Chapter 10

I've decided that I am going to take one of everyone's submitted OC's for Stormfrost and Ravenwing's kits.

Hawkkit- RollingUpHigh

Ashkit- Alleykat29

Mosskit- quatre-vingt-dix-huit

Redkit- Blazeheart (guest)

Mistkit- Willowsmoke of ShadowClan

Anyway, on with the story! Thank you to my followers and reviewers!

Ravenwing blinked open his eyes to find Mapleshade scowling at him.

"What is wrong with you?!" she hissed. "You had kits with Rosepaw and you said you wouldn't do it again, and here's Stormfrost carrying your kits!"

"I-I'm sorry..." mumbled Ravenwing, backing away slowly.

"'Sorry' catches no prey!" spat Mapleshade, raking her claws along his tail.

"Mrrow!" screeched Ravenwing as blood began to flow out of the gash in his tail quickly.

"I challenge you to a battle!" Mapleshade yowled at him.

"As my punishment?" Ravenwing gasped.

Mapleshade smiled sweetly.

"Of course not," she cooed, her voice as silky as a cobweb and as smooth as a wet leaf. "It's your assessment."

"But I'm already a warrior!" protested Ravenwing.

"Down there you are," Mapleshade meowed. "But up here you're still my apprentice."

Glittering eyes sparkled from the lush undergrowth and thick ferns as dark shapes emerged from them. Cats. Probably StarClan cats like Mapleshade.

"They are here to watch," meowed Mapleshade smoothly.

Then, without warning, she lunged for Ravenwing's throat, but he quickly dodged out of the way.

"If you beat me then you will be leader before you know it!" Mapleshade informed him loudly.

Ravenwing flattened his ears as his eyes darkened. He took cautious steps forward toward his StarClan mentor. They circled each other, ears flat, lips drawn back in a full snarl, a soft growl in the back of their throats.

Ravenwing lunged for her chest as his teeth sliced through it, sending blood flying everywhere as it trickled out quickly and in large streams.

Mapleshade's legs gave way beneath her as she fell to the ground, shivering.

"I win," Ravenwing stated flatly. "My training is over."

He turned his back and began to walk away.

Silverhawk came over to congratulate him.

"You are welcome to spend time with us any time you like," the silver-gray tabby meowed. "Perhaps you could even get your own apprentice here."

"That would be swell," Ravenwing meowed calmly. "But aren't you going to help Mapleshade?"

"I'm fine," the orange-and-white she-cat mewed smoothly.

Ravenwing turned around and saw that the gash on her chest was gone. No blood remained in sight.

Ravenwing didn't question the tabby she-cat and instead dipped his head to her.

"I-I see," he uttered, baffled.

"Stay with us for a while," Thistleclaw invited with a smile.

"We can practice our battle moves for a while."

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"Ravenwing?" Stormfrost sounded worried.

"What?" Ravenwing mewed, feeling his stomach growl like thunder.

"You've been asleep for a moon!" Stormfrost replied.

"Why didn't you wake me?" Ravenwing hissed, getting up, but then recoiled as pain struck his belly.

"We couldn't!" wailed Stormfrost, brushing her muzzle against his. "We'd tried everything, but nothing seemed to work!"

Her tail entwined with his. "I thought I'd lost you..."

"You could lose my body," meowed Ravenwing bravely. "But never my soul. Because breath for breath, Stormfrost, I will always be with you."

Her belly had swelled to four times its size since Ravenwing had last seen his mate.

"The kits will be on their way any day now," Stormfrost murmured.

Ravenwing gazed outside of the narrow den and studied the gentle slope of the hill that shaded a quarter of the WindClan camp. He looked at the thick, tall, sunlit, evergreen grass that covered the camp and the stretching moor. Dark gray stones clustered in several spaces in in the camp, slightly frosty with the early leaf-fall morning. The gentle slope of the grassy hill shaded them well, except for the few that had the warm morning sun melting the leaf-fall frost off of them. Bright red and dark green leaves blew from the forest and into the camp. Several small, dark green bushes dotted the vast landscape, their prickly leaves bristling and some carrying small, round, blood-red berries on the tiny, thin branches that barely poked out from their lush green centers.

"The moor is quite beautiful," Stormfrost mumbled after a long moment of silence.

