Chapter 1

Yayz! My first fic, and of course it's — you guessed it — a warriors one. Well, don't judge to harshly 'cause this isn't just my first fic, but it's kinda my first writing. Period. I mean I've done a couple essays for school before but. . . . well, whatever, I'm gonna quit boring you now :3

On to the story~


Lily was completely relaxed as the world tilted before her. Her paws were planted right on the edge, and her claws curved out over the cliff.

Wind whistled through Lily's pelt and stung her skin with cold, but it was worth it. The view spiraled down a thousand feet below her. The blue sky, the earthy smelling air, warning her of rain, and the tree tops of the forest oh-so far below her. It was glorious.

But it was not what was important. Lily turned away and padded softly to the rocky wall of the mountain. She crouched, waiting, thanking the mud in her pelt that camouflaged her from any possible enemies. Or any prey she would be lucky to find.

After a few moments, a small brown mouse scurried from a hole in the stone. It was scrawny and and frail, but it was something. Lily stood up straight, slowly, and crept forward silently, praying the mouse wouldn't hear her; because it most definitely couldn't see her, she thought.

But the mouse turned and looked almost nonchalantly at what was supposedly a rock wall, and squeaked, quickly attempting to dart back into its hole. Lily scrambled forward desperately, but the mouse was already disappearing into a crack in the stone.

She sighed and sheathed her claws.

Another hungry night.

Well, it had seen her.

Those darned eyes!

Lily blinked her bright amber eyes and hissed in anger. She wished she could close them so they wouldn't be seen, but she had already tried one hunting trip. Lily had almost walked of a cliff on that occasion. She sighed again and started, as another mouse crossed her path. Lily's ears pricked, and she quickly ghosted towards it, without a sound, this time making sure her eyes were closed to mere golden slivers. She pressed herself to the cool stone below her, before pouncing, and killing the mouse with a quick bite.

Lily purred in triumph and set the mouse on the ground. She was thirsty. She walked over to a puddle of water and lapped a few mouthfuls before glancing down. She gasped and stared harder. Was that cat really her? Lily stared down at her reflection in dismay. There was a cat there, with strange eyes, a pelt that had hardened clumps of mud, and long fur sticking out every which way. She could never groom this much dirt out of her fur! She sighed. She would have to go clean herself in the stream. But it was so cold. . . .

Lily shook herself, trying to rid her pelt of as much mud as she could. She picked up the mouse she had dropped, and started walking. She quietly walked around a cliff face; there was a small shelf there that gave her a few mouse-lengths of clearance between the mountain wall, and thin air. Lily crept around the shelf, keeping her eyes straight forward, and barely twitching a whisker. She relaxed and gave a sigh of relief when the walkway widened out.

A stream gurgled in the distance, and Lily's sore pads started to feel even worse. The mud smeared on her pelt seemed to clog all of her senses, and Lily found herself running — and wincing when her grazed pads protested — to the source of the beautiful rushing sound that would clear her of the dirt and grime encrusted in her pelt. A familiar cliff rose into view and it took all of Lily's willpower to not hurl herself over the edge and into the water below as her pelt felt like it was crawling with insects. She had to remember that it was cold. She stopped and scrambled awkwardly down a side path, before rushing to the bank and freezing to a stand-still.

She lifted a paw and hovered it over the surface of the water, shivering at the freezing spray. It was nearly the time of frozen-water, and even if the water wasn't frozen, it was miserably cold. She bit her lip and thrust the paw into the silvery rush.

Pain burst forth from the paw up and through Lily's body, and she was frozen as needles of ice pierced her insides and her bones were gripped in frozen claws that dug in mercilessly—

Lily snatched her paw from the stream, snarling wordlessly.

"Oh, why didn't I just jump in and get it over with?" she growled softly to herself.

Lily shook her paw and crouched, screwing up her eyes and clenching her teeth, pinning her ears to the back of her head.

