"There's a Shadow Clan warrior in our camp." Dawnkit hissed to her sister Nightkit as they crept over to the warrior's den. She placed her paws as delicately as she could, spreading the pads wide to quieten her footsteps as the two of them stole across the leaf littered ground. There was really no need for Dawnkit to try and be so quiet anyway for moments later...
" He'll be no match for Dawnkit and Nightkit, the two strongest warriors in Thunder Clan!" Nightkit crowed loudly behind her. Dawnkit's tail was too slow to whip into her sister's mouth and muffle her cry and she let out a sigh of frustration as the branches quivered at the entrance to the warrior den. "We're supposed to be being stealthy!" Dawnkit complained, darting over to crouch behind a small bush, her sister close behind her.
"Sorry," Nightkit mewed quietly, placing her tail on top of Dawnkit's twitching one to still it. "I'll be quiet now, I promise." The two kittens sat as sill and as silent as they could as the evil Shadow Clan warrior padded out, a tortoiseshell tom. The tom glanced around the clearing, his amber eyes scanning every rock and bush. He opened his mouth, evidently to call out to the other Shadow Clan cats and tell them to attack.
"We have to act now!" Nightkit mewed quietly and with a grave nod at each other, they started to creep forward on their haunches as the tom began to speak, "Ni-"
"Thunder Clan, attack!" Dawnkit yowled and the two kits pounced as one, each knowing where they should attack so that they could work best as a team. Nightkit grabbed hold of his ginger tail, trapping it between her paws whilst Dawnkit landed on his shoulders.
The tom staggered and then collapsed dramatically on to the ground with a grunt of surprise. Through an unspoken signal the two sisters jumped onto his belly together. "Got you now, Shadow Clan!" Nightkit cried barely stifling her giggles as she padded triumphantly on his stomach. "I won't be beaten that easily!" the tom growled rolling over to dislodge them. Nightkit and Dawnkit landed lightly on their paws and scarpered behind the nursery, the tom hot on their heels.
"Thunder Clan kits. My favourite thing to eat!" the cat meowed, reaching out and tripping Dawnkit over with a paw.
"Help me, Nightkit!" Dawnkit squealed desperately as the tom rolled her onto her back and pinned her beneath him in one swift movement before leaning down to sink his teeth into her soft belly . Nightkit spun and leapt at the tom, claws extended, but he swatted her down mid-flight and trapped her underneath his other paw, preapring her for the same fate as her sister.
"Dad!" Dawnkit mewed, trying to struggle away from their father's tongue as it started to smooth down her fluffy white tummy fur. "Let me go!"
Dawnkit managed to squirm free and then watched, purring in amusement as Nightkit got her turn to be washed. "Stop! Dad!" Nightkit cried, wriggling with laughs as he tickled her stomach. "I give in. You beat us." She managed to gasp out between giggles.
Their father, Redtail let out a purr and continued with his assault on Nightkit by moving on to tickling her paws with his whiskers. "I can't wait to see you after your apprentice training. I bet I won't be able to beat you two then.'
Dawnkit pressed herself into his fur. "You'll always win, Dad. You're the best."
"Yeah, even when you're really old, we'll let you beat us." Nightkit mewed, finally managing to escape. "Thanks," Redtail purred.
"Redtail!" a firm voice called and Dawnkit crouched low when she saw Bluestar, the leader of their Clan, standing behind them. Bluestar indicated that she wanted to speak to Redtail with a flick of her tail before padding towards her den.
Redtail sighed, getting to his feet and dislodging Nightkit from his tail that she was pouncing on. "I have to go. You two had better get back to your mother." He nudged Dawnkit gently in the direction of the nursery with his nose before turning and following Bluestar into her den.
"Why did Bluestar have to call him away?" Nightkit sighed, moving to crouch next to Dawnkit "We were having such fun."
