Cloverkit woke up, curled beside her brother and sister, Blizzardkit and Poppykit. She looked around the nursery, surveying the scene. Over the three moons in which she had been alive, she had gotten used to every bramble and stick occupying the nursery. Right in front of the entrance, there was a hard rocky area whereas the backside was smooth and perfect for young kits. Though most of the father's decided to keep hunting and fighting for their clan, every once and a while, a father would stay with his mate and kits for the first month of their lives. Because of the small size of the nursery, any father that wanted to stay had to sleep on the hard, jagged rocks, so that the kits were able to sleep on the smooth, warm moss which was harvested from the river every gathering. The two oldest kits, Rock-kit and Echokit, were curled in their own nest. Though they still got moss, it wasn't as fresh as they were older than Cloverkit and her siblings. Rock-kit and Echokit's mother, Frostpelt, had started sleeping in the warrior's den most of the time, now that her kits were almost ready to become apprentices. Everyday Rock-kit would brag about how he was about to become an apprentice whereas she and her siblings had to wait for another three moons. Above the moving clump of fur which was Echokit, Cloverkit could see through the entrance of the cave where her clan had lived for longer than any of her clanmates could remember. Ever since she had opened her eyes, she had longed to go out into the wild, but everyone said that it was way too dangerous for a kit. Ever since her mother had been killed by an eagle, Ferndapple had filled in for her, nursing and feeding her and her siblings. She could still vividly remember the terrifying tragedy that had occurred that night, almost 1 ½ moons ago. Ferndapple and her kits, Brookkit and Foxkit, had gone out of the nursery when the kits were only a moon old. Everybody had said that it was too dangerous, but she hadn't listened, insisting that her kits deserved to see the outside. Everybody knew that it was almost impossible for a kit to go out into the camp without having a mountain eagle take notice. As an adult cat, you were too big for a mountain eagle to carry you away which was why they never attacked full-grown adults. Sure enough, almost seconds after they got outside, a large eagle came swooping down on the kits, just barely missing as they scampered away. Cawing in anger, the eagle dove again, catching Foxkit by the scruff of his neck and sitting down to admire it's catch. Then, almost shoving her Cloverkit aside in the process, their mother had ran out into the fray of feathers and fur. Without a thought she dove at the eagle, knocking the kit out of it's long, outstretched talons. With a resigned shriek of anger, the eagle raked it's sharp, jagged talons down Larkfrost's exposed underbelly, spraying the rocks with fresh blood. Then, like a miracle Mudsplotch sprang out from under the rock where the warriors den was located and fastened his jaws around the neck of the eagle, hanging on even as he was shook from side to side. While she watched her father hanging onto the eagle, she heard piercing shrieks, echoing through the cave. Looking up in horror, she saw five more humongous eagles, all swooping down for a share of the food. The air was full of feathers, as the birds dove down onto Mudsplotch trying to unattach him from their companion. She couldn't bear it anymore and looked away from the bloody scene. Softly whimpering, she curled up into her nest and closed her eyes.
"Cloverkit," Blizzardkit whispered in her ear. "CLOVERKIT," he said again, more forcefully now. Slowly she looked up, startled at the force behind his words. "Look out there," he told her, almost in a soothing tone. Slowly, she looked outside of the den and gasped in shock at what she saw. Every warrior in the clan was fighting alongside her father, slashing fiercely at the big birds. Slowly but surely they made progress, slashing and biting at the birds legs. Finally, the birds had had enough and jumped off the ledge, where they flew away into the night, cawing in a maddening way as they flew off. Slowly she scampered to the entrance of the nursery, peering out at the gory sight. Blood stained the clearing, with bird feathers drifting around her. The clearing reeked with the scent of eagles, making her hardly able to breathe. Just as she was about to stalk back into the nursery, which was the only place that didn't reek of eagles when a small clump of fur caught her eye. Looking closer she saw what she hoped she would never see. Her mother's body lay in the clearing, clearly dead. Not caring about the eagles and all of the other things that could happen to her outside the den, she scampered over to her mother's body, not caring about the shouts around her. Bundling into her mother's fur, she layed, not letting any of the various paws tug her away. Finally, about an hour later she had fallen asleep, still scrunched up in her mother's fur not caring about the fact that she had been dead. Suddenly, a beam of sunlight lit up the nursery, pulling her out of her thoughts. Since the death of their mother, their father, Mudsplotch, had come to visit them every day. Though he tried not to show it they could tell that he was still sad. They always looked forward to seeing him though he couldn't come too often because of all his patrols. Suddenly, Poppykit blinked open her eyes, arching her back in a stretch. Yawning, she sat down, flinging moss all over Cloverkit. Cloverkit blinked open her eyes. Stretching her back. Cloverkit gently pawed Blizzardkit, waking him up.
