Author's comments:
Even though I'm doubting myself a little, I'm hoping that this fanfiction will be completed. I've never really finished any story before...but I have plenty of ideas to keep it going. I just need motivation to finish it.
Replies to reviews:
Thank you for the reviews! :3
Myra The Shark: Heheh gotta love cliff hangers! ^^
casrules401: Hmm…since I grew up in a massive 87 acre bush, there are definitely no dingos or coyotes. Well, dingos are desert animals and coyotes…I'm pretty certain they don't exist in Australia. :P
After the sun had set and the night was young, the two kits had both decided it was safe and cautiously tore apart the fern hiding them from the world. A rush of cold air hit Stormkit's face, relieving him from his headache caused by the heat. The night was cloudy, and the only source of light was the muffled glow of the moon behind the clouds. Apart from the crickets chirping in the background and the slight breeze rustling the leaves - the camp was silent.
"It's safe." Stormkit whispered to his sister behind him, his pale nose tilted upwards, trying to catch any unfamiliar scents.
Wrenkit however, with her excellent eyes, had discovered a large and very long animal track in the dirt were leaves didn't cover the ground. There were complicated patterns in the print, and as the black kit sniffed the foot-print curiously, it smelt a little like the charred trunk of the old jarrah tree which stood over the nursery. "Look at this!" The young kit exclaimed to her brother.
"Hush. Keep your voice down." Stormkit whispered to Wrenkit, whom glanced back apologetically. "Who knows if those strange, noisy animals are still here?" Lowering his muzzle to investigate the track, Stormkit jumped back a little as he realised the size of it. "That's one large pawprint…" He said unsurely to himself as he tried to imagine what could have made that track. It couldn't be a kangaroo – their footprints are barely visible and their feet aren't the shape of the footprint Wrenkit had found. There were no animals of that size in the forest as the trees were too close together, even in the clearing where BushClan's camp existed. "I wonder what those strange animals that had made the track look like." Stormkit asked his sister, to lighten the eerie mood.
"I don't know. Maybe it's a fat snake!" Wrenkit joked and purred hysterically. Stormkit just sat down by the 'snake trail' in concern.
"Stormkit! Wrenkit!" A voice yelled out from the other side of the clearing. The voice was rough and deep, the voice of Eagleclaw. "Are you okay?"
Wrenkit was the first to reply. "We're fine!" She yowled cheerily and she bounded over to the voice with Stormkit at her tail.
As Wrenkit and Stormkit approached Eagleclaw, the massive tom licked both of their heads. "It's okay, you two. The animals were some humans, searching the bush for us. Luckily no one was taken this time."
Wrenkit cocked her head to one side. "Humans? What are they? And why would they take us?" She questioned her father.
"Humans are strange animals. They hunt us down but don't kill us, as they take us away in large cages. Dustwing and I would have told you about humans earlier, but they haven't searched this part of the forest in quite some time. I'm sorry for the panic but our patrol had only seen them when they were only a couple of trees from your den."
Stormkit put the pieces together, and everything started to make much more sense. The secret room in the den to hide the kits in, the sudden silence in the clearing (the humans would have scared the birds and every other animal off). Although, there was one more thing Stormkit should ask. "What about the thunder in the ground?"
"The thunder in the ground?" Eagleclaw thought aloud. "That would be the Metal Beasts that humans ride in. You see, they sit inside these beasts made from the strong part of the rock called 'metal', as I was told by a travelling cat, and the beasts take them to places faster than they can walk."
The two kits were clearly confused, but they accepted this information. Wrenkit cleared her throat. "When will Stormkit and I become apprentices?" She asked her father.
The large tom purred. "You're going to have to ask Wattlestar that," Eagleclaw leaned in closer and lowered his voice, "And I don't think she has a happy face either."
Wattlestar paced the clearing, ignoring any words that Redpelt, the Clan's deputy threw at her. The small leader glanced up to Wrenkit and Stormkit who were watching her, and glared at the two, lashing her tail wildly behind her.
"No, she doesn't look that happy." Wrenkit said glumly and hung her head in disappointment. "Maybe we'll ask tomorrow." Stormkit suggested. The grey kit opened his mouth to comfort his sister when he was interrupted by another cat.
"Stormkit! Wrenkit!" Dustwing's voice echoed around the clearing as she ran up to her kits. The dusty-brown she-cat licked her kits until her tongue went dry. "You're alive!" She exclaimed in relief.
Stormkit licked Dustwing between the eyes. "Of course we made it, mother." He purred happily.
