” Korin snaps, “I expect you to fully interrogate her and give me some good answers.”
“Of course, sir.”
“If you are incapable of doing that, I’ll skin you alive and interrogate her myself.” I notice how uncomfortable Terran is with that idea. (Being skinned alive must be painful.)
He finishes tying off my brambles and bites his lip. He tries on a tentative smile and finds it doesn’t work. “I need you to just be honest. I’ll probably have to pretend to hurt you too, so sorry if I…do something without you expecting it.”
I nod and with a quick lash of a paw, Terran slices through my flank. I gasp and his eyes are filled with sympathy. “What were your parents’ names?”
“Smokey and Aura.”
Terran’s eyes darken visibly but he pushes on before I can ask. “What did they do?”
I frown. “What do you mean? They were just normal, Twolegplace cats. Smokey went out every day to hunt and Aura had to stay home ever since I was twelve moons old to take care of my sisters.”
“Are you sure?” Terran shifts his paws and pretends to smack me. “You never knew what your father went out to do?”
“He went out to hunt,” I retort, “we needed the prey after all.”
Terran doesn’t say anything. “What about the day before he died?”
“How do you know about that?” I gasp, my eyes wide with shock. Terran’s sweet expression turns slightly bitter at this.
“Korin told me.”
I’m confused. Why would the Vipers know anything on my family? We weren’t special and we didn’t get involved in anything.
“He went out hunting,” I repeat, “I don’t know what else he does.”
Terran seems to think over this. “What about your mother? How did she get sick?”
My head hurts from thinking about my family’s broken pieces. “I don’t know!” I cry out, “I only know that she came home one day coughing. She must have caught a cold or something.”
“How did she die?”
My head is pounding now. “Someone snuck into our den and murdered her,” I try to hold back tears but I can’t. They stream out of my eyes and to my surprise, Terran reaches out with his tail and wipes them away.
The questions blur together and soon I’m a wreck, sobbing about trying to pick up the broken pieces of my family and hold them close, about how I’m failing to even do that.
Terran doesn’t say a word but takes me back to my den before holding me tight. His warm scent washes over me and I close my eyes, wanting to drown in my memories and not wake to see the next day.
To see whatever Korin has in store for me.
Whatever he has in store for my sisters.
Terran doesn’t speak and I’m grateful for his silence. There is nothing for any of us to say. I’m just glad he’s here to comfort me when everyone else has fallen.
Thank you, I think silently, Thank you for being here.
His embrace is so warm and tight that I drift asleep, clutching the shattered memories and barriers of my lost kithood.
The End.