Prologue
"Ashkit! Sandkit! Let's go explore!" an Abyssinian-colored kit called to his siblings in a whisper, awakened before the clan. His siblings' eyes cracked open, and they yawned.
"What?" the tomcat, Ashkit, muttered.
"We can go look at the territory! Come on, we'll be back before the clan wakes up! It'll be such an adventure!"
"We can't, Copperkit, we're not old enough." Ashkit narrowed his eyes.
Copperkit's tail twitched, "Awe, come on! It'll be an adventure!"
Sandkit's eyes widened in excitement, and she wriggled out of the nest as carefully as she could manage, "Yeah! Let's do it!" She said.
Copperkit almost let out a mew of excitement, but held back, and turned toward his brother, "Come on! It'll be fun!"
Ashkit's eyes narrowed at his two brown siblings, and shook his head, "No. I won't disobey mother. Go do as you wish."
Copperkit sighed, and after a few more feeble protests, Sandkit nudged him toward the entrance.
"Olivewhisker is on duty, be careful!" Sandkit whispered, and Copperkit nodded as he led the way into the shadows of the rocky crevasse of StoneClan's camp. He narrowed his eyes to reduce glare and stepped slowly as they passed the drowsy new warrior.
Once they slipped out of camp, he turned toward his sister, "I can't believe we did it!" He whispered, excited.
Sandkit giggled nearly uncontrollably, nodding, "Come on! Who knows when someone'll notice we're not there!"
"Think Ashkit'll keep quiet?" Copperkit wondered, suddenly apprehensive, but his sister nodded.
"Of course he will, he's our brother!"
Copperkit laughed, his fears banished, as they bounded along the rocky alcove and into the trees surrounding their camp.
"I never thought that grass was so… so… springy!" Sandkit stated, eyes wide in amazement.
Copperkit couldn't help but chuckle, "It's so soft, too!"
Sandkit's eyes sparkled mischievously, "I bet I can beat you to that rock over there!" She said, pointing to a barely-perceptible boulder that rose out of the ground ahead.
"Okay!" Copperkit was always ready for competition!
The two kits raced forward as fast as they could, tails streaming behind them, laughing as they went.
"I win!" Copperkit shouted, his paws slapping onto the smooth stone surface.
"Alright, alright, you win." Sandkit's eyes glittered, and Copperkit growled.
"Hey! You're not supposed to be laughing! You lost!"
Sandkit shrugged, "Hey, I needed to groom anyway. My pelt's a mess. You can win, I didn't really care anyway.'
Copperkit sighed as he watched her sit down and begin to clean herself.
"You're so weird." He said, eyes narrowed.
"So are you!"
Copperkit shrugged and pushed her to her feet, "Come on, we're out here to play, remember? Not to preen. You can do that when we get back."
He looked up at a tree that towered above them, "I wonder…" He murmured, "Hey Sandkit! You think we can see Camp from up there?"
Sandkit padded up beside him and careened her head back, "Probably. Should we see?"
Copperkit grinned, "Of course! Come on!" He leaped forward, opening his claws and clinging onto the soft wood of the conifer, "It's easy!" He called to his sister as he made his way up.
He looked down and saw that his sister had doubtful eyes, "What?"
"Well… I'll probably get splinters… or bark in my paws…"
Copperkit rolled his eyes, "Oh come on! It's fun!"
Sandkit nodded, eyes steeling, and reached up, pulling herself up the bark until she was beside him.
"It is fun!" she said.
He nodded, "I told ya!"
They rested on the base of the first branch, and looked down. Copperkit gasped, "We're so far up!"
Sandkit looked down and squeaked, "How… how are we going to get back down?"
Copperkit looked at her, having not thought of that, "Umm…" he looked at his paws and dug them into the bark, "Well, our claws will only hold if we're headed up… so maybe if we go backwards?"
He turned to ask his sister, but when he looked around, she wasn't there, "Um.. Sandkit?" at a sudden scream, he dashed to the trunk, his sister had fallen! "Sandkit! I'm coming!"
"Don't go down head-first!" She whimpered, "I slipped!"
Copperkit nodded, and tentatively scrambled down the trunk backward, "What's wrong?" He asked, seeing the pain on her face.
"I… I think I twisted my paw… it hurts!" She picked up her front paw, which to Copperkit seemed fine.
"Can you walk on it?" He asked.
Sandkit shrugged, getting to her paws, but with another scream and a gasp of pain, she slumped forward, "N..no.." He could hear the teary voice though she was hiding her face.
Copperkit frowned, padding forward, "Let me help." He looked at her, trying to see where he could push her up without hurting her, when she heard a startled gasp from Sandkit. He looked up, and then he hissed.
A twoleg was looking at them curiously in the brightening daylight.
"We need to go!"
"I can't! My paw! You go! I'll be fine."
Copperkit shook his head, "No. Not without you!"
The twoleg slowly stepped forward, her paws outstretched, as Copperkit helped his sister to her paws.
The twoleg continued to creep toward them, and Copperkit and Sandkit tried to scurry backward as fast as possible.
But then Sandkit's paw gave out again, and she fell. It gave the Twoleg the push it needed, and before Copperkit could get her to her feet again, he was wrapped up in a blue pelt, his sister beside him.
"What's happening!" His sister wailed. They thrashed, but they could not escape.
