|
| Rebel Hearts | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by: None |
Dark Secret | Succeded by: Rose Petals |
When you don't know a truth
And you can't see what is and what isn't
What do you know?
Sometimes the truth hurts.
But sometimes... So does the lie.
Which is better to hear?
To be aware?
Or to be safe from the truth?
Prologue[]
Some cats...
Just can't see through the dark.
The moon raised with the stars and night slowly, shedding moon-light on the forest floor. No creature made a noise, except the hint of shuffling paw-steps, a ginger she-cat pushed her head out of the bushes, and she looked around, her pale ginger fur seemingly glowing in the moon-light, she blinked her fiery amber eyes, and padded out of the bush slowly.
She sniffed the air, and muttered quietly, "Are you here?"
There was no answer, only the wind in the trees answered her, she frowned, looking up at the moon, and she muttered, "Where is he...?"
She jumped when there was a noise, a pitch black tom came out, surprising her by completely coming out of the shadows, he was frowning, and she asked quietly, "Anything to report?"
He thought for a moment, and flicked his tail, and mewed, "Nothing, but I don't think Jaystar is aware." He looked up at the pretty ginger she-cat.
She frowned, "We can't give up, Nightpelt." She mewed quietly.
Nightpelt looked up to face his clan-mate, he mewed in a strained voice, "Even if... We do manage to do this, Jaystar won't be in a merciful mood if he does find out the full extent of the plan." He flicked his tail nervously.
She purred, "You worry too much, Nightpelt, he won't find out."
Nightpelt frowned, and sighed, "Okay, Sunpelt, I hope you're right."
Sunpelt turned away from him, and she asked flatly, "Does everyone else know about the plan?"
Nightpelt nodded, "Hollyfeather and Yellowpaw are scouting, everyone else knows, and they know what they're supposed to do." He mewed quietly.
Sunpelt twitched her whiskers, and mewed, "This plan is nearly flawless," she looked up at the moon, "Jaystar won't be able to control us anymore."
Nightpelt asked, "Nearly flawless?"
Sunpelt jumped onto a near-by rock, and mewed, "We don't have many cats following our cause, which wouldn't be a problem, except Jaystar has loyal warriors who are blinded to who he actually is, and will fight to the death for him."
Nightpelt spat, "Jaystar has brought nothing but grief on Thunderclan."
Sunpelt looked at him, and mewed, "I know."
Nightpelt came to sit beside her, and asked, "What do we do?"
She thought for a moment, then turned to her friend, "Wait." She said, and the two cats stared up at the moon.
Chapter 1[]
The young still maintain that shred of innocence
But sometimes, they do understand, even if they are not sure how.
"Rosekit, Rosekit, wake up." A soft voice called from within the young kit's dream, she was in a shiny, bright clearing, chasing a mouse.
The voice called again, "Rosekit."
Rosekit looked up, frowning; the mouse had gotten away from her because of the voice, she grumbled, and felt her dream dissolve.
Her eyes blinked open.
She asked, "Why did you have to wake me up, Larchflight?" She looked up at her mother, who's blue eyes matched that of a beautiful river, and her fur was that of a soft gray, fluffed up against the wind that passed through the trees. Cats would say, other than her own cream fur, she looked like her mother.
Larchflight mewed gently, "You can't sleep all day, Rosekit."
Rosekit stood up, stretching out her back paws, "Of course I can, not like anything exciting is going to happen today." She mewed, licking her paw.
Larchflight flicked her tail, and mewed gently, "Anything could happen." She twitched her whiskers, and stood up, walking out of the nursery.
Rosekit looked around, her sister was no where in sight, but one of her friends, Cloudkit, was still sound asleep, and he was a heavy sleeper. His brother was sitting up, Birchkit blinked, and looked around the nursery, him and Cloudkit were the same litter, while their older sister, Yellowpaw, was an apprentice.
The suns rays were shining through the rays, shedding light on the grassy ground of the nursery, the nursery wasn't full. Only three queens, and one of them expecting, her mother had her 4 moons ago, and Cloudkit was born a day before her, which he always bragged about.
Rosekit padded out of the den, it was busy, like it always was. She looked around, some of the warriors were sharing tongues, but she noticed Sunpelt and Nightclaw sitting together, which was rare, both of them were shy, and not likely to talk to anyone unless spoken too, and they looked deep in conversation.
Rosekit looked over, and saw Greenwillow walk right past her brother without looking at him, Rosekit saw her brother, Snowclaw, give her a angry look. Rosekit was confused, and thought, Did they fight? They used to get along really well.
Greenwillow noticed the glance, but furthur ignored Snowclaw, she flicked her tail in a defiant way, and walked to Sunpelt, joining in on their conversation.
She saw Yellowpaw, she shared a trait with her brothers, a snow white pelt with sharp green eyes, except her tail tip was black, and she had tufted ears.
Yellowpaw seemed distracted though. Rosekit padded up to her, and asked curiously, "Distracted?"
Yellowpaw murmured, "Huh? Oh, yeah, distracted, stuff to do, apprentice duties are pretty important." She walked away from Rosekit, as if apprentice duties were the last thing on her mind, but Rosekit shrugged, apprentices must have a lot to do in so little time.
Rosekit looked at Jaystar, the huge blue-gray tom, she was always a bit afraid of him. He was a young cat, but his sharp blue eyes were always flat and emotionless, and when they weren't emotionless, they were angry and suspicious. He was very jumpy, he even snapped away the medicine cat when she walked up to him and startled him.
Rosekit padded around him, the other two apprentices, Moonpaw and Larkpaw, were sharing tongues, they seemed to be the only ones not acting any differently, but Moonpaw usually followed her mentor, Sunpelt, around, while Larkpaw usually just walked around alone.
Rosekit sat down, and licked her paw, keeping her eye on Greenwillow, who was eating a shrew quietly, she seemed deep in thought as Hollyfeather walked up, and whispered something in her ear. Greenwillow seemed worried from what was said to her, she nodded, and stood up, following Hollyfeather.
Rosekit decided to head back to the nursery, she peeked her head in, Cloudkit was now awake, and he asked quickly, "What's going on outside?" He flicked his fluffy tail, he was named Cloudkit because he looked like a tiny moving little white cloud.
Rosekit went to sit beside her friend, and she mewed, "Snowclaw and Greenwillow aren't getting along, and Moonpaw and Larkpaw are talking to each-other, when Moonpaw usually hangs around with Sunpelt," she then added, "But Jaystar is jumpy as usual."
Cloudkit laughed, and blinked, "I heard the warriors talking next door, at least, two of them anyways, I think one of them was Sunpelt." He mewed.
Rosekit looked at her mother, who was busy talking with Cinderflight, who was expecting kits in another moon, and she whispered, "What were they saying?"
Cloudkit seemed to think, and he mewed, "Something about a meeting place, and a sign, or something like that." He flicked his tail again.
Rosekit tipped her head, and asked curiously, "Were they specific about the sign?"
Cloudkit shook his head, and mewed, "They seemed worried that Jaystar would hear them, and Sunpelt said that she was going to talk to Nightpelt, and she left the warriors den. I saw her leave the camp."
Rosekit thought, Sunpelt and Nightclaw are hanging out with each-other a lot these days... She looked back outside, watching the sun slowly sink into the horizon of the territory. She asked Cloudkit, "When did you wake up?"
Cloudkit flicked his tail, "When you left, I called you, but you ignored me, or you couldn't hear me." He said, looking sad.
Rosekit muttered, "Sorry."
Cloudkit just shrugged, "Eh, it's nothing, you seemed intent on exploring outside the nursery, which I bet is going to get cramped pretty soon, better get to know the camp before you become an apprentice," he mewed, and shivered, "Imagine having no idea where everything is when you become an apprentice!"
Rosekit laughed, and mewed jokingly, "It's better to have a general idea than to not know anything at all."
Cloudkit agreed silently, and mewed, "Two more moons until we're apprentices."
Rosekit was excited, but she couldn't help but notice how Jaystar always seemed to eye the kits, as if sizing them up for their first battle.
"He's kind of creeping me out." Cloudkit muttered under his breath.
Rosekit nodded, then noticed something odd, Jaystar's two cronies weren't with him, that was strange, he would never let them leave his side, and to see them not at his side was strange.
Rosekit looked at Cloudkit, and murmured, "Look, Hawkflight and Thornpelt aren't with Jaystar."
"So?" Cloudkit asked.
Rosekit rolled her eyes, "They're always with him, they follow him wherever he goes," she mewed in a serious tone, "It's quite suspicious really."
Cloudkit just shook his head, but both kits jumped when they heard a crash at the entrance to the camp. Rosekit gasped when Hawkflight and Thornpelt were dragging two cats, one of them Yellowpaw, who was bleeding heavily, and the other cat a dark gray tom, who seemed ruffled at the hostility.
Jaystar's eyes gleamed at the sight, but it was an angry gleam, and he asked, "What is this?" He jumped down to meet his body-guards.
Hawkflight sneered, but Rosekit was surprised he was having trouble holding the tom, even though he was bigger then him, and he mewed, "These two were talking, it was quite suspicious, what would a rogue want with a clan cat, they acted like they knew each-other."
The dark grey tom snarled, "I have no idea what you're talking about, you mouse-brain, is it no longer allowed to chat up a fellow cat when the need arises?" He growled.
Hawkflight nipped where his ear was moments before, and he growled, "You lowly rogue cat, you'll speak when spoken too."
The rogue cat whiskers twitched in amusement, "Lowly rogue cat? Hah, I was told you clan cats were all a huffy and pompous bunch, but you, my good friend, take the cake." He mewed calmly.
Hawkflight looked like he was about to take on the tom, but Jaystar growled dangerously, "What is your name, rogue?"
The rogue looked up at him, and his whiskers twitched, as if planning his escape, and he growled dangerously, "Ajax."
Thornpelt laughed, "Interesting name for a lowly rogue."
"All right sir pompous number two, that is your name right?" Ajax mewed, and looked at Thornpelt, his eyes narrowing.
Thornpelt hissed in rage, letting go of Yellowpaw, who landed on the ground with a heavy thud, she shook her head.
Rosekit thought Ajax was done for, but with a flash of his eyes, he jumped away, Hawkflight soon joined, but for a rogue against two very well trained warriors, Ajax was winning.
He dodged every swipe and bite, Hawkflight screeched in frustration, "Coward! Fight! Fight like the lowly rogue you are!"
Ajax twitched his whiskers, "All right, sir pompous." He laughed, and he leaped, quick as a rabbit toward Hawkflight, causing him to fall onto his back, and as Thornpelt leaped, he smiled, rolling off Hawkflight, so Thornpelt landed on his friend.
They both tussled from the confusion, and Ajax backed away, unruffled and with barely a scratch.
Jaystar seemed mildly impressed, "Where did you learn to fight like that, Ajax?" He asked in a funny tone.
Ajax turned back to Jaystar, while Yellowpaw was being tended to by the medicine cat, and Jaystar continued questioning Ajax.
