The first chapter in my 'book' of Challenges, all from the WillowClan forum. All of these will be to make myself a better writer, and provide stories for Warriors fans to enjoy.

The first one here is a little sad, just with all of the things that happen. I don't own Warriors, as you all must know. Please leave me some comments, so I can improve my writing skills! And, without further blabbing on my part, enjoy!

01/08/13

Challenge: A Harsh LeafBare

Droplets of frozen rain dappled across the territory, leaving blankets of snow and ice covering the ground. Frozen wind blew harshly across the ground, stirring up the snowflakes into tiny tornadoes of ice. The leaves were long gone from the trees, only leaving dead and ice covered blackened branches hanging tightly onto the thick trunks. Bushes froze, either losing their leaves or being some of the few whose leaves froze to the small plants, as bright green as they were in NewLeaf.

Small paw prints told of an invisible-to-the-eyes path taken by many, though only showing few prints due to the snowy covering. A cat had just recently passed by the trail, on the search for food to feed her Clan.

This cat was a silver she cat with dark tabby stripes rippling across her pelt. Her eyes were large and as blue as the GreenLeaf sky. Silverpool, the she cat, had been stalking some prey. Prey was scarce at a time like this, but Silverpool would spend all day hunting if it meant that she could feed the cats of her Clan. Sure, she felt the hunger herself- every warrior in the Clan did- but she couldn't let that hold her back from following the warrior code and feeding the kits and elders before herself.

A puny mouse hung from her jaws, the only catch that she'd managed to get that day so far. She was an excellent hunter, but even the best hunter can't bring back prey that isn't there. Wishing that she could offer more to her family, her Clan, she headed back towards the camp. The cold wind was getting to her, and she needed a rest in the warm warriors den before heading out to go hunting again.

Trotting carefully through the banks of snow, not wanting to fall into a deep patch and have trouble getting back out again, Silverpool hurried back towards camp. She sensed that something was wrong, but she couldn't be sure until she knew that her friends and family were all safe. Leaping gracefully over a frozen log, Silverpool plunged through the camp entrance.

Blue eyes darted around camp, searching. Mousetail, her father, was sitting near Icewhisker, her mother. Both of their heads were hung, which only meant bad news. The gray and white tomcat looked like he was trying to comfort the silver she cat, but it didn't seem to be working. Silverpool felt fear rising in her chest. Something bad had happened, but to who?

A wordless wail of grief let Silverpool know what had happened. As she scurried over towards the nursery, panic welled up inside of her. Something was wrong, something was terribly wrong. Upon dashing through the ferns that covered the entrance, Silverpool's blue eyes widened at seeing the small scrap of ginger fur lying next to the medicine cat's bent head. The gray and white tomcat looked over at Silverpool, raw pain showing in the depths. No cat should have to die as a kit, and the medicine cat knew that as well as Silverpool did.

"Redkit." The name was whispered, Silverpool guessed that it was from her, but she wasn't sure. A small-looking, shaking mass of fur was pressed against a ginger tomcat. The silver and white tabby she cat who was currently shaking with pain and grief looked over at Silverpool for a moment. Pain clouded her eyes, and Silverpool felt her heart break for her sister, Frostlily. This was her first litter, and now Redkit was dead.

The grieving mother's mate couldn't look at Silverpool; his eyes were closed tightly in order to stop the stream of tears from escaping. Poor Flameheart, it was just as bad for him as it was for Frostlily, yet Silverpool didn't know what to say to him. She padded over to the couple, licking at her sister's shoulder. Nothing could take away the pain that follows death like a shadow. Nothing would ever make it better… so what do you say?

"I'm going to take Redkit away to bury him," the medicine cat, Brackenberry, meowed, getting to his paws and reaching for the tiny, limp body.

"No!" Flameheart growled, his eyes opening quickly and darting over to the medicine cat as if Brackenberry had suggested that they set fire to the kit's corpse. He rose to his paws, untangling Frostlily's quivering form from his, and marched over to the body. Frostlily pressed against Silverpool instead, and the she cat wrapped her tail around her sister's shoulders.

"I will be the one to bury my son," Flameheart announced, his voice cracking with pain. Tail on the ground and head lowered, the ginger tom picked Redkit's body up with the gentleness of a mother who's taking her kit back to the den. Silverpool's heart ached for him as he left the den, the ferns swishing as his tail disappeared.

"I'm so sorry," Brackenberry meowed quietly, gathering himself up and headed towards the entrance to the nursery. "But Frostlily, you must not let this stop you. I'll bring you some borage later on, to help your milk."

"What's the point?!" Frostlily hissed, anger that Silverpool had never seen before burning in the other she cat's eyes. "Redkit is dead, Brackenberry! I've killed him! What's the point of living anymore?!"

