Chapter 1 - Timberkit
Timberkit raced across the open moor, enjoying the feel of the wind in his fur. In the distance he could see a figure of a cat, just standing there. "Hey!" he called out hoping the stranger would hear him. Suddenly there was no ground beneath his paws and Timberkit fell. A hole! Darkness swallowed him up and he heard a faint whisper of his name.
"Timberkit! Timberkit!" yowled a voice. Timberkit decided to ignore it and roll over.
"Oh come on, lazy furball!" chirped the voice and he felt a sharp nudge in his side.
"Oww that hurt!" complained Timberkit, as he finally opened his eyes to look up at his best friend, Whitekit.
"Forget that" Whitekit replied, flicking her tail across his ear "I had to wake you up becuase Mousepaw promised she would show us some moves in the morning! We can't waste time as she's going training after that! The more time you spend sleeping the less time we have learning"
Timberkit recalled Mousepaw's promise to show them some moves and got to his paws "Ok, im coming!" he mewed, unable to keep the excitement out of his voice. He forgot his disappointment at waking up and not seeing who the cat in his dream was.
He raced after Whitekit as they crossed the camp to where Mousepaw was sitting, waiting for them. The small brown she-cat smiled in greeting as Timberkit and Whitekit stopped in front of her.
"We're ready!" Whitepaw squeaked, almost trembling with excitement.
Mousepaw nodded "Okay. I will show you the basic forepaw slash first" she informed them before demonstrating the basic move.
"That's easy!" Whitekit exclaimed and copied Mousepaw, however she almost fell over.
"Almost" Mousepaw purred then glanced at Timberkit "Have a go, Timberkit"
Timberkit was a bit nervous, he didn't want to make a mess of one of the easiest moves to learn, but he attempted do the forepaw slash anyway. His swipe was a weak and wouldn't have hurt if he had tried it on a cat, but Timberkit was grateful he hadn't fell over.
Mousepaw gave him an encouraging smile "That was good" she praised then added "You both did great, I'm sure your mentors will be lucky to have a quick learning apprentice!"
Whitepaw's silver eyes brightened at the praise and Timberkit felt a bit more confident than before, after all he hadn't done bad. Maybe he would make a decent warrior after all.
"Show us another move!" Whitekit begged, looking up at Mousepaw hopefully.
"Alright, just one more" She mewed "Rockshade will get impatient if I don't go to him soon"
Timberkit glanced at the dark grey tom that was Mousepaw's mentor. He was eating at the moment but would probably come over soon to take Mousepaw training. For a moment Timberkit was jealous of the older cats, they could both visit anywhere in their territory, go to gatherings and do so much more than him, but the feeling of jealousy soon vanished.
"...Now Whitekit get behind Timberkit" Mousepaw continued and Timberkit realised he had gotten distracted for a moment "Timberkit, try not to let her get behind you"
Timberkit spun around as Whitekit circled him and almost got behind him. Now concentrating Timberkit managed to keep Whitekit in his vision and turn so she couldn't get to his back. However he got a suprise when suddenly Whitekit turned sharply and started running as fast as possible around him. Timberkit had no time to react as Whitekit jumped onto his back from behind him and used all her weight to push him to the ground.
Timberkit let out a groan, disappointed that he had been outsmarted. Not to mention Whitekit was quite heavy! "You're squashing me Whitekit!" he squeaked and the white she-kit let him up.
"Got you!" She exclaimed her eyes bright. Timberkit decided that there was no need to sulk about his defeat "I'll get you next time" Timberkit promised with a grin "One and a half moons then we are apprentices!"
Mousepaw purred amused "Ill be grateful when you two and the other kits are apprentices"
"Why?" Timberkit asked, curiously. How would him becoming an apprentice benefit her?
"Well as you know it is usually up to the apprentices to look after the elders..." Mousepaw began just as Snowpaw suddenly strode up to them and finished her sentence off
"...the newer apprentices usually do most of it"
Whitekit wrinkled her nose "Eww ticks!"
Snowpaw looked down at Whitekit briefly before looking at Mousepaw "Rockshade wants you" the she-cat announced flatly.
Mousepaw nodded, but looked a bit tense. Timberkit guessed they didn't get along well.
"I'll see you both later" Mousepaw called as she ran over to the camp entrance where her mentor was now waiting. Both mentor and apprentice then walked into the forest.
"Let's go back and see if Frostkit, Owlkit and Leafkit want to do something" Timberkit suggested.
At the mention of her sister, Whitekit frowned slightly "Frostkit's no fun. All she does is obey the warrior code and talk about the warrior code"
Timberkit snorted, that was true. Frostkit hated breaking rules and at about 3 moons old she could remember the entire warrior code. And she did spoil the fun ; one time he and Whitekit had made a plan to explore out of camp however Frostkit had second thoughts as they were not allowed to go out of camp and told their mothers. After that Birdwing and Icepool had watched for weeks, which got really annoying. Frostkit was nothing like her sister, in fact she was probably the opposite. No wonder they didn't get along well.
Timberkit and Whitekit returned to the nursery where their mothers and siblings had finally awoken.
Frostkit was sitting beside her mother and as soon as they entered asked where they had been and what they were doing.
"We were in camp talking to Mousepaw, if you must know" Whitekit answered her sister, sounding quite bitter. Timberkit noticed that she left out the battle moves part to avoid a lecture from Frostkit. Kits weren't really supposed to learn battle moves.
"Whitekit, please don't speak to your sister like that" Icepool mewed, sounding disapproved.
Whitekit didn't say anything which made Icepool sigh "If only you were a bit more like your sister"
Timberkit was worried at where the conversation could lead to so he spoke up "Hey! Owlkit, Leafkit do you want to do something? Whitekit and I are bored" he asked, glancing at his siblings.