And then, cursing, she threw herself into the current and was submerged completely. Lily fought the instinct to wail in pain from the temperature, as she touched the bottom light as a feather. The stream was only a tail length deep. The cold was to great for words. Lily shivered violently. She felt herself go numb and held her breath. Then she writhed around blindly trying to rid herself of the mud. Lily couldn't tell though since her she couldn't feel her body. Growling inwardly she launched herself off the bottom to the surface for a second, then ducked under again and wiggled around some more. Satisfied that she was clean enough, the she-cat stood up in the water. It lapped around her neck, and how good the air felt! Like warm sweet breath, smelling of home, on her face.

Lily climbed weakly onto the bank, and started grooming her fur. Once again it was long and clear of dirt, free of the plastering mud. Her cream fur was long and sleek, her ginger patches showing clearly now. Its color was a bright white with ginger. She would look like the most gentle queen, if not for her eyes. They were striking in her features and shone with challenge. Lily was not one to mess with. Her eyes showed everyone that her gentle frame was still dangerous. Her gaze burned with a fire that warned everyone away. They were a deep amber, glinting with ferocity.

She padded over to a small gorse bush, and looked around warily. No one. Lily secured the mouse in her teeth again, and stepped under the gorse bush and down into a hole below. Deeper and deeper she went down into the darkness with nothing but her whiskers to guide her.

Then there was light. It spilled through a small crack in the tunnel roof, showing an underground den. There was a small dip of rock underneath a constant drip that held water, and a small amount of other things including a nest lined with gorse.

Lily put the mouse in a corner of the den, and spat its fur out of her mouth. She was not very hungry so she walked away from the prey and over the sandy rock. She then circled in the nest and lay down, expecting to not fall asleep for awhile. But drowsiness fell upon her almost immediately, and she fell into the world of dreams.


A lion roared in the distance.

"Come to us Lily, you belong with us," the lion said. His voice was beautiful and smooth like honey, but it was filled with sadness; and something else that she couldn't place. "Please my child—"

Lily ran away from the source of the sound. Her instincts wanted to be near the lion, but it was all part of his plan. Her ancestors didn't want her! They detested her. They took everyone she loved away, and she must remember to honor the deceased ones memory and hate her ancestors for it. She sprinted away from the voice, and now she desperately wanted to never be near it.

"Leave me alone!"

The she-cat flew over the ground, but no, she was in the clouds. She bounded away from the lion leaping through the cottony whiteness. But she was she was sinking into the substance with every stride, then she was falling through it, Lily was spiraling towards the earth, like a commit, a falling star—

"Lily!" the lion roared, and there was pain in his beautiful voice. "Please!"

Lily's eyes flashed open and she writhed around screeching in terror, sure she was about to hit the ground and be obliterated by the force of her fall.

But she was laying on her back in her nest, completely safe.

Lily sat up and closed her eyes, willing her heart and mind to calm.

It's alright, she thought, just a dream. But I'll have many more.

Lily blinked her eyes open, stood up and stretched, her claws unsheathing in front of her and scraping against the floor. She straightened up and jumped over to the water dip, as she called it, and shoved her way out of the tunnels and into the morning light.

It was cold. Lily shivered and crouched at the edge of the stream, lapping a few freezing mouthfuls. Even if it was cold, she had to keep her strength up. She padded to the mountain wall and observed it carefully.

It's really steep, she thought warily. But she shook her head the instant it went through her mind.

Lily crouched and sprang onto the sheer rock wall, and started clawing her way up. She panted, trying to find pawholds. She scrambled up the rock until the edge was right above her. Lily grasped it with her claws and dragged herself onto the blissfully flat ground. She collapsed there, panting, until she felt her heart slow. Then she dragged herself to her paws and set off down a rocky slope that had a few pieces of sparse undergrowth every few tail lengths.

Today was a special day, for, every three sunrises, she would go and spy on the wildcats.


Lily traveled until the sun had almost relented to the moon. Darkness fell and she started to hear the thunder of endless water. She felt her lips curl into a smirk, and hurried forward silently.

