AN: Chapter 2... is finally here!
Disclaimer: I do not own Warriors, and over half the characters.
Chapter 2
Goldenkit followed her sister toward the ThunderClan ShadowClan border. Bramblekit suddenly stopped. The black she-kit ran into her sister. The rest of the kits ran into each other. The she-kits and tom glared at Bramblekit. Goldenkit meowed to her sister, "Why did you stop?"
"There is something up ahead that I do not know what it is. It is covering the stream. I don't know if we can go across it," Bramblekit replied softly. The silver she-kit walked up to the used to be stream, lifted her head to sniff the air, and put her paw out toward tentatively touched her paw to the surface of the water. The strange thing on the water felt freezing cold and smooth. "Cinderkit, do you know what it is? I think we can walk across it." Bramblekit said.
"I believe it is called ice. The water freezes when it is leaf-bare, and unfreezes during green-leaf. It can sometimes come in leaf-fall. The stream is under the ice. We need to be careful though. The ice can be thin, and if you step on it, the ice will break. Cats have died like that. Flametail did just two leaf-falls ago!" Goldenkit replied.
"Well I'm not scared!" Firekit said courageously. He stepped onto the ice. A rumbling went through the ground and the ice broke. Firekit yowled and fell into the water, going under. The ice around where he was broke more, leaving a big circle of water. The ginger tom resurfaced, sputtering water. He attempted to grab the edge of the ice, but the current pulled him under.
Goldenkit watched in horror as her sister took a deep breath and jumped in to save him. Goldenkit and Cinderkit sat there frozen with fear. The silver tabby she-kit must have spotted Firekit because she dove under the water. Goldenkit watched in horror when she didn't come up for a long time.
The silver tabby resurfaced on the other side of the stream with Firekit's scruff in her jaws. She was swimming with great ability, as well as RiverClan's ability. Firekit got his senses back and helped swim. He grabbed onto the edge of the streambed, and hauled himself up. He turned around and helped Bramblekit get out.
Bramblekit and Firekit are on the other side! Goldenkit thought as she watched them. The ginger tom was sitting, shivering in the cold air. Bramblekit sat there staring at him. The ginger tom stood up and walked over to her.
Firekit sat next to her, and licked her ruffled fur. He meowed, "Thank you! You saved my life. Bramblekit, you could have died!" The tom turned his head toward the other side of the stream and called to Goldenkit and Cinderkit, "Come over here! We need to finish going!"
Goldenkit and Cinderkit looked at each other with worried eyes. Goldenkit smiled as Cinderkit put her tail on her shoulder, signaling that they would be okay. They got up and looked down the stream for a strong piece of ice. Goldenkit spotted it and raced over to it with Cinderkit right on her tail.
The she-kits looked at each other and smiled weakly. They twined their tails together and stepped onto the ice. It didn't creak, so they raced across the rest of the way. The she-kits stayed side by side the whole way.
Bramblekit looked at them and smiled, shaking from her experience. She looked at all of their pelts and sighed. "We… We need to put more snow on our pelts." The kits looked at her sadly. They didn't want to roll in the snow anymore. It was not fun anymore. Firekit fell into the snow; the she-kits followed, and soon their fur was pure white again.
Goldenkit stood up and cocked her head meowing, "Do you hear that?" The kits around her shook their head. "Fighting cats, that way," she continued pointing her tail in the direction closer toward the lake. She ran off toward the direction. The other kits followed more slowly.
"Shh!" Goldenkit hissed. She was trying to watch the battle. The black she-cat didn't want to be caught in ShadowClan territory, none-the-less be caught out of camp. She didn't want to get her apprenticeship postponed either.
Firekit fluffed his fur. His tail shot up through the leaf-bare bushes. The three she-kits glared at him. He lowered him body closer to the ground, and mouthed, I'm sorry.
The kits continued to watch the battle though the bushes. Two toms were wrestling. The kits were hiding inside of the bush the toms were fighting by. Goldenkit looked in surprise, because one of the toms was Lionblaze. The other tom was white with black feet.
Lionblaze hit his paw on the tom's head, with his claws unsheathed. The ShadowClan tom rose on his hind legs and struck Lionblaze in the ear with unsheathed paws. Lionblaze hissed at the tom saying, "Is that all you got?" The tom yowled and jumped on top of Lionblaze.
