Sorry for taking so long to update I've been very sick to the point I didn't want to move let alone do another chapter. Let me know what you think.
Chapter 11
Scourgeclaw awoke in surprise to find that Mousefur was sleeping in the nest that previously belonged to Mossflower. Which meant that she was sleeping right next to him. This shocked him considering Mousefur usually slept in between Longtail and Runningwind. Shaking away his surprise he padded out of the warriors den giving himself a nice stretch. It was getting close to sunhigh, so Scourgeclaw decided to get some fresh-kill before he went hunting. He came over to the fresh-kill pile and pulled out a mouse and found a warm spot to tear into it.
He had just finished swallowing the last mouthful when Runningwind came padding up to him.
"Hey Scourgeclaw, have you seen Brindleface's kits yet?" he asked. Scourgeclaw licked his jaws, cleaning the last scraps of mouse off his face before responding.
"No, I haven't seen them yet. I just crawled out of my nest not too long ago." Scourgeclaw answered. "I was just about to go on a hunt." Runningwind nodded in understanding.
"I just saw them a moment ago, while visiting Mossflower, they look nice and strong," Runningwind meowed. "You should go see them before you go out to hunt." Scourgeclaw looked at him a moment before nodding. 'I don't understand why their so thrilled about their being more mouths to feed, but I suppose I can go see them and Mossflower.' he thought briefly as he headed toward the nursery.
As he approached the nursery, he saw Whitestorm guarding the entrance to the nursery. He dipped his head in greeting to Scourgeclaw as he approached.
"Good morning Scourgeclaw, are you here to see the kits?" he asked. Scourgeclaw wordlessly nodded. "That's fine, but you'll have to wait since Firepaw just went in and I'm only allowing one cat at a time down to Brindleface." Scourgeclaw's ears perked up when he heard Firepaw's name mentioned.
"That's fine I can wait." Scourgeclaw meowed. He glanced around the clearing. Goldenclaw was taking Sandpaw out for some hunting for Whitestorm. Mousefur and Runningwind were heading out for a border patrol.
Suddenly Firepaw emerged from the nursery with a warm expression upon his face.
"Hello Scourgeclaw, the kits are wonderful." he purred softly. Scourgeclaw nodded
"So I've heard. How is Mossflower?" Scourgeclaw asked.
"She's fine, she asked me to tell you to come visit her soon." Firepaw answered. "I'd love to talk some more, but Bluestar is waiting for me." Firepaw touched his tail to Scourgeclaw's shoulder as he padded by him. Scourgeclaw watched him go before turning to Whitestorm. Whitestorm gave him a nod to enter into the nursery. Scourgeclaw padded forward slipping into the den like an adder.
Four tiny kits were wriggling into Brindleface's belly. Three of the kits were pale gray with darker flecks, like their mother, the last one was a tiny dark gray kit. Scourgeclaw looked at the kits with a little curiosity and surprise. He had almost forgotten how small kits were. He gave Brindleface a gentle look, which the tired queen warmly returned.
"You must be proud of these kits." he meowed. She purred softly in reply. "I'm sure they'll make great warriors"
"Thank you Scourgeclaw." she purred softly. He noticed that the tiny dark gray kit was wriggling away from Brindleface's body. With gentleness, that he didn't think he was capable of, he pushed the kit back into Brindleface's belly.
"Hello Scourgeclaw, I was beginning to think that you had forgotten that there was a nursery." a soft teasing voice called from a nest not far from Brindleface. Scourgeclaw came over to sit in front of Mossflower and was beginning to make out a slight roundness in her belly. "Did Firepaw find you?"
"No, Runningwind told me about Brindleface's kits and I decided to come see them myself." he meowed. Mossflower began to purr when he mentioned the new kits.
"Their beautiful aren't they?" she meowed wistfully. "I can hardly wait for my own kits." Scourgeclaw looked around the nursery and saw Goldenflower leading her kits out of the nursery. Frostfur's kits were sleeping in their mother's nest peacefully. Scourgeclaw sighed uncomfortably, not use to being in the nursery and watching the queens fuss over their kits.
