Bramblestar brambleclaw

Chronicles of Palm

Diamond

Palm wandered aimlessly through the desert, still distraught about Dragons death. They had barely been friends but so rarely in the desert did you get anywhere near that close to a cat, that any bond was to be treasured. The sand burned his paws under the midday sun, yet he didn’t not stop to rest, what was the point, he was going to die anyway, alone here in the desert with no oasis near by.
Vultures circled over head and Palm let out a cry of anger, vultures reminded him of Dragon, who had been thrown down a cliff by a grey tom, so the giant birds wouldn’t attack him.
When water appeared in his vision, Palm sprinted and then fell to the ground as he saw only sand around him, and a giant hill in front of his vision, with no water in sight. He let out a cry of anguish and fell to the ground sobbing and screaming. This was truly where he would die.
Suddenly he saw a greyish tom next to him.
“Leave me alone, you left Dragon to die and now your here to kill me,” he spat.
“Sorry dude, “ the tom mewed, “I think you’ve got the wrong guy.”
Then Palm noticed that this tom was blue grey and had super spiky fur unlike the grey tom, whose fur had been smooth as the sand.
“Don’t try and talk, you’re really thirsty, and I think you’re hallucinating.” the tom mewed, seeming cautious,” I’m Diamond, and when we get you back to the oasis, it’s just over the hill, you can tell me all about this Dragon character.”
Obeying Diamonds command not to speak, Palm nodded and followed after the tom, struggling to walk across the sand, as thirst took its toll.
The walk to the oasis was not far at all and Palm began to wonder, had he not given up, whether he would have found it without Diamonds help.
The blue grey tom had to drag him the last few metres, as he fell to the ground exhausted.
Finally he saw the water, and was on his paws sprinting to it. Collapsing in it, Palm Let his tongue rasp against the surface of the water, until he could finally stand up out of the pool.
After only a few steps, he fell again, but it felt good to finally drink and maybe…eat. Palm only just noticed, his ribs stuck right out of his pelt, and you could see nearly every bone in his body, especially now his fur was soaked and stuck to his flanks.
As if on cue, Diamond walked over, a tiny lizard in his jaws.
“That’s……… not ………fill……….up.” Palm rasped.
“I know that little dude,” Diamond shook out his spiky fur, “but if you eat too much your going to be sick, and no one wants to see that.”
Looking around, Palm saw that this oasis was teeming with cats.
“How old are you any way, dude you must have started travelling young.”Palm looked back at Diamond as he tucked into the lizard.
“Well my first travel was when I was half a moon old, the next oasis was only a tiny way away and my mother had already left me. And then I got to the next one and met Dragon I was probably around 2 moons , she was about a year old. And then I did a few more travels so now I’m ummmmmmm 5 moons old !”
Diamond looked down at him shocked and then ruffled Palm’s fur with his tail.
“Guess you never had much of a father figure then, I’ll teach you a few things and then when it’s time to travel we can go are separate ways with you, dude, better equipped to travel. And you can tell me more about Dragon.”
Palm smiled and then swallowed at the thought of Diamond travelling alone but he began to tell Dragon’s tale.
Time seemed to zoom by as Diamond taught Palm about herbs, which foods could fill up a cat in a few mouth fulls or only give them a short rush of energy and, one of the two cats most awkward conversations, about kittens.
But then the time came to move on and Palm was now coming up on six moons old and still not much bigger.
As the cats were preparing to leave there seemed to be a sandstorm brewing behind them.
Diamond turned round to Palm and mewed ,” Right now remember what I taught you especially about sandstorms, and remember, you are like a son to me and I will never forget you.”
As the cats prepared to leave the sandstorm was right next to the oasis, Palm ran up to Diamond.
“Let me come with you, I don’t want to lose you as well as Dragon.”
“Sorry dude,” Diamond licked Palm’s nose, “ it’s tradition, we have to do this alone.”
As he vanished into the sandstorm, Diamond cried out
“If you want to come in the same direction as me just stay out of sight and we can meet again !”
“No,” Palm screamed and chased after the spiky blue grey tom. Running through the storm was hard but Palm soon banged into Diamond near some rocks and nuzzled him.
“Palm what are you doing here you can’t travel with me !,” Diamond screamed,” and storm is too strong for you !!”
He shoved Palm into a crack in the rocks and pushed a palm branch over the entrance.
“Stay there until the storm is over !”
Then Diamond walked away from Palm, who had tears running down his cheeks, screaming after his father figure.
He watched helpless and the winds toyed with Diamond who was staying strong until he crashed against a rock and lay still.
Palm screamed as the winds pushed his body around until it was lost in the desert.
With all his might, the tiny tom pushed against the branch and suddenly it gave way and he was free. The wind and sand tossed him from side to side but he kept running, he would find Diamond, there was a chance he could still be alive somewhere. Then he felt blood on his paws and saw Diamonds body through the sand that swirled around him. Diamond breathed one last breath
“Son”
And then he was gone. Palm cried out in pain and ran but then winds picked him up and flung him against a rock.
Pain seared through him and blood soaked the ground.
“Dragon, Diamond, I will see you soon,” He mewed as the world went black.