The golden tabby tom fell to the ground and went limp. The watching kits gasped and held their breaths. The white tom lessened his grip on Lionblaze, and then Lionblaze jumped up screeching. The ShadowClan tom hissed at his opponent and called to his warriors.
"Bramblestar, ShadowClan is not weak! You have won this battle. My warriors will stop stealing prey from your territory, even though I had no idea they were," Blackstar growled, turning to his warriors.
Bramblestar watched them leave, and gave a winning battle cry. ThunderClan would not have to worry about ShadowClan stealing prey. The brown tabby would have to remember to keep up the patrols though.
ThunderClan's leader looked at his warriors and meowed with concern, "Is anyone hurt badly?" He moved through the crowd of warriors and checked each cat.
The kits sat in the bush dazed, amazed, and frightened of the battle. Each of them was shaking badly. They never knew a battle could be so brutal, even though they had only watched Lionblaze and the white tom battle.
Bramblekit was the first to come back to her senses. She became aware that the ThunderClan warriors were going to head back to the camp. The she-kit nudged the other kits to get them aware of what was happening. They did not move, so she thought about it and tugged on each of the kits scruffs. The kits reacted immediately.
The kits got up silently. They had to get out of the forest and into the camp as quickly and quietly as possible. The kits turned around and walked through the bush without making a sound. Firekit turned his head around to look at the three she-kits and give them encouragement. As he turned his head, and continued to walk, he stepped on a stick.
The stick made a huge crackling noise that sounded through the pine forest. Goldenkit watched Bramblekit as her sister looked at the ginger tom and grew furious. She knew that someone had heard it because she heard paw steps racing through the forest toward the spot the kits were in.
Bramblekit bowled Firekit over not caring about the noise she was making. As she wrestled with him, struggling to pin him down, the snow knocked off them. She finally accomplished it, and hissed in his face, "Why in StarClan were you being clumsy? You shouldn't have stepped on the stick! Or fluffed your fur out! You must have bees in your brain! I'd be surprised if someone didn't knock some sense into your head!"
The grasses swished as a golden brown tabby tom walked out. The kits looked behind them to find that Bramblestar had sent a scout to look for what caused the noise. The tom looked at the kits, disbelieving his eyes. He opened his jaws calling out, "Bramblestar! You need to see this!"
The grass swished as Bramblestar walked through. He looked at Brackenfur wondering what it was. The striped tabby looked down toward the ground and saw the quivering kits. The kits looked up at Bramblestar. They were wondering what he was going to do.
"Firekit, Bramblekit, Goldenkit, and Cinderkit, what are you doing out of camp? Is a queen with you? Is a warrior at least?" Bramblestar meowed, an edge to his meow, signaling that this was serious.
Goldenkit stood up, looked Bramblestar in the eyes, and replied, "We would not like to tell you out here in the open! We want to go back to camp to see our mothers."
Bramblestar stood eyeing the kits suspiciously. He finally mewed, "Okay. You all may tell me and the other cats in camp what you all are doing out of the camp. Until then, walk right in front of me the whole time, do not speak at all, and do not play a game. You kits will be lucky if you do not get sick from being out in this weather. Now start walking to camp. He pushed the kits with his tail.
"ThunderClan follow me to camp! We have four disobeying kits that we need to be dealt with soon," his mew sounded throughout the forest, louder so his warriors could hear.
The ThunderClan warriors walked over to the bushes, some limping, others bleeding, from wounds they got in the battle. Lionblaze was at the front of the group. He looked at the kits with a look of astonishment. The warrior called to somewhere in the crowd, "Bumblestripe! Come look at this!"
The pale tabby tom walked up to his leader and looked down at the four kits. He glared at them, and swept his tail to leave. The kits nodded their heads; tails low, they followed Bramblestar out of the forest toward camp.
Bramblestar jumped onto Highledge and called the meeting together. The four kits that left camp was standing under Highledge, snow still stuck to their fur in lumps. All the cats came into the clearing mewing together about what was happening.
"We have won the battle," Bramblestar began, as the cats cheered. The noise died down, so he started again, "But, we have four kits that snuck out of camp during the battle. They went all the way to the battleground and watched the battle. I have asked them to explain why they went, but they said they would do it in front of the clan. They may begin now.
Bramblestar motioned to the kits to come forward. Goldenkit took the lead, and stood head held high, as she began, "This is what happened. We attacked Lionblaze this morning while everyone watched, and then we tried to leave camp. Lionblaze stopped us, then Dovewing came out of the medicine cat den, and Firekit begged Dovewing, She was sick, so Dovewing asked Bumblestripe if he would take us. He agreed, so we headed for the tunnel." She paused to take a big gulp of air as she continued.