"I better go, I should be hunting." he meowed quietly, moving back out of the nursery den. Mossflower watched him go with a sigh, knowing it must be difficult for him to be around the nursery, since his own kithood was so miserable. She could only hope that he would open up a bit more. She sighed and crawled out of the nursery. She stood in front of the entrance letting the sun warm her fur. She purred softly as she thought of her kits. 'I can't wait to be a mother.' she thought peacefully. 'I'm sure Runningwind will make a great father.' she thought to herself.
Suddenly she wondered who her own father is or had been. She never saw Bluestar being affectionate to any tom in the Clan, so she wonder whether her father was still alive or not. She looked over in the direction of the elder's den and wondered if they knew who he was. 'If I ask them about Bluestar's kits they may tell me who their father was.' She padded to the elder's den and called a greeting into the den.
"Come in Mossflower, we were just talking about you." called Dappletail. Mossflower stepped in and was surprised by how happy the elders were to see her.
"Congratulations, on your new kits." meowed Patchpelt.
"Yes, its good to have some good news after losing two of our clanmates." meowed Smallear gravely. Mossflower purred softly.
"Thank you I, was just thinking about how good of a father Runningwind will be for our kits." she meowed
"He better be, I'm not too old to give him a good cuff against his head." growled Halftail teasingly. Mossflower purred affectionately.
"I'm sure he'll be as good of a father as Thrushpelt was to his kits." meowed Dappletail. Mossflower looked curiously at Dappletail.
"Thrushpelt?" she asked. Dappletail purred softly.
"He was a great warrior, fiercely loyal to ThunderClan and Bluestar." Dappletail purred. Mossflower blinked in surprise.
"Was he the father of Bluestar's kits?" she asked curiously. Dappletail nodded sadly.
"He was devastated when the kits went missing." Dappletail mewled. "It was a shame
That they lost their three kits." The other elder's mewled in agreement. Mossflower saved this information and continued to talk to the elder's before heading out to lie in the sun. 'Did Thrushpelt know that Bluestar gave me up? Or did she do this without his knowledge?' she thought briefly. 'No he must have known, she wouldn't do that to her mate.' she sighed softly to herself, before deciding to lay out in the sun and let it warm up her pelt, she slowly began falling into a light sleep.
Mossflower awoke to a loud yowl that carried across the camp. Frostfur was franticly searching around the camp.
"My kits, my kits are missing." She yowled. Tigerclaw raced to her side, calling the Clan to him and quickly began to bark out orders. Goldenclaw was just returning with Sandpaw through the camp tunnel in the middle of the chaos. He quickly raced to Frostfur's side, when he noticed her distress.
"What's wrong what has happened?" he asked looking into her distressed blue eyes.
"Our kits Goldenclaw, someone has taken our kits." she wailed burying her face into his fur. Goldencalw stiffened in shock and a look of fury crossed over his face, before he leaned down and licked Frostfur's ears.
"Will get them back Frostfur, I'll make sure of it." he meowed. "ShadowClan will wish they never laid eyes on our kits" Frostfur said nothing only burying her muzzle deeper into his fur. Mossflower watched the pair for a moment before searching around the camp for any trace of the kits. Then Tigerclaw let loose a yowl from behind the nursery. Mossflower raced over to the nursery and the sight that awaited her filled her heart with despair. Tigerclaw stood over a lifeless dappled tortoiseshell bundle of fur. Spottedleaf was dead. Mossflower wanted to wail to the sky, but fought to keep it down knowing that there were kits who needed to be found before they could grieve for their fallen medicine cat, but even as she thought this she could feel herself becoming numb with grief for her friend. She looked around at the cats. She saw that Firepaw, looked devastated. She knew that he cared deeply for the beautiful tortoiseshell, and knew that he must be just as devastated that she was gone. She looked around a noticed that Scourgeclaw wasn't there and wondered briefly where he was. She almost hadn't registered Bluestar telling the Clan that Spottedleaf had been brought down by a warrior blow. Suddenly another yowl rang out.
"Yellowfang is gone." yowled a voice.
"She must have killed Spottedleaf and taken my kits" screeched Frostfur leaning against Goldenclaw. Her face twisted into a look of grief. The sky was darkening and the wind was blowing fiercely ruffling the pelts of the cats present. Drops of rain began to fall from the sky. Tigerclaw growled lowly..
