Warriors: Dusk Ch. 1

A tom with no home, or what cats call them, a loner. The gray cat rose to his feet, stretching out in the morning sun. He was on a big striding hill with tall grass reaching above his chin. Mountains rose far away into the sky with clouds encircling the tops. The roars of the monsters on the thunderpath were close by.The bush he hid in was very leafy with edible berries on it. As he took a bite of one of the berries, a loud voice came to his ears.

"Drake? Where are you Drake. I'd know that scent anywhere." The voice was too familiar to him. The gray tom came out of the bush and saw who was calling him.

Henry. "Drake, there you are. Long time no see. What'cha doin' here?" Henry was a old orange tabby tom who was a good friend of Drake's mother. He had visited them a few times before Drake became a loner. His naive blue eyes stared at Drake until he came running over.

"Hey Henry. I'm just traveling. What are you doing here?" Drake sat and prodded his chest out so Henry didn't think he needed help.

"I was just let out by my twolegs and was explorin' the hills out here. When I stumbled onto your scent, well I couldn't believe my nose at first. You're very far from your home. Were you locked out by your twolegs?"

"No Henry. I wasn't. I'm not... I'm not with my twolegs anymore." Drake staggered the words out.

Henry didn't know how to respond. He looked at the ground and silently said, "Oh, yeah. I thought I heard somethin' about you recently. Were you the one that survived that fire?"

Drake nodded.

"So the other cat that didn't get out was..."

Drake nodded.

Henry stared at me with wide, sorrowful eyes. "I'm so sorry. After your father died on the thunderpath, I thought you and your mother would live together peacefully. I guess I was wrong. So you're a loner now?"

"I don't really want to be a loner. I don't want to be with any more twolegs either."

"Well what do you want to be, because there's no other option. Well, there is one other type, but no one has ever been in it recently. Remember, BloodClan? Oh they were vicious."

The treacherous BloodClan. They were a large group of cats, evil cats, that relied on one leader to decide what they do. Only fleabag cats would join a group like them anymore, but BloodClan disbanded after their leader was killed in a fight with the forest clans.

"What about the other clans? Henry, do you know anything about them?"

Henry looked confused. "I know plenty about those killer cats. They prowl the night in search of prey of all kinds. They even attack cats. I don't know their problem, but they don't let any other cat even set a claw on their territory. But the left long ago as well. Some cats say they went past the Big Twolegplace."

"I guess that if I had an option, I'd join them, but it seems too silly to come true." Drake got to his feet again.

"Why would you try to join them? They are as vicious as BloodClan, you mouse-brain. Follow me and I'll get you some food."

Henry started to dash away towards the big wall that separated the hills and the Twoleg dens. Drake followed him to the face of the big wall of stones. Henry crouched and leaped very high onto the top of the wall. Drake crouched, focusing all his strength into his hind legs. When he leaped, he crashed into the wall just below the top of the wall and fell back down. Henry laughed loudly. He kept laughing as we found a way around the wall.

    The day was consumed with finding good places to catch mice and sharing the Twolegs weird cat food. Drake and Henry kept talking about where the best food is found in this place and how to avoid the dangerous loner cats. Loners still wonder around the Twolegplace, scaring cats into giving them their food they took all day to find. Henry also taught Drake how to cross the various thunderpaths.  Everything was so huge. Drake had never really explored the territories of the twolegs before. He only stayed within his own den.

They found themselves heading into a dark path between two twoleg dens.  Henry said it was a shortcut to his twoleg's den. The ground was littered with inedible food and trash. The tall dens blocked out the sun and a big twoleg thing that carried trash was at the end of the path, allowing it easier to get over the next wall. However, something seemed to shift in the shadows ahead. Drake's whiskers twitch, and he stopped Henry by putting a paw in front of him.

"Drake, what's wrong?" Henry didn't see what Drake saw.

Two pairs of hazel eyes came out of the shadows and revealed themselves as cats. One was a big brown cat with ruffled fur on top of his head while the other was a white cat with a long tail. Both their claws were unsheathed. Henry backed away, but I stood still.

The white tom spoke with pride. "Why, if it isn't Henry? Where are you going? You haven't paid you due of food for awhile." He stepped closer.

Henry whispered into Drake's ear shakily. "Drake, these guys are a couple of the dangerous cats to avoid. They come from a loner group nearby. We need to get out of here. Now."

