Pinestar's Choice

You can also find Pinestar's Choice with (poor) illustrations on DeviantArt, user Kossmoe.

Allegiances

THUNDERCLAN
LEADER: Foxstar – light brown tom with black tail tip and yellow eyes
DEPUTY: Leopardear – brown and black spotted she-cat
MEDICINE CAT: Shadeflood – gray tom with black brindling

WARRIORS:
Goldwing – brown tom with gold stripes
Patchsong – pretty calico she-cat with green eyes
Copperfall – rusty brown tom with white belly
Cloudeye – light gray tom
Frostpelt – white she-cat with gray stripes
Willowshine – gray-blue she-cat
Darkbreeze – large black tom with blue eyes

APPRENTICES:
Larkpaw – tortoiseshell she-cat with pale green eyes
Weedpaw – pale orange tom with yellow eyes

QUEENS:
Sweetbriar – golden brown she-cat with green eyes, mother to Pinekit and Redkit

ELDERS:
Creekvine – large brown tabby with yellow eyes
Graysnow – gray she-cat with large scars on pelt

Pinestar's Choice

Chapter 1

"All cats who can catch their own prey, gather beneath the High Rock for a Clan meeting!"

The yowl split the silence, and Pinekit jerked from his mother's belly, blinking sleep from his eyes. The warm smell of milk mixed with his mother's scent was the first thing he noticed, though he wasn't fully sure where he was. He turned his head and found a wall of brambles a tail-length from his nose, then remembered he was still in the nursery.

That was a weird feeling, not knowing where he was – after all, he'd only been in the nursery and the sandy hollow outside. He'd dreamt of what the ThunderClan territory was like outside the hollow, and for a split second after the yowl, he'd sworn he'd woken up under a tree whose branches reached the sky.

A brown head poked into the nursery's entrance. "Are you awake? Foxstar's finally going to give the order."

Pinekit looked up to see his father, Goldwing, a cat named for the two strokes of gold along his pelt, much like the dead snakes the apprentices brought home from the Sunning Rocks. He craned his small head up, trying to see where his father's ears touched the top of the den.

"About time!" said Sweetbriar. Pinestar's brother, Redkit, curled up tighter beside him, as if trying to hide his bright red fur beneath his mother's belly. "He shouldn't have let it take this long. WindClan is going to think they can get away with killing cats!"

Pinekit jumped to his feet, puffing out his bright red fur as best as he could. "I want to go to the Clan meeting," he meowed, "I've caught my own prey before! That means I can go, right? That's what Foxstar said."

Goldwing purred. "It's true. You did catch a butterfly."

"I ate it too, so that should count." He bounced around the nest, scattering moss and causing his brother to hiss. What a grumpy cat! "I can go listen, right?"

"Please, will you?" Redkit snapped. "I'm trying to sleep!"

"But that's all you do," Pinekit complained. He moved toward the front of the nursery and peered around his father's large frame. ThunderClan's warriors and apprentices approached the High Rock, their shadows melting into one solid form beneath it. A murmur passed through the throng of cats as they gathered, the tone of their low meows anxious. Foxstar sat on the ledge with his black-tipped tail wrapped around his paws and his eyes narrowed.

"Go ahead," Sweetbriar said, nudging Pinekit with one paw. He fell forward into the soft moss with an indignant mew. "But you need to behave yourself. If you're going to listen to a clan meeting, stay with your father and don't bother any cat."

Pinekit shot out of the nest, skidding to a halt just beside his father. Goldwing touched his ear with his tail, leading him toward the gathered cats. His short legs made walking difficult, but he managed to keep up with Goldwing. None of the other cats turned to look at him, though he thought they should—it wasn't like there were any other kits at this meeting! Though, maybe Larkpaw and Weedpaw still counted: they stood near the front, their small bodies dwarfed by the larger warriors around them. They'd only been made apprentices a few sunrises ago.

"Why does Foxstar look so mad?" Pinekit meowed.

