Aurorastar cringed as another prick of pain lashed out in her belly. She had been feeling weaker today, and the sudden pains in her stomach was not helping.
Her deep blue eyes rested on her now hugely plump belly. Just a moon more to go, kits. I'm sure you can hold on that long.
She hissed as another stab of pain clawed at her, almost hungrily, as if trying to get her attention.
"Can we do battle training?" Jewelpaw's high-pitched meow startled Aurorastar, distracting her from the pain. She looked up, her cloudy gaze resting on the half-moon-trained apprentice. The leader was sitting below Brightledge, while the apprentice was jumping around in the middle of camp.
"Can we?" Jewelpaw asked again, racing around her mentor, Leopardsun.
Leapordsun gazed at her apprentice, though Aurorastar held back a gasp when she noticed that Leapordsun looked as if she was staring through her apprentice.
"Battle training?" Leopardsun echoed, her glazed amber eyes beginning to focus in on Jewelpaw.
"Yep!"
Leopardsun shook her head, as if trying to fling something off her ears. "Uh, yeah, sure. You go on ahead, I'll meet you there."
As Jewelpaw charged out of the camp, Aurorastar heaved herself to her paws, ambling over to the golden warrior.
"What is it?"
Leopardsun's eyes began to narrow in on Aurorastar. "What?"
"What's bothering you?" The leader sat down in front of the warrior, curling her tail over her paws.
A flash of fear crossed Leopardsun's face. "Something is going to... to happen. Something bad."
Aurorastar leaned forward. "What is it, Leopardsun?"
The golden warrior flattened her ears. "I don't know. It's Nightglow, she's planning something." She bared her teeth at the leader. "You can't stop her. None of us can." Her eyes flashed. "She is going to kill us!"
"Leapordsun, what-" Aurorastar was interrupted by a sudden earsplitting yowl, followed by a ruffled looking Nightglow and Bluefire charging into camp.
Anxiety began to grip Aurorastar like a claw. Oh no.
"Badgers!" Nightglow snarled.
Aurorastar leaped over to the deputy. "Where are they?"
"They were right in the middle of our territory, but not anymore," Nightglow hissed, a smug expression beginning to fill her face. "We killed them."
Aurorastar's gaze became blank. "What?"
"They were only kits," Bluefire spoke up. "No bigger than a grown cat. Pathetic little animals," he growled.
"So you killed them?" Aurorastar couldn't believe what she was hearing.
"They could have been a threat to SunClan," Nightglow said, shrugging.
"That doesn't mean you have to kill them," Aurorastar spat, her emotions getting the better of her. "You could have just chased them off!"
"And let more badgers roam our territory?" Nightglow hissed. "I thought you wanted what was best for your Clan," she sneered.
"What you have done will not prove to be good for SunClan!"
"Nightglow," Leopardsun growled, now standing beside Aurorastar. "Just accept the fact that you have made a mistake and be done with it."
Nightglow narrowed her eyes, but eventually gave a curt nod. "My apologies, leader." Aurorastar didn't miss the sneer in the deputy's voice.
Apologies? She just risked the safety of SunClan! "You can't-" she stopped, a hiss escaping her mouth as a wave of pain, so terrible she wanted to screech out, rolled over her.
"Get Starwhisper!" A voice called, but Aurorastar could not tell who. Her senses were leaving her, wavering and clouded. The only thing her body was now focused on was pain stabbing at her stomach.
"Aurorastar. Aurorastar, look at me."
Starwhisper's voice rang firmly in her ears. It made Aurorastar flinch, and she could feel her body dropping into a crouch.
"Get... away," she hissed, burying her face in her paws.
She could feel the medicine cat's soft touch against her fur as she examined the leader. Aurorastar flattened her ears when she suddenly felt Starwhisper's body stiffen.
"I need cats to help me bring Aurorastar to my den."
"What's wrong with her?" one cat asked.
Starwhisper's words made more terror than imaginable engulf Aurorastar.
"Her kits are coming. Right now."
Her fading senses began to alert her that she was moving, being lifted off the ground. She could hear moans escaping her jaws, though she made no effort to stop them. She let out a huff of breath when she felt herself being laid down onto a mossy nest.