"Your tactics of confusion and tricks instead of force and strength are quite an interesting fighting style, almost..." Jaystar hesitated, and whispered in a threatening way, "Unusual for a 'lowly rogue' like yourself."
Ajax didn't seem bothered by the hidden threat, but he did notice it, and he said in a low tone, and just as threatening, "I don't fight, I survive," he stared at Jaystar, "I'm sorry, you cannot hope to threaten me with hushed words and hidden meanings." He mewed cooly.
Jaystar looked insulted, but he hid it, and mewed, "Well, looks like you got off easy this time, rogue, but don't expect such fair treatment again," he narrowed his eyes. "Hope we don't meet again, little one."
Ajax seemed amused at the new threat, and said, "If we do, I'm afraid it's not my tail you should be worried about." He flicked his tail, and walked out. Rosekit sat in awe, this new rogue, Ajax, just beat two of the clans best warriors without trying.
Ajax noticed Rosekit's stare, and he said, "Some sound advice, for next time, clan cat, brawn does not always win in a fight." He walked out, as if nothing happened.
Jaystar stayed silent for a couple seconds, he then looked down at Yellowpaw, and growled, "Will the queens take the kits back to the nursery?"
Larchflight nodded, running to grab Cloudkit and Rosekit, they gasped, "Ow!" As she picked them up, and hurried to the nursery.
Rosekit stayed up, while the others were asleep, and soon, she heard Yellowpaw in the apprentices den, quietly whimpering.
What did Jaystar do to her? Rosekit thought angrily, Yellowpaw was a loyal cat, and didn't deserve whatever she got.
The whimpering continued for a little while longer, with which Rosekit's anger grew, along with the new found respect for the rogue she never met and talked too.
When the whimpering stopped, Rosekit finally managed to get some sleep, but it was riddled with dreams that she didn't understand.
~*~*~*~
She found herself in a misty clearing, the forest was dark, and she was facing a huge she-cat, and she whispered, "Young kit, I have called you here."
Rosekit looked up, "Me?" She squeaked.
The she-cat nodded, and she murmured, "You do not know me, but I know you, I was part of Thunderclan long ago, and died the day you were born, I'm here to give you a warning, and a piece of advice."
Rosekit tipped her head, and the she-cat sighed, and her voice rang in Rosekit's head.
The true warrior will not stop the angered bird.
The clouds will not join the rebelling hearts.
And the water will not quell the flames of war.
But that does not mean a small, single, lonely rose petal, broken off from a beautiful flower
Will not be able to turn the tides of war.
The she-cat went silent, then she continued, "You must seek counsel and advice from the true warrior, he will show you how a true warrior fights, clan cats these days have forgotten the true meaning to being a warrior, I will not let your generation face the mistake of your older generation. Only you can turn this war around, but be warned, Rosekit," she growled. "Not every choice you make will take you on the right course."
Rosekit gasped, "This seems a little much to be placing on a young kit."
The she-cat twitched her whiskers, "Trust your judgement, every choice you make will impact the cats around you, but for now, follow the true warrior, he will show you what it really means to be a clan cat, of which my generation had lost when Jaystar came to power." She mewed.
The vision started to fade, and Rosekit squeaked, "Wait! I have more questions!"
When the dream dissolved, she heard the voice of Ajax.
"Little flower, one more piece of advice, patience is the greatest thing to have when in a pickle, and a clear head," but his tone lowered, "But be warned, young as you are, you can easily be corrupted to the views of others, never let the light leave your vision."
The dream ended, and she woke up to more whimpering.
~*~*~*~
She listened in on the conversation, Yellowpaw was being consoled by Sunpelt, who was whispering reassurance to her.
"Do not worry, Yellowpaw, Jaystar will pay for what he did too you, he nearly killed you, we will not let him get away with this." Sunpelt murmured.
Yellowpaw stopped whimpering, and mewed quietly, "Ajax was smart, he was quite believable when he said he had no idea what Hawkflight was talking about."
Sunpelt murmured, "You wouldn't believe how much trouble Nightpelt had when talking to him, Ajax wouldn't talk to him without good reason, after mentioning clan cats, Ajax perked right up, and asked what he wanted."
Yellowpaw murmured, "Why was Ajax so willing to help us? Rogues usually don't get along with clan cats."
"Maybe he has his own reasons for it, it's better not to pry easy help, it'll turn them against you in the end." Sunpelt mewed quietly.
Yellowpaw didn't respond, and Rosekit backed away from the wall, and nestled into her nest, listening to the sounds of the night.
She soon fell asleep, a peaceful sleep this time, but she could feel the piercing gaze of Ajax, was it possible the she-cat was talking about him?
Someday she would find out, but someday was not that day.
~*~*~*~
Rosekit woke up to the cold morning light, dew fell from the leaves, and one dew drop fell on her head.
"Eep!" She gasped, waking up suddenly, looking up. She stood up, and shook out her fur, Larchflight was still asleep, but Cloudkit and Birchkit were awake, ready for exploring.
Birchkit stood up, and stretched, "Lovely day for exploring the elders den, see you later." He mewed, and padded out with a flick of his tail.
"Elder favourite, ain't he?" Cloudkit asked.
"He's a curious one, elders love that." Rosekit mewed with a laugh.
Cloudkit laughed, and mewed, "Elders hate it when kits get in the way, but they love kits that ask 'Who, what, when, where, and why.' It makes no sense."
"It's because they can tell them old stories, that ring with truth, yeah... There's a reason they're called stories." Rosekit mewed in an annoyed tone.
They both walked out, and Jaystar was in his usual spot, on the high-rock, and this time sitting beside him were Hawkflight and Thornpelt, obviously still sore from yesterday.
"Must suck, being beaten by a rogue better then you." Cloudkit laughed quietly.
Rosekit nodded, but was shocked when Jaystar stood up, and yowled, "May all cats join beneath the high-rock for a clan meeting."
Rosekit was confused, but all the cats were gathering with no complaint, she joined them, and saw Birchkit sitting with Reedwhisker, a old she-cat with a temper, she seemed disgruntled from being called out from a lovely sleep.
"I have an announcement, and we have a ceremony, first, I must call upon suspicious circumstances, and I am not afraid to punish any cat that does not know where their loyalties lie." He eyed Yellowpaw as he said this, and she shrinked back under his gaze.
"So, I feel we need apprentices more then ever," he mewed, looking down, "Rosekit, Cloudkit, and Birchkit, step forward." He mewed.
When Rosekit saw Sunpelt's face, she knew this was bad, even Larchflight seemed surprised, but she seemed to have faith in her kit.
Jaystar mewed, "Cloudkit, until you have received your warrior name, you will be known as Cloudpaw, your mentor will be Thornpelt."
Cloudkit didn't seem too happy about that, but didn't say anything.
"Birchkit, until you have received your warrior name, you will be known as Birchpaw, your mentor will be Hawkflight." He mewed darkly.
Birchkit didn't seem to have any emotion, it was like he was already six moons, but he wasn't, it was like he was anticipating this.
Rosekit looked up when her name was called, "Rosekit, until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Rosepaw, and I will be your mentor." He mewed.
He had the expression as if this should be some great honour to Rosekit, but she wasn't sure what she thought, I'm definitely not feeling honoured. She thought darkly.
"This meeting has ended, you may go about your duties." Jaystar mewed loudly, and jumped down, followed by Thornpelt and Hawkflight.
Cloudpaw looked at her, and said, "B-But, we're only five moons."
Rosepaw wasn't sure what to say, and Cloudpaw continued, "That's against the warrior code..."
Rosepaw nodded, and murmured, "This is a sure sign, a storm is brewing within the clan, and I'm tempted to join the side that doesn't like Jaystar very much."
Cloudpaw frowned, and mewed quietly, "I'm afraid at this time, I'm not willing to take that risk to get on Jaystar's bad side."
Rosepaw looked at him, and was glad at least they both agreed that this was a very bad sign.
They were the fuel to a fire, and Jaystar just caused an outburst, no cat cheered when they were made apprentices, they just muttered darkly among themselves, some showing mild respect and fear, Rosepaw frowned, unsure.
And others showing pure hatred, for the leader that would turn kits into apprentices when they weren't ready, and the leader who punishes cats too harshly.
The leader who would soon see his whole clan dead under the suspicion of rebellion.
Chapter 2[]
Is there ever really a bad side?
One side believes it is right, while the other disagrees.
How do we know which one we truly believe is the right one?
Rosepaw was in the training clearing with Jaystar, who was showing her a hunting crouch, and she felt her fur grow hot when she failed multiple times.
"I guess that'll have to do, how about you go practice by the river, there's always a couple voles near there." He mewed cooly, and walked into the bushes.
She sighed, she didn't even learn how to do it properly, I guess the less I know, the less I seem like a threat... She thought conclusively, and decided to just go to the river and practice her less than great hunting crouch.
He's not a very good mentor... She thought as she padded to the stream, she looked down at it as it's water swifly passed over pebbles.
She heard a soft noise, and looked up, she flicked her ear when she saw a vole, and she crouched, shaking her tail as she padded forward.
Rosepaw leaped but missed, the vole was startled, and scrambled back to the under-growth, obviously to warn all the other voles. She rolled her eyes, but jumped when she heard a laugh.
"Oh no, what are clan cats teaching their apprentices these days? That was worse then my first attempt at hunting alone, I actually caught something though." A voice said behind her.
Rosepaw whipped around, she recognized the gray fur and piercing amber eyes, she growled warningly, "What are you doing on Thunderclan territory, rogue?"
"You really don't care about that, I bet you're curious on why I have taken an interest in your bad hunting crouch." Ajax mewed, amused.
Rosepaw wanted to retort something back, but he was right, she really didn't mind of him being on Thunderclan territory, she was more curious as to why.
Ajax shrugged, and mewed in a mock tone, "Just watching your pitiful attempt makes me sad, you'll go hungry with a hunting crouch like that."
Rosepaw growled, "Then show me, if you're so great!"
"An apprentice with attitude? Awesome, something the clans could use," he laughed, and crouched, when he saw a mouse, he murmured, "Here's a real hunting crouch."
He padded forward silently, tail flowing with the wind, and ears back, the mouse did not see or hear him, and when he leaped it was too late.
He killed it swiftly, and mewed to Rosepaw, "That. That is how you hunt, clan cat."
Rosepaw huffed, crouching, looking for another vole, there was another one, she padded forward, a bit fast, and she leaped, but missed, and instead tumbled into reeds.
When she didn't get up, Ajax growled, "Oh get up, it's not that hard."
Rosepaw grunted, "Yes it is."
"No, it's really not, you just have to try, and if you were trying, heh," he gave a laugh, "I'll give you credit for effort, but that isn't enough to impress me." He mewed coldly.
Rosepaw growled, "You've been at this more then me!"
"But I'm just a 'lowly rogue' and it is said you clan cats are the superior hunters," he hissed, "So show me."
