Stolen (Book 1 of the Outcast Quartet)

Chapter 5 (Spiritkit)

“No…” I whimpered and took a step back from the cat surrounding me. Panic starting to rise up through me, this couldn’t be happening. “I’m Dashkit, not Spiritkit!”

            Nightfrost loomed over me, a dark sinister look glimmering in his eyes. He flicked a claw against my ear causing me to yelp and my warm blood to dribble lightly down my ear. “Next time you back talk me, Spiritkit, I’ll do much worse!”

            I gulped and stumbled as I tried to scurry away. His large paw crushed down onto my tail and he dragged me back. “I have high expectations in you, kit, but if you dare disrespect those superior than you, you will be treated worse than just an outcast!”

            By now I was trembling like a leaf in a wild wind, I just wanted this to be over. To finally wake up from this horrible nightmare, to find myself dozing next to my sister and our mother’s warm tail wrapped around us. The pressure from my tail was released and I hurried back inside the den, as fast as my wobbly legs would allow. I collapsed into my nest, and pulled myself into a tight ball. “I want to go home; I want to go back to Rosethorn and Juniperkit. I don’t want to stay in this place full of cats like these!” I whimpered.

            “It’ll be okay,” Orangekit soothed, I had forgotten that she was there. “I’ll help you, okay?”

            I raised my head and gave her a weak smile. Even with her reassuring promise, it wouldn’t be the same without my family. “Thanks…”

            “Don’t mention it, we stolen kits have to look out for each other!” Orangekit shrugged and her furry orange tail lightly tapped my shoulder as she padded over to her grouchy brother who crouched in a dark corner. “Sharpkit, will you help me teach Spiritkit about ShadeClan?” she asked.

            “Ha, no way!” Sharpkit sneered. “I wouldn’t teach that whiner even if I didn’t get anything to eat for seven sun rises!”

            “Stingy,” Orangekit huffed and she stalked back to me.

            “I’m kind of glad…” I mumbled. “Sharpkit gets under my fur.”

            “Oh don’t mind him, his tongue is worse than his scratch,” Orangekit declared and she waved her paw nonchalantly at me. “Anyways, you need to start learning our Clans ways or else you’ll be fox meat in less than a heartbeat.”

            “That’s reassuring…” I grumbled.

            “Alright we the naming ritual so let’s see… oh yah we have a strange custom here, all stolen kits can’t mingle with non stolen kits and we’re only allowed out from sun high to sun set, or during meetings.”

            “That’s stupid…” I growled, again a pain of home sickness rushed through me. I had been allowed out whenever I wanted, did whatever I wanted and hanged out with whoever I wanted.

            “We also become learners at the age of four or five moons, don’t ask why, because even I don’t know,” Orangekit continued. “It might be because they want to mold us into doing their evil bedding without a string of guilt.”

            I frowned; my Clan had made us wait until six moons before being made into an apprentice. And I knew they had a reason, the younger you are the weaker you are. It was mouse-brained to rush kits into growing up. “What else is there?” I asked, dreading the answer to the question. 

            “Guess I’ll go over ranks next,” Orangekit meowed. “The sooner you learn of these things, the better… so um, there’s the leader he or she leads the Clan. He’ll only have one life, but there are plenty of cats that could succeed him. Working right under the leader are his three advisers; second in command, third in command and fourth in command. When the leader dies the second becomes leader, third becomes second and fourth become third. A new fourth will also be found soon after. Healers are almost as highly ranked as the commanders, only because they can heal the Clan, without the healers, our Clan would slowly die off.  Even the leader will listen to the healers, and the healers can pick whoever they want to succeed them. So even if the cat they decide to train is a stolen kit, the leader can’t say anything against that and go with it. The thieves and fighters are both equally ranked, but they will always obey the leader, commanders and healers. They get to boss us around, using their rank to make us do whatever they want. We have no say in the matter, and if we dare to fight back…”