The white tom came closer with the big tom close behind. "And you have a friend. Now we can get double the food. Did you tell him that we require food everyday from cats like him."

Drake stood still and replied, "We're just passing through. We don't mean to cause any trouble."

"But we do." The path seemed to get darker as they crept closer to Drake. Henry was retreating many tail-lengths behind him.

Drake started to walk around the cats, but the big tom cut him off. When he tried again, the white tom blocked him.

The white cat jumped back. "Let's teach this new cat what we do to cats when they don't pay their due of food, shall we Garve?" The big tom stepped forward and raised a claw.

Before Drake could react, Garve scratched him across the face, knocking Drake back onto the ground. Drake hit the ground hard, with blood streaking down the side of his face. It hurt, badly. Garve rushed to Drake while he was still on the ground. He lifted his claws, ready to scar Drake for life.

Suddenly, Henry came out of nowhere and headbutted Garve in the flank, barely making Garve fall. He staggered, but Henry attacked again just in time, unsheathing his claws and wildly scratching Garve. It wasn't long until the white cat joined in the fight as well. They were all in a deadly tussle. Drake took the time to recover to his feet. He was breathing heavily. He wanted to help Henry, but what good was he. He was knocked down with one hit. Drake finally realized, he was helpless.

Henry jumped out of the tussle and faced the two loners. "Leave us alone Kurk!"

The white cat clumsily got to his feet. A scratch on his face went across his mouth. "Oh no. You deserve to die now, you pathetic rabbit pellet eater." He charged at Henry with Garve. Henry steadied himself. Such bravery. Drake felt inadequate.

Kurk slid around Henry and scratch him from behind. Garve hit Henry in the flank, throwing him to the ground. Both Kurk and Garve smile maliciously as they approached Henry. Drake thought to himself, get up Henry!

Kurk went to clawing Henry all over his body. Henry went to trying to get up, but Garve held him down while he suffered against Kurk's sharp claws. Drake watches in horror as he saw blood starting to cover Henry's fur. Henry struggled to oppose Garve's strength, but it was useless.

"Stop!" A loud voice rang around the whole path. Immediately, Kurk halted his attacks. Garve spat on the ground next to Henry and let go of him. While Garve started to walk away, Kurk was huffing his breath, holding one paw on Henry still. The voice rang out again, "Kurk, stop now!" Drake saw the source of the voice.

A small black tom with a purple collar on was standing on the top of the wall. Worst of all, not only did he have killer blue eyes, he had teeth on his collar. Dog and cat teeth. No... It couldn't be... The leader of BloodClan?.. Scourge?!

Kurk retreated next to the small black cat and bowed to him. Then, the black cat looked at Drake and smiled. "Congratulations, young one." His voice was deep unlike cats his size. He must have already been 30 moons old. "You were first to witness you future leaders of the twolegplace powress. First to see the new BloodClan."

Drake gulped, and staggered out, "You're... You're Scourge. But I thought y-you were dead."

"I am not Scourge." With his tail, he signaled for Kurk and Garve to leave. As they left, the black tom turned around to follow. "Scourge never died. His name has been marked over the hearts of innocents and I have been given the opportunity to follow in his footsteps and conquer all cats. For I... am his grandson." He left with the eerie wind. A new threat was rising, and Drake felt absolute terror. Blood Clan was uprising once more.

Drake ran over to Henry quickly. He stood over him, seeing all the gashes on Henry's side and neck. "Henry, what should I do?"

He breathed out his words heavily. "Go... get help my boy... find the twolegs... they're our only hope." His bleeding wasn't stopping. Drake tried to stop the blood by holding the wound. Drake started to cry.

"They won't get here in time. Henry tell me what to do!"

Henry looked at Drake with his wide eyes of his. He wore a smile like a mask, hiding his pain. "Drake... you're old enough to... make your own choices. It makes me content... to see you grew up better... than those mouse-brains."

"Henry, don't talk like that. I've only truly known you for a day. I need you! You are a good uncle to me! A good father!" The blood wasn't stopping, and Drakes paws were covered in red. He kept looking around for help, but it wasn't coming. Drake's tears streaked down his face. "I need you!"

Drake stood with empty eyes, taking his paws off of Henry's body. Drake looked toward where that black cat had disappeared. Why!? Why are these cats so evil, he thought. My first actual friend, killed before I even got to know him. Drake howled with the sun's fading glow over the mountains, turning the sky red.

And he could have done something.