I got a review earlier which said that lists aren't allowed. Despite the fact that Allegiances are a staple in nearly every other Warriors fic ever and I've never seen a fanfic that has a similar review, I'm going to attempt to fix it by combining this with chapter 6.
A L L E G I A N C E S
skyclan
Leader: Rainpaw - dark gray tabby tom with blue eyes
Deputy: Stormpaw - black-and-gray she-cat with green eyes
Medicine Cat: Breezepaw - light gray tom with blue eyes
Warriors:
Larchpaw - golden tabby tom with amber eyes
Creampaw - cream-colored she-cat
Redpaw - dark ginger tabby tom with green eyes
Wildpaw - tortoiseshell she-cat
Kits:
Pinekit - dark gray tabby tom
Shadekit - black she-cat
Barkkit - brown tabby tom
Yellowkit - golden she-cat
Morningkit - pale tortoiseshell she-cat
Featherkit - gray tabby tom
thunderclan
Leader: Cloudpaw - smoky dark gray tom
Deputy: Sprucepaw - brown tabby she-cat
Medicine Cat: Specklepaw - spotted ginger she-cat
Warriors:
Drizzlepaw - gray tabby tom
Floodpaw - gray-and-white she-cat
Icepaw - blue-gray-and-white she-cat
Rockpaw - dark brown tabby tom
Leafpaw - light brown tabby tom
Kits:
Nightkit - black-and-gray she-cat
Branchkit - dark brown tabby tom
Thistlekit - golden tabby tom
Emberkit - ginger tabby tom
shadowclan
Leader: Ripplepaw - black-and-ginger tabby tom
Deputy: Dawnpaw - light gray tabby she-cat
Medicine Cat: Mallowkit - tortoiseshell she-cat
Warriors:
Adderpaw - light brown tabby tom
Eaglepaw - golden tabby tom
Flowpaw - silver she-cat
Smokepaw - dark gray she-cat
Kits:
Frostkit - tortoiseshell-and-white she-cat
Snakekit - ginger tabby tom
Thornkit - black she-cat
Spottedkit - speckled brown she-cat
windclan
Leader: Rapidpaw - dappled gray-and-white she-cat
Deputy: Duskpaw - dark golden tom
Medicine Cat: Trailpaw - light brown tabby tom
Warriors:
Ashpaw - gray tabby tom
Silentpaw - light gray she-cat
Lightningpaw - tortoiseshell-and-white she-cat
Birdpaw - brown tabby tom
Flowerpaw - dark tortoiseshell she-cat
Blackpaw - tortoiseshell tom with black splotches
Kits:
Grasskit - pale gray-brown she-cat
Streamkit - blue-gray she-cat
Hawkkit - light brown tabby tom
Berrykit - light brown tom
Lightkit - golden she-cat
riverclan
Leader: Splashpaw - tortoiseshell tom
Deputy: Reedpaw - light brown tabby tom
Medicine Cat: Foxkit - dark ginger she-cat
Warriors:
Moonpaw - white she-cat
Rushpaw - dark golden tom
Brookpaw - gray-black she-cat
Sparrowpaw - brown tabby tom
Mothpaw - dark gray tabby she-cat
Kits:
Gorsekit - gray tabby tom
Leopardkit - tortoiseshell she-cat
Willowkit - dark gray tabby she-cat
Pebblekit - gray tom
Ivykit - ginger tabby she-cat
And a (pretty rough) map of the territory, for good measure: http : / s11 . photobucket . com / albums / a156 / Glittermew / ? action = view & current = territory . png & newest = 1
Chapter 6
Stormpaw padded across the fields, her tail drooping with weariness. She had had a restless night the night before, for the bushes they slept under did not feel safe to her and she jerked awake every time there was a rustle in the branches or any other noise, afraid that it was an intruder of some sort, set on destroying what little of SkyClan was left. Then when she woke at dawn, the first thing she heard was Rainpaw telling her to get up so the Clan could go to their new territory.
"Is there even a place for camp there?" she had asked groggily when he had woken her.
"Yes," he replied. "I went to check it out last night, and there's a small hollow, filled with bushes. It would make the perfect camp, once we clear some of the undergrowth away."
