Woohoo! The first official chapter of the story has arrived! Shockingly, I've kept my promise: this chapter is not from a ThunderClan cat's POV. It's from a WindClan cat's POV, instead. Did you guess the WindClan chosen cat correctly? If so, props to you! If not...well, go ahead and read anyway :].
Whoa - we get to hear the prophecy for the first time! Huzzah!
Special thanks to Grassy Leaves, my great new beta. She's got some fantastic stories written; she's a great author! Go check out her profile now! You won't regret it! ...I sounded uncomfortably like a saleswoman back there, didn't I?
Enough with my rambling. On with the story!
As night passed to dawn, the sun rose. Like a ball of flame, it instantly lit the deep blue heavens with breathtaking streaks of color—orange, pink, red, yellow.
A young she-cat sat alone in the WindClan camp, guarding the entrance from attacking claws. But she didn't look like a sentry at all; had a stranger's eyes fallen upon the young cat from a distance, they probably would have considered her a nursery queen. She was just so delicate, so dainty-pawed, with her neatly-groomed fur and bright green eyes. It was hard to believe that this cat was actually a warrior, a cat that would fight with all the strength of StarClan to protect her Clan.
But if said stranger had gone closer to the she-cat, they would see how she stared at the entrance. Her eyes never blinked, and she never moved from her position at the entrance. She was so still that it looked like roots had sprung from the ground and bound her to the spot.
Then, for the first time in several hours, a new scent drifted into the young warrior's nose. She tensed, about to yowl an alarm to her sleeping Clanmates, but relaxed as she recognized the cat. It was her leader, Duskstar.
"Snowflower," greeted the WindClan leader as he padded up to her. "Any sign of intruders?"
Because she wasn't sure if she was still required to be silent, Snowflower shook her head. A raspy noise rose from her leader's throat, and amusement glinted in his pale amber eyes as he meowed, "You may speak now. Your silent vigil is over."
The pale-coated she-cat dipped her head. "Thank you, Duskstar."
The gray tom nodded. A few more scents told Snowflower that two more of her Clanmates were approaching: Thistlethorn, a dark brown tom, and his apprentice Stripedpaw had woken up.
"Morning, Duskstar," greeted Thistlethorn briskly. "The sun is rising—shall I wake another cat up for a dawn patrol?"
As always, Snowflower was taken aback at the sinewy tomcat's almost-rude manner towards Duskstar, before she remembered that he was one of Duskstar's senior warriors and best friends. Thistlethorn was known for his prickly tongue and equally-sharp claws. Snowflower was glad that he hadn't been her mentor—Thistlethorn was reportedly very tough on his apprentices. Her mentor had been Brownspots, the WindClan deputy. And though he hadn't been as demanding as Thistlethorn, he had taught Snowflower—then Snowpaw—well.
But I'm not just Snowpaw anymore, the she-cat suddenly remembered. I'm Snowflower, warrior of WindClan. She loved her new name too—she'd worried that Duskstar might have given her a name like Snowpelt, or Snowtail. They were perfectly fine names, of course, but they were boring! Snowflower was a much better name than Snowtail, for sure.
"No need," replied Duskstar calmly. "I'll come along. Snowflower, would you care to join us too?"
The she-cat blinked. What she really wanted to do was catch up on her sleep after staying up all night, keeping an eye out for nonexistent threats. But she was also aware that she had only just been made a warrior and therefore couldn't speak her mind as much as she pleased, so she nodded, suppressing an inward sigh. Oh well—I haven't been getting much sleep lately anyway…they keep haunting me…
"Hey, Snowpaw—I mean Snowflower!" exclaimed Stripedpaw as the four cats bounded off into the forest to patrol their territory.
Snowflower shook her head to clear her mind of such poisonous thoughts. "Hey, Stripedpaw. Still not used to calling your old denmate Snowflower, then?"
