"Are you sure you want to do this?" Crowfur asked.
"Yes mother, I'm positive that I want to be a medicine-cat." Ratkit replied.
Ratkit had begun training as an apprentice, but it was getting very clear that she was interested in being a medicine-cat.
"I'll tell Frostystar," Crowfur headed for the leader's den.
###
Buzzstripe had begun to wonder how much longer Frostystar would be around, with her being on her last life, and leaf-bare approaching. She had lost 2 lives in battle, 1 by being attacked by a dog, 1 from being attacked by a fox, 1 from a vicious rogue, and 3 from sickness.
Tawnyflight had begun to help as a medicine-cat, and 1 of her kits, Finchpaw, was leaning towards being a medicine-cat too. The Clan had Purrthroat mentoring Ratpaw and Finchpaw. Sandscar, the former medicine-cat, who is now an elder, is teaching Tawnyflight. The clan would be prepared for anything with this many medicine cats! Finchpaw was training as a warrior and a medicine-cat, she was very intelligent, and so she said it was easy. Frostystar had agreed that it would be good for her to fight and heal.
Sandscar was so plump with a kit, she looked as if she was about to blow, and so did Tippedear.
Buzzstripe was right, Sandscar had kitted on the same day Tippedear did. Tippedear had a total of 6 kits! Sandscar only had 1. Sandscar named hers Purrkit, in honor of Purrthroat. The kit was a somewhat big dark brown tabby she-cat, who looked like Purrthroat as a kit. The medicine-cat was touched by Sandscar's choice of name. Tippedear had 5 beautiful she-cats like her, and 1 white, Persian tom. Hazelkit, Blossomkit, Sagekit, Emberkit, and Breezekit were the Burmese she-cats, and Weaselkit was the Persian tom.
When she thought the pain was over, she had 1 more, another Burmese, that she named Grasskit, in honor of her friend Grassthorn.
Tippedear lost very much blood, and was too weak to feed all of them. Other queens helped feed the little kits, but at least she didn't give them up, like Grassthorn!
"Who's the father, hmm? There are no Persians in the Clan or any other Clan." asked Raspthroat holding Gorsekit close to her stomach. The kit was one of the older kits, along with her 4 sisters. It was a big family.
"Yeah, Raspthroat, why are some of your kits flat-faced, if there are no others in the clan?" Horsekit hissed.
"Hush!" Adderbite slapped her tail over Horsekit's mouth.
Adderbite had taken in Horsekit, and was nursing her back to health.
"I'm old, she's young, and of course she doesn't know the story! Let me tell her." Raspthroat said.
"No! I won't allow you to scare my kits with your devilish story!" Adderbite hissed.
"What!?" she spat, "I'm sure they can handle it."
"No is no!" Poolnose spat.
"Fine." Raspthroat lashed her tail and padded off, followed by Gorsekit, Daisykit, Reedkit, Sorrelkit and Snakekit.
(I never wrote the story, but well...Raspthroat's kits were an accident.)
"She's so mean!" Ratpaw poked Horsekit playfully.
"I know!" Blizzardpaw huffed.
"I wanted to hear the story!" sighed Foxpaw.
"Me too." Frogpaw nudged Dustpaw, "Let's go bother the warriors who are sleeping!"
Dustpaw looked at his paws, "I wanted to take a nap, and I'm too cold."
"Lazy furrball!" Frogpaw lashed his tail, "I bet Bluepaw will come!" he hopped over to the blue-gray she-cat.
A thick, nasty coughing came from the medicine den.
"Branchtooth is sick again, I bet he won't be deputy much longer." mewed Whiteheart.
"I know, his cough is terrible!" Buzzstripe replied.
Inside she hoped this was her chance to become deputy. She knew Hareclaw, Berrytail, and Pricklefur had their mind set on it too. They weren't her real competition; Stareowl and Rippleblaze were the real threats.
Frostystar stepped out of her den, "All cats old enough to catch their own prey gather beneath Leader's Rock for a clan meeting!" she yowled.
Cats gathered beneath her.
"There are a few kits that deserve to be called paws'." She boomed, "These kits are Gorsekit, Daisykit, Snakekit, Sorrelkit and Reedkit!"
The kits didn't appear.
Frostystar waited a moment, "I'll continue on then. Cloudkit, Leafkit, Shallowkit."
Cloudkit hopped onto Leader's Rock first, followed by Leafkit. Shallowkit leapt up, but her jump was too small and she didn't reach the top of the rock. She tried again. Her jump, again, didn't reach the top, but she dug her claws into the moss growing on the side of the rock and hauled herself upward. She sat on the rock, embarrassed, and smoothed down a piece of messed up fur on her chest.
