Warriors: Deserve's Beginning (Short Story) (COMPLETE)

Chapter 14

It was dark. The stars had begun to fade away in the early morning sky. The birds were just waking up, beginning to break the silence with their cheerful chirping. A morning dove swooped down onto the forest floor, softly cooing as it walked along the grass. A peaceful and beautiful creature.

He sprang out of the shadows and slammed his white paws down on the bird, sinking his teeth into its neck. The dove let out a cry of alarm, twitching in his claws before it went limp, and the morning was silent once again.

He raised his head and looked down at the dead dove, his emerald green eyes glittering in the darkness. I deserved that catch. He thought, mildly amused at his pun regarding his name. He licked blood from his muzzle and crouched over the bird, sinking his teeth into it and ripping off a clump of feathers. Time for breakfast.

Several seasons had passed since the day he'd killed Snakekit and ran away from ShadowClan territory. He had spent this time wandering the forests alone beyond clan territory, and hunting for himself, all while remembering everything that had happened to him in ShadowClan. It had hurt him for quite some time. But the more he thought about Sunflower's kits and how Depthstar forced Velvet to leave them, the more the pain faded away into anger. He let these thoughts poison his mind, the hatred building up inside him, consuming him until he felt nothing but hunger for vengeance.

As hardly more than a kit, Deserve had been too afraid to go anywhere near ShadowClan territory. He had been certain that he would be killed on sight. But he was older now, nearly the age of a warrior. He was no longer a frightened kit. In his travels, he'd encountered many hostile cats that he'd needed to fight with for food and shelter, and these meetings had turned him into a formidable fighter.  He felt confident that he could take on a clan cat. But unlike the rogues he encountered, he wasn't going to let a clan cat live to tell the tale. He hadn't killed any cat since Snakekit. Other cats were simply trying to live their lives in peace. They didn't incite hate toward anyone. But the clan cats? They were cruel, unwelcoming creatures. They deserved to die.

He swallowed the last bit of meat from his dove and sat up, licking his lips. He stared out into the distance and narrowed his eyes at the pine trees up ahead. I'm nearly at the ShadowClan border. He pushed the remains of the dove aside and slowly padded forward, his tail twitching slowly. Let's see if anyone's awake...

***

He'd stayed crouched in the bushes just outside the border of ShadowClan territory for a long while, waiting impatiently. The faintest light of dawn shone in the distance. Come out, fleabags! He let out an annoyed growl. Where are you all? He suddenly heard faint meowing in the distance and picked up the disgusting scent of clan cats. He crouched deeper into the bushes and narrowed his eyes. There you are...

A small patrol of three ShadowClan cats were padding through the forest on the other side of the border, still fairly far away. He recognized Crowmask at the head of the group. He looked closer and tensed when he realized there was another cat he knew.

Sunflower. The ginger tabby she-cat was padding near a small black and ginger tom, her tail twitching as she looked around for prey. A growl rumbled in Deserve's throat as he watched her, digging his claws into the earth.  You... The mother of those rotten kits who hurt me and my siblings... He suddenly wondered where Boost and Song were right now. Are they in the camp? Are they happy? Or were they driven out after Snakekit's body was found? These questions only fazed him for a moment before anger pushed them away, and he focused once more on the clan cats. Justice at last will be served...

"Come on." Crowmask was meowing, looking over his shoulder at the others. "We need to check the border first and renew the scent markers."