"You bet I'm not," replied her friend. "It's going to be so weird with you not by my side tonight. I'll be stuck with—" she paused to let out a dramatic sigh, "—Ivypaw. Not that I don't like Ivypaw, but she's so…formal. I guess that's what happens when you have a fussy mentor like Cindertail, but still…"
Snowflower chuckled as Stripedpaw rolled her water-blue eyes. Her friend had very definite opinions about mentors; she'd been, surprisingly, pleased when Thistlethorn had been named her mentor. Snowflower thought that the small gray-and-white she-cat was perhaps the only apprentice that would've expressed such delight when Thistlethorn's name had been called. She was also probably the only cat who could put up with Thistlethorn's grumpy manner.
As the WindClan patrol padded on, a delicious smell flooded into Snowflower's scent glands. A rabbit was darting about a few fox-lengths in front of them, unaware of the predators that lurked behind it.
Apparently Thistlethorn caught the scent as well, for he stiffened and sprung off. The rabbit had obviously heard him, and it dashed quickly off at once. But Thistlethorn was faster; he snared the rabbit with one claw and ended its struggling with one bite to the throat.
Duskstar quickened his own pace to catch up with the brown warrior. "Good catch," he praised. Thistlethorn accepted the compliment with a grunt, pushing the rabbit with one paw to his friend. The two toms began gulping down the fresh-kill.
"Huh!" muttered Stripedpaw beside Snowflower, eyes flashing with indignation, as the two younger cats stood awkwardly to the side. "They could at least offer us a bite or two…but no, they're keeping it to themselves…"
Snowflower had to snicker at her friend's comical vexation, but a sudden memory flashed into her brain at the sight of the fresh-kill. One she hadn't dwelt on for several moons now…one that was unwelcome.
A seven-moon-old Snowpaw was at a Gathering, looking around with wide eyes and absorbing everything. Apprentices, warriors, and elders were chatting comfortably with cats from other Clans. She saw old Blackbird, who always told tall tales about his many brave actions as a warrior, bragging to Oddeyes of ThunderClan and Berryflower of ShadowClan, Falconwing (then Falconpaw) talking with a group of ShadowClan apprentices, and even snappish Thistlethorn standing with Splashstream, the deputy of RiverClan. Snowpaw suddenly felt small and silly standing there all alone as she watched every other cat mingle with different cats, and she hastened to join a random group of apprentices, standing a few mouse-lengths away from her.
"Who are you?" growled one of them. From his marshy scent, Snowpaw guessed he was from ShadowClan.
A tabby she-cat flicked his ear with her tail. "Be polite!" To Snowpaw she added, "Hello. I'm Shrewpaw. I come from ShadowClan, along with this rude furball here. His name is Nightpaw." With her tail she indicated the sleek black tom beside her. "Where do you come from?"
"It's obvious, isn't it?" A drawl caught her attention as a reddish-brown tabby tom stepped forward. "You can tell from her rabbity smell that she's from WindClan. Only WindClan cats eat rabbits all the time."
"That isn't true!" exclaimed Snowpaw, staring at the tom in shock. He smelled of ThunderClan. "Rabbits aren't our only source of prey."
"Name something else you eat, then," the ThunderClan cat retorted, yawning.
"We eat…"
As Snowpaw hesitated, the tabby smirked at her. "See? All you eat are rabbits. Therefore WindClan smell of rabbits."
"Stop it, Leafpaw," snapped Shrewpaw, cuffing him with a sheathed paw. "Smelling rabbity isn't something to be ashamed of. You smell like squirrels all the time."
Snowpaw never heard Leafpaw's retort, as she was so flabbergasted that WindClan smelled "rabbity" to the other Clans. It couldn't be true…right?
But now that Snowflower thought about it (and watched Duskstar and Thistlethorn tear the rabbit apart), she realized that it was true. All WindClan ate were rabbits. They hardly ate squirrels or voles, and they almost never saw a thrush in their territory. Mice too were rarities.
"I guess we do smell rabbity," she muttered to herself.
