I know I haven't updated, but i've been really mucho busy with other stories....but here it is. I rushed it a bit, but it came out okay in my opinion- and if u want 2 join the challenge I will be posting the list on my profile- mkay? Also, PM me and tell me so I can keep a list of who's all doing it.


"Come on, Moonkit." Seasand whispered quietly, gently pushing her three kits along. "Just a little farther."

"I'm tired!" Moonkit complained, his brown eyes weary.

"And I'm cold!" Tidekit complained, her calico fur being brutally played with. Only Ripplekit remained silent. She padded silently along the ride of the stone cold cliff, going where he mother kept pushing her.

"Mother," She whispered, "When are we going to get back to the cave?" She asked. Seasand hesitated to answer.

All four clans had been traveling to the Tribe, but unfortunately Seasand and her kits had been separated from the group. How? Even she didn't know.

She had just stopped with her kits for a moment because Moonkit had scraped his paw. When she looked up, they were gone.

IT was raining hard and the clan's scent had been completely washed out. She shuddered. Maybe she could find the cave the clans sheltered in before? Maybe they would find her?

They had to! She couldn't lie to her kits that they were okay forever. And smart little Ripple kit might have already guessed it. She always was, although adventurous, the smartest of her three kits- or four as it had been a bit ago.

Poor Smudgekit hadn't managed the cruel hand of the forest before they started traveling. It seemed that Ripplekit had been the only one to really get that her brother wasn't coming back.

Ripplekit was a good cat- already Frostfoot had requested to have her as the next medicine cat. Seasand had been taken back a bit. She had never thought of it before, but she couldn't see any other way she would want Ripplekit to live her life.

"Look!" Tidekit's excited mew interrupted Seasand's train of thought, "A cave."

Seasand squinted through the curtain of rain to see a hollow cave. It wasn't the cave she was looking for, but she was soaked to the bone by now.

"Come along, let's rest there." She urged. Tidekit whimpered.

"My paws are numb." She complained. Seasand swooped down, grasping the little calico kitten by her scruff and nudging along her other two to the cave.

She set Tidekit down, who was shivering with coldness and licked her fur the wrong way to make her warm. Moonkit nudged his sister.

"She's gunna be okay? Right?" He asked.

"Of course!" Seasand assured breezily, nudging him fondly, "Don't you worry."

Ripplekit whimpered and pressed against Moonkit. They both curled up into a little ball.

"That's right, just go to sleep. We'll be found before you know it." She purred fondly, watching as they curled up on either side of Tidekit.

They were soon asleep, and Seasand lay next to them, trying to keep them warm.

She didn't try to sleep, but instead stayed guard, watching outside. The rain made the pitter-patter sound on the top of the roof, and a thin drizzle of water leaked down in the back of the cave. Seasand lapped at the water after awhile, feeling the coldness prick the fur along her spine. She was wide-awake.

Soon the rain eased, and the moon pushed the clouds out of the way to reveal a starless night.

A grow made Seasand's ears prick. When she didn't hear it again, she relaxed. As the moon came to the height of the sky, she heard it louder and more threatening.

A dark shape loomed in the entrance of the cave. Instantly, Seasand was on her feet, and gave a low hiss.

She was barley aware of her kits awaking. She padded to the entrance of the den, and the shape had disappeared. She padded a paw step out and came face to face with a white and ginger muzzle and furious yellow eyes.

Fox! She screamed on the inside of her head, and her fur rose as she sheathed her claws.

"Mommy…what's that?" Tidekit asked fearfully.

"It's a fox, and stay back Moonkit!" Seasand demanded as Moonkit wriggled out to the front.

"I can take this brute!" He insisted, but Ripplekit pulled him back.

"Don't be a mouse brain!" Ripplekit spat, "That thing could rip you to shreds."

"Listen to your sister- stay in the cave." Seasand whispered. Moonkit frowned but was pulled back by his sister.

Seasand stepped forward and the she saw the fox in the light.

"Stay away!" She warned although she knew the fox couldn't understand. She hoped she wouldn't have to fight the fox.

There was a secret Seasand was harboring, that only Brownfoot knew. It was a secret of why she was always in the nursery. Her mentor never taught her to fight.

He hated her, and to make her life miserable, he never taught her how to fight or hunt. He did all her exams for her, but made it seem like she was the best. He hoped she would die in a battle, but Seasand had kits before she could participate in any battle.

He had tried to kill her himself, but it had ended in his own downfall. Seasand love her kits, but she couldn't dare tell Quietstar about him. He still haunted her in her dreams…

Sometimes he made her bleed- just a little. She would awaken with a little cut and tell the other queens that she had picked up a thorn from outside and that's why it was bleeding.

But they wouldn't believe her forever…but she couldn't. He had threatened to kill her if she told anyone. Brownfoot had figured it out himself…but no one else knew.

Seasand closed her eyes painfully, she couldn't leave her kits. The fox growled and she opened her eyes. Then it lunged.

She felt the impact, the teeth tearing at her fur, and the sticky blood running down her flank as she flailed her claws uselessly and tried to bit the fox's neck.

She felt herself growing fainter…she felt fear.

"I can't save my kits!" She thought as the fox bit down hard on her neck, "I can't even save myself…"
The last things she saw before she fell into the darkness was a brown cat above her, it's amber eyes flashing….