Warriors: Rosebrook's Triumph

A Warriors Fanfiction by Phoebe Knepper

Disclaimer

I do not own the Warriors series, this is just fanfiction. All rights of the series belong to Erin Hunter

Allegiances

ShadowClan

Leader

Juniperstar - pale brown tabby she-cat with green eyes the color of juniper leaves

Deputy

Hollowclaw - dark gray tom with yellow eyes

Medicine cat

Snowflash - white tom with pale blue eyes

Apprentice, Eaglepaw

Warriors (toms and she-cats without kits)

Aspenstalk - brown spotted tom with long whiskers, amber eyes

Goldenbranch - golden she-cat with white ears and paws, green eyes

Leafpounce - dappled brown and white she-cat with black tail tip, yellow eyes

Antshade - black tom with dark gray spots, yellow eyes

Apprentice, Pricklepaw

Stonefall - stone gray she-cat with blue eyes

Ebonyshine - black tom with amber eyes

Apprentices (cats over six moons old, in training to be warriors or medicine cats)

Eaglepaw - pale brown and white tom, green eyes

Pricklepaw - pale gray she-cat with bushy fur, yellow eyes-

Queens (she-cats currently expecting or nursing kits)

Fernflight - very dark brown she cat with almost black stripes, amber eyes (mother to Turtlekit, a brown tom with a turtle shell pattern on his back, and Rosekit, a dark gray she-kit with orange and brown dapples on her back and legs.)

Foxfleck - fox colored she-cat with white tail tip and black muzzle, green eyes. (mother to Maplekit, a tortoiseshell she-kit, and Wolfkit, a brown tabby tom with a long stripe down his back.)

Elders (former warriors and queens, now retired)

Skyfern - black and white she-cat with pretty amber eyes

Littlepad - a brown tom with yellow eyes

Chapter 1

Rosekit's eyes slowly blinked open. The ShadowClan nursery was dark, and most cats were asleep at night. She couldn't see much, only the moonlight filtering through the small holes in the bramble walls. She turned to look back at her mother, Fernflight, but she was almost invisible and asleep. Turtlekit was tucked in beside her, snoozing peacefully, his eyes still screwed tightly shut. Rosekit felt excited that she had opened her eyes before Turtlekit had.

In another nest not too far away, lay Foxfleck and her kits, Wolfkit and Maplekit. She could see the light shining on Foxfleck's fluffy tail tip, and on Maplekit's white spots. Wolfkit was harder to scope out, but Rosekit eventually spotted him snuggled closer to Foxfleck's muzzle.

Then Rosekit saw the den entrance. All the night smells were encouraging her to come out of the safety of the nursery, to explore, to run around and chase her tail and catch moths until the sun came up. She was tempted to leave.

But what would Fernflight do if she woke up in the middle of the night and one of her kits is gone? Rosekit wondered anxiously. The kit looked from her mother to the outside world and back several times before sneaking to the nursery entrance. She'll be fine, conceded Rosekit. I won't go too far.

She poked her head outside, tail flicking, and new smells and sights hit her like a strong gust of wind. She could scent another cat close by, but did not think too much of it. She spotted a place where some moss was growing along the camp walls. The kit grabbed a pawful - which wasn't much, considering she was barely a moon old - and squashed it into a ball shape. Rosekit batted the moss ball around the clearing for a while. She had just sat down to take a breath when a new voice spoke from behind her.

"What are you doing up so late, Rosekit? I thought you would surely be asleep in your nest by now," meowed the newcomer softly. Rosekit turned around guiltily and was surprised to find herself face to face with Juniperstar. Her newly opened eyes went wide at the sight of the huge she-cat. Rosekit could see her muscles rippling under her pelt as the leader moved. In the moonlight, Rosekit could see a star-like marking on Juniperstar's head, which looked like it had been set there by StarClan itself.

" The night called me," mewed Rosekit. She didn't exactly understand what she had said, but Juniperstar nodded.

"That happens whenever I can't sleep as well," whispered Juniperstar. "Come on, Fernflight will tear my pelt off if I bring you back to her with a chill."

"But you're Clan leader!" mewed Rosekit, shocked. "Fernflight wouldn't really do that, right?"

"Oh, she would try," meowed Juniperstar. The Clan leader led her back to the nursery and flicked her tail as a signal to sleep. Rosekit crawled back in with Fernflight and Turtlekit, quietly settling down. Her first night out of the nursery, and she had already met the Clan leader! Exhaustion doused her excitement and Rosekit fell asleep, her dreams dark and empty.

"Good morning, kits," mewed Fernflight the next morning. She nudged Rosekit to wake her up. She yawned and stretched, then turned around to look at her mother.

"You've opened your eyes!" purred Fernflight in delight.

"Rosekit opened her eyes?" asked Foxfleck.

Foxfleck's kits jumped out of their nests to meet her. Rosekit noticed that Wolfkit and Maplekit weren't much bigger than she was.

"How old are you?" asked Rosekit curiously.

"The same age," meowed Foxfleck. "You were all born on the same day. Snowflash and Eaglepaw had quite the time managing both me and Fernflight."

"So we'll be apprentices together!" meowed Wolfkit excitedly.

"Who's going to be apprentices?" asked a new voice.

All the cats in the nursery turned towards Turtlekit. His green eyes were wide as he looked at his denmates. Are my eyes green? Wondered Rosekit briefly, then pushed the thought aside.

"You're awake!" yelped Rosekit happily. She bounded over to Turtlekit and batted him gently. He defended himself from her paws.

"Can we meet him too, Fernflight?" pleaded Maplekit.

"Of course," replied their mother, and Maplekit and Wolfkit tumbled into the nest. They popped up and introduced themselves. The kits were all about to jump on Fernflight until Foxfleck stopped them.

'Now that all of your eyes are open, I suppose it's time to take you four to meet Juniperstar. She's made an in-Clan custom that the leader always meets with the kits after they've opened their eyes. Wolfkit, Maplekit, come here."

The kits were all groomed. As Fernflight flattened her fur, Rosekit suddenly remembered her late night expedition. Would she have to tell Fernflight when she really opened her eyes?

The group of cats headed out to the leader's den, which was underneath a huge pine tree. Rosekit got in a rather unruly line behind Turtlekit, Maplekit, and Wolfkit. She was kind of scared.

"Juniperstar? We've brought the kits to meet you," called Fernflight.

The ShadowClan leader stepped out into the open, looking even bigger than she had last night. She sat down and smiled at the kits. She beckoned them to sit in a line.

"Hello kits," she meowed. "I'm Juniperstar, your leader. I'm quite pleased to meet you all." She flashed Rosekit a look of recognition, and she shuffled her paws nervously. The leader called Wolfkit forward with her tail. The kits introduced themselves one by one. It was finally Rosekit's turn. She padded towards Juniperstar.

"We meet again, little kit," mewed Juniperstar warmly. Rosekit felt a little better as she looked at her leader.

"Again? What do you possibly mean, Juniperstar?" asked Fernflight. "Her eyes were closed until this morning."

The ShadowClan leader gave an amused twitch of her whiskers. She gave Roseit another look. She was suggesting that Rosekit tell the truth.

"I actually opened my eyes last night, Fernflight," mewed Rosekit guiltily. "I was excited to see the camp for the first time, so I went outside by myself. Juniperstar found me after a while. I met her last night, and she brought me back to the nursery before I caught a chill."