Chapter Two
"He'll be fine in no time. He's only gotten a small scratch, nothing serious at all. Quietpaw got him to sleep, so please don't go and wake him up." Heatherkit lay beside her mother and Lionkit, tossing her moss-ball up above her with her hind-legs as Rabbitear gave news about Brightkit to Orangepelt. I'm so bored. She thought.
"I'm really sorry," Lionkit mewed, "I didn't do it on purpose."
"Don't worry, dear, your brother will be fine. You just got him, er, prepared for his next fight." Rabbitear ducked away out of the den. A brown pelt cloaked the light of the entrance to the nursery.
"May I come in and meet my new clanmates?" The voice was very mature, yet slightly raspy.
"Of course." Orangepelt replied, pushing Heatherkit's moss away. "Go meet Thrushnose, dears. And get Loudkit as well."
"Hello, Thrushnose!" The kits squeaked.
"Why, hello there! And who might you two be?" He looked at Heatherkit first.
"I'm Heatherkit!" She pointed her tail at her brother, "And that's Lionkit. He's my brother!"
Orangepelt looked down at her. "Let your brother introduce himself next time, please."
"It's okay, mama. I don't care."
"But I do. It's rude. Sorry about that, Thrushnose." Thrushnose's tail twitched.
"Well, it was nice meeting you. Didn't you have three kits, Orange?"
"Yes, Loudkit is-"
"You had four kits, mama." Heatherkit was surprised that she had forgotten Brightkit. He didn't die, did he?
"Four? Mistyfur told me that you only had three?"
"Nope, four! Four. Four kits. She must have missed one." Orangepelt seemed relieved for some reason.
"Who's Mistyfur?" Loudkit trotted into the den, crawling under Thrushnose's legs. He was only halfway to reaching Thrushnose's belly with his back.
"My mate. Our kits are Thornpaw, Burrpaw, and Quietpaw." The kits began bouncing up and down.
"We know Quietpaw!"
"Oh! You do, do you?" He was looking back and forth from kit to kit. This was an energetic bunch.
"Wait," Heatherkit stopped, "What's a mate?"
Orangepelt giggled as she gazed at Thrushnose. "Go on, Thrushnose! What's a mate? We're all dying to know!"
Heatherkit's heart raced for a second. "We're all dying?"
"No, dear, that's an expression."
Thrushnose seemed very uncomfortable. His tail was waving back and forth as he looked around. What's wrong? His ears suddenly pricked.
"Ah! Burrpaw! He's back from hunting patrol. Here, come meet him."
"It's a shame," Orangepelt shouted after him, "I wanted to hear what a mate was."
"What?" This mew sounded almost like a meow. It was a very handsome voice.
"Nothing. Come and meet the kits!" Thrushnose stepped aside to reveal a very handsome brownish-black tom cat. He wasn't much taller than her. Well, he wouldn't be soon. Burrpaw. That's a cool name.
"Greetings." Burrpaw stared at the kits with a loss for words.
"That's it? Greetings? These will be your denmates soon." Thrushnose scolded.
"What am I supposed to say? They're just kits." Just kits? I'll show him one day. I'll impress him as best as I can!
"You were just a kit less than a moon ago. In fact, only a few sunrises ago. They've probably been alive longer than you've been out of the nursery!" Thrushnose chuckled. "Come on, now. I'm sure Steamclaw has some training planned for you."
"Who's Speedclaw, mama?" Heatherkit looked up at Orangepelt as Loudkit asked the question before she could.
"It's Steamclaw, kits. He's your father's brother." Lionkit hopped up to her, eyes shining.
"That's such a cool name! Is it because when he slices you, you'll feel the sting for a moon?"
"No, dear. He was named Steamclaw because, as a kit, he was colored like steam. The claw symbolizes his battle skill … and personality." Is that why he hasn't come to meet us yet?
"What other cool battle names could I get?" Lionkit glanced up at his mother expectantly.
"Well, that depends on what StarClan wants to call you. If you keep sitting around milking all day, they might tell Deepstar to call you Lazylion!" The kits began to chuckle. Except for Lionkit, who was clearly furious.
"Okay, okay! I'll stop."
"What about leader names?" Loudkit spoke up over the giggles filling the nursery den. He sat up neatly, tucking his tail around his paws. He already looks so noble!
"Star. All leaders names are 'starred." Loudkit looked disappointed. "What's wrong with Loudstar? It's a very powerful name. It symbolized your heart … and your non-stop mouth!" She bent down and licked his shoulder, pretending to respect her leader. But what about me and Brightkit?
"But what about me and Brightkit?" she posed. "What would we be if Lionkit was the deputy and Loudkit was leader."
"Maybe one of you would like to be a medicine cat. You might be a queen one day, Heatherkit." Kween? What's that?
"What names would we get?"
"The same as any other warrior. You must become a warrior first before you try to specialize in anything. Unless you're like Quietpaw, starting off in the medicine den."
"What does she do in there? She's not sick. She can't just sit around eating foul-smelling plants all day, can she?" Lionkit rejoined the conversation.
