Broken Ties

chapter 2

Karaliegha mewed to the young cats gathered before her, "First we shall show you where our training area will be. You must be there at dawn every morning. If you are late, you will be punished. " Chai looked around at the cats she would be training with. Never before had she felt so alone.

She followed Karaliegha and Harvey out of the base. They walked awhile and finally came to an old fallen pine tree. Karaliegha sat down and mewed, "the first thing we shall learn is the laws of being a Soldier. Rule number one, you will not tell any cat about your training. Rule number two, you won't tell anyone of secrets in our pride. Rule number three, you will obey orders, no matter what. Rule number four, you will not associate with other prides unless it is necessary. Understand?" The cats nodded. Harvey said, "You all get to know each other. It's important you get along with each other." Karaliegha and Harvey padded behind the old pine and Chai could hear them talking. The young cats started talking, some already knew each other.

Chai felt awkward and watched the others talk. Quicksand was boasting to Aston, "I'm a pretty awesome fighter, I brought my big brother down to the ground one time." Deschen rolled her eyes, "Whatever you show off." The black female looked back at Chai and padded over to her, "Hi Chai! They're a boastful bunch aren't they?" The black cat laughed and smiled. Chai smiled back, "They don't have much to do with me. And do you think we should go talk to Ratchet. He looks a bit lonely."

She looked at the white male and padded over to him. "Hi! How are you?" Ratchet looked up surprised. "Um I'm okay." Smoke joined them and said, "So what should we talk about?"

Ratchet shrugged and looked over at Deschen and Aston and whispered, "Why did I have to get placed in a job with those two? They hate my guts." Chai looked at the twins confused. That moment Aston came walking over and said, "So your Blizzards daughter huh? Show me some of your moves! Try them on me!"

He challenged her, his blue eyes narrowed. Chai explained, "If you expect me to know moves that he showed me..I really hate to disappoint you but my father has been away since I was very little. I hardly know my dad." Aston eyed her and frowned. "Stop making excuses and fight me! Or are you scared?"

Chai growled and leapt forward. Aston stepped aside and laughed. Chai landed on her face, her nose ached as she lifted her face up. Chai thought quickly and lashed out her front paw and tripped Aston. She leapt on top of him and placed her paws' on his shoulders. She looked up at Smoke and Ratchet who were stilled with shock. Karaliegha and Harvey stepped out from behind the pine tree. Chai jumped away from Aston and sat down. She met Karaliegha's yellow gaze and tried not to flinch.

"Bolt made a good decision of making you a soldier. Aston, Chai you must learn to get along. You hear?" They both nodded, and Aston glared at Chai.  Ratchet padded over to Chai and sat down beside her, his face was lit up with a wide grin. Smoke shook her head, "You could have gotten in trouble!" Chai shrugged, Aston shouldn't have acted the way he did. Chai looked up to see Quicksand glaring at her.

What did I do to her? Chai thought. Karaliegha broke into Chai's thoughts. "I should also mention, you will not be sharing a den with your family anymore." The young cats sat up straight in shock. "What! Why?" Asked Deschen. Harvey replied, "Because you might be tempted to tell your family about your training, and secrets of our pride. So instead we have made a large den for the six of you." Chai looked at Harvey in dismay. "Will we still get to see our family though?" Karaliegha and Harvey exchanged a look. Karaliegha flashed Chai a strange look and said, "Yes Chai, we will make sure you see your family. Also, if you do well in this class you will be moved up into classes with older cats."

Chai sighed. There was so much to do, and remember. She didn't know if she could do it all.  "Now, does anyone know who the founder of our pride was?"

Chai lit up, her mother had taught her much about this. She wanted to tell Karaliegha the answer, but she was scared what Aston would say. She looked at the siamese tom and looked down at her paws, upset. Karaliegha's voice became impatient, "No one knows?" Quicksand grumbled, "Chai does." Chai looked up in utter shock. Karaliegha looked into Chai's eyes, "Well Chai?"

Chai anxiously muttered, "The founders name was Kenai. He was from the humans city in the northern region of The Cats of the Plains territory." Karaliegha nodded, impressed. Chai felt as if she had been a show off, and a know-it-all. She hated  herself for it and wouldn't look at anyone in the eye.