"Aurorastar, stay with me." Starwhisper was now prodding her in the shoulder. "You have to stay awake; your kits are coming."
Aurorastar began to pry open her eyes. Starwhisper and Birchleaf were standing over her with a worried looking Redpalm and Tigerlily staring at her from the entrance.
"Shoo," Starwhisper told the two warriors, who scurried off quite quickly. "Birchleaf, get Waterfall out of here."
Birchleaf darted over to the blue-gray she-cat, the remaining cat with greencough, who was watching Aurorastar with widely stretched eyes.
"Aurorastar, you have to try and stand up. You can't be lying down when your kits come."
The leader heaved herself to her paws without protest. She recognized Starwhisper's tone of voice. It was a tone the medicine cat saved for certain cats. Cats who were on the verge of StarClan's borders.
And that was when the first cramp hit her like a blow.
She tried, she tried so hard to stifle the yowl in her throat, but the pain took over her. She yowled, long and loud. She wished she hadn't. She hated feeling weak and helpless.
"Aurorastar!" A screech sounded behind her. She could feel her pelt prickle when Nightsun's scent filled her nose.
"Stay out!" Starwhisper snarled, her tail lashing so hard that it brushed over Aurorastar's sweaty fur.
"Stay strong, Aurorastar!" Now Eclipsewing was yelling at her.
Aurorastar shook her head, feeling her ears slick against her head and her legs trembling. A wail exploded out of her mouth.
"Birchleaf, get a stick! A firm stick!"
Birchleaf darted past the SunClan leader after the command of her mentor, surprisingly looking quite collected given the situation.
"You can do it," Starwhisper murmured, almost sounding as if she was also speaking to herself.
Aurorastar let out a bloodcurdling screech as a terrible cramp stabbed at her body, black spots threatening to cloud out her vision.
"Eclipsewing! Come in here and help me!" Starwhisper snapped.
"What can I do?" Eclipsewing was at her side in an instant.
Before Starwhisper could reply, Aurorastar cried out once more, tears making her vision turn blurry.
"Nip open the sack and lick the kit's fur the wrong way," the medicine cat hissed.
The first kit is out? Every sense in her body told her to whip around to see her new daughter or son, but the pain in her body made her stiff.
"It's breathing!" Eclipsewing gasped. "A little tom."
Aurorastar bit her lip as pain and frustration coursed through her.
StarClan, I can't do this much longer.
She could feel blood dripping down her chin as a second kit slid out.
"A she-cat," Starwhisper meowed after a few moments. "Keep going, Aurorastar!"
"Here." Aurorastar hadn't noticed Birchleaf return, but now the medicine cat apprentice was shoving a stick in the leader's jaws. "Bite down when the pain comes."
Aurorastar wailed out, slightly muffled by the stick, and bit down when she felt her muscles tense once more.
"Another she-cat..." Aurorastar could feel the uncertainty rolling off the medicine cat in thick waves.
"Any... more?" she managed out. She could feel Starwhisper press her ear against Aurorastar's belly before replying, "yes."
She let out a hiss. Her thoughts now only consisted on prayers, prayers that her kits would be safe.
Her legs gave way underneath her as another cramp took over her body. Her stick splintered into two as the fourth kit plopped out.
"It's a tom," Eclipsewing mewed, her voice no longer filled with awe, instead cold defeat.
"What's wrong?!" she wanted to scream out, but her energy wasn't enough to talk.
The strong scent of blood engulfed her nose, making her want to vomit. She didn't need to be a medicine cat to know that her kitting was going terribly wrong.
She let out a gasp as she fell to the ground, her chin plowing into the mossy nest.
"Great StarClan, there's one more coming." Pure anxiety filled Starwhisper's words, but the rest was drowned out by Aurorastar's wail, low and desperate.
"... tom," Birchleaf's mew was barely audible as Nightsun raced inside, stopping at Aurorastar's weak, trembling body.
"Aurorastar!" He was crying out. "Stay... the Clan... the kits!" His words kept getting cut off as Aurorastar's sensing began failing her. As a wall of darkness crashed down on her, the last thing she heard was Nightsun's earsplitting yowl.
"Come back to me!"