"I knew that flea bitten rogue was trouble. This must have been her plan from the very beginning to sneak into our Clan!" Mossflower turned back to Firepaw and saw that he had a look of disbelief on his face. 'I don't think that ShadowClan would go through all that trouble to steal our kits.' she thought to herself. ' and while Yellowfang can be a bit grouchy she doesn't seem like the type to do something like this.' she silenced her thoughts as Bluestar began to speak.
"If Yellowfang did steal the kits and is the one responsible for the death of Spottedleaf then she will be hunted down and she won't be shown any mercy, but we will wait until the storm has passed I do not want to lose anymore warriors. " Mossflower could see the fierce determination in her mother's eye to get vengeance for Spottedleaf.
"We can't waste any time, her scent will be washed away." Tigerclaw growled. Bluestar regarded her deputy with a little impatient.
"Our efforts would be wasted, even if we left now the scent would be washed away in the storm, we will wait for the storm to pass, we'll have a better chance at finding her then." The clan murmured their agreements. The sky grew even darker and thunder and lightning began to flash. Mossflower saw Bluestar asked to speak with Tigerclaw privately. She watched Tigerclaw padded toward Bluestar's den but noticed that Bluestar wasn't following. Instead Bluestar padded over to Firepaw and seemed to hiss something urgently into his ear. She padded a little closer to them making sure to not make it seem like she was trying to listen in on the conversation.
"…I want you to bring back Yellowfang, Firepaw, she will come back to camp if you ask her to and if she is the one responsible for all of this I'll kill her myself , but I want to give her the chance to prove whether or not she is innocent." Bluestar meowed quietly to Firepaw.
"I'll do my best Bluestar." meowed Firepaw in response.
"Go look for her now" she ordered. " but be careful of enemy patrols. Our own warriors will remain here until the storm clears." Mossflower was shocked to hear that Bluestar was sending Firepaw out to look for Yellowfang. She momentarily wondered what Scourgeclaw would think of this, when she realized with a jolt that Scourgeclaw still wasn't in camp. 'Where could he be?' she thought with a bit of worry. As she pondered where he could be she heard some of the other cats talking.
"Yellowfang must have had some help." Speckletail growled . Frostfur gave her an anxious look.
"You think someone from ThunderClan helped her?" she asked. Speckletail nodded.
"Do you think it was Ravenpaw?" meowed a voice. Speckletail nodded again.
"You heard what Tigerclaw's been saying about him. It would surprise me if he was involved with this. I haven't felt comfortable around him either." she growled. Mossflower looked on, her eyes widened in shock. 'They can't be serious. Ravenpaw is a loyal cat he would never do anything to betray his Clan.' She turned and headed toward the leader den. She decided she was going to speak to Bluestar about Ravenpaw. She had just started toward Bluestar's den, when a loud screeching sound rang out in the air. Whipping around she saw Frostfur angrily chasing Ravenpaw away from the nursery. She watched in complete dismay that her clanmates really believed that Ravenpaw had betrayed them all. She watched the poor apprentice take off into the apprentice den. Mossflower decided to go to Ravenpaw and comfort him. She saw Firepaw and Graypaw head into the den ahead of her. As she approached she could here the three talking to each other.
"Ravenpaw we're taking you to Barley your not safe here anymore." meowed Firepaw.
"But, why wouldn't he be safe here anymore? I don't understand." meowed Graypaw.
"Tigerclaw killed Redtail, Ravenpaw saw him do it. He must suspect that Ravenpaw saw him do it so he's trying to get rid of him." Once again Mossflower was experiencing shock. 'Tigerclaw killed Redtail? Why would he do such a thing? Would he do such a thing?' Deep down she knew the answer to that question. If Tigerclaw was anything like what Scourgeclaw told her then he would be capable of killing another cat. She was so absorbed in her thoughts that she almost missed hearing Firepaw tell Graypaw his plan to sneak out to take Ravenpaw to Barley and to find Yellowfang and the kits. She backed away from the den, just as the three were leaving. She watched as they moved as quickly as they could toward the entrance. They were almost there when, they were stopped by Tigerclaw.
"And just were do you three think your going?" Tigerclaw growled. Mossflower quickly made her way over to the them.
