Ivypaw padded silently towards the apprentices den. She found her sister sleeping and struggled to wake her.
"Dovepaw! Wake up! Come and see what I found," Ivypaw whispered urgently. She prodded her sharply. Dovepaw slowly blinked open her eyes and sat up groggily and yawned.
"What? Dawn patrol already?" Dovepaw asked. She blinked in surprise as Ivypaw's tail slapped her mouth.
"Shh, I found a tunnel. Come on! Let's explore it before any warriors find it or Firestar blocks it up." She slipped outside the den.
"Coming?" Dovepaw nodded and picked her way around Cherrypaw's tail. Ivypaw motioned with her tail for Dovepaw to follow her through the dirt place. She followed quietly and when they were in the forest Ivypaw broke into a quick steady trot. Ivypaw's eyes scanned the trees and came to a stop by a piece of flat wood.
"There," she whispered. Dovepaw's ears twitched slightly.
"Someone's following us," she mewed quietly in Ivypaw's ear. Ivypaw scented the air and turned around. Her eyes focused on some ferns that were slightly shaking.
"Who's there?" Ivypaw asked sharply. Dovepaw stared at the ferns and spotted a golden tail behind it. Lionblaze. He seemed to realize his mistake because a heartbeat later his tail slapped the damp dewy earth.
"Lionblaze, I know where you're hiding. Come out. Please?" Dovepaw meowed impatiently. She watched as Lionblaze stepped out and trotted toward the tunnel and sniffed it cautiously. Lionblaze's fur was bristling with anger.
"Don't you know that a cat died in there? These tunnels also caused a battle between four Clans." He glared at them before speaking again.
"Never come back," Lionblaze snarled angrily. He turned and stalked away. Lionblaze stopped abruptly after hearing a distant shriek of pain. He turned, his amber eyes full of hope, and scented the air. He raced into the tunnel and saw his sister, Hollyleaf, in a shallow pool of blood with two kits in it. Lionblaze licked her ear and told her that she would be okay. Hollyleaf's eyes flickered open for a heartbeat before closing again.
"I missed you so much," she rasped weakly.
"No," Lionblaze whispered. "I'll get Jayfeather." Lionblaze ran out and found Ivypaw and Dovepaw still there.
"Fetch Jayfeather and tell him that Hollyleaf's alive and having her kits," he meowed urgently. Ivypaw turned and raced to the hollow.
After she had left, Dovepaw looked at Lionblaze uncertainly,"May I see her?" He hesitated before answering her.
Would Hollyleaf mind? Dovepaw did replace her in the prophecy.
"Sure," he mewed. Dovepaw crept in slowly, unsure of herself, after Lionblaze.
"Hollyleaf?" Lionblaze called out softly. Hollyleaf didn't answer. She lay unconscious by her kits. Dovepaw peered at them. Were they all dead? By instinct, Dovepaw nipped open a kit's sac so it could breathe, if they were still alive. She did the same for the other three. She rubbed the fur of the kit closest to her the wrong way drying it and helping to stimulate its breathing. The kit coughed and took her first breath. Dovepaw looked for another and saw one completely still. She put her ear to its chest. Dead. Where was Jayfeather? She couldn't do this all alone. She scanned the clearing in hope of finding him. Lionblaze! Why was he still here and not helping her with the kits?
"Lionblaze, help me with these kits!" she commanded him. Lionblaze nodded numbly, still in shock.
He turned away from his sister with a last despairing glance at her before asking,"What do I do?"
"Just copy me," Dovepaw answered, while picking up a kit and opening its sac. "Now rub the back, like this, so they could breathe." The kit mewled loudly searching for its mother and some milk.
"What are you doing to my mate and kits?" growled an angry tom with a plump squirrel at his paws.
"Oh!" mewed Dovepaw in surprise. "These are your kits?"
"Answer my question," the tom commanded.
Lionblaze answered this time. "Hollyleaf gave birth to six kits and she went unconscious because their were so many. Three of the kits have already died."
The other cat looked shocked. He glanced at his mate and saw the blood and the kits. "Sorry about that. How do you know her name?"
Lionblaze meowed sadly,"She's my sister and I thought she was dead after the tunnel collapsed on her."
The tom nodded thoughtfully. "You must be Lionblaze then. I'm Fallen Leaves. What should we do about Hollyleaf?" Their was a quiet rustling near the entrance and he jumped. A gray tabby head appeared carrying a bundle of herbs. He sniffed the air repeatedly. "Fallen Leaves?" he whispered, shocked.