——————————

I’ve got some fun facts about this one
Diamond always wanted to be a father but was always unable to have kittens. In his mind Palm is his biological son even though he knows it is not true

Palm never called Diamond father or dad because his real dad had left him the moment he was born because he was thought that Palm was a disappointment and hated his odd coloured eyes

Diamond is distantly, distantly related to Palm’s dad, who was called Alex ,and has met him before, and knew that he had abandoned a kitten because he thought it looked weird so but Diamond never accepted the link

Diamond thought that Palm was Alex’s son when he saw Palm’s eyes but as soon as he started talking to Palm he thought that the theory was wrong because such a nice cat could not have such a horrible parent.

Diamond knew he was going to die in that storm but accepted that it was his time. He was 5 years old and was starting to feel depressed that he had never befriended anyone

He regrets building such a strong bond with Palm as it led him into the storm.

Now this one might just have you in near tears
There is one realm that you can go to after you die, the realm is where you can visit living cats and the second is when you die in that realm you are gone forever

When Diamond died Harnor told him of his plans for Palm. Diamond did not want this for his son so tried to kill Harnor to stop him. He nearly succeeded. Harnor used to be a vivid yellow but Diamond left a massive red scar on his throat, so Harnor turned his pelt blood red to hide the fact that he had nearly died.
As punishment, Diamond’s spirt was killed by Harnor, but not before Harnor changed his form to look exactly like Palm so Diamond would have to suffer the cat he loved most killing him

I’m so sorry for the emotional rollercoaster

Chronicles of Palm

Harminbal –

He was dead, he had to be. Palm’s legs and body were on fire,and he sobbed with pain.Head falling to side he opened his eyes on last time and saw a large, fierce looking tom with lizard claw earrings holding his scruff. Amber eyes focused on the distance he was dragging Palm towards what looked like an oasis.
Huh, Palm thought , amber eyes just like Dragon. His breath quickened, Dragon was gone, Diamond was gone. Tears rolled down his cheeks and he let out a pitiful mew.
Finally after what seemed like hours of pain, the tom dropped him and Palm was finally able to get a good look at his pelt. It was a normal brown colour but had a strange white swirling patterns.
“Hey I’m Harminbal,” the toms voice was rough, “ yeah I know what your thinking, that’s a strange name, but it’s a tribe name so deal with it.”
Palm smiled and tried to speak but just coughed, small blood splatters landing on the ground.
“Woah there,” Harminbal mewed, “ you’re pretty bashed up, I think both your back legs and one of your front legs are broken, oh and you’ve got a palm branch stuck in your ear, let me get that, Ive got no idea how you got that stuck so bad.”
As Harminbal headed for his ear, Palm lifted himself up on his front leg that wasn’t broken and hissed at the tom.
“Don’t touch it,” He spluttered coughing up blood. “Well actually could you put another scratch in it like the one there already.” All his energy used up he collapsed on the ground and fell asleep before the strange tom could respond.
When he woke, Harminbal was still there, standing awkwardly above him, his eyes glancing from side to side.
“Well I’ve got some good news and bad news, “ his harsh voice sounded from above Palm ,” the good news is I’ve found some herbs that will help your throat so you can talk again, and your legs are only sprained, at least that’s what the healer said.”
“And bad ?” Palm mewed, careful not to speak to much.
“I won’t be able help you for long, my tribe is travelling again soon, and we all need to head in the same direction at the same time so I can’t wait behind.”
Palm smiled up at the tom as if gesturing that it was ok and he would heal. Quickly, he swallowed up the herbs, ignoring their tartness, hopefully he would be better soon.