"Oh good thinking Firepaw. I'm sure you'll have better luck with those two for help." Mossflower said making herself look as though she was sick. She turned to Tigerclaw. "I asked Firepaw to find me some juniper berries for my stomachache. I got Bluestar's permission to send him out." she meowed. Tigerclaw sniffed.
"Fine, but they better come right back here." Tigerclaw growled as he walked away. Mossflower watched him go a moment before turning back to the three apprentices.
"Scourgeclaw's somewhere out there Firepaw, I'm sure he'll help you with what ever your planning." she meowed Firepaw's eyes brightened and he touched his nose to Mossflower's.
"Thank you Mossflower, I'll tell you everything later." Firepaw murmured. Mossflower nodded before nudging Firepaw toward entrance.
"Hurry before he comes back." The three apprentices turned and raced through the tunnel heading toward WindClan territory. 'Oh StarClan please let them be alright.' she thought.
Scourgeclaw was burying his catch underneath the tree he had taken shelter under. 'It just had to rain while I was out of camp.' he thought with a hiss. The wind was blowing fiercely as he sat underneath a oak tree. 'I suppose I'll just have to wait till the storm dies down a bit. He had been hunting near Fourtrees when the storm broke out and he had been waiting out the storm there since. Suddenly heard some voices heading in his direction. He crouched low and pushed himself up against the tree he was standing under, since he wasn't sure if the cats approaching were from ThunderClan or not. He then spotted the familiar pelt of Firepaw heading toward Fourtrees, with Graypaw and Ravenpaw running along side him. He overheard some of their conversation.
"How will we know if Barley will even let Ravenpaw stay?" asked Graypaw.
"I don't know but, he's safer with Barley then in ThunderClan. The longer he stays in ThunderClan the more likely Tigerclaw will try and get rid of him." Firepaw meowed. Scourgeclaw became very curious after this. 'Tigerclaw is trying to get rid of Ravenpaw? That's a surprise but, not unbelievable. I wonder why Tigerclaw wants to get rid of him? And who is this Barley cat?' He thought to himself. Suddenly he had a memory of a black and white tom, along with a small, pale orange tabby she-cat with thin darker orange stripes and small white paws. He remembers having two of his cats kill the ginger she-cat for disobeying his orders and making the black and white tom watch it all. 'Could it really be him?' he wonders briefly. He decided to follow the trio to see where they were going.
They had stopped just within Fourtrees.
"We can't go with you any further, Ravenpaw we still have to find the kit's and Yellowfang." meowed Firepaw. "Do you think you can make it to Barley's from here?" Ravenpaw gave a sharp nod.
"Yes I can make it there, I can remember the way, but what if he doesn't want me there?" Ravenpaw anxiously asked. Graypaw gave him a lick on the ear.
"Just tell him that you caught an adder once." Graypaw meowed. Ravenpaw told his friends goodbye before starting off toward the Barley's farm, when he stopped again.
"What if Tigerclaw comes after me?" he mewled nervously. Firepaw looked deep into his friend's eye.
"He won't, I will tell him that you are dead." Scourgeclaw's ears perked up a little with that comment and decided to make his presence known.
"Will someone explain to me what is going on?" he drawled. Coming up behind the apprentices. Firepaw, Graypaw and Ravenpaw jumped at the sound of his voice. They stared nervously at each other. Scourgeclaw gave them a look. "Well?" he asked again.
Firepaw gazed at both his friends, wondering if he should tell Scourgeclaw the truth and whether or not Scourgeclaw would believe him. He then remembered what Mossflower had said about have Scourgeclaw help him. He just hoped that she was right.
"Well, you see it's a long story, and there isn't enough time to explain it all, but, Ravenpaw saw Tigerclaw kill Redtail and because of that, Tigerclaw is trying to get rid of him. Frostfur's kits went missing and Spottedleaf is…" Firepaw took in a deep breath trying not to let his emotions overwhelm him. "S-She's dead. I saw Yellowfang leaving the Clan not long after the kits were missing and…"
"And the Clan thinks that Yellowfang took the kits and killed Spottedleaf." Scourgeclaw finished figuring out the rest for himself, "But that still doesn't explain why you three are out here."
