Here's the next Chapter
Probably didn't think it was coming so soon huh?
Chapter 19
The next day a little after sunhigh, Scourgeclaw was out hunting in the Pine forest, partially to get away from the somber air of the camp, with Bluestar sick with whitecough, every cat was on edge and nervous, but he mostly wanted to make sure that the clan didn't discover, Brick, Snipe and Aztec's prints or scent in the forest, fortunately the rain that had continued from late last night to the early morning, had washed away their scent and they had been careful with their paw prints, so Scourgeclaw was satisfied with his cats. He then decided it would be better to actually hunt, since it was leaf-bare and prey was starting to become hard to find. He decided to try closer to camp to see if he could find any prey, before he trained Falconpaw, later in the evening.
Scourgeclaw had managed to find a mouse and a skinny shrew, and was about to take them back to camp when he caught sight of Cinderpaw, heading toward the thunderpath alone. He dropped his prey and raced after her, and he called out to her to stop, but it was clear she heard him too late. Scourgeclaw spat crossly as he made his way to the injured apprentice and a flicker of shock crossed over him when he saw Tigerclaw appear over her still for looking down at her in confusion. Scourgeclaw felt the fur on his neck raise at the sight. 'He could have stopped her, he was close enough to stop her, what a waste, she would have been the perfect mate for Fireheart, she already respected him and was strong and cunning, teaching her would have been easy, she would have been a fine addition to my cats.' He hissed angrily. When he reached them Tigerclaw had already moved her from the thunderpath. Tigerclaw looked at Scourgeclaw as he approached.
"Why was she here? Who sent her here?" Tigerclaw growled. Scourgeclaw hissed in anger.
"I don't know why she was here, I've been hunting." Scourgeclaw growled.
"Cinderpaw" a familiar voice called out, which Scourgeclaw recognized immediately as Fireheart. Scourgeclaw called out to his brother, who followed Scourgeclaw's voice to find Cinderpaw injured.
"Why was she here?" Tigerclaw asked again, this time looking at Fireheart.
"She was looking for you." Fireheart meowed sadly, never taking his eyes off Cinderpaw.
"Why did you send her? I asked for Bluestar." Tigerclaw growled in anger. Fireheart turned his gaze toward Tigerclaw and Scourgeclaw could see an emerald fire of anger burning in his eyes as he stared into Tigerclaw's eyes.
"Bluestar has greencough, and I didn't send Cinderpaw to you she was supposed to stay in camp." He spat angrily at the Thunderclan deputy,and then gently picked up Cinderpaw, Scourgeclaw padded over to help him carry her back to camp. Tigerclaw followed them in stony silence.
Mossflower had come into Bluestar's den to see her mother, having heard that she had caught greencough. Yellowfang was feeding her catmint and Goldenflower and placed some wet moss on her head to try and lower her fever. She had never seen her mother look so frail, she was used to seeing her as a strong individual as if nothing could stop her; It upset her greatly to see the ThunderClan leader in this state. She padded forward and helped Goldenflower try to keep Bluestar cool, as Yellowfang did whatever she could to help Bluestar.
Suddenly, the lichen to the entrance of Buestar's den moved and Tigerclaw appeared, his gaze fixed on Yellowfang.
"Yellowfang, Cinderpaw was hit by a monster, she needs your help, and Scourgeclaw and Fireheart are with her now." He meowed firmly. Mossflower blinked at him in shock. 'Cinderpaw is hurt?' she thought worriedly, she wanted to see Fireheart knowing he must be upset by the state of his apprentice, but she didn't want to leave Bluestar. However it was Yellowfang who ended up deciding for her.
