Disclaimer: I don't own the Warrior series!
Title: Little Pawsteps And Lion Roars
Summary: Those Who Walk Strangely have destroyed the Tribe Of Rushing Water's home, sending them scrambling to ThunderClan for help. Lion, a loyal cave-guard to-be, is content with her life even after all that, but everything changes when she meets excitable apprentice Littlepaw.
...
Crystalfang- The humans took the caves from them by force. For 'hunting grounds' (actually, it was a tourist attraction, but wild cats wouldn't know that). Stoneteller led an attack against their monsters, but many cats died. He eventually backed off and ordered them all to retreat, and they've been like this since. Thank you!
Pikawarriorcat- I ship it too! And that's the point, my friend. A great story still needs to have its errors fixed. It wouldn't be a good story if they weren't. =)
...
Allegiances Ahead! (Just Clan leaders and Deputies)
ThunderClan-
Leader- Bramblestar
Deputy: Bravetruth
RiverClan-
Leader- Mistystar
Deputy: Liecatcher. Twin sibling to Truthbumble.
ShadowClan-
Leader- Crowstar
Deputy- Bloodclaw
WindClan-
Leader- Harestar
Deputy- Skywing
...
Lion felt awe every time she watched ThunderClan wake up in the morning. From her spot outside the dens, she could sit and watch as what was once a silent clearing became swamped with cats; watch them pour out of their dens like rain into a stream. It was a humbling experience.
The morning after the Gathering, however, Lion was a part of that stream, stumbling out of the apprentice den with Littlepaw. Grasskit trotted after them.
"I can't wait until I get to sleep in there full-time!" He squeaked.
You can have my spot. Lion thought. It's all so... closed in.
"Two more moons." Littlepaw yawned, echoing Windswift's statement from the day before. "Then you'll be begging for extra sleep."
"You'll still come, right?" He prodded Lion's side.
"I hope so."
"Promise?"
Two moons didn't seem like long enough to find a brand new home for the Tribe Of Rushing Water, especially since they hadn't even arrived yet. "I promise."
Windswift padded up to them, purring. "I thought you told me you weren't going to fall asleep."
"I didn't mean to!" Grasskit exclaimed. "It was an accident, honest!"
"He wasn't a bother, I hope?"
"Not at all." Littlepaw gave a sleepy purr. "Just make sure he doesn't do it again."
"Littlepaw!" Bravetruth called across the clearing. "We're going on a hunting patrol."
"Okay!" She turned to Lion, eyes sparkling. "I'll bring you something special to eat. We can share!"
"Uh, okay." Lion watched as she bounded away. But how is it sharing when only one of us has caught any prey?
Lion never claimed to be a prey-hunter. A cave-guard through and through, she knew that hedgehogs would fly before she'd ever successfully lead a hunting patrol.
Fine then. She thought, sitting as stiff as stone. I'll wait. Something will come by eventually... I hope.
She could faintly smell mouse on the breeze, and she'd noticed some holes nearby, so she could be mostly certain that some form of prey would come her way.
I've got this. She decided, crouching closer to the ground. I'm a cave-guard. I know how to stay still and be observant.
Eventually a mouse scuttled out of the undergrowth. Lion wondered if it was young and unafraid, or simply incapable of smelling the nearby camp. She was only a few fox-lengths from it; a cat could scent the air and probably catch her on the breeze.
Which is good, since I'm not trying to flee.
Bunching her muscles, she prepared herself to spring, only for a voice to scare the mouse away.
"What do you think you're doing?"
Lion whipped around. It was Littlepaw's kit-mother; Brightsky. She was long-legged and slender, with rich milk-colored fur and deep green eyes. It was obvious who she took after; other than the height, they could be passed off as littermates.
And if she grows up to be anything like her mother, she'll be beating toms and she-cats away with a stick.
"Fox-dung! I almost had it." She scuffed her paw against the ground. "Bad luck."
"Luck had nothing to do with it." She muttered dryly. "You should be in camp."
Lion crouched closer to the ground. "I know." She sighed.
"And what were you even doing out here on your own? If you were hungry, you could've gotten something off the fresh-kill pile."
"This is different." Lion absentmindedly glanced around, but anything that could get caught had scattered by now. "I need to catch something myself."
"Why?" Brightsky tilted her head to the side. "You're a cave-guard, not a prey-hunter."
"Littlepaw promised we'd share prey when she was done with all her apprentice tasks. But it's not really sharing if one cat is doing all the work, is it?"