"I was SLEEPING!" hissed Blizzardkit. "What's the matter?"
"it's time to get up," said Cloverkit. Blizzardkit curled into a ball and shut his eyes, acting as if he hadn't heard a word she had said. Every day he tried to wake up after midday Rolling her eyes, Cloverkit rolled over and Looked at Poppykit.
"Help me get some moss," Cloverkit ordered. Without question, Poppykit rolled up a bundle of moss and tossed it to Cloverkit. Rolling the moss into a ball Cloverkit rolled back over to the side of the den where her brother was sleeping. She flung the moss at Blizzardkit and he blinked his eyes open, surprised. With surprising agility, saying that it was about six hours before he usually woke up, he ducked just in time and it bounced right over his head. The moss ball flung off Blizzardkit's head and hit Foxkit on the head. Inevitably, the young kit squealed, waking up his mother in the process. Rolling over Ferndapple saw the moss ball and glared at Cloverkit and her littermates.
"Don't go near my kits!" she hissed, flinging the moss ball across the den. Ever since the encounter with the eagles, Ferndapple had been extremely overprotective of her kits. Ferndapple started licking her shocked kit's ginger fur, soothing the little kit back to sleep.
"I'm sorry," said Cloverkit, dipping her head, her pelt hot with shame. Shaking all over she walked back to her nest and lay down. Blizzardkit finally got up, as if watching Ferndapple get mad was enough to wake him. He stood and arched his back, yawning tremendously. The older kits, who had watched the whole scene, purred in amusement, though they straightened their faces when Ferndapple glanced over at them. Growling, Blizzardkit snarled over at the other kits Rock-kit and Echokit leaped out of the den, still purring in amusement, and were hardly able to stop laughing as Ferndapple looked over at them.
"Those rotten mouse dungs." cursed Blizzardkit, who was pacing up and down his nest. "One day we'll be able to brag about being apprentices,"
"Go get some fresh air, you can play outside," mewed Ferndapple, who had cooled off from the incident with Foxkit. When Ferndapple was angry, she didn't stay that way for long. She was very friendly and lighthearted and loved tiny kits to care for. The kits agreed and climbed up the sandy den wall exiting the nursery. Now that it was dawn, the kits were allowed to go into the clearing because the big eagles tended to hunt at night. She couldn't wait till she was an apprentice and she was allowed to go outside whenever she wanted. Even though it was still daytime she had never been allowed to go out of the camp and she was starting to get really annoyed. Looking around she saw that the dawn patrol was just leaving out the ivy-covered stone tunnel. The clearing was mostly empty, except for the leader, Needlestar, who lay on the peak rock, watching over the clearing, and a few apprentices practicing their battle skills. Tall stone walls surrounded the camp, and a small roof of brambles covered half of the hollow. A long time ago, the start of a MountainClan had claimed the hollow, which included various caves which were perfect to live in. Though they had had to cover a slight piece of the roof with brambles, almost all of it had already been covered by rock, making it the perfect shelter. Looking up she saw that Needlestar had spotted them, walking down from her peak rock.
"Out early?" he asked. The kits vigorously nodded their tiny heads as they were still shy talking to their leader. Needlestar had protected the clan since even the warriors could remember and had fought in many battles to protect his clan. All they had done was lay in the nursery waiting to be apprenticed. If only I only could be a warrior already, Cloverkit thought.
"Ferndapple told us to play outside," said Poppykit.
"Were you kits causing trouble?" asked Needlestar. Cloverkit dipped her head and explained what had happened, her pelt hot with shame again. Needlestar purred in amusement.
"Ferndapple is very protective of her kits, remember, Foxkit and Brookkit almost were taken by an eagle because of her. Cloverkit dipped her head sadly, remembering their lighthearted, kind, funny mother. "Your mother was a strong fighter, she risked her life more than once for other cats. Remember that she died protecting her clan. There's no better honor than that. It was a hard choice to choose a deputy between Mouseleaf and your mother. They are both wonderful cats. Your father was lucky to have her. He's fond of you, you know. You are the last family he has. He knows you will be as strong and brave as him and your mother." Needlestar looked sad, talking about one of his closest friends. "Well, go play," said the leader, sounding as sad as he looked. The kits tried to forget about Larkfrost and scampered across the clearing until they fell to their paws, panting. They laid on their backs for a while, gazing at the high mountain peaks that loomed above them.