Redpelt, a muscular, dusty-red tom approached the reunion and cleared his throat. "As deputy, I send you, Eagleclaw, along with Snaketail, out on a night patrol to make sure all of the humans have left. We can't afford to have humans taking us in our sleep." The deputy grunted.
Eagleclaw sighed and followed Redpelt out of the camp with Snaketail, a brown tabby warrior, closely following behind. As the three warriors disappeared from view, Dustwing picked up Stormkit by the back of his neck and placed him on Dustwing's back. The brown she-cat picked up Wrenkit in her mouth and carried the two back to the nursery.
"Oh fox scat – you two are getting heavy!" Dustwing muttered through her teeth as she gently placed the two inside the nursery. She settled down in her bed made from moss, purring softly. "I'm sorry about yesterday. We didn't expect the humans to be back for a while."
"It's fine mother. We're all alright now." Wrenkit mewed. "It was a little scary but no one is hurt." Yawning, Wrenkit curled up by Dustwing and drifted off to sleep.
"All cats gather around Tallrock for a Clan meeting." Wattlestar's distinct voice called out. Grunting, Dustwing rose to her paws, stretching her legs out in front of her. Dustwings kits followed her out of the nursery den to the Tallrock.
The Tallrock was a large, red-brown rock situated in the camp beside the nursery. It was there where the leader of BushClan, Wattlestar would stand and address the Clan to a meeting. The current deputy, Redpelt would stand on a smaller rock about half as tall as Tallrock, as this is the second highest position in the Clan. The Warriors, Queens, Apprentices and Kits all sat around the Tallrock with Elders positioned at the front with the Medicine Cat, with the Warriors seated behind. The apprentices usually sat at the far back with the Queens and kits if they were called to attend. This arrangement was an "ancient tradition" as Redpelt had once told the kits, and "The order in which the cats sit is important. If it were to be broken, the meeting would defy our ancestors who sat in this order before us."
Stormkit and Wrenkit both made attempts to hide their excitement. This was their first Clan meeting they are attending and there was no doubt they would be both nervous and excited.
Once Wattlestar was seated at the peak of Tallrock, she addressed the Clan with her bright, golden eyes reflecting the light and colours from the early dawn. "Cats of BushClan, I would like to announce that every cat has not been injured or taken. I know that many times we have been caught unaware by humans, but we were very lucky today." The Clan cheered in agreement, including Stonefur – a pale-grey warrior who recently lost his mate to the humans only moons ago.
"Now, another reason for gathering here this morning is because two of our kits are becoming apprentices." The Clan cheered enthusiastically in excitement, yet Wattlestar's voice remained calm. "Stormkit, please stand."
Stormkit, although his legs were trembling, managed to stand shakily and held his head high in pride.
Wattlestar continued. "Stormkit, you have reached the age of six moons, and it is time for you to be apprenticed. From this day on until you receive your warrior name, you will be now known as Stormpaw. Your mentor will be Eagleclaw. I hope Eagleclaw will pass down all he knows on to you.
"Eagleclaw, it is time for you to take on an apprentice once again. You have received excellent training from your former mentor, and you have shown yourself to be both strong and courageous. You will be the mentor of Stormpaw, and I expect you to pass all you know to Stormpaw." Wattlestar purred quietly as both Stormpaw and Eagleclaw touch noses. The two then sit down by the rest of the Clan, with Stormpaw in his new seat.
As the sun rose from the horizon, splashing colour through the leaves and trunks of the trees onto the clearings mossy floor, Wrenkit was appointed her apprentice name, Wrenpaw, and her new mentor – Ravenflight. Wattlestar dismissed the cats to their dens as she basked in the morning sun on the Tallrock.
"Stormkit! I mean – Stormpaw! Isn't this great? We're apprentices now! They say out mentors will show us the Clan's territory and then we begin our training tomorrow. I'm so excited!" Wrenpaw blurted to Stormpaw, clearly overwhelmed.
I'm going to have to stuff the wax from the bee's nest in my ears when she becomes a warrior, Stormpaw thought to himself as his sister continued to babble about her excitement in becoming an apprentice. "Yeah, I am excited." The new apprentice admitted to his sister. Stormpaw glanced over to his father, Eagleclaw. The large brown tabby stood proudly by his mate, Dustwing. Since the Queen's kits have left the nursery, from now on Dustwing will return to the warrior den with her mate. "I just hope I don't mess anything up…." Stormkit mumbled as he remembered the fury in his father's eyes when the camp was being searched by humans.