"Your father has a very important job as the deputy of this clan." Dawnkit put on an imitation of their mother's voice as she got reluctantly to her feet. "Come on, race you."
The two sisters raced each other back to the nursery and skidded inside, almost crashing into their mother Willowpelt, a pale grey she-cat with blue eyes.
Dawnkit was a mixture of her mother and her father. She was white with some ginger patches and had a medium-haired coat and soft blue eyes. She had also received her father's ginger tail for which he had been named. Her sister, on the other hand, was unusually pure black and short-haired with bright blue eyes. Nightkit was slightly older than Dawnkit who had been born as the sun began to dawn, lightening the sky after the night that Nightkit had been born into.
They curled up to their mum to sleep but neither of them could settle and soon they were shredding their nests into balls and chucking them at each other disturbing the other queens and their young kits. Willowpelt quickly shooed them outside before they could cause too much damage. "I'm going to have to make you two terrors new beds." Willowpelt sighed, glancing ruefully down at what remained of their beds. "I only made them this morning."
"Does that mean you're going to have to get some more moss." Nightkit mewed hopefully. "Can we come?"
"You know full well kits aren't allowed out of the camp." Willowpelt flicked Nightkit gently on the ear with her tail before draping it into Dawnkit's mouth as she opened it to speak . "I know you're bored and it's hard for you because all the other kits are too young for you to play with." Willowpelt continued. "How about you go ask some of the apprentices to teach you a few moves?" With that Willowpelt picked up the remains of their beds and wandered down the tunnel into the woods beyond.
Dawnkit's tail hit the floor with a thud as she watched Willowpelt go. "I really thought ripping apart our beds would mean that mother would send us outside to fetch our own moss," she sighed.
"We'll think of something else." Nightkit mewed good-naturedly, getting to her feet and padding towards the apprentice den, a small cave partly hidden behind a tree trunk.
"Come on then." Dawnkit got to her feet and raced past her sister. "Let's learn a team attack to use on Dad next time!"
-x-
Greypaw and Dustpaw had just finished teaching them a move in which two cats could defeat an advancing larger cat by one of them swiping at his paws to trip him whilst the other distracted him with swipes to the nose when Nightkit spotted Redtail emerging from Bluestar's den followed by Tigerclaw and Ravenpaw. They quickly mewed their thanks to the two apprentices and rushed off.
"Dad!" Nightkit called, racing over to him with Dawnkit at her side. "Are you going on patrol?"
"Near Sunningrocks." Redtail told them, motioning with his tail for the other two to wait.
"WOW!" Nightkit and Dawnkit breathed together, as they detangled themselves from the pile on the floor they had made by crashing into each other whilst skidding to a halt. Two sunrises ago, River Clan had attacked Thunder Clan and claimed Sunningrocks as their own for the first time in many moons. Dawnkit knew it had once been River Clan's and now River Clan had hold of it again, they would not let it go so easily. In the battle, Mousefur, a young warrior had been injured and her apprentice, Moonpaw, a long-haired black and grey tabby she-cat with gentle amber eyes was still sleeping outside the den waiting for her mentor to be given the all clear.
"Are you going to reclaim our territory?" Dawnkit mewed excitedly.
"I'm afraid not. We're just scouting around, making sure they don't come any further into our territory."
"Good." Nightkit mewed. "I want to be in the fight."
Dawnkit nudged her sister. "Bluestar shouldn't wait until we become apprentices. She should claim it back whenever the opportunity arises."
"Still," Redtail purred "I would love to have you two at my side for that occasion whenever it arises."
As they were talking, Greypaw, Moonpaw's brother bounded past with Longtail, another warrior, heading out into the forest. His mentor Lionheart was elsewhere on business with Whitestorm. At the same time Willowpelt padded past them carrying a wad of moss she had collected for their new beds.
"Mum! Dad's going on a patrol near Sunningrocks!" Dawnkit bounced over to her.