Rosepaw got up, huffing, and looked at Ajax, and growled in frustration, "Superior hunters?! I'm just an apprentice!"
Ajax inclined his head to a bush, where a squirrel was feeding, and he growled, "Show me."
Rosepaw stared at him, but could not hold her gaze to those piercing amber eyes, she stalked towards the bush, letting her tail flow with the wind, she kept her ears back.
She finally leaped, and managed to pin the squirrel by the tail, and it tried to scramble away furiously. She bit it quickly.
Ajax padded up to her, and mewed, "Not bad, for a fourth attempt, but it could be better, all that scrambling probably alerted any near-by prey, quick and clean killing of prey is helpful." He sniffed the squirrel.
Rosepaw wasn't sure whether to fluff her chest out in pride, or sigh, in contrast to Jaystar, who didn't seem to care. Ajax was a pusher, believing that every attempt could be made better.
Rosepaw couldn't help but respect that.
Ajax mewed, "You should work on your pacing and stalking, and your quickness."
"First I went too quick, now you're saying I'm going to slow?" Rosepaw snapped.
Ajax nodded, "Yes, you need to find the perfect balance between the slowness of a stalk, and the quickness of a run." He said.
Rosepaw huffed, but gasped when she felt her paws fall out from under her, and she gasped and looked up at Ajax, and he laughed, "And never think of giving up." He mewed calmly.
Rosepaw decided to try again, but was about to go too quick, but Ajax was beside her, stopping her with his paw, and indicated for her to watch him.
He went quick at first, but as he neared the prey, he went slower, until he was near it. He jumped silently, and landed on it squarely, and bit it as soon as he landed it, killing it as swift as a bird.
Ajax looked at a bush, and inclined his head toward it, and mewed quietly, "You try."
Rosepaw sighed, and nodded, crouching, going quickly toward the bush, while staying light on her paws, she heard the rustle of a mouse, and she went slow, she felt like she was being pulled back by being slow, and it made her antsy, but she she stopped.
The mouse didn't see her, and she jumped, landing squarely on it, and bit it quickly, looking at Ajax.
Ajax padded up to her, "Now that's what I call a hunting crouch, of course, you're a apprentice, you have got a lot of improving to do." He mewed.
"I'm getting tired." Rosepaw grunted.
"That's a good sign, it means you tried." Ajax laughed.
Rosepaw shook her head, and Ajax mewed, "Well, you better return that prey to your leader, I bet he'll be none short of impressed, but he'll be suspicious, since obviously what he taught you was below standard, even for a clan cat," he hesitated, then continued, "Just say you got lucky, and the prey was so fat it couldn't run very far, and all you had to do was sit on it."
Rosepaw couldn't help but twitch her whiskers, and Ajax continued, "Well, I guess if he's going to be below standard, I'll gladly teach you the ways of the wild, the way I was taught, it's obvious my standards were higher then yours, just meet me by here if you would like." He flicked his tail, and bounded through the bushes, picking up the prey he caught as he went.
Rosepaw just watched as he left, she sighed, and looked on. She finally picked up the prey she caught herself, and padded back to camp.
~*~*~*~
When she entered camp, Jaystar was waiting for her. He padded up to Rosepaw, and asked scornfully, eyeing the piece of prey, "Did you catch that yourself?"
Rosepaw hesitated, then mewed, "Yeah, but it was slow though, so it wasn't that hard to catch."
Jaystar stared at her, Rosepaw tried to read his face, but his stare was cold as always, No difference there...
He said coldly, "Well, you may add that to the fresh-kill pile, and then go clean the elders den, since Cloudpaw and the other apprentices are being useful somewhere else," he hesitated, then twitched his whiskers in cold humour, "Actually, get Yellowpaw to help you, she is still being punished for fratenizing with the rogue."
Rosepaw watched him walk away, when his back was turned, she stuck her tongue out, and bounced up and down with her claws unsheathed, she huffed, picking up the prey, and thought bitterly, You're welcome for the catch that I made.
She placed it on the small fresh-kill pile, where a rabbit and a couple of squirrels were placed. She placed the mouse, and frowned, she turned, heading toward where Yellowpaw was hiding amongst the ferns, she mewed, "Jaystar said you had to help me with the elders den."
Yellowpaw stared at her, and mewed darkly, "I refuse to do anything Jaystar tells me to do, you should too, Rosepaw."
Rosepaw stared at her confused, and mewed, "I doubt we have a choice."
Yellowpaw snapped, eyes wild, "We have a choice, just no one will take it!" She slinked deeper into the ferns, "You can choose to clean the elders den by yourself, or you can choose to not listen to what Jaystar tells you!" She snapped.
Rosepaw raised an eye-brow, backing away, and mewed, "Okay..." She turned away, unsure of what made Yellowpaw act like that, but it made her nervous, What did Jaystar do to her? She thought darkly, heading towards the elders den.
She peeked in, Frostleaf and Kestralclaw were in there, both sleeping. Rosepaw looked around, then backed away from the elders den, Yellowpaw's words still ringing in her head. She couldn't shake her ominous words, as much as she wanted to, she knew Yellowpaw had a point.
She jumped when there was a noise, she relaxed when it was only Cloudpaw, and he asked curiously, "Don't feel like doing the elders den?"
Rosepaw nodded, and mewed dismissivily, "Nah..."
Cloudpaw laughed, "Well, I'll do it, Jaystar hates it when he doesn't see at least one apprentice in the elders den, cleaning something up, even though there are only three elders, and they're still strong enough to clean up after themselves." He flicked his tail, and walked into the elders den.
Rosepaw sighed, glad that Cloudpaw took over, Yellowpaw's words seemed to be having their effect, and she couldn't stop thinking about what she had said in that state.
She noticed Sunpelt and Nightpelt whispering again, eyeing the ferns where Yellowpaw was taking shelter.
Rosepaw padded up to them, and asked, "Is something wrong?"
Sunpelt and Nightpelt stared down at her, and Nightpelt glanced at Sunpelt, who mewed, "Nothing is wrong, Rosepaw, we are just having a talk."
Rosepaw knew they were hiding something, just by the way they flicked their tails. She thought, But why would they hide something? Is it about Yellowpaw? She stared up at the warriors, who were tense, as if they were nervous.
Rosepaw decided not to pry, as warriors tended to get cranky when apprentices asked too many questions that were none of their business.
Yellowpaw was still cowering under the bush. Rosepaw stared at her, then looked back at Cloudpaw, who was getting help from the two elders. She sighed, Something is going on... I wonder... Is Ajax a part of this? She watched as Jaystar cast a dark look at the clearing, and headed into his den for the night.
She jumped when Birchpaw came back with a fair sized bird, Rosepaw padded up to him, and asked jokingly, "Did Hawkflight teach you that?"
"He just sat there and told me what to do," Birchpaw muttered skeptically, staring at the bird. Then looked at the squirrel Rosepaw had caught, and he laughed, "Don't tell me..."
Rosepaw shrugged, and asked curiously, "Go with the flow?"
"I bet Jaystar was impressed." Birchpaw pointed out, still eying the squirrel hungrily.
Rosepaw hesitated, than said under her breath, "Impressed, and suspicious."
Birchpaw stared at her for a long time, then replied quietly, "You know how Jaystar is, you better be careful, Rosepaw."
"You got serious very quickly." Rosepaw said normally.
Birchpaw stood up straight, and indicated to where Yellowpaw was hiding, her eyes narrowed angrily. He whispered, "Don't want to end up like her. One night, and she's been totally destroyed."
"Do you know why?" Rosepaw asked, urging Birchpaw towards the apprentices den, where they were least likely to be heard.
Birchpaw allowed himself to be lead to the apprentices den, and said, "I don't know, I've been listening to the warriors talk in the nights I couldn't sleep," he hesitated, then added, "But it was all because Yellowpaw seemed to be trying to get information from the rogue for something."
"For Jaystar? Or someone else?" Rosepaw pried.
Birchpaw looked on thoughtfully, then said quietly, twitching his tail, "Not for Jaystar, that's for sure, I've been listening in on Jaystar." He whispered.
"Well look who's learning to hide in plain sight." Rosepaw twitched her whiskers.
"Why do you think I kept going to the elders den a lot? They're the ones that taught me." Birchpaw muttered, twitching his whiskers.
"Cloudpaw thought you just liked hearing stories." Rosepaw mewed, and sat down.
Birchpaw sighed, and mewed quietly, "They talk about a lot more than stories of the past. They know everything, you should come by sometime," he went to his moss bed, and said jokingly, "You might learn a few things."
He curled up in the moss, and soon fell asleep. Rosepaw stared at him, and thought, So he's been listening in on conversations? Looks like I'm moving by the wall, I'm curious too.
She moved her moss bed to the wall of the warriors den. She curled up, and flicked her ears. But it was silent. Rosepaw raised an eye-brow, and stuck her head under the leafy wall, trying to see if there was even anyone in the den.
It was empty, she gasped, her eyes wide. She backed up, and looked around.
Rosepaw sniffed the air, but it was full of Thunderclan's scent, she thought quietly, I just need to pick out someone's scent. Yellowpaw isn't here either, maybe I'll follow hers if I can pick it out...
She finally caught Yellowpaw's scent, and brushed her whiskers on the back wall of the apprentices den. Rosepaw pushed her muzzle on the leaf wall, and gasped when she fell forward outside the camp wall. She sat up, and shook herself.
Rosepaw started to sniff the air again, trying to pick up Yellowpaw's scent. She looked up when there was a rain drop, she hissed to herself, "Rain."
She caught Yellowpaw's fading scent and quickly followed it, the rain was on and off. But the scent was still strong. However, it was still interlaced with other Thunderclan cat scent. Rosepaw flicked her ear, and continued following the scent until she came upon a large clearing with a small group of cats.
"Do you think we could ask for his help?" Rosepaw heard Nightpelt ask nervously.
She heard Ajax mew from the middle of the group, "Not yet, I can handle loners, but for a rogue, he's too unpredictable to call on for help just yet."
Rosepaw heard Sunpelt mutter, "And he's crazy as a bat."
Rosepaw saw Nightpelt cast a glance at Sunpelt, Sunpelt flicker her tail, and and asked jokingly, "What? He is."
"He may be a little bit... Eccentric... But you told me yourself, Nightpelt," Rosepaw saw Ajax turn to the young warrior, "Jaystar isn't that bad yet, we'll wait and see." He muttered quietly.
"Yeah, he makes Jaystar look tame indeed..." Sunpelt hissed in frustration.
"Sunpelt, we're going to need his help sooner or later. Jaystar isn't going to wait for his chance to root us out." Nightpelt whispered.
Rosepaw froze when Ajax looked straight at her, then he mewed flatly, "I'd hate to burst this little debate, but we have a tiny visitor."
Everyone turned to face where he was looking, and Rosepaw shrunk back. Sunpet sniffed the air, and sighed, "Come on out, Rosepaw."
Rosepaw nervously made her way towards the group, and Yellowpaw was staring at her in disbelief.