Then she got up and helped the gray tom wake up the rest of the Clan, and then the small Clan was setting out across the fields, the rising sun casting pale light over the fields.
The territory that the leaders had intended for SkyClan in the meeting the day before wasn't actually so far away from where they had been sleeping, but Rainpaw wanted to set up camp and begin establishing borders that very day, so he figured it would be better to head for the camp early in the morning, so they would have the whole day to work. Stormpaw didn't know how much she would be able to help, though, given that she was still half-asleep and didn't think she would be any use on any hunting or border patrol, nor in building camp.
But she was going to have to do something.
Her muscles protested as she lengthened her stride, catching up to Rainpaw, who was leading the bedraggled group toward the fields. "Where did you decide the border would be?" she asked. "Did you even decide?"
Rainpaw twitched his whiskers. "We thought that perhaps our border with RiverClan would be the river that they will live by. It takes a sharp turn and runs right through the center of their territory, so they can have the river the same way they did in the old forest."
"Will we be able to eat fish?" Stormpaw asked. If the river was the border, that meant both Clans had access to it; RiverClan couldn't object to them taking fish.
"If you can catch them," Rainpaw responded, "and if RiverClan doesn't object. If they see us taking too many fish they might try to launch an attack on us."
"They can't do that!" Stormpaw meowed indignantly. "If the river's the border, the fish in it belong to everyone."
"You would think that," Rainpaw replied grimly. "But the river was our border with RiverClan in the old forest as well. RiverClan didn't let us take fish from it."
"That's not fair," Stormpaw muttered. "They shouldn't be allowed to do that."
"Maybe things will change in the new territories," Rainpaw mewed hopefully. "RiverClan might let us fish. If we can figure out how... I doubt they'd be very willing to teach us."
"Perhaps we should just stick with birds for now," Stormpaw suggested. "Then we can ask RiverClan whether or not we'd be allowed to fish."
"Perhaps. But that doesn't quite matter right now. We can't fish, so it would be mouse-brained to try fishing in order to feed the Clan."
"Yeah," Stormpaw agreed. "The kits need to eat soon, or they're going to starve."
"Kits and elders eat first, remember," Rainpaw reminded her. "We have six kits and no elders... we should be able to feed them fine."
"Speaking of the kits," Stormpaw meowed, "how are we going to tell them that Iceriver and Heatherflower are dead?"
Rainpaw flinched. "We... we could tell them that... that Iceriver and Heatherflower went away for a while... and when they're old enough to understand we can tell them what happened."
"Heatherflower's kits might be old enough to understand," Stormpaw put in. "They're about five and a half moons right now, aren't they?"
Rainpaw thought for a second. "They were born a few days after you opened your eyes," he meowed. "So... yes, they would be about five and a half moons."
"I think that's about old enough for them to understand," Stormpaw mused. "When we get to camp, we can tell them."
"We're nearly there, anyway." Rainpaw stopped at the top of a small rise in the fields and turned to look at his Clanmates.
"Why are we stopping?" called Creampaw.
"The camp is just below this rise," Rainpaw told them. He turned around and padded down the slope.
Early-morning sunlight picked out each of the bushes in bursts of golden flame, but it was little relief - it was the middle of leaf-bare and most of the bushes were brown and brittle.
But it was the place where SkyClan was going to make its camp.
Stormpaw overtook Rainpaw, bounding down the slope and skidding to a halt just before she would have crashed into a straggly bramble bush. The rest of the Clan followed her down and cautiously padded into the center of the hollow, looking around warily.
"This is our camp?" Larchpaw meowed in disbelief.
"I know it doesn't look like much," Breezepaw meowed, coming up behind them, "but I'm sure it'll look better once we start working on it."
"Where are the dens going to be?" called Creampaw.
"I don't know yet," Rainpaw replied. "Let's figure that out now." He looked around the camp. Stormpaw followed his gaze. The opposite side of the hollow from where they had entered had some hollows of its own, and a large boulder rose up behind them. A dark cave yawned away from them inside the boulder, hollowed out by wind and rain.