"You need to get back to your kits Mossflower, they'll be worried about you, Bluestar would want you taking care of your kits during this time." She rasped quietly as she pushed though the lichen to Bluestar's den. Mossflower glanced back at her mother briefly, before padding back to the nursery. Her kits were currently in Mousefur's nest along with Ashkit, the dusky queen was trying to sooth the worried kits. Brindleface was currently fussing over Fernkit and Smokekit both had a slight cough and were curled up in their mother's nest. Mossflower passed on the news about Cinderpaw to Frostfur, who herded her remaining kits into her nest and wordlessly padded out of the nursery. Mossflower wasn't sure what to make of all the sickness and injuries. She knew life in the Clans would be difficult, but it pained her to think of something like this happening to her own kits and she briefly wondered if she could handle losing one or both of her kits and she couldn't answer herself. She padded over to Mousefer, and softly thanked her for watching her kits. She rounded up her kits and Ashit knowing that her own kits gave the young tom comfort and curled protectively around them in her nest. She silently hoped that things would get better soon.
Scourgeclaw stood outside of Yellowfang's den waiting for Fireheart to emerge. He knew his brother was upset by the state of his apprentice and the news of Bluestar's greencough. He flicked his tail angrily nowing that Cinderpaw's injuries could have been avoided, if Tigerclaw wasn't so incompetent. After hearing that the only reason she went looking for the dark tabby deputy was because he 'claimed' to have found evidence of ShadowClan in their territory and wanted to show Bluestar, only they hadn't found a shred of evidence to confirm this little claim or even be worth Bluestar making a trip out of the camp to see him even if she had been in good health. Scourgeclaw had to stop himself several times from going after Tigerclaw and sharping his claw's along the deputy's spine. Scourgeclaw was shaken from his musings by Fireheart as he joined him outside of Yellowfang's den.
"Well , how is she?" he asked softly. Fireheart sighed sadly.
"Yellowfang says she might be able to save her but it's too soon to tell." Scourgeclaw nodded as if he were expecting the answer.
"And what of Bluestar?" Scourgeclaw asked softly
"Yellowfang said she's done all she can to help her, it's up to StarClan now, she told me to sit with her." Fireheart meowed solemnly. Scourgeclaw had to keep from rolling his eyes, when Fireheart mentioned StarClan, not really believing in their existence, but held his tongue knowing that both Fireheart and Mossflower believed in them.
"So what know?"
"I don't know I want to see Bluestar, but I know Mossflower must be greatly upset and I wan't to go comfort her." Fireheart said. Scourgeclaw touched his tail to his brother's shoulder.
"Go to Bluestar, I'll check on Mossflower, I was going to check on Mousefur anyway." Fireheart blinked gratefully and headed toward Bluestar's den, he paused briefly and turned back to Scourgeclaw.
"Let me know how her kits are doing." Fireheart meowed, and then headed back toward Bluestar's den. Scourgeclaw headed toward the nursery.
When Scourgeclaw enter the nursery he could see the tension was just as strong in the nursery as the rest of the camp, Scourgeclaw was so used to seeing the kits playing in the clearing and the nursery, so he was greatly disturbed to see the kits so subdued. He glanced over at Brindleface and saw the queen give him a sad look. He noticed that the young queen, only had two kits in her nest and they were both sneezing and giving off little coughs. He glanced around the rest of the camp and could see Frostfur's kits in their mother's nest looking solemn. He saw Speckletail was in her nest with a dark look on her face. He saw that Mousefur was curled up in her nest sleeping peacefully, and beside her in her own nest with her kits and Brindleface's third kit was Mossflower, he carefully made his way over to her.
Mossflower's ears twitched at the sound of someone padding toward her, she immediately recognized Scourgeclaw's scent and looked up as he looked at her.
"Are you okay?" Scourgeclaw asked gently. Mossflower nodded slowly, but she could tell he didn't believe as she stared into his ice blue eyes. "I'm guessing you heard about Cinderpaw?" she nodded again.
"How's Fireheart taking it?" she asked softly.
"He'll be okay once he realizes it wasn't his fault." He answered softly, she noticed him looking at her kits. "How are your kits doing?"
"They're fine for now, they've been keeping Ashkit company." She meowed just as softly, running her tail over the sleeping kits.
"How's Mousefur doing?" he asked not wanting to disturb his sleeping mate.
"She's fine as well, don't worry she hasn't been coughing or anything she hasn't been near any sick cats and she eats well." Scourgeclaw nodded in acceptance of this answer. Mossflower looked around briefly before asking Scourgeclaw. "Where is Fireheart?" Scourgeclaw looked around before answering in a soft voice that only Mossflower could hear.
