Prologue

The speckled gray she-cat stared, confused, disgusted and with utter hatred as if the black tom that carried two tiny and mewling kits was an attacker. Her green gaze was cold as the tom placed the kits by her paws. There was already a kit, a dark tortoiseshell, tucked against her for warmth and protection as queens were forever firecely protective of their kits.

The dark made his pelt turn to oblivion for it blended in so well that any cat could only see a pair of amber eyes glowing. “What is this?” The queen’s ears was angled to the kits as she spat in disgust.

“Kits,” the black tom answered gruffly. “You must look after them, Speckledleaf.” A snow-white she-cat joined his side, her green gaze full of warmth and softness as she stared at the kits that had been put by Speckledleaf’s paws, almost as if they were really hers and she was proud of them.

The two kits, their eyes closed as they batted and mewed for their mother, having been abandoned in the forest to possibly die in the snow and from the coldness or predators, wriggled about on the stone-cold ground of the darkened cave. They were both toms and one was a brown cat with darker forepaws, the other being a russet-coloured tom.

It was darker than usual; the stars were almost hidden away in the veils lf darkness, the others that could escape through being cold and dull. The moon, the main source of light in the dark, was covered by the dark clouds that swirled in the sky in front of it. A cold breeze, though silent, whisked through the forest without hints of hesitation.

Outside the cave lay snow that rested on everything as though it had travelled a long way, and patches of ice froze over the rivers and the lake. Most scents were hidden as a shower of snow fell from the sky into the forest without care for whatever may lie beneath it.

Speckledleaf’s gaze locked with the dark tom’s as they stared at each other in silence, waiting for one to speak first. “I refuse,” Speckledleaf finally answered, her voice containing faint suggestions of a growl. She had recently lost her other kits due to the  scarce level of prey in leaf-bare and the bout of greencough that crept up behind every cat’s back like a threatening shadow summonded by the fearsome death.

“Why?” Though the tom was surprised, his voice was demanding. The white she-cat, her celestial beauty made known, stepped forward and began fiercely licking the two kits to bring them the warmth they likely seeked fir they had been left out in the cold for a while, near enough to freezing-point. “You love kits, don't you?”

“Only my precious little daughter,” Speckledleaf answered. Her coldness faded as she took a warmth glance at her tortoiseshell kit that was curled up in a ball of fluff, sleeping peacefully as if she had not heard the two cats disturbing her mother. “Dapple is the only kit I will ever love. You can take those two—” she stared at the two abandoned kits with hostility “—back where you found them so they can freeze.”

“Then you’ll have to make me, if that is what you really wish upon them,” the tom hissed at her, his ears flattening against his head as he clearly expressed anger and disgust for her, though that did not seem to bother the speckled she-cat in the slightest. “Like it or not, Speckledleaf, you’re looking after them.”

Speckledleaf did not bother to try protesting for Reedtail was known to be stubborn to the point his mind does not waver once it became set on something. “Fine,” she growled, clearly trying to contain her anger. “Regardless to what you say, I shall never act like a true mother to them. They will not get the love and care they need from me. I will not favour a bunch of. . . of crowfood over my own daughter!”

“But Speckledleaf—” the white she-cat, whom had been silent for the whole time, was about to protest against the queen until Reedtail put his paw over her muzzle to silence her.

“That’s fine with me. We have met at an agreement where both of us can be contempt,” Reedtail established. “And Snowpetal, anything is better than these two kits freezing out in the forest while waiting for their mother to return.”

“I don’t see why you could be so fox-hearted to have them not grow up with care every kit should deserve,” Snowpetal murmured. “I would be happy to look after them.”

“Oh, really now?” Reedtail snorted much to Snowpetal’s annoyance. “Since when did you start nursing kits? Right now? What use would you be as a mother to these kits if you don’t have any milk? They’re young, not older kits.”

“I’d be able to do a better job than that sad excuse of a mother!” Snowpetal snarled, her eyes flashing with uncharacteristic outrage as she was usually a calm and kind cat. “What mother puts their own kit above two that would need her? Speckledleaf shouldn’t even have kits if all she cares about is Dapple!”

The tiny she-cat had woken up at the white she-cat’s outrage, though struggled to keep her blue kit eyes open for several heartbeats. “Mama?” Her voice was quiet as she spoke. “What’s going on?” Her eyes then fixed onto the two toms that were in front of her and climbed over her mother’s fluffy tail, though Speckledleaf swept her back with it.

“Go back to sleep,” she told ner gently. “We will talk about this once the sun has risen.” Dapple immediately closed her eyes to drift back into the paws of sleep without protest in the slightest. She was a very obedient kit who would do anything any cat told her.

Petalwatcher, who was rested at the very back of the den where light ceased to reach,  blinked before padding over into the lighter part of the cave, her black feather-soft pelt litted silvery. Her gaze showed no emotion when it fixed onto Speckledleaf. “I agree with Snowpetal,” she finally mewed as if she knew the cats were waiting on her to say something.

“Yeah, we’d expect a good-for-nothing she-cat like you to agree with Snowpetal!” Reedtail tried shoving her away though Petalwatcher stood her ground and shoved him back, though harder than what he did, and almost unbalanced him.

“No cat would ever value your opinion with respect for you lack the respect other cats deserve,” Petalwatcher told him calmly. “A mother’s love should be for all kits, biological or not, otherwise you should not have kits of your own if that is what you truly think deep down in your abyss of thoughts.” Whenever she had spoke, her words were usually full of the wisdom of an elderly cat that has witnessed all that ever occurred, past or present.

“What would you know?” Reedtail grunted, showing disinterest or care for the young cat. Petalwatcher sounded mature for a young cat when they were usually arrogant and hot-headed, though in her case she was cool and collected as well as wise and intellectual. “You’ve barely a fighter.”

“And yet I am somehow more of a fighter than what you will ever be in an endless lifetime,” Petalwatcher shot back. “Any cat could almost assume you are barely a kit by your attitude.” Reedtail muttered something that Petalwatcher could not catch though she did not seek for an answer to it.

“Quiet, Petalwatcher. I am looking after these kits therefor you should not interfere,” Speckledleaf spat while talking a glance around the cave. “And no cat will dare protest or state I am not fit to be a mother. You don’t know anything—none of you do!”

Petalwatcher watched the kits with pity. I am so sorry you will have to endure the harshness of Speckledleaf as if she was a ruthless and cold-blooded killer, she apologised in her thoughts as if she expected them to know somehow. But the least I can do is try being more of a mother than she ever will be to you.

Her green gaze casted out to the small part of the sky she could see distantly from the cave. You will not have to suffer for being abandoned by your mother, whatever you do. I promise the stars that you will not tread on ice only to plummet into the darkest rivers of all, she vowed.