"What? 'Rabbity?' What kind of strange word is that?" Snowflower jumped as Stripedpaw's bewildered meow rang into her ears. She'd forgotten that Stripedpaw was beside her.
"Never mind," she replied hastily, stepping forward as Duskstar and Thistlethorn finished up their prey and stood up. Ready to continue, the four WindClan cats trotted off to patrol their boundaries once more.
"I'm hungry," moaned Stripedpaw as the four finished checking the boundaries and renewing the scent marks. "My belly is aching with anger. Can't we pick up the pace?" Without even waiting for a response from Thistlethorn, the tabby she-cat darted forward. Snowflower glanced back at the dark brown tom; his ears had flattened and he was glaring at Stripedpaw's disappearing silhouette, but he didn't try to catch up with her. He remained behind with Duskstar, who simply looked entertained.
As the three warriors padded back into the hollowed clearing, Stripedpaw was crouching by the fresh-kill pile to pick up a rabbit. Thistlethorn headed straight for his apprentice to snap, "That isn't for you. Take that to the elders first, and if there's fresh-kill left, then you may eat." Stripedpaw glared at him mutinously, but even she knew better than to argue with her mentor, and especially not a hotheaded senior warrior. So the apprentice grabbed the rabbit between her teeth and stormed off to the elders, mewing at Snowflower, "You're so lucky you don't have to do this anymore!"
Chuckling lightly to herself, Snowflower looked back at the pile. Unsurprisingly, it consisted of mostly…rabbits. No, not mostly rabbits. There was nothing but rabbits in the pile. Leafpaw's taunting words echoed in her head again: "All you eat are rabbits…You can tell from her rabbity scent that she's from WindClan…"
Pelt prickling with unease, the pale warrior looked back at the pile of food. It was silly to get worked up over eating rabbits, she knew, but Leafpaw had a point, as much as she didn't want to acknowledge it.
Oh, this is silly, she thought sternly, forcing herself to pick up a rabbit. With the limp body dangling between her jaws, Snowflower padded over to the elders, where Stripedpaw was, surprisingly, sitting and listening to one of Blackbird's stories, eyes shining in awe and mouth agape.
The aged tom was speaking in a surprisingly smooth voice, despite his old age. Sedgeleaf, another WindClan elder, always claimed Blackbird's voice hadn't cracked yet due to his excessive storytelling to anyone who would listen. Listening to Blackbird speak, her theory wasn't surprising.
"…and with a vicious bite to the spine, the ThunderClan warrior let out a screech that sent shivers up every other cat around him. The other cats gazed at me in utmost respect, which of course was to be expected. For nobody has ever beaten the great Blackbird in battle! I was—and still am, of course—feared for my skills, for my strength, for my…oh, hello, Snowflower." The elder paused in his obviously-exaggerated yarn to nod at the startled she-cat politely. "Come to listen to one of old Blackbird's mind-boggling deeds?"
"Old is the right word to describe you," spat Sedgeleaf, her green eyes twinkling with amusement. "You're growing senile, Blackbird! You were never an 'unbeatable warrior.'"
"Pah!" retorted the plump black elder. "You're just jealous because you never accumulated so much respect amongst the other Clans…"
As the two elders began squabbling (which they did regularly), Duststorm, the third elder, nodded kindly at Snowflower and Stripedpaw. "Hello, Snowflower," he said. His voice was hoarse, unlike Blackbird's. "Would you like to share our meal?"
"No, thanks," replied Snowflower. Duststorm was known for his sandy-brown pelt because it always seemed to be coated with dust. In fact, Snowflower had seen Sedgeleaf trying to groom his unkempt fur once. A few heartbeats after she finished, Duststorm was dusty and dirty once more. "I have my own rabbit."
Stripedpaw blinked gratefully at her, obviously relieved that she wouldn't have to share her already-meager meal with another cat. As the three cats sat listening to Sedgeleaf and Blackbird bicker ("Blackbird, you are completely mad! No RiverClan she-cat ever called you handsome—or would ever want to!" "No WindClan tom ever tried to mate with you, either!" "So you admit that no she-cat tried to flirt with you?"), Snowflower thought about what she had just said to Duststorm. "I have my own rabbit." Yes, she supposed, it was true that WindClanners smelled…rabbity.