"No, but she is to learn where to find every herb, where to grow them, how to use them, and how to fix any accidents that we may have. Like, after a battle cats will be bloodied like Brightkit was, or someone might get hurt doing a border patrol. You can never be too sure." Heatherkit looked proudly up at Orangepelt. Orangepelt is such a smart cat! I wonder where she learned so much!
"Go get some more exercise, darlings." Orangepelt was scooting them outside the nest. "And no fighting! I never even got a chance to clean out the nest earlier like I said I was going to!"
If we can't fight, then what else can we do? We already played moss-ball. Heatherkit had a great idea.
"Let's go explore!"
"What?" Loudkit looked at her.
"Where do you wanna go?" Lionkit seemed to agree with the plan.
"We could go see outside the c-" she began, but Loudkit cut her off.
"Let's go see if Brightkit wants to come! He's rested all day in the medicine den. Orangepelt shouldn't make him stay in the nursery now, too." I suppose.
"What? No! He'll ruin all the fun!" Lionkit squeaked, "He would never break a rule like that."
Rules. Heatherkit hated rules. They were only there to stop kit games. What's the point of even playing? Deepstar is such a worry-wort. She was about to think that Orangepelt was too, but caught herself in time.
"What are we gonna say?" Lionkit put on a funny voice, "We were gonna go on our own border patrol and wanted Brightkit to come with us. Can he? No!" Good point. She thought.
"What are you three going on about, now?" Reedtail, one of the elders, padded up to the group.
"Reedtail!" The kits started bouncing again. "What are you doing today?"
"Oh, I'm just headed to the dirtplace. Not much goes on in an elder's life. You just get to relax all day and let the young'ns clean your nest and rid you of fleas. We're not allowed to hunt, so they bring us fresh-kill as well. Leopardspots seems to ruin all of my fun though with all of her gossip nonsense!" At least I'm not the only one who's fun gets ruined. "I'll be on my way. Stonewish wanted me to tell y'all that he said hi as well. He wants y'all to visit us again sometime."
The old tom meandered away towards the sedge-walled dirtpalce hollow. I wonder what Burrpaw is doing. She shook the thought from her mind. Why was she thinking about him so much? She hadn't noticed that Lionkit had already led Loudkit towards the eastern reed wall. She scurried over to follow them.
"Let's go up here!" Lionkit tried to scramble up a nice looking tree at the side of camp. Why? Do you want a view? Just go past the reeds. He was already halfway up.
"Whoa! What's that?" He was gazing far beyond the river surrounding camp. She and Loudkit managed to get up next to him.
"Whatever it is, it looks like a great place to rest!" Loudkit mewed, gazing at the large stones across the river.
"That's so far away!"
"Wow!"
"It might even be out of our territory! Let's go look!" Heatherkit led Lionkit back down the tree. Loudkit looked uncomfortable.
"I- I dunno, guys. I think I'll stay here and play with Brightkit when he wakes up." That's sweet. Heatherkit thought.
"Whatever, scaredy-kit!" Lionpaw bounded away through the reedbed. We've been lucky that the camp's been so busy. What are the warriors all doing, anyways?
"Race ya to the river!" Lionkit yelled, gaining a head start.
"Why make a challenge if you can't win it?" She hurried past him just in time.
"I win! I win!" She suddenly realized how out-of-breath she was. Lionkit moaned as he dropped onto the muddy bank. They had raced for quite a while, they took a few breaks along the way.
"Why can I never win anything?" He stared up at the sky. "Why does StarClan hate me so much?"
"What? StarClan loves you! After all, I'm your sister. That's the best blessing that you could get!" Lionkit swiped a paw under her legs, knocking her over. He then jumped on top of her.
"Ha! Tricked you!"
"Ow! You said it was a race!"
"I lied." Lionkit fluffed out his chest.
"Well how was I supposed to know what we were playing?" This is why I hate rules. She thought.
"You weren't. That's how I won." He jumped off of her. He padded up to the river's edge, peering over into his own reflection.
"How do we get across without swimming?" he questioned her.
"Aren't there crossing stones by one of the borders?"
"I think so. But which border? ThunderClan or WindClan?" Heatherkit tasted the air. It smells really bad over there.
"I think we're at one of the borders." She noticed Lionkit's reaction to the smell as well.
"Yeah, probably. Which way should we go to find the crossing stones?" he asked. We could follow the river.
"We could follow the river. That might take us somewhere." She began leading Lionkit down the river bank. The mud was fairly wet, but they weren't having much difficulty treading along it.
"There are so many smells to smell!" Heatherkit's eyes lit up as she darted back and forth to sniff every object about their path. Lionkit stayed forward, moving slowly. His head turned to follow her every time she left the path. He didn't seem too keen on learning new smells at the moment, he was clearly too excited about getting to the stones.
"Can we hurry up please? The patrols will be on their way back soon, then they might notice that we're gone." He's right. Heatherkit nodded as she padded up in front of him. Rustling from a bush to their side startled them.
