Sootstep shook out his thick, white fur. Despite his pelt he was still bristling from the cold as he padded dejected back to camp with his patrol. All of them were empty pawed - it was just too cold out for any prey to be out for the taking. RiverClan usually suffered hunger in leaf-bare when the rivers in their territory froze but they usually got by on land prey in the harsh months. It was tough, but doable, as every generation had done it before.
But right now there just was nothing out there even for land prey. Sootstep would have to go back out again. Mintnose would kit any time now and even though she was being fed first her belly wouldn't be full if the patrol couldn't catch anything. They needed something. His mate was already weakened by the pregnancy in the cold climate to begin with. He couldn't help feel a sliver of guilt but kits had been born in leaf-bare before. No one had thought this leaf-bare would've been as bad as it was.
"Sootstep!" Rapidpaw darted to the deputy with his fur also fluffing out from the cold. "Sootstep, it's Mintnose!"
A shock went through Sootstep's paws all the way to his tail. "What?" He could see the rest of the RiverClan warriors looking at him with eyes that seemed to hold pity. "What's wrong?"
Rapidpaw stopped in front of the large warrior. "She's kitting!"
Sootstep's claws dug into the frozen ground. "When? What? Brambleflower said she had half a moon left!"
"I don't know, I'm not a medicine cat, but I caught her hearing something about stress."
"Why didn't anyone find me and tell me?"
"Because," Dawnwater slided up to him, her pretty silver pelt gleaming against the snow. "There was no one in the camp save me and Rapidpaw. The rest are out hunting. And Brambleflower said she needed us here since she didn't have an apprentice."
Sootstep didn't need to hear any more as he dashed toward the nursery. The groans of a cat in labor could be heard from inside but before Sootstep could enter he caught Brambleflower's gaze. "No! We don't want anyone in here. Mintnose is struggling as it is and I won't have more cats trapiezing in here and causing more chaos. Please, wait outside. She's nearly there. Just a little while longer and then you can see her and your kits."
Sootstep bowed his head towards the fierce medicine cat. The rest of the clan joked about her name, stating she should be named Brambleclaw since she could be absolutely vicious if she needed to be. Once she had gotten into a fight with some cat from WindClan because they were playing with a bush of some type of necessary herb. She had come back to camp with fur between her claws, a scratch across her nose, and whatever herb she had wanted clasped victoriously in her jaw. When asked, she had said, "Oh, he was much worse off than me, poor kit." Now the cats of all Clans knew that in spite of her sweet demeanor the RiverClan medicine cat was not afraid to use her claws.
Anxiety swept over Sootstep as if a thousand fire ants were crawling over his body, burning, as he could do nothing but pace back and forth in front of the nursery. From somewhere across the camp he heard Graystar call out for another hunting patrol but like a stone in the river Sootstep's gut sunk at the idea. There was just no prey out there to be had no matter how many hunting patrols were sent out.
Another groan came from the nursery and he sunk his claws into the earth, tearing the cold ground up from underneath him. The sweet ache in his claws did little to take his mind off of his laboring mate. Mintnose had always been a formidable warrior though she had a soft side that Sootstep loved and had always managed to hold her own in battles. But should she falter, he had always had her back. But now there was nothing he could do. He hated feeling so weak, so useless, so out of control!
He'd been so caught up in his thoughts he hadn't noticed Brambleflower coming out of the nursery and nodding to him. Her eyes, usually alight with joy or mischief, had darkened. Sootstep felt his heart fall even further.
"Is - what - did?" He stumbled over his words and Brambleflower bowed her head.
"The kitting was too early," she said, "sometimes in the worst of famines and leaf-bares, it can happen. But go," she nodded toward the den, "Mintnose needs you."
that was all Sootstep needed to hear as he crept carefully through the entrance to the den. It was formed of reeds and grasses from the river, tough, sturdy, and decorated with feathers and shells and little stones that reflected the light. Near the back Mintnose was breathing heavily, her body wrapped around four kits.
"Mintnose," Sootstep said, pressing his nose to his mate's cheek. Was it just him or did she feel all too warm for the cold outside?
Mintnose's eyes were distant, dull. "Three of them didn't make it. The toms. I wanted them to have names before they went to StarClan."
A flood of grief hit Sootstep like a rough wave. "Alright," he said. "Remember we had been talking about Featherkit and Stonekit? That's two." His tail traced over the cold, small bodies of two tomkits who looked so much like him.
Mintnose took another gasping breath. "And maybe Whistlekit for the third?"
"Whistlekit sounds perfect," Sootstep forced a purr.