“Get up, we need to do some excercises,” Harminbal mewed, Palm has been here for a week now and his voice was back to normal, and his legs were feeling a bit better. Yet with the good came the bad and Harminbal was forcing Palm to do excercises to help Palms legs recover before he left.
Grunting, Palm heaved himself up, and tried to shake some of the sand out of his pelt, but failing and landing in an even bigger mound of dust.
Harminbal huffed his form of laughter and grabbed the small toms scruff, lifting him as easily as a leaf.
As normal, Palm strained his legs to go into a crouch and then stand up, the sun beating down on his back was pleasant at first but less so when Harminbal told him to jump from one spot to another or stretch up on trees. Then the worst came, and a smirking Harminbal gestured to a palm tree. Lashing his claws out in fake attack, Palm limped over to the tree, feeling the eyes of all the other tribe cats on him. He put both forelegs on the tree digging his claws in and attempted to climb. Tension ripples through his legs as he ground his teeth together and tried to hold himself up on the tree whilst climbing it. He moved one paw, waiting for the fall that always followed him lifting it up off the bark. It didn’t come.
Cries of encouragement came from the crowds of cats as he pulled himself up further . Grinning with pride, Palm kept climbing, until he reached the branch that was his challenge.
Smiling down at the cats, he soaked up the applause excited. He jumped around on the branch until he lost his footing and fell. Feeling the air in his face again was amazing and he twisted his body the way that Diamond had taught him until he landed safely on the ground.
Harminbal walked over to cat, who Palm thought was called Mieginck
“You owe me that golden spotted lizard claw,” he laughed, a low guttaral laugh.
“No way,” Mieginck replied, “I’m taking you to the flat sand.”
“What’s going on ?” Palm asked the tribe healer, Kinkaroy, puzzled by what was unfolding before him.
“Basically Mieginck bet Harminbal a lizard claw if you managed to climb that tree before we left. But Mieginck doesn’t want to give his bet to Harminbal so he has challenged him to a battle, in a flat sand arena, which is why he said, taking to the flat sand.”
Palm whispered his thanks to Kinkaroy, and padded over to Harminbal, still with a bit of a limp.
“Be careful,” he whispered to the large tom, who scoffed at the suggestion.
“I’m a tribe cat, careful isn’t my vibe, at least not in battle.”

With no other choice Palm stepped back and watched the battle take place in front of him.
Kinkaroy stepped forward her tail swishing in anticipation,
“This battle is one of Flat Sand and cats fight till Sand Body.” She turned to Palm ,” or when they have been taken to the sand for three laps of the water. This battle is of Mieginck of the FireScars and Harminbal of the DuneFeathers. Begin !”

