Chapter 53
Tawnypelt's POV
"Robinkit! Mossykit! Come back! It's time to go to sleep!" Tawnypelt yowled.
"But Mama! I'm not sleepy at all! I could fight all of ThunderClan and still not be sleepy!" Robinkit complained.
"Yeah Mama! I'm not tired either! I could catch all the prey in the forest!" Mossykit complained.
"Now, no complaining, and bid Pinenose and her kits good-night," Tawnypelt said as she tucked into her nest for the night.
"Goodnight!" Mossykit and Robinkit chorused together.
"See you next sunrise!" Pinenose's kits, Birchkit, Lionkit, Puddlekit, and Slatekit replied together.
"Mama, tell us a story!" Robinkit begged after they had settled in the nest with Tawnypelt.
"Yeah Mama! Tell us about BloodClan!" Mossykit begged.
"No! That is a story you two aren't ready for yet! How about a story about your father?" Tawnypelt mewed.
"But we heard that one before! Tell us about your journey to the mountains! Did you really meet Tribe cats?" Robinkit begged. Both kits were getting close to becoming apprentices, and wanted to know more about the mountains.
"You went to the mountains, Tawnypelt?!" Slatekit asked, overhearing their conversation.
"Yes, I did. Do you want to hear it, Slatekit?" Tawnypelt asked.
"Yes please," Slatekit nodded intensly.
"I want to hear it too!" Lionkit begged, and soon she had six kits asking for a story.
"All right then, but you have to listen to me," Tawnypelt mewed.
"We will!" The kits chorused together.
Tawnypelt noticed a feeling in the air. What is that? she thought. Whatever it was, it made her head ache.
Pinenose woke up from all of the noise the kits were making. "Tawnypelt, I'm tired. Can we save the story for the morning?"
"But Mama! We want to know about Tribe cats!" Slatekit begged.
"I'm sorry kits, but I think Pinenose is very stressed. I can feel it," Tawnypelt replied.
"Thank you Tawnypelt. Let's get some rest now," Pinenose thanked.
"Awwwww!" said the kits, pouting as they walked back to their mothers.
Then another feeling hit Tawnypelt, and it made her feel disappointed and sad.
"It's all right kits. I promise I will tell you the story tomorrow. For now, please go to sleep," Tawnypelt promised.
"Okay! Good-night Mama!" Robinkit mewed.
"Good-night Mama!" Mossykit echoed before snuggling in with Robinkit.
They sure are a handful, but I love them more than anything. Well, the kits and Rowanstar. Where is he? I really want him to come home in time for our kits' Apprentice Ceremony! Every day they're growing, and I'm worried that their father won't be there for one of the most important things in their life! I know the journey is important. I just want him to come home safely.
As soon as Tawnypelt calmed herself down, and she was plunged into a dream. She was in a beautiful, starlit forest, and the air smelled with the scent of wonderful prey. Where am I? Am I in StarClan?!
"Tawnypelt!" cried a voice and she turned around to locate it. There she saw Blackstar.
"Blackstar!" she exclaimed.
"Hello, Tawnypelt. I have important news for you. You are special." Blackstar mewed.
"How? Like in the way I knew Pinenose was stressed?" Tawnypelt joked.
"Exactly. You can sense other cats emotions."
Tawnypelt stared at him."I was just joking! That does not make a cat different!"
"But Pinenose showed no sign of stress. Only drowsiness and the need for sleep."
"Fine, so I can read emotions. How does that even help me?! To know my opponent feelings will just distract me!"
"There are 4 stars in ShadowClan, WindClan, RiverClan, ThunderClan, The Tribe of Rushing Water, and SkyClan. Together they will stop turmoil and chaos among all the Clans have ever known," Blackstar mewed. "You will learn to control these emotions soon."
"Wait what? SkyClan? And what turmoil? Blackstar!" Tawnypelt mewed as she was woken abruptly from her dream, by none other than Robinkit and Mossykit.
"Mama! Mama! Wake up! The big warriors say that there's a fox coming to the camp!" Mossykit cried.
"The warriors are fighting it inside the camp! It's so scary!" Robinkit added. That was all Tawnypelt needed to forget her dream for the time being, and peer outside the nursery entrance to see the warriors fighting a big orange fox.
Tawnypelt turned to Pinenose, who was still asleep. Robinkit and Mossykit were helping Lionkit, Slatekit, Puddlekit, and Birchkit wake her up.
"What?" Pinenose grumbled, unhappy to be awoken.
