The Harshest Moons; Chapter 2: How Could You
He stood there, baffled. Sandstorm's expecting kits Firestar. No matter how many times he thought about that, he couldn't figure out why he wasn't jumping for joy. Then his excitement turned to annoyance. "Why didn't you tell me Sandstorm? How long have you been expecting kits?" He asked. "T-three moons" Sandstorm meowed, her strength still slowly ebbing back. "I just really wanted to surprise you. You had looked so happy when I told you I was ready to have kits."
"Well" he hissed, anger and fury in his mew "You succeeded". He stalked away, feeling hurt that she hadn't told him sooner. He padded sullenly towards the easiest trail from Sunningrocks. "Firestar!" Sandstorm, Graystripe and Cloudtail's fear filled yowl frightened him. As he pelted to the rocks, a fishy smell bathed his tongue. A huge group of cats were pulling themselves from the river and bounding up the sun-bathed rocks. The arrogant tilt of the head, way the she-cat's tail was held erect and tight, length of the paw held up off the ground, Firestar didn't even have to guess who the head of the patrol was.
"Would you look at that" Leopardstar sneered "Sandstorm's going to be having kits, and she can't even catch a rabbit without hurting herself" With a slight flick of her tail, Leopardstar motioned Stonefur to her side. After hissing in his ear, she smirked. Stonefur leapt forward, paws out stretched, claws extended. Even though Firestar knew he wouldn't make it, he raced for Sandstorm. But before he could make it, a bundle of white fur stained with soot bowled Stonefur over. As if an unspoken agreement was made, Graystripe unsheathed his claws and stood in front of Sandstorm, while Mousefur started to nudge Sandstorm to her feet. As Sandstorm padded to him, he padded to her. Pressing against her shoulder to support her, he and Mousefur lead Sandstorm through the ferns.
Sandstorm looked at Firestar. "Go fight" she meowed hoarsely. After he told Mousefur to get help, he raced away. Mousefur hared away. Sandstorm nestled in a crook in a root and sat down. She started to groom her pelt clean. The amount of dust on it made her gag. ThunderClan scents bathed her tongue. After the ferns rustled, blurs of ginger, gray, white, black, brown, and golden streaked past her. In front, Whitestorm kept pace with Mousefur. Behind them, Thornpaw, Brightheart and Longtail pelted along behind them. Then behind Thornpaw, Brightheart and Longtail, Goldenflower, Frostfur, Bramblepaw and Brackenfur followed.
With a flick of her ear, Sandstorm recognized Whitestorm's battle cry. Before she knew it, ferns rustled behind her. Blackclaw leapt from the ferns and landed neatly on Sandstorm, pinning her to the sooty ground. Sandstorm turned and thrashed at his soft underbelly fur. Sandstorm threw him off, howling with blood flowing from his stomach. Leopardstar herself leapt from where Blackclaw disappeared. She pinned Sandstorm down so that Sandstorm couldn't move. Yet again, the ferns rustled and two cats appeared from them. One cat leapt and landed on Leopardstar, clawing her back. The other hissed with such force, it even scared Sandstorm. Then the ferns rustled again.
Leopardstar's weight was lifted off of her. Firestar nudged Sandstorm to her paws. Thornpaw pressed against one of her shoulders, while Bramblepaw pressed against the other. Willowpelt raced from the nursery, followed by her three kits. Dustpelt came from the warriors den while Fernpaw pelted from the apprentices den. Cinderpelt hobbled from her den, a leaf wrap clamped firmly in her jaws. Sandstorm started to lick the few wounds she had, while Cinderpelt chewed up some dock. Then Cinderpelt applied dock to the wounds on Sandstorm.
All of a sudden, Sandstorm slumped to the ground, unconscious. Spasms racked her body. Bramblepaw pelted from the clearing, while Dustpelt and Fernpaw looked on in horror. Willowpelt was herding her kits to the nursery.