Chapter 15

Squirrelflight's PoV

Squirrelflight looked at Leafstar and realized she reminded Squirrelflight of Leafpool, except Leafstar was a brown-and-cream tabby, not a light brown tabby. Squirrelflight stepped forward and dipped her head. "Greetings, Leafstar. It's nice to finally meet you. I'm just sorry it's at a grave time."

Leafstar flicked her ears. "Grave?"

Firestar shot Squirrelflight a warning glare, then turned to Leafstar. "We'll tell you in a bit, but right now, Squirrelflight, and Sandstorm need to rest and feed their kits."

"We'll put them in the Nursery." Leafstar flicked her tail and a ginger warrior and a ginger-and-white warrior appeared.

Firestar and Princess pricked their ears in surprise. The ginger-and-white warrior's tail shot up in surprise. "Billy?" Princess and Firestar asked at the same time.

"Rusty? You're the leader of ThunderClan?" Firestar nodded. "I should have known. You did have a flame-colored pelt. What are you doing here, Princess?"

"I'm gonna live with Firestar and my son, Cloudtail."

"Really?"

"Yes, I have never been so worried in my life. When they disappeared, I thought they died, so I'm gonna live with them."

"Oh. Nice."

Squirrelflight flicked her tail angrily. "Will somebody please explain what's going on?"

Billy looked at Squirrelflight. "Is this your daughter, Firestar?"

"Mine and Sandstorm's. This is my brother." There were gasps of surprise.

"I thought so. She's got your fur, but her her eyes are as green as yours. Hmm. Interesting. A fluffy tail too? What is her name?"

"Squirrelflight."

"And a queen already. More on the way, it looks like. How many kits do you have, Firestar? Four?"

"Five, actually. Leafpool, who's at home, is looking after the Clan."

"Oh. Well, we'll get Squirrelflight and Sandstorm to the Nursery, but I have to warn you, it might be crowded. Cloverfern, Mintfur, Tinycloud and Cherrytail are in there, but Cloverfern's kits are about ready to become apprentices."

"Yes, they are. In fact, we should make them apprentices now. But how old are your kits?" Leafstar asked.

"Three moons, and I'm about to give birth again because Mr. Reproduce over there-" she flicked her tail at Brambleclaw-"decided to get me pregnant again." Squirrelflight rolled her eyes. "Sandstorm has three moons to go before she can be a warrior, but I have eight more moons."

Leafstar nodded. "Alright, you guys can join the Clan meeting." Leafstar bounded across the clearing and leaped in the air onto a rock that was at least a few feet high. "Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey join beneath the Rockpile for a Clan meeting."

SkyClan, Firestar, Blackstar, Onestar, Mistystar, Stoneteller, Stonefur, Squirrelflight's adopted kits, Sandstorm and her kits, Princess, Ravenpaw, Barley, and Squirrelflight and her kits joined together beneath the Rockpile. "Cats of SkyClan, and our guests, Cloverfern's kits are reaching their sixth moon, and I've decided that they can become apprentices now. Come forward." Leafstar leaped down from the Rockpile as a ginger kit, a black-and-white kit, and a light brown kit with white belly and legs like its mother, came scampering over excitedly.

"From this day forward until he earns his warrior name, he will be known as Swiftpaw. Eggfur, you were taught by Sharpclaw, and you are brave and intelligent. I trust you will pass on all the skills Sharpclaw taught you." A cream-colored warrior padded forward and toughed noses with the black-and-white apprentice. They went to join a ginger warrior.

"From this day forward, until he has earned his warrior name, he will be known as Firepaw." Squirrelflight flicked her tail in surprise. I guess they want to remember him and Sandstorm forever enough that they would name their kits after him, maybe Sandstorm too, thought Squirrelflight thought. "Rockshade, you'll mentor him. You were mentored by Cherrytail and she turned you into a fine warrior. I trust you to pass on all you know to young Firepaw." A black warrior touched noses with Firepaw, and led over to the cream-colored warrior.

"Until she earns her warrior name, she will be known as Lilypaw. Sparrowpelt, you will mentor her. You're wise and brave. Pass on all you know to you're new apprentice." A dark brown tabby warrior touched noses with Lilypaw and led her over to the black tom.

SkyClan went over to congraluate the new apprentices. Squirrelflight saw her father go over and greet them warmly. Squirrelflight rolled her eyes.

"Annoying, isn't it?" Her mother's voice brought her out of her reverie and she looked over to see Sandstorm padding toward her with Sunkit, Robinkit, and Stonekit padding after her. "Your father didn't want to leave them when we came to restore SkyClan. It was annoying, but also very loyal of him. He was being loyal to the warrior code when he restored SkyClan."

"Yes, it's like he's apart of their Clan and not leader of ThunderClan."

Sandstorm nodded in agreement, as Firestar came over to them. "Hey, Leafstar wants you guys to be escorted to the Nursery."

