Cinderpelt's Melody
Summary
Cinderpelt finds herself as PineClan's next medicine cat when Fireleep is suddenly killed. Will Cinderpelt and Spottedleaf be up to the task? Especially if Cinderpelt is expecting kits?
Spottedkit Is Right Again
Spottedkit leans against me, trying to steal some of my warmth. "Back off buster" I joke, teeth chattering. I very much wish for her warmth, as a matter of fact. There's a heavy wind. It comes through strong, even with the trees keeping it at bay. The night was cold and my teeth were chattering. Both me and Spottedkit had wondered off to go explore near the borders of LightningClan. I can't imagine what it's like for ForestClan. But we need to keep moving. The sun's already setting and we are completely lost.
"It's all my fault" I sigh, putting my paw on hers. She stops and turns to stare at me with her calm gaze.
"Your fault for what? For convincing me that it was a good idea to sneak out of camp? Because if your referring to that, then yes, it is your fault" Spottedkit mutters, with a soft sigh and a small glair at me.
"Yeah, it kind of is. But we're in this together, and what's done is done. But I am NEVER sneaking out of camp, especially with you little weasel again, you hear me Cinderkit?" I laugh.
"You're right, it is my fault. But I'm not a weasel" I frown, but of course she knows it's a joking frown.
Her father had been on the patrol that found me. I was no more than a few hours old, and even PineClan wouldn't turn down a kit as helpless as I was. He gave me to his mate, and me and Spottedkit have grown up together ever since.
Spottedkit and me are almost complete opposites, but absolutely inseparable. She's smart and enjoys herbs, with gentle words. Though, don't be too quick to judge her, because she's blunt and head on. I, am, however, much more evasive. I'm wily and lean, with spiky red-brown fur, and neon yellow eyes.
No one knows where I come from, though Spottedkit's dad, Cloudpelt, says I smelled faintly of LightningClan. But I'm PineClan through and through. Does it matter where I come from? Most cats would say it does. Some are even suspicious, but that's all theory. All cats with half a brain know I was much too young to be a spy. I rest my noggin on the matter, and zone back into my conversation with Spottedkit.
"She's almost ready..." A garbled slimy voice echoes faintly through the shadows. I laugh at my silly imagination, and put my nose to the ground. Lightning crackles in the sky and thunder rumbles. A heavy rain begins pouring down. Great. What fun. "Shoot" I muttered.
Luckily, the rain doesn't bother me much. Rain dribbles off the side of my pelt. I have fur so short that it seems nothing can soak into it. Spottedkit however is not so lucky. She has long dark fur that glows beautifully in the moonlight. But such beauty comes with a price. Now, her fur is plastered to her sides, amber eyes beady and dilated. And I have a hunch she isn't all too excited.
"We are going to be in so much trouble" Spottedkit says with an exaggerated sigh.
"Yep" I say, "We should camp for the night, the sun's almost down and we can't see anything anyway. The storm clouds are too thick." Spottedkit nods, and I scan our surroundings. I spot what I think is an abandoned fox den. It's in-between two rocks, and it leads underground. I slowly walk over, and sniff it. I'm mostly sure that it's abandoned.
"Spottedkit, I found an abandoned fox's den that we can stay in for the night. Come on, let's go inside." I say, turning to look at Spottedkit, who looked unsure about the whole thing.
"A fox's den? Cinderkit, are you crazy?" Spottedkit exclaims, giving me a pointed look. I sighed and replied calmly.
"Listen, Spottedkit, it's either this or get soaking wet." I explained, and Spottedkit gave a long, drawn-out sigh before she reluctantly nodded and we slowly trotted inside the den.
"I think it's safe," I call her over, and we trot into the den. Its warm and earthy smelling. But what I'm happiest about, is it's dry. We both shake to dry off, though her fur is still stuck to her sides and soggy.
I dug a small whole in the dirt to lay in, and she does the same, right next to mine. We both curl up, and groom the wetness out of her fur.
