The siblings progressed through their training quickly. With Robinpaw's wings and Sprucepaw's speed, it was easy for the apprentices to catch prey. Goldenpaw became an excellent warrior. He could beat most of the warriors with strength alone. Willowpaw was able to use her powers in moderation, and use them to halfway heal wounds, so that they didn't become infected. But Robinpaw yearned to use her wings for more, to be able to fully relax around her clanmates, and friends in SunClan.
When they had begun working on practiced routines, Robinpaw's wings nearly gave her away when they wouldn't tuck flat against her when she tried to twist out of the way of an attack, and when anyone went for her back or shoulders during battle practice, she had to try extra hard to dodge, sometimes forfeiting any advantage she had to do so. The others were lucky. They had easier powers to hide. Though Willowpaw talked to her, giving her advice and healing the occasional wound, Robinpaw felt alone. She longed for everyone to know, so she wouldn't have to lie.
"Robinpaw," Lilypaw gave her a queer look during routine practice. The warriors were off discussing the recent snowfall and how it had affected the prey. "Is there feather stuck in your fur of something? I can see one." Robinpaw's stomach dropped out from under her. Lilypaw approached slowly. "Do you want me to get it?" She asked.
"No!" Robinpaw yowled, scrambling away. The action drew concerned looks from the other SunClan cats.
"I'll get it," Robinpaw muttered.
"No, really," Lilypaw mewed, "There is no way you can get that, it's way out of your reach."
Suddenly, Robinpaw knew what she wanted to do. "Lilypaw, can you keep a really really big secret?" Robinpaw asked.
"Bigger than SunClan?" Lilypaw joked.
"Yes." Lilypaw's expression turned solemn.
"What could be bigger than SunClan?" Lilypaw asked.
"This. Follow me," Robinpaw led Lilypaw into a small bush that would hopefully cover them. "Look, but you can't tell anycat, not even Nightshadow. No cat knows." Robinpaw carefully unfolded her wings, watching for brambles that they might snag on. It was somewhat of a relief to unfold her wings and let somecat besides her siblings see them, but it was immensely frightening as well.
Lilypaw's jaw dropped. "Great StarClan," she gasped, "How long have you had these things? How did you get them? Can you fly?"
"Since I became an apprentice, no idea, and yes," Robinpaw answered in quick succession.
"Great StarClan," Lilypaw mewed again. She looked at her paws before she spoke. "You know, you ought to tell the whole of SunClan. That way at least one or two cats will know what's happening if a cat with wings comes and attacks their camp."
"I wouldn't attack!" Robinpaw protested. Rethinking, she corrected, "Well, I might attack if ThunderClan launched an attack, but I wouldn't use my wings. None of us-" she shut up like a clam.
"Us?" Lilypaw demanded. "There are more of you with wings?"
"Not wings," Robinpaw protested weakly, "We've got different powers."
"Who is we?" Lilypaw growled.
Robinpaw was silent. "For their safety, I can't tell you. I'm sorry."
Lilypaw seethed for a few heartbeats, and then spoke, barely controlled anger right under the surface. "So no one knows. Not even Silverstorm. None of your siblings."
"No," To the first two questions, Robinpaw thought.
"Knows what?" A tom's voice came from behind the two she-cats. "You really ought to not tell secrets out in the open like this." Robinpaw and Lilypaw whirled around.
"Great StarClan Eagle you scared the life out of me!" Lilypaw snapped.
Robinpaw shot her ShadowClan friend a shocked look. "You know Eagle?"
"Yeah, he comes to the meetings every now and then. Lets us know about the developments of MoonClan." Lilypaw's mouth snapped shut with an audible click. "I shouldn't have said so much."
"That's fine Lilypaw," Eagle mewed.
Robinpaw felt left out. "What in StarClan's name is MoonClan?" She demanded.
Lilypaw looked to Eagle. When the tom nodded, she continued. "MoonClan is a clan that has it's camp just beyond Twolegplace. It's not really an official clan. It's mostly made up of a bunch of cats who don't want to live alone, but don't want the stiff traditions of Clan life. But there are also cats there who are different. Some have physical disabilities, and some, like you and whoever else is like you in your Clan, have special powers."