"Fox!" Tawnypelt cried, and Pinenose was on her feet in a heartbeat. "Kits! Back of the den, now! No arguing!" Tawnypelt screeched as all of the kits obeyed.
"Tawnypelt! Pinenose! Are the kits hurt?" Spikefur asked as he barged into the nursery, worry clearly etched into his eyes.
"They're at the back of their den," Pinenose replied. "Keep them occupied and watch them. I don't want one of them running into the middle of battle," Pinenose said. Before Spikefur could protest, Pinenose had already rushed out of the nursery and into the camp's clearing. Tawnypelt ran after Pinenose as the whole camp began attacking the fox.
"Stay away from my Clan, you meddling furball!" Tawnypelt heard Pinenose scream. The fox pricked its ears and started yowling at her. Pinenose stopped.
"Wait, what?" Tawnypelt heard Pinenose question herself. "Stop!" she shrieked at the cats. Most of the cats froze at Pinenose's command, but some had kept swiping at the fox.
"What do you mean stop?!" Tawnypelt heard Dawnpelt exclaim.
"Yeah! We need to drive this fox away!" Owlclaw added.
"Why did we stop?!" Scorchfur asked.
"Wait," Tawnypelt heard Crowfrost, the ShadowClan deputy, say. "Why do you want us to stop, Pinenose? There's a fox in our camp, which is clearly a danger to our Clan, especially to the kits, queens, and elders. Why do you want us to stop when we should be driving this pile of fox dung out of camp?" Crowfrost questioned, leaning over Pinenose.
"You might think I'm insane," Pinenose said, unafraid, "but I can actually understand this fox!"
Murmurs sprang across camp as the remaining cats who were fighting the fox stopped. The fox sat back on its haunches, licking its wounds, uninterested in attacking the kits, queens, and elders. Its only focus was on Pinenose.
"Its name is Flower, and she was curious of all the noise coming from camp," Pinenose mewed.
"So, what exactly do we do with it?" Spikefur asked, emerging from the nursery.
"Well, I don't know," said Pinenose, confused.
"If you can talk to this fox, then tell it to go away!" Crowfrost mewed, eager to get rid of the beast.
"All right. I'll tell her to leave," said she turned again back to the fox, focusing on it. A few heartbeats later, the fox plodded away from camp without harming any ShadowClan cat.
"Thank goodness it didn't attack the kits," Tawnypelt mewed, relieved. In the air, she could feel the tension draining away from camp as everyone headed back to their routine once more.
"Yes, thank StarClan the kits are okay!" Pinenose mewed, exhausted.
How does she speak fox? Tawnypelt wondered. With that ability, she could have helped us countless times!
"Pinenose, come talk with me," Crowfrost mewed, motioning towards Pinenose with his tail. "We need to discuss some things. You too, Littlecloud."
"Mama! Is the scary fox gone?" Robinkit mewed, coming out of the nursery as Pinenose headed towards Crowfrost's direction
"Yes, kits. She's gone," Tawnypelt mewed. "You all are safe once more."
"Pinenose was as brave as a warrior! Can you show me some moves?" Slatekit begged.
"Pleeeaaaaasssseeee?" Lionkit begged.
"Not now precious. For now, the elders can tell you a story," Tawnypelt mewed.
"Ok Mama, but you need to tell us the story of the Tribe cats tonight!" Mossykit mewed before going with the other kits to play hide-and-seek.
Where is Rowanstar when you need him? So many things are happening while he's gone, I want him to come back!
That's when Tawnypelt remembered her dream, and immediately headed towards the warriors den, where Crowfrost, Pinenose, and Littlecloud were talking.
"Tawnypelt! What are you doing in here?" Crowfrost asked. She could clearly see that she had interrupted their conversation.
"I had a dream! It involves Blackstar and a prophecy!" Tawnypelt mewed.
"Why didn't you tell me earlier?" Littlecloud asked. He was getting old, and his voice rasped in his throat a little.
"No offense, but how was I supposed to tell you that when we were attacked by Flower?" Tawnypelt asked.
"Well, tell us now!" Littlecloud mewed.
For the next few minutes, the three cats stared at Tawnypelt, listening intensly to what she was saying. There was silence for a moment before Littlecloud broke it.
"I get it! If there are four cats in ShadowClan with powers, that means there should be four cats with powers and the other Clans! Tawnypelt can sense emotions, and Pinenose can speak to other creatures! Well, we don't know how many different creatures, but that doesn't matter! We need to find the other two cats in ShadowClan!" Littlecloud mewed, excitement in his voice.