"Sorry we're late," Raspthroat apologized as she padded into camp. She held 3 mice, 2 voles and a squirrel, dangling by their tail in her mouth. Daisykit was holding a plump robin, bluebird, and a sparrow, while Reedkit held a rabbit twice the size of herself, and a huge thrush. Sorrelkit proudly held a pigeon, 2 big voles and a mole, Snakekit had a chipmunk, and a squirrel, and 4 big fish.
"You've restocked our fresh-kill pile!" Frostystar exclaimed, "Where did you get all that?!"
"There is a place absolutely packed full of prey just beyond the two-leg place!" Daisykit said dropping her catches.
"And the fish?" Frostystar asked.
"There's a stream over there too." Snakekit placed her prey on the fresh-kill pile.
The other kits followed.
"You 4, get up here, you deserve to be called apprentices!" Frostystar said beckoning them up with her tail, "Where's Gorsekit?"
"She was hunting over by the Rocky Pit." Reedkit replied.
At that moment, Gorsekit walked in through the thorn tunnel.
She held a scrawny mouse.
"Nice catch!" Snakekit laughed from leader's rock, her sisters started laughing too.
"Shut up!" Gorsekit hissed, "I got a really big thorn in my pad, so it was hard to hunt."
She stuck out her paw to reveal a nasty cut in her paw.
"I'm on it!" Ratpaw came running over and sniffed the wound. Finchpaw came running, with some herbs in her mouth. She rubbed it on the cut, and then covered it in cobwebs.
"Great job!" Tawnyflight praised Finchpaw.
When Gorsekit got onto Leader's Rock, Frostystar appointed mentors to the kits, and then the meeting was over.
###
Hareclaw was woken up by the howling wind outside. She shivered. It was leaf-bare, and it was freezing. Around the den she noticed Branchclaw had been woken by the wind too.
"Hey." He nuzzled her, "Why are you up?"
"The wind woke me up." Hareclaw sat up in her nest, and then licked her chest fur, that was all rumpled up, then settled back into her nest.
There was a crunch outside. She heard light footsteps heading outside of camp.
She peered past the hanging ferns at the entrance to the warrior's den. She saw a black pelt creep past. It was Brokenface. She held 5 tiny black bundles in her jaws. 2 more trailed behind her.
"Come on baby, you can do it." She soothed the smallest of the kits, who trailed behind her.
Hareclaw crept out of the den, and followed Brokenface.
She bled, leaving a red trail in the snow.
"I'm cold!" wailed one of the kits.
"I know." She led them out into the forest, and headed for the plateau, where winds blew across the high terrain.
She led them out into the open.
They wailed, "I'm cold!"
"I'm sorry," her voice came out as a whisper.
She dug a hole in the deep snow. She pushed the 7 kits in. She kicked snow up on top of them, and ran away. She raced off towards the Rocky Pit. She stood on the edge. She bunched her muscles, and leaped. There was a sickening crack. Hareclaw bounded over. Brokenface lay dead on the bottom of the pit. Blood pooled around her. Her back was broken, and a tumble of rocks lay next to her. Hareclaw stood horrified at the edge of the pit. A red trail showed where she had fallen.
Hareclaw gasped, THE KITS!
She hared off towards the moorland again. She undug them and found them shivering in the hole. Hareclaw picked up as many as she could, which was 4. She needed help. Hareclaw yowled as loudly as she could.
She wrapped herself around the kits, and yowled again, and again, until Branchclaw, Longpebble, Pricklefur, Berrytail and Frostystar came running.
"What happened?"Frostystar demanded.
"Are they ours?" Branchclaw asked, his eyes brightening.
"No, they belong to Brokenface. She brought them out here, and then jumped off the edge of the Rocky Pit." Hareclaw said, "She's dead."
"No," Frostystar whispered.
"Help me carry them back to camp." Hareclaw picked up 2 kits in her jaws. Branchclaw grabbed 2, Berrytail grabbed 2, and Pricklefur grabbed 1.
As they walked back to camp they heard a squeak, "Mom, mom, where are you?" A tiny black kit was huddled in the snow, with flakes covering its fur. She shut her eyes, and shook rapidly. It was another one of Brokenface's kits. She had 8!
"I'm right here." whispered Hareclaw, "I'm right here, baby." She handed the kit to Pricklefur.
"Let's go home." One of the kits squeaked.
They stumbled across 7 more kits on the way home, and carried them back. (It's impossible, I know. I was kit-crazy)