Harminbal charged at Mieginck and leapt on his shoulders, clawing at the black toms flanks. Sensing his attackers vantage point, Mieginck jumped and rolled to the side, muscles rippling under his thick pelt. Harminbal was thrown to the ground and a small fast looking tribe cat started running laps of the oasis. She went round twice before Harminbal rose and the crowd half hissed half sighed in relief. Mieginck didn’t waste any time before attacking again, clawing at Harminbal’s back leg.
Something changed in the toms eyes, and gone was the gentle, sometimes a bit rube giant that Palm knew and Harminbal flung himself round at Mieginck with a ferocity that Palm hadn’t seen before. He was a whirl wind of power and was even using his sharpened lizard claw earring to his advantage.
“The DuneFeathers are tough fighters,” Kinkaroy whispered, “ but they can be stupid and reckless, where as FireScars rely more on quick strike attacks and tricks.”
Palm watched in horror as Mieginck backed away, faking weakness. Harminbal laughed, preparing to hold the black tom to the ground to help him win.
Kinkaroy continued speaking to Palm,
“But Mieginck is both strong and a trickster.”
Palm didn’t have any time to react, when Mieginck leapt at Harminbals shoulder and put all his weight down.
Screaming in pain, Harminbal collapsed and the small, she cat ran three laps.
Cries of disbelief and happiness mingled in the air as Mieginck gloated over his victory.
Mieginck turned round to Harminbal, who was still laying on the ground and whispered something to him and the brown tom nodded.
“Me and Harminbal have decided that tensions are building too much, in two days we will travel again !”
Tails lifted in the air in agreement as the cats dispersed into their own place that they had claimed. Palm ran over to Harminbal, his paws kicking up lots of sand. The toms paws were flailing and he was struggling to stand. Worried, Palm offered his paw to help him up to Harminbal simply gritted his teeth and shook his head.
“Mieginck ! Kinkaroy ! I think he’s hurt !” Palm cried and the two cats ran over.
Kinkaroy didn’t say a word and went straight to checking his shoulder but Mieginck stood beside Palm, towering over the tiny tom as he lay his tail on his back.
“I’m so sorry,” Mieginck mewed his voice gentle, “ I didn’t mean to hurt him this badly.”
Kinkaroy turned round, a worried expression on her face, “ He’s going to live but his leg is all out of joint so he can’t hunt and it will take a moon to heal.”
Mieginck’s eyes went wide, and he growled at Harminbal ,” Oh you knew you were hurt this badly and you still agreed to travel, why can’t you just be careful for once !”
Kinkaroy looked at Mieginck, “You know what you have to do.”
A she cat with grey spots called Yrweya came up and lay next to Harminbal for a few seconds before licking his muzzle and padding off after Mieginck
By the serious look on Kinkaroy’s face Palm decided that now was not the time to ask questions. He grabbed Harminbal’s scruff in his jaws and helped the giant tom stand up. As the sun set, Palm brought back food for Harminbal who simply stared into space and would not speak a word.

The time came for the tribe cats to travel and Harminbal was barely better. He was able to walk but couldn’t even think about running or hunting. As the cats were gathering together to leave Palm stood with Mieginck and Kinkaroy. The black tom had barely left Harminbal’s side and Palm could see that guilt was eating away at him. A blue grey she cat that Palm has never seen before emerged from the bushes and surveyed the cats.
“The time to travel comes again and I will remind you of the rules of the journey. We travel as a group but we are separate, you may not help any other cat with anything unless a cat is in child birth, but as far as I know no kittens are expected. If you break these rules you all know what will happen. We have had a guest with us but I understand that he will not be joining us.”
The she cat stopped and Palm knew that no more would be said so he simply nodded at her.
When the she cats words sunk in Palm looked shocked at Harminbal, he couldn’t hunt and if no cat hunted for him, he would die. Mieginck turned to Palm and smiled,
“That earring is where you keep track of deaths that matter to you, isn’t it.”
Palm nodded and Mieginck unsheathed his claws and added a scratch alongside the ones already there.
Tears welled in Palms eyes as Kinkaroy came and made the scratch thicker with her own claws. Another she cat, who Palm thought was called Yreweya came forward and did the same, nuzzled Harminbal as she walked away, Palm guessed that they were mates, accepting that this was good bye
“He’s not going to die, I won’t let him !” Palm cried, the tears flooding freely as Harminbal tried to add his mark.
But Kinkaroy and Mieginck stood in his way.
Mieginck turned to face Palm, and solemnly mewed
“Those marks aren’t for him, they are for us, Harminbal will live to see you again.”
And then they sprinted off after the other cats Harminbal following as fast as he could, none of them looked back.