"I will be the strongest warrior in MountainClan, I'm gonna climb every single mountain in our territory when I'm old enough!" declared Blizzardkit. Poppykit and Cloverkit purred in amusement. Their ambitious brother always said stuff like this. Cloverkit looked around at her siblings. Poppykit had the gray mottled pelt like their mother. She had bright green eyes that were always cheerful as well as a white splotch of her chest. Cloverkit had the same white pelt and brown splotches of her father, as well as bright green eyes from her mother and just like her sister. Unlike his sisters, Blizzardkit was born nothing like any of their parents. He had icy blue eyes and a pure white pelt. Everybody always joked about how his pelt was whiter than snow. Though almost his whole body was white, the very end of his tail was dark black which stood out tremendously.
"I will climb all the mountains before any of you," said Poppykit, her green eyes gleaming. The kits scrambled onto their paws and batted each other softly with their fluffy, still kit soft, paws. Cloverkit leaped onto Blizzardkit's back, but the stronger cat gently butted her off and she flew onto the sandy ground.
"You can't beat me!" she snarled happily, bouncing back up and shaking the grit of her shoulders. She leaped back onto Blizzardkit's back, this time hanging on tight. She softly batted Blizzardkit and when she was satisfied, she leaped back off. The kits fell to the ground again, panting and purring.
"We will all climb the mountains!" declared Poppykit. "We all fought equally."
"I'm still gonna be the first to climb the mountains," rumbled Blizzardkit. They all lay in silence, panting after their play fight and not noticing how much time had gone by. After laying there for a while, they sat up, seeing the dawn patrol entering the camp. First to enter was a strong brown tabby, Cloverkit thought he was named Cliffstride. Behind him came a grayish tom with powerful shoulders and a long black tail. Apparently, somewhere along the trail the second cat had found a large rabbit and carried it over to the fresh-kill pile, only taking a single leg for himself. Behind them followed three she-cats, two of them tawny-colored with dark blue eyes, probably sisters. The other she-cat was deep gray with black splotches. Cats were starting to emerge from their dens, waking up at the sound of the dawn patrol. A tabby she-cat with bright green eyes exited the Warriors den. Following her, Mudsplotch padded out of the warrior's den walking over to them until he was just a few pawsteps away. The kits bounded over and jumped on him playfully, purring while they tumbled head over tail. They rolled around, batting Mudsplotch with their paws. He pretended to fall to the ground, and even though they knew that he was just pretended, they still had fun rolling around on the ground. Eventually, he purred and got up. He picked up Poppykit by her scruff and swung her around. She squealed.
"Down, down." she purred. Mudsplotch plopped Poppykit down on the ground, purring. He started licking Cloverkit's fur and she squealed and darted away.
"How have you kits been?" asked Mudsplotch.
"Good," said the kits. Their conversation ended when they heard a call and looked at the peak rock. The deputy, Mouseleaf, was organizing patrols for the day. Mudsplotch said goodbye to the kits and hurried off to join the other warriors. The kits scrambled back to the nursery, where Ferndapple was sleeping beside her two kits. Sunlight sparkled off of Foxkit who was pale ginger, with hazel colored eyes, like her mother. Brook-kit was pale gray with deep blue eyes and a few white patches here and there. Blizzardkit, Poppykit, and Cloverkit snuck around the dozing queen and rolled up a ball of moss, while at the same time trying not to disturb the nursing queen and her kits
"We might as well have some fun," mewed Poppykit quietly.
"Yes," mewed Cloverkit and Blizzardkit agreed, nodding their heads.
"Make sure not to hit Foxkit this time!" teased Poppykit playfully. Cloverkit's pelt started to burn with embarrassment.
"I won't," Cloverkit muttered. "You start," she said, dipping her head to Poppykit. Poppykit batted the moss ball with her paws, throwing it to Cloverkit. Cloverkit head-butted the soft ball of moss to Blizzardkit, who caught it with his strong paws. He butted across the cave and I bounced against the stone wall, sending a shower of stones down into Ferndapple's nest. She looked up at the guilty Blizzardkit and scowled.
"You're lucky I can't get up and claw your face." said the annoyed queen. Blizzardkit simply padded over to Ferndapple, muttered an apology, picked up the moss ball, and trotted back toward his littermates. "Go get yourselves some food" growled the angry Ferndapple. The kits quietly made their way up the stone wall and trotted to the fresh-kill pile, heads hung low. They each grabbed a scrawny mouse, and Blizzardkit grabbed a plump rabbit as an apology for Ferndapple, and they headed back for the nursery. The two sisters settled down in their nest, while Blizzardkit dropped the plump rabbit beside Ferndapple.