Willowpelt's eyes widened in alarm. She brushed past Dawnkit and made her way over to Redtail, dropping her moss a little way back. "Isn't that a bit dangerous? Shouldn't we wait a few more sunrises for things to settle down?"
"It has to be done today," Redtail shook his head. "Keep our kits close in case a battle does start."
Willowpelt nodded, drawing Nightkit and Dawnkit closer with a sweep of her tail. "Be careful, won't you?" she murmured in his ear.
"I always am." Redtail told her gently, brushing himself against her body.
Willowpelt's blue eyes filled as she touched noses with him before she dipped her head and stepped back. "Say your goodbyes and then come back to the nursery, you two." Willowpelt mewed to Dawnkit and Nightkit before starting off to the nursery, bending her head to pick up the dropped moss as she went.
Behind them Tigerclaw let out a growl of impatience and Redtail turned to go making his way across the clearing towards the gorse tunnel.
Nightkit and Dawnkit ran along beside him. "Can we come too?" Nightkit asked.
"You're not apprentices, yet." Redtail shook his head with a purr pausing outside the entrance to the gorse tunnel as Tigerclaw and Ravenpaw entered it.
"We almost are." Dawnkit complained.
"Almost doesn't cut it." Tigerclaw growled, sticking his head back through the tunnel. "Now go back to the nursery and stop bothering us." His amber eyes glared at them and Dawnkit's fur fluffed up in fright.
"They're only kits, Tigerclaw." Redtail said sharply to him. Tigerclaw snorted and disappeared back into the tunnel.
Dawnkit breathed out in relief. She both was scared of and wanted to be like the big tabby warrior.
"Goodbye, you two." Redtail licked both their ears and they chorused their goodbyes snuggling close for a moment before Redtail disappeared into the tunnel.
After they had gone Nightkit and Dawnkit dutifully headed back to the nursery but Nightkit stopped sharply when she smelt a strange smell. "What is that?" she mewed. "Maybe it's River Clan!"
Dawnkit frowned, staring at the thorn bush. "Whomever they are, Whitestorm and Lionheart are with them."
Moments later there was movement in the gorse tunnel and Lionheart and Whitestorm, Bluestar's nephew padded through with a strange ginger tom in tow.
Many cats emerged from their dens at the strange smell in the air and grouped together. Whispers broke out across the clearing as the two cats led the tom to Bluestar's den.
Willowpelt emerged from the den, staring at the strange tom. Dawnkit and Nightkit headed for her hoping she might know more about him.
"Who's that?" Nightkit asked.
"I don't know." Willowpelt told them. "He doesn't smell like he's from any other clan."
"What's that blue thing around his neck?" Dawnkit asked staring at the ginger tom who was talking to Bluestar.
"That's a collar!" Willowpelt gasped. "He's a kittypet!"
"A kittypet!" Dawnkit and Nightkit chorused, staring even more at the strange cat. They'd never seen a kittypet before and the excitement of finally seeing one ran down Dawnkit's body. Dawnkit watched as both Bluestar and the ginger cat jumped up onto the Highrock simultaneously scanning the clearing for a good seat when her mother said
"Come on, you two. It looks like Bluestar's calling a meeting."
The two sisters followed their mum to a spot beneath the high rock as Bluestar yowled "Let all those cats old enough to catch their own prey gather beneath the High Rock for a clan meeting!"
-x-
As Bluestar yowled the traditional call for all the cats to gather beneath the High rock, Moonpaw hovered anxiously around a limping Mousefur.
"Are you sure you're all right to go to this meeting?" she asked, her amber eyes wide with worry as Mousefur let out a hiss of pain when she stumbled on a rock.
"I'm fine, Moonpaw." Mousefur snorted settling herself down. "Honestly, any cat would think you were my mentor."
"I wish!" Moonpaw purred. She knew she had a long way to go before her first apprentice having only just become one herself a moon ago.
