-1Chapter One: The Kits
Silvertail and Forestpelt led the patrol. Fernflower and Rainpaw followed behind them. "Fernflower! What is that noise?" Rainpaw mewed
"I don't hear anything." Fernflower replied.
"It sound's like kits!'" Rainpaw mewed. "Silvertail! I think I hear kits!"
"Well, let's go see. If there were kits out here alone, they wouldn't last long; they'd either die of thirst or be picked up by a hawk." She said. "Come on up and lead us." Rainpaw stepped in front of Forestpelt and Silvertail.
"Come on I think it was coming from roadrunner falls." He mewed.
"Good, because that's where we were headed." Forestpelt mewed.
"Come on, hurry up!" Rainpaw mewed. The four cats began walking towards the mesa.
"Alright. We're never going to get there before sunlight if we don't get moving!" Silvertail mewed.
"Yah. For the last time hurry up!" Rainpaw mewed. He bolted off towards the mesa.
The rest followed him.
"Rainpaw, slow down and wait for us!" Silvertail yowled.
"Yah, we're not all young apprentices!" Forestpelt added.
But Rainpaw was already at the foot of the mesa, which had turned out to be a towering water-fall. Rainpaw leaped onto the first, low, rock. There was many rocks he would half to climb, so the saved his energy by backing up and running, rather then trying to leap nearly straight up.
Rainpaw landed gracefully on the rock with a soft thud. A rock now stood in-between him and the desert, so he couldn't see where his clan mates were. There was a crack in the without soaking up as much energy.
Rainpaw peered at his clan mates one last time before beginning to walk to the crack in the rocks.
He stopped in his tracks. There were voices coming from inside the crack.
"…But what if Desertclan decides that the kits are there's?" came the voice of a she-cat.
"Then we'll fight them of course." growled a the voice of a tom.
These cats aren't Desertclan. Rainpaw thought. I can tell from the way they talk about us.
"After all. These are orders from Flamestar. What else would we do, tell him we were such kitty-pets that we just gave the kits away?" came a third voice, a tom, but older sounding then the other.
Flamestar, the Frostclan leader. Rainpaw thought. Frostclan was the well known enemy of Desertclan. Darkstar, the Desertclan leader, was known for being soft towards Frostclan, yet ordering attack after attack on Treeclan and Fieldclan.
That older tom must be the deputy, Whitefrost. Rainpaw thought. maybe that other tom is Bloodpaw, Whitefrost's apprentice. I have no idea who that she-cat is though.
"True. I'm happy to have you as a mentor, Whitefrost, or I would've been so mouse-brained to not know when I was supposed to fight." the young apprentice, Bloodpaw, mewed.
That apprentice better show some respect for his mentor. Rainpaw thought.
He peeked out at the three cats. He saw the she-cat, who looked very embarrassed. She looked at him for a heartbeat before yowling
"Desertclan! Intruder! Right there!"
The toms looked up from each other. Bloodpaw arched his back and hissed. The she-cat backed beside him. Whitefrost sprung after Rainpaw, but was to late. Rainpaw knew that if he got to the opening beneath a rock jutting out from the waterfall, he would be able to throw Whitefrost into the water-fall, and he would not of really killed him, Whitefrost would've just fallen over the water-fall. Rainpaw ran through the tunnels in the rock.
I could also make it hard for him to follow me, and he would get lost in these tunnels. That wouldn't be as bad as throwing him off the water-fall. He thought.
Soon, however, he heard fast-sounding footsteps behind him.
Well that won't work now, I guess I'll just half to, err, throw him off the falls. He realized. The footsteps behind quickened, and so did Rainpaw's. Rainpaw broke into a run. A cool breeze swept against Rainpaw's dark gray fur. He realized what the breeze meant. He was getting closer to the falls.
Rainpaw was right. He slipped into the morning air by the falls. He waited for Whitefrost to come out of the hole. He readied himself to pounce on his enemy. He could hear Whitefrost's footsteps coming closer and closer.
It's not killing him, it's pushing him over a cliff into swirling waters that you're sure to die in. Rainpaw told himself. I'm not the murderer, the water I'm going to push him into is.
Whitefrost came running onto the ledge.
"what's your plan to get away? Attacking me? Well, that's mouse-brained!" he mewed coldly.
Rainpaw leaped into Whitefrost. Whitefrost whirled Rainpaw in the air for a heartbeat and slammed him down onto the cliff.
"I would've just thrown you off, but I would rather push you off myself!" Whitefrost growled. Rainpaw tried to get a paw hold on the rock, but it was to slippery and smooth.
I'm going to die! Rainpaw thought.
A tortishell she-cat flew into Whitefrost, knocking him off Rainpaw.
"Fernflower!" he mewed. Fernflower pushed Whitefrost away from Rainpaw. "Fernflower! I can handle him myself! You go get the kits!" Rainpaw mewed franticly, seeing how close the two battling cats were to the edge.
"He would kill me if I let go now!" she mewed back at him. "you already sound like a leader!" There was a sad look in Fernflower's pine green eyes. Rainpaw's eyes met hers' for a moment, and Fernflower resumed fighting Whitefrost. She stepped closer to the edge, forcing Whitefrost closer to certain death with her.
