Lies and Secrets

"Lies and Secrets " is the first book of the series "Shadows and Spirits" of Shades of Light.

It focuses on the kittenhood of the Embodiments of The Forest, Dar'Khan and Nor'Themar, and what they experience in it. Contrary to popular belief, there is important milestones in the beginning of their lives, including the very first unnexpected ripple in the flow of time.

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The description for the book is as follows:

"From the ashes of hate in the minds of many,

Will rise the frozen darkness and shadows,

And with the thoughts fueled by lies and deception,

May the cold shadows grow ever stronger"

 

The Group of the Morning Sun has lived for centuries in their Homeland, kept together with the power of theOrb of Khle'Grun. But now, one of the Eldare cats in the Group of the Star-Speckled Sky has foretold a Prophecy. One that predicts doom, destruction, and the possible End of them all.

The healer, Re'Truj, has heard of it, and when she sees the cat with a pelt darker than black and eyes like purple frost born with one as friendly as summer breeze, her suspicion rises. And yet, the cat who told her of the prophecy has warned her not to speak of it to anyone. That they will take care of their fate.

That just as every half-century when the Forest Solstice comes, when they have chosen cats to hold the spirits of the forest, everything will be all right, and the seasons shall accept the Group's right to be there as always.

The two are born, and raised as if everything was fine, normal, while lies and secrets bend like evening shadows around them, and the stone they've thrown into the river of Fate is showing them what they didn't know, quickly, at a pace they hadn't dared guess.

 

* Spoiler ALERT*

Plot
The book begins with Nor'Themar hearing the Group's plans to attack Savage and his band of the Shaded, or the Shaded's descendants. In the following chapter, when Dar'Khan's "father" is leaving to hunt for the following day, and Dar'Khan, after having been too stressed with Re'Truj's suspicious ways, left to hunt and show his father he could do something. After Dar'Khan's father returns and scolds Dar'Khan for stealing the prey from the kill-pile, Dar'Khan runs off to the den with his mother and brother, where it is revealed that Dar'Khan's father was actually a suspicious tom who had died at Savage's claws, turning on the former leader he had followed. Dar'Khan doesn't take this well, and takes to sulking for the rest of the day.

The following morning, the day of the fight, Nor'Themar convinces Dar'Khan that he, Nor'Themar, Lo'Drak, and Lor'Thera should follow them. Once at the place the patrol will fight, the patrol is ambushed by Savage's followers, and as the kittens watch, a grisly tom by the name of Gristle attacks them. When he goes to bite Dar'Khan, the kitten's powers are truly released, and Gristle leaves with his fangs turned frosty from the cold that Dar'Khan created.

However, once Gristle goes back to the real fight, where most of the Group's soldiers have been knocked out or fled, he and a muscular white cat, later identified as Blackjack, have pinned Nor'Themar's father, Kel'Thuzad, and kept him prisoner.

When Savage appears and Blackjack challenges him, the kittens all agree that she is obviously a dangerous cat. However, then they have to find a way to free Kel'Thuzad.

After consulting quietly with each other, and agreeing that Kel'Thuzad didn't have much time, even with Savage talking of keeping him prisoner for ransom, the kittens get Lor'Thera and Dar'Khan to act as a distraction and get the attention of Gristle, Blackjack, and Savage, sending them to chase after the two faster kits.

Nor'Themar is left to get his father to his feet and explain what had happened, and then get his father to help them track down Dar'Khan and Lor'Thera so they could go back to camp and get help for the other soldiers.

Meanwhile, however, Dar'Khan has followed Lor'Thera into a dead-end of brambles, and the pair are taken prisoner.

After being held in a secret keep of Savage, the two are finally let out when Savage has taken the lives of one of the soldiers and hunters in ransom.

Dar'Khan is punished for weeks afterwards, and Nor'Themar befriends him during that time. After they start playing together better, the Group of the Star-Speckled Sky is realizing that all is not going according to plan.

When Dar'Khan, Lo'Drak, Nor'Themar, and Lor'Thera are promoted to trainees, it ends the book with a reference of their growing feeling of strange dislike to each other that they refuse to acknowledge.

* END OF SPOILER ALERT*