Shattered

Shattered

Shattered is a Warriors fanfiction series by Mistleheart. It consists of five books: The Spirits of the Dawn, Fading Shadows, River's End, Night's Silence, and The Last Twilight.

Note: No indentations are included in this story, due to the 'Tab' key failing to operate correctly, instead sending the mouse to the comments.


 * -|The Spirits of the Dawn=

Prologue
It was a cold leaf-bare night in the abandoned Twoleg den. Eerie silence echoed through the forest beyond, tainting the air with an icy coldness; the only sound was the quiet chirping of crickets in the still distance. Hazy mist rolled along the soft forest earth. The white fencing around the abandoned Twoleg garden glowed deathly pale in the calm light of the moon.

A dark shadow moved swiftly though the garden, cautiously weaving its way around thickets of rose bushes and old stone paths. The garden was huge - it seemed almost like the forest itself. Willows swayed around a rippling pond not far away, and gnarled climbing trees towered around a clearing the shadow was heading towards.

As the shadow moved out from the shade of the claw-shaped climbing trees, moonshine lit up its face. She was a beautiful silver tabby cat with white paws and lamp-like green eyes. The cat didn't hesitate to duck into the clearing, where a dark gray-blue tom was pacing.

The gray tom's golden gaze wandered over tot he silver tabby as she padded slowly towards him. "Fern?"

She bowed her head. "Yes, it's me." Although she sounded comfortable speaking with the dark gray tom, there was a note of uneasiness in her voice, although it was small. "What did you want with me?"

The gray tom turned in a circle as if calculating what to say next. Finally, he spoke. "I don't want anything with you. There are important matters to discuss."

"Important matters," the silver tabby she-cat murmured. "With me? Why would you want to discuss important matters with me, Cobalt?"

Looking fairly surprised, the dark gray tom glanced at her. "Hmm. Well, I suppose I could say that..." Uncertainty made his voice edgy. "...you'd be the easiest to talk with. Or, rather, I'd prefer to talk with a more quiet cat."

Fern held herself back from glaring at him. "Okay, I'm listening."

"It's Dagger," Cobalt muttered. His golden eyes swept around the clearing as if he were watching out for something dangerous. "He's getting harsher by the day. Yesterday, he attacked Sky because she asked a dumb question."

"What are you suggesting?" Fern snapped. "I can't stop Dagger. He's unstoppable."

Cobalt flinched back, his yellow eyes wide with shock. "I'm not asking you to stop him!" he protested. "I - uh - I just wanted to..."

Fern must have sensed his uncomfortable thoughts, for her voice softened considerably. "I'm sorry for snapping," she meowed. "I get stressed sometimes. So what did you want to say to me?"

"Dagger's daughter."

Fern's eyes widened. She glanced around nervously the clearing. "You mean Hawk?" she whispered, eyes darting back and forth from the garden to Cobalt, who was nodding to confirm the thought.

"Yes, Hawk," he mewed, flicking his bushy tail. "Her mother is dead, remember?"

Fern didn't respond. It was already clear to every cat under Dagger's cruel rule that Dagger had killed his own mate, Hawk's mother.

"I caught Hawk yowling at Dagger a few days ago," Cobalt explained to Fern's understanding gaze. "She was saying that it was all his fault that something had happened, but I don't know what." Frustration made his tone sharp. "Then Dagger lashed out and caught Hawk on the nose and he boomed something so loud I couldn't understand. Hawk ran off towards where I was eavesdropping, and I fled." He shook his head indecisively. "There's something about that cat that always makes me nervous whenever I see her."

"Hawk?" Fern's astonished voice rang through the garden. "She's only a kit. You're nervous of - "

Cobalt hissed, crouching lower to the ground. "Keep your voice down. I don't want to wake the other rogues."

Fern sighed. "Okay." She continued in a lower voice. "Why are you afraid of Hawk? She's barely four moons old at this point."

"She's bold," Cobalt murmured, "very bold for a kit. I don't believe that she dared to shout at Dagger, not after all the killing he's done. She thinks that he can change him, even though he's so..." The dark gray-blue tom straightened. "She told me once that he's misunderstood. Every time she passes me, my fur stands up on my neck."

"Dagger killed her mother and her two brothers," Fern reasoned. "That should be why she's so angry at Dagger. I'd be really furious if Dagger killed my mother and littermates."

"But would you have faced him like Hawk did? Would you have challenged him the way Hawk challenged him?" Cobalt asked.

Fern didn't answer for a long moment. "I suppose not."

"There's something special about Hawk," Cobalt grunted. "I can feel it. Maybe she'll be the rumored one to stop Dagger from destroying everything."