"We wanted to protect Ravenpaw ,so we were taking him to a loner we met on our trip to Highstones." Scourgeclaw nodded in acceptance of that.
"And?"
"And Bluestar asked me to find Yellowfang and ask her to come back to camp to find out whether or not she took the kits." Firepaw finished. Scourgeclaw thought about this for a moment before answering.
"I will help you." he meowed at last before turning to Ravenpaw. "Go on Ravenpaw head to the loner's place. Firepaw you and Graypaw come with me. We don't have much time." he took off with Graypaw and Firepaw at his heels.
It wasn't long before the three reached the Thunderpath. They crept up to the side and began to look for monster's. Graypaw nudged Firepaw.
"What are we going to do?" he whispered. "Scourgeclaw hasn't cross the Thunderpath before." Scourgeclaw snorted.
"I'll have you know that I was crossing Thunderpath's before you were weaned off your mother's milk." he growled. Looking both ways down the Thunderpath. "We'll cross together." Firepaw and Graypaw nodded, they each moved close to Scourgeclaw's side.
After a few monsters passed on the thunder path, they raced quickly across the Ihunderpath. They quickly began to move around taking in the air around them before they found Yellowfang's scent.
"Follow me, and keep a look out." meowed Scourgeclaw before he began following Yellowfang's scent into ShadowClan territory. Graypaw leaned over to Firepaw.
"I never though I'd ever come to ShadowClan territory without a proper patrol." he murmured.
"We'll be fine Graypaw we're not alone." Firepaw whispered back.
"I forgot to mention that we should be silent, wile we're hear. But I thought that the two of you were smart enough to figure that out for yourselves." Scourgeclaw hissed glaring at the two of tem with irritation. Graypaw nodded slowly Firepaw rolled his eyes. "One of you watch for ShadowClan patrol's , the other look out for any sign of ThunderClan, since I'm sure their waiting until the storm passes before they send a patrol." The two nodded, in agreement and continued onward.
Suddenly Scourgeclaw signaled with his tail for them to halt. He nod his head forward. They could see wet clumpy gray fur that was huddled behind a ash tree. Scourgeclaw signaled quietly for them to spread out around her. Together they moved as one toward the unsuspecting she-cat, together they pounced on her effectively trapping her beneath the three of them. Yellowfang hissed and spat, twisting her body around trying to dislodge the three cats.
"Let me up right now." She hissed.
"Not, until you tell us what you did with the kits." hissed Graypaw.
"I haven't done anything with the kits." growled Yellowfang. "I've come to find the kits."
"Then why did you run away?" asked Firepaw.
"And why did you kill Spottedleaf?" asked Graypaw. Yellowfang stopped thrashing around .
"Spottedleaf is dead?" Yellowfang meowed in shock. Scourgeclaw watched her curiously.
"You didn't know did you?" asked Scourgeclaw surprisingly. Yellowfang shook her head slowly.
"No, when I heard that the kits had gone missing I started to investigate around the nursery and I caught the scent of Clawface, he is one of Brokenstar's warriors, I figure he must have taken them and went to follow him." she meowed. "The longer those kits are their the more danger they are in."
"ShadowClan wouldn't hurt them, would they? I mean their only kits." Graypaw meowed. Yellowfang snorted
"Brokenstar has driven an entire Clan out of its territory. Kits and all and you don't think he would be capable of harming kits? Kits have a habit of getting hurt and disappearing around Brokenstar. He's even killed kits from his own Clan" she spat in anger. Graypaw and Firepaw stared at her in alarm. Scourgeclaw blinked in surprise.
"He killed ShadowClan kits?" Scourgeclaw meowed.
"Yes, he lied and said that I killed them." she hissed. "He took the kits, of our queen Brightflower, out for a training session and he brought them to me afterward. They both had wounds warriors should have. Their was nothing I could do for them they were already in the paws of StarClan.." she mewled solemnly.
"Why would he train kits? The warrior code says that an apprentice must be six moons old before they can be trained as an apprentice." demanded Graypaw.
"You think Brokenstar doesn't know that? He has abandoned the warrior code in every way except that his word is law." growled Yellowfang. "He's been training kits to be warriors since he became leader.
"But Frostfur's kits are only three moons old."
