Broken Fire

The Story Of Emeraldstar's leadership- from the point of view of many different cats.
 * Emeraldstar- leader of ShadowClan at the time.
 * Leafdew- a ShadowClan queen who later returns to warrior duties
 * Breakingkit- a kit, later to become Breakingdawn, a warrior
 * Nightslash- A warrior
 * Cinderscatter- The Medicine Cat
 * Eagereyes- Deputy
 * Cherrykit- Sibling of Breakingkit, later to become Cherryflower, the medicine cat (apprentice)

Prologue (Emeraldstar)
"Hey Firepaw!" called Amberblaze. Boy, did she have a voice like a foghorn.

"Amberblaze!" complained Firepaw, licking his paw and drawing it over one ear, "You don't HAVE to shout like that when I'm right next to you."

"Oh, right." Amberblaze lowered her voice, looking apologetic.

The sun shone over the pine needles of the trees, and dew hung from the branches, the dappled sunlight throwing tiny rainbows everywhere. Sometimes, even the ShadowClan camp could be beautiful. But for me, from the view I get of it, RiverClan territory's the best. Amberblaze is the cat foghorn, and Firepaw's the Clan moaner. Me? I'm the Clan leader.

But I wasn't always the Clan leader. The kits think so, yes, but they're too young to remember Rubystar. Maybe Mintpaw remembers her out of the apprentices, but the rest don't. At least, I don't think they do. Soon, the kits will be elders, and they'll be telling the new kits about when I was leader. Not every cat gets nine lives, you know, and I want to make the most of them.

Most leaders think the nine lives are the most important thing. The leaders that think that often turn out to be greedy tyrants, like that Tigerstar that the elders tell the kits about. It's the pride and honour that comes with Clan leadership, and the trust, that matters the most.

Chapter One (Leafdew)
Oh, StarClan. You must be guarding my kits from harm, yes, you must. If you weren't, they'd have broken their little necks a long time ago. Barely four moons old and bouncing around the nursery like lunatics.

"Cherrykit, come here!" I stroke her head with my tail. She's just as bouncy as her sister, maybe even a teensy bit more bouncy. She wriggles and squirms like a trapped mouse, she does.

"You're not going to clean me again, are you?" she asks. Several bits of her tortoiseshell fur stick right up, and both her ears are folded in on themselves. She detests cleaning time.

"No," I reply soothingly. "But I will if you roll in the mud again. You can't get that messy and not be cleaned."

Breakingkit was rolling around in the mud. "Oh, StarClan." I sigh, releasing Cherrykit. She scampered off towards him, her eyes glowing with mischief. I know that look too well. Soon there'll be two kits rolling in the mud.

Looks like it might be cleaning time when they're finally done getting dirty. I just know it. Screaming from Cherrykit is inevitable. Earache, here I come!

Chapter Two (Breakingkit)
"Oh, no!" I cry, as Cherrykit splashes me with water. "You're going to make me clean!"

Cherrykit smiles cheekily. "That's the point, mousebrain. Mother'll clean us up anyway, you know she will."

I had to admit she had a point. But it was no excuse. So I pushed Cherrykit into a puddle. It was funny watching her try to get up. I got splashed a fair bit by her while she got to her paws, but it was worth it. Yes, it was. She was ENTIRELY clean. Ha...

Seething, she got to her paws. She had that maniacal glint in her eyes, that "You're never going to get away with this!" look that I hated. I jumped in another puddle, to make myself clean, and ran towards Leafdew as if there was no tomorrow. Mother sheltered me from Cherrykit, who looked ready to rip out several pawfuls of my cream fur.

"Cherrykit..." Leafdew began in that warning tone. The look in Cherrykit's eyes died down, but her tail flicked irritably from side to side, and while Mother wasn't looking, shot me a filthy look from those fierce green eyes. Boy, I've never forgotten that look. It's haunted my dreams for many moons.

"I'm going to play with the other kits." I mew quietly, trying deliberately to stay away from Cherrykit. She, of course, sucks up to Mother by dozing off beside her. Stupid sister.

