Chapter 1

Dawnkit ran through the center of camp, laughing. She was tackled by her friend, Novakit. The dark blue-gray tom looked down at her with a grin. She kicked him off, and tackled him back, purring with amusement as he blinked.
His eyes got wider with fear glittering in them. He shoved her off, and ran to the shady, protected, ring of brambles around the camp. Dawnkit suddenly noticed that all the other cats were running there too – everyone except her.
"Dawnkit!" some cat screeched, and the light gray she-kit turned to see her mother. She started running to her, running to her Clanmates, running to safety…
Pain.
Pain shot though her sides, and she was swooped off the ground. Dawnkit blinked her ocean blue eyes, and everything seemed to go in slow motion. She stared at the ground, confused.
What in StarClan is happening to me? she wondered.
Higher and higher she went, and she closed her eyes. A sudden blast of wind made them open, and she saw her father leap onto the rock where the leader made announcements from. He reached his outstretched paws to grab her.
Short.
Her father came up short, and one of her dainty paws touched his as he fell back down.
But Dawnkit kept on flying, and she turned to see talons gripping her fur.
Hawk talons.
She looked up, and saw the hawk the talons belonged to. Dawnkit turned, and cried out, "Help! Daddy, Mommy! Help me, please!"
Each word was breaking down the walls that kept her from crying. The walls shattered into a million pieces, and Dawnkit was crying, her tears falling swiftly to the ground.
She could just see some of her tears fall into one of the little dips in the one of the rocks in the shaded part of camp, sitting there in the cool rock.
Their last remnant of me, Dawnkit thought sadly, all in a little dip. Everything sped up, like she was still running through her Clan's camp, playing with Novakit.
But she wasn't in the camp anymore, she was flying, and the camp was was going farther away.

She looked at the camp, blurry due to her tears. Her tears fell to the mountains below. She stared at the trees near their camp, they rustled. They were climbing the trees to see where she was, where she was going. Soon the camp was just a dot in the distance. She closed her eyes, and cried herself to sleep. She felt herself slammed into something and she woke up in a nest. The hawks nest. She scrambled to get up then to one end of the nest and cowered there. The hawk landed , waking it's chicks behind it. She stared at it and closed her eyes, waiting for the pain, then her death. She felt the nest shake and the hawk screech. She opened her eyes and a black cat was battling the hawk. His fur was short and messy and he had red marks on his face and shoulders. 2 more cats jumped over, a ginger she with lighter paws, chest, tail tip, and ears with the same red markings, and a brown tabby tom with black spots and red marks. They attacked the hawk until it shuddered and went still. The leapt off the hawk and saw her. The chicks peeped behind them and the tabby hissed at them and they went silent. The black tom whispered to his 2 ally's and looked back at her.

"I'm Dusk. This is Red and Thorn. We are from RuneClan, a clan not linked to the others. We depend on each other, and ourselves. Who are you?" The tom said, his voice thick.

"I'm Dawnkit..." She squeaked and he nodded.

She looked at his red marks, they weren't blood, but berry juice. He had a line under each eye one on his muzzle and chin, and his ear tips. He had a paw print on his shoulder with 1 apprentice sized paw print on one side, and 2 kit sized paw prints on the other. Red had the same paw print but had 1 apprentice sized on. The marks on her face were on the tips of her ears, on her chin and muzzle, and on the sides of her face. The brown tabby had the same facial markings as Dusk but the same paw marks as Red.

"Come with us, you are to walk though. It will help your strength." The black tom, Dusk, mewed.

He leapt onto the mountain, out of the nest and started walking. Red and Thorn carried the hawk and Dawnkit ran to catch up with them. She trotted next to Dusk and noticed how slim they were, yet strong. They looked well fed, like nothing bothered them, minus the birds. She looked at Red and Thorn behind her then felt herself get grabbed by the scruff. Red and Thorn turned down a tunnel in the side of the mountain, disappearing. Dawnkit look to Dusk's legs and he was walking on a path wide enough for only 1 cat. She looked to her right and saw a drop. A pool of water at the bottom, but still a drop.

He set her down and they walked a little monger and took a sharp left turn. Walking a little he turned and walked into a cave entrance and she followed. After a little they entered a wide area with cave entrances on the walls. Dusk walked to a entrance which had 2 paws and 2 kit sized paws in red. The kit sized paws were on each side of the big paws. Dusk walked out with a snowy white she-cat who had light gray paws, underbelly, muzzle, tail tip, ears and had a big belly, obviously heavy with kits. Dusk whispered to her and she nodded.

"I'm Snowy. This is the kit-Care den, or Nursery as you would call it. I will care for you until you become a trainee, or apprentice. Just think of me as your second mom." The she, Snowy, said.

Dawnkit nodded and she turned walking back into the nursery, Kit-Care den. Dusk started walking again and she followed. He jumped onto a large flat rock which had another cave entrance covered in ivy. Dusk walked in and Dawn looked around. She saw a path leading up the wall to a little jut out of the wall. The roof still very high over their heads. Dusk walked out with a tom who had a star shape on his muzzle. Dusk whispered and pointed to Dawnkit and she sat there shyly. He was dark gray with a brown underbelly and paws. the star was white and he had black around his eyes. His toes were black while from the black to just above his ankle was a lighter brown.

The tom turned and walked up the path and Dawnkit sat next to Dusk. The tom sat on the jut and looked around.

"RUNECLAN, GATHER." He howled and cats gather around the base of the jut, staring up at him.

"We have new coming kit. She is named Dawnkit and was taken from one of the far clans by a hawk. Dusk, Red, and Thorn killed the hawk, saving her. Her name shall be Dawn and she is one of us. Her fur is to be groomed short. Dawn, your fur will soon adapt to being short. Dismissed."

He howled and the clan yelled Dawnkit's new name once. Dawn. She liked the name, still loved it. It had always been her name. The leader padded over and looked at her.

"I'm SplashStar, the leader. Welcome, to RuneClan."