The remaining living kit squealed as she latched on to Mintnose. She was the smallest of the litter by far but looked near identical to his beloved mate. "And the she-kit?"
"Listen to me!" Mintnose rasped as her gaze went to him, their kit, and back to him. "I can hear them calling me, StarClan. My sister Daisyfrost, my kits, I don't think I'm long for this world."
"Mintnose, Brambleflower -"
"Brambleflower told me herself," Mintnose said and not for the first time Sootstep cursed the medicine cat. "I need you to promise me something."
"Anything!"
"Whatever happens to me, keep her alive. I don't care what you have to do. I don't care where you have to go. Just keep her alive, promise me, promise me!"
"I promise," Sootstep said, watching as his heart broke within him.
"Daisyfrost?" Mintnose murmured, resting her weary head on a ball of moss. "I'm ready now."
Mintnose's flank stopped rising and her eyes became dull, lifeless. Sootstep hung his head and crouched beside his mate. "This is all my fault, I'm so sorry."
"There's nothing you could have done," a voice said from the den entrance.
Sootstep sprang up, nearly jumping on the medicine cat. "You had one job! You had one job! And now they're gone!"
"One kit still lives," Brambleflower said. "Though for how long, I'm not sure. She can continue to nurse on the milk Mintnose already has but that will be gone by moonhigh. We don't have any other nursing queens. You'll have to make a decision and make it soon."
Sootstep felt like wailing. How was he supposed to decide something like this? How could they even think of making him go through that choice? His heart already felt like a fox had dug his fangs into it and it was a wonder he wasn't crumpled over by the pain.
Promise me, he heard Mintnose say again. Promise me.
He gave a long, sad look toward the nursery before retreating to the leader's den.
"Are you sure about this?" Graystar said. The sun was slowly peaking up from the clouds. Sootstep had spent the entire night wrapped around his single remaining kit and with his nose pressed into Mintnose's rapidly cooling body. Now he walked in the snow with his leader and Brambleflower and the she-kit in his jaws. The poor scrap was so tiny and tired that she could barely mewl in hunger which he knew had to be setting in fast.
Graystar broke protocol when he didn't wait for a WindClan control before bounding over the boundary river. The other two cats followed suit, Sootstep more carefully due to the bundle he was carrying. It didn't take them long to be spotted on the moors by a WindClan cat and in no time at all a dark ginger shape dashed across the snow. Galestar's pelt hung off her, her bones showing, her muzzle grayed as if she had aged much in one season despite being a recently new leader. It must have said something about their own sorry state that she felt comfortable meeting them alone.
"Greetings," she said, eyeing the trespassing cats, "And to what do I own the pleasure of you three being on my territory?"
Graystar took a step forward. "Mintnose died kitting last night. RiverClan has no nursing queens. We've come hoping to find one cat able to take her sole surviving kit in."
Galestar bowed her head. "I'm sorry to hear that. Mintnose was a formidabble and loyal warrior. I have to ask though, are you sure about this?" She directed the question to Sootstep. "You know what the code says about kits who are taken in by different clans."
Another claw tore at Sootstep's heart. Yes, yes he did know. Long before he was born an epidemic had swept all four clans and left many kits orphaned and wanting. The clans had struggled until they agreed on a fostering system. Should a kit not be able to stay in their Clan due to the death of the mother and lack of nursing queens then that kit could be adopted by a different clan. Provided they were young enough, these kits were never truly told their origins and lived as if their adoptive families and clans were their birth ones. It was the only way to ensure undivided loyalties. Even he didn't know all of the kits who had gone through that exchange and some were in RiverClan as warriors today!
"I-" Sootstep coughed, his voice ragged with grief. "She told me to promise her. That's what I'm doing."
Galestar nodded slowly. "I wish I could give you better news but we only have one nursing queen and she currently is nursing four kits. I don't think she can take on any more, not permanently, with how this leaf-bare is going." How the prey situation is going where her unspoken words. "But I think perhaps for the night you may stay and she may nurse, my medicine cat will give you strengthening herbs too, for your journey to the next Clan.
And with that the group set out once more the next morning toward ThunderClan. However, Cricketstar had sadly also shaken his head and said they had no nursing queens or queens in general at this time either. Their medicine cat rushed them in from out of the cold and proceeded to give them even more herbs while also forcing a honey concotion down his Sootstep's daughter's throat. "To keep her strength up," he murmured.
"Thank you," Graystar said when Sootstep said nothing. What if there was no hope in ShadowClan? What would he do? How would he keep his promise? Could he give his kit to loners? Maybe see if cats had taken up residence in the barn near WindClan territory again? Give her to Twoegs? Inwardly he shuddered at the idea of his kit, his proud warrior blooded kit, becoming a kittypet but if that's what it took to save her life...well, at this rate, he would try anything.
