The Broken Cat

Chapter 1

Jubilant cries echoed around the stone hollow. Kits were being born! So far, Mistflower had given birth to two healthy toms, one black and one a tabby. The father, Rowenheart stared on proudly, eyes crinkled happily as he looked at his sons.

"That's it, Mistflower!" Poppyseed (the medicine cat) exclaimed. "Two kits are a blessing for any clan."

Mistflower warmly nudged her two kits towards her, and they rested their little paws on the inner part of her stomach.

"They're so beautiful," Mistflower whispered. "The little black one looks just like you, Rowenheart."

Rowenheart fluffed the fur on his chest proudly. "They'll make fine warriors one day."

Cats had started to drift away, some coming up to congratulate Mistflower. Poppyseed had run off to prepare bundles of herbs for the kits if they wouldn't sleep at night. Mistflower shut her eyes sleepily and rested her head on the soft grass by the nursery.

It was two hours later when she felt an unimaginable pain. Mistflower awoke at once, wondering if someone was attacking her. Her belly ached terribly, making her eyes blurry and chest heave for breaths.

"Rowenheart!" She called, flinching painfully. It hurt to speak too. Rowenheart was there in a few seconds.

"What's wrong?" he asked in alarm, staring at his mate.

"Get... Poppyseed."

"You want some poppy seeds? Its kind of early for those," Rowenheart started to walk away in direction of the medicine cats den.

"NO!" Mistflower screeched as a convulsion shook through her body. "Get Poppyseed! Now!"

Rowenheart charged to the medicine den and came back seconds later with the medicine cat. Cats were starting to peer out of their dens again, woken by Mistflowers distress call. Mistflower could see Poppyseed peer over her.

"What's wrong?" she asked, as another convulsion shook Mistflower.

"Oh I don't know," Mistflower groaned. "I was fine a second ago!"

Rowenheart gently moved the kits to sit beside him, as he watched his mate shake in pain. Poppyseed laid a paw on Mistflowers belly, and then took it off in alarm.

"Mistflower, I know what the problem is," Poppyseed said.

"What? Just get rid of it, it hurts!"

"I don't know how to tell you this," Poppyseed said in confusion. "But your giving birth to another kit."

Shocked meows echoes around the watching cats.

"But I just gave birth! Weren't they all supposed to come out all at once?"

"Well, I think so..."

"You're the medicine cat!" Mistflower cried. "Tell me what to do!"

Poppyseed looked scared. "Well, I guess all you can do is give birth to this kit."

Mistflower gave a sigh of relief as the kit fell against the grass. The kit was born. Poppyseed licked the small kit to keep her warm, and Mistflower lifted her head to look at it.

"It's a beautiful white she kit," Poppyseed meowed, and Mistflower felt her heart warm at the sight of her daughter. She nudged her over.

"Come here little one," she whispered. The kit fell on its side to her mothers belly. Then Mistflower saw it. So did Poppyseed, who let out a squeak of surprise.

"She has three legs," she gasped, echoing Mistflowers fears. The kit had only one hind leg. Mistflower didn't know what to say. Then Rowenheart came into view.

"We have a daughter!" He cried in happiness. "She's beautiful, she's..." Rowenhearts eyes darkened. "She's got three legs," he finished in disgust. Mistflower felt defensive at her mates reaction.

"She's perfect,"she snapped. "Who cares if she has three legs?"

The little kit opened her mouth and cried. Rowenheart stared at his daughter for another second then turned away.

"I need to go help Briarstorm with her hunting patrol," he said, then started walking away. Mistflower felt anger rise in her heart at the coldness Rowenheart was showing. She looked down at the tiny kit, wriggling blindly in the cold. It was leaf-bare, and a cruel one if that. How would a three legged kit survive? How would she fight or hunt? Mistflower looked helplessly up at Poppyseed. She returned her gaze with a nod of her head, answering Mistflowers thoughts.

There was no hope for the little kit.

"Mistflower, it's time," Poppyseed said solemnly. Mistflower didn't have the will to respond. Yesterday, Poppyseed had a dream of the three legged kit. She was a bad omen, and Poppyseed intercepted that misfortune will live with the Clan. When the broken one leaves, the Clan will heal. The Clan leader had the cats vote on whether or not the kit should be banished ... Mistflower cried when she saw Rowenheart agree. A few elders had gone against it, but nearly every cat had voted for the same thing: The broken cat must leave. Mistflower licked her daughter softly on her head and tried not to let the tears that had risen to her eyes fall. Tanglestar slowly walked over to Mistflower, cowering over her kit.

"Mistflower, we are not banishing your daughter. We are banishing the evil she threatens to bring to our Clan."

"How can an innocent kit bring evil?" Mistflower cried.

"This is the will of Starclan," Tanglestar said. "And who would we be to deny the destiny they have lain out before us?"

"Starclans wrong!" Mistflower hissed. "My daughter is not the destruction Starclan is promising us!"