"Did you track me all the way here?" Yellowpaw asked in amazement.
Rosepaw nodded quickly, then mewed, "I promise I won't tell Jaystar!"
Ajax was looking down at her, confused, and he asked in disbelief, "You tracked Yellowpaw, even after all the measures she took in the rainstorm so she wouldn't be followed?"
"That's some sense of smell you got there, Rosepaw," Sunpelt laughed, Rosepaw's fur bristled, and Sunpelt said, "Relax, kit, we know you won't tell Jaystar."
Rosepaw stared at the cats, most of them from her own clan, Sunpelt, Nightpelt, Yellowpaw, even Snowclaw. Some of them were Thunderclan warriors she's only seen, but never caught their names.
Ajax had a thoughtful look on his face, and asked, "How much did you hear, Rosepaw?"
"I only heard about this cat you guys seem to be nervous about." Rosepaw whispered, still close to the ground.
"Not nervous," Snowclaw hissed, "Unsure of."
Ajax sighed, "This cat would be able to help us in a big way, however, as Sunpelt so gently put it," Ajax eyed her, "He isn't what you would call... Straight minded."
Rosepaw flicked her ear in confusion, and Ajax sighed, "He's a very interesting cat indeed."
"Maybe I can help?" Rosepaw asked quietly.
Ajax was about to say something, but Yellowpaw mewed flatly, "He'd make short work of her in ten seconds flat."
Rosepaw watched as Ajax stared at her thoughtfully, and murmured, "Maybe not..."
Rosepaw finally relaxed, standing straight up, and looked at them all in confusion.
They al looked at each-other, and Sunpelt nodded. Ajax sighed, "Come on, Rosepaw, let's go see him." He turned, and walked away, flicking his tail as he went.
Rosepaw shivered, and followed him, she asked, "You aren't going to make sure I don't tell Jaystar?"
"Once we're finished with this cat, you're going to think Jaystar is a very soft cat," Ajax mewed in a flat voice, "Think of this as a test."
Rosepaw shivered, and continued following him.
The rain had stopped once they reached a broken down two-leg den, which looked burned in certain places, and looked like it was ready to crumble away. She heard Ajax mutter, "That fool cat is seriously going to get stuck under rubble at some point."
Ajax climbed onto the burnt fence gracefully, but Rosepaw had a bit more trouble, Ajax mewed, "Okay, about this cat, there's a couple things you got to know."
"What type of things?" Rosepaw asked, clinging onto the fence.
"One, he does not like intruders or strangers, so let me do the talking, two, I hate to admit it, but Sunpelt was right, he is as crazy as a bat." Ajax whispered.
"Anything else?" Rosepaw asked.
"Yeah, he used to be a kittypet, this was his old home, but don't let that fool you, he's the most dangerous cat you'll ever see." Ajax mewed, a hint of laughter in his voice. Rosepaw flicked her ear, and watched as he jumped into the dead yard. Rosepaw followed.
What have I gotten myself into? Rosepaw thought, and looked up at the dark, crumbling house. This is a totally different feeling from Jaystar, at least there's something there that you know, but with this... She flicked her ear, and narrowed her eyes, This is totally out of Jaystar's league.
Chapter 3[]
If you think you've seen everything...
You've seen only so much.
Ajax walked up the the burnt entrance way, and he called, "Thorn, are you there?" Rosepaw watched as he peeked inside the house. Rosepaw looked behind her, and froze when cold, amber eyes were staring at her dangerously. She poked Ajax with her tail, and she whispered fearfully, "Um, Ajax."
Ajax looked back, and Rosepaw screeched when the shadow leaped into the air, aiming straight for her. Ajax stepped in front of her, the cat was taken off guard, and both of them tumbled away.
They tussled for a bit, before Ajax was pinned under the bigger cats paws, and the cat hissed almost gleefully, in a dangerous way, "You've gotten rusty, Ajax, it's been too long since we've had a good spar."
Rosepaw flicked her tail nervously, It's like staring at reflections... She thought nervously.
Ajax made a face, and the cat finally turned his attention to Rosepaw, who bristled.
"Who's the runt?" He asked flatly.
Rosepaw tipped her head, Ajax however was still staring at the cat, who must have been Thorn, and she twitched, "Runt... Did you just call me a runt?" She asked quietly.
Thorn narrowed his eyes dangerously, "Yeah, I did, I've seen pretty small things, but you take the leaf." He snarled, eyes flashing.
"Leave her be, Thorn, she's only 5 moons." Ajax whispered under Thorn's paws.
"Bah... When we were five moons, we left our mothers, took care of ourselves," he scented the air, and hissed, "But this is interesting, the smell of the forest, you've brought a clan cat onto my territory, Ajax." Thorn turned back to Ajax, eyes flashing dangerously.
"You call this place your territory? It's a ruin." Ajax grunted, not making a move against Thorn.
Thorn eyed Ajax, and twitched his whiskers. However, the small movement had it's effect, Rosepaw froze up, her fur bristling, There's something about this cat... That I really don't like.
Ajax noticed, and mewed, "Just relax, Rosepaw."
Thorn returned his full attention to Ajax, "The old Ajax I knew didn't take kindly to clan cats, or did that change?" Thorn asked, and twitched.
"It didn't, but the circumstances have." Ajax whispered.
Rosepaw was still shaking, and she thought quickly, I need to help Ajax, something tells me Thorn isn't in the mood to talk.
Rosepaw watched as Thorn raised one of his paws, she narrowed her eyes, and tried to relax, It's okay, Ajax has handled Jaystar's two bodyguards.
Ajax narrowed his eyes, and kicked Thorn off him, Thorn regained his balance pretty quickly, and he hissed gleefully, "I was wondering when you'd defend yourself."
Ajax flicked his tail, Thorn fully faced Ajax. Rosepaw tipped her head, They... Are they...? She wondered quietly as the two stared at each-other.
"It's been too long since we've had a good spar, Ajax, you've gotten boring as the moons passed." Thorn laughed dangerously.
"You haven't changed a bit you crazy cat." Ajax mewed, and seemed to smile.
It soon went quiet, and Thorn laughed, "Ah, yes, it's been too long Ajax, now, why did you come here, you know I don't like cats on my territory unless it's for a good reason."
Ajax relaxed, and mewed, "You're going to like this, don't worry."
Thorn finally sat down, and indicated his head for Ajax to continue. Ajax mewed, "Meet my young friend, Rosepaw, you're right, she is from Thunderclan."
"Okay, continue." Thorn muttered.
"Some cats are not... Very happy with the leader, however, next to you, he isn't much. However," Ajax tipped his head, "They're as afraid of you as they are of him."
Thorn stretched, outstretching his claws, Rosepaw stared at him as he mewed, "Interesting prospect, but what does this have to do with me?" He asked.
Ajax looked at Rosepaw, and said, "Easy, they need your help, and you need theirs."
"Hah!" Thorn laughed, heading towards Ajax, "Why couldn't they come themselves?"
"They did." Ajax stared at him.
"The runt?" Thorn asked flatly.
Rosepaw twitched, and muttered, "I'm not a runt..."
"Excuse me, I can't hear you." Thorn sneered, staring straight at her, eyes flashing.
Rosepaw bristled, standing up, and staring straight up at the bigger cat, and mewed dangerously, "I'm. Not. A. Runt!"
Thorn stared down at her, while Ajax watched in frustration.
"Prove it, runt." Thorn hissed.
Rosepaw stretched out her claws, and leaped at Thorn, who braced himself. They both tumbled away from Ajax, who had jumped away.
Rosepaw was easily beaten by Thorn, he had her pinned, and was staring down at her. Rosepaw was glaring at him.
"Okay, Ajax," Thorn looked back at Ajax, who looked shocked, "I'm listening."
"They need help chasing the leader out, but can't do much when they're worried of being killed off one by one." Ajax said quietly.
"They're worried about being killed off by a soft clan cat, when this one right here," Thorn turned his attention to Rosepaw, "Stood up to me, when I'm bigger and way more experienced than she is? Thunderclan must be in a bad way if their warriors are scared out of their tails, and the only brave ones are the tiny kittens." Thorn mewed.
Rosepaw stared at him, confused.
Thorn looked at her, and asked, "How about it, apprentice, why are you so afraid of you leader, when you weren't afraid to stand up for yourself? What is the difference little clan cat?"
Rosepaw looked at Ajax, then looked back at Thorn, who seemed to be waiting for an answer, she murmured, "I... I don't know..."
Thorn laughed, "Did you hear that, Ajax? She doesn't know!" He sneered, "Let me tell you, clan cat, there isn't one, like there's no real difference between your greatest enemy, or your best friend, both know things about you that you didn't know yourself. But the fact you weren't afraid to stand up to me, shows that you have something in there that the others don't, so prove it, prove to them that you're not afraid, little clan cat."
He let her up, Rosepaw rolled away from him, shaking out her fur, and he mewed, "Fine, Ajax, next time you see these clan cats, tell me, I'll help when the time is right." He casted one last look at Ajax, then walked into the crumbling den.
Ajax sighed, then mewed, "Come on, I better take you back to your clan."
"What was that?!" Rosepaw finally exclaimed after minutes of silence.
"That, that was Thorn." Ajax mewed.
"Is there some sort of history between you two?" Rosepaw asked, still bristling.
Ajax mewed flatly, "You could say that, but that's something for another time."
Okay, avoid that subject for now. Rosepaw thought, and continued following Ajax back to the clearing. Some cats were still there, but Nightpelt must have taken Yellowpaw back to camp. Sunpelt saw them, and asked, "How did it go?"
"Wonderfully." Ajax sniffed, trying not to laugh.
Sunpelt twitched her whiskers, "Come on, Rosepaw, I'll take you back to camp."
Rosepaw followed her away fromt he clearing as the rest of the cats left, Rosepaw asked, "So, what do you know about this cat?"
"You mean Ajax didn't tell you about him?" Sunpelt mewed calmly. Rosepaw shook her head, and she sighed, "We're hoping he'll be something Jaystar won't expect."
"No, I mean, anything about him personally?" Rosepaw asked quietly.
"Oh, hah. Not much, but I guess you have heard, he is crazy as a bat, I'm sure deep inside he's a nice cat, but from what I've heard about him. It's hard to believe." Sunpelt replied.
Rosepaw frowned, then she murmured, "I guess, there is something I don't like about him, but there's something there that reminds me of..."
"Of what?" Sunpelt asked curiously.
Rosepaw opened her mouth to reply, then laughed sheepishly, "Oh, nothing! Just something weird, that's all."
Sunpelt just looked at her, confused, then shook her head. "Well, might as well, Rosepaw? Would you like to join our little group?"
"What little group?" Rosepaw asked cheekily.
Sunpelt laughed, "That's the Rosepaw I know. I'll keep you posted, but we better hurry before Jaystar catches us."
