Hello! I'm sorry that this chapter is a bit late and isn't as good as the other ones, I've been busy with school and experienced a bit of writer's block. I will probably post another chapter for one of my stories within the next week or two.
Horsekit woke to the sound of loud rumbling noises. She looked over and saw Stormkit snoring on the other side of the den. She sighed. Horsekit couldn't remember a time when Stormkit didn't snore. One time it had been so bad that she had smacked him in the head because it was so annoying. Horsekit sighed and stood up. She knew that Stormkit got mad whenever she woke him up because of it so Horsekit just had to deal with it. Since she knew she wouldn't be able to go back to sleep she padded out of the den, trying not to step on her sleeping littermates. As she padded out of the den she felt the cold wind on her face. It felt nice. She looked out to the horizon and saw the first lights of dawn. Horsekit padded over to the rock pile and sat down on one of the rocks. Eventually, cats started to get up. First, the dawn patrol left, not long after she got up, and later Lemonpaw and Yewpaw padded out of the apprentices den and over to the fresh kill pile. A bit later Wispsong started to organize patrols, and Icestar padded out of the leader's den and laid down on the meeting stone. Horsekit was starting to get bored. All the kits were late sleepers, except for her. Then, an idea came into her head. Horsekit could ask the elders to tell her a story. She got off the rock and headed towards the elders den. When she walked in she saw Bristlepelt grooming herself in one corner, and Molenose and Rabbitleg chatting in the other.
"Hello." Molenose meowed when he saw her. "What do you need?"
"I was bored and I was hoping you could tell me some stories." Horsekit meowed.
"Ha! Bored." Bristlepelt meowed jokingly. "You're lucky that you can still move around! My legs stopped working long ago."
"Sure, we can tell you a story." Molenose meowed. "How about you start Bristlepelt, you always have good ones."
"Sounds good." Bristlepelt meowed. "I'll tell you about the time I almost died, I like seeing the looks on the young kit's faces when I tell them that one."
Horsekit was eager to hear the story. No tale had ever really scared her before, and she didn't think it would happen this time.
"So, this was when I had been a warrior for almost 5 moons, back when I was young and energetic. I was on a border patrol with my new mate, Eagletalon. We had a perfect life without a care in the world. Right when our patrol was about to head back to camp, we found a group of rouges on our territory. We decided to head towards them, not bothering to get more cats since we didn't think they would attack." Bristlepelt sighed. "Oh how wrong we were. When we asked, they wouldn't leave, and then attacked us. There were only four cats on the patrol, and there were around nine rouges. We were all fighting two at a time. As you know, there is a gorge at the border of Flurryclan that leads outside the clan territories. We were fighting right next to it, which made it even more dangerous. Me and Eagletalon were tail to tail, fighting will all the strength we had. An apprentice on the patrol was having trouble so Eagleclaw went to help him for a bit, which left me all on my own. The three warriors I was fighting cornered me at the edge of the gorge. They were about to throw me off the edge when Eagletalon rushed forward, grabbed my scruff, and threw me away from the edge. Right when he let go of me he fell back, and fell off the edge of the gorge. I remember perfectly the look of terror etched on his face right before he fell. It has haunted my dreams ever since." Bristlepelt finished with a shudder.
Horsekit stared at Bristlepelt in shock. It had never occurred to her that some cats experienced tragedy like that. It must have been terrible to watch the one you love most, to look afraid and vulnerable before being lost forever.
"That one has always been the most tragic story I've heard." Rabbitleg meowed.
"Eh it's fine, I've gotten over it. Everyone dies eventually." Bristlepelt meowed.
"Now I'll tell you a story." Molenose meowed. "This one is about the time when-"
Molenose was cut off by a shrill scream coming from the nursery.
"What the-" Rabbitleg meowed, confused.
Molenose, Rabbitleg, and Horsekit padded out of the elders den.
"What's going on?" Horsekit asked.
"No idea." Molenose meowed.
Horsekit padded closer to the cats gathering around the nursery. She noticed Geckotail pacing back and forth outside the entrance.
"What's happening?" Horsekit asked Goldpaw, who was right next to her.
"Cometstrike is giving birth and I think something is going wrong, the kits are coming early." Goldpaw meowed with worry.