"He is with your mother." Mossflower nodded and was a little relieved, she was glad Fireheart was sitting with Bluestar and that her mother wasn't alone while she had greencough. Scourgeclaw sighed once more looking around the nursery before turning to leave.
" I have guard duty to night, I'll come and see you and Mousefur in the morning, if Fireheart is up by then I'll make sure he comes and visits you and the kits." Scourgeclaw meowed quietly.
"Okay Scourgeclaw, see you tomorrow." Scourgeclaw padded toward the entrance of the camp and sat quietly and patiently through the night listening to the sounds of his clanmates resting.
At Dawn Scourgeclaw was relieved by Whitestorm who was taking out the dawn patrol, and headed back into the clearing. Scourgeclaw headed for the nursery, going in to quietly speak to Mossflower and Mousefur, before deciding to head to his nest to sleep. When he reached his nest he found Fireheart asleep, with Graystripe glaring at his brother silently. Scourgeclaw curled up in the nest beside his brother and quickly joined his brother in sleep.
When Scourgeclaw awoke the next day he looked around the warrior's den and noticed that Graystripe wasn't in his nest. He shrugged it off as the gray warrior meeting the RiverClan she-cat he stretched out of his nest and started toward the entrance of the den to look for Fireheart. He was halted by a wall of snow that blocked the way to the clearing. Scourgeclaw could barely make out the movement in the camp. Scourgeclaw leaped for through the snow, sinking into the snow that reached just passed his muzzle. Bounding as quickly as he could trying not to let himself get overwhelmed, he finally made it to the clearing just in time to see Fireheart watching in agitation as Graystripe walked away from him. Scourgeclaw padded up to him and asked him how he was doing.
"Fine, Graystripe is aggravating me with his visits to Silverstream, he needs to think about his Clan." He growled. Just then Speckletail padded up to the two warriors with a look of worry in her gaze.
"Is Tigerclaw in the den?" she asked them softly. They both shook their heads.
"If you see him tell then tell him that greencough just reached the nursery, and two of Brindleface's kits have greencough." Fireheart and Scourgeclaw looked at her in shock.
"Will they be alright? They're not going to die are they?" asked Fireheart. Speckletail only shrugged.
"They might it has happened before." She answered gravely as she walked away. Scourgeclaw felt an urge to see Mossflower and Mousefur but decided against it, knowing they were alright since Speckletail didn't mention any other sick queens or kits. Fireheart emerald eyes seemed to burn in fury as he hissed into Scourgeclaw's ear.
"Does no one care that those kits are sick and that we might lose them?"
"It is a part of life, a harsh part of life but a part of life, I saw this when I was in the twolegplace, it was hard to watch but it got easier with time." Scourgeclaw meowed gravely. He nudged Fireheart toward the gorse tunnel. "Come let's go gather more catmint for Yellowfang." Fireheart nodded follow his brother through the gorse tunnel. Neither warrior noticed the pair of amber eyes watching them as the left the camp.
The two brothers made their way through the forest, finding the twoleg path and making their way to the Twolegplace. It wasn't long until they were at their old twoleg nest. They hopped onto the fence then just as quickly leaped down into their old garden and made their way over to the bushes of catmint. They each took a generous amount of catmint leaves from the bush, both deciding it would be best to take as many as they could, since the bush might die in the middle of the leaf-bare. They leaped back over the fence with their faces crammed full of catmint. Scourgeclaw started back towards the camp but stopped when his brother took off, running across the edge of the forest. Scourgeclaw chased after him racing to keep up with his brother. It wasn't long until he recognized the fence that belong to his sister Princess and realized that Fireheart probably wanted to check on her, since she was so close to kitting. He helped his brother dig a hole through the snow and buried their catmint leaves beneath a pile of leaves. Fireheart leaped into his sister's garden and called out to her. Scourgeclaw leaped into Princess' garden and sat down waiting patiently next to Fireheart. He was just as surprised as Fireheart was to see their sister emerge from her twoleg nest look much slimmer than the last time he had seen her.