Rosepaw nodded, and looked back one last time, then looked away, It's just my imagination... Right? I've been told I have a very avid one. She thought as her and Sunpelt sneaked back into the camp, everyone else was asleep. Sunpelt whispered, "Go get some sleep, Rosepaw."
Rosepaw nodded, and sneaked quietly to the apprentices den. Birchpaw and Cloudpaw were deep in sleep. Rosepaw curled up in her moss bed, and tried to sleep, but was plagued with dreams of dark cats looking down at her with bloodthirsty eyes.
She called in fear, "Cloudpaw? Birchpaw? Anybody?" Rosepaw ran through the group of cats, but she stopped when she was surrounded by them. There were two cats to meet her, but she couldn't recognise them, but they looked alike, same sharp, amber eyes, same dark fur. She put her ears back. Thorn's words ringing and ringing in her head.
Prove it, prove you're not afraid, little clan cat. He whispered dangerously.
Rosepaw backed away from the two, who were staring down at her, she outstretched her claws, and finally the shadows of the cats descended on her, and the dream went black.
~*~*~*~
Rosepaw woke up with a jolt, she looked around quickly, her fur bristling. Cloudpaw was stretching out of his nest, and he asked quietly, "Bad dream?"
"Yeah... Yeah, bad dream..." Rosepaw nodded, shaking out her fur.
Cloudpaw yawned, "Well, better shake it off soon, you know Jaystar hates cats who are late, erg, I'm still half asleep." He grunted, walking out of the den. Birchpaw woke up after he left.
"What was that about late?" Birchpaw asked sleepily.
"Did you get any sleep last night?" Rosepaw asked in disbelief.
Birchpaw looked at her, "Sure, I got lots, I'm guessing you're asking because you didn't?" He asked suspiciously.
Rosepaw eyed him, and sighed, "I'm going to see what Jaystar has planned out for me..." She turned her back on Birchpaw, and walked out of the den. Her mother had returned to the warriors den, and was in deep conversation with one of the newest queens, Robinsky, who seemed nervous.
She walked past them, and saw Jaystar on the high rock, staring down at the clearing with cold eyes. Rosepaw braced herself as he jumped down from the rok, and walked towards her.
"We're going to go on a patrol today. Something simple, learn how to track scents for now." Jaystar mewed flatly, and led the way out of the camp, Rosepaw followed after rolling her eyes.
They stopped at the edge of a pine forest, and Jaystar asked, "What do you smell?"
Rosepaw sniffed the air, there was a lot of things she smelled. The lush undergrowth of the pineforest gave off the scent of pinecones, the mist raising from the swampy undergrowth smelled of frogs and other prey. She nodded, and mewed, "Shadowclan, can't mistake the scent of frogs."
Rosepaw noticed Jaystar raise an eye-brow, then nodded, "That's right, now we're going to circle back, head to the ruins of an old two-leg group of buildings, then head towards another part of the territory." He turned back, and Rosepaw shivered, Did he say ruins? She thought fearfully.
Jaystar must have sensed her fear, because he mewed flatly, "Don't worry, nothing much lives there." He continued walking without showing any concern. Rosepaw followed hesitantly.
It was almost sun-high when they reached the ruins, she noticed Thorn's home right away, but it was a couple fox-lengths away. Jaystar asked, "Smell anything out of the ordinary?"
Rosepaw sniffed the air, and her fur suddenly bristled out of instinct, Thorn's sooty and pinecony scent was nearby. Jaystar looked down at her, and asked, "Well?"
She tried to relax, and mewed as calmly as she could, "Nothing, nothing except soot from the ruins."
Jaystar looked at her skeptically, but shrugged, and continued walking past Thorn's home, she followed quickly, and she swore she could see his sharp, cold, amber eyes watching her movements carefully. Rosepaw bristled, and caught up to Jaystar.
They stopped at a windswept plain, the first thing Rosepaw noticed was the heavy rabbit scent. It made her mouth water, and she mewed, "Windclan."
Jaystar nodded, and said, "You're quite the tracker, Rosepaw, it's an... Interesting development," Jaystar muttered, and turned away from Windclan territory, leading back into the forest. Jaystar stopped, and mewed, "How about you hunt for a bit, you need the practice."
Rosepaw nodded, and watched as Jaystar left her to her own devices, she frowned, and thought, That was odd.
She looked around the canopy, getting the feeling something was following her. "Ach, Thorn has my nerves all messed up!"
"Say that louder, I can't hear you~" Someone growled from the treetop.
Rosepaw jumped about a rabbit foot in the air, she bristled, eyeing the treetops quickly, and she hissed fearfully, "Come out!"
Thorn jumped gracefully from the tree. His eyes raised skeptically, "Oh yes, that's showing me who's boss, little clan cat."
"I have a name." Rosepaw growled, outstretching her claws, narrowing her eyes.
"Yes, so do I." Thorn sneered.
Rosepaw stared at him, then asked suspiciously, "What are you doing here?"
Thorn sighed, circling around her, "Oh you know, Ajax asked a big favour. I'm scoping out the territory, and your leader seems like an interesting cat." He mewed in an eerie calmness. Rosepaw kept her eyes on him.
"I can think of multiple cats that are interesting." Rosepaw huffed, keeping her tail high in the air, and her fur puffed out.
"Ouch, how long did it take for Ajax to teach you that one?" Thorn laughed coldly. Rosepaw only stared as he continued, "Ah, it doesn't matter, what matters is that he isn't here."
"Is there some bad history between you or something?" Rosepaw asked quietly.
"Oh, no no. History yes, but bad? Do you have secrets that you'd declare as bad?" Thorn asked. Rosepaw huffed, and Thorn laughed coldly, "Me and Ajax go way back into kittenhood, you have no idea, little Rosepaw."
"How could he be friends with someone so..." Rosepaw faltered, staring at him strangely.
Thorn raised an eyebrow, and narrowed his amber eyes, "Yes?" He asked.
She sniffed the air, along with the scent of soot and pinecone, there was also a deeper smell of the forest, of the clear air. The same scent of Ajax.
"He's not your friend." Rosepaw mewed.
"Nope. Not even close, we haven't been friends for a long time," Thorn noticed Rosepaw give him a disbelieving look, and he mewed, "I like to think of our relationship as..."
"Brothers who have bad tensions between them." Rosepaw finished for him.
Thorn sneered, "You're getting better eye-sight every day, Rosepaw." He commented.
Rosepaw tipped her head, "Now, I'm surprised and all, but back to my earlier question, how could he be related to someone like you?" She asked quietly, her fear slowly slipping away.
Thorn raised an eye-brow, "Why don't you ask him that? He's always been the softhearted one." He growled dangerously.
Rosepaw remembered Ajax's fight with Jaystar's body-buards, and she muttered cooly, "Softhearted is right..."
"Still can't hear you." Thorn growled.
"I said softhearted is right!" Rosepaw yelled, scaring some birds out of the tree. She glared at Thorn, starting to get frustrated. But tipped her head when he started laughing.
Thorn mewed, "There you go! Now I can hear you!"
Rosepaw mewed, "You are crazy as a bat."
"Thank you," He shook out his dark grey fur, and he asked curiously, "So I'm guessing all Thunderclan cats have a shy problem?"
"What?" Rosepaw mused.
"Are they all afraid to speak their mind or something?" Thorn asked again, flicking his tail back and forth.
Rosepaw mewed, "No, it's different..."
"Explain." Thorn sat down, bringing his paw over his ear.
"I... I can't..." Rosepaw whispered quietly.
"I can't hear you." Thorn pointed out.
Rosepaw huffed, then mewed loudly, "I can't! I don't know why they're so afraid of Jaystar! He's just a cat! Sure he may have nine lives from Starclan, doesn't make him any different from the rest of us! There's one of him, and more of us!"
She raised an eye-brow when Thorn got a weird look, something she hadn't seen in either her mother or father for a long time. The look of pride. "Now that's the Thunderclan spirit I've heard of countless times." He laughed.
Rosepaw watched as he stood up, and he mewed cooly, "Now, if your little group believed that, you wouldn't need my help, Rosepaw, you'd be surprised how someone small like you could change things. I've seen it happen, and I'm sure it'll happen again without needing my help."
Rosepaw twitched her tail at the word small, and Thorn turned and walked back to the tree he was hiding in. He laughed as he climbed up, "Maybe Thunderclan isn't a lost cause after all, I can't wait to see what happens, my curiousity is piqued." He disappeared into the canopy of the trees.
Rosepaw couldn't help but twitch her whiskers a tiny bit, and she whispered, "Now, you're one interesting cat, Thorn. One interesting and crazy cat."
She also turned away from the tree, and sniffed the air, Now to catch something, Jaystar wouldn't be impressed if I got nothing for the clan... She thought grimly, and finally followed the scent of a squirrel.
It was chewing on a small nut of a tree, she crouched, twitching her ears back to make sure there was no other cats around. She lifted her tail up, and got ready to pounce.
She flicked her ear when the squirrel sat up, and seemed to be sniffing the air. It grabbed the nut and quickly retreated into a nearby tree. Rosepaw sat up, and huffed, "Great."
Rosepaw felt her fur bristle, and she looked around. She looked up into the sky, it was a dark grey evening, she murmured quietly to herself, "That's odd, I was down wind from the squirrel."
She hissed quietly when a rustic scent hit her nose, What in the name of Starclan is that? She thought.
Rosepaw ran back to camp, the rustic scent getting heavier as she neared. There were the screeches of battle. Rosepaw scented the air for any enemy clan, but there wasn't one. Only Thunderclan scent.
She ran through the entrance, and was shocked when Birchpaw bowled into her, and she gasped, "Hey! It's me!"
Birchpaw mewed, "I know! Sunpelt told me to find you and get you out of here."
"What's going on?!" Rosepaw asked as Birchpaw rushed her back to the entrence, she saw Cloudpaw crouching in the apprentices den with the other appentices, shock and fear in their eyes. Rosepaw hissed to Birchpaw, "We can't just leave them!"
Birchpaw looked at the apprentices den, and Rosepaw asked, "What happened?"
"Jaystar has finally snapped, that's what happened, Snowclaw just makes an off hand comment, and the whole camp exploded." Birchpaw hissed.
"Is he all right?!" Rosepaw asked.
Birchpaw shrugged, and sighed, "We better retrieve my brother, keep close on my tail, unless you've learned some moves from Jaystar, which I doubt."
Rosepaw made a face, and followed him around the clearing, where Thunderclan cats were fighting each-other. Rosepaw whispered, "There has to be a way to stop them!"
"There isn't, unless you've got some idea." Birchpaw whispered back, they were nearing the apprentices den.
Rosepaw shook her head, and finally they reached the dne, and Cloudpaw asked quickly, "Where were you?"
"Hunting." Rosepaw muttered, Birchpaw tried to urge the other apprentices out, but they just shrunk furthur into the den.
Cloudpaw muttered, "They're in shock, Yellowpaw left from behind the apprentices den."
"Yellowpaw!" Rosepaw gasped.
"What?" Cloudpaw asked, watching the fighting cats.