A couple of nearby warriors turned their heads and looked at Pinekit. Goldwing moved his tail in front of Pinekit's mouth. "Shh. Remember what your mother said, don't bother any cat."

"Sorry," he murmured through the brown fur.

Foxstar's black-tipped tail twitched back and forth as he began speaking. Pinekit watched it with great interest, his concentration drowning out the words of the small brown and black warrior. The tiny kit dropped into a crouch, preparing to jump onto High Rock, no matter how tall it was. He knew he could get the tail if he tried.

"Warriors don't fidget," Goldwing whispered.

Pinekit immediately straightened up, curling his tail around his paws in an effort to look like Foxstar. As he glanced at his father, he realized there was a large amount of pride glowing in his eyes, and that only made Pinekit puff up more.

"We will not let WindClan get away with this," Foxstar continued with a hiss, now that Pinekit was listening. Murmurs of agreement echoed from cat to cat, and Pinekit felt his father's frame stiffen beside him. He'd remembered Sweetbriar speaking to Weedpaw and Larkpaw's mother about WindClan, though everything that'd happened before he opened his eyes felt like a distant dream. The situation had been the talk of the Clan for the last few sunrises.

A WindClan hunting patrol had chased a family of four rabbits toward the border just as a ThunderClan hunting patrol had approached to renew the scent markers. A ThunderClan apprentice, Sunpaw, had caught and killed one of the rabbits, since they had been on ThunderClan territory. A fight had erupted, as WindClan claimed the rabbits were theirs. The attack caused serious damage to the apprentice who'd caught the rabbit, the apprentice had died.

Pinekit wondered what had made WindClan so cruel. Did living in the moor make them fox-hearted? From everything he knew, warriors weren't supposed to hurt each other that badly. Every cat in his Clan was furious over it.

"I have spoken to my senior warriors about Sunpaw's death," Foxstar hissed. "We will attack the WindClan camp at dawn."

The cats around Pinekit screeched their approval, their voices tinged with pain. The cat who yowled the loudest was Sunpaw's mother, Patchsong, whose scent Pinekit knew very well. She visited the nursery many times a day, being Sweetbriar's littermate. With Sunpaw's death, she'd been there a lot more, yowling in agony to his mother.

"I will lead the raid," Foxstar growled. "With me, I want Leopardear, Copperfall, Cloudeye, Frostpelt, Willowshine, Patchsong, Darkbreeze, and Goldwing!"

Pinekit blinked as he spoke Goldwing's name, then pressed his muzzle to his father's leg. "You'll show those mangy WindClan cats," he said. He'd never seen a WindClan cat, but they must have all had red eyes and black pelts, from the way they'd killed Sunpaw. How could a cat ever do that?

Goldwing nodded. "I will, in Sunpaw's memory—and Pinekit, you're becoming a fantastic Clan cat, I can tell. I bet you'll be leader someday. I couldn't have asked for more in a son."

Pinekit basked in the praise, his tail uncurling and sticking straight up, until he realized what that meant for his brother. Did Goldwing not like Redkit? He'd always seemed cold to Pinekit's bright red brother, though Pinekit had always figured it was because Redkit slept too much and never did anything, like catch butterflies.

He'd heard the cats outside the nursery murmuring "every cat know what happened with Sweetbriar" whenever his mother was sleeping. Pinekit wished he was "every cat" because he didn't have a clue what that meant, or if it had anything to do with why Goldwing didn't like Redkit. Was his brother different? It didn't make any sense—he and Redkit were littermates, so obviously the three of them and Goldwing were family.

Patchsong sprang past, her green eyes blazing with hurt and revenge. The look caused Pinekit to tense up. It scared him, seeing a cat with that kind of rage in their eyes. Goldwing's head turned to watch Patchsong as she approached the nursery, already hissing to Sweetbriar what she would do to those WindClan cats, especially the one who'd killed her son.