Lily felt like more shadow than cat, as she crept up to the waterfall. A small stream flowed from the pool at the bottom of the waterfall and bubbled only a few mouse lengths away, and she crept over until she could dip her paw in and scoop a small pawful of mud from the bottom. Lily then smeared the mud over her pelt until it was slick against her sides, and her white and ginger fur was not seen.

Then Lily waited. The moon rose until it was high above her. Her pelt started to itch, and Lily ground her teeth against the urge to scratch it. She wasn't sure whether she should sneak into the cave or not, but the decision was made for her.

A dark shape walked out from behind the water fall. It was an average sized white tom with bright blue eyes. Strange, he looked familiar somehow. She quickly closed her own eyes to the tiniest slits, lest he see them glowing in the shadows. He looked around warily and jumped onto a bolder and gazed up at the moon. Lily was puzzled. What in the stars was he doing? Moon gazing? What a beetle brain. She rolled her eyes — and her paw slipped from its careful position onto a twig, that snapped.

The tom's head whipped around to glare in her direction. His hackles rose and he unsheathed his claws. Lily also unsheathed hers, her heart beating with growing fear.

"Who's there?" he snarled, whipping his head around, looking for the enemy.

Lily stood frozen. What had she done? But then the tom's eyes widened in horror. He was staring at something above her. She, ever so slowly, looked up, and gasped at what she saw.

A huge black wolf was standing behind Lily. It towered over her, Its paws each as wide as her head, its jaws filled with huge razor-sharp teeth that glistened with saliva. A growl tore itself out of the wolf's throat as it gazed at the white tom with loathing. Then it launched itself over Lily and was on the tom in seconds.

Lily couldn't see the tom. he had disappeared under the wolf as the it snarled savagely. She was frozen as the tom screeched in agony, and then their was the sent of blood, and red covered the ground in every direction, and Lily raced away from the terror, to save herself.

Lily ran until she could barely feel her paws, and then threw herself down a rabbit burrow and wept, the cry of the white tom still ringing in her ears.


Lily awoke with tears still running down her face. She didn't know why she was weeping, because the strange moon-watching tom had no meaning for her. But just seeing a cat getting ripped apart like that. . . .

Every shadow on the way bag to her den, seemed to hide the murderous wolf. Lily couldn't comprehend it, the wolves had always ignored the mountain cats. Unless perhaps a cat had gotten too close to their territory but that rarely happened. There had been a strong peace between the cats and the wolves. So why break it now? Lily had spied on the tribe ever since she had first seen them, and there was no talk of homicidal wolves. The wolves kept to themselves, and the cats the same. Why would this happen now?

Lily pondered this as she walked. Every thought was a question. How could this happen? Why has this happened? Are the gods punishing us, whatever they may be? Was a war starting? How was Lily going to fight this?

No. I am not going to fight this. It's not my problem.

But Lily felt hollow inside. Even if the Tribe was her enemy, they were fellow cats. She stole prey from them, played tricks on them, fought them on several occasions, but they were still united by blood. She would rather fight on their side than the wolves.

Or maybe she wouldn't have to fight any side. Maybe Lily could just be neutral and stay out of it.

But in her heart, Lily knew that she wouldn't stand for this. She wouldn't be the rogue that watched the fighting in the sidelines, in the shadows. In her heart, she knew she wanted to be in the thick of things, to fight for something. She couldn't watch other cats get the same treatment as the white tom. No, that was not going to happen.

The poor white tom! Lily had felt the urge to save him . . . she never wanted to save anyone, she was taught to value herself above others. And, true to her teachings, she had let the wolf slash the toms pelt into ribbons. And why was he so familiar? Lily closed her eyes and thought, trying to remember anything about the white tom...

And a small face popped into mind. A kits face young and full of life. A white tom, with big blue eyes and a sparkling smile.

Lily's eyes flashed open.


Sooooo how did ya like it? Ill try to update once a week, and please review! this chapter was short and I'll have a longer one next time.

R&R

~reenakitty