Hi, everyone, and welcome to my first story on this site. I'm so excited to share this with all of you. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own the Warriors series. (At least I can believe that I do. :I That has got to count as something, right? ... Right?)
Prologue
A cold wind swept its way over the hillside as a tom sat looking out over the horizon in silence. Where is he? He should have been here by now, he thought critically. Not a heartbeat later, his companion crested the rise of the hill and sat down beside him impatiently.
"Well, are we going or not," he asked, looking at the white-and-black tom expectantly. He stood up again and began pacing restlessly in a futile attempt to quell his growing excitement.
"We would have been here a while ago, Beetle, but you just had to go explore that rabbit warren..." He chuckled. "Oh well, I might as well show you the territory while we're looking around here." He stood and padded towards the forest, Beetle following at a leisurely pace behind him. When they were close to the trees, Beetle stopped and fluffed out his fur against the biting night air.
"I-Is it always this cold here?" He shuddered, obviously not on good terms with the wind, or the cold. "I don't know how you all can stand so much wind."
"Sometimes it gets to be absolutely freezing at night. Trust me though, you'll get used to the wind after a while," the tom replied brusquely. "Now quiet down; you'll scare off all the prey on the moor." Turning back in direction of the treeline, he scented the air for signs of prey. He stiffened suddenly and proceeded to quickly usher Beetle into a dip in the terrain that was sheltered by a handful of small, scraggly bushes and other plants. Whatever that scent is, it shouldn't be here. We're too exposed, despite being where we are. We could easily be spotted by a passing cat… or a fox. This isn't looking very good right now, he thought insecurely as panic gripped him. His instincts implored that he run, yet his curiosity rooted him to the spot, making his paws feel as heavy as stone/
Cautiously, he peered through the bushes that lined the top of the hollow; their thin branches and the dismal amount of leaves barely camouflaging the white in his pelt. He watched as a she-cat emerged from the trees with a kit dangling from her jaws sleepily. Her ears pricked. The she-cat's gaze flitted to a gorse bush a ways away from her. Setting the kit down in a pile of leaf litter close to the treeline, she crouched and began creeping towards her quarry. "What is she doing," the tom hissed under his breath. That prey-stealing, featherbrained loner! Thinking she can travel around and take whatever she likes. The tom felt his hackles rise, but he forced himself to keep calm. Perhaps this would be all that the she-cat would catch; maybe she would move along just as swiftly as she had come.
"What's wrong, Moss- " Beetle's fur stood on end as Moss' tail wrapped around his muzzle to silence him. Moss growled, almost beside himself.
Will this cat ever stay quiet for more than a heartbeat? I honestly think he's still a kit sometimes. Moss shot him a look, his eyes alight with frustration. "Yes, everything's fine, Beetle," he said through gritted teeth. "Now please, will you stop fretting over everything?" He hissed under his breath, muttering something unintelligible and turning back to watch the loner. Perhaps he had been a little too loud, because not a moment later, the bushes rustled and the she-cat poked her head out from the gorse bush with a small rabbit in her jaws. Moss watched tensely as her gaze surveyed the area, coming to rest upon his and Beetle's hiding place. For what felt like forever, the two locked eyes, neither daring to move.
"Whoever's there, there's no use hiding now. I know you're watching me," the she-cat called out as she hopped out of the bush.
Fear giving way to wariness, Moss and Beetle rose to their paws and ducked out from behind the cover of the bushes. A brown she-cat sat patiently with her tail curled around her paws, her eyes narrowed distrustfully.
"Who are you," Beetle prompted with a tired yawn.
"Why don't you tell me first," the she-cat snapped impatiently. "You were the ones watching me." Her eyes darted from one cat to the other as she watched them with cold suspicion. Definitely a cat that I would love to spend a moon around, Moss thought sarcastically to himself.
"My name is Moss," the white-and-black tom responded with an indifferent flick of an ear. "And this is Beetle," he meowed with a nod towards his exhausted companion, who dipped his head politely to the she-cat. Stepping closer to her, Moss' whiskers twitched in unspoken fear, his green eyes flashing in the moonlight. "Your turn," he said flatly, silently wishing he could be anywhere else at the moment.
"I am Song," she meowed cordially. Glancing towards her kit, she added, "That over there is my kit, Rain."
"May I ask why you're hunting on our territory?" Moss looked down at her catch, a small rabbit. Its ribs were showing beneath its fur, which had become dull and lifeless from lack of food, which always traveled with the cold. It would barely be enough to sate her, let alone the both of them.
"No," she responded tersely, picking up her prey and padding back to Rain. Stuck up mange-pelt, Moss thought angrily. He dashed in front of Song, blocking her path. Song jumped back in surprise.
An idea formed in his mind and he found himself cringing at what he was thinking. Let's just call it her "payment" for hunting here. "We'll let you keep the prey, but you've got to give us something in return." His eyes moved suggestively towards the place where she said her kit was.