Brightsky's whiskers twitched thoughtfully. "I suppose not."
"I just wanted to catch something small- like an old mouse or vole. Then I'd tell her about the Tribe's tradition of the other taking a bite, then giving the prey back, so I'd be the one eating the scrawny thing. Is that wrong?"
She chuckled and shook her head. "Come on. Let me show you some tricks. After that, I'll show you the borders."
Her eyes widened. "The Clan borders?"
"Of course. Every Clan cat needs to know exactly where the borders are." She gently led her with her tail through the forest.
"But I'm not a Clan cat." Lion pointed out. Brightsky flicked her shoulder with her tail.
"You might be." She murmured. "It you wanted to be."
A flash of panic struck her. I could never live here! "Do you want me to be?" She blurted out.
"I want what makes Littlepaw happy." She told her firmly. "And you do that."
Lion opened her mouth, then paused. A familiar scent hit her with the force of a wave. She staggered on her paws with the weight of the relief she felt.
"The Tribe Of Rushing Water!"
Brightsky had smelled it as well. "Are you sure?"
"I know the smell of my own home." She snapped, then softened. "Can you please go tell Bramblestar? I have to make sure they're okay."
She opened her mouth to argue, then snapped it shut with a nod. Brightsky dashed away.
"Stoneteller!" Lion called, racing through the trees as though her paws were on fire. "Stoneteller, it's me; Lion! Are you there?"
"Over here!" A muffled voice called. Lion plunged through the bushes, frozen by the sight in front of her.
The Tribe was in ruins. No cat had escaped uninjured; they all gimped along, heads high, their fur matted with blood and a lack of grooming. Lion could count every one of their ribs. Stoneteller, who had a wound on his neck that had assuredly stolen his seventh life, nodded to her stiffly.
"What happened here?" She squeaked. Lion felt ashamed of her wound-less body and well-fed stomach.
"Fox attack." He grunted. "Go help your mother, Lion. Tall was injured fighting for her."
Not Tall! She wailed in her mind, streaking across the group of cats in search of her family. Please, don't let him die like Falcon!
Falcon Roosting On Tall Ledge, her father, as well as Tall One Who Never Falls' namesake, had died as Lion was being born. He'd fallen of a high cliff and had never been seen from again. From the stories she'd been told, he'd been fighting off a mountain lion. He hadn't even been a cave-guard, the ones designed to die fighting; merely a loyal Tribe cat who couldn't bare to see his Tribemates suffering. No one was sure how, but he'd taken the lion with him.
Please, Tribe Of Endless Hunting, it's not his time yet! Don't take him from us so soon!
"Lion!" Moss called. "Over here!"
Lion ducked through a line of beaten cave-guards to reach her kit-mother, heart in her throat. Tall had a nasty wound on his shoulder, and had to lean heavily on their mother to walk in a straight line. He looked at her with eyes blurred by pain.
"You look... well." He rasped. Lion gave him another shoulder to lean on so Moss didn't have to stumble as much to hold his weight.
"Better than you." She whispered. Her mother gave her a few frantic licks to her face and ears.
"Oh, my little Lion. My kit. I was so scared I'd never see you again."
"ThunderClan is full of honorable cats. They'd never attack unprompted." Lion promised her. "You'll like it there. Can you make it the rest of the way?"
Tall's eyes flashed. "I have my pride, Lion. The only thing that could stop me is death itself."
A shiver went down her spine. Don't say that!
Cold padded up and laid a gentle tail on Stoneteller's shoulder. "I remember the way. Let me help you."
The old healer nodded and allowed himself to be guided like a newborn kit. Lion blinked at the black tom. She hadn't realized how much she missed the obvious confidence and strength the captain had.
Bramblestar was waiting for them at the entrance, flanked by Bravetruth and a striped blue she-cat Lion prayed was their healer. The leader blinked at them in surprise.
"What happened?"
Cold briskly repeated what Stoneteller had told her. "They kept coming back- they knew we were weak. They finally left us once we crossed your borders."
"Thank the Tribe Of Endless Hunting." Tall muttered tiredly. Lion shook her head.
"Thank StarClan. They alone have power over the skies here."
He shuddered. "Don't say things like that. How can we be a Tribe without our ancestors to guide us?"
I don't know, but I know I'm not wrong.