Sandstorm's fur bristled. "I know where it is. I remember."

Firestar's tail flicked warily. "Yes, she knows, but she says the rocks are sharper than they were when we were last here."

Sandstorm sighed in exasperation. "Fine. Who's escorting us?"

"Billystorm and Sharpclaw." As he spoke, the ginger-and-white warrior and the ginger warrior appeared at his side. "Sharpclaw is deputy and Billystorm is Leafstar's mate."

Sandstorm's tail twitched. "What?"

"Yeah, I know, but it's her Clan. She can run it how she wants."

Squirrelflight said nothing but picked up one of her kits and flicked her tail. Immediately, Lionblaze, Hollyleaf, and Ravenpaw picked up the others, and Billystorm and Sharpclaw picked up Sunkit, and Stonekit, while Sandstorm picked up Robinkit. Squirrelflight followed Billystorm and Sharpclaw to the Nursery. When she got there, she saw queens already in there with there kits. She put Dovekit in the free nest of bracken and Hollyleaf, Ravenpaw, and Lionblaze put the others in the bracken as well. Sandstorm put Robinkit in the bracken next to Squirrelflight's. Billystorm and Sharpclaw put her other two kits in the bracken she chose.

Squirrelflight groomed her kits' pelts now that she was less frightened that they would die because of an attack; Sandstorm did the same. They had been in SkyClan territory for a moon now, resting. Squirrelflight would be kitting again soon. She decided to stretch her legs when she was done feeding her kits and Sandstorm wanted to do the same. They fed their kits and made sure they were sleeping and the other queens were still awake before they quietly climbed out and up the cliff side. They scented the air and scented mouse and rabbit.

Squirrelflight and Sandstorm instinctively got into a crouch and went separate ways. Squirrelflight felt her speed course through her and, in a flash of ginger fur and claws, she had the unusually fast young rabbit. She turned to see Sandstorm had caught the mouse. They continued to hunt until they caught a thrush, several mice, a chaffinch, a blackbird, and several rabbits, who were all very fast and all caught by Squirrelflight.

They brought their prey back, put half in SkyClan's pile and half in their groups' pile. Squirrelflight chose a rabbit and Sandstorm chose a mouse. They went back to their kits as soon as they finished and found them still sleeping and well. They must be tired from the long journey, thought Squirrelflight. It was then, she noticed Ivykit was missing. She searched the Nursery and searched the camp. Squirrelflight started to panic, then she heard a high pitched wail and, in a flash of ginger fur, she raced toward the sound. She saw Ivykit crouching in the shelter of a low-hanging rock, protecting her against the fox that was trying to get to her.

Squirrelflight snarled and leaped at the fox, raking her claws down the side of the fox. The fox turned its ugly muzzle on her and swiped its claws at her, but Squirrelflight leaped out of the way. She crouched, tail lashing, and leaped at him, bowling him over, and raking her claws on his belly over and over, her fangs buried in his throat. The fox leaped to its paws, throwing Squirrelflight off him. Squirrelflight let out a high pitched squeal as she hit a rock, fell to the ground, and lay still.

Brambleclaw's Pov

Brambleclaw saw Squirrelflight racing around the camp, a worried and fearful look on her face, while he ate a mouse. He heard a high pitched wail, and saw Squirrelflight take off, a streak of ginger. He rose slowly to his paws and went to the Nursery and saw Oakkit, Bluekit, and Dovekit sleeping, but Ivykit was missing. He immediately backed away and raced down the ravine to Firestar.

"Firestar! Ivykit's missing!" Brambleclaw gasped.

"No wonder Squirrelflight looked worried and fearful; Ivykit ran off and she's worried and scared Ivykit ran into trouble and died. Come on. We'll find her. She went this way." Firestar led him toward the woods, but down a path that was still rocky.

Soon, they heard snarls and high pitched wailing. As they rounded the corner, they saw a fox throwing Squirrelflight off him, where she hit a rock that was above Ivykit, fell to the ground and lay still. Ivykit wailed at the sight of her mother lying motionless.

"Squirrelflight, no!" Ivykit wailed.

She got no answer in reply.

Brambleclaw saw the fox rise to his paws and limp toward Squirrelfight and Ivykit, who had buried herself into her mother's ginger fur; now she cried out in fear as the fox neared her. Then she saw her father. Brambleclaw leaped onto the fox's back while Firestar raked his claws down the side. Brambleclaw secured himself on the fox's back and buried his fangs into the fox's throat and bit down hard. The fox collapsed beneath him, gave one last shudder of breath, and layed still, dead.

Brambleclaw let go of the fox and padded over to Squirrelflight, relieved to see her breathing, but then he noticed it was ragged, and stressful. That's when he noticed her belly was larger than it was yesterday. In fact, it looked like she was about to give birth, but he wasn't a medicine cat. Brambleclaw told Firestar to take Ivykit back to Sandstorm as fast as he could and get Jayfeather or Echosong or both. Firestar takes off and Brambleclaw looks down at his beloved mate and started murmuring softly to her. The scent of Jayfeather, Echosong and Firestar roused him, and he looked up to see the three cats racing toward them.