"That could be Breezepaw's den," she suggested. "The hollows would catch water for patients, and he could store his herbs in the boulder." As soon as she spoke, she caught a glimpse of pale gray fur out of the corner of her eye: the medicine cat apprentice was going to check it out.
"The nursery could be over here." Redpaw flicked his tail at a huge gorse bush near the boulder, immediately adjacent to where the land began to slope up again. "It'd be pretty well protected against wind and rain."
Rainpaw padded over to a small dip in the land, sheltered by a small clump of ferns. "This could be my den."
Stormpaw looked around. If this were going to be a permanent camp, they would need an apprentices' den, a warriors' den and an elders' den. Well, they wouldn't need an elders' den right away, since the oldest cats in their little Clan were Redpaw, Rainpaw and Wildpaw. She noticed a small bramble bush by the edge of the camp. A potential apprentices' den? She padded over to check it out and poked her head inside.
It was nice and warm inside, and the soft grass made Stormpaw want to come and lie down there, even though there wasn't any moss there yet. There didn't appear to be any other creatures hiding there, and when she sniffed the air there wasn't any scent of fox or badger.
"I found an apprentices' den!" she called, withdrawing her head from the bush.
"And I've found a warriors' den," called Wildpaw, looking at another bramble bush near the nursery. This bush was far larger than the one Stormpaw had found, and better-fitting for lots of cats.
"Well, then," replied Rainpaw, looking around at the Clan, "I guess we should begin clearing out undergrowth."
Stormpaw turned around as the rest of the apprentices passed her and padded over to the kits, who were huddled around the edge of the camp, looking around with their eyes wide.
"Are we going to live here?" asked a golden she-cat - Yellowkit.
"I don't want to live here!" Morningkit protested, her tortoiseshell fur bristling. "I want to go back to Iceriver!" She turned around, ready to flee from the new camp, but Stormpaw quickly grabbed her tail and pulled her back.
"Well, you can't," she replied bluntly. "Iceriver's gone for a while. You'll see her when you're older." Much older, Stormpaw thought. Hopefully you won't go to StarClan for a long time yet. "Instead, why don't you kits make yourselves at home here? Go help the other apprentices clear out brambles, okay?"
"I want to go to sleep," Featherkit muttered, his eyes drooping. "I just want to sleep. Do we have to help?"
"Would you rather sleep on moss or grass?" Stormpaw prompted. Featherkit shook his head.
"I don't care," he complained. "I just want to sleep." He lay down and curled himself into a ball. Stormpaw growled faintly, grabbed him by the scruff and picked him up, putting him back on his paws.
"You can sleep once the nursery's finished," she told him. "Go on, go help the other apprentices. I promise all of you can have a nice juicy mouse and you can sleep as long as you want when you're finished."
"All right, fine..." Featherkit and the other five kits padded into the camp, where they split up and started to help the other apprentices with the dens.
Stormpaw gritted her teeth. She wasn't looking forward to collecting the mice she had promised the kits. She couldn't hunt so well, anyway; she hadn't had any hunting practice, since the very day she was apprenticed was the day after the Gathering where Slash had threatened to attack the Clans. She had only had battle training.
"Stormpaw!" Larchpaw called from where he was clearing undergrowth away from the warriors' den. "Why aren't you helping?"
"I promised the kits I'd get them mice if they helped," she confessed, "but I haven't had any hunting practice, so I don't think I can fulfill that promise."
"I'll take care of it," Wildpaw meowed, padding over to her side. "Redpaw!" she called, looking over at her brother. "You up for little hunting?"
"Sure," the ginger tabby replied, "on one condition. Stormpaw, get your tail over here and help clear out the nursery. These kits are going to need to sleep as soon as possible."
"All right." Stormpaw padded over to her Clanmate's side and began to clear undergrowth away from the gorse bush. The bush looked like it would be quite spacious once all the outer branches were cleared and the others were woven in, and comfortable too with enough moss.
The Clan worked all day to clear away the undergrowth and fix the dens to make them suitable for living in. There weren't as many cats, so it was rather difficult to get all the branches cleared, but they had been working non-stop since the morning and were planning to work well into the long leaf-bare night.
