ThunderClan
Leader, Bramblestar ― huge brown tabby tom with amber eyes
Deputy, Lionblaze ― golden tabby tom with amber eyes (Mate, Icecloud, Kits, Leopardpaw, Dappledpaw and Sunpaw)
Apprentice, Leopardpaw
Medicine Cat, Jayfeather ― blind grey tabby tom with sightless blue eyes
Warriors
Brackenfur ― golden brown tabby tom with amber eyes (Mate, Sorreltail, Kits, Cinderheart and Poppyfrost)
Sorreltail ― tortoiseshell-and-white tabby she-cat with amber eyes (Mate, Brackenfur, Kits, Cinderheart and Poppyfrost)
Apprentice, Dappledpaw
Cloudtail ― long-haired white tom with blue eyes (Mate, Brightheart, Kit, Whitewing)
Brightheart ― scarred white she-cat with ginger patches and green eyes (Mate, Cloudtail, Kit, Whitewing)
Thornclaw ― golden brown tabby tom with amber eyes
Apprentice, Molepaw
Squirrelflight ― ginger she-cat with green eyes
Leafpool ― light brown tabby she-cat with amber eyes, former medicine cat (Kits, Lionblaze and Jayfeather)
Spiderleg ― long limbed black tom with a brown underbelly and amber eyes (Kits, Toadstep and Rosepetal)
Birchfall ― light brown tabby tom with pale green eyes (Mate, Whitewing, Kits, Doveshine and Ivypool)
Apprentice, Cherrypaw
Whitewing ― white she-cat with green eyes (Mate, Birchfall, Kits, Doveshine and Ivypool)
Berrynose ― cream-coloured tom with brown eyes (Mate, Poppyfrost, Kits, Cherrykit and Molekit)
Hazeltail ― small grey-and-white she-cat with hazel eyes
Mousewhisker ― grey-and-white tom with brown eyes
Apprentice, Sunpaw
Cinderheart ― grey tabby she-cat with blue eyes
Foxleap ― reddish tabby tom with green eyes
Icecloud ― white she-cat with blue eyes (Mate, Lionblaze, Kits, Leopardpaw, Dappledpaw and Sunpaw)
Toadstep ― black-and-white tom with green eyes
Rosepetal ― dark cream she-cat with green eyes
Briarlight ― dark brown she-cat with amber eyes
Blossomfall ― tortoiseshell-and-white she-cat with dark green eyes
Bumblestripe ― very pale grey tom with black stripes and amber eyes
Doveshine ― pale grey she-cat with blue eyes
Ivypool ― silver-and-white tabby she-cat with dark blue eyes
Apprentices
Leopardpaw ― handsome golden tabby tom with black spots, a white underbelly and chest and green eyes
Dappledpaw ― dappled brown, white and black tabby she-cat with a white chest, underbelly and paws and amber eyes
Sunpaw ― golden tabby she-cat with white dapples and amber eyes
Cherrypaw ― dark ginger she-cat with green eyes
Molepaw ― brown-and-cream tom with brown eyes
Queens
Daisy ― cream, long-furred she-cat with brown eyes (Kits, Berrynose, Hazeltail, Mousewhisker, Toadstep and Rosepetal)
Poppyfrost ― tortoiseshell she-cat with amber eyes (Mate, Berrynose, Kits, Cherrypaw, Molepaw and Tinykit)
Kits
Tinykit ― small black-and-white she-cat with dark green eyes
Elders
Purdy ― plump grey tabby tom with amber eyes
Millie ― grey striped tabby she-cat with blue eyes (Mate, Greystripe, Kits, Briarlight, Blossomfall and Bumblestripe)
Greystripe ― grey tom with amber eyes (Mate, Millie, Kits, Briarlight, Blossomfall and Bumblestripe)
Ferncloud ― pale grey she-cat with darker flecks and green eyes, former queen (Mate, Dustpelt, Kits, Spiderleg, Birchfall, Icecloud and Foxleap)
Dustpelt ― dark brown tabby tom with dusty brown eyes (Mate, Ferncloud, Kits, Spiderleg, Birchfall, Icecloud and Foxleap)
Chapter 1
Thunder
They had been going like this for days.