Silverpool almost gasped at her sister's words, but knew that it was the grief talking. Frostlily would never think of joining StarClan at such an early age, but now that her only son had died… She could see why Frostlily saw no point in living.

"It wasn't you who killed Redkit," Silverpool insisted, licking her sister's ears. "It was the cold, and the hunger. You couldn't do anything about it. You can't give them food that you don't have, Frostlily. But don't forget about Owlkit and Riverkit, they need you too right now. They've… they've lost a littermate, and they're still too young for real food. If you don't care for them they'll be joining Redkit in StarClan. Do you want that to happen? Would you let them die, Frostlily?"

Frostlily turned to her sister, surprise shining in her bright, leaf green eyes. "I would never let my kits die!" Frostlily hissed, anger growing in her eyes. "How could you even think that?!"

"I didn't believe it, not for a heartbeat," Silverpool promised. "I was just making sure that you believed it, too."

Pressing against her sister as the white kit and silver kit, Owlkit and Riverkit respectively, joined them too. Silverpool didn't want to think about the future at a time like this, since it felt as if time had stopped and nothing made any sense anymore. But Silverpool had a bad feeling that this wasn't the end. No, this LeafBare would just get worse. This was only the beginning.

-x-

The thick scent of fox bothered Silverpool. Faint paw steps hit her ears as she turned around, seeing the rest of the patrol catching up to her. Border patrols were forgotten, since no cat dared to threaten the borders at a time like this. No cat had the strength to. The oldest of the group, a black tomcat named Shadestripe, nodded to her to continue the search. So far, a tiny squirrel and a freshly killed, plump rabbit were all they had found. One of the twolegs must've lost their rabbit, because the patrol found it on the side of the thunderpath, its blood still warm.

"Fox," Silverpool muttered, flicking her ears to Smokeclaw. The dark gray tabby tomcat nodded, knowing to be careful.

The three cats made up one of the many patrols, or at least of the ones that they could spare from the camp. Greencough was making life in the camp worse, when Beechstep, an elder, fell sick with it a quarter moon ago. It had been spreading slowly since then, as the temperatures got colder and colder. It was difficult for the Clans to even get water at the moment, since they had to break through the thick layer of ice to do so.

"Something's coming," Shadestripe warned, his pelt bristling. Silverpool felt her claws sink out, digging deep into the snow and ice beneath them. There was danger lurking in the shadows, she could feel it. And it wasn't just the sickness…

A flash of ginger caught Silverpool's eye, and as she whipped around her fear rose. A scrawny looking fox glared at the three starving cats, eyeing their newly caught prey. The fox's long, sharp, dripping fangs glinted in the sunlight as the fox's mouth opened in a growl.

Silverpool's eyes widened, and for a moment she couldn't find a way to move. The fox darted forward, snapping its teeth at Smokeclaw. The dark gray tabby tomcat leaped to the side, quick as lightning, and slashed his claws across the fox's nose. While the fox was distracted, Shadestripe leaped for its back, digging into the ginger fur and holding on with all of his might.

Silverpool, regaining her ability to move, darted near the fox and raked her claws down its flank. Blood was already pooling on the ground, and the fox's ginger fur only grew darker and darker from the blood. It managed to throw Shadestripe from its back, growling in the tomcat's face. Smokeclaw, not wanting to be beaten by a fox, bit down on its tail. The fox turned around and, in anger, grabbed the tomcat by the neck and threw him across the clearing with a sickening thump. The tomcat didn't get up.

"Smokeclaw!" Silverpool gasped, rage pouring through her veins. With a yowl of anger, Silverpool slashed at the fox's face, aiming for its eyes in order to blind it. The fox backed away, only to back up into Shadestripe, who ripped at its legs. Screeching in agony, the fox turned and fled from the furious cats. Shadestripe raced after it for a few paw steps, while Silverpool raced over to Smokeclaw's side.

"Don't… don't… don't be…" Silverpool choked out, not wanting to say the words. Agony rippled across every bit of fur on her when she realized that the tomcat, her only brother, was dead. He couldn't be… but the gray flank was still, and blood seeped from his mouth and neck where the fox had taken ahold of him.

Letting out a wordless wail, Silverpool buried her face in her brother's fur, hating the fact that it was already growing cold. He was gone, and there was no bringing him back. Cursing StarClan a thousand times in her mind, Silverpool wished that the fight had never happened, and that they had gone back to camp liked Smokeclaw had earlier suggested. Why hadn't they listened?

And now a brave warrior was dead.

