Warriors belong sto Erin Hunter
Cats belong to me
I let out a soft groan and pushed at the moss that was underneath me. It wasn't like the usually soft moss from SilverClan, something was wrong. I sat up quickly and forced open my tired eyes. I was in a large cave with itchy, pale moss underneath me. I glanced around wildly, this wasn't the SilverClan nursery. My claws worked nervously on the moss beneath me. Where was I?
"Ah, he's awake!" I heard a soft purr from a cat behind me. I whipped around; my fur starting to bunch up when I realized it was just a kit, probably a couple of moons older than me. She had long, well-kept, silky orange tabby fur and wide, innocent blue eyes.
"Good for him," was a grumpy response from another kit farther back in the cave.
"Say, say what's your name?" the she-cat continued. "I'm Orangekit and the grumpy fur ball over there," she waved her tail vaguely towards the tom in the corner, "is Sharpkit."
My gaze traveled shyly between the two cats, Sharpkit's annoyed gaze glared back at me when I met his eyes. "I-I'm Dashkit," I mumbled. "Where am I exactly?"
"We're in ShadeClan!" Orangekit squeaked. "Your new Clan."
"New Clan? But SilverClan is my Clan," I protested. "How can I have a new Clan?"
"New-bees," Sharpkit snorted. "Don't you get it? You. Were. STO-LEN! End of Story, comprenda?"
"I… I was stolen," I echoed, a panic starting to seep into my voice. "You mean I won't see SilverClan again?"
"Unless you're taken on a raid to attack them," Orangekit shrugged. "We were stolen too…"
"No, I want to go back!" I protested. "I want to go back!"
"Great StarClan, why'd they have to take such a whiner," Sharpkit sighed. "Look here, life ain't fair, live with it."
My eyes started to glaze over and my body started to shake all over. This couldn't be happening, how could this be happening?
"Get a grip will you," Sharpkit snorted and he smacked me on the side of my head. "They abandoned you, gave you away without a second thought."
I froze and turned to face Sharpkit. "My Clan wouldn't do that!" I spat, but now that he mentioned it, a faint memory threatened to resurface in my mind, SilverClan facing off against a much smaller group of cats. The black leader having Firefur, my father, pinned under his claws, an evil, threatening smile on the cat's face. I let out a shocked wail and quickly covered my ears with my paws. "It can't be true! My Clan would never do that!"
Orangekit gently rested her furry tail on my shoulder, murmuring comforting words into my ears. Sharpkit spat coldly and stalked off to the back of the den again, shooting one more dark glare at me in the process.
"We felt that way too," Orangekit mumbled. "But this is your Clan now, please understand."
"I-I'll try," I sniffled, could it really be so? Did my Clan really abandoned me? "What happened to Firefur?" I asked out loud.
"Firefur?" Orangekit echoed curiously.
"He's my father, the last time I saw him was when he was pinned down by the largest black cat I had ever seen," I meowed. "Do you know what happened to him?"
"If I recall correctly… I overheard one of ShadeClan's fighters talking about the fight. He was going on about how our leader, that big tom you saw, showed no mercy against that ginger tom," Orangekit explained, sympathy glowing in her blue eyes. "Oh Dashkit, I'm so sorry."
"Y-you mean he's dead?" I gasped. "But Firefur was so strong… what about Juniperkit and Rosethorn?"
"Are they family too?" Orangekit asked.
"Yah, my sister and mother," I meowed quickly. "Please tell me!"
"Um… I heard nothing about those two; they're probably okay though…"
"Thank StarClan," I sighed, even if it wasn't 100% accurate, it was something to go off of.
Right then, a brown tabby face peered into the den and his eyes locked onto me. He pulled away and a loud announcement came. "The kit opened his eyes!"
"Let me see him!" I heard a gruff meow before the same gigantic tom that had, most likely, killed Firefure. His sharp, cold blue eyes landed on me and a dark, menacing smile spread across his face. He stepped closer to me; his paws were almost as big as me. I cowered in front of the large tom, was he going to kill me too?
The tom lifted his paw and I flinched as he placed his paw underneath my chin and lifted my head up. "I see a fire in your eyes…" the tom meowed. "You'll make a promising guard."
I almost sighed in relief when the tom pulled his paw away from me. Satisfied with his examination, he departed from the den, his tail making the ferns blocking the exit rustle.
"What was that about?" I asked once I was sure he was gone.
"He was examining you," Orangekit explained. "To decide on what rank you'll be assigned once you become a learner. Sharpkit will be made into a guard as well, and I'll be a locator."
"Guard? Locator?" I echoed, my whiskers twitching curiously. "What do you mean by that?"
"Well you see, a guard protects stolen kits, like us. A locator finds suitable Clans to steal from and then alerts the Clan so that they can send a Thief," Orangekit explained.
"Are Thieves cats that steal from the Clans?" I asked.
"Correct," Orangekit purred before growing serious again. "Thieves are one of the higher ranked Clan members; they're dangerous to cross paths with."
"Ah… I see," I mumbled, trying to organize everything I had learned. "So what's that black cat's name?"
"His name is Nightfrost," Orangekit clarified. "The Clan's leader."
"He's really nice to everyone but the stolen cats," Sharpkit meowed. "Guess he has high hopes for you, he never complimented a stolen kit before."
"Eh, really?" I gasped.
"I wonder what he'll name you," Orangekit piped in.
"What do you mean? I'm-"
"We know that," Sharpkit interrupted darkly. "But Nightfrost wants to break away any memories of your past Clan. That includes your name."
"That's awful!" I gasped, my ears flattening angrily against my skull.
"Obviously," Sharpkit snorted.
"So if Orangekit and Sharpkit weren't your name before, what were they?" I suddenly asked.
"Can't remember," Sharpkit shrugged. "We've been here for three moons; I can hardly even remember what my mother looked like let alone my old name."
Orangekit nodded slowly in agreement. "When it first happened, I swore I would never forget… but over the moons I slowly started to forget, until now I can barely remember anything about them."
A sharp pain rushed through my chest as fear once again overwhelmed me; I didn't want that to happen to me, I didn't want to forget SilverClan or my family. "S-so when will he rename me?" I managed to ask my claws working even more furiously on the moss than before.
"Don't know," Sharpkit shrugged. "Sometime today though."
I gulped, oh StarClan don't let this happen, please just make this all a dream! I pleaded silently, even though I knew it wasn't a dream and that I would never see my old Clan again. I could hear murmurs rippling through the cats assembled outside of the den as Nightfrost reappeared. He didn't even say anything as he painfully grabbed my scruff and yanked me up into the air. I let out a startled gasp but I didn't fight him, what was the point of fighting a fight I couldn't win?
I was shoved out of the den, landing roughly on the ground. Nightfrost close behind me, his hard eyes looking at every assembled cat. I swallowed nervously; all of them looked fierce and deadly. Was I doomed to serve with these cats, causing chaos in the Clans?
"This kit has been chosen to fight alongside us as a guard!" Nightfrost began, the gathered cats falling silent. "And, as a new member of ShadeClan, I appoint him a name… from this day forth until he becomes an apprentice, this kit shall be known as Spiritkit!"