"But what if one of the cats with powers is on the journey? We'll never be able to reach out to them!" Pinenose asked.
"For now, let's worry about the cats in the camp. Tawnypelt, Pinenose, look after your kits and don't tell anyone of your powers," Crowfrost replied.
"Yes, now don't you have a story to tell the kits?" Pinenose asked, teasing.
"Yes, we sure do," Tawnypelt giggled. "But what are we going do with our powers?" Tawnypelt asked. "And who are the others?"
"You heard Crowfrost. Don't tell anyone anything. Kits! Tawnypelt has a story! Give the elders a break!" Pinenose mewed as she left the den.
"Yay! I want to know all about the mountains!" Mossykit squealed, rushing towards Tawnypelt's side.
"I want to hear the story too!" Slatekit mewed.
"We will, but let's get in the den first. It looks like it might rain," Tawnypelt mewed, looking up at the gray clouds that had stretched across the sky.
The kits raced into the den just as the first few drops of rain fell from the sky, clear and cold. Littlecloud and Crowfrost were still chatting about the prophecy, their heads bent in concentration. The warriors were gossiping about Pinenose's ability to talk to foxes, the apprentices were talking about their upcoming assessments, and the elders were talking about their old days of chasing a dog through the forest. Tawnypelt brought herself in the nursery with the kits already sitting down, waiting eagerly for Tawnypelt to tell her story.
"Well, it started when the Clans were still at the old forest. Nightstar, the leader before Blackstar, came to me-" Tawnypelt mewed before she was interrupted by a flash of light and a booming noise of thunder.
"Ah!" Birchkit cried.
"What was that?!" Mossykit asked, worry in her eyes.
"It was thunder. It won't reach you, you're safe," Pinenose reassured the kits. "Why don't we hear Tawnypelt's amazing story now?"
"Thank you, Pinenose. Now, Nightstar came and told me that I had to meet three other cats at the new moon," Tawnypelt mewed. "Later, I met up with Brambleclaw, and discovered that he had had the same dream. We decided to meet at Fourtrees. I came from ShadowClan, of course, Brambleclaw and Squirrelflight, Squirrelpaw then, came from ThunderClan, Crowfeather, Crowpaw then, came from WindClan, and Feathertail and Stormfur came from RiverClan."
"Then what happened?" asked Pinenose, not because she wanted to know, but because the kits were staring at Tawnypelt with their jaws open in shock, and Pinenose had to stop herself from laughing.
"So we went on a long journey to find the home that we live in today. We met with a badger named Midnight who told us that the forest was being destroyed by Twolegs, and that we had to lead the Clans to their new home. A dying warrior was to show us the way," she said. "After that, we headed back going through the mountains and found out that a fierce mountain lion had been giving the Tribe cats hard times. Tawnypelt mewed.
"A real lion?" Lionkit mewed excitedly.
"Wow!" Puddlekit said.
"Yes, it was a special kind of lion, and the Tribe named it Sharptooth. To defeat Sharptooth, we had a hare stuffed with deathberries, and one of the Tribe cats, called Talon of Swooping Eagle, made a blood trail that led to the Tribe's cave. After a few heartbeats, Sharptooth roared into camp. Squirrelpaw tried to distract it, but it went for Crowpaw. All of a sudden, Feathertail flung herself to the roof of the cave to send rock pikes raining down on him. She ended up killing Sharptooth, but sacrificed her life in the process," Tawnypelt mewed.
"Feathertail was so brave," Mossykit mewed.
"That must have been really cool!" Birchkit said.
"That was the best story ever!" Robinkit mewed.
"You saved mountain cats!" Lionkit squealed.
"You're the best warrior ever, Mama! And Feathertail too!" Mossykit mewed.
The rain outside the den had stopped, leaving puddles all over the camp. Cats slowly began to pour out of the dens. The elders were stretching their limbs, and Crowfrost was assigning a hunting patrol and border patrol. Littlecloud was going back to his den, and Pinenose padded outside.
"Come on kits! Go outside! It stopped raining, and you have been inside that den for a long time!" Pinenose mewed as the kits quickly obeyed her.
"I think that you tell a very good story, Tawnypelt," Pinenose complemented. "I was listening to the whole thing."
"Thanks. I think we should get some fresh-kill to eat and some water to drink. I'm starving and thirsty after that long story!" Tawnypelt mewed.