"Probably not," Fern growled, lashing her tail. "I think a more experienced cat like us has a better chance at the prophecy."

A cold feeling settled down on the clearing. Stars glittered in the dark night sky above like tiny chips of blue and white ice. A voice seemed to whisper in the depths of the garden:

The cry of the bird and the shade of the fog,

embraces the lone ones and saves the society.

The combined might of them both,

will struggle to devour the knife of doom.

Fern glanced around, her soft white-tipped ears flattened with fear. "It's not safe here," she hissed. "We should leave."

Both cats waited for the strange voice to speak again, but only silence greeted them. Eerie silence, which was enough to frighten both rogues.

Cobalt nodded in agreement. "Quickly. Let's just hope that Hawk will be enough to save us all, if she is the one," he added, concluding the conversation. The two young cats padded silently out of the clearing and vanished into the shadows.

Glaring amber eyes went unnoticed by the two rogues, peering out of the bush. As Fern and Cobalt disappeared, the cat with the amber eyes backed out of the bush he was hiding in and followed the two cats into the dark gloom.

The cry of the bird and the shade of the fog,

embrace the lone ones and save the society.

The combined might of them both,

will struggle to devour the knife of doom.

Chapter One
Shafts of sunlight from the rising sun dappled Hawk's tortoiseshell pelt and heated her white-patched fur as she trotted out of the abandoned Twoleg den. It was the morning to another day; however, Hawk wasn't excited as one should be. The warmth of the early sun or the fresh tingle of prey mingled with soft grass scents would never be a good promising start to the day. Hawk was already frightened. She could feel pale, malevolent yellow eyes following her as she emerged into the old garden, the grass soft under her pads. The pair of yellow eyes narrowed as Hawk sat down next to her friend Hazel, refusing to meet the malicious glint in his stare. The ring of rogue cats gathered around the cat with the narrowed yellow eyes, waiting in respectful - but frightened - silence for their leader to speak.

Hawk's father waited for every cat to settle down before snapping at Hazel, who had begun to lose interest and pick and flowers in the soft grass. "Pay attention, you worthless kit!"

The golden tabby she-cat leaped back, her electric-blue eyes flaring as Dagger bounded closer.

"What are you doing?" the small black tom snarled menacingly, his voice a low hiss. "Can't you figure that every cat is listening to me except for you?"

Hawk could only watch, helpless to her father's anger. "She hasn't done anything wrong," the tortoiseshell-and-white kit mewed in defense of her younger friend. "I mean, shouldn't you talk sooner than that if you want her to concentrate on you?"

Dagger whipped around, a growl building in his throat. "Stay out of this, Hawk," he sneered mockingly, eying her with distaste. "This is none of your business. You're growing as foolish as your mother once was." He turned back to Hazel with a smirk on his face.

Hawk froze at his words. She dug her claws into the earth and tried not to spring at her father. ''You're growing as foolish as your mother once was. ''Instead of attacking, Hawk took a deep breath and growled in response, "I'm not foolish, nor was my mother!" she snapped sharply.

"You never knew your mother well enough to see what a stupid cat she was!" Dagger's eyes blazed as he faced Hawk.

"That's because you killed her," Hawk meowed, her voice trembling. "You killed my mother, and all my littermates."

Did guilt momentarily flicker in his pale yellow eyes? Hawk thought that she had imagined it. But Dagger turned his back before she could register the expression on his face.

Bella, an older rogue who was sitting to the other side of the tortoiseshell she-cat, scooted closer to Hawk. The scrawny black she-cat's wide green eyes watched Dagger cautiously as he moved. Hawk imagined that she wasn't scared - just upset. Many of the rogues gathered around Dagger seemed miserable rather than frightened, which made Hawk uncomfortable. And angry.

Dagger glared at Hazel as she crouched lower to the ground. "Next time you daydream, you'll get something worse than this." His claw flashed out and caught Hazel directly on the nose with deadly accuracy.

The golden tabby she-kit leaped backwards with a squeak of pain. Blood welled on her nose, and her voice was husky.

Dagger sneered at her. "You deserved it."

Hazel's mother, Twinkle, blinked with shock. The beautiful silver she-cat sprang forwards. "No kit deserves that!" Fear edged her soft mew.

Dagger narrowed his eyes dangerously and mewed softly, "This one did."

Twinkle must've been frightened by his dark tone and slowly backed away, her green eyes glittering uneasily. Hazel whimpered quietly but didn't return to her paws, instead staying pressed against the ground.

Dagger finally left Hazel alone and returned to the center of the ring of cats, declaring loudly, "This kit has proposed a new law for the code of the streets!"