"What would that…" Moss backed up slightly as Song's voice trailed off. She hissed, spat and swatted at them, and it was clear that only the pure instinct to protect her kit was urging her onward. Suddenly she stopped, trembling; Moss left with several deep cuts and a shredded ear, and Beetle with a scratched muzzle. Her small frame quivered as sadness washed over her like a black wave, forcing heaving sobs from her lips. Moss' wounds stung painfully but he clenched his jaw and bore it. Song looked up at each of them pleadingly. "Please, not him! Not my kit! H-He's all I have left after…" Her eyes became clouded with sadness. "I'll give you anything you want; just let me keep my kit." With each passing moment Song's mews became more and more desperate.
Moss opened his jaws to reply, but stopped as Beetle spoke up from behind him. "I don't think that this is a good idea, do you really need to do this," he questioned nervously.
"You've got a lot to learn about our hierarchy, Beetle," Moss snapped. Beetle fell silent, looking down at his paws remorsefully. "As for you, Song, that's what I propose in exchange for the prey you caught here. You can either take my offer or leave it. But I'm sure you wouldn't want to leave here worse off than when you came." Song's eyes moved between the prey at her paws and her kit.
Song sighed, her eyes clouded with a sea of emotion. Moss noticed that she looked quite fearful. What he failed to notice, however, was that she was fearful not for her own life, or the life of her son. Her fear was trained on the future and the hazy uncertainties it bore with it. "I just wanted a better life for us both... one free from the conflicts of our home. Promise me that you will do for him what I could not." Moss nodded his consent. "Good," Song meowed hoarsely, picking up the rabbit. Moss watched as she stopped beside Rain, murmured a few inaudible words in his ear, and left in the direction of the mountains. Their gray shadows hung over her heavily, as though they understood her sorrow.
Gazing after Song with a tinge of regret in his eyes, Moss walked up to stand in front of her kit, a dark brown tabby with a feathery tail. Beetle stopped and sat beside him. Moss sighed as looked down at the small, defenseless lump of fur pensively. He looked peaceful, almost as if his mother had never gone. Letting his thoughts about the kit slip further back in his mind, Mosswhisker turned and looked at the young brown tom beside him. "You didn't have to do that; and you know it, Mosswhisker," Beetle said with a chilling glance in his direction. Mosswhiisker stiffened.
It was then that Mosswhisker felt the gravity of his decision pressing down around him. He felt as though a pit were forming in his belly, one that was slowly spreading through his body and filling him with irrepressible guilt. Why do I feel as though I've made a huge mistake? Was I truly wrong? He inhaled deeply, pushing the nagging feeling aside. "I know that, Beetle, but she was hunting on WindClan territory."
"For this kit," he replied bluntly with a small nod to Rain. Under his breath, he added, "You were acting just like Jay."
The black-and-white tom flicked his ear but pretended not to have heard. "What's done is done. Now, it's almost sunup and I'm exhausted. Let's just head back to camp," he said blearily, stifling a yawn.
"What about hunting?"
"We'll stop and hunt on the way back." Mosswhisker bent down to pick Rain up by his scruff, and then walked off stiffly in the direction of camp, feeling Beetle's disapproval raking his pelt as they traveled.
Allegiances:
WindClan
Leader:
Willowstar - long-furred white she-cat with pale gray paws
Deputy:
Rabbitfur - very light brown tom with yellow eyes
(Apprentice: Daisypaw - pale yellow she-cat with amber eyes)
Medicine Cat:
Sedgewing - black-and-brown tortoiseshell she-cat with dark blue eyes
Warriors:
Larkeye - young brown tom with a gray underbelly and a torn ear
Mistclaw - blueish gray tom with black flecks
(Apprentice: Leafpaw - ginger she-cat with light green eyes)
Stonefur - dark gray, almost black, she-cat
Dustfur - pale brown she-cat with amber eyes and a twisted paw
(Apprentice: Molepaw - wiry black tom)
Stormfang - black tom with a dark gray muzzle
(Apprentice: Swiftpaw - tall ginger tabby tom)
Antfoot - reddish-brown tom with black patches and small paws
Rosewhisker - spotted cream she-cat
Heatherleaf - yellow-and-white striped she-cat with hazel eyes
Beetle - black tom with amber eyes (former loner)
Mosswhisker - white, black patched tom with sharp green eyes
Petalheart - blueish-white she-cat with pale amber eyes
Queens:
Fernpelt - dark brown-and-gray she-cat with green eyes
(Kits: Silentkit, a mute gray she-cat with black spots and a black tail tip; Rushkit - black tom with light gray underbelly and paws)
Foxear - dark ginger she-cat
(Kits: Scorchkit - dark brown and ginger tabby tom)
Elders:
Haretail - blind white tom with matted fur
I hope you guys liked it! Any and all constructive criticism is welcome. I should have the next chapter up sometime tomorrow when I get finished editing it.
Please remember to review! It will really let me know how well I'm doing.
As I'm writing this, I'm eating a bowl full of popcorn. Which tastes amazing! ^-^ Yay popcorn! *gives everyone a bucket of buttered popcorn*
Until next time,
Tranquil Rain