"Their leader is a she-cat named Timestar," Eagle mewed, "No one really knows how old she is. She's been around and young for as long as any cat can remember. They say she freezes time around the camp, so that the cats never get older unless they leave the territory."
"Then what about the kits?" Robinpaw asked. "Do they never get any older too?"
Eagle purred in amusement. "No cat comes the MoonClan as a kit," he mewed. "The cats come to MoonClan because they have nowhere else to go. Either they've been thrown out of their Clans, or, like you and your siblings, they're StarCats."
Willowpaw
"Grayleaf," Willowpaw mewed as she sorted through the juniper berries, "Are there any legends about cats with special powers?"
Grayleaf froze for a second. "Why do you wish to know?" She asked.
"Because..." Willowpaw's mind searched desperately for a reason, "I heard Flight talking about it when I was a kit."
Grayleaf picked up the marigold she had collected earlier and put it in its proper place. "There are legends of cats with powers beyond the norm. One of the most famous was a warrior named Timeheart. Timeheart was born strange. Her powers invested in her early. When she was an apprentice, she accidentally froze time around the whole camp. Timeheart was petrified of her power. She spent a lot of time in the medicine cat den, taking unnecessary poppy seeds to keep herself too sleepy to use her power. But there came a time when it drove her crazy. Timeheart ran away. No one ever saw her again."
"Over the years, other cats with powers showed up around the camps. Almost always, it was the result of strange birth circumstance. Born by two cats of different clans, or chosen from birth by StarClan. These cats had powers beyond what the clans could contend with. This is one of the reasons that the divisions between the camps are so deep. The Clans were afraid of the cats, so they cast them out, and forbid any mating between different clans. Over time of these laws, the number of powered cats died down, and stopped completely. Until now."
"Until now?" Willowpaw asked nervously.
"Yes, until now. Recently and ThunderClan she-cat had kits with a ShadowClan tom. No one knows if the kits have any powers, which is why their birth circumstances were kept secret. Willowpaw, do you know who they are?"
"Yes," Willowpaw murmured. "It's us isn't us. Me, Robinpaw, Sprucepaw and Goldenpaw. We're the kits."
"Do you have any powers?" Grayleaf tried not to look too interested. "I won't tell anyone."
Willowpaw sighed. "We do. I can heal, Robinpaw's got wings, Sprucepaw's super fast, and Goldenpaw's really strong. We got them shortly after we were apprenticed."
Grayleaf gasped. "A whole litter of StarCats. Usually there was only one in the litter. To have a whole litter of StarCats. Four StarCats in one clan!"
"What in StarClan's name is a StarCat?" Willowpaw demanded.
Sprucepaw
"Excellent catch!" Brownclaw meowed to Sprucepaw as he took down the rabbit. Sprucepaw flicked his ears in embarressment. He didn't like cats commenting on his achievments. Besides, it had been an easy catch. The rabbit had moved so slow that Sprucepaw had hardly needed to use his powers at all.
"Sprucepaw, I've been noticing how fast you've been lately," Sprucepaw twitched his tail and felt his stomach drop out from under him. How much had Brownleaf noticed? "I just wanted to comment on it. You'll be a great warrior. Just like your parents."
Sprucepaw gasped. "You know who my parents are?"
"I'm one of the few who do," Brownclaw mewed. "Me, Heartflight, Silverstorm, and Grayleaf are the only cats who know as far as I'm informed. Heartflight, Silverstorm and I were the ones that found you, or rather your mother, Skyfire. I'd grown up with Skyfire. She was a much a sister to me as Heartflight is."
"You speak of her so freely. None of the other cats do. Why is that?" Sprucepaw was honestly curious.