"Then Bramblestar came out of the den with the senior warriors, and called a Clan meeting. We were disappointed, so Lionblaze called us over and made a deal with us, stating that if we were quiet during the gathering, he and Bumblestripe would take us to the Ancient Oak. We agreed and stayed quiet the whole time." She stopped, so one of the other kits could continue.
Firekit stepped up, "Then Bramblestar decided that Lionblaze and Bumblestripe was going to battle. So, Bumblestripe said they would take us to the lake to teach us how to swim. We agreed, sadly. The patrols left and we sulked. Then Bramblekit got an idea, but she wouldn't tell me. So, I raced to the nursery to tell the queens that we loved each other, but Bramblekit attacked me so I couldn't.
Bramblekit looked embarrassed at Firekit's recent speaking, so she got up to speak, "We met and my idea was to go to the battle. Everyone agreed but Oakkit, so we went ahead and left. But, I tripped in the snow, and Goldenkit got the idea to cover ourselves in snow to blend in, after a few things happened." She looked down halfway smiling.
"Then we went to the stream, but ice was covering it. Firekit stepped on the ice covering the stream and fell in. Bramblekit jumped in to save him," Cinderkit meowed. The cats in the clearing gasped and looked at the shivering tabby kit. They just had noticed that her fur was wet, as was Firekit's.
"Cinderkit and I walked right across without falling in. We walked to the battle, and watched Lionblaze battle a white tom with black feet. Then ThunderClan won, so we tried to race home until Firekit stepped on a stick and alerted you. Now we got to camp and told the story," Goldenkit finished, sitting back down.
The cats in the clearing looked in disbelief and amusement at the kits. Bramblestar looked at the kits and meowed, "So, what was your point in leaving camp without telling anyone where you were going?"
Goldenkit replied, "We wanted to get out of camp, but there were too many things going on. So, we just went by ourselves." She sat down, her pelt burning by all the stares of her clanmates.
Bramblestar looked down at the kits with a confused look on his face. He wasn't sure what to do. He spoke to the cats, "I will leave their punishments up to their mothers. We need to organize hunting patrols, and a border patrol on the WindClan border.
Squirrelflight nodded and turned to the cats, she named off various patrols. The patrols left the clearing. Goldenkit sat in disbelief at what just happened. She had been sure she was going to get her apprenticeship postponed.
Cinderheart walked over to her kits, her eyes dark with anger. She picked Bramblekit up by the scruff and carried her protesting kit to the nursery. The gray she-cat came back and did the same to Cinderkit. She carried Goldenkit last.
Dovewing picked Firekit up and carried him to the nursery. She asked Blossomfall if she could go somewhere else while they talked to the kits. The queen agreed, as her kits raced out of the nursery.
The gray she-cat turned her head toward the entrance to the nursery as Lionblaze and Bumblestripe walked in. She nodded her head to them in acknowledgement that they were here. Dovewing turned back to the kits and said, "What you did today is unacceptable. You all know that you are not allowed to go out of camp until you are apprentices."
Goldenkit nodded her head, and the other kits followed. Cinderheart looked at Lionblaze and forced an angry look. She looked at the kits and mewed, "Kits, you will not be going out with your fathers. Go find Jayfeather to get a checked. You all have been out for a long time in the snow. Bramblekit and Firekit have been in the water, and must be freezing. Go see him now, come back when you are done, and you all will stay in the nursery until we feel fit.
The kits raced off with Goldenkit in the lead. They got to the medicine cat den, as Jayfeather came out with herbs in his mouth. He looked at the freezing kits and dropped the herbs in his mouth.
The gray tabby tom turned around and ran into the medicine cat den. A second later Oakkit came out, picked the herbs back up, and walked carefully over to the elders' den, trying not to trip over the package of herbs. Goldenkit watched after him as he walked over. She turned her head back toward the medicine cat den.
The blind medicine cat came out of his den and walked over to the kits. He sniffed each in return and told them to follow him into the medicine cat den. The four kits looked at each other and followed Jayfeather into his den.
In the den, Goldenkit followed her sister example and sat down on the floor. She stared in awe at the den. She had never been in the medicine cat den before. Jayfeather went to the back of the den and pulled herbs out.