Cometstrike has moved into the nursery about a moon ago, and her kits weren't supposed to be born for another moon or two. Horsekit saw the medicine cat, Swiftfoot, dash into the nursery. A bit later the queens came out of the den, leading their kits. Horsekit saw Arctickit, with a confused look on his face, being led by his mother.
Poor Arctickit, Horsekit thought, he had no idea what was going on.
Arctickit had been born deaf, which made everything harder for him.
After Arctickit had gone out, Breezekit and Stormkit came out after their mother.
"What's happening Horsekit?" Breezekit asked.
"Cometstrike is giving birth." Horsekit answered.
"But her kits aren't due for another moon!" Breezekit meowed, surprised.
"They're early."
The two kits sat next to Horsekit as cats waited anxiously around to entrance to the nursery.
The screams continued for a very long time. Some of the cats had left for patrols but everyone who was still in camp gathered around the nursery. Geckotail had not left the opening of the nursery at all yet, and she could see the worry on his face. Eventually, the screaming stopped for a bit and a tiny mew could be heard from inside the den. Horsekit sighed with relief. One kit had been born. Eventually there was one more that could be heard. Then, the screaming stopped. The medicine cat stepped out of the nursery with a look of relief and worry on her face. Geckotail raced up to her.
"Is she ok?" He asked Swiftfoot.
"Cometstrike has two healthy kits. Their names are Twilightkit and Eclipsekit." Swiftfoot meowed.
Horsekit saw Geckotail sigh with relief.
What beautiful names. Horsekit thought. She had never seen anyone with those names before.
"May I see them?" Geckotail asked.
"Sure." Swiftfoot answered.
"All cats gather around to hear me speak!" Icestar yowled.
Horsekit looked up to see Icestar on the meeting rock. She followed the rest of the cats over to the meeting rock and waited for her to start speaking.
"As many of you know, Cometstrike has given birth to two healthy kits. We are glad to have two more cats in our clan. Now that we have some extra additions to the nursery, it will be good to take a few out."
Horsekit stared at her leader in confusion.
What did she mean by that? Was Icestar going to kick Arctickit out of the clan for being deaf?
As Horsekit worried about Icestar doing something to Arctickit, Icestar started to speak again.
"Breezekit, Stormkit, and Horsekit, step forward." Icestar meowed.
Horsekit's eyes widened when she finally realized what was going on. She was going to be an apprentice! Horsekit bounded up to the front of the clearing with Stormkit and Breezekit.
"From now until you receive your warrior names, you will be known as Breezepaw, Stormpaw, and Horsepaw." Icestar announced.
Horsekit could barely contain her excitement. She had to try hard stop herself from fidgeting.
"Willowmist will mentor Stormpaw, Geckotail will mentor Horsepaw, and Blizzardpool will mentor Breezepaw." Icestar meowed. "Meeting dismissed."
Horsepaw padded over to her new mentor and touched noses with him excitedly.
"Are we going to go see the territory?" Horsepaw asked.
"Sounds good to me." Blizzardpool meowed, padding up to the group.
"I can't wait to see the territory!" Horsepaw meowed excitedly.
The group padded through the entrance and stared in awe at the landscape. The world looked so big from here. Beyond the snowy plains, Horsepaw, Shaw the forest, and the mountains off in the other direction. Behind her Horsepaw saw the gorge that Bristlepelt mentioned in her story.
"Let's get going, shall we?" Geckotail meowed.
The group padded around the plains, looking at all there was to see on Flurryclan territory. They were shown the borders to Forestclan and Mountainclan, they went to the edge of clan territory and saw the gorge, and saw the places where the lemmings liked to burrow. Now it was almost sunset and Horsepaw's paws ached worse then they ever had before and she felt chilled to the bone. She envied all the cats who had fluffier pelts, they probably had a lot better of a time out in the snow then she was.
"Ok, I think you've seen everything now, and I can tell you're all miserable out here in the cold, so let's head back." Geckotail meowed cheerfully.
Horsepaw sighed with relief as they started padding back to camp. As the group padded back to camp, Horsepaw noticed something was wrong. All the cats were crowded around the nursery again.
What happened? Horsepaw wondered. Did Maplestream go into labor? Or did something happen to Cometstrike and her kits?
"What's going on?" Geckotail asked Beartooth, who was standing at the back of the crowd.
"Something's wrong with Cometstrike." Beartooth meowed.