But then again, many of her Clanmates had also probably been told by other Clans that they smelled rabbity. Yet as Snowflower glanced around the camp all of them were eating rabbits, clearly savoring the delicious taste. So why shouldn't she?
Following her own wise philosophy, the WindClan warrior tucked into the rabbit, which was lovely, full of flavor. However, she wasn't very hungry for some reason, and she pushed her rabbit to the side, stretching.
The sky was now the tint of river-water blue in stark contrast to the cobalt blue of night or the vibrant, flame-tinted setting of sunrise. It wasn't sunhigh yet, but already the sun had ascended far into the sky, glowing and radiating sunshine. A ray of the aforementioned light touched the paler fur that had prompted her parents to choose the prefix Snow to be part of her name, and she stretched, basking in the warmth. But Snowflower's fur wasn't pure white like her father's. Nor did she have her mother's dark cream coat. She seemed to have, instead, a mix of both; a white pelt with dark cream patches.
Thinking about her parents always made her feel like sharp, jagged thorns had just stabbed her in the sides, so she began listening to the elders again in an effort to forget them.
As she paid attention to the elders' conversation, Snowflower realized that Sedgeleaf and Blackbird had finished quarreling, allowing the latter to carry on with his obviously untrue accounts. "Now that a certain bitter old bat has finished envying my life, I can continue describing the time I, Blackbird, former glorious warrior and current wise old elder of WindClan, took on a whole patrol of ThunderClan warriors by myself. Where was I? Ah, at the part where the ThunderClan cats were admiring my defeat of a particularly powerful warrior, hmm? Well, they were so impressed by me that they took me to their camp and began bestowing great gifts upon me…"
"Like what?" challenged Sedgeleaf, emerald eyes narrowing into glittering slits. "Clans don't 'bestow' gifts on anyone; not on a warrior of that Clan, and certainly not on an enemy warrior! Besides, what could they offer besides fresh-kill and shelter? And anyway, that's more like a prison sentence in a rivaling camp!"
The two took up their verbal skirmish once more. Stripedpaw sighed as she ripped off the leg of the young rabbit she was sharing with Duststorm. "This is getting boring," she moaned, voice coming out muffled because she was talking with her mouth full.
A deep meow caused the two she-cats to glance up in surprise; Duststorm had finished his share of the fresh-kill and fallen asleep, despite his den mates' disputing. "If you're so bored then, you can go ahead and take fresh-kill to Silverfeather in her den, Stripedpaw."
It was Thistlethorn. The lean warrior was glaring at his apprentice expectantly. Stripedpaw scowled back at him. "I'm not going!" she replied fiercely, "I'm not even done with my breakfast! It's a bit overdue, you know."
Clearly peeved, the older cat opened his mouth to spit back a biting reprimand, but Snowflower interrupted before Stripedpaw and Thistlethorn began lunging at each other with claws and fangs ready to sink into flesh. "I can take it," she offered. "I'm full anyway."
The two cats stared at her as though she'd grown two tails. At last Thistlethorn nodded curtly. "But hurry up," he ordered snippily before striding off.
"Bossypaws!" Stripedpaw muttered under her breath.
"Here, take the rest," muttered Snowflower, pushing the remains of her rabbit to the evidently still-famished she-cat. "I'll fetch Silverfeather something to eat." Stripedpaw shrugged, looking irritated even though her mentor had left.
Snowflower headed into a tunnel with fresh-kill dangling from her teeth. Her mother had told her that Silverfeather's den had probably once been a rabbit burrow or badger set before the Clans arrived. Looking around the small tunnel, Snowflower thought it had probably been a rabbit burrow; badgers were too big and bulky to fit into such a tiny passageway. That's ironic; I'm bringing a rabbit into an ancient rabbit burrow.