Chapter Three (Nightslash)
I watch the kits tumble around. They're the funniest members of the Clan, except maybe Reindeerpaw. I still don't know why Darkeningsky called her that. It's not like she's suddenly sprouted antlers or something ridiculous like that. I know reindeer play a part in Twoleg myth, but I still don't care about that. Twolegplace is lit up with lights during the leaf-bare season, and there's always a reindeer with a red nose against the window. Probably one of those sticky Twoleg things children wear.

But it's not leaf-bare now, so Twolegplace is as boring as ever. Not that it's ever INTERESTING,'for StarClan's sake, just in leaf-bare it's a little brighter, so the atmosphere lightens up too. Whenever I go there it reminds me that I used to be a kittypet. ShadowClan didn't exactly like me at first, but Emeraldstar's no fool. She won't turn down an opportunity to show the other Clans that we are strong, especially those snobs ThunderClan.

Loads of ThunderClan seem to be surprised that such a graceful she-cat could ever lead ShadowClan. If you've ever heard those rumours about us being evil and all that... that's ThunderClan trying to discriminate us. I've always thought that.

"Nightslash!" Eagereyes calls. He's the deputy, you know. He used to be my mentor, and yes, like every apprentice, I hated being told what to do. I'm a warrior and he still tells me what to do. I bound over to him, not excited. He always looks excited, that's why they called him Eagereyes. Pretty obvious, that. Really obvious.

Chapter Four (Cinderscatter)
Cherrykit's caught herself again. Yes, again. She does it far too much, even for a kit. But something comes out of it every single time. Today, I found out that she's scared of spiders. But she is rather chatty. She could talk a cat's ear off. Really she could, I've heard her rabbit on for hours. I must be the only cat that can tolerate her nattering.

Leafdew's sulking because she can't get the kits to stop scuffling. And Eagereyes is encouraging them, which doesn't help. Leafdew has tried to talk to him about it. But you know Eagereyes; the default excuse. If he sucks up to Emeraldstar any more, soon he'll be training all the kits.

If Eagereyes gets his way, I'll be treating every single kit at least once per day. I need an apprentice, as somehow I feel that he will.

Chapter Five (Eagereyes)
Cherrykit looks like a promising warrior. I can't get her to see sense though. She seems convinced that her path leads to the medicine den. Well if she wants to play it that way... Breakingkit, however, listens to me without hesitation. They're misbehaving for Leafdew, though. I didn't think that Skyslash would take that. Skyslash has quite the temper.

Cherrykit can climb trees well, pretty stealthy too- I really should stop going on about her- but Breakingkit? He's as clumsy as a blind fox. I need to teach him to concentrate rather than chase his tail, or butterflies. It tends to be butterflies, but I guess that's kits. But it's my job to turn playful kits into obedient warriors. Or rather obedient robots. Ha ha.

Yes, I know that I laugh like a witch. I'm the evil maniac dude of the story, I know, but I'm not really an evil maniac dude, if you catch my drift. It's just the way the writer portrays me, I'm like...uh... an evil dude that's not an evil dude...

I'll stop now before I confuse you- wait, maybe if I confuse you I can hypnotize you- oh, Eagereyes, stop thinking like an evil maniac and give the Twoleg thing to Emeraldstar already!

Chapter Six (Cherrykit)
I moan a lot, yes, but not as much as Firepaw. I hope he can't read minds, or he'll start saying "Hey!" and everyone'll think he's mad. Won't make any difference with me, y'know, as I already think he's mad. But it will for the rest, especially Tigertalon, his mentor. I admire Tigertalon's patience; if I was Firepaw's mentor, I'd have given up long ago.

I know I talk like a warrior. Picked that up from Mother, I guess. Maybe from that ThunderClan warrior Featherdream, too. Only ThunderClan cat Emeraldstar gets on with apart from their medicine cat. Quite a good friend of Cinderscatter's.

Scampering outside to join Breakingkit, I screech to a halt when I see Eagereyes training him. Typical. Breakingkit never has time for me any more. I'm just his sister.

Chapter Seven (Emeraldstar)
Those kits... still as obnoxious as ever.