-x-

Silverpool looked down at her reflection before licking at the stream in front of her. Her eyes were hollowed with grief for all of the cats that had long since moved on to StarClan. Smokeclaw, her brother, had joined their ranks half a moon ago. A moon ago it had been Redkit. And now, a third of the Clan was gone. Greencough had spread too quickly for Brackenberry and his apprentice, Mudwhisker, to cure. It even took the life of the old medicine cat, leaving Mudwhisker as the solo medicine cat of the Clan.

After one good, warm day in the middle of LeafBare- many cats guessed that StarClan had blessed them with one warm day to melt some ice so that they wouldn't have to try to eat snow to survive- the cold and frost had returned, wiping out anything that had tried to grow. The days got colder and colder- colder than they had been before the random warm day.

Silverpool looked up at the sky and the glittering stars, her heart aching. So many had already joined the stars that Leafbare, and barely a moon and a half had gone by. Another moon and a half, at least, still was left to torment the Clans in every way possible. Some cats were losing hope.

But Silverpool couldn't lose hope, not knowing that her brother, her niece, and her parents were watching over her. Her parents had joined StarClan due to the greencough, but their death was still hurting Silverpool. And Frostlily, too.

Looking at the stars one last time, Silverpool felt that something was going to happen. Why did she keep having these horrid feelings? Why? Did the stars curse her to know when cats were going to be killed? What sense did that make?

All Silverpool knew was that it wasn't going to be one cat this time. It was going to be many.

-x-

Silverpool watched the snowflakes fall, faster and faster. She should've guessed that it would start snowing again. She had helped Frostlily bring her two remaining kits over to the warriors den to try and keep them warm. The other queen that currently had kits, Sweetpetal, wanted to stay in the nursery. She thought that her kits might be in danger with so many cats around; since they were so young- they could easily catch greencough around so many cats! So she had stayed in the nursery.

Silverpool noted that she couldn't see anything but white snow anymore, endless white. She hoped that Sweetpetal and her kits were all safe and snuggled up in the nursery. The three kits were beautiful, all having the same tortoiseshell pattern that their mother had.

The bad feeling wouldn't leave Silverpool alone, the one that she had gotten just a few sunsets ago. She prayed to StarClan that it didn't have anything to do with Sweetpetal… but seeing that she was the only cat who wasn't currently in the warriors den- even Treestar and Mudwhisker were with them at the moment- it had to be about her.

There was just no other way… unless they all got greencough in their sleep and died without ever waking up, all around the same time, then there was something wrong with Sweetpetal. But Silverpool couldn't even send anyone to check on her, even if she wanted to. The snow was pouring from the sky too fast, and blowing around at unsafe winds. Sweetpetal would have to last through the night for any cat to go check on her and the kits. Silverpool prayed that she would.

-x-

The next day, Sweetpetal's death didn't come as a shock to Silverpool. She still felt sad, since the cat was of her Clan and therefore part of her family, but it wasn't shocking. Whenever she had the bad feeling, someone died.

They had found Sweetpetal, and thinking that she was sleeping, they had tried to wake her. She had frozen in her sleep, most likely, with her kits curled up at her side. They looked like one, big happy family, forever frozen in time by the evil ways of LeafBare.

Was StarClan laughing, now that they had four more in their ranks? Three more innocent kits were gone, and one more cat with her whole life ahead of her, too. Disappeared, just like the snow when NewLeaf came around.

Praying that this would be the last of the deaths, Silverpool found herself saying goodbye to the frozen mother, and the tiny frozen kits. It was not yet their time to die, let they had already passed. And Silverpool knew that nothing could've been done to stop it.

-x-

Rays of sunlight filtered into the den, waking Silverpool from her slumber. Late in the night, one of the newest queens- a cat named Cloudwhisper- had had her kits. Silverpool was thankful that NewLeaf was showing its wings and coming back to them, to protect them from more death.

Shakily getting to her paws, Silverpool found herself wandering over to the nursery. Passing the other cats, she nodded a 'hello' to them before brushing past the ferns and into the den. Frostlily was curled up, asleep, with her two daughters. Passing the still-sleeping cats, Silverpool greeted Cloudwhisper with a kind 'hello'.

Three kits lay curled at her side, like many others had this LeafBare. The first had a tortoiseshell pelt, her eyes still closed. The other two were both white like their mother, though one had ginger spots while the other had gray flecks.

"Their names are Dawnkit, Skykit and Sunkit," Cloudwhisper meowed, her voice tired.

Silverpool didn't even need to ask the new mother why she had named the kits the names she had. Dawnkit, for a new dawn of the Clan as NewLeaf finally arrived. Skykit and Sunkit, for the warming sun in the sky that promised to heat up the Clans, melt the snow away, and bring life back to the shattered remains of the Clan. Silverpool smiled gently, knowing that the harsh LeafBare was finally over.