Just a bit of the story somewhere near the middle. If you like this don't feel shy about asking if your cat can join. Pm them to me and I'll see if I can fit them in somewhere. The Clans are a little changed but not drastically. After this chapter I'll post the real first chapter, before the Sanction of The Fang came in. This is something like a prologue.
Snaketail sighed as he gazed up at the blood-red sky. The fiery ball known as the sun was rolling down the valley below him and hiding behind the hills. Nothing made him more thoughtful when the sun set. When the sun set it meant the end of the day and made him wonder curiously when his end would come. Such thoughts were normal in these trying times though, for they were all in a war.
Snaketail absentmindedly licked his sooty-gray paw and brushed it over a speckled ear. The speckled gray tom let out another sigh. He so badly wished the war would be over. A rustling noise caught his attention and he whipped around, teeth bared, prepared for the worst.
"Easy Snake, I'm not a Fang." Meowed a small rusty colored tabby she-cat. Snaketail took in a breath he hadn't known he was holding in. Every cat was one edge, and no one could blame them.
"Sorry Foxflower, "He murmured. "I'm just a little jittery."
Foxflower gave him an understanding look." Since the Sanction of the Fang have invaded our land we've all been jittery. Their numbers are so vast and we seem so small, even with all four clans working together."
Snaketail snorted. "It's hopeless. Half of FlightClan was wiped out by a single attack. The Sanction of the Fang are too numerous."
"Don't talk that way!" Foxflower spat suddenly. "As long as the Clan's stay strong and keep our will we won't be defeated!"
"Wishing it won't make it true." Snaketail pointed out, silencing his friend. Foxflower, however, did glare heatedly at him. She was just as confused, terrorized, and angry as any other cat. The Sanction of the Fang had swooped in on the clan's like a flood and demanded their freedom and land. The Fang was a strict and blood-thirsty code to a band of battle-hungry and merciless cats.
"But...Snake...we mustn't give up hope. If we do the Fang already has beaten us. The Clans must continue to fight back." Foxflower swished her tail slowly, a habit she did when anxious or scared. Snaketail could smell the sour taint of fear on her pelt.
He turned his icy blue eyes on the she-cat. "I do not want to give you false hope, just so I can see that bit of hope crushed. I'm telling you what I see happening, so you can be prepared. I will not lie to my only daughter."
Foxflower shifted uncomfortably on her paws and looked to the ground. Her sister, Frostpetal had been murdered by the Sanction of the Fang, along with her brother Twigfeet. She was the only one left in her litter, and the only bit of family Snaketail had.
The memory of Frostpetal's throat being torn out still haunted her nightmares. But seeing her father, the only one she had left excepting defeat made her feel hollow. As if they all had already excepted their death sentence. A hard, cold weight seemed to have dropped into her belly and claw at her insides.
"If you say so. "She whispered in a hollow tone. "Then the Sanction of the Fang will kill us all."
Her father narrowed his cold eyes at her, and his tail flicked back in forth. "But if we are already doomed, we have nothing to lose. I will still claw at their eyes and bite at their throats until I stop kicking. The Fang will have to deal with me until then, and I plan on taking as many of those murderers out as I can."
Foxflower looked up at her father and a bit of the coldness in her belly went away. Her spirits felt somewhat lifted by his stubbornness. For a medicine cat, he was all but eager to get his claws on a Fang or Claw. Snaketail was a strange medicine cat in his own way, besides taking a mate and being battle hardy.
A low growl rumbled in his throat. "I will make them pay tenfold for killing my kits."
Her eyes watered and she nodded, unable to speak. "I will fight with you, to the death and avenge my litter-mates."
Snaketail gazed over Foxflower's head, looking startled out of his rage. She peered behind herself curiously only to see the leaves rattling ever-so-slightly in the light breeze. She could see nothing wrong, yet her father continued to stare wide-eyed at the leafy bush. Looking into her father's icy eyes she saw strange shapes flickering in their depths. Then, just as suddenly as it happened Snaketail looked away.
"Great StarClan..."He whispered.
"What is it? Did you have a vision?" Foxflower leaned forward with her ears pricked. Instead the sooty furred tom ignored her and stalked past, muttering a follow me, and Ivystar needs to hear this.
Hesitantly she sauntered after him, eyes darting everywhere and sniffing every unfamiliar scent. Sanction of the Fang cats liked to jump out of the shadows and toy around with their victims before they killed them. She shuddered and raced on after her father.