As she emerged into the medicine cat's den, she noticed that Duskstar was present as well; he was speaking with Silverfeather about something. Upon hearing her footsteps, the dark gray tomcat instantly stopped talking.
"Hello, Snowflower. Ooh, fresh-kill," purred Silverfeather as she padded forward to accept the rabbit. "Thanks, Snowflower. This looks nice and fat for a change."
The pale warrior laughed.
"So what brings you down here?" asked the medicine cat, her silvery pelt glowing with a strange sheen in the somewhat dark den. "I understand you're a warrior now? Oh, and congratulations, if I didn't tell you that already."
"Thank you. Well, Thistlethorn told Stripedpaw to do it, but she was eating, and you know how stingy she can get when she's eating…so I stepped in before Thistlethorn assigned her to check the elders for mouse bile for two moons."
"That Stripedpaw is too lazy for her own good," muttered Duskstar. "Perhaps I should postpone her warrior ceremony for a while." At first Snowflower stared at him in alarm, fur bristling and eyes widening, but she calmed down as she realized he was just joking.
Silverfeather rolled her eyes at him, teasing, "Now, don't be hypocritical, Duskstar. Remember when you were an apprentice? You hardly ever woke up to do anything!"
Duskstar hissed, batting a paw at her playfully. "Well, what about the time y—"
"A heart turned to ice will unleash blood like no other. The blood of a forbidden love shall splatter onto strength and courage when six become one."
Snowflower and Duskstar stared at their medicine cat as she interrupted the latter midsentence and began uttering, monotonously, what sounded like a prophecy. Silverfeather was panting heavily as she reiterated in a voice as emotionless as the one she'd just used, "A heart turned to ice…blood like no other…forbidden…splatter…strength and courage…six become one…turned to ice…unleash blood…love shall splatter onto…" And then the silver-gray tabby blinked, confusion clouding her pale emerald eyes. "Wh-what happened? I feel like I just…blanked out…"
Quick as a stormy, violent gust of air, Duskstar spun around to face Snowflower. "Say nothing of this to any cat," he warned. All the mirth and joviality had disappeared from his face. The pale-furred she-cat stared at him in shock, still stunned at the prophecy Silverfeather had just voiced. "Say nothing of this to any cat," he repeated. Snowflower nodded dumbly. "Right then. You may go."
Trembling, the newest warrior of WindClan darted out of the tunnel. "Hey, Snowflower!" called Stripedpaw, waving her tail cheerfully from where she sat with the elders, no doubt still listening to one of Blackbird's crazy stories. But Snowflower didn't feel quite up to sharing tongues with the loud, talkative she-cat at the moment. Instead she found herself a soft patch of ferns at the edge of the hollow and sat there by herself.
What could that mean? A heart turned to ice will unleash blood like no other. The blood of a forbidden love shall splatter onto strength and courage when six become one…The words continued to echo in her mind until she could think of nothing else.
"Whatever it means," she murmured to herself, "one thing's for sure: StarClan's got something in stock for WindClan. Something bad."
Uh-oh. Ominous prophecy, huh? I tried to make it not so obvious - tell me if I succeeded!
You may be curious why Snowflower is so obsessed with rabbits and WindClan's rabbity smell in this story. I can't tell you why Snowflower is paying so much attention to rabbits right now, but you will find out about it later, I promise. It's going to play a role in the plotline...ish.
After reading this chapter, does Snowflower seem like a Mary-Sue to you? If so, read this again carefully. If you arrive to the same conclusion once more, er, there's nothing I can really say to tell you why she's not otherwise that won't count as a spoiler. And in all honesty, I don't blame you; I'd think Snowflower is Miss OMGTOTALPERFECTION too. But just look it over - read the wording, look at the hints I've planted. For example, why did I use a certain word in lieu of another one? ...Sound confusing? It's supposed to be that way.
Well anyway, as usual R&R please. This story has gotten around 56 hits and only 3 reviews. All you readers out there - review please! I love reviews - don't you?