"What?" Hawk protested, unable to force herself back into her sitting position. "She didn't say anything that - "

Her father, like she had expected, ignored her. "No cat may daydream when the leader of the streets is speaking. No cat may defend an unreasonable cause. And no cat may argue, protest against, or wrong - " he shot Hawk a withering glare - "their leader."

Hawk opened her mouth again, but it was clear that Dagger wasn't going to let her speak. Instead, she started grooming her paw, her strokes become hard with her boiling anger.

Dagger sniffed, apparently pleased with her subsiding. "Patrols!" he announced. "Furnace, you lead a patrol near the forest border including Cobalt, Hawk, and Hazel."

"Hazel's only a kit, she can't - " Twinkle began, then faltered underneath the furious stare of Dagger.

"So is Hawk," the black tom responded. "She's been patrolling since she were 3 moons old. It's good practice for them, anyway." Without giving a chance for Twinkle to protest further, the black tom stalked off to assign more patrols.

The ring of cats cleared off to follow Dagger, so Hawk was left alone with Furnace, Cobalt, and Hazel. Twinkle hurried off after a concerned glance at her kit.

"What if we run into a forest cat patrol?" Hazel's eyes were as wide as moons, and the golden tabby she-kit still had a clotting scar on her nose.

"It's alright," Hawk mewed brightly, forcing Dagger out of her mind. "We'll chase them away and send them fleeing with their tails tucked between their legs!" Although she didn't enjoy Dagger's rule one bit, the patrols were exciting at the least. Especially their frequent encounters with the forest cats, who called themselves the 'Clans'. Hawk once managed a brief conversation with a young cat a few moons older than her before her father dragged her away.

"We'll try to avoid fighting, Hawk," Cobalt mewed.

The tortoiseshell she-cat dragged her golden gaze away from Hazel. Cobalt always seemed to act strange around her, always staring at her with expectancy in his eyes. "Okay," Hawk replied, trying to keep her tone even. "I - I suppose that could be okay."

Furnace, a dark gray, almost black tom stood up. His hard yellow eyes matched those of Dagger's, although there wasn't quite the cold glint in them; he was one of the cruel leader's supporters, although Hawk supposed that he had been forced to support Dagger not out of his own opinion, but Dagger's. "We should get going quickly," he rumbled. He was a senior guard, and was always chosen to lead patrols through his discipline and way of orders.

Dawn, a soft-furred tortoiseshell she-cat who had once been a kittypet, was leading another patrol with Ice, Bella, and Slither. The tortoiseshell moved closer to Hawk as she passed and whispered a single word in her ear. "Beware."

Hawk's fur prickled ominously as she glanced at the former kittypet. Her eyes widened. "Beware of what?" A chill crawled up her spine, and she shivered, even though the sun's shafts were warm and dappling her pelt through the swaying willow trees.

Dawn's eyes weren't focused; they were distant, staring over Hawk's shoulder now as if she hadn't said anything. "Beware," the tortoiseshell rogue repeated.

Hawk put more strength into her words. "Beware of what?" she demanded harshly, but Dawn had moved out of her trance and was rejoining her patrol.

Slither's mottled brown fur flashed past Hawk as he growled. "Dawn, hurry up."

The tortoiseshell she-cat glared back. "I'm leading this patrol, Slither, not you."

Dagger glared at both of them from the other end of the garden, where he was hissing something to his biggest supporter - Chill, a huge gray tom that towered over his leader. "Shut up!" Dagger snarled. "Shut up and get on with your patrols."

Hawk didn't wonder who any cat could talk so rudely, especially to his own cats. She held herself back from hissing defiantly, and instead dug her claws into the ground.

Chill sneered in agreement. "Mousebrains don't catch anything," he agreed, casting Dagger an appreciative glance. "You should be thankful that you get the privilege of leading a patrol, when you're nothing but an old kittypet."

Dawn's fur fluffed up with fury. "I'm not a kittypet anymore!"

"You were a kittypet, so you're still one." Chill's cold voice made Hawk dig her claws deeper into the earth.

Dawn glared back at the huge gray tom, who cast shadows over her. Dawn's icy eyes were blazing and outraged. "You get back to the shadows where you always hide!" she demanded.

Dagger stepped in. "Dawn, get out."

The tortoiseshell she-cat stared wide-eyed at her leader. "Get out?" she repeated, her ice-blue eyes widening. "You're telling me to get out?"

Apparently Dawn needed to learn the skill of tact, but Dagger ignored her rudeness. "Yes, get out. You have no honor. You don't respect elder cats - " he glanced at Chill, who was swiping his tongue around his muzzle with satisfaction - "so you must leave the rogues. You can only fend for yourself. You must become a loner."

Dawn flattened her ears. "I - I didn't m - mean to!" she protested guiltily.

To be continued