And so he was slowly resolving to never see her, his little Mintnose lookalike, again as they crossed into ShadowClan territory. Immediately the three elder cats had their fur raising on their shoulders. Despite the cold weather the pine forest in ShadowClan was still full enough that a permanent darkness seemed to rest over the territory. He couldn't help but feel like those ancient cats, Lionstar and Shatteredstar and Oakshade and more that every cat had heard about in the elder's stories were lurking behind every tree.
ShadowClan could be cold at the best of times so his heart sunk in relief when they crossed paths with the ShadowClan medicine cat first. Of course, this wasn't as reassurring as he wished it could be. Darksun, the sleek black she-cat, was well muscled from her time as a warrior apprentice moons ago and had never quite let her training become stale. After traveling through the entire territories and with a kit to protect he wasn't sure they could all take her at once.
Her golden eyes latched onto the the kit and without needing an explanation she motioned them forward. "Come."
She bounded into the thick of the trees and for a moment Sootstep was afraid they had lost her in the darkness and marshes before spotting her again near the trunk of a fallen tree. In one strong leap she was over and it was all the RiverClan cats could do to hurry behind her. The ShadowClan camp stretched out before them, a clearing dry of the marshy areas but still coated in a bed of pine needles. Dens were made from fallen trees and woven leaves and branches as well as from naturally forming rock structures.
Ahead of them, Darksun was immediately informing Hailstar of their situation and the elder blue-grey she-cat had a sad twinkle in her eye. Too late, Sootstep remembered that the leader too had lost a little to an early birth and cold leaf-bare early on in her life. Though he hated thinking that way he hoped that her loss made her more willing though if they had no nursing queens then it was out of her paws.
Hailstar came to them. "I'm sorry for your loss. Darksun has informed me of everything. We do have a nursing queen, she only has one kit. A newborn, maybe a few days older than yours. Come with me and Darksun? Bring Pinefoot."
Darksun nodded and was a streak of black and gold once more.
The ShadowClan nursery was well sheltered in the hollow of a tree, warm and insulated. "Fawnleap?" Hailstar called softly. A light brown she-cat with a dusting of white speckles blinked tiredly at the ShadowClan leader. A small black kit was curled next to her belly. "We have something to ask of you." She said before launching into the story of what had happened that terrible night.
Fawnleap's eyes softened toward the kit. "I can't say no. How could I?"
With great pain, Sootstep placed the last memory of his beloved mate at Fawnleap's belly. As if the smell of milk had brought on a whole new life to the small scrap of fur the little she-kit wriggled closer until she could latch on to Fawnleap, kneading her belly hungrily for milk.
Hailstar and Graystar exchanged looks. "We have to ask one more time," Graystar stated. "Are you okay with this? She won't know who you are. She'll never know of Mintnose as her mother, Pinefoot will be her father, not you. She will be ShadowClan through and through."
Sootstep hung his head, nodded. The clawing at his heart was killing him. He wasn't sure how he could survive so much pain. Was this what dying felt like? Oh, Mintnose, why did you have to go?
"Also, I didn't want to pry but I noticed you didn't name her. Usually the adoptive parents would but..." Graystar hesitated.
"You may name her," Fawnleap said, "If you wish."
From behind them another scent entered the nursery. Pinefoot was a well respected senior warrior and Fawnleap's mate. It showed in their singular kit, who had his brown fur, black underbelly, and long legs. He sat silently near the entrance, watching. For what, Sootstep didn't know.
"We'll take care of her, Sootstep," he said. "We promise."
"Coldkit," Sootstep finally said. "Her name is Coldkit."
From around him the cats murmured their approval. For she had been born in this wretched leaf-bare after all, the coldest in living memory. That's of course what they would have thought her name was from. No one but Sootstep would know that the name was not for the icy weather but for the freezing over of his heart.
AN: ((ayyyye so here's the prologue. Next chapter we're introduced to Coldkit and ShadowClan a bit more properly and in depth! A few things to mention: yes, I intentionally got Tigerstar, Brokenstar, and Mapleshade's names wrong. In this fic while stuff with the original Clans did happen save for SkyClan because I can't be bothered they happened so long ago that the stories are not not entirely correct and are more legends than anything with some cats even suspecting that the old cats we know and love didn't even really exist. In that time the adoption thing is added to the code. Also NO this is NOT a fic where the main character is abused by her family for being 'different' or ostracized from her Clan for her OG origins. Anyway, this is my first true warriors fic so let me know what you think!))