"I want people to remember her as a brave warrior. Not when she died. Even though the cover story is that she was taken by twolegs, that wasn't what really happened," Brownclaw sounded sad. "I thought that was what happened for a long time. Then a patrol, me, Heartflight and Silverstorm found her in labor in the forest, "His tone turned bitter, "By her side was a ShadowClan cat she had fallen in love with and ran away to be with. When she died bearing you, I didn't show it for the longest time. I just didn't let anyone else know how much I was hurting. But when Copperstar was picking mentors, I know I had to have one of you.
"I begged Copperstar for one of you. He was originally going to have Firefur mentor you, did you know that? But I wanted to mentor one of you, and since he had already promised your brother and sisters to other cats, I got you. I'm not sorry. You've been a wonderful apprentice. But somehow I get the feeling that there is something you aren't telling me. What's wrong?" His eyes glittered. "Have you set your sights on one of the she-cats? Flickerpaw's older than you, but only by a season."
"No, that's not it," Sprucepaw mewed. "It's what you were just talking about. The fact that my blood is half ThunderClan and half ShadowClan. Would that affect me in any way?"
"Not really," Brownclaw shrugged. "There are some old elder's tales about cats with mixed blood having powers beyond normal, like flying of or something really mousebrained. Doesn't matter. None of it's real. You're a ThunderClan cat and that's all that matters." Brownclaw gave Sprucepaw an impatient look. "Now, you need to work on your battle training. That's your weak point. If ShadowClan, of any of the other clans invade trying to get more territory, being fast isn't going to help you much. Come on," Brownclaw led Sprucepaw toward the training hollow.
Sprucepaw followed Brownclaw, and although he was happy that his mixed blood didn't affect Brownclaw's opinion of him, he ws worried about what Brownclaw had said. Cats with mixed blood had been told to have powers. So he and his siblings powers weren't unheard of. But Sprucepaw wondered just how long he and his siblings could keep their powers secret.
Goldenpaw
"Goldenpaw stop," Dogclaw mewed to Goldenpaw. The ginger tom stopped in mid attack and looked at Dogclaw.
"What's wrong Dogclaw?" He asked, "Am I not doing the attacks right?"
"No, that's not it," Dogclaw informed him. "You're doing everything perfect, but your taking too much damage. If this was a real battle, you probably would have collapsed from blood loss. While it's important to make hits, you don't want to take too many."
Goldenpaw remembered just how many times Dogclaw's paws had landed on him. Head, neck, stomach. "Oh," Goldenpaw mewed.
"Still, those were some nice attacks. Are you holding back? Seems like there were times that you could dealt a powerful blow that you didn't take. Or times when you hit me lightly. You won't be able to hurt me very badly." Dogclaw purred. "Lets try again. This time don't hold back?"
"Maybe," Goldenpaw murmured. If he just fought without holding back, he'd snap a bone. That was what had happened when he had sparred with Sprucepaw to test speed again strength. He had swiped at Sprucepaw's legs and snapped both of Sprucepaw's forelegs in half. Luckily Willowpaw had been there to heal them, so it went unnoticed. But Goldenpaw still remembered the sickening snap of bone, and Sprucepaw's piercing scream.
Goldenpaw moved in on Dogclaw, and pushing off the ground and launching at Dogclaw. The warrior didn't have time to duck, so powerful was Goldenpaw's attack. Goldenpaw landed on Dogclaw. Pulling back on the strength in him that was roaring to be used, Goldenpaw tried to focus on the attacks that Dogclaw had taught him. But they didn't matter. Why use stupid attacks when he could snap Dogclaw's neck right now? Goldenpaw was horrified when his mind found that appealing.
So he pulled back, knowing that he couldn't hurt his mentor. He used a small amount of his strength to flip Dogclaw over and pin him down, and press his paw gently against his mentor's throat. Dogclw look surprised. "Wow Goldenpaw. Not bad. You want to go back to camp?"
"Sure," Goldenpaw mewed. The mentor and apprentice trotted back to camp where Copperstar had just called a meeting. His sisters were gathered next to Sprucepaw. Copperstar stood on top of highrock, Flickerpaw and Fleetpaw stood next to him. "I, Copperstar, leader of ThunderClan, call upon my warrior ancestors to look down upon the apprentices here today. They have trained hard to learn the ways of your noble code and I commend them to you as warriors in their turn."