The sun was setting over the horizon when Redpaw and Wildpaw returned, carrying a large amount of prey with them.
"What took you so long?" asked Stormpaw, bounding over to them as they dropped their prey in a cleared space in the center of camp.
"We have a large stash of prey out in the forest," Redpaw explained.
"And moss," Wildpaw added. "We collected a whole lot of moss and left it near the prey."
"I'll come help you get it, then," Stormpaw meowed, and followed the older apprentices out of camp.
The prey was buried at the roots of an oak tree on the edge of a small cluster of trees, and the moss was gathered in a heap next to it. Redpaw and Wildpaw began dividing the prey up between them, and Stormpaw gathered the moss into a ball and held it beneath her chin while she grabbed some more moss in her jaws. There was still a large amount of moss remaining, but they could always come back for it later. Stormpaw padded back to camp with the moss, trying desperately not to let it fall from her jaws or under her chin. She slowly picked her way down the slope that led to camp, and when she reached it she passed Redpaw and Wildpaw, who were going out for what was left of the moss. Stormpaw mumbled her thanks from around the moss before dropping it at the edge of the slope. Larchpaw looked up as she approached.
"Are any of the dens finished yet?" she asked him.
"The nursery," he replied. "It was the top priority." Stormpaw nodded in response, picked up the moss again and padded over to the nursery.
Inside, three of the kits and Creampaw were helping to weave gorse branches into the walls, so the kits wouldn't be poked when they slept. Stormpaw dropped the moss. "I've brought moss," she meowed. "Creampaw, can we spare these kits?"
The cream she-cat surveyed the den. "I think so," she answered. "I just need to finish up this bit here, and then it'll be fine."
"Then I'll start spreading out the moss," Stormpaw replied. She began to spread the moss out with her paws. "Go get something to eat," she called to the kits. "Get your littermates to eat too. Then you can come rest."
The three kits scampered out of the den, running with newfound energy as it seemed there was a chance they would be able to eat and sleep properly. When Stormpaw was done spreading the moss out, she helped Creampaw with the den walls. Just as they were fixing the last few branches, Shadekit ran into the den.
"Is it ready?" she asked breathlessly. "Can we sleep?"
Stormpaw paused for a moment to look at the den. It looked fine; there were no thorns or anything for the kits to spike themselves on in their sleep. "Go ahead," she meowed.
Instantly all the kits surged in after Shadekit and began to settle down in the moss. Stormpaw was surprised at how quickly they proceeded to fall asleep.
"It's been a rough few days," Stormpaw commented. "They must be exhausted."
"They're not the only ones." Stormpaw looked over at Creampaw when she spoke; the cream she-cat's tail was drooping and her eyes looked exhausted.
"Go get some sleep," she meowed, flicking her tail toward the nursery entrance. "I left some moss over there; you can use it to line the warrior's den."
"You sure? Shouldn't I stay and help...?"
"Creampaw, you look practically asleep on your paws! Go sleep." Stormpaw smirked. "As your deputy, I am commanding you to go get some sleep."
"Okay." Creampaw padded past her, her cream pelt brushing Stormpaw's. "Thanks," she whispered in Stormpaw's ear as she passed. Stormpaw's response was to brush her sister's ear with her tail. Then Creampaw limped from the den and headed toward the warriors' den.
The nursery looks fine, Stormpaw thought to herself once her sister had left, and the kits are all asleep. I should go help with some of the other dens. She padded out of the den, the bushes snagging her black-and-gray fur as she passed. The rest of the Clan was already sitting in the clearing, eating the prey Redpaw and Wildpaw had caught earlier.
"Are we finished with the dens?" she asked as she approached.
"Yes," Wildpaw replied, "for the most part. Now we can eat and then, finally, we can sleep."
Stormpaw nodded, and took a small starling from the pile of fresh-kill. She sat down to eat, rapidly devouring the small bird. She was hungry, and she wanted to curl up in the new warriors' den and sleep quickly. When she was finished she meowed goodnight to the other warriors and padded, her paws dragging across the frosty ground, into the den.
Someone had already spread moss out along the den floor. Stormpaw gratefully sank down onto one of the nests near the center and quickly fell asleep.