"Brambleclaw, help me get her to the Nursery; she'll be giving birth any moment now and we have to get her somewhere safe," Echosong ordered gently. Brambleclaw picked her up by the scruff, while Echosong got under Squirrelflight's body and rose to her paws. Jayfeather stayed by Echosong's side, holding Squirrelflight, who was having spasms run through her body and she was screeching in pain, in place so she didn't fall off.

They finally got Squirrelflight to the Nursery and into her temporarily-nest. Oakkit, Bluekit, Dovekit, who were all awake, and Ivykit ran over to Sandstorm to watch their mother give birth to their brothers or sisters. Echosong told Jayfeather to get the borage leaves in her den; Jayfeather protested, but Echosong snapped that they don't have time to argue; that Squirrelflight needed a medicine cat's attention now and Jayfeather didn't have the supplies he needed to take care of Squirrelflight, so he would have to trust her and get the supplies. Jayfeather didn't protest after that and he left to get the borage leaves.

Watching Squirrelflight go through pain a second time because of him was heart-wrenching, and he thought he couldn't bear the look on her face.

"It's okay, Squirrelflight. You'll be fine," Brambleclaw tried to soothe her, but it did the opposite.

"How would you know? You're the one who got me into this mess a second time in four moons! Don't ever do that again, or I'll kill you myself!" The threat was clear in her eyes.

"Sorry. I won't."

"You'd better not or it'll be-" Brambleclaw didn't find out was she was going to say, because at that moment, a fierce spasm went throught Squirrelflight, and she clenched her teeth and closed her eyes, fighting the urge to scream in pain. A kit tumbled out and Echosong nipped the sac and put the kit by its mother. Another painful spasm went through Squirrelflight and another kit popped out. The medicine cat put it by its littermate after she nipped the sac. Echosong put her paw gently on her belly and as soon as she removed her paw, Squirrelflight had one last spasm go through her and the last kit came out. The silver tabby medicine cat nipped the sac and put it by its littermates.

Brambleclaw looked at the silver medicine cat with anxious amber eyes. "Well, what gender are they and are they okay?"

"You have two toms and a she-cat. The toms are strong, but we need to watch out for the she-cat. It looks as if Squirrelflight's fall affected her the most."

"My daughter's affected? How badly?"

"Serious enough to either be deaf or blind, or die in the night."

"Okay, thanks Echosong. Can I talk to Squirrelflight about this?"

"Sure, they're her kits as well." Echosong turned and padded out before meeting Jayfeather in the entrance. She took the borage leaves and put them by Brambleclaw. "Get her to eat those. It'll help her milk come now that she's got seven kits to feed. Her first litter will give up milk in about a half a moon. Just in time for her second litter to be able to start walking, so we make the journey to the lake."

Brambleclaw nodded and Jayfeather and Echosong left. Brambleclaw looked at Squirrelflight. She looked as exhausted as she had her first litter, but she was still gazing down at her newborns with equal love and admiration she showed toward her first litter and her adopted kits.

He would never understand how a queen could be so exhausted and still fiercely love the cause of their tiredness and defend them. Nor would he ever understand how far a queens' love for her kits would go nor would he understand why Squirrelflight would risk her unborn kits' lives and her life to save one of her kits that was almost 6 moons, but he could probably imagine it. Firestar had told him that a queens love for their kits are so strong that they would give their lives for their kits to protect them, even if they're about to give birth. He would never understand it, but he could imagine how Squirrelflight felt; terrified, angry, and worried about her kits' sake.

"Squirrelflight, there's something I got to tell you."

Squirrelflight turned her tired green gaze to him. "What?" She rasped.

"Our daughter might be affected by your fall. Affected enough to either be deaf, blind, or die."

"I won't that happen, Brambleclaw. I've lost kits before. I won't lose them ever again. I will make sure of that." Despite her tiredness, Squirrelflight's green eyes blazed with fierce determination.

"Squirrelflight, sometimes you can't control what happens to your kits; StarClan does."

Squirrelflight hung her head. "I know."

Brambleclaw decided to change the subject. "So what are we going to name them?" The she-cat was was a light ginger with an unusual spotted golden shine to it and a white paw, one of the toms was a dark tabby with ginger paws and the other was a light brown tabby with a white chest and belly and dark tabby paws and a ginger tail.

"The dark tabby will be Tawnykit, the light brown tabby will be Adderkit, and the light she-cat will be Leopardkit." As she spoke, Oakkit, Bluekit, Ivykit, and Dovekit, came up to their brothers and sister and settled down beside their mother to rest. "I just hope Leopardkit can pull through."