Padding down hard, icy mountain paths that tore the delicate pink flesh of their pads into pieces, thinking that they knew when they were going, when they hadn't a clue; ever since some of them had fallen into the abyss, it had never been the same.
Two moons ago, Eagle had slipped. Two moons ago, Ice had run to catch him. Two moons ago, Silver had run to save both of them. Two moons ago, they'd all fallen down into the dark, leering abyss below.
And now they were alone. Going in circles, completely and utterly alone, without the faintest clue where they were going. They hadn't eaten for seven sunrises; none of them knew how to catch anything on this deserted, sheer side of the mountain, and all they knew was to follow Silver ― except when she'd fallen into an abyss. Eagle, the only one who knew how to lead them properly, was gone. Ice, the best at planning and strategising, had followed him. And then Silver had gone too.
"Stop," Thunder commanded.
They were too tired to challenge his authority. But after that order, his mind went blank. What should he do? Order them to shelter? But there was no shelter. Tell them to hunt? There was nothing to hunt. Say to sleep? There was nowhere to sleep.
"We need to find shelter," he said quietly.
A brown-and-white tabby she-cat stalked up to him, her feathery tail swishing the snow behind her.
"There is no shelter," she snarled. "And who made you leader?"
"I'm the oldest, Shell," Thunder replied tiredly; he had been acting as a leader for .
Shell glared at him. Shell, Thunder, and Snow were not actually Silver's kits, although she treated them like they were. They were several sunrises older than Silver's real kits ― Eagle, Blizzard, Sky, Petal and Ice ― and Thunder knew Shell hated the fact that he had been born before her. After all, he was only a few heartbeats older, but he was still older, and that was all that counted. Usually, it would be Eagle who'd be in charge if Silver wasn't there, being the eldest of her litter. Yet now the responsibilities of a leader rested on him, and even though Silver hinted it was in his blood, he didn't want to believe it. He was not a leader.
A silver tabby, her eyes a pale silvery colour, that wavered from silvery blue to silvery green in the light, stepped up beside Shell, and rested her tail on her shoulder.
"The Tribe of Rushing Water found shelter," she meowed. "So shall we."
Shell shrugged off her tail.
"No, it isn't that simple!" she yelled, glaring at Thunder and Petal. "Face it, Thunder, there is no shelter! I know that, you know that, everyone knows that!"
Petal took a step back, taking tiny, scrambling pawsteps, and shaking her head.
"No, no, no!" she whispered. "We're lost, aren't we? I'm going! I'm leaving you, all of you! You told us that you knew where we were going! You lied to me? I trusted you, trusted you as a brother, and you betrayed that trust? Do you even know how hard it was to accept you as one of us? You don't even belong here! You shouldn't be one of us, and you never were! You're the son of a twisted maniac, not the son of a noble, loyal warrior!"
And with that, she spun around, her fur fluffed up and her eyes flashing a dangerously dark and turbulent green as she loped down the steep hill. Thunder sighed as he looked at Petal, even though the others ― Shell, Sky, Blizzard and Snow ― stared after her in complete shock. But Thunder knew there was this side to Petal; earlier on, when they weren't on the barren wasteland, she'd caught an eagle, and he'd seen it in her eyes. The anger, the defiance they bore, and the challenge. So much like the look in Silver's eyes when she'd taught them how to hunt.
Silver. She'd know what to do. She'd know how to summon Petal back with gentle words, to coax her into the safety and warmth of a den. She'd know how to change her daughter's mind, because Petal was their mother. They thought the same, even looked almost exactly the same. Except her eyes; those eyes, so disturbing, yet so beautiful. Petal had the same rippling muscles under the silver tabby pelt, the same long, destructive black claws; and the same quick temper, quick to jump to conclusions, and quick to make decisions. And Petal had chosen her path, and there was nothing that Thunder could do to stop her. He knew Petal well, better than some of his littermates.
"Petal, come back!" Shell called, running after the fast disappearing form of her littermate; Petal had always been the one to calm her down when she was angry, or annoyed, the one that always stood by her no matter what.