Rosepaw ran into the den, trying to find her scent, which reminded her of those yellow flowers. She finally caught a trace, and followed it out of the den, with Birchpaw and Cloudpaw staring after her. Rosepaw called, "Yellowpaw?!"
She returned to the clearing, where Nightpelt was under a lowhanging tree, watching the ground, as if he was in shock. Rosepaw bounded up to him, and Yellowpaw leaped on her from a tree, hissing.
"Yellowpaw! It's me!" Rosepaw hissed.
"Rosepaw?! What in the name of Starclan are you doing here?" She asked coldly.
"I want to know what happened, what did Snowclaw say to cause such a fight?" Rosepaw asked.
Yellowpaw looked at Nightpelt, but didn't releaser her grip, and she murmured, "The funny thing is, all he asked Jaystar was how your training was going, since you and him never go out. Jaystar was already in a bad mood, and he kind of snapped, and it's foggy, but next thing you know, everyone goes into an uproar."
"Just because Snowclaw was curious?" Rosepaw exclaimed.
Sunpelt finally ran into the clearing, her fur torn and bloodied, and she asked quickly, "Are you two all right, along with Snowclaw, you two were hit first."
"Yes, we're fine. Is Snowclaw?" Yellowpaw asked quietly.
"He should be fine, just shaken up," Sunpelt muttered, "I had to practically drag him away from the camp and return. Jaystar's finally snapped."
"He's already snapped." Nightpelt pointed out, his fur bristling.
Sunpelt looked at Rosepaw, and asked, "I'm guessing Jaystar got you out for some reason before this whole debacle happened?"
"Just for a patrol... He took us by the ruins." Rosepaw whispered.
"Oh, just great, how much does he know..." Sunpelt muttered to herself.
Rosepaw looked at Yellowpaw, who asked quietly, "How are my brothers?"
"They're fine." Rosepaw mewed quietly.
Yellowpaw had a cool look on her face, and she mewed defiantly, "Are we just going to let Jaystar get away with this? Most of our clanmates were confused on who the real enemy was!"
Sunpelt murmured calmly, "There's nothing much we can do."
Rosepaw mewed sadly, "There has to be something we can do."
Sunpelt and Yellowpaw looked at her, their eye-brows raised, and Sunpelt mewed calmly, "If you have an idea, I'd love to hear it."
"Thorn." Rosepaw mewed.
Yellowpaw stared at her as if she just sprouted wings, and Sunpelt shifted uncomfortably, "Well, there's a problem with that..." She murmured.
Rosepaw sat down, and asked, "What problem? He agreed to help."
"He's... Not the predictable type." Sunpelt murmured.
"So? Isn't the whole point of a battle to not let your opponent know what you're going to do next?" Rosepaw asked.
Sunpelt nodded, then whispered, "However, it's not that simple."
Rosepaw stared at the older warrior in disbelief, and she said flatly, "I can't hear you."
Sunpelt glared at her, and mewed loudly, "It's not that simple, Rosepaw, Jaystar is a leader, given nine lives by Starclan themselves."
"Okay, but isn't there more of us then there is of him?" Rosepaw asked.
Sunpelt looked at Nightpelt, who shrugged, and she sighed, "A long time ago, before you were born, there was a lot more of us... But what you saw last time, we're all that's left, plus Ajax, and he wasn't always interested to help."
Rosepaw asked, "Why can't you recruit more Thunderclan cats then?"
"We've tried, but the more we try, the more Jaystar gets determined to root us out, that's why we've turned to rogues who live by our territory, who could care less about what Starclan thinks, and aren't bound by the warrior code." Yellowpaw replied before Sunpelt could answer.
Rosepaw flopped her ears, and she asked, "But... What happened to the rest of you?"
Sunpelt looked at her, and sighed, "It's a long story, Rosepaw."
Chapter 4[]
The right choice
May not always be the smart one.
Rosepaw asked quietly, "Can you tell me?"
Sunpelt sat down, and sighed, "Might as well, I have a feeling we're going to be here a while until things calm down." Nightpelt finally came out of the low hanging tree, and sat down a bit aways from Sunpelt, his tail flicking from side to side.
"I guess you could say it all started when Jaystar came to power, I knew him a lot more than most of us, we practically grew up together. He was quite the dreamer, and to most of Thunderclan, the best warrior they could ever hope for," Sunpelt started, looking at the sky, "He was loyal, and would protect the warrior code with his life, but... He became more distant as Stormstar neared her last life, like he was excited for her death."
Rosepaw asked, "What was Stormstar like?"
"She was a just leader, always patient, never sought to fight others without reason, and trusted her clan with her life," Nightpelt sighed, "I guess that was her downfall, trusting us too much. We couldn't protect her when Jaystar somehow planned her death."
Rosepaw asked, "Okay, what... Did she start the rebellion against Jaystar or something?"
Sunpelt looked at Yellowpaw, who mewed nervously, "I heard that the medicine cat had a sign, but other than that, I don't know the details."
"Yeah, the sign..." Sunpelt murmured, "He found a dead bird, a jay to be exact, but he didn't give us specifics, only told us that it signaled something about Jaystar."
"What, his death?" Rosepaw asked.
Nightpelt twitched, "Not... Exactly..."
Rosepaw stared at him, and asked, "What do you mean?"
"It could have meant Thunderclan's demise by Jaystar, who was known to be loyal to a fault to Thunderclan." Sunpelt whispered.
"So, a lot of us started meeting in secret, planning to stop the demise of our clan, but Jaystar grew supicious, sometimes, he would follow some of us out, and one day, he actually caught a lot of us." Sunpelt whispered quietly.
Yellowpaw asked, "What happened? You guys never told me."
"He got his most loyal warriors, and convinced them that we were traitors, I managed to get away from them before they spotted me, that was the plan...To scatter, but they never even got the chance..." Sunpelt murmured. "Soon, the rest of us were picked off, and now, there's just me, Nightpelt, Snowclaw, Yellowpaw, and the ones under watch from Jaystar."
Rosepaw asked, "How does Ajax come into the picture then?"
"We realised we had a problem as soon as there was so little of us, and if Jaystar was so determined to weed us out, how soon would he think his whole clan was against him?" Sunpelt mused. She continued, "It was before your apprentice ceremony, we found him hunting in our territory. Instead of chasing him out, we begged for his help, he wasn't really interested at first..."
"What made him interested?" Rosepaw asked.
"Jaystar," Sunpelt mewed, "I mentioned him, and his interest was almost immediate, and he told us he would help."
"Do you think they've met each-other before?" Yellowpaw asked.
Sunpelt stared at her, then mewed, "Yeah... Maybe, but Jaystar doesn't seem to know him, maybe it was indirect contact...?" She mused.
Nightpelt added, "Ajax does not like Jaystar though, I think he wants him dead just as bad as the rest of us..." He flicked his tail.
Sunpelt shrugged, and they all jumped when Ajax leaped gracefully into the clearing, and asked jokingly, "Who don't I like?"
"Jaystar." Sunpelt murmured, and tipped her head.
"You look horrible." Ajax mewed flatly.
"Thank you, Thunderclan is in an uproar." Sunpelt muttered.
Ajax sighed, "What happened?"
"Snowclaw made an off-hand comment Jaystar didn't like," Sunpelt mewed, and twitched her tail, "Ajax, if we need anyone's help now... It's his..." She faltered.
"Wow, you want to play the wildcard now?" Ajax mused.
Rosepaw asked, "What does that mean?"
"I think it means we want to use Thorn's help so soon into the plan." Yellowpaw whispered quietly.
Sunpelt nodded, and sighed, "This might get most of Thunderclan in trouble though, and if Jaystar finds out we asked for a rogues help, forget rooting out most of us... All of us will die, even the innocent ones." Rosepaw jumped when Sunpelt casted a gaze towards her and Yellowpaw.
Ajax looked thoughtful, and Sunpelt muttered, "I can get this under control, I'm the only one Jaystar isn't suspicious of... Old ties and all that. But you have to hide Rosepaw and Yellowpaw."
"Why would those two be in danger?" Ajax asked.
"Jaystar would use them as leverage against the clan, Yellowpaw is one of our best hunters, and I think Jaystar believes Rosepaw has a very good sense of direction and smell, something very nice to have in a forest full of scents." Sunpelt replied.
Rosepaw gasped, "Wait, back up, my sense of smell is average, don't you guys have sense of smells?"
"Yes, but you seem to have the instinct to pick out and differ scents, something that takes moons for a warrior to learn," Sunpelt pointed out, "That's something you're born with, and if you're not born with it, it takes a whole lot longer to learn and use."
Rosepaw twitched, and Ajax sighed, "Where would I hide them?"
"Any place that Jaystar would never think to look, until I calm the problem down, once it's done, I'll come retrieve them, I'll tell Jaystar that I've sent them on a little scouting trip, see what's down the river." Sunpelt mewed quickly.
Ajax looked at Rosepaw and Yellowpaw, then sighed, "All right, but you can't hide them forever. You can't hide this rebellion forever... Someday, you're going to have to come out."
Sunpelt murmured, "I don't know if we'll ever be ready for that."
"I don't want Thunderclan to die!" Rosepaw mewed.
"We'll try as hard as we can, but Jaystar still has his full lifes, and powerful warriors backing him." Sunpelt murmured, and flicked her tail at Nightpelt, who stood up. They looked at the three cats, and left the clearing, tails down in defeat.
Rosepaw stared after them in shock, and she mewed to Ajax and Yellowpaw, "We can't just let them walk away..."
"What would you have us do?" Yellowpaw asked.
"Anything, didn't you see them?" Rosepaw turned to face the two, "It looked like they already lost the fight."
"They are losing the fight." Ajax pointed out.
Rosepaw eyed him, and asked, "What about you?"
"What about me?" Ajax muttered.
"What happened between you and Thorn, and who won the fight?" Rosepaw asked quietly.
Ajax stared at her, Yellowpaw then turned her attention to Ajax, who looked uncomfortable, he sighed, "Thorn is my brother."
"Yeah." Rosepaw nodded.
"A long time ago, before Thorn became a kitty-pet, and I became a rogue, we were part of a family of four, our mother and father were always hunting, but when we were like..." He faltered, as if he was trying to remember, "Three moons, I guess, our mother came home, torn and bleeding. I was the youngest so I couldn't understand what was going on, but she hurried us out of our den."
Rosepaw asked, "What happened?"
"My father died, what do you think?" Ajax asked pointedly, then continued, "She was a lot more worried about me than my two brothers and sister, because believe it or not, Rosepaw, I was the runt of the litter, I was the smallest."
Rosepaw flicked her tail, and he continued, "However, my other brother died in a snowstorm, my mother still kept me close at hand, and my sister didn't even get to reach four moons, it was just me and Thorn left, my mother kept both of us close."
Yellowpaw twitched, "I can almost tell what happens next."