"Here," he said, dipping his head.
"Thank you," mewed Ferndapple, still angry at the young tom. The littermates bit into their prey. The prey was very small, though they didn't need to eat much to fill themselves up. "You're lucky the kits didn't wake up or Ferndapple would have clawed your face," mewed Cloverkit. Playfully, Blizzardkit jumped at Cloverkit, knocking her off balance with his sheathed claws. Mewing Poppykit joined in and they all wrestled until Ferndapple told them to be more thankful and eat their food. After they had finished eating, Ferndapple told them that they should take a nap, and even though none of them felt tired they decided to anyway.
"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey please gather by the peak rock!" Cloverkit woke up to the calling of Needlestar. She nudged awake Poppykit and Blizzardkit.
"Should we go?" asked Cloverkit, confused. "We are not old enough to catch our own prey." Poppykit shrugged her shoulders.
"Ferndapple?" the queen looked up. Her two kits were suckling, Ferndapple had just woken from a nap. "Yes?" "can we go to the clan meeting?" asked the three kits. "If you keep your mouths shut, I don't see why not."
"thank you!" said Cloverkit.
"Please be quiet," she said.
"Ok!" the kits squealed and silently bounded up the cave wall. The cats were gathering around the peak rock. The elders emerged from the den. First, came Moosepelt, and behind him was his mate, Lilypetal, and behind her was Whiteshine. Below the peak rock were Echokit and Rockkit, their eyes beaming, their fur perfectly groomed with no spots. The identical kits both had white pelts with dark gray stripes. Their eyes were both hazel colored, though Rockkit had a patch of dark fur on his back. Mapleblossom, their mother, and Ivypelt, their father, stood, pride in their eyes. Around the camp, the cats were purring happily. "A new generation of warriors!" said Lilypetal happily. Moosepelt purred in response.
"Soon enough we will have hourly tick cleaning." When Needlestar saw that everyone was gathered, he started the clan meeting. "
We have two kits that are six moons old. They have spent a fair amount of time in the clan, and it is time for them to start defending it. Echokit, Please step forward. The kit stepped forward, her shoulders trembling. "you have reached the age of six moons, and it is time for you to be apprenticed. From this day on, until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Echopaw. Your mentor will be Snowfall. Snowfall, please step forward. You have been trained well by Gashpelt, and I expect you to pass those skills on to Echopaw. Snowfall stepped into the clearing, looking down at all the attention.
"Thank you," said Snowfall, greeting the beaming Echopaw. They stepped aside.
"Rock-kit, please step forward. you have reached the age of six moons, and it is time for you to be apprenticed. From this day on, until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Rockpaw. Your mentor will be Breezefur." Breezefur stepped forward proudly. "Silentwind has trained you well, and I expect you to pass on these skills to Rockpaw."
"I will." said the proud warrior confidently. Silentwind padded into the clearing and touched noses with Rockpaw.
"Rockpaw! Echopaw!" chanted the clan. One day that will be me.
Later in the day, the three kits were wrestling while the clan shared tongues. The sun was setting, casting shadows on the camp. It was a cool night with a light breeze. Around the clearing, their clanmates were grooming each other, gossiping and chatting about the eventful day. Echopaw and Rockpaw trotted over to the three kits, their chests puffed up. Their eyes gleaming in hostility. Their fathers had always been enemies though they didn't know why, and Rockpaw and Echopaw had taken that to heart.
"You will never beat us! We will always be the strongest, fastest and most experienced warriors in the whole clan." "You'll have to become warriors first," Cloverkit snorted, resuming her conversation with Poppykit. The two apprentices turned their tails on the kits and walked away. The littermates snorted and cursed silently.
"They think we aren't stronger than them, just because we were born last." Blizzardpaw snorted.
"They will see one day that we are the better ones," said Poppykit.
"Blizzardkit, Poppykit Cloverkit!" The littermates heard the call of their foster mother from across the camp. They navigated through the clan, their expressions mad, to the nursery. Hot rage burned inside Cloverkit. We'll show them, she thought. Ferndapple greeted them at the entrance, wrapping her tail around the tired out kits. "Time for bed," she said to her adopted kits and guided them toward the nest. If only they were allowed outside at night. "Goodnight," she said, gently pushing the kits into the mossy nest. It was warm and comforting in the nursery, but Cloverkit couldn't fall asleep. She kept thinking about their talk with Needlestar, about their father. She thought about Rockpaw and Echopaw, their father's enemies off-spring. Should she trust them? Cloverkit didn't know. After what felt like moons of lying in her nest, she finally drifted into blackness.