Chapter 6, Shocking Secrets

Skyfeather laughed as she raced foreword, around the grey bulk that was Sunningrocks. Darkflame raced behind her. They would take time off every other day to be with each other at Sunningrocks. This was the tenth time Skyfeather had been with him.

She turned around and Darkflame smashed into her. She fell onto the ground, her belly in the air, and he landed on her and they both laughed.

She scrambled up the boulders. Darkflame was right beside her.

She lay down and watched the sun. It was in the middle of the sky (AN: this is happening when Rockpool was lying on the boulder, and he went on patrol with Shadowflight and Demon.)

Darkflame plunked down beside her, giving her face a good licking.

They both purred a little. Skyfeather found herself feeling drowsy. She shook her head lightly and stood up. She walked down the rock with Darkflame right behind her.

"We better go into camp one at a time so nobody gets suspicious."

"Yeah," he said. He bounded ahead.

Skyfeather watched him go, then felt a tear drop onto her paw. It was so stupid that they couldn't even be in camp together!

She sighed and stood up, then walked slowly back to camp.

XXX

The next day they went out again. They ran around Sunningrocks, then stopped to rest. Skyfeather was on the rock, he was on the ground.

She wished she could have kits with him, and they could raise some offspring. But that would be so risky.

She sighed, placing her head on her paws.

"Skyfeather!" Darkflame barked up suddenly at her. He scrambled up and stood beside her.

"I want to see something about you…"

She looked up. "What is it?"

He pressed a paw to her belly. Then he grinned. "I thought so," he muttered, "I'm pretty sure you're going to have kits."

XXX

Shadowflight woke in the morning. She heard a snapping noise and saw Demon up in a tree, chewing on bark.

"Hey Demon!" she called up, "Should I go to the camp and explain?"

"Reah!" he called with his mouth full. Shadowflight laughed. It was so hard to hear him.

"Can eh crom wish you?" he asked.

"No, I think it would be better if you stayed."

He nodded, then went on chewing.

Shadowflight stretched every part of her body. She walked only a few fox lengths when a patrol of warriors came into view.

Ravenstar was in the lead, with Snowfeather behind her. The queen's belly was huge.

It was to late to hide. Shadowflight froze.

"Shadowflight…" Ravenstar murmured quietly. She turned her head, and Shadowflight saw eighteen quills sticking out of her face and neck. Three more were in her shoulder, and there were five in her flank. Six of them were sunk deep into her haunch.

"Oh…" she breathed. Why hadn't someone tried to pull out her quills?

"Shadowflight," Ravenstar started again. "I would like you back at camp. I am sorry I attacked you last night. That was a mistake on my part."

"What about…?" Shadowflight couldn't say the porcupine's name.

"He will be able to come back too, but guards will be posted at his side day and night.

"He's trying to save…"

Once again she couldn't go on.

"Who is he trying to save?" Ravenstar prompted.

"…me…" the word felt like sharp shards of ice on her tongue.

"Yes, you, and nobody else. That is not loyalty to all. That is loyalty to one."

"But he isn't part of the Clan," Shadowflight rasped. It was like the whole world was spinning away.

"I know that, Shadowflight," Ravenstar meowed. "And I don't think he ever will be. He is not a cat, he is a porcupine. Firestar would let any animal be part of the Clan. I will not do the same. Now get Demon and let's go."

Shadowflight stumbled backward. Demon was waiting for her. He had heard the whole thing.

Shadowflight followed after Ravenstar, her head low.

They padded down the ravine and into camp.

Shadowflight looked up at the tired faces of her Clanmates. Ashfur pulled himself out of a den, nodded to Birchoak and Hollysky, then walked away.

Birchoak and Hollysky walked foreword and put their forepaws to Demon's neck, making him fall face down into the dust. They carefully put their paws onto his back, trapping him on the ground. Then Shalepelt came up and pressed his tail to the ground.

Shadowflight padded into the warriors den, head down, staring at the ground.

Only when she had curled up did she realize that she was also being guarded. Flametail was sitting a few inches away.

XXX

"Skyfeather! You look so sick!"

It was the third day since Darkflame had told Skyfeather that she was pregnant. The young queen was padding into camp. It was raining hard, and she was flicking water off her ears.

"Hello, Leafcloud," She muttered, padding over to the edge of camp. She was feeling very sick, and her belly was churning madly.

Then she threw up.

She looked up after it was all done, feeling even worse then she had been earlier. Fuzzy headed, she padded swiftly over to Darkflame's den.

Nobody else was inside. She explained her condition to the medicine cat.

He smiled; he seemed eager to see what his kits would look like. Then he gave her some coltsfoot and poppy seeds, and told her just to sleep.

When she was padding out he suddenly called her back.

"Skyfeather!" he shouted.

"Yes?"

"You're going to have to move to the nursery. Who are you going to say is the kits father?"

"I'm going to go tell Birchoak that I'm about to have them born, and that he's the father." She called over her shoulder.

She found the tom quickly. He was standing beside Demon.

"Birchoak!" she rasped excitedly, "I'm about to bear your kits!"

"What?" he looked very confused.

"I'll be right back," she promised and dashed back to Darkflame.

"When are they due?" she asked.

"Oh…in a week or so."

Skyfeather raced back to Birchoak. "They'll be born in a week or so," she said.

"Well…okay…" he still looked unsure.

Skyfeather padded over to the nursery. Already the word had spread that she was going to have kits.

"Great!" Snowfeather mewed. Suddenly she took a deep breath and settled down.

Skyfeather found that there already was a fully lined nest waiting for her and she plunked down and fell asleep.

She woke up in the night and heard Snowfeather whimpering and crying out. She heard the voice of Thornclaw mutter something. Then she went back to sleep.

In the morning she saw Snowfeather sleeping, but there were two tiny kits suckling from her belly. One was grey, and the other, darker grey.

When Snowfeather woke up, she told Skyfeather the kit's names. "The light grey one is Stalkkit, he's a male, and the little dark grey one is Silverkit, and she's a female."

Okay, I already have the kits basically planned out, but if you want to try to guess the names, please do. One of them is reddish…you can try and guess a name from that! And one is…grayish…try a name from that too. The last name is to obvious to even talk about. Also, how many kits do YOU think there will be??

Review!!