Hard baked earth thudded against her paws and a strong wind tugged at her pelt, but she hared after her father. What was going on? What had Snaketail seen?
Tall, sandy gray stones protruded from the ground and dark crevices were everywhere in the rocky slope. SandClan camp was next to impossible to find, for one of the many crevices was really a hole in disguise. Foxflower watched has Snaketail slipped behind a large red-brown rock and disappeared. The rusty tabby she-cat followed and saw the shadowy and well hidden cave-like tunnel that led into camp.
She leaped to her paws and scrabbled up the hole. Once inside she felt the stone tunnel pull at her pelt but she had enough free room to claw out.
SandClan's camp, an opened and well lite underground, sandy cave lay before her. A massive hole, farther up than any cat could climb, was in the center of the roof, letting light pour into the dusty hollow. A sharp, jagged stone with a den carved into it was where Ivystar nested. The silvery-gray speckled tom watched through half closed eyes as Snaketail and Foxflower approached.
"Yes Snaketail?" Ivystar asked. "What is it that you want."
"I've had a vision, one of great importance." Snaketail narrowed his eyes and lashed his tail, as if the whole thing annoyed him. Knowing him, it just might have. "I saw white fire on a bramble bush, and it turned it into bones."
"Bones?" Echoed Ivystar, disbelief etched into his worn face. "What do you mean?"
"I mean bones!" Snaketail hissed in agitation. "Cat bones! The Sanction of The Fang are turning the clans into nothing but the past, and our bones will be pecked at by the crows." Foxflower shivered, the fur along her spine lifting. It sounded like Snaketail had an omen of death.
Ivystar was silent many heartbeats. Foxflower felt her tail swish back in forth nervously and she shifted from foot to foot. She felt edgy again. Finally, their leader spoke.
"Tell me what this means Snaketail." The sooty gray speckled tom dipped his head, as if this was what he had been waiting the whole time for.
"First off, white is a color of peace and innocence. But fire is something deadly and unprovoked, something that won't obey anyone. Now think of something deadly yet seemingly innocent. You would never expect it to hurt you, because of the seemingly peaceful demeanor of it. But that makes it all the deadlier. It will strike when you least expect it, and kill you."
"Now, let me tell you of the bramble bush. Brambles will prick at your paws and tug at your pelt. It is an obstacle, yet can be used to the advantage of others. For instant a cat used to running through brambles will run faster than a cat who isn't. All together it symbolizes a hard path, but used rightly, can be used to make things harder for others."
"Go on." Ivystar murmured, taking everything in like a starving stray finally eating a meal.
"Then, there is the bones. I think we all know what that means." Snaketail looked straight into his leader's eyes without flinching.
"Death." Ivystar blinked, trying yet unable to comprehend. Then suddenly a look of horror flooded across his face. "Are you saying we will die? Snaketail, StarClan didn't really share this with you did they?" Snaketail just stared coldly at his leader his icy eyes unwavering.
"No. But unless we do as StarClan showed us we will."
"What is StarClan showing us?" Ivystar breathed, leaning closer towards the Medicine cat.
"We must be like white fire, and like the bramble bush, or we will die. It may only be one cat that has what it takes to be white fire or it maybe all four clans. Only if we do as StarClan instructs we won't completely die out."
"What do you mean completely die out?" Ivystar asked sharply. Snaketail gazed at his leader, wondering if he should really tell him or let him be blissfully unaware until the end. Finally, the gray tom heaved a dreary sigh.
"Most of us will die. We might defeat the Fang but it will be at a great cost. Many lives will be lost, and generations will die out. A whole clan might be wiped entirely out. Maybe more."
"Great StarClan." Ivystar breathed. His amber eyes were wide and full of shock. Foxflower felt like the ground would give out from beneath her feet and she would be swallowed up by the earth. Her world had been shaken, and as she watched kits scuffling and playing half-heartly together she realized the Fang wouldn't let them live.
Kits were not very useful to anyone, especially if they were not their own. If they were lucky they would be raised as slaves or even zealous, fanatic Fang's that wanted their paws stained with blood. Foxflower didn't know what to do, it seemed all hope was lost.
The final battle was on them, and it already seemed lost.
Constructive criticism where it needs it and give me good reviews if you truly liked it. Sorry about the Create a Cat but it was getting to me, and I am sorry to all of you who wanted your cats in here. Just Pm them, not a bunch, no more than three. Thanks and goodbye~