Chapter 1
A black-and-white she-cat woke up with a jolt. Her swollen belly contracted, she unsheathed her claws and yowled from the pain.
"Lightkit go get Berryleaf" The she-cat ordered the kit before another contraction came upon her body.
Lightkit ran to the medicine den and stopped at the entrance. "Berryleaf, Swiftshadow is kitting!" The kit said softly to wake no other cat than Berryleaf, but the medicine cat did not come out of his den. "Berryleaf!" The kit called louder. Lightkit sighed and walked into the den, when she saw Berryleaf she pounced onto his sleeping back.
"Wake up Berryleaf, Swiftshadow is kitting!" She exclaimed to the sleeping tom. He jerked awake, pushing the kit off of him and stood up. Berryleaf quickly padded over to his herb supply and grabbed borage leaves and chervil.
He walked in front of Lightkit and put the herbs down. "Go find Swiftshadow a stick, one you find a good one bring it to the nursery." He commanded the little kit. Berryleaf picked the herbs back up as Lightkit ran out of the den.
The wind roared outside of the dens as Berryleaf dashed to the nursery. Swiftshadow lay at the edge of the nursery, another queen sitting beside her. Berryleaf padded to the queens and sat down in front of Swiftshadow.
"Take these" The medicine cat ordered as he put the herbs down. Swiftshadow gulped them down and shrieked as her stomach contracted once again. The other queen moved away from Swiftshadow to give Berryleaf room to work. "Thank you, Lillyheart" He muttered as he moved to the queen's stomach.
Lightkit charged to the nursery and stopped at the entrance. She calmed down and padded in, heading towards Swiftshadow to give her the stick she found. Lightkit gave the stick over to Swiftshadow then turned to her mother, Lillyheart.
"Go into your nest and sleep, it's too early for a kit to be up." The queen told the kit. Lightkit sighed and slinked over to her nest, as a small black-and-grey tom came out of Swiftshadow. Lilyheart walked to the kit and started to lick it.
When dawn had finally risen Swiftshadow had kitted two toms and a she-cat. Swiftshadows mate raced to the nursery when Berryleaf had told him the good news.
"Swiftshadow?" He called to his mate to check if she was awake after her long night. He walked into the nursery and looked at the kits. One of the toms was black-and-grey and the other fully white. But the she-cat was a dark gray tabby just like her father.
"I'm awake, Smokewhisker." She yawned. Lightkit bounded out of the nursery to play in the newly fallen snow, but saw that Berryleaf was sorting some herbs and decided to go ask if he needed any help.
"Have you thought of any names?" Smokewhisker asked his mate. "I've thought of a few, would you like to hear them?" She responded.
He nodded, Swiftshadow pointed to the white kit. "This one should be Cloudkit" Then she pointed to the black-and-grey tom. "This one could be Duskkit." Then she finally point at the tiny she-cat. "And this one can be Ashkit."
Smokewhisker smiled. "They're beautiful names. I'll go get you some fresh kill."
"Thank you" Swiftshadow sighed as she laid her tired head on the moss of her nest, drifting off to sleep.
The queen awoke at sunhigh and looked at her kits. She started to lick Cloudkit then she realized that he was cold and wasn't breathing. She looked around the nursery to find Lightkit, but she was outside playing. She saw Lillyheart in her nest sleeping.
"Lillyheart!" The queen wailed. Lillyheart woke up and rushed to Swiftshadows side. "What's wrong Swiftshadow?" She questioned.
"Cloudkit is dead" Swiftshadow cried out. "Lightkit go get Berryleaf, quickly!" Lillyheart ordered the kit.
Lightkit ran under Darkpaw to get to the medicine den. "Watch it, kit!" He hissed as she stopped in front of the den.
"Berryleaf!" She yowled to the medicine cat. "What is it?" He demanded as he turned to face the kit. "Something's wrong inside of the nursery, Lillyheart told me to get you." The kit stated.
"Alright I'll go over there now" He sighed as he pushed through the entrance of his den and slowly padded to the nursery. Lightkit trailed after the medicine cat.
"What's wrong with the kit?" Berryleaf asked Swiftshadow, her nose pressed against Cloudkits cold white pelt. "He's dead" Lillyheart replied. Berryleaf looked at the kits, as Duskkit coughed and the medicine cat looked back at the two queens.
"Duskkit has whitecough; I'll take him into the medicine den so Ashkit won't catch it as well." He sighed. "What happened to Cloudkit?" Lightkit asked the medicine cat before Swiftshadow could say anything.
"He possibly died from whitecough, or maybe Starclan thought it was time for him to join them." He stated. Swiftshadow hissed, "Cloudkit was barely with Shadowclan!"
"Starclan does everything for a reason, Swiftshadow." The medicine cat said before he picked up the ill kit and padded back to his den.