"Wha- what are you doing here?" A startled meow made the kits' hearts lurch. Four pelts appeared before them: A white and orange she-cat, a gray she-cat with a short tail, an orange tom, and a small black apprentice.
"I knew I smelled them!" One exclaimed.
"Which ones are they?" The small tom whispered to another cat.
"Get back to camp immediately! Feathercloud and Mousepelt, can you manage Thornpaw for me please? He's still yet to see the WindClan border. I'll take care of the kits." The two she-cats nodded.
"Of course, Sunstorm."
"Kits will be kits, I suppose. Come on, Thornpaw. I'm sure we'll hear all about this later." Mousepelt led Feathercloud and Thornpaw away from Sunstorm and the kits into the distance.
"It's too dangerous for kits to leave camp! What were you trying to do, anyways? Go hunting?" Sunstorm stood above them, thrice their size.
"We were, er, …" Lionkit began.
"We wanted to go see those huge rocks!" Heatherkit wasn't nervous.
"You were going all the way to Sunningrocks?" Sunstorm's mouth gaped open as he glanced back and forth from kit to kit.
"Yeah, do you wanna come? It looks so warm!" Heatherkit began to race off as Sunstorm looked at Lionkit. Lionkit shrugged and began to follow.
"You two come back here this instant, … or I'll, … er, … come back! Kits!" Sunstorm raced up to them and grabbed Heatherkit by the scruff. Aww, but I wanna see Sunningrocks!
"Stay there." He began to retrieve Lionkit when Heatherkit felt a tug on her neck as she was lifted into the air. What? Who picked me up? She heard a muffled voice against her back.
"What are you doing with these kits?" The voice sounded very angry to Heatherkit. Sunstorm turned around to face the cat, growling, with Lionkit in his mouth.
"These are RiverClan kits! Leave them alone, mange-pelt rogue!" He dropped Lionkit and placed him behind him. The tom holding Heatherkit did the same to her and then chuckled.
"I know that the kits were taken here, but it's time for them to come home. Give me the orange one."
Sunstorm hissed in a furious snarl. "Never!"
"And where is the other one? She had three."
"Who?"
"Yellow. The mother." The tom seemed relaxed, but Heatherkit could see him starting to get frustrated. "Give me her kits!"
"You are mistaken! I was outside the nursery when these kits were born!" Sunstorm looked taken aback to the night for a moment. Why was he at our birth? He's not kin. He snapped back to the present and positioned into an attack crouch.
"Oh, I'm mistaken?" The tom was clearly angered. "So, if I am mistaken, then where are the kits that belong to us?" The tom padded up to Sunstorm as a second rogue came out from behind him. They are big cats! Heatherkit thought.
"RiverClan has four new kits, this Yellow you are speaking of only had three." Sunstorm wrapped his tail around Lionkit.
"Four, really? Well, no matter who's kits they are, I'm sure Stumpy could make great use of them. Where is your camp? Stumpy would be very pleased to see that we've come back with more kits than expected. Wouldn't he?" The rogue looked back at his friend. Sunstorm's eyes glowed with fear. Stumpy is a silly name for a scary cat.
"Look, fish-breath. Give us that kit and we won't kill you. Or, show us your camp and we won't rough you up. Sounds like a good deal, don't it, Screech?"
Sunstorm sat there for a moment. What's he gonna do?
"Alright. Follow me."
"What? Seriously? These cats really are weak." Screech taunted.
Heatherkit wondered why he would ever lead rogues into the camp. Maybe there's an ambush waiting? No. No one else know that the rogues are here.
Sunstorm led the way, followed by Screech, followed by the kits, followed by the first tom. They traced along the river bank until they neared the sound of a waterfall. What's that? Heatherkit looked up ahead. They were about to cross a path on the side of the gorge. The waterfall dumped into a river at the bottom. This isn't the way to camp. Oh! I understand!
"Be careful here, kits. You don't want to fall." Sunstorm told, a twinkle in his eye. He wants to push the rogues off! They padded carefully on the sheer cliff as Sunstorm led them across it. She could hear the rogues mumbling around her.
"Is your camp really this far away? Why go along this cliff to get there? I'm sure there's another path." Screech asked, clearly nervous about the lack of room for his big belly to to stay over the stone cliff. These cats are idiots.
"My camp? I would never take you to my camp."
"Then where are you taking us?" Screech exasperated. "I think he's trying to trick us, Lars!"
Lars blocked the path back. "He was gonna try and push us off this, here, ledge! Get him, Screech!"
This is my chance! She was about to leap onto Lars' back, but Lionkit had already jolted underneath Lars' belly, pushing him off balance. Thanks! Heatherkit jumped in between Lars and the cliff face and pushed as hard as her little body let her. The tom clearly didn't expect two kits to be able to move him, but the path was damp from the splashing water below.
"Wha-!" She was filled with triumph as she saw him slide over the edge, trying to find any claw-hold before he tumbled into the depths below. Lars managed to scrape her forepaw, however. Ow! Sunstorm tried to tackle Screech, but he lost his footing on the smooth stone, taking them both over the edge. Heatherkit gasped in horror.
"Sunstorm!"