"You've kitted," purred Fireheart happily. Princess purred in return.
"Yes I have five healthy kits." Princess purred softly. Princess turned to look at Scourgeclaw with a warm expression on her face.
"How's Mousefur, has she had your kits yet." Scourgeclaw shook his head slowly.
"No but any day now they should come." He meowed softly. Princess purred
" I'm sure you'll be a great father" she meowed softly. "What brings the two of you here?"
"We were gathering catmint for our medicine cat, so she can fight off the sickness in the camp." Princess looked worried.
"Cats are sick?" Fireheart nodded sadly.
"Yes our leader was sick too, she lost one of her lives to greencough." Princess looked confused.
"She lost a life? You mean the forest cats really do get nine lives?" she asked in shock.
"Just the leaders and yes they get nine lives." Fireheart told her. Scourgeclaw remained silent not wanting to challenge his brother's beliefs.
"Fireheart's apprentice was also injured the other day, she may never walk again." Scourgeclaw meowed softly. Princess nuzzled Fireheart gently.
" You spoke so fondly of her the last time we talked what happened to her?" Scourgeclaw did his best to keep the snarl out of his throat as he told Princess about Tigerclaw's claim of ShadowClan in the forest and the events that led up to Cinderpaw's injury.
"It wouldn't have happened if I had been able to stop her from leaving camp."
"Tigerclaw shouldn't have bother Bluestar, and why did he choose such a dangerous place to meet with her?"
"Could it have been a trap?" Princess asked them curiously. Scourgeclaw focused his eyes onto Princess and seriously thought about her claim. If it was a trap and Bluestar had come she could have died if she had been in Cinderpaw's place. Then Tigerclaw would be the leader. He thought in horror.
"Maybe, it's a little confusing right now, so much is happening we might be over thinking it." Fireheart meowed and glanced at Scourgeclaw. "And I think we should get the catmint back to camp now." Princess nodded in understand and the three siblings bid each other farewell then hop the fence to walk over to the pile of catmint they buried. Suddenly they heard a low wail not far from where they were. Scourgeclaw stiffened briefly before taking off in the direction of the sound. He knew who had made it and he was hoping that he was wrong. He quickly found a cat lying in the snow and his heart nearly stopped. It was Mousefur and she was kitting. Scourgeclaw quickly found himself at his mate's side.
"What are you doing out here?" he hissed, Mousefur wailed again in pain.
"I wanted to go for a walk, and I saw you and Fireheart so I followed you. I didn't think you would go so far." She breathed. Scourgeclaw inwardly hissed at himself for not paying attention to his surroundings. Fireheart came up and looked at Scourgeclaw in worry.
"I'll get Princess, Yellowfang will be too late and too busy to leave the camp right now." Fireheart meowed racing back toward Princess garden. Scourgeclaw licked Mousefur's head in reassurance. He looked around for a better place for her to kit. A few tail-length's away he saw an tree with large enough roots for a few cats to shelter under. He raced over and dug out enough snow to allow them to fit under there, just as Fireheart and Princess arrived. Mousefur looked at Princess in confusion
"Who are you?" she asked quietly. Princesss licked her head gently.
"I'm Fireheart and Scourgeclaw's sister Princess." She meowed softly "its okay, I'm here to help you, I've just had kits myself." Scourgeclaw rejoined his mates' side and calmly nudged her.
"Do you think you can reach those tree roots over there it would be a safer place to have the kits." He meowed gently.
"You'll have to help me over there I don't think I can get there on my own." She replied though another wave of pain. Slowly the three siblings helped the queen reach the roots. Princess and Scourgeclaw were beside Mousefur, while Fireheart kept watch.
"A soon as you feel another wave of pain push through it Mousefur." Princess meowed gently. Mousefur nodded and suddenly she began to push. Princess meowed in encouragement as a bundle dropped to her feet and she began to lick it clean.
"It's a she-kit." Princess purred happily, Fireheart stuck his head in and Princess called him over to take the kit from her. "There's another in there, just do what you did before and push." Princess meowed as she gently touched her stomach feeling for kits.
