The island was deadly silent ; no cat dared to speak out loud. The overcast sky had long since clouded over and clouds of grey cast looming shadows over the entire clearing. The four clan leaders stood tall and menacing glaring down at their unwanted visitors , a group of scrawny housecats, with disdain. A few clan cats chattered among themselves about the situation but soon fell quiet."Why have you come here?" The riverclan leader , lakestar, stepped forward and addressed them.
Jasper weaved his way through the huddle of cats that were clustered at the base of the large rock. He could feel their unbearably skinny bodies shaking from fear as a sea of eyes bore into them.
"Please!" Jasper pleaded his eyes glassy and unfocused as he stared up at the clan leaders. "All we ask is that you let us stay with you." He mewled his voice awfully small and bearly loud enough to be heard. Confused and disgusted whispers from the clan cats washed over the island. Jasper could only just make a few of them out and the taunting words filled his ears.
"Are you crazy?!" Darkstar the shadowclan leader yowled ; his taillashing fiercely. "What makes you think we can take you pitiful kittypets in? How about you run back to your housefolk." Darkstar spat making Jasper visibly bristle with anger.
"Have you no sympathy?!" He mewed his voice never wavering. "We have no housefolk , we've been kicked out of the barn we were living in there's no place for us to go!"
Lakestar raised her bushy tail to silence him. "Enough. The clan leaders and starclan have made their decision. Go back to where you came and never return to the clans." She shouted across the island stoically.
"That's insane!" Jasper protested standing protectively in front of his friends and family ; half expecting Lakestar to leap down and claw their eyes out. "You can't turn us away please we're starving!"
"And you think the clans aren't?" Darkstar hissed at him. "It's leafbare we can't afford to feed any more mouths. Especially not soft kittypets." Jasper was just about to snip back a remark about how they weren't kittypets but a soft paw landed on his shoulder. It was Steel ; a tall, elegant silver tabby tom with thick fur which hid his now bony frame.
"Come on Jasper." Steel whispered in his ear nuzzling his cheek comfortingly. "Let's not waste our time. Come on let's go." He mewed beginning to turn away and slowly make his way through the rows and rows of cats.
As much as Jasper hated to admit it steel was right and his group of cats had already begun to follow him. Jasper fixed the clan leaders with a sharp glare his back arched. "You'll regret what you've done." He spat before swivelling around and following the rest out of the island.
The group of cats were waiting for him on the outskirts of the island looking as hopeless and defeated as he had ever seen them before. "Don't worry." Jasper addressed them all raising his head high. "Were going to make our own clan."
"But how?" One of the she cats mewed looking at her swollen belly in concern.
"Do you remember the hole that Belle almost fell into?" Jasper questioned making the group nod their heads. "There's a complex of tunnels and caverns down there. I've been down there a few times to shelter from rain. We can live there."
Relieved murmurs came from the hungry and bedraggled cats.
"Won't the clan cats have something to say about that?" Steel challenged ; a curious look across his face. "Nah." Jasper brushed it off. "As far as I can tell it's a little bit outside of shadowclan territory so they shouldn't be bothered by us living there."
With everything agreed the group set off on the journey to the tunnels to start a new life.