I awake to Spottedkit licking the tuft of fur on my head. I don't know when we fell asleep, but sunlight was streaming in through the entrance of the den. We stand up, and quickly orient ourselves for the daytime and finding our way back to PineClan. We had wandered all the way into a birch forest, but it wasn't LightningClan's. Maybe ForestClan? ForestClan would be better. PineClan and ForestClan have a sort of alliance, while PineClan and LightningClan are always at each others throats.
I see a flash of orange fur, and suddenly, it's on top of me. A fox the size of a large boulder, biting me on the shoulder. I whirl around, and claw at it, but it's no use. It's four times as large as I am, and five times as strong. But I claw and bite anyway. I'm only five moons old, and I have no training, but I have to.
"SPOTTEDKIT! Leap on top of it! It'll try to squash you, but Ill get it's belly!" She nods, and leaps onto the fox, biting and scratching it's ears, eyes, and back. It whirls around, and eventually, like I predicted, it goes to lay on it's back, which will squish Spottedkit. Before it can squash her flat, I rake my claws down it's underbelly, and it falls over on it's side, a puddle of blood forming around it's belly.
"We didn't just do that" Spottedkit says, staring in disbelief at the dead fox.
"We did" Our eyes both shine with accomplishment, though, I'm seriously hurt, and Spottedkit looks kind of exhausted.
"We need to get back to camp," I say, and Spottedkit nodded.
"Well yeah" Spottedkit says, staring at me.
"Follow me." We trot out of the den. The new leaf air is warmer today, and only a gentle breeze drifts by. It ruffles Spottedkit's fur, and makes it dance around like little fairies.
We travel for a bit, and finally make it to the pine forest. "Hey, you're limping!" Spottedkit says, annoyed that I didn't tell her earlier.
"We need to move, come on Spottedkit" I say, sighing softly, we had no time to slow down, we need to keep moving.
"You. Are. Limping." Spottedkit says, clearly annoyed that I hadn't told her.
"Yes, and I'll get healed back in camp." I said, in an attempt to stop Spottedkit from pestering me.
"Fine" She mutters, and we continue. I'm glad to be back in the pine forest. It's dark and gloomy. The birch forest was bright and magic-like. My belly rumbles. Only now do I realise how hungry I am.
"Hey, we haven't eaten since yesterday at sunhigh! I've never gone this long!" I say, looking down at my paws with a sheepish smile on my face as I look back up at Spottedkit.
"Me either!" We walk past the border marks, and finally come in site of camp. We both let out excited squeals, and run into camp. I do, rather awkwardly, due to my limp, but I'm just as excited. "WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?" Bluelily comes stomping up to us, and I get a lump in my throat.
"Dun dun dun. We are so dead" I say in a small squeak.
"Yeah, no kidding" Spottedkit says, rolling her eyes and flicking her tail. I sigh and mentally prepare myself for the outburst that was to come any second now.
"WE'VE BEEN SEARCHING EVERYWHERE! AND YOU'RE HURT! DID YOU JUST GO AND HAVE A SLEEPOVER IN A FOXES DEN? STARCLAN, I THOUGHT I RAISED AT LEAST SLIGHTLY DISCIPLINED KITS, BUT NOPE!" Bluelily yells, sweeping her gaze over both me and Spottedkit.
"Mom. Chill." I tell her.
"I don't normally agree with Cinderkit, but she's right. You seriously need to chill." Spottedkit steps in.
"Well, look at the runaways" Chesnutpaw says, joining the conversation. He's a rather large tom, although he's only a moon older than me and Spottedkit.
"Chesnutpaw, go stick yourself up your own butthole" I say, already exasperated with him.
"Well hello, miss snarky!" He says with a sneer.
"Shut up. Just shut up." I say, glaring at him.
"Cinderkit, that's no way to treat your future mate!" Bluelily says. I sighed and dug my paws into the dirt with a frustrated hiss. Oh, did I forget to mention that PineClan is a fan of arranged mates? Chesnutpaw is Nightclaw's kit, and apparently I'm 'Pretty and a good fighter', so, lucky me, I'm stuck with Chesnutpaw. Literally everyone in the clan feels sorry for me.