It wasn't long before a second bundle joined the first and Princess began cleaning this bundle with just as much vigor as she had the first.
"It's another she-kit and they're both healthy." She purred softly gently bring the kit over to Mousefur and beckoning Fireheart to do the same. Scourgeclaw gently nuzzled Mousefur, happy that the ordeal was over and finally allowed him to see his kits.
His first born daughter was a tortoiseshell and white she-kit, but instead of red and black markings, they were brown and cream and his second daughter looked very much like him, except her forelegs were both white. The two kits squirmed closer to their mother, who gently licked them on their ears. Princess suddenly stood and began to leave the tree roots.
"I'll be right back." She meowed softly. Scourgeclaw and Fireheart nodded in understanding as they watched her go. Fireheart moved closer to Mousefur to get a better view of the kits.
"Their beautiful, Scourgeclaw, they'll make good warriors in the future." Fireheart purred to his brother, Scourgeclaw could only nod his head slowly. It wasn't long before Princess returned but she wasn't alone, in her jaws she carried a tiny white kit. The warriors and queen looked at her in surprise.
"Princess what are you doing?" Fireheart asked worried looking at the tiny bundle."
"I know that you're lives are centered around your clan, and that you must put them first before everything else. I know I could never be a warrior, but think my first born son can," she meowed firmly. She looked gently at Mousefur.
"I wish I had what it took to be a warrior and hunt and fight beside my brothers, but I can't, it would comfort me to have my son as a warrior fighting beside my brothers, will you take him, I can think of no other she-cat better to raise him for me." Mousefur looked into Princess' eyes and then at the tiny white bundle that was nestled net to Princess's belly. Scourgeclaw saw her eyes soften as she looked and wasn't surprised to hear her answer.
"Yes, I'll care for him and thank you for helping me deliver my kits," Mousefur purred softly. Princess carefully placed the young white tom next to the two newborn kits. Scourgeclaw heard her meowed a gentle goodbye to the tom, and to the other two warrior's and queen before heading back to her twoleg nest. Fireheart stood and start to head out of the roots.
"Wait Fireheart, before you fetch more warriors lets name the kits." Mousefur called. Scourgeclaw looked at her incredulously.
"Can't that wait till your safe in the nursery?"
"They won't be safe as long as greencough is in the nursery." She hissed, Scourgeclaw knew she was right, the makeshift den was warm, but they were still in the forest close to the Twolegplace, where twoleg's sometimes walked their dogs, so he wasn't too comfortable keeping them here but, if they were just going to name them first, then he felt no harm in waiting.
"Fine well name them first." He meowed, as he beckoned Fireheart closer. Mousefur purred looking down at her first born daughter.
"Her coat reminds me of the early morning sky, when the sun is rising, but its hidden from the clouds." Mousefur purred as she gazed fondly at the little tortoiseshell. "I think we should call her Morningkit" Scourgeclaw agreed it seemed to suit the little she-kit and he fixed his gaze on his other daughter.
"Her coat is dark like the night sky that lies between the stars." Scourgeclaw meowed gently. "The other should be named Nightkit." Mousefur purred her agreement.
"Fireheart you should name our nephew." Scourgeclaw meowed softly. Fireheart blinked greatfully and padded over to look at the soft white fur of the young tom.
"His coat will probably grow to be long and thick like a cloud, I think he should be named Cloudkit." He meowed softly. Scourgeclaw and Mousefur agreed taking in their new family. "I'll go and find some warrior's help get the kits back to camp." Fireheart meowed gently.
"Don't bother, just give me a minute and I'll be able to get back to help carry them back to camp." Mousefur meowed in determination. Scourgeclaw and Fireheart knew better than to argue and decided to let Mousefur rest.
~ Phew okay that's the end of this chapter and Scourgeclaw's kits are here. Bet you didn't expect them to come the way they did or for Scourgeclaw to become Cloudkit's Uncle/Father.
Morningkit and Nightkit what do you think of them?
I know they totally forgot about the catmint.
I'll try to update sooner but I've been looking back at passed chapters and I found a few mistakes I want to correct, nothing too big just a few errors I want to go over but I wanted to finish these two chapters first.~