Geckotail raced up to the front of the crowd without another word. Horsepaw saw Swiftfoot pad out of the nursery with a depressed look on her face.
"What happened? Is Cometstrike ok? Will she be ok?" Geckotail meowed, attacking Swiftfoot with questions. Swiftfoot sighed.
"She's gone Geckotail. I'm sorry. A few moments before you came back she started screaming and writhing around in her nest. Shortly after I came in she died." Swiftfoot meowed gravely.
Horsepaw gasped. She had only given birth this morning and now she had died. Now her kits would grow up without a mother.
"No!" Geckotail wailed. "How did she die!"
"I think there were some complications with the birth, since her kits were early." Swiftfoot informed.
"Why would StarClan let this happen." Geckotail meowed, his voice barely more than a whisper.
"I don't know." Swiftfoot responded. "At least she will be happy in StarClan."
Geckotail sighed. The cats started muttering among themselves.
"All cats gather around to hear me speak!" Horsepaw heard Icestar meow loudly.
As the cats gathered around the meeting rock, Icestar began to speak.
"As you all know, we have lost Cometstrike." Icestar started. "She was an energetic and happy warrior, and would have made a great mother. Those closest to her will sit vigil tonight. It is horrible that her new kits will never know their mother, and that she will never get the chance to bond with her kits. Cometstrike will be missed by us all." Icestar finished. "Meeting dismissed."
Poor Geckotail. It must be horrible for his mate to just have died like that, and he never even got to say goodbye. Thought Horsepaw. She looked around and saw Breezepaw and Stormpaw heading to the apprentices den so she followed them. Horsepaw chose a nest and went right to sleep.
FlurryClan
Leader: Icestar - light grey she cat with a white chest, belly, paws, and tail tip, folded ears, and blue eyes
Deputy: Wispsong - dark brown she cat with grey streaks and grey blue eyes
(Apprentice: Yewpaw)
Medicine cat: Swiftfoot - thin black and white she cat with green eyes
Warriors:
Quicksoarer - dark tan tom with grey blue eyes
(Apprentice: Goldpaw)
Lightspots - cream colored she cat with tiny black speckles on her face and blue eyes
(Apprentice: Lemonpaw)
Darkstrike - very dark brown tom with brown eyes
Beartooth - brown tom with amber eyes(Mates with Frozenheart, father to Arctickit)
(Apprentice: Sleetpaw)
Blizzardpool - grey she cat with white spots and blue eyes
(Apprentice: Breezepaw)
Geckotail - skinny cream tom with darker splotches and light green eyes(mate is deceased, father to Twilightkit and Eclipsekit)
(Apprentice: Horsepaw)
Stormclaw - battle scarred blue and grey tom with amber eyes(mates with Shadowsong, father to Stormpaw and Breezepaw)
Shadowsong - fluffy black she cat with green eyes(mates with Stormclaw, mother to Stormpaw and Breezepaw)
Willowmist - thin, lithe, and long legged pretty silver tabby she cat with soft fluffy fur and blue eyes and tufted ears
(Apprentice: Stormpaw)
Apprentices:
Sleetpaw - light grey tom with blue eyes
Yewpaw - white she cat with a cream back and mask
Lemonpaw - white tom with strange spots of bright yellow
Goldpaw - thin beautiful light golden tabby she cat with faded gold stripes, dark gold around her eyes, and green eyes
Horsepaw - brown she kit with a white underbelly, paws, ears, and muzzle(Prophecy cat)
Stormpaw - fluffy blue grey tom kit with amber eyes
Breezepaw - small black and blue grey she kit with green eyes
Queens:
Frozenheart - white she cat with green eyes(mates with Beartooth, mother to Arctickit, foster mother to Horsepaw, Twilightkit and Eclipsekit)
Maplestream - fluffy red she cat with white and brown markings on her paws, legs, face, tail and hazel eyes(mate is deceased, expecting kits)
Kits:
Arctickit - white tom kit with blue eyes, born deaf
Twilightkit - cream-colored tom with gold-ish spotted tabby stripes and orange eyes
Eclipsekit - small mostly-black tortoiseshell she-cat with only a few bright ginger patches and green eyes
Elders:
Rabbitleg - black tom with a few grey dapples and long legs
Bristlepelt - russet she cat with a pelt that sticks out
Molenose - brown tom with a large nose and long claws