Lavenderpaw's Destiny

Prologue

The nearly full moon floated out from behind a cloud and lit up the forest. The pine trees stretched up towards the sky, and the tops disappeared into the darkness. Lavender shivered as the cold of leaf-fall crept into her fur. She looked up at her mother; her silver fur shined in the moonlight as she carried Lavender. 

"Mother, where are we going?" Lavender mewed quietly. 

"Be patient dear, we're almost there. We're going to find someone who can fix my injury".

Her gentle voice comforted Lavender, and her eyes began to flutter shut. It was late, and she was exhausted. Maybe she'd sleep for a few moments. The warm scent of her mother swirled around her, and the slow sway of walking was putting her to sleep. She bounced up and down occasionally as her mother limped on her injured hind leg. Lavender had been too young to remember how the injury happened, but her and her mother had traveled slowly for moons afterwards to find someone who could fix it. Her mother always talked about a group of cats who had a healer that would be able to fix her leg; now, they were almost there, and Lavender was excited. It had been a long journey since her mother had to move very slowly because of her injury, and they had to stop frequently to rest. 

Suddenly there was a loud rustle in the bushes next to them, and Lavender felt her mother freeze. She felt her mother shoving her underneath a prickly bush, and grunted in discomfort. Her eyes slowly opened and she peered into the darkness. The kit spotted her mother standing in front of the bramble bush Lavender was under. Another rustled sounded from the undergrowth, and her mother turned to face it, a low growl sounding in her throat. A foul scent hit Lavender's nose, and she wrinkled it in disgust. 

"What's that smell?" She squeaked. 

"Hush!" Her mother mewed urgently.

Lavender hesitated. Why was her mother acting so scared? The she-kit was about to crawl out from underneath the bush when a flash of orange fur came flying out of the bushes. It threw itself on top of Lavender's mother, and the silver she-cat let out a shriek of pain. Lavender scooted as far back as she could into the brambles and watched in terror. 

Lavender could hear her mother and the orange creature fighting, and it sounded like her mother was losing. Her mother's screech was cut off abruptly, and the orange creature shook itself off. Its long snout was dripping with blood, and it turned its gleaming eyes towards the brambles. 

The silver she-kit whimpered in fear, pushing herself back into the brambles. The orange creature crept towards her, letting out a low growl. Suddenly her mother staggered to her paws and leapt onto the creature's back. The two began rolling around once more, locked in each other's jaws. The fighting animals fell onto the brambles that Lavender was hiding in. 

The kit felt the bush closing around her, and the two creatures tussled on top of her. A flailing paw hit Lavender, and she fell to the ground, smacking her head against it in the process. She wailed as she grew dizzy, and darkness rushed in around her. The fighting noises grew fainter, until she couldn't hear or see anything; there was just darkness.