Dark Destinies {Book 1}

prologue

PROLOGUE

    A strike of burning lightning illuminated the dark forest for only a fraction of a second. Below the writhing shapes of fighting cats could be seen, their bloody howls scarcely heard among the rumble of imminent thunder. Blood dappled the forest floor.

    Two large toms stood before each other; both were panting and coated in newly shed blood.

    "Kinkstar, how could you?" the large snowy tom's voice strained to be heard above the thunder. His white pelt was stained and slick with both his blood, and the blood of his enemies.

    The grey tom was submerged in darkness, scarcely seen in the shadow. His amber eyes glowed like fire, foreboding and feverish. A clap of lightning showed that his paws were coated in blood, his crooked tail skinned from the base to the tip.

    "How could I?" Kinkstar's voice was a sneer, "how could you?"

    They were plunged once again in darkness.

    Froststar keenly watched the glowing amber eyes as the Hazeclan leader once more became a shadowy mass. Kinkstar advanced and both leaders began to circle each other, beginning the dangerous dance among enemies.

    The Hazeclan leader suddenly began to snicker. The laugh was deep and sinister. It made the leader's voice sound lifeless and cold, listening to it sent a morbid shiver through Froststar's pelt. The laughing stopped as abruptly as it had begun, both leaders plunged once more into tense silence.

    "All the times Hazeclan needed help and turned to Iceclan, you pushed us away. You left us to die," Kinkstar spat out the words like venom, "your loyalty and friendship is as fickle as it was when we were apprentices."

    Froststar's stomach lurched. Another bolt of lightning illuminated the cat before him. For a brief moment Froststar could remember the cheery young Kinkpaw, how once his amber eyes had glowed with the same shared mischievousness. Now before him stood the vindictive leader he had grown to become. His eyes brimmed with unbridled rage.

    For a brief moment Froststar was brought back to all their shared memories. Though both were apprentices from different clans, there was a time when Froststar could have trusted Kinkstar with anything. Numerous laughs and shared mischief all washed away by bloodshed. An intense current of guilt shot through Froststar as he realized just how big a part he had played in the development of who the Hazeclan leader had become.

    His greatest fear was suddenly confirmed, he had played a much larger role in this savagery than he had allowed himself to believe.

    "Kinkstar, I am sorry," Froststar admitted genuinely. "You were like my brother and it kills me to realize how badly I treated you, and how badly I treated your clan. But if you stop this war now, I will forgive and forget and no harm shall come to you or your clan. Please make the right decision and end this."

    "Brother?!" The word came flying out of Kinkstar's lips so harshly that Froststar recoiled in shock. "You dare speak of brethren? Would brother leave brother to die, would brethren abandon each other?"

    "I was horrible to you, Kinkstar, I admit it. But I know this ruthlessness is not in your nature," Froststar regained the even cadence in his voice, "stop this fight, too many have died on both sides; our clans will fall into disorder if we continue. I beg you to stop this madness."

    "Now you beg for me after all the years I begged for you," Kinkstar slowed advanced on the white leader, amber eyes menacing, "grovelling suits you, and war suits me. No longer will Hazeclan be remembered as weak."

    With a vicious sprout of energy, the Hazeclan leader launched himself forward, bowling over the large white tom. Having the advantage Kinkstar pushed the white leader onto his back with lethal strength. He lowered one blood ridden paw onto Froststar's neck.

    Unwilling to flinch away or back down, Froststar raised his chin and met Kinkstar's amber gaze. He dared not struggle underneath his grasp, for he knew it would only coax the capricious leader further.

    "End this now."

    "I have knowledge you're on your last life, Froststar," Kinkstar's voice was devoid of any emotion, he was nose-to-nose with the white leader, "beg for your life and perhaps you'll keep it, brother."

    "I beg you to end this war."

    Kinkstar narrowed his eyes, and curled his lips into a snarl. "As you wish, Froststar."

    One last clap of lightning illuminated the black forest just as Froststar's blood came splashing from his neck in hot pools around Kinkstar's paws. The white leader lay limp, his eyes dull with death as his friend crouched above him.