Feeling suddenly alone, Palm waited two days before following the path they took his paws following it instinctively, he would not let Mieginck and Kinkaroy die. He would get to Harminbal and beg him to travel with him instead of the tribe, he would drag him if he needed.
His paws were sore when he finally found the tribe again, it had been nearly a moons long travel and he had barely stopped. The oasis that they were gathered at was teeming with cats and Palm scanned for Harminbal’s face, maybe he had survived, maybe the leader had made exceptions.
But he couldn’t see Harminbal but he could see Kingkaroy, Mieginck and Yrweya surrounded by a group of cats.
“Kinkaroy , Mieginck “ he screamed, “ Where is Harminbal ?”
Yrweya pushed her way through the cats to Palm, smiling
“Harminbal was too weak, and these cats tried to feed him behind everyone’s backs, good thing I knew their plan, wasn’t it .”
Palm hissed as the cats closed in on Kinkaroy and Mieginck, lashing out at them with thorn like claws.
Kinkaroy turned to her head to Palm
“Do not mourn us like you will mourn Harminbal, for we go to our deaths willingly.” She paused, sobbing ,” and together.”
She buried her head in Miegincks shoulder and he flicked his tail to the path of the setting sun and mouthed
“Go”
Palm sobbed ,” I won’t !” he mewed, “ I won’t leave you !”
“Just go you foxhearted fool, “ Mieginck screamed, “just go !”
Kinkaroy lifted her head to face him one last time and sobbed
“Please”.
Palm closed his eyes and ran as he heard screams of pain from behind him he blocked out all sounds and just ran the way that Mieginck had gestured.
Luckily he didn’t have to travel far before he found another oasis, where he lay down and felt his palm branch, feeling the thick mark that reminded him of the three cats who had their lives stolen from them.
Tears rolled down his face as he counted his losses, Dragon, Diamond, Harminbal, Kink.. no Kinkaroy and Mieginck had told him not to mourn them and he wouldn’t. They had been willing to lose their lives and he would not tarnish their memory with his sadness. They were brave cats unlike Yrweya, he hissed under his breath as he thought of Harminbal’s traitorous mate.
From now on he would not remeber the scratch she left as her mark or Mieginck’s or Kinkaroy ‘s, it was Harminbal’s . As he closed his eyes to sleep, Palm saw the giant brown and white tom before his eyes, and happy tears rolled down his cheeks as he saw Mieginck, Kinkaroy and Dragon standing along with him.
Palm would heal.

——————————-
And that’s that emotional rollercoaster over and done with

Some fun facts

Originally I was going to have Kinkaroy betray Mieginck but I got too attached to her so I had to create Yrweya

Mieginck agreed to die for Harminbal because he felt so guilty that his own selfishness got him killed

Yrweya was going to help Harminbal until the leader noticed that she was acting strangely and threatened to kill her and her kits if she didn’t follow the rules

Yrweya and Harminbal are mates and have had four kits – Shafilox, Buntidger, Xismolk and Okerquila

The leaders name is Zdiojugtc (pronounced zee-dee-oo-ee-jug-tsk)

Yrweya had already made up her mind not to help her mate when she made the mark on the stick, she made it for him, so Palm would not have to facethe fact that Harminbal would die yet

Harminbal knew Yrweya’s plan and tried to talk Mieginck and Kinkaroy out of helping him but they wouldn’t.
He supported Yrweya’s descion, but was didn’t want his friends to die

Mieginck layer the lizard claw earring that Harminbal had wanted on his body when he died

And some questions for mainly Aquaslide because they’re the main person who reads this

Who is your favourite character so far ?
Mine is Mieginck

Which death made you most sad ?
Ohhh this is hard ummmm maybe Diamond but Mieginck and Kinkaroy’s deaths were also very sad to write

Right time to start typing the next emotional rollercoaster *sobs* by the end of this Well have so many I could probably make an emotional rollercoaster theme park !