Ajax twitched his whiskers, "Cats came to our den where we were hiding, they smelled of the forest, they attacked my mother without reason, she managed to get us out of the den, and Thorn pretty much dragged me away from them, I guess that was easy for him, he was probably the biggest out of all of us, even though he wasn't the first born." He mewed calmly.
"Smelled of the forest... That's why you want Jaystar dead." Rosepaw mused.
Ajax nodded, "Now, what happened between my brother, we were both mad at each-other and ourselves for being unable to do anything, soon, he found two-legs. That didn't make him any less lethal though, but he did abandon me to the forest, he told me that I should have been able to take care of myself, even though I was the smallest. We had a big fight."
"Who won." Rosepaw asked
"I did." Ajax mewed in a weird tone, as if he still couldn't believe it.
"So what happened?" Yellowpaw asked
"I learned to fend for myself, and we ran into each-other again, but it was cold between us, then I got asked for help from the very clan that murdured my family, and now here we are." Ajax twitched his tail.
"Wow." Rosepaw mused.
"Wow is right." Ajax laughed.
Yellowpaw asked, "But, was Thorn always crazy as a bat?"
"No, actually, he was a really soft hearted and gentle cat in kittenhood, always liked playing with us, even though it was hard to beat him. But I guess he started changing after our mum died, and finally, he cracked when his two-legs house burnt down everything around it, right in front of him. He's still in shock I guess, never to recover?" Ajax mused to himself.
Rosepaw frowned, and Ajax mewed, "I was there when it burnt down, I had to drag him out, as he was frozen like ice, as if he couldn't really comprehend what was happening to his home."
"Ouch." Yellowpaw flinched.
Rosepaw shivered, Fire... The most dangerous thing ever...
Ajax sighed, "How about I take you guys to see Thorn, he knows plenty of places to hide." He got a darkened look on his face, and flicked his tail at them. Rosepaw and Yellowpaw looked at each-other, then followed him.
They came up to the ruins, Ajax sniffed the air. Rosepaw noticed Thorn's amber eyes right away, they were staring at them from a nearby bush, and he hissed, "What do you want?"
"It's me, Thorn, do you have bad eye-sight or something?" Ajax asked cooly.
Thorn padded out of the bushes, and shook out his fur. He eyed Rosepaw and Yellowpaw, and he asked suspiciously, "You bring another clan cat this time, what's this about?"
"One of the older warriors has requested that we hide them for the time being, as Jaystar has finally snapped, like other cats I know." Ajax mewed cooly.
Thorn raised an eye-brow, and the two brothers stared claws at each-other. Rosepaw laughed nervously, and asked curiously, "So... Can you help us?"
Thorn blinked, looking away from his brother, then shrugged, "Sure, I know a couple places that would hide you, one's in the garlic field a bit aways from here, that'd mask your scent from predator or prey."
"I'd rather not smell like garlic, thanks." Yellowpaw mewed flatly.
Thorn finally looked at her, and mewed, "Wow, the only brave ones are apprentices, as far as I've seen..." He muttered to himself. Yellowpaw looked at Rosepaw, and circled her tail in the air, Rosepaw giggled as Thorn continued, "I do know one place, hidden, and you won't be able to catch your scent if you're not looking close enough."
Rosepaw made a face, and looked at Ajax, who kept a flat gaze. Thorn turned to Ajax, and asked in a weird tone, "That bad?"
Ajax only nodded. Thorn sighed, "Must you always find yourself in the middle of everything?" He didn't wait for Ajax to answer, he flicked his tail towards the two apprentices, "Follow me then..."
He padded away from the ruins, Yellowpaw followed without hesitation, Rosepaw however hesitated, and looked back. Ajax tipped his head, and flicked his tail, turning away from her. He leaped over Thorn's fence, and disappeared.
She turned back to catch up to the two cats. Thorn was leading them towards Windclan territory, where a river seperated them from Windclan. He walked up the river to an abandoned two-leg den in the middle of a willow tree clearing, it was well hidden. Rosepaw sniffed the air, and the two-leg scent was stale.
"Come on, keep up." Thorn called from ahead. Yellowpaw jumped, and ran to catch up with him, with Rosepaw following her.
They stopped at the entrance way, Yellowpaw peeked in, and muttered, "Is this really the place?"
"Hey, don't complain, not unless you want to be out in the open." Thorn growled back.
Yellowpaw stared at him, he sniffed around, and mewed, "Don't worry about two-legs, this place has been abandoned for a long time. Ajax will probably come to check on you, but be careful if you go out into the territory. Don't want to be caught like dumbstruck squirrels."
"Thanks?" Rosepaw mused.
"Don't mention it," Thorn grumbled, flicking his tail, "Literally."
Rosepaw watched as he walked away without a second look. Yellowpaw sighed, and asked, "Come on... Are you hungry? I could use a tracking partner."
Rosepaw laughed nervously, "Heh, all right, but I haven't quite perfected my hunting crouch yet."
"That's fine, I'll do the hunting, show you a couple moves." Yellowpaw mewed calmly, and flicked her tail, walking away from the den.
Rosepaw hissed in realisation, "Is that a good idea though, Yellowpaw? Jaystar might be looking for us!" She exclaimed.
Yellowpaw looked at her thoughtfully, then murmured, "Yeah, you're right, probably not a good idea, so soon after the in fighting."
Rosepaw turned away from Yellowpaw, and looked up at the large den. She flicked her ear, and thought, Although, I don't know what Thorn was thinking, hiding us in here, the scent of two-leg is stale, and it's in ruins...
She watched as Yellowpaw walked into the den a bit hesitantly, then finally disappear into the darkness of the den. Rosepaw tipped her head, hesitating. She finally walked forward when Yellowpaw called, "What are you waiting for?"
Rosepaw squinted, waiting for her eyes to get used to the dark, she finally looked around. It was weird, being in an abandoned two-leg nest, weird things were all around in the different areas. One area even had this long thing. Rosepaw jumped on it, and was surprised when it was pretty comfortable.
Yellowpaw came up beside her, and asked, "What if... Sunpelt can't fix the problem?"
"You're losing faith in her already?" Rosepaw asked curiously, Yellowpaw had a darkened look on her face, and she looked at the soft material below her, digging her claws in them, and she sighed.
"It's not that I'm losing faith in her, Jaystar is a changed cat. He's not like what he was way back when him and Sunpelt were friends." Yellowpaw muttered, staring upwards at the blocked sky. It made Rosepaw nervous, not being able to see the sky and stars.
Rosepaw shivered, "How could Thorn live this life, the life of a Kittypet? I'd go crazy if I was never able to see starpelt again." She mused.
"Maybe he had no choice, Rosepaw. You can't always assume that a cat chooses his path, sometimes there is no choice. Sometimes the choice is made for you," Yellowpaw mewed calmly. "Listen, Rosepaw, what would you have been if you weren't born into one of the warrior clans?"
Rosepaw stared at her, but her expression was blank, and Rosepaw mused, "I don't know, only because I can't imagine being anything else other than being a warrior."
"Well, start imagining it Rosepaw, because if Sunpelt can't fix this, then we might be living Thorn's life." Yellowpaw growled darkly.
"That can't happen!" Rosepaw mewed sharply, and jumped of the couch. "It can't... What about all the young kits? What would happen to them if the rebellion is crushed? Jaystar would turn his sights to his whole clan, excluding the cats devotedly loyal to him, not just us!" She snapped.
Yellowpaw followed her off the couch, and mewed quickly, "What could we do, you heard Sunpelt! There's so little of us left! We have no fight left in us, if we die, so does the clan's chances of thriving," when Rosepaw scoffed and turned away from her, tail flicking, she added, "Trust me, I hate that no one is really doing anything either, but we're just apprentices, and if warriors can't do it? How can apprentices?"
Rosepaw went silent, her mind racing, she bristled her fur, and asked carefully, "What if... We gave Jaystar what he needs... And turn it against him?"
"What are you thinking?" Yellowpaw asked cautiously.
"Give him something he wants." Rosepaw turned back to her, staring at Yellowpaw.
"What does he want?" Yellowpaw asked.
Rosepaw twitched her whiskers and tail in nervousy, and mewed as calmly as she could, "Either of us."
~*~*~*~
A month or so had passed before Rosepaw put her plan into motion, If Sunpelt hasn't solved it yet, then I doubt she can.
"You can't do this Rosepaw! Sunpelt would kill you before Jaystar could!" Yellowpaw squeaked as they padded through the forest, with Rosepaw giving no sign of stopping.
"Someone has to, and you're not in any real shape to do it yet, after what Jaystar did to you," Rosepaw mewed, looking back.
Yellowpaw shivered her fur, and snapped, "He's going to do the same to you if this goes awry!"
"I'm hoping it will, and I'm hoping someone witnesses it at just the right moment, if he stays true to point." Rosepaw sneered to herself.
"Who?" Yellowpaw asked, hesitating.
"Thorn, that'll give Jaystar a good scare!" Rosepaw finally stopped, and turned around, "You don't have to come along, I just need you to cover me, I want to give Thunderclan the bravery they had so long ago, to stand up to Jaystar."
Yellowpaw hissed, "You'll die!"
Rosepaw continued, "Remember when we were made apprentices? When we said that we would protect our clan and the warrior code, even at the cost of our life?" Rosepaw added, "I'd rather die a warrior apprentice, then die knowing I didn't do anything, and watched my clan fall."
Yellowpaw froze, and watched helplessy as Rosepaw headed deeper into Thunderclan territory, Rosepaw looked up at the canopy, and thought, It's your help I'll need most of all, even if I'd hate to admit it. You told me to prove it, to prove I'm not afraid of standing up for myself, well this is it.
Rosepaw ran deeper and deeper into the territory, sniffing the air. She caught the scent of Cloudpaw, whih sent a strange chill down her spine, as Jaystar's scent was along with Cloudpaw's scent.
She padded along the forest quietly, but jumped when their was a hiss behind her, "Well well, look what we've got here, a Thunderclan runt and traitor all in one."
Rosepaw turned around sharply, and realised it was Hawkflight, but he was alone, which was strange. Rosepaw puffed out her fur, "The only traitor I see here is you, and I'm not a runt, I'm 8 moons old now!" She snapped.
Hawkflight laughed coldly, "You've certainly gotten firey as you've gotten older, Jaystar wants to have a long talk with you about loyalty."
Rosepaw hissed when Hawkflight grabbed her scruff, and dragged her towards the camp, she twitched her whiskers behind her fearful facade, and thought, That's right fox-brain, you're about to lend a paw in the downfall of your leader.
When they entered the camp, everyone looked up, Rosepaw noticed that some of them looked more scrawny than usual, they stared at her with surprised and fearful looks. Hawkflight brought her to the rock, and called, "Jaystar!"
Rosepaw noticed Cloudpaw and Birchpaw staring at her from the apprentices den, she was glad that they were both okay, if looking a bit underfed. She noticed Jaystar come out of his den, and look down at her with a blank expression.
Rosepaw tried to get up, but Hawkflight held her down, Jaystar mewed coldly, "So, we've caught one of the other rebellious cats, have we?"