Cats began to poke their heads out of the dens that surrounded camp, some of them rousing from a cold night of sleeping outside. Relief filled their eyes as they saw Ravenwing peer out from Stormfrost and Ravenwing's den.

Frostpaw walked slowly over to him.

"Ashstar has been seeing to my training while you were asleep all this time," she mewed flatly, no emotion in her quiet, low voice. "Lionpaw is worried for you... or has been until now."

Lionpaw bounded up beside Frostpaw.

"Ashstar says that you're going to assess us!" Lionpaw squeaked.

"Just me?" Ravenwing inquired.

"No," Frostpaw mewed softly. "Just you and Whiskernose, our mentors."

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Ravenwing watched his apprentice and daughter intently as she chased after a rabbit. The pure white fur on her sleek pelt shone in the sunlight as her dark red ear-tips twitched at random points in time.

Her emotion was a mixture of determination and hunger. Mostly, her expression was as blank as untouched snow all the time.

Frostpaw's blue eyes twinkled in the afternoon leaf-fall light as her claws dug into the rabbit's neck. The rabbit dropped dead in an instant.

She's really powerful, Ravenwing thought as Frostpaw sliced her claws at a swooping hawk, killing it instantly. Scary powerful...

Later in the day, Ashstar called a ceremony for the naming of Frostpaw and Lionpaw.

"I hearby name you Frostfang because of your strong fighting skills," Ashstar announced.

Instead of beaming and squealing, Frostfang walked off calmly, taking a seat beside Owlwhisker.

"Lionpaw, come forth," Ashstar beckoned as the brown-and-cream apprentice bounced over to his leader.

"I hearby name you Lionclaw," Ashstar stated loud and clearly, "Because of your bravery in battle."

"Lionclaw! Frostfang! Lionclaw! Frostfang!" cheered WindClan below the highest stone in the Clan.

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Ravenwing led his patrol across the border of ThunderClan and WindClan.

"So, I hear you're the deputy of WindClan," mewed Dovewing as a patrol of ThunderClan cats followed her.

Ravenwing bit back a stinging retort to his mother.

"I'm proud of you, Son," Bumblestripe meowed.

"What?" hissed Ravenwing.

"Me too," Dovewing muttered. "I'm sorry we doubted you in the first place."

"Oh, look, it's the Clan who abandoned Ravenwing!" Grayflight spat.

"Shut up, you crow-food eaters!" spat Thornclaw.

Softbreeze arched her back, her ears flat.

"If you want a fight, we'll give you a good one!" the she-cat hissed.

"Stop it. Now," ordered Ravenwing flatly.

"They're asking for it," Frostfang snarled. This was the first time Ravenwing had ever seen her angry.

Without an order, Frostfang lunged for a fluffy ginger she-cat, whose eyes stretched wide but she had no time to dodge away. Frostfang dug her claws into the she-cat's shoulders as blood started gushing out of the thick gashes that Frostfang's claws had left.

"Cherrytuft!" yowled a brown-and-cream tom.

Ravenwing remembered these two as apprentices; Cherrypaw and Molepaw, who had apparently grown into fine young warriors.

"Help me, Moledust!" wailed Cherrytuft as her hind paws pummeled at Frostfang's belly, but to no avail.

"Frostfang!" hissed Ravenwing, slashing a sheathed paw at his daughter's spine. "Stop it this instant!"

Frostfang paid no attention to the deputy's orders and sank her teeth into Cherrytuft's neck.

"No!" screeched Berrynose, lunging for Frostfang.

Frostfang looked up from her killing bite and swiped a paw at Berrynose, sending him flying away and crashing into a tree.

Ravenwing was shocked at his daughter's incredible strength.

The frosty glare of the afternoon sunlight made the blood on Frostfang's teeth glow bright red as she dug her teeth back into Cherrytuft's throat.

Ravenwing had no choice. He flung himself at Frostfang, sending her tumbling away with a massive force.

He glanced down worriedly at Cherrytuft, whose amber eyes were beginning to glaze over.

"Get Jayfeather!" he cried.

Suddenly the cat Ravenwing had once known as Amberkit bounded over to the wounded Cherrytuft. Her gray fur shadowed Cherrytuft like a fading leaf-bare dusk.

"What can you do, Amberflower?" Leafpool asked with worry.

