CLANLIFE
This is an account of all the stories (in correct order) that have happened to the cats of ThunderClan. These tales will begin just after a great flood that has destroyed most of ThunderClan and RiverClan. In these times the Clan leader Greystar was sick with greencough and sent his deputy, Lionheart, to the gathering instead. That day the Clan was struck with a massive flood and the cats could not return from the Gathering. When they finaly were able to get back they found everyone who was left in the camp to be dead.
Our story begins one moon later.
KITTY-PETS? - Two-legs Place - Early Morning
The news had already spread to every two-legs nest in the area that there was a wild cat at Princess's nest. The she-cat was worried about this, and especially frightened that it might hurt her kits, who, if they had been Clan cats, would be receiving their apprentice names shortly.
Unlike their mother, Stella and Midnight were more curious about the cat that had been placed on the couch this morning and hadn't moved since. Every once in a while she would twitch and mutter something about 'Lionstar' or 'BoneClan'. Otherwise she was both silent and immobile.
It was that morning when the two-legs had rode away in their metal monsters to wherever they went when the Siamese wildcat's eyes finally opened.
-----
When Amberheart awoke the first thing she realized was that she was not dead. She rolled over and stretched, suddenly realizing how badly the BoneClan cats had hurt her. BoneClan! She had to go tell Lionstar! She hopped to her paws, accidentally knocking one of two cats staring intently at her off the couch. They both smelled like two-legs. In fact, everything in this place smelled like two-legs. With a quick look around Amberheart realized that she was trapped in a two-legs nest.
"The wild cat's attacking us!" Squealed the black tom she had knocked on the floor.
A moment later a sand-colored she-cat appeared in the doorway of the small room in which Amberheart stood.
The she-cat hissed and in one leap landed on the couch's arm rest. "Get away from my kits!" She spat, hackled raised. Amberheart copied the kitty-pet's stance easily. Outraged, the she-cat leaped and the two met in mid-air. They fell together to the soft surface of the couch beneath them and twisted around, clawing and hissing.
"Ma! Ma!" Squealed the kits excitedly.
After a few minutes, Amberheart managed to throw the angry she-cat off of her. "Where am I?" She demanded.
"Princess's nest. I am Princess and these are my kits, Midnight and Stella. Who are you?" Demanded the kitty-pet queen.
"I am Amberheart, a warrior of ThunderClan." She replied, relaxing her muscles. "You fight well, for a kitty-pet."
"I fight to protect my family." Spat Princess, her eyes cold with hostility. It would clearly take a while to get these cats to like her.
"How did I get here?" Demanded Amberheart.
"The two-legs were out walking their bark-pets-" Answered Princess, but Amberheart cut her off.
"Bark-pets?" she asked, never having heard of them.
"You know; those things that are always growling or barking about something?" Sighed an impatient Princess.
"Oh yes. I know." Said Amberheart quickly.
"Well the two-legs were taking them over to Druid's Hollow, it's what the two-legs call that place with four trees," she said before Amberheart could ask, "and they saw three cats fighting. Two of them ran away, but one was too hurt to move so they brought her, or you, back here."
Amberheart nodded slowly. "So how do you get out?"
"Oh, we don't like to get out..." Said Princess slowly, looking slightly uneasy. "I'm going to get something to eat. Come, kittens." With that she hopped down from the couch and the two kittens followed.
Amberheart hopped down after them, suddenly realizing how hungry she was. Rumor had it that kitty-pets ate hard, tasteless chunks, but she had never tried any for herself.
The kitty-pets crowded around a small, red bowl. After a few minutes, Stella stepped back and began to groom herself. Amberheart took her place beside the bowl. Inside was a pile of brown slop. It smelled good, but not like the fresh-kill she ate in the forest. She leaned down and took a chunk in her mouth. It was actually very good, she thought, taking another chunk.
Together the cats cleaned out the bowl and Princess walked away for a nap, leaving Amberheart alone with her two kits.
"Ma says there's no way out, but there is. She just doesn't like going out because Da ran away from his two-legs and is scared to come back. She's made at him now and doesn't want to see him." Explained Stella.
"But we can show you the way out. It's easy to get there and a lot of fun!" Exclaimed Midnight. He turned towards a stairway heading down and hopped onto the first stair, running to the bottom. Stella followed and Amberheart, excited at the idea of getting out and telling Lionstar about BoneClan and WindClan, hurried after them.
It was dark at the bottom and it took a few moments for Amberheart's eyes to adjust. She felt low, as if she had fallen down underground.