"Hi Cinderkit! Hi Spottedkit!" Came a familiar voice, me and Spottedkit turned to see Wildkit and Willowkit running up to us.
Wildkit and Willowkit had been found outside of the borders of PineClan about two months ago, they were only a moon younger then me and Spottedkit.
"Why are you so mad Bluelily?" Willowkit asks, looking up at Bluelily with nervous blue eyes.Bluelily sighed and turned to both Wildkit and Willowkit.
"I'm mad because Cinderkit and Spottedkit snuck out of camp, AGAIN! StarClan, I thought I raised at least two disciplined kits!" Bluelily said, turning back to both me and Spottedkit with a glair.
"Hay, Wildkit? Where is your mate?" Chesnutpaw asked, looking down at Wildkit who hissed at him and turned her head away.
"UGH! You mean Sunpelt? No thank you! He can go fall in a river for all I care!" Wildkit says, clearly irritated at the mention of Sunpelpt.
"Wildkit, that's no way to treat your future mate!" Bluelily says. Wildkit sighed and dug her paws into the dirt with a frustrated hiss.
"Cinderkit, Wildkit. What is with you two being rude to your future mates?" Bluelily asks, looking to both me and Wildkit with questioning icy blue eyes.
"I don't like being arranged to mate a cat who is rude and mean." I said, giving a simple answer. Wildkit's answer was the same.
Bluelily sighed and flicked her tail in exasperation. This wasn't the first time that me and Wildkit complained about our disrespectful mates.
"Cinderkit, Spottedkit, you two will go and speak with Cloudpelt, and he will decide what your punishment will be!" Bluelily says, once more glaring at me and Spottedkit. I sighed as me and Spottedkit made our way to Cloudpelt's den, he is Spottedkit's father and he's my father as well, me and Spottedkit have grown up together.
As me and Spottedkit made our way to Cloudpelt's den, Spottedkit kept glaring at me.
"What?" I asked, "It's not my fault!" I replied, turning to look at her with my sharp gaze.
"Yeah, it kind of is your fault." She replied, huffing and turning her head away from me.
"What will our punishment be this time?" I whispered to Spottedkit as we entered Cloudpelt's den.
"I heard from your mother that you two snuck out of camp, AGAIN! I thought we raised you two better then this." Cloudpelt says, staring at me and Spottedkit with narrowed blue eyes.
"We're really sorry father." Spottedkit said, looking up at Cloudpelt with sad eyes. I just sighed and flicked my tail.
"As punishment, you two will help Leafpool and Firepaw clean up the medicine den for a month, and Cinderkit, your apprenticeship ceremony will be held back two moons." Cloudpelt says, staring at me as he said the last part. I sighed softly and after Cloudpelt listed off some more punishments, me and Spottedkit left the den.
"But we're not medicine cats!" I silently retorted, once we had left Cloudpelt's den. Spottedkit sighed softly and nodded her head in agreement.
"No, we're not, but no thanks to you, we have to help clean the medicine den for a month." Spottedkit bitterly replied, as she glared at me.i just sighed and lowered my head, and stared down at my paws.
"So you two snuck out of camp again?" Came the voice of Leafpool's apprentice, Firepaw, me and Spottedkit looked up to see the ginger furred molly staring at us with amusement shining in her eyes.
"Yeah, we did" Spottedkit replied, staring up at Firepaw who flicked her tail and turned to the entrance of the medicine den.
"Hi Leafpool, Cinderkit and Spottedkit have to help us clean the medicine den" Firepaw told her mentor, who nodded and set the herbs down, and turned to stare at me and Spottedkit with her sharp gaze.
"I heard from Cloudpelt that you two snuck out of camp again, you two kits are only five moons old, your not suppose to leave camp until you have become apprentices" Leafpool scolded, and I lowered my head in shame, staring down at my paws.
"We just wanted to go exploring, it's no fun having to stay in camp all the time" Spottedkit chimed in, staring up at Leafpool with wide amber eyes. Leafpool just sighed and flicked her tail.