"Flickerpaw, Fleetpaw, do you swear to uphold the warrior code, and to protect and defend the clan, even at the cost of your life?"
"I do," Flickerpaw mewed confidently.
"I do," Fleetpaw meowed after his sister.
"Then with the powers of StarClan I give you your warrior names," Copperstar announced, "Flickerpaw, from this moment onward you shall be known as Flickerfoot. StarClan honors your strength and patience and we welcome you as a full warrior of ThunderClan," Copperstar rested his chin on Flickerfoot's, and she licked his shoulder.
Copperstar turned to Fleetpaw, "Fleetpaw, from this moment onward you shall be know as Fleetfur. StarClan honors your bravery and determination and we welcome you as a full warrior of ThunderClan," Fleetfur licked Copperstar's shoulder and Copperstar rested his head on the new warrior's. "Tonight you will sit vigil. StarClan welcomes you."
"Flickerfoot, Fleetfur, Flickerfoot, Fleetfur!" The clan chanted. The two new warriors hopped down from highrock, accepting comgratulations from the ther cats. Goldenpaw watched in envy. He wished that he was up there. He and his siblings didn't really need a full apprenticeship. Their powers would make up for any training that they could possibly get from their mentors. As Goldenpaw watched his siblings faces, he knew the same thought echoed in all their heads.
Suddenly, a shrill cry split the joyous atmosphere. Everycat looked up to see a hawk flying above, a small tortoiseshell kit in it's claws. Crys of alarm spread through the clan. "Poor kit," Goldenpaw murmured.
"Guys," Robinpaw mewed. Goldenpaw locked his gaze with his sister's. She was watching the kit with guilt in her eyes. Goldenpaw's eyes widened. Robinpaw could save the kit, but to do so she would have to show her wings. Robinpaw met his gaze. "I have to," She meowed, "I can't just let the kit die." Robinpaw took a deep breath, and ran after the hawk.
"What are you doing? You can't catch it," Mosspelt called, then her voice caught as Robinpaw spread her wings and caught the air. She soared up to meet the hawk. The hawk screeched in alarm and the kit cried out. The hawk accerlerated, Robinpaw hot on it's tail. Sprucepaw ran after his sister and the hawk into the forest and out of sight. Goldenpaw had no doubt that his brother hit top speed as soon as he was out of sight. Goldenpaw gritted his teeth, frustrated that he couldn't do anything to help. Instead, he turned to look for Willowpaw. She trotted over to Goldenpaw, worry in her eyes.
"The clan will know now," Willowpaw mewed, "We won't be able keep ours secret now." Willowpaw looked at the other ThunderClan cats, who were sending the apprentices strange looks. Goldenpaw flicked his ears. Waiting for Robinpaw and Sprucepaw was difficult. They all stood in tensed worry.
Then they heard the whimpering of a kit. Robinpaw and Sprucepaw trotted into camp, Robinpaw carrying the kit, Sprucepaw dragging the hawk. It was dead.
The kit was crying. Willowpaw ran over to the kit. "Are you alright?"
"A hawk took me. I was so scared," the kit whimpered.
"Who are you?" Willowpaw carefully checked the kit over for wounds.
"Twinklekit," the kit mewed quietly. "I'm from ShadowClan."
"We'll have you home soon," Willowpaw promised. She refused to acknowledge the cats watching her sister and brother like they might suddenly turn into badgers. There was a tense silence around the camp.
"What are you?" Mosspelt finally demanded of Robinpaw and Sprucepaw.
The two cats in question looked at each other, then at Mosspelt. "We're StarCats," they mewed together.
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Hey guys. I haven't been getting as many reviews as I would like. I have no idea how well I'm doing, or if there's anything that would make it better, so if you read this, please leave a review. Also, while looking at the number of hits I have received, I noticed that more people had clicked on the Part 2 alliences than had read up to Chapter 10. Kinda funny to think about.