The blue she-cat forced her way to the front. "All of you- by the medicine den. You'll know it when you smell it." She glanced at her. "You're our hostage, right?"
"I am." She dipped her head.
"Make yourself useful and go get me some water. And cobwebs. Lots of cobwebs."
She cast a wary glance at her brother, but the healer hissed in annoyance. "I can do my job just fine! He'll be okay after treatment. Now go make yourself useful."
Bravetruth sent her a reproachful look. "Fallenleaf..."
"Don't 'Fallenleaf' me." She snarled. "These cats need help!"
Lion hesitantly stepped back and ran into the trees. Littlepaw had told her where to find moss ages ago. She clumsily got some and dipped it in the water, carrying a bunch of cobwebs in her free paw.
She spent the rest of her day that way, touching noses with her Tribemates and cleaning pelts when she wasn't fetching herbs or other things. It felt like a breath of fresh air to be among her comrades once again.
She hadn't realized how much she'd missed them while they were apart.
She fetched some more moss- this time dry- for the more injured cats to sleep on before collapsing beside her brother's nest in the medicine den, utterly exhausted. His injury had been one of the worst.
"You've been working hard today. Take a rest." Fallenleaf grunted, running her tail across Tall's side. He was breathing evenly. "You may not know the Clans very well, but you should know that I know what I'm doing. Taking time to question things makes it so time is wasted. Wasting time can kill cats."
Lion nodded. "I understand." She still wasn't happy, but, she supposed, being a healer, Fallenleaf had earned the right.
Moss came into the den just as the healer left and laid down next to her, pressing her pelt to hers. Lion could smell the exhaustion and fear-scent before she'd even entered the den.
"You look so tired..." She murmured, cleaning her back. Lion purred and allowed it, having missed the she-cat while she was away.
"You're more tired than I am. I've been very lucky to stay here."
"It's all so... closed in." She glanced around cautiously. "Are you sure it's safe?"
"Bramblestar wouldn't knowingly lead us to death." Lion said, and found that she believed it. "He's a kind, respectable cat. I trust him."
Moss still looked worried, but nodded. "I don't know him well enough to trust him, but I know you. I trust your judgement, Lion."
Her kit-mother's words warmed her heart. She purred and buried her nose in Moss' shoulder fur.
A small paw jabbed her side. "Uh, hey." Littlepaw whispered, dropping a vole by her feet. "That's your littermate, right? I'm so sorry."
"He'll be okay." Lion mumbled. She was mildly surprised to see Brightsky padding in after her with a mouse in her jaws. "I trust your healer."
"Medicine cat." The warrior corrected gently. "I caught that prey you were looking for. I know it's not the same, but..."
"Thank you." Humbled, Lion pushed it over to Littlepaw. "In the Tribe, we take a bite out of each other's food before eating. It's how we share."
"Really?" Littlepaw took a contemplative bite out of Lion's mouse. "Weird."
Moss gently nudged her "Who is this?" She asked, eyes gleaming.
"Oh, sorry." She winced sheepishly. "This is Littlepaw. She's a warrior to-be."
Littlepaw dipped her head respectfully. "Hello."
Brightsky stepped forward. "And I'm her mother- Brightsky. Who are you?"
Tall wearily lifted his head. "I remember you." He told the apprentice. "You asked if Lion was a to-be on the patrol."
"Right. You're her brother, right?"
He nodded and dropped his head back into his paws, sighing. "Tall One Who Never Falls. Call me Tall."
Moss lifted her head. "I'm Moss That Grows Under Flowers. These are my kits; my brave, strong cave-guards."
Littlepaw purred and shoved Lion's mouse back over to her. "Here. You want to share tongues after we eat?"
Lion twitched her whiskers. "I'd love to."
Brightsky glanced at the apprentice and to-be pair, then looked at Moss. She scanned her a moment before meeting her eye. It was obvious the prey-hunter had noticed it as well.
The queen and kit-mother nodded. An agreement had been reached.
Let them be.
Author's Note: Fallenleaf's mentor was grumpy old Jayfeather, who mumbled something about 'honoring old friends' as he gave her her medicine cat name. He passed on not much later- the only cat left from the ThunderClan we know from the series, not counting Bramblestar.
Fun Fact- Tall took after his mother look-wise, slender and long-legged, while Lion is the spitting image of her father.
Another fun fact- She may not have any big prophecy or anything, but Lion's name has a story behind it. That mountain lion wasn't a fluke.
No flames! Don't like don't read! Review!