A Warrior of Windclan - Prologue

Allegiances

WINDCLAN

Leader - Dreamstar - Long-legged blue-furred she-cat with green eyes.

Deputy - Abyssfang - Black tom with dark, smoky fur and greyblue eyes.

Medicine Cat - Cloverleaf - An older light brown tom with a kinked tail and green eyes.

Warriors -

Cloudheart - White tom with light blue patches.

Wildfire - big longhaired fiery-orange-red tom.

Ravenpelt - Glossy black and white tom. Apprentice, Desertpaw.

Dusksky - Cream and white patched she-cat with blue eyes.

Oakfur - sleek brown tabby. Apprentice, Strawberrypaw.

Aerialattack - Sharp-tonuged dark brown and white queen.

Darkswagger - Cream tom with a smoky body and nearly black face, tail and paws. Blue eyes.

Apprentices -

Desertpaw - Seal point tabby with golden-tinged stripes.

Strawberrypaw - Small red she cat with faint stripes.

Queens -

Gentlebreeze - Cream tabby she-cat. Mother of Firekit and Robinkit.

Cheetahflight - brown spotted tabby. Mother of Larchkit and Flowerkit. Adoptive mother of Cloudkit and Pearlkit.

Elders -

Nightpelt - skinny black tom

Redrose - Creamy-furred body, red tabby points on face and limbs.

Skyclaw - Mostly deaf white tom with yellow eyes.


The agonized yowl split the air like lightning cracking the sky in two. Abyssfang squeezed his eyes closed, his shoulders slumping in defeat. Beside him, Wildfire released a heavy, sorrowful breath. The two toms had been sitting outside the nursery, awaiting news of their friend's new family. Inside the den, the yowling continued. Wildfire half-rose to his paws - he'd never heard Cloudheart make a sound like that. Abyssfang put out a paw and halted the fiery orange-furred tom before he could squeeze inside the nursery. "Give him a minute." Though Abyssfang was much smaller than his friend, his voice had a quiet ring of authority. Wildfire responded automatically, sinking back to his powerful haunches. "Do you think any of the kits survived?" Asked the big tom in subdued murmur, a far cry from his usual jaunty tones.

Shaking his sleek head, Abyssfang sighed. "It took all her strength, hanging on for so long..." He muttered. Snowypelt had caught whitecough while pregnant with her and Cloudheart's first litter. Wildfire looked away, worried, and it was easy for the dark-pelted deputy to guess why. Wildfire's own mate was expecting kits soon. It was a chilling reminder of what could go wrong - and an awful blow to all three of them. Abyssfang, Wildfire and Cloudheart had been born within a moon of one another. They had been best friends since that moon, adventuring as kits, training hard as apprentices, hunting rabbits as a team, and receiving their warrior names together on the day they drove a marauding badger away from the camp. Even now the three toms were still as close as ever, although they all had other responsibilities than each other. Wildfire and Cloudheart had found mates, and Abyssfang had been named deputy.

A pale, haggered face appeared in the warrior's den. Wildfire's pelt pricked uncomfortably and he had to look away from the haunted look in Cloudheart's eyes. Abyssfang fidgeted, but held fast. "Snowypelt?"

Cloudheart sounded as if he hadn't spoken for eight seasons. "She's with Starclan." He rasped, his voice, his heart, breaking. Wildfire felt his claws digging into the loam in the wake of his helplessness. A fox or badger they could face off, a border dispute would see his claws out in a second to defend his precious Windclan - but now he was powerless to help his oldest friend. "The kits?" He groaned, hardly able to force the words out. He was surprised when Cloudheart beckoned them into the nursery. Abyssfang slipped in easily, but Wildfire hadn't set foot in this den in many seasons, and the muscular tom nearly got stuck as he forced his shoulders through the gorse tunnel leading inside.

Snowypelt's figure appeared crumpled and broken in the low light. Wildfire couldn't look. She had been a sweet, generous warrior and a good friend to his own mate. Gentlebreeze would be heartbroken when she heard. Beside the former queen were two equally miserable bundles. The old medicine cat, Cloverleaf, was lying beside two more - but the difference was, the two alongside his scruffy fur were moving. Squeaking. Alive. Cloverleaf's whiskers drooped as if the effort of helping aid this birth had exhausted him.

"Cloudheart!" Blurted Wildfire in surprise. "Two of the kits..." Abyssfang, for the first time all night, felt a smile touch his muzzle. "A small blessing in the light of so much tragedy." He murmured, lowering his muzzle to touch each kit. "Welcome to the clan, little ones." Cloudheart, though the energy was drained from him and his eyes were filled with sadness, looked upon them both with the very faintest flicker of something - relief, pride, happiness? No, it was probably too soon to feel any sort of happiness yet. But there was emotion there, for these two kits who had survived, despite everything.

"Your son and daughter need a foster queen Cloudheart. I will see to it, if you will warm them." Cloverleaf hauled himself up with effort and limped from the nursery to speak to the rest of the clan.