"Mistflower, the Clan voted. Give me Amissa."

"Give you who?"

"Amissa," Tanglestar repeated. "That's what i've decided to call her. She is lost to us." (Amissa is the Latin word for lost.)

"No," Mistflower growled. "You are lost to her! She's better off without you lot anyway!" Tanglestar looked at Mistflower neutrally.

"She will die quickly, you know. And painless. No one will even know. No one will see her, because of her white pelt. And no one will hear her, she will be quiet like the snow." Mistflowers eyes stung.

"This is cruel, Tanglestar. I'll never forget this."

"You can do whatever you want," Tanglestar snapped. "But I'm getting this omen of destruction out of our home," reached forward and picked up Amissa by her scruff.

"No!" Mistflower cried, lunging forward. Two cats jumped in front of her, as Tanglestar ran off towards the freezing white forest with Mistflowers beloved daughter.

later on

"I mean, I don't know who Scourge thinks he's fooling," Bone said in disgust. "If he thinks we're gonna find prey out here he's got another thing coming."

"Stop your complaining and stay alert," Boulder snapped. "If we don't find something who knows what could happen to us?"

"Yeah. Right. He's barely older then a kit," Bone stopped in his tracks and hunched down. "I see something!" he hissed. Boulder looked around and didn't see it at first. It looked like a snow pigeon, stuck in the snow.

"Just wait till Scourge gets a load of this," Boulder said. "It'll be the first live prey in weeks!" he dropped into the hunters crouch and slithered like a snake over to the thrashing prey. Bone stood and watched, careful not to make a noise to frighten the bird. Then to his surprise, Boulder came crashing through the snow back towards him.

"What are you doing?" Bone hissed. Boulder looked stricken.

"There's a kit over there!" he exclaimed.

"What? No," Bone scoffed. "What would a kit be doing in the middle of the forest?"

"I don't know," Boulder said. "But there's a kit that is going to freeze to death soon if we don't do something!"

"So we're going to help it? Scourge would die laughing if he could hear us."

Boulder looked back over his shoulder. "But... we can't just let it die," he said quietly. "Do you really think Scourge is so heartless he'd kill a baby kit?"

"Well, no." Bone flattened his ears when he realized he didn't want to hurt the kit either. "Fine. Let's take it back to the alley. And if Scourge flips on us, you're taking the blame," he started trudging through the snow towards the kit.

"Go tell him what we found," Boulder whispered.

"Me? You do it!"

"I can't. I'm busy sorting the leaves," Boulder patted the leaves with his paws.

"You're full of crap! Just go in there and say, "Hello Scourge, we found a kit!"

"Really?" a new voice entered there conversation. Scourge stood before them, calmly looking at the white kit. Scourge was a very small cat, with a collar of dog teeth around his neck. His green eyes were accusing, and his mouth was always twisted into a permanent frown. He wasn't even half the size of the other cats, this being because he only seven months old. But he was mean, everyone in Bloodclan knew that. And he was their leader. When Bone realized Scourge was standing there, he nearly leaped out of his fur. Boulder just stood there, petrified.

"Ahem," Scourge sarcastically cleared his throat. "Boulder, I'm not going to eat you."

Boulder forced himself to relax.

"Where did you find this?" Scourge disgustedly prodded the kit with a paw.

"In the forest, by herself. It would have been heartless to leave her there," Bone said quickly. Scourge pushed the kit over to examine her, and narrowed his eyes in surprise.

"She's missing a leg," he said.

"Yes, but I'm sure the other three work fine-"

"Shut up!" Scourge snapped. "Get her out of my sight! What made you possibly think I'd want her?" he turned around and stalked away. Bone sighed, and picked up the kit gently by her scruff. Boulder followed him, expecting Bone to carry her out to the streets, but instead, he carried her to his box at the end of the alley.

"What are you doing?" Boulder hissed. "Scourge said to get rid of her!"

"He did, didn't he?" Bone snapped. "And he also told me to get rid of my own son, just because he was half-kittypet! How many innocent cats are going to die because of Scourges cruelty?"

The kit opened her mouth and let out a cry.

"Well, Bone, I won't stop you from keeping it. Good luck feeding it, though." The kit was obviously hungry. She nuzzled Bone blindly, searching him for something a tom cat couldn't provide.

"I'll go ask Mink," Bone shuffled out of the den. He returned a few minutes later with a skinny grey she-cat, who had agreed to suckle the three legged kit.

"Maybe if she grows strong, Scourge will see that she's not worthless after all," she said quietly. Boulder could see that Bone felt a special connection to the kit, the way he looked at her reminded him how he had used to look at his son before he was banished to the streets. Maybe this kit could heal the loneliness in his heart, Boulder thought. The kit could smell Minks milk and tried to move towards her. The kit drank for a while, then curled up in her belly and began to sleep.

"What should we call her?" Mink asked. Bone looked at the white kit, and thought for a moment.

"Snowy," he said at last.