Chapter Thirteen

Bloodline

Something is coming...

"And what I am supposed to do about it?" I snarled.

Scourge stared at me. "You're the leader, Shatter. You can figure it out, I'm sure."

"You're supposed to help me, Scourge, not make things worse."

(***)

I paced back and forth, creating a grey path in the crisp white snow. "Why doesn't he ever help me? All he does is meow about how something is coming, and how I'm supposed to know what to do. Well, clearly I don't."

Striker sat nearby, his green eyes following me. "Shatter, you'll figure it out."

"You're just as useful as him."

"Sorry, sir... I think you're just anxious about Purity, sir. Once you know she's all right, a plan will come to you, I'm sure."

I froze. "Striker..."

"Right, sorry... nothing about Purity, right..." he took a deep breath. "Scourge has never said anything else?"

I continued my pacing. "Never."

"How many times have you seen him?"

"Every night, Striker," I muttered. "Every night since that fight."

"Maybe he's just trying to get to you."

"Maybe?"

"All right... so he's most definitely trying to get to you."

Suddenly I was nudged in the shoulder and I spun around, snarling, "What?"

Fleet was standing there, snowflakes covering her dark tabby pelt. "Sir. Purity's ready for you. She's ha-"

I didn't hear the rest of Fleet's report; I had all ready run off.

(***)

I entered my den timidly for the first time in my life. Purity was curled around a large squirming bundle of fur. "How-"

"Five," she meowed, before I could finish my question.

I padded over to her and sat down, overlooking my kits. There were four who looked like me, all male, and a single white female. "What are their names?"

"Names?" Purity meowed in surprise. "No BloodClan cat gets a name before they are made warriors."

"Our kits get names."

"Oh..." Purity looked down at the kits. "The she-cat will be Star. The one with the light grey spots will be Hail. The biggest one is Storm... and these two..." she trailed off. "Shatter, you should name them."

I looked at my two sons. "Hunter and Stalker," I decided.

Purity nodded. "Yes, I like those names," she agreed.

I lay down beside her, so that the two of us made a complete circle around the kits. "They're beautiful..." I meowed quietly.

"They are..."

(***)

"Storm's intruding in our territory! Quick, get him!" Hunter and Stalker leapt upon their bigger brother, turning into a ball of playing kittens. Hail sat beside me, watching them.

"What happens if one of them gets hurt?" he asked.

"Then we will make sure they are seen by a healer," I meowed.

"But you said that BloodClan didn't have any healers," Hail argued.

"Well... we will soon."

"I'm going to be a healer," my son declared.

"I hope you'll make sure to heal us if we need healing," Purity meowed.

"Of course, mama," he replied. "I'll heal you too, Star."

My only daughter was huddled against Purity, shivering. Her bright blue eyes and the black tip of her tail the only things that stopped her from being lost in Purity's fur. "Great. Thanks, Hail," she muttered. "I want to go back inside. It's too cold out here."

"If you played with your brothers you'd get warmer," I pointed out.

"No," Star meowed. "I will not go pay with them and get wet and cold."

It was our kits' first time out of the den. Storm, Stalker and Hunter loved it. Hail was curious about everything around us. Star seemed to hate it. "Star," Purity meowed. "You will not be able to stay inside the den for the rest of your life."

"Well, I will," Star replied stubbornly. "And if any cat wants to see me, they'll have to come into my den to find me, 'cause I won't leave it."

"But it won't always be like this outside," Hail meowed. "Soon, it will be green and warm, right?" he glanced at me.

I nodded. "You're right. Leaf-bare doesn't last forever."

"I think it should!" Storm meowed loudly. "It's so soft and fun to fight in."

"And we can't blend into green," Stalker pointed out.

"Yeah, white is better," Hunter crouched, attempting to prove his point.

Stalker purred, "Yeah, now we can't see you. You're gone!"

"Make it always be leaf-bare," Storm told me. "You're the leader of BloodClan, you can do anything."

I shook my head. "Some things are controlled by something much greater than the paws of cats, Storm."

"When I'm leader, I'll make it always be leaf-bare," Storm decided.

"You'll never be leader," Star teased. "Striker's going to be leader after papa, that's how it works."

"You called?" a new voice meowed.

"Striker!" Hunter mewed loudly. "Striker, you're invading our territory! Stalker, Storm, quick!" The three kits jumped on Striker, who flopped over onto the snow dramatically, his eyes closed.

Stalker was the first to get off. He poked Striker's nose. "Hey... are you alive?"

The other two climbed off Striker's side to join their brother. "Striker?" Storm meowed. "Striker, wake up."

Suddenly, Striker leapt to his feet and snarled playfully, "I'll get you now." My three sons yelped and ran away. Star, Hail, Purity and I laughed. Striker sat down and looked over at me. "I have news."

I sighed, "All right... let's walk..." I got up and the two of us walked away.

"The trespassers caught Tale yesterday... Jagged and Ashes found her body." Striker told me.

"Tale? Why would they..." I trailed off. Tale had been an old she-cat who roamed the twolegplace. She wasn't really part of BloodClan, but I tolerated her, knowing that she meant no harm. All I had known her to do was tell stories to any cats who would listen to her.

"We guessed that she must have tried to take shelter in the Mousetrap during last night's storm. She slept there often, apparently."

The intruders' presence hadn't caused as many problems as I had originally feared. My clan had lost the Mousetrap, which had been where many cats got their food, but as far as I knew, every cat was doing well and finding food in other places. There had been a few deaths on both sides, slightly more on ours. I knew that if we killed Roc, the cats would leave, but so far no cat had seen him since our original battle.

"We'll have to attack them..." I meowed finally. Striker had been right, the day my kits had been born, when he said that I was worrying about Purity instead of thinking about what to do about the intruders. But Purity and my kits were all healthy and safe, and it was time to deal with the other cats. "Figure out who will be able to fight with us... in two days, I want them all to gather in the alley."

Striker nodded. "I'll get right on it."

I returned to the alley alone and returned to my place beside Purity.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"We're going to fight the intruders," I replied. Then I settled down to watch my kits play in the snow.