"That doesn't matter he's been training kits three moons old as apprentices and two moons later he sends them out as warriors." meowed Yellowfang. Scourgeclaw raised his muzzle into the air and breathed in the scent near them.
"A ThunderClan patrol will be hear soon, I can smell them coming." Scourgeclaw mewled softly.
"We better move then, if Tigerclaw is on the patrol he'll kill Yellowfang first and ask questions later." Firepaw meowed. Yellowfang flicked her tail in one direction..
"Follow me, they'll lose our scent in the peat, it wall disguise our scent." she meowed leading them forward.
They moved as quickly as they could through the soft peat. They could hear the voices of a patrol coming toward them and they picked up their pace as silently as they could.
They came upon a tree trunk with a enough room between the roots for the four cats to squeeze under. They could still hear the patrol coming from a good distance away.
"What are we gonna do now? We can't rescue the kits by ourselves can we?" asked Graypaw. Yellowfang stared unblinkingly into Graypaw's eyes.
"No, I know some cats from the inside that may be able to help us. ShadowClan isn't as united as you may think." meowed Yellowfang.
"There's also the ThunderClan patrol, as long as Tigerclaw isn't apart of it." meowed Scourgeclaw he had spat Tigerclaw's name as if it was the most disgusting thing to have been in his mouth. Graypaw and Firepaw were shocked by how much disgust Scourgeclaw had for Tigerclaw, while Yellowfang looked on with a bit of amusement in her eyes.
"He's right but first I must find my friend's within ShadowClan" she meowed. Graypaw shook away his shock and watched her suspiciously.
"How do we know your going to come back?" he demanded.
"You must have faith in me, all of you must have faith in me." she meowed as she looked each of them in the eye. "There isn't much time left before that patrol makes it here, and then I'll have no chance to find us any allies with in the camp. You must trust me." Scourgeclaw watched her for a few seconds before giving her a nod.
"Go then and find your allies." Scourgeclaw meowed emotionlessly. Firepaw nodded and Graypaw looked at the two with confusion. Yellowfang nodded and raced away. Scourgeclaw watched her go before turning to the two apprentices.
"Stay here, I will get the patrol." he meowed before sprinting away. He followed the scent trail of the ThunderClan patrol. Moving as quickly as he could through the soft peaty ground , while looking out for any ShadowClan cats that might be around. The scent began to get stronger as he continued on and picked up his pace. When he was close enough he was able to distinguish which cats were apart of the patrol. 'Good Tigerclaw's not with them' he thought as he approached the patrol. The cats pelts bristled in shock as they spun around.
"Scourgeclaw what are you doing here?" hissed Whitestorm as he glared at the black warrior.
*I'm going to stop right here for now, *
When I reread the first series something occurred to me that I hadn't really noticed when I first read the series.
In at least the first two books of the original series I think that it was implied that their were more cats in ThunderClan then there were mention in the alligences. This is what brought on my idea for Goldenclaw partially because of this and the fact that we still don't know who the father of Cinderpelt, Brakenfur, Thornclaw and Brightflower are. I had originally intended for Goldenclaw to be they're father, but a startling new piece of info made me change my mind about that.
Some people believe that their father was Lionheart, at first I thought that it couldn't be him because he died in the first book and Thornclaw and Brightheart don't become apprentices until forest of secrets.
However something hit me all of a sudden while I was looking over the books. I remembered that:
1. Into the wild book says that Four of Frostfur's kits were stolen by ShadowClan, FOUR not two kits.
2. When Bluestar told Fireheart and Graystripe that they were going to be mentor's she said that ' Frostfur thinks that two of her kits were ready to be made apprentices.'
3. Brakenfur and Cinderpelt were five moons old when they were apprenticed.
4. Thornclaw and Brightheart are older than Cloudtail which wouldn't be the case if they were born in a separate litter.
This implies that Brightheart and Thornclaw were all born in the same litter as Brackenfur and Cinderpelt which were all born before Lionheart died so there is a very good chance he is their father. It took me reading the books a second time for me to notice this.
But as the story goes on GoldenClaw has made his purpose known he is the father of Frostfur's kits, interesting.
In the next chapter the kits will be rescued and Scourgeclaw will have a surprise visitor.