He put different herbs in four stacks. He grabbed one, and began making a poultice for one of the kits. Goldenkit watched him, interested and entertained with the mixing. Jayfeather walked over to Firekit and meowed steadily, "Lay on your side. There is a splinter in your paw, and I need to get it out."
Firekit nodded and fell on his side; he lifted his paw up and let Jayfeather have it. Jayfeather sniffed the paw, and latched his teeth on the stick. He tugged, and the splinter came out as Firekit gave a loud meow of pain. The medicine cat licked the tom's paw, and then applied the poultice to it.
"Is that better?" Jayfeather asked the ginger kit. Firekit nodded his head, and then remembered the medicine cat couldn't see. He looked down in embarrassment.
He replied, "Yah. My paw feels better, but the rest of me doesn't." Jayfeather nodded.
The gray tabby tom walked back to where the remaining herbs were, and pulled a leaf over. "You need to take these. They will help you recover from the experience you had."
Goldenkit mew interrupted him, "What herbs are they?"
Jayfeather stared at the kit with his sightless eyes and replied, "A small dose of tansy, a little of thyme, a poppy seed, coltsfoot, and mixed in his a little honey, so you can take the herbs easily."
"What do the herbs do? What are you going to give me?" Goldenkit squeaked, feeling shyer.
Jayfeather sighed, and meowed, "Tansy will help any cough, and make sure you do not get whitecough or greencough. Thyme will help your shock, and poppy seed will calm you even more. Coltsfoot will help breathing. I'm giving you tansy, a poppy seed, and a little honey." Goldenkit looked at Jayfeather, still wondering.
The tom pushed the leave closer to Firekit, and the ginger kit licked the herbs up and frowned. Jayfeather walked back to the three remaining leaves and brought them to the she-kits. Bramblekit had the same thing Firekit had, but Goldenkit and Cinderkit had less.
Bramble complained aloud, "Why do I have to take more herbs than they do?" She glared at her sisters. "I saved Firekit from drowning, so why do I have to take more?"
"That is why you have to take more! You were in the water, and then you rolled in the snow. Do you want a chance of dying?" Jayfeather growled at the silver tabby she-kit.
"No," Bramblekit mewed quietly to the medicine cat. She shrunk back, scared.
"Then you have to take more herbs," Jayfeather sighed. He walked over to his niece, and licked her over the ears. "I don't want you to get greencough and join StarClan. I would feel horrible if you died, because I'm a medicine cat and it is my duty to make sure you stay healthy. You're my niece and I'm your uncle, so that makes it even more important for me to take care of you. I owe it to you and my brother." He turned to the other kits.
"Okay. Now, when you take those herbs, you will become sleepy, because of the poppy seed. Go to the nursery and have a good long sleep. You need your rest, or you will not get better. Firekit and Bramblekit need to stay in here until later. I'm not done with them, and they need to stay in here for a day."
Goldenkit nodded to her sister, and licked the foul tasting herbs up. She prepared for the worse, but the taste was not too bad. The honey helped a lot. Goldenkit mewed to everyone, "We will tell Cinderheart and Dovewing that you cannot come back to the nursery. They will understand, but I don't think they will be too happy!"
The black she-kit ran out of the den with her sister. She ran to the nursery and burst in. Cinderheart and Dovewing were chatting with Blossomfall. Swiftkit, Duskkit, and Stonekit were playing moss-ball in the corner on the hollow.
"Dovewing, Mom! Bramblekit and Firekit have to stay in the nursery for the day. Jayfeather said that they may become sick, and he doesn't want them to get everyone sick too!" Goldenkit informed the two queens. The two queens looked at each other and got up. They left the nursery quickly.
Goldenkit watched Cinderheart and Dovewing leave quickly and stare up at Blossomfall confused. Blossomfall looked at the she-kit and smiled, "It is a motherly instinct when your kits are sick or hurt, to go and check on them, even if you are really mad at them." She looked over at her kits and purred.
Goldenkit sighed and lay down in her nest. Cinderkit walked up and got into the nest. Goldenkit hit her sister on the ear with her tail drowsily and fell asleep.
AN: So, did you enjoy Chapter 2? If so, review.
Random fact: Over half of ThunderClan has kittypet blood. ShadowClan always tease and torture them because of it, but did you know over half of ShadowClan has Rouge, Kittypet, or Loner Blood. A lot is Half-Clan also. (BloodClan counts!) End of Random Fact time! XD
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