"There's nothing I can do," the gray she-cat replied solemnly. "She's gone."

Poppyfrost tipped back her head and let out a caterwaul of grief as she buried her nose in her dead kit's fur, Berrynose and Moledust joining in.

"I'm so sorry-" Ravenwing began.

"Just shut up and go away," snapped Dovewing bitterly. "I knew I should never have let myself be proud of a monster like you."

"But it was my daughter-"

"You had kits with a she-cat?" Dovewing wheezed. "How could a she-cat love someone as ugly as you?"

"No wonder that cat is a monster," Thornclaw spat at him coldly. "You're her father."

"Her mother died before she even knew her!" snapped Softbreeze, standing tall beside Ravenwing. "It isn't Frostfang's fault that she feels abandoned. Especially since Gorsetail was weak and couldn't give her or her own kits much attention when she was a queen! So shut your mouths!"

"Bumblestripe," Dovewing hissed to her mate. "Show these murderers off."

Bumblestripe stood in front of Ravenwing, facing Dovewing with a harsh glare in his eyes.

"No," he stated flatly. "All these moons I've watched you hate out kit and talk about him like he's a bad omen!"

"He is a bad omen!" Dovewing snapped tartly.

"What is wrong with you?" mewed Bumblestripe urgently. "You used to be so kind and gentle. Even to Ravenwing when he hadn't opened his eyes!"

Dovewing whipped her head around harshly.

"If you're still going to treat Ravenwing like this, then we are no longer mates," Bumblestripe meowed coldly. "I will never share a piece of fresh-kill or a nest with you ever again."

"So be it," Dovewing huffed.

"Wait!" cried Ravenwing. "Please don't argue over me! I'm gone now, you can think whatever you want of me and I won't care!"

"Oh please," Dovewing muttered cruelly. "Don't get like that, ugly thing, Bumblestripe and I are through."

"What do you think Mintkit thinks from StarClan?" Bumblestripe hissed.

Dovewing cringed.

"Is this why you treat Ravenwing like this? Is this why you favor Milkfeather and Marigoldwhisker over Ravenwing?"

Dovewing burst into tears as she bolted away, back into the forest.

"Let's go," meowed Ravenwing sternly, dipping his head to his father and then to Cherrytuft's dead body.

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"Stormfrost gave birth to the kits without you," meowed Ashstar as the patrol approached the WindClan camp.

"And Frostfang killed Cherrytuft, a ThunderClan warrior," Ravenwing muttered darkly as he entered the nursery to find Stormfrost with five tiny kits crowded at her belly, suckling.

"I saved the naming until you got here," Stormfrost meowed gently.

Ravenwing pointed his tail to the silver-gray she-kit.

"Mistkit?" he suggested gingerly.

"Yes, and the dark red she-kit, Redkit," Stormfrost meowed. "And the pure black she-kit, Mosskit."

"Let's name the dark red tom-kit Hawkkit," meowed Ravenwing softly. "And... and the ash-gray she-kit... Ashkit."

"Ashstar also lost a life defending these kits from a badger," Stormfrost mewed quickly. "And so did I. I mean, I didn't lose a life, obviously, but I fought to defend these very kits."

She paused to lick the blood off her forepaw.

Ravenwing knew that his leader had seven lives left; she'd told him. One from a ShadowClan warrior and another from the recent badger attack.

"Apparently the badger had come to reclaim her den," Stormfrost meowed. "Which was this one."

"They're great kits, and I'm proud of you," mewed Ravenwing, quicky rasping his tongue over his mate's head. "You... you and Rosepaw... you two are so very special to me... and so is Frostfang and these kits."

"I heard Frostfang killed Cherrytuft," Stormfrost murmured softly. "She could be the cat who killed Crowfeather. Be reasonable, Ravenwing, it's most likely that she's the one."

"Don't you ever say that!" Ravenwing hissed, ignoring the shock in Stormfrost's dark blue eyes. "You're just jealous that Rosepaw got to me first and had the best kits ever before you did! Rosekit, Frostfang, Shadekit, Rosepaw and Duskkit are the loves of my life!"

Stormfrost squeezed her eyes shut, whimpering and burying her face in her kits' fur.

"I'm sorry..." Ravenwing began, feeling his eyes mist over. "I should have died along with Mintkit like Dovewing said..."