"I need to get some rest now, so I can be ready for the dawn raid," Goldwing said, bumping his nose against Pinekit's side. Despite all the unsettling feelings in the cats around him, Pinekit squealed with delight, batting at his father's muzzle with a paw. His playful swatting turned into an elaborate dance as he bounced around the brown warrior, trying to jump onto him.

Pinekit slammed into a rusty brown tom with a white belly who was walking by, letting out a sharp meow. The tom whirled around and hissed, his ears flattening back against his skull. "Kits belong in the nursery!"

"Copperfall!" Goldwing meowed. "Don't take your anger out on Pinekit! Rip the fur off WindClan cats, not your own Clanmates!"

The other tom narrowed his eyes into slits as Pinekit backed away from him, pressing against his father's forelegs. "He still doesn't belong out of the nursery, and especially not at a Clan meeting." With a furious spit, Copperfall stalked toward the warrior's den, his tail thrashing back and forth. Pinekit watched him leave, then breathed a sigh.

"Grumpy old furball," Goldwing said, then leaned down to lick Pinekit's rumpled fur. "Don't mind him. He's bound to join the elders any day now."

Pinekit ducked his father's licks. "You won't join the elder's den anytime soon, will you?"

"Not if I can help it."

A yowl sounded from the nursery. Pinekit turned his head to see Patchsong dashing away from it. The calico disappeared into the warrior's den with a flick of her black tail. Goldwing watched her go with sympathy in his eyes.

"That sounds like your mother," he said, nudging Pinekit back in the direction of the brambles. "You better get back so she doesn't have my tail for letting you stay out here for so long."

"I'm big now, and I caught my own prey," Pinekit reminded him, puffing out his fur. Maybe if he did that, he'd look bigger, and Goldwing would believe he could stay out of the nursery. Maybe Foxstar would even jump back on the High Rock and give him his apprentice name! He was sick of the way Weedpaw and Larkpaw stopped by the nursery and changed out the moss with boasting mews. Pinekit could do that himself, if some cat would let him!

But then he remembered Redkit. He couldn't just leave his brother in there all alone, though sometimes he felt Foxstar might give Pinekit his apprentice name before his brother. Redkit was so much smaller than him and hardly did anything but sleep. Spending all that time curled up would have driven Pinekit crazy; he didn't know how the red tom did it!

Sweetbriar padded out of the nursery as Goldwing and Pinekit approached. She stretched, and Pinekit spotted Redkit standing behind her, blinking heavily. His brother's yellow eyes—so unlike everyone else in his family's green eyes—glowed in the shadows. "I wish I could fight with the patrol," Sweetbriar said. "I'd give anything to help avenge Sunpaw."

Goldwing extended his claws and sunk them into the ground. "Don't worry, I'll teach them a lesson for you."

"I know you will. But please be careful."

"I will, but those WindClan cats won't be getting any mercy."

"Good." The queen bent down and grabbed Pinekit's scruff, much to the young kit's dismay.

"Hey! I can walk!" Pinekit squealed, churning the air with his paws.

"I want to go back to sleep," Redkit whined, his tiny pink mouth stretching wide with a yawn.

Sweetbriar lay down, setting Pinekit beside her. When Pinekit tried to dart back toward Goldwing, she scruffed him again and pulled him back. "Pinekit will be sleeping too. Come, Redkit, it's time to rest."

She placed Redkit at her belly and curled up. Pinekit realized some cat had fixed the nest, because it looked so much better than when he'd sent bits of moss flying in every direction. Though the urge to sleep nagged in the back of his mind, he didn't want to see Goldwing leave. He wanted to fight the WindClan cats with his father.

"I'm going to wake up early and go fight WindClan with you," Pinekit mumbled to the moss, not sure if his father heard him. Paw-steps sounded away from the nursery, and no cat replied to him. He felt his mother and brother relax beside him, and slowly sleep took over his body like a blanket of darkness.

Too consumed by exhaustion to feel disappointed, Pinekit drifted into a sleep filled with trees that reached the sky.