Chapter 1

Cold. Wet. The mud seeped in between his toes and stuck to his fur like a parasite, while the rain-though slowed by the intertwining branches and dark slick leaves of the bush his mother was shoving him into-penetrated his kitten fur and made him shiver uncontrollably. Despite the pouring onslaught, he could see his mothers fur sticking up along her spine, and the heat emanating from her paws nearly burned him. She was murmuring something hurriedly and kept making quick glanced behind her.The kitten blinked up at her and cried for milk, cried for warmth and safety from the cold and slippery ground. She silenced her kit with a short and fierce hiss, and continued her chant. When the words stopped pouring from her mouth, a sweet scent enveloped the kit, and a warm glow blew from his mothers mouth and around his. She leaned forward and nuzzled her kit, taking in his scent one last time.

"Be safe, Fa'endel." Her voice wreathed around him like a warm promise, and he mewled lightly and licked her cheek. He felt a drop of warm rain slide onto his cheek. He wiped it away with his tongue. Warm, salty rain.

She was pulled backwards from the thicket by force. Black claws had sunken deep into her shoulders and she was thrown to the mud with a splash. Scarlet stained the ground around her. For a brief moment, the kitten wondered if he could go out and play in this interesting red rain, before he realized the weird liquid came from his mothers shoulders. His eyes widened and he felt his fur spike. For voices reached him, harsh, low, whispering voices. Voices that seemed to come from inside his very head, calling to him, lulling him into a strange sense of submission. It was coming closer, becoming louder, more demanding. Not quite here.Then his mothers sweet scent reached his nostrils, and the strange thoughts stopped.

"Where is the child?!" A snarl made his ears prick. Why were they being so mean? He heard a fierce spit in return, and guessed it was his mother. Then a pained shriek that was cut short.
"Best to tell me, before he gets here." The snarl became a menacing growl, his words laced with meaning. Fa'endel pushed through a few branches to poke his face into a cover of leaves where he could see out. A large tabby tom was poised rigid over his mother, with claws black as night pinning the skin on her sides to the ground. She writhed in pain, but his claws were stuck fast. His mother panted in pain and exhaustion.

"You can't have him!" His mother hissed, her ears flat against her head. Mud slicked her once sleek fur, mud that was tinted crimson. Fa'endel saw the tom flex his claws, digging them farther into his mother. She whimpered, but didn't yowl.

"That, my dear, is what you think."
The voices. They came in a flood, but not in Fa'endels head. They were scattered around him, and he heard them. So many, whispering intently, conjoining as one rasping voice, there were so many and yet one at the same time. Different tones, demonic voices, voices that told stories of anger and sorrow and the dark things in the night. They pierced his being, his ears, and he longed to pull his paws over his ears and stop them from reaching him.

His mother grew still. The sounds of struggle faded away, and the sloshing of the mud ceased.
"Release her. You have done nothing."
 The tabby immediately staggered off of his mother. As soon as his paws hit ground, he crumpled, shaking uncontrollably. An unearthly moan escaped his lips, his eyes squeezed shut as he cried out in sheer agony, but not from pain. Something was inside him, something pulling the strings in his conscience. Plucking the cogs away, throwing them to darkness to never be found.

"Areun. Tell me," the voices grew strong and sounded almost reassuring. "tell me where he is."
the queen wriggled and closed her eyes, then opened them wide again, fighting a force that remained unseen. Her paws worked at the ground, digging themselves deeper and deeper into the black mud.

"N....never..." She groaned softly, her paws now elbow deep in mud. She let out a small quiver, eyes rolling back into her head, and fighting to stay upright.

His eyes narrowed and flashed. A shadow seemed to swirl around him, dark and churning, reaching out towards the living. He stalked to where she was and crouched next to her, bringing his face close to hers. Fa'endel strained to hear what the exchange between him and his mother was, but he could not hear. The voices were too loud, blotting out almost every other noise. He could hear the shadow searching for him, calling his name. He fought to resist, until he found her scent again. Then the voice stopped.

A yowl full of rage filled the air. No, not one yowl. Many. Filling the air with loud and voracious sounds, louder than a forest fire. The tom leaped up from his mother, Areun, and snarled. His pupils small with undying anger, almost nonexistent.
"Fine! Your choice is made!" The shadow around him pulsed and grew, throbbing with a kind of life that should never exist. It sunk into the ground, and now the mud around Areun pulsed, swished like waves on the lake when a storm came. The mud rose around her as the ragged tom stalked away. The tabby followed quickly, apparently jostled from his nightmare when the tom had walked away. Sensing the voices grow dim, Fa'endel leaped from where he hid as the mud pulled around at his mother, wrapping her in its cold clutches and pulling her down. Fa'endel skidded to a halt and mud splashed his face, but he dug. Dug around his mother, pulled the sucking, greedy mud from her back, churned his paws as fast as he could, but still she sank. He grabbed her ear with his teeth and tasted the tang of salt and bad water, but he tugged with all his might.
"Mother!" He cried, digging at the mud around her neck. "Wait! No!!" Her eyes were rolled back into her head, and she had her mouth open in a soundless wail-or a fight for breath, as the mud encasing her was crushing her chest. Fa'endel cried, trying to tangle his mothers cheek fur in his claws, to no avail. His claws were too tiny and soft from running and from saturating in the sticky mud.
"Mommy! NOOOO!" He wailed, rain battering him and getting in his mouth, making him splutter. But as her ears sank below the churning mud, he kept digging, hoping for his paws to brush fur, wanting to glimpse her just one last time. But it was no use.

Areun was gone.

He sunk to the ground, wishing the mud would pull him in too, so he could be with her forever. Tears spilled from his eyes and he knew. He knew that if he had dug just a bit harder, or jumped out a second sooner, he could have saved her. She wouldnt have to be....gone. He curled up in the rain, sobs racking his whole body, murmuring and crying for his mother.

...........

"Fa'endel? Fa'endel!!"
He shook his head slightly, jostled from his daydreaming by the loud, aggravating voice.

"Wh...What?" He looked around, his eyes finally resting on the lithe brown she-cat. "What is it?"

"You were spacing off again." she giggled, batting her eyes and twitching her whiskers in amusement. He took an inward sigh.

"Oh. Sorry Twizit." She was so annoying. Always stories, stories, and guess what? More stories. He could care less if she wandered off one day and wasn't back for evening meal. But he had to stay with her, as she was the only one who would put up with him.
"It won't happen again." a complete lie.