"Wildfire?" Cheetahflight's worried mew started the warrior from his doze after leading the evening patrol. He blinked down at the spotted queen, who was nursing Cloudheart's two surviving kits. Wildfire wasn't particularly happy to see her. She was a nervous cat with a short attention span and privately he though she didn't have the patience or disposition to be a mother. She allowed her half-grown kits Larchkit and Flowerkit out in the camp without bothering to supervise them - too self absorbed to care what her daughters were doing. But since she had only two kits, she had agreed to Cloverleaf's request to suckle Cloudheart's son and daughter, though not without grumbling about it. But the flighty queen's next words set Wildfire's heart beating. "Gentlebreeze is kitting."

Only a day after Cloudheart and all of Windclan had been devastated by the loss of his mate, Wildfire's nerves were shot the moment he knew his kits were coming into the world. Don't be such a mouse-heart - Gentlebreeze needs you! He scolded himself, leaping by Cheetahflight without another thought. Once again, his wide shoulders nearly got stuck, and he twisted and grunted as he forced his way into the nursery, holloring for Cheetahflight to get Cloverleaf. Outside the sun was setting over Windclan camp, clouds subduing the normally bright colours.

Flooded with his hopelessness, Wildfire paced around Gentlebreeze. Where was Cloverleaf? His kits would arrived before that useless lump of a medicine cat! He could do nothing while his mate writhed in pain! All his instincts urged him to protect her; but here Windclan's largest warrior was powerless. Cloverleaf finally arrived and Wildfire, normally an outgoing and friendly tom, nearly snapped the medicine cat's head off. "What took so long? Do something! Gentlebreeze needs help!" He exclaimed, fur puffing him up to twice his normal size in his agitation. Though Cloverleaf had seen many a worried tomcat in his moons, even the experienced medicine cat flinched away from the obviously worked up warrior. Wildfire seemed to fill the entire nursery with his impatience and frustration.

"Keep your fur on." He grumbled, dropping a few wilted herbs and turning to his patient to examine the puffing, anxious-looking queen. He pressed carefully on her belly, muttering wordlessly.

"Why is it taking so long?" Burst out Wildfire, pacing back and forth, weaving around nests, big paws leaving imprints in the sandy-soft soil. Cloverleaf waved his tail impatiently. "The first kit is larger than is normal and has no patience for his birth." He crossly pushed the pacing father away from the entrance, where he was blocking the faint moonlight. "I wonder if it's hereditary." He muttered in an undertone, drawing a tired smile from Gentlebreeze and a scowl from Wildfire. The night wore on while Wildfire alternated between pacing and fretting and Gentlebreeze struggled. No one said anything until Cloverleaf's weary meow interrupted the queen's heavy breathing "Here he comes at last."

Wildfire couldn't believe his eyes as Gentlebreeze twisted around to lick their newborn kit, encouraging him to breathe. Moments later the tiny tom was wailing fit to bring down the entire nursery, drawing a sour look from Cheetahflight, who hopped out of her nest, leaving Pearlkit and Winterkit whimpering for her warmth as she vanished outside. Cheetahflight's daughters, twice the size of the two adopted newborns, barely stirred as they curled around one another, used to their mother vanishing as she so often did.

"Gentlebreeze?" Wildfire questioned. The creamy queen smiled at her mate in reassurance. "He's fine, my dear. Just listen to him!" she marvelled, beaming down at her son. Cloverleaf barely flicked an ear at the newest clan member as he placed a paw on the queen's belly. "One more, along shortly." Sighed the old cat as if he wished he were tucked in his nest asleep. Wildfire wished he would show the slightest hint of excitement. Regardless of how many litters he had helped deliver, or what time of night it was, this should be a happy event.

The memory of Cloudheart's anguished wail rang in his ears and Wildfire flinched.

Most of the time.

In contrast to the first kit's brilliant red and orange fur, the second kit closer resembled Gentlebreeze's soft cream colouring. Cloverleaf muttered a congratulations and padded from the den to leave the new family alone.

"You have two sons." Purred Gentlebreeze softly, nuzzling her mate's chin to reassure him. "We have two sons." Wildfire corrected, then he heaved a silent sigh of relief, closely followed by one of happiness. He had a family! The kitting had taken all night. The early dawn rays were reaching through the entrance and cracks in the gorse walls, and from some high point a bird began to trill a sweet song. Wildfire, despite being up all night, was filled with energy and hope at the sound. This was his son's first day of life.

"What are we going to call them?" The queen nudged the smaller tom into place by the firstborn. Wildfire dropped his head and sniffed each kit in turn. "What about Robinkit for the lighter tom?" He suggested, ears flicking as he listened to the songbird outside. Gentlebreeze flicked her ears, pleased with the name. "I like it. And I think the bright one should be named after you - let's call him Firekit."


A/N - Some of the characters and a few of the events in this fanfic are loosely based upon the roleplay forum 'Warrior cats: an RPG' where I used to frequent with Firekit. While the bulk of the characters you will see over the duration of this fic were created [and roleplayed] by myself, if the original WCRPG creator of any background characters used here do object to the name of their cat character being used here; just drop me a line and names can be altered. No infringement is intended with this fic :)