"Sure! Why don't we visit the elders?" Leafkit suggested.
"The elders?" Owlkit mewed looking at Leafkit, confused "why would you want to visit them?"
"To hear a story of course!" Leafkit exclaimed.
"Sounds okay" Timberkit mewed and Whitekit nodded in agreement.
"Well I'm not coming" Owlkit mewed, flicking his light brown tabby tail "It's boring listening to the elders"
Birdwing flicked her tail over her son's ear "You should show the elders some more respect, you know" she told him "Sure they can talk for ages but they are very wise"
Timberkit decided to leave and the others followed him. Owlkit stayed behind though, and so did Frostkit. The 3 kits ran to the elders den where Emberfur and Rabbittail greeted them.
"It's good to see you all again" Emberfur purred then added "I assume you are here for a story?"
"Yes, please" Leafkit squeaked loudly and Emberfur chuckled a bit.
"Very well" Emberfur said "Anything you specifically want?"
"Ummm..." Leafkit looked thoughtful for a moment then her face lit up "I know! Tell me about Nightclan's first leader"
"Now that's a dark tale that we elders pass on through generations to generations..." Rabbittail murmured "But I think they are old enough to hear it"
Emberfur nodded "Nightclan's first leader was Nightstar, however he might have been the second. We have no proof that there was a leader, a leader of an actual clan with 9 lives, before him though. As a young cat he was said to be ruthless, and killed many others. He rose to power and killed the cat formerly in charge of the group then turned it into Nightclan. Now we do not know if it was just a rogue group or a clan before Nightstar rose to power. Anyway he controlled his cats through fear, if they tried to rebel against him he would crush them. He was a cunning cat and a master of manipulation. Nightclan was feared and said to have destroyed a fifth clan under his reign. His apprentice was also smart cat. Tornpaw, he was called. Because of his ripped tail that Nightstar himself teared off. Tornpaw was Nightstar's apprentice and secretly, somehow, made a plan to kill Nightstar. At the cost of many cats finally Torntail defeated Nightstar. Torntail became Tornstar and he changed our clan for the better. He turned a clan once plagued by darkness, fear, death and sadness into the noble clan we are today. A cat like Nightstar didn't go to Starclan. Some believe cats like him just vanish, others believe that the go to a dark and terrible place. They call that place the Dark Forest or the Place of no stars. There are those who believe Nightstar, in the Dark Forest, is plotting revenge. Planning to return the darkness to our clan"
Timberkit shivered slightly, though it wasn't cold.
"Aww, Timberkit, are you scared?" Whitekit teased making Timberkit feel embarrassed.
"It's okay to be a bit scared, it would be awful if the Dark Forest existed" Leafkit mewed, giving him a friendly smile.
Emberfur nodded "When I was your age I felt the same way" she told him then gazed off into the distance, probably thinking about the days when she was younger.
Rabbittail yawned "I'd appreciate it if you left now, I want to nap" the tom grumbled then rested his head on his paws.
"Come on!" mewed Whitekit "Lets go now before Rabbittail gets grumpy"
Timberkit nodded and Leafkit said goodbye to Emberfur.
"I heard that kit" grumbled Rabbittail as they left the elders den, suprising Whitekit.
"You know what? I'm kind of tired too" Timberkit announced.
"Same" added Whitekit.
"I'm not suprised, you did get up really early" Leafkit mewed.
"Well, we had to" Timberkit said "Mousepaw promised to teach us battle moves and she did! It was great!"
"So that's what you were really doing" mewed Leafkit.
"Yeah" replied Whitekit "Oh yeah, Leafkit?"
Leafkit looked up at Whitekit "Hmm?"
"Please promise not to tell Frostpaw" Whitekit mewed "I don't want her to lecture me on what I'm allowed to do and what I'm not allowed to do"
"Of course!" Leafkit promised "I won't say a word to her"
Leafkit ran off somewhere, but Timberkit didn't bother to look where she went. His paws were starting to feel rather heavy, an unfortunate effect of being tired.
As soon as he got into the nursery he collapsed into his nest and yawned. His mother was gone, probably on one of her walks through the forest. Being in the nursery was probably pretty boring for her, like it was for him. Owlkit was gone too, but Timberkit had no idea where he had went. "Sleep well, Whitekit" he murmured.
"You too" he heard his best friend say before he drifted off into sleep.
AN: Chapter 1 (well 2 if you inlcude the prologue and allegiances) already!
First of all I do not own Warriorcats, of course.
This page was mostly just to start it off and so you can get to know some basic things about some of the characters.
Mousepaw is quite nice. Snowpaw is well... you'll get to know more about her later.
Frostpaw is really obedient to the rules and quite nosy. You will find she's also quite smart (well she does know the warrior code off by heart, and learnt it all at a young (er) age )
Timberkit is quite nice and a bit nervous. Owlkit's a bit of a loner. Emberfur's a nice elder. Rabbittail's decent but can get grumpy. Whitepaw is enegetic and a bit of a troublemaker ( the sneaking out of camp ideas were hers). Rockshade can be impatient. Birdwing is not that strict but Icepool is fairly strict. Leafkit's nice and understanding. She has a lot of respect for elders (and cats of higher ranks than her).
Thanks to the first reviewer, SageandSky! I hope you enjoyed this chapter and will enjoy the future chapters too.
Please review and i'd love it if you included :
Who do you think Nightstar has chosen for his plot? (Frostpaw or Whitepaw)
And who do you think Eaglestar chose? (Owlpaw, Timberpaw or Leafpaw)