She was like a sister to Shell.
But not to me, Thunder thought bitterly, if I could have done anything differently to make her stay, I would have. She was my sister, even though she didn't consider me her brother. What will happen to us now? Ice, Eagle, Silver and Petal are gone, and I haven't a clue where I'm going. StarClan help me!
Silver had told them about StarClan, when she was alive. She told stories about some of the warriors of StarClan, who had died nobly in battle. She told them how when they were dead, they would go to StarClan and live there in peace. Is that where you are now, Silver? he wondered, are you looking down on us? Have I done the right thing? Please help me, mother. I love you.
"Thunder."
Thunder winced. It was Shell. She was going to berate him about how he should have made her stay, kept her here somehow, how he should have let her lead instead, then she wouldn't have left. How it was all his fault that she was gone. How he should have made her stay.
"It's not your fault."
The black tabby tom looked at her, astonished.
"What?" he asked.
"It's not your fault," Shell repeated. "These things happen. Petal thought it was her time to leave, so she did. She's going to have to fend for herself now, but we will do better together. I just hope she'll survive, and not follow Silver into the abyss."
Sky brushed past Shell and stared into his foster brother's amber eyes. Instead of saying anything, he just dipped his head, but his eyes never left Thunder's. Then he raised his head and nodded briskly.
"There is shelter," he said. "We just haven't looked hard enough."
Blizzard and Snow nodded in agreement. Thunder knew they didn't actually believe it, but they wanted to; they hadn't yet given up hope like Petal had.
"If it's just us now, we have to believe," Snow meowed. "We have to believe that somewhere, there is shelter, and somehow, we will find it."
Thunder realised how much trust they were putting in him, and he didn't like it. What if he failed? What if they were slowly picked off, one by one, by the wolves he'd heard howling at night? What if he fell, like Silver, and Ice, and Eagle? And what if they gave up, like Petal had? What would he do then? He knew he wasn't a leader, and he knew he wasn't meant to be a leader, either. That was Eagle's responsibility ― or Silver's.
"Thunder," Blizzard reminded him.
"Let's go," Thunder said decisively, marching ahead of the other cats, trying to give the effect that he was fearless and…leader like.
But even that guise couldn't deceive Snow, who knew him and his actions better than he knew them himself. The small, fluffy white she-cat slipped past the others and came to walk by him.
"You can't deceive me that easily," she meowed softly. "Next time, don't try twitching your tail so much ― you do that every time you're worried. You know, you can always talk to me."
Thunder tried to turn his grimace into a smile, but to no avail.
"You can talk to me," Snow said sharply. "And don't give me that,I-wish-I-could-talk-to-you-but-I-can't look because it doesn't work. You're going to end up talking to me, anyway."
Her brother rolled his eyes and padded ahead of her. That didn't keep her off his heels for long, though, as she soon bounced up behind him.
"Stop ignoring me!"
"Go away."
"No!"
"I mean it. Go away."
"I mean it too. No."
"Stop annoying me."
"You're annoying me."
"No I'm not! You won't leave me alone!"
"You won't stop talking to me!"
"Stop fighting," Sky interrupted, shouldering his way between Snow and Thunder. "If you two fight, we won't get anywhere. We need to find shelter, and we need to eat. We're already frozen, and the last thing we need is to be stuck in the middle of the snowstorm that is coming our way. We have to hurry. We don't have time for any of this. Snow, come with me. Thunder, lead the way."
Thunder blanched away from Sky's cutting words. He should be acting like a leader, not squabbling and bickering with his sisters. He wished for probably the thousandth time that he was like Eagle. Then everyone would trust his judgement, know that his words actually meant something; and they'd know that they were safe. Now, with him as leader…things weren't that clear.
A/N: So, first chapter of the long awaited sequel. I gave you a good look at how Thunder feels about everything, and showed you a little bit of Shell's 'attitude' and Snow's unnerving ability to read Thunder's feelings. Next chapter up will be Leopardpaw. Who's he? Look in the allegiances, or wait for a surprise next chapter. Remember to review! A free Smudge plushie to everyone who does.
Queen Of The Pens