"Come on!" Called Midnight. She could make out his black form in the darkness, a few jumps away. Quickly she hurried over to join him and Stella. They padded into another room with a very small window in the top corner.
Stella hopped up onto a desk, then up onto the windowsill. She hit a button with her paw and the glass covering the window moved upwards, revealing an opening to the outside. She slipped through and Midnight followed. Excited, Amberheart leaped onto the desk, then up onto the sill. She slipped through the opening and drank in the smells of the wild. It seemed like she had been trapped in that awful place forever!
The two kits padded over to a fence, leaped up onto it and hopped over onto the other side. Willingly, Amberheart followed. She recognized the place where she now stood as the two-legs place just outside of ThunderClan territory.
By scenting the air she realized that the dawn patrol had just passed, a little late because of the battle at Sunning Rocks, she guessed.
"Thank you for letting me out," She said to the kits. "Goodbye."
She was about to bound away into the forest when Stella called, "Wait!"
Amberheart sighed and turned around to face them. "What?"
"Can we come with you? Ma is boring; we want to be real cats." Said the she-kit.
"But-"
"Yah, like the ones old Snapbone tells stories about." Added Midnight.
"He tells us about the ancient Clans, LionClan and TigerClan and also the Clans now. He told us about the old ThunderClan leader, Firestar." Said Stella excitedly.
"And you said that you were from ThunderClan, so maybe we can join!" Exclaimed Midnight.
Amberheart sighed. Despite her doubts, these kits seemed to be well-educated about the Clans. "What about Princess?"
"Oh, she won't care. There's nothing she can do against Clan cats. She wouldn't dare!" Giggled Stella.
"Okay, I'll take you to Lionstar, but you have to catch some fresh-kill first." She said. "I'll show you how."
-----
The three cats padded into ThunderClan camp, each of them holding a peice of dead prey in their mouth. By the time they had padded over to the fresh kill pile and disposed of their fresh-kill, almost every eye in the camp was upon them.
Ignoring the stares of her Clan-mates, Amberheart padded over to Lionstar's den and called for her leader. He padded out of his den, eyeing the kitty-pets, confused.
"What is this, Amberheart?" He asked sternly, looking from the young kitty-pets to his warrior.
"It's a long story. I'll explain later, but they want to join ThunderClan. They're young and will make fine apprentices. They even caught some fresh-kill on the way-"
"Amberheart. We do not welcome kitty-pets into our Clan." Sighed Lionstar.
"But, Lionstar! You don't understand, they-"
Lionstar cut her off, "Amberheart, if you can find someone who will take one of them as an apprentice by the end of the day, I will let them stay. If not..."
"I understand." She said.
"Good. Go get something to eat, then come back and tell me what happened. The kitty-pets can stay in my den for the time being."
"Yes sir."
It was late afternoon by the time Amberheart had finished her story. Lionstar listened attentively through the whole thing, nodding as she explained to him what it was like in the two-legs nest. When she finished he simply nodded and dismissed her to go find a mentor for one of the kitty-pet kits. Shocked and annoyed at the fact that her leader seemed so calm about everything, Amberheart stormed off to the warriors den.
Inside she found Coldpelt and Orangestripe arguing about battle tactics and the loss of Sunning Rocks. When she entered both warriors looked up at her.
"I heard your story, and about the apprentices." Said Coldpelt. His voice sent a shiver down Amberheart's spine. Coldpelt was an old, battle scarred tom. He had been named a warrior a few days after Amberheart had been born. He was one of the oldest warriors in the Clan and a much respected cat.
Amberheart nodded a greeting to the old tom and turned to Orangestripe. He had no apprentice, although Amberheart wasn't sure if the tom was really thrilled to get one.
"Orangestripe, I was wondering if you wanted an apprentice. I brought two new cats to the Clan today and-"
"I heard. No, I don't want a kitty-pet as an apprentice. Go find Patchpelt. She'd be thrilled to get a dead mouse!" The two older warriors laughed, then went back to their conversation.
Annoyed, Amberheart stormed out of the den. She didn't want to give either of them to Patchpelt. Despite the young warrior's good fighting skills, she doubted the cat was ready to take on an apprentice.
"Amberheart!"
Amberheart looked up to see Greyclaw hurrying across the clearing towards her.
"Hey, I heard about WindClan and the kits. Are you alright?" Asked the grey warrior, nuzzling his friend.
Amberheart pulled away. "Yah, yah. I'm fine. I need to find-" Then she remembered that Greyclaw didn't have an apprentice yet. "Greyclaw, would you like to mentor one of the kits?"
Greyclaw nodded. "I'd love to!"
"Great, I'll go tell Lionstar."