Storm woke in a start. She saw sun out of the cave. She slowly went to her paws. Sleeping on the Perch hurt. She stretched out her back and noticed her Clanmates sleeping softly below.
"Wake up!" She yowled. The bottom then exploded with life as the cats awoke. Storm watched them, who to send, who to send. She noticed Flea in the back panting. Perfect, let's see if she is strong enough to make the journey. If she is, she can stay, if not... Storm wanted to cheer at the solution. "Alright cats, I am going to see if I can trust you to go on a mission." She started, Flea let out a groan and Stride ran towards the queen. "In this you must scout out the territory, go back near where we came and try figuring out good places to hunt, good places to train, and rogue cat dens. Then report back to me." Flame tilted his head but said nothing. "Now the cats who are going are-"
"Wait! Flea's having her kits!" Stride yowled sniffing the queen's flank.
"What do you mean, having her kits?!" Storm demanded leaping off the perch and marching over to Flea. Great. Flea could stay longer.
"I don't have time for this!" She snarled at the queen. The queen just looked up with exaustion in her eyes.
"Fine! Stride, you will take her place along with Shine!" Storm announced. Stride looked up.
"But my mate is having her kits-"
"Who cares, go out." She growled, fluffing up her fur. Stride just hissed and marched out of the camp. Shine looked at him oddly.
"Grumpy furball, I will go with him!" She then turned and pranced out, her tail high. Storm then turned back to Flea and curled her lips in disgust. No way would she help again with birthing kits. Last time, she had Rip- who was Brownkit at the time when she was young.
"Drift!" She called. Drift headed over to her with tufts of leaves and twigs in her pelt and sleep in her gaze, she obviously didn't sleep well last night.
"What do you want?" She yawned.
"Help Flea with her kits, they better all be healthy." She ordered, before walking away. She could feel Drift's fear scent coming off her making her smile. At about that age she was forced to deliever Brownkit, she had no experience, yet she made sure he was strong and heathly.
Rabbitstrike padded over to the fresh-kill pile. Even though every cat hunted yesterday the pile now only held a half of a trampled vole.
Sighing, Storm walked over to the Leader's Perch and leaped onto it.
"All cats!" She announced again above the chatter below. Every cat stopped and turned her way besides Flea, who was deep in labor.
"Stride and Shine are right now showing they are worthy by searching around outside. I want every single one of you to also show your worth my time. Caos," She looked at her mate, he looked like he was going to burst if he wasn't allowed out soon. But he was not on her list.
"You stay in here and guard the cave." She said. Caos's head drooped and he stepped back.
"Slither and Flame, hunt around, this prey pile must be full by the end of today." Slither nodded eagerly, Flame let out a faint nod.
"That leaves Rip, you watch the kits, teach all of them training or hunting moves if you like, just keep Clear, Bird, and Blizzard out of Flea's way." Rip looked uneasy at the kits but padded over to them anyway. Storm was not very proud of her Clan. Not yet anyways, if she were to get revenge, she needed to get their loyalty higher. Their flimsy expressions gave away either sadness or happiness by the tasks.
Slowly, the cats went around on their tasks and Storm sat down on the Perch and watched.
Rip was trying hard to move the small kits without bothering Flea, which wasn't working well since they could hardly walk, the only one actually moving to him was Blizzard but his eyes weren't even open.
Flea was panting horribly, spasms shaking her body from time to time, she let out moans of pain.
Drift was looked everywhere for things to help the queen, but she never seen one give birth and had no idea what to do, so she just began to lick some of Flea's fur in comfort.
They need more training! She thought. Tommorow was when the battle training started. For everyone but the two small sets of kits. Flea better get her strength back fast.
Chaos leaped beside her on the rock.
"Why do I always stay here?" He whined. Then he realized what he was saying and corrected himself. "I mean, why must every cat leave to show they are worthy or get a task but me?"
Storm let out a deep cough before replying. "Because I want to talk things over with you about the Clan, obviously you are my best member." Caos nodded.
"What is it you wish to tell me about?"
"Tommorow, none of these cats are strong enough to fight the Clans so I am thinking battle training. Also, we need to see if Redspirit is loyal." She told him.
"Redspirit? Wasn't she your friend a long time ago who didn't want to join us?" Chaos asked.
"She does now, she was always hated and it was a matter of time before she abandoned WindClan in search of us. That was what the mission was for, to see if they were able to bring her back to us." Chaos nodded.
"That makes sense. Now what type of training will you be teaching your Clanmates?" He asked.
"I think something in the terms of the killing blow, what do you think?"
"That's perfect." Chaos licked her ear and settled down beside her. "I love you Storm."
"I love you too, Chaos."