"Fernflower! No!" Rainpaw yowled, but it was already to late.
Fernflower pushed Whitefrost over the ledge, forcing herself over to. Rainpaw stepped close to the edge, but staying far enough away not to get unbalanced. The waterfall plunged down merciless. Rainpaw knew that no cat could have survived the fall, but he wanted to look, just to see if his mentor had possibly survived. A clatter from inside the hole awakened Rainpaw back to his senses.
If I don't move, Bloodpaw and that she-cat will finish me off. he thought.
Rainpaw hurried into the hole on the other side of the ledge.
Rainpaw raced up a steep slope. It tired him, but he kept going, knowing it would tire his pursuers to.
Rainpaw grew more tired with each step. He could hear the other cats, shuffling to keep up.
Soon, Rainpaw was slow enough to hear there voices.
"Mousefoot!" snapped Bloodpaw, "Hurry up! That stupid cat is probably to the kits be now!"
It should be be warrior ordering apprentice, not the other way around! Rainpaw thought. The she-cat, apparently named Mousefoot, seemed to think the same thing.
"You are the apprentice! Shoulden't I be ordering you around?" She hissed back. "I just can't believe that Whitefrost is dead!"
"Well, he is. Accept it!" Bloodpaw snarled.
Rainpaw was tired of listening to them fight. He started trotting up the rock again. A small hole in the rock revealed that Rainpaw was high up on the falls now. Rainpaw knew he would've enjoyed the view if the falls he was overlooking hadn't been the death of his mentor. He started back up again, wondering how far behind Bloodpaw and Mousefoot were, and if there was more warriors here.
Rainpaw decided to rehearse what he would say to Darkstar. "we heard them on the falls. I climbed up the tunnels to the top." he mewed in his mind as he imagined giving the kits to his leader. "…but there were enemy warriors in our territory to, they were also after the kits." he mewed to Darkstar. "…that's why Fernflower isn't here." he mewed. The crowd of cats gathered under Cactus Rock gasped. "…I was being chased by three enemy warriors. Whitefrost was one of them. He had almost pushed my over the ledge when Fernflower appeared out of nowhere. She attacked him and pushed him over the ledge, but she payed the price. She also fell over the ledge. I tried to save her, but I couldn't."
Suddenly, a ray of sunlight hit Rainpaw. He had reached the top of the falls. The wind nearly blew him over.
"Better be careful!" he could hear Fernflower joke. He turned around, almost expecting to see the tortishell , again appearing out of nowhere, but instead, he saw a blood-soaked tabby with another, smaller tabby hanging from his jaws.
"Bloodpaw!" Rainpaw hissed. The tabby dropped the dead she-cat onto the ground.
"A warriors never kills a cat from their own clan! You should know that!" Rainpaw mewed, astonished.
"I don't care what Starclan says! They're only kit's tales!" Bloodpaw growled.
"The clans wouldn't be clans if it weren't for the warrior code! There would only be a bunch of savage rouges!" Rainpaw mewed. He could hear Fernflower praising him in the back of his mind.
"Give me the kits." Bloodpaw demanded.
"No." Rainpaw replied. He tried to hide his fear in his voice, but he couldn't.
"Give me the kits." Bloodpaw repeated.
"No"
"Give me the kits!" Bloodpaw leaped at Rainpaw, who was caught be surprise. The heavy tabby pinned down he small, gray Rainpaw. Rainpaw flung him off. The tabby flew towards the falls. Rainpaw's eyes widened with terror. The tabby landed on the side of the falls. He struggled to get up, but couldn't. Terror stabbed at Rainpaw like the teeth of a coyote.
"I don't want to kill." Rainpaw mewed. "I'll help you on one condition. That you will leave without a fight. Feel lucky that your alive, even if you don't have the kits. You can say that the deputy attacked you." Rainpaw felt stupid letting this murderous apprentice away.
"Fine, I'll agree." mewed Bloodpaw. "just don't let me die."
Rainpaw bit down on Bloodpaw's paw. The cat flinched, but let Rainpaw continue. Rainpaw began to pull on Bloodpaw, who kicked with his back legs until he was up.
"Now give me the kits." he mewed.
"you agreed to leave without the kits. Go." Rainpaw replied. Bloodpaw limped down the tunnel without another word.
Rainpaw ran to the kits. There were two, both she-cats. One was golden like the sun with amber eyes, the other was blue-gray and had blue eyes. Rainpaw picked up the golden one and let the silver one follow.
The three cats soon left the cave.
Forestpelt nodded. "We saw everything." he mewed. Rainpaw dropped the kit and hurried towards the pool at the foot of the falls. A bit of tortishell fur floated in the center. Rainpaw splashed towards it. He pulled it up. Sure enough, it was Rainpaw's beloved mentor.
"No!" he yowled.
"Rainpaw?" Silvertail mewed, worried about her nephew.
"Fernflower!" Rainpaw yowled. He plunged into the cool water. He needed to breath, but wouldn't come up.
"Rainpaw?" Silvertail mewed again. She pulled him up but, without taking a breath, he plunged back down. He felt dizzy, and plunged into darkness and cold.