Moonpaw moved to sit beside her brother, Greypaw and Spottedleaf, the pretty tortoiseshell medicine cat.
"How's Mousefur?" Greypaw asked, licking her ear gently.
"Her sharp tongue has come back so I guess she's on the road to recovery." Moonpaw told him. She peered up at the strange ginger tom sat on the High Rock next to Bluestar.
"What's happening?" she whispered to her brother as Bluestar began to speak.
"Bluestar invited him to join our Clan yesterday. I was there and I fought him." Greypaw replied proudly.
"And you didn't tell me anything about it!" Moonpaw gasped, crouching down and lashing her tail before pouncing on her brother.
"Ha-ha. Pinned you!" Moonpaw crowed wondering why her brother wasn't fighting back like usual,
"Moonpaw, Get off!" Her brother hissed out of the corner of his mouth.
"Wh- Oh!" Moonpaw gasped as someone let out a loud cough from behind them and Moonpaw quickly got off as she suddenly remembered where they were.
"Sorry," Moonpaw murmured as every cat stared at her. She had just interrupted Bluestar.
She sank down lower as Bluestar carried on speaking and a hot wave of embarrassment washed over her. She stayed like that for a little while until she heard Longtail speak which got her attention. She had never liked him, not since he had turned a warrior and started bossing all of the apprentices around and what he said just made her hate him even more.
"Look at his collar! He's a kittypet!" Longtail was yowling loudly about the ginger tom squatting next to Bluestar "That noisy jingling will bring the Twolegs into our territory looking for the poor lost kittypet who fills the woods with his pitiful tinkling!"
Most of the other cats called in agreement but Moonpaw and Greypaw stayed silent. It was obvious that Greypaw had befriended the ginger cat already and Moonpaw felt sorry for him as she smelled the fear scent flooding off him. Longtail was such a jerk!
So she was very, very happy when the ginger tom leaped off the rock and almost ripped Longtail's ear off. The two cats got locked into a writhing, screeching ball that flipped and rolled its way around the camp whilst all the other cats watched in excitement. Moonpaw watched the fight closely with narrowed eyes looking for a sign of who would win.
The ginger tom was just getting the upper hand; because of his smaller size he was able to run rings round the heftier Longtail and was wisely keeping his distance before darting in and swiping Longtail, tormenting the bigger cat by doing it again and again. Longtail lunged forward on the ginger tom's next dart towards him but instead of going for the tom's paws like his failures before, Longtail caught the cat and everyone else by surprise by grabbing the cat's collar between his teeth and then twisting his head so that it began to choke the ginger tom. Moonpaw hissed in fury. That was cheating!
Beside her, she felt her brother bunch his muscles ready to spring on Longtail as the ginger tom twisted and wriggled desperately trying to get free but there was no need. The tom gave a huge pull and the resounding snap of the breaking collar echoed around the camp.
At once Bluestar jumped down, and taking the mangled collar, named the ginger tom, Firepaw in honour of his flame coloured coat. Moonpaw joined in the few cats that called his name but most of the others broke away.
Longtail growled furiously and limped over to the medicine den as the meeting dispersed but Moonpaw ignored him, following her brother over to Firepaw, eager to meet the new cat.
"Great fight, Firepaw!" Greypaw mewed to him.
Firepaw turned to them, his eyes glowing and the two cats greeted each other. Moonpaw was introduced to him but she had barely begun to say hello when they were interrupted by Smallear, an elder yowling a warning.
Ravenpaw burst into the clearing and Moonpaw barely held in a gasp when she saw the state of him. He was panting heavily, his coat ruffled and dusty and his eyes were wide with fear.
Moonpaw wanted to rush over to her denmate and bury her nose into his side but she held herself back as Bluestar padded over to him, worry clouding her blue eyes. "Ravenpaw?"
Ravenpaw shot past her, scrambling onto the High Rock. He took a deep shaky breath before announcing, "Redtail's dead!"