"Don't you ever say that," Stormfrost snapped, her eyes wet with small tears. "I'll always love you no matter what you say, or what you do. You are the love of my life, along with these kits."

Ravenwing liked Stormfrost's bravery and determination. It made her who she was.

"This is my destiny," Ravenwing murmured. "You are my destiny."

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During the past seven moons, Ashstar had lost two lives, one to greencough and another to a murder that no cat knew who commited. They all suspected that it was the same cat who had killed Crowfeather, but no one knew for sure.

Mistpaw and Hawkpaw paced around their mentors, Gingerfur and Grayflight.

"Grayflight, can I learn some new battle moves?" squeaked Mistpaw to her mentor.

"She means us, Gingerfur," Hawkpaw corrected, his molten orange eyes glistening in the newleaf sun.

"Softbreeze, take Gorsetail, Hawkpaw, Gingerfur and Lionclaw out on a patrol," Ravenwing ordered.

"Hunting or borders?" Softbreeze questioned.

"Borders," Ravenwing replied.

Softbreeze nodded, rushing out of camp with the chosen warriors streaming behind her.

"But I want to go on patrol too!" wailed Mistpaw, stomping her foot on the ground.

"Maybe Ashstar will let you go to the Gathering tonight," Ravenwing informed her, purring with amusement as his daughter's eyes lit up. "If you're good and go Webfoot and Owlwhisker for ticks."

"I can do that!" chimed Mistpaw.

Ravenwing caught Redpaw peeking in Kestrelflight's den again.

"If you're that curious, go and learn some remedies," he invited as Redpaw jumped with shock.

"Yeah, every other apprentice says I can't hunt or fight," Redpaw mewed sadly. "And it's true. But, I've always wanted to heal other cats! I know a lot of recipes from watching Kestrelflight. Marigold for infections, alder bark for damaged eyes..."

Ravenwing left Redpaw listing remedies as Kestrelflight padded out, listening to the chattering apprentice, a smile on his face.

Ravenwing thought that maybe Redpaw would grow up to be a medicine cat. If she could handle the big responsibility, that is.

"Ravenwing," Ashstar interrupted hs thoughts.

"Yes?" Ravenwing meowed.

"I have a special mission for you," Ashstar replied smoothly.

"What is it?" Ravenwing was becoming quite curious.

Ashstar beckoned with her tail for Ravenwing to follow her into the Leader's Den.

Ravenwing sat down beside Ashstar, who took a deep breath.

"Listen," she informed him. "ThunderClan has been acting very odd, lately. Remember the time when Berrynose stirred up a battle last Gathering?"

Ravenwing nodded his head. "But Berrynose is always causing trouble."

Ashstar purred slightly, but caught herself, stiffening.

"I've received a baffling prophecy," she reported. "And I think the wisest choice is to share it with my deputy. I've already told Kestrelflight, and he doesn't understand it, either."

"What makes you think I can?" Ravenwing queried.

"I'm just seeing if you'll understand it," Ashstar stated calmly. "The shade of the tall tree will return, leaving frosty blood in its path as revenge it does yearn."

"That is quite confusing," Ravenwing meowed, baffled out of his mind.

"Yes, it is," Ashstar told him. "That's why I'm asking you to travel to the mountains and visit this... this some sort of... of Tribe. Tribe of Running Shadows? Tribe of Rushing River? I don't remember. StarClan told me that someone needed to go there, though."

"If it will help my Clan, then I'll gladly go," Ravenwing meowed bravely.

"Good," mewed Ashstar. "Because you and three other cats of your choice leave tomorrow at dawn."

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Get ready for the reveal on who killed Crowfeather!

The forest was dark and silent as the she-cat smiled to herself, knowing that she had made that tom deputy by killing Crowfeather.

She'd made Ravenwing deputy, just like she'd promised.

Just like Mapleshade had promised.

Aha! I bet you guys that you weren't expecting that, now, were you? I bet that most of you thought it was Frostfang considering all the reviews telling me that she did it! And like, a quarter of you thought it was Stormfrost! Probably because a lot of you prefer RosexRaven... Anyway, I'm surprised that one of you thought it was Mapleshade! Great guessing!

Anyway, tell me, you guys, how many of you prefer RosexRaven over StormxRaven? Please tell me in your review! (If you leave one!) (-: