Allegiances
BirdClan
Leader: Brackenstar, light brown and yellow tabby she-cat with amber eyes
Deputy: Blackfall, large black tom with yellow eyes
Medicine Cats:
Yellowdust, old light yellow tabby tom with green eyes
Sparrowheart, dark brown tabby she-cat with white underbelly and paws with blue eyes
Warriors:
(Only mentioning those who are mentioned in this chapter)
Twilightsong, light gray-and-black tabby tom with dark blue eyes
Sweetrose, small orange-and-white she-cat with green eyes
Queens:
Mossmeadow, honey-colored she-cat with hazel eyes
Kits:
Shadekit, smoky-gray almost-black tom with green eyes
Winterkit, pure white tom with ice-blue eyes and hardly visible, light gray spots on his back
Foxkit, orange-and-red she-cat with green eyes and black paws.
SquirrelClan
Leader: Sagestar, very light gray she-cat with yellow eyes
Deputy: Graypatch, dark gray tom with lighter patches
RabbitClan
Leader: Littlestar, small light brown tabby tom with brown eyes
Deputy: Shelltail, cream-colored she-cat with green eyes
I shouldn't be doing this. I shouldn't be doing this. Brackenstar is going to kill me for this. Oh, but I have to. For Hawkblaze. These were the words that repeated in Twilightsong's mind as he carried three kits into Rocky Hollow under the cover of darkness. Hawkblaze would want me to save his kits. So would Pinepelt. Pinepelt and Hawkblaze were the kits' mother and father. They were both dead.
Seven moons before, a rogue group that called themselves Peaceful Life had settled in a small forest beside BirdClan's territory. Not long after they had settled in and marked their territory, the leader of Peaceful Life, Gray Stone, came into BirdClan's territory, and told BirdClan's leader, Brackenstar, that they were a harmless group, and explained that they wished to live side by side with the Clans in peace. However, Brackenstar saw all rogues as a threat. She had developed a strong hatred for cats outside the Clans, ever since her own father and sister had been killed by suspected that Gray Stone was only trying to trick her Clan into thinking they meant no harm so that Peaceful life could easily attack BirdClan. This, of course, was not true, as Peaceful Life was only half the size of BirdClan and most of it's cats did not know much about fighting. Brackenstar embarked on a quest to either destroy Peaceful Life or drive them far, far away from her Clan. She had BirdClan attack Peaceful Life's camp twice , and both times the rogues all retreated or admitted to losing after hardly fighting at all. Most of BirdClan's cats did not think Peaceful Life was a threat, but Brackenstar was a strong, great, and wise leader that had led them well for many moons, and they trusted that she knew what she was doing. Twilightsong's brother, Hawkblaze, however, knew that it was wrong to harm such defenseless cats.
Hawkblaze and one of BirdClan's medicine cats, Fallenleaf, went into Peaceful Life's camp. They brought prey, as the cats were starving because they had no time to hunt and had to spend all of their time trying to prepare for the next attack. Fallenleaf brought herbs and helped heal the wounded cats. Hawkblaze gave the cats little lessons to improve their fighting skills a bit and Fallenleaf educated a few of the cats on the basics of treating battle wounds. The two of them stayed with Peaceful Life for a few hours and then returned to Birdclan's camp unnoticed. They continued to make little trips like these to Peaceful Life's camp to bring prey and herbs every quarter-moon. A third battle between BirdClan and Peaceful Life took place. Once again. BirdClan won the battle, but Peaceful Life fought harder this time. Not long after the third battle with Peaceful Life, an ongoing war with SquirrelClan and BirdClan broke out. Birdclan grew weaker from fighting two wars at once, and the fourth time that they attacked Peaceful Life they actually lost the battle. Peaceful Life's cats were better at defending themselves because of Hawkblaze and Fallenleaf's secret trips. Only a few days after the fourth battle, Hawkblaze and Fallenleaf made another trip to Peaceful Life's camp to bring prey and herbs, but Blackfall, the BirdClan deputy, caught them. He realized what they had been doing and reported them to Brackenstar.
Brackenstar was a great leader, but she had two major flaws. The first flaw was her hatred for cats outside the Clans. Her second flaw was the way she handeled punishment. Normally, Hawkblaze and Fallenleaf would have been exiled, but Brackenstar didn't beleive in exile. She beleived that if a cat betrayed the Clan that had raised them and helped them survive, they did not deserve to live. In short, any cat who was worthy of being exiled, was instead executed by Brackenstar. And that was what happened to Hawkblaze and Fallenleaf. Shortly before Hawkblaze's death, his mate, Pinepelt, had started expecting his kits. Brackenstar said that she would not raise the kits of a traitor, and said that one the kits were four moons old they would have to be taken out of BirdClan's territory and left to die. Pinepelt told Brackenstar that she would not leave her kits to die and that when it came time for her kits to leave, she would leave with them. Brackenstar agreed. Tragically, Pinepelt ended up dying while kitting. One of her kits had died with her, but the other three survived. Brackenstar sent the kits away when they were all one moon old. Twilightsong and his mate, Sweetrose, knew that the three kits would be sure to die if they were all alone so young. They had been ordered to take the kits away from BirdClan's territory, but that wasn't what they were doing. Instead, they were hiding the three kits in Rocky Hollow, a stone ravine that lay in BirdClan's territory. Cats rarely hunted there or patrolled there, so the kits were sure to be hidden. The two planned to visit the kits every day for short amounts of time, bringing them food and letting them play for a little. Twilightsong and Sweetrose weren't sure what they would do when the kits grew old enough to become apprentices. They might move to SquirrelClan or RabbitClan, or perhaps they would become rogues. Twilightsong and Sweetrose were willing to do anything and live anywhere, as long as it made the kits safe and happy.
Twilightsong carefully placed the three kits in the small cave that led into Rocky Hollow. Sweetrose was carrying bits of moss to make little nests for the kits and some prey to keep them well-fed. Mossmeadow, the queen who had nursed the three kits because Pinepelt was dead, wouldn't be able to nurse them anymore. They were a little too young to start eating prey, but they had no choice. Sweetrose placed a little mossy nest for the kits to sleep in, along with a big mouse for them to share. Names. These kits need names. No cat had bothered to name the three kits, because they would be left to die when they were one moon old anyway. But now that Twilightsong knew they were going to live, they needed something to be called by.
"Sweetrose, we must name them," he whispered. He looked down at one of the tom-kits, a smoky-gray almost-black kit. He was sleeping so soundly. "I think I'm going to name this one Shadekit." Twilightsong glanced at the second tom, a pure white kit with hardly visible small light gray spots on his back. "Winterkit," he meowed. "His name will be Winterkit."
"I'm naming this one Foxkit," Sweetrose meowed softly. "She has beautiful red fur." Twilightsong nudged Foxkit gently. The red kit woke up quickly.
"Where am I? Who are you?" she meowed in fright.
"I'm Twilightsong, and this is my mate Sweetrose. You and your siblings must stay here in this little cave for now. There isn't time to explain, but it's for your own safety. Go to sleep, now, and don't let yourselves be seen. We will come back tomorrow night and explain everything to you, but you must stay hidden in this cave until then. When your brothers wake up, tell them what I said. You have this nest to sleep in and some prey to keep you fed until we come back to you tomorrow night. Do you understand?" he explained.
"Yes," Foxkit nodded quietly, then she lay back down next to her brothers, curling her tail around herself and closing her eyes.
Hawkblaze, if you can hear me from StarClan...I want you to know that your kits will be safe. Sweetrose and I will defend them with our lives. As long as I have breath in my body, they will live the best lives they possibly can.