Rosepaw looked at the cats, but they looked scared. Jaystar looked at Hawkflight, then asked, "How about this be another reminder? Just like Sunpelt was?"
Sunpelt?! Rosepaw thought in horror. Hawkflight got an malicious gleam in his eye, and raised his paw, claws outstretched.
She growled much to her clan-mates surprise, and she bonked his head with hers, while kicking beneath the stomach, which caused him to recoil. Ajax taught me that. She jumped away from him, and looked at her clan-mates, who were cowering in the shadows.
"Is this what Thunderclan has turned into, a clan full of cats who don't know what's right?!" She yelled, watching Jaystar carefully, who Hawkflight had accidently bowled into.
"Stop being afraid! All I ever heard of as a kit was how brave and great Thunderclan was, how we were the bravest clan of all!" Rosepaw finally turned her back on Jaystar, and yowled as loud as she could, "All I see now is cats cowering in fear of another cat no different than them, all of you promised to protect the clan and the warrior code at the cost of your life!"
Some cats got flashes in their eyes, but still stayed in the darkness. Birchpaw and Cloudpaw looked at each-other in horror and surprise. Rosepaw finally turned to face Jaystar who had regained his composure and leaped at Rosepaw.
He never even reached her before another shadow bowled into him and pinned him down, the shadow hissed gleefully, "Sorry, clan cat, this is one fight you're going to lose."
Jaystar hissed, "Who are you? You seem familiar."
Thorn laughed, "Oh, don't worry about formalties. I'm just your worst nightmare." Rosepaw gasped as Thorn jumped away from Jaystar to face Hawkflight head on, who had also regained his composure. Some of the Thunderclan cat's looked at each-other, some cats went to help Jaystar, while other cats went to help Rosepaw up.
"Are you okay?" Birchpaw asked.
"I'm fine!" Rosepaw mewed.
Thorn dodged Hawkflight's swipe, Rosepaw asked Snowclaw, who looked hurt, "Where's Sunpelt?"
"She's..." Snowclaw faltered, but Nightpelt interrupted him, and growled, "That's a story for another time, Snowclaw! We've got to get everyone not with Jaystar or the rebellion out of here, and fast!"
"I'll go to the queens!" Snowclaw mewed quickly, limping quickly through the fighting of clan-mates.
Rosepaw called after Nightclaw, who was heading towards the apprentices den, "What happened to Sunpelt?"
"I'll tell you after we get everyone out of here, help the elders!" He called back, and disappeared. Rosepaw nodded, and headed towards the elders den.
The elders were in the back of the den, and Rosepaw mewed, "You have to get out!"
The elders looked up, and Reedwhisker mewed calmly, "Don't worry about us Rosepaw, this has been our clan longer than it was Jaystar's, we're not leaving, he won't hurt us."
"We heard what you said out there, Rosepaw," Kestralflight mewed calmly, "You're going to be a fine warrior someday, but for now, you are still young. You need to get out first."
Rosepaw looked at the last two elders, she frowned, and nodded, running out of the den, leaving the elders to rest.
Nightpelt had gathered most of the apprentices, including Birchpaw, he muttered, "Some didn't want to leave, not that I can blame them, so Cloudpaw offered to watch them once we're all out of here, Snowclaw got most of the queens and kits already out, except for the expecting ones, Jaystar wouldn't be mousebrained enough to hurt them, so they'll be safe."
"Are we going to the clearing than figuring out what to do?" Rosepaw asked curiously.
Nightpelt nodded, and flicked his tail as if it was a signal, he led the way out of the camp. Some cats broke from the fighting to follow him. Rosepaw looked at Thorn, who looked around, then jumped onto the rock, and climbed the tree behind it, disappearing into the canopy.
Rosepaw looked back as she ran out, some cats were still fighting, then Nightpelt led the group into the darkness.
Chapter 5[]
The darkest of secrets
Can destroy what you hold dear
They all stopped at the clearing. Rosepaw panted, staring at the ground, she looked around at the cats who were huddled near each-other, eyes wide. One of the queens whispered fearfully, "Where will we go? There's no safe place!"
"I don't know... Thunderclan is long gone..." One of the other queens whispered.
One of the apprentices asked fearfully, "What about the other clans? Won't they notice the low number of cats gone from Thunderclan?"
"Since when did the other clans care about us?" A young warrior called from the back.
Nightpelt looked at Snowclaw, who just shrugged. Rosepaw mewed to Nightpelt, "Tell them to calm down, we'll get them all to a safe place."
Nightpelt however didn't seem to hear her, it had grown eerily silent in the forest. Cats twitched their ears, and shuffled nervously on their paws. Snowclaw mewed, "It's best we do not stay here for long, Jaystar will find us if we stay."
"Jaystar will find us no matter what." One of the queens muttered, wrapping her tail around her kits, who looked around curiously.
Rosepaw looked around, and mewed, "We could always try finding a place to recover."
"How long would recovering take though?" Snowclaw whispered quietly.
Rosepaw mewed quickly, "I'm sure Sunpelt would be able to figure things out, right?" At that, Nightpelt and Snowclaw looked away from each-other, while some cats bowed their heads. Rosepaw frowned and asked, "What happened?
Snowclaw looked at Nightpelt, who said nothing, and he mewed flatly, "Sunpelt is dead."
"What? How?!" Rosepaw exclaimed.
"Jaystar killed her, a couple days ago, before he did though, he swore he'd kill anyone involved, and anyone that was caught helping, would be punished." Nightpelt hissed, unnatural fire in his eyes.
Rosepaw only looked at all the cats, their heads were down in fear, and she mewed, "We've got to do something."
"What more can we do? Jaystar has more followers than we thought." Snowclaw asked skeptically.
Rosepaw looked down, then asked, "What's the one thing he doesn't have?"
"A sense of loyalty to his clanmates?" One of the warriors asked.
She mewed, "Well, yes, but we have outside help, we may be bound to the warrior code no matter what, but they're not, they don't believe in Starclan, and they don't believe in mercy." Rosepaw looked at them all
"How is that a help?" One of the queens hissed.
"They have no qualms killing Jaystar if it came down to it." Nightpelt mewed before Rosepaw replied.
The queen hissed, "We can't trust rogues, what if they turn our backs on us? Rogues are untrustworthy, and they only take for themselves."
Rosepaw shivered, and snapped, "What other choice do we have?! Please explain if you have any other ideas!"
The queen stared at her in disbelief, and Rosepaw growled, "I know for certain Ajax isn't like that, and I don't think Thorn is either, Thorn quite literally just saved all your lives by holding back Jaystar and Hawkflight." She flicked her tail, staring at the queen.
Snowclaw nodded, standing beside Rosepaw, "Would Sunpelt have asked Ajax for help if she didn't trust his judgement?" He asked curiously.
The queen finally went silent at that, Rosepaw mewed, "We've got to hurry, Jaystar will catch up if we don't."
Nightpelt nodded, and flicked his tail to lead the broken clan away from their home. Rosepaw followed then broke away from the group to try and find Yellowpaw, I don't even know how I'm going to explain Sunpelt's death to her...
She reached the abandoned two-leg den, and called, "Yellowpaw! Yellowpaw are you here?!"
Rosepaw sniffed the air, picking out the stale two-leg scent, and the scents of the forest. Yellowpaw's scent was fresh, but she was no where to be seen. She must have gone hunting. How am I going to explain this to her...?
Rosepaw jumped when Yellowpaw's scent suddenly got stronger. Yellowpaw bounded through the under-growth with a bird in her mouth. Her eyes brightened at the sight of Rosepaw, and she asked excitedly, "Did it work, what did Sunpelt say?"
"Sunpelt? She..." Rosepaw faltered, unsure what to say. Yellowpaw however shrugged, and mewed calmly, "I'm sure she'll explain everything. Did you guys get the clan out?"
Rosepaw nodded, and watched as Yellowpaw started padding away, "Show me where they are." She mewed. Rosepaw could only nod, and showed Yellowpaw to the remnents of the old Thunderclan. Some of the cats looked up when they entered.
The queen stared at Rosepaw, and she asked dangerously, "So Rosepaw? Are you going to talk to these rogues?"
"Yes, whatever it takes, whatever it takes to avenge the deaths suffered under Jaystar." Rosepaw growled back.
The queen stared down at her, and she twitched her whiskers, "You're going to be some warrior someday, Rosepaw."
Rosepaw watched as the queen padded off. Nightpelt was talking to Snowclaw in hushed whispers. Rosepaw sighed, deciding to see if Thorn was at his home, since she wasn't sure where Ajax was living.
She walked up to Thorn's den. I still can't understand how the den is still standing, even after the fire. She sniffed the fence cautiously, catching the piney scent of Thorn, but it seemed stale. Rosepaw narrowed her eyes, and climbed over the fence with some difficulty. She jumped down to the other side, tail raised in alert.
Rosepaw froze when she got the feeling she was being watched. She bristled, staring at the hedges around the den.
"Thorn?" Rosepaw asked timidly, she still didn't like the uneasy feeling she got from the crumbling den. She looked up, and put her ears back, she flicked her ears. She could hear rocks crumbling from inside,a dn she murmured, "How? How is it still standing?"
"How are you still considered a clan cat?" A voice asked behind her, she whipped around, and saw Thorn on the fence post, he flicked his ear, and looked at her skeptically, "You've been chased out of your own home, forced into a life you don't want."
Rosepaw scoffed, "It's different."
"Is it Rosepaw? Then why are you out here and not in that camp?" Thorn asked coolly.
Rosepaw made a face, and Thorn narrowed his eyes, "We're not that different, rogues and clan cats. One just chooses to live a different way than the other," He eyed her, and said, "By now, you could be considered a rogue, you got chased out by your own family, or by cats you thought you trusted, and not only you, half your clan could be considered rogues."
"We'll never be rogues, rogues are-" Rosepaw was interrupted by Thorn.
"Lowlifes that have no sense of loyalty and no belief in StarClan," Thorn hissed mockingly, "Where is StarClan when your clan needs them most? Why would rogues have to believe in StarClan?" He huffed, "Before you clan cats start judging us on our way of life, you might want to look at your own life."
Rosepaw stared at him in disbelief, and growled, "I don't believe in StarClan, I'll say that outright, it's the past, dead cats can't watch over you. What can they do? What can they do right?"
"Then what do rogues believe?" Rosepaw asked.
Thorn had turned away from her, and mewed, "We believe in surviving, taking care of the cats close to us, we watch out for each-other, not StarClan watches over us," he added, "You better be getting back to your clan, Jaystar is still looking for the rebelling clan."
Rosepaw nodded, and jumped onto the fence, and ran into the forest, she felt Thorn's cold gaze on her tail as she went to find her clan.
Snowclaw was looking around, he nodded to Rosepaw, and continued on his way, Nightpelt was trying to urge the queens to find a better place to hide, but they weren't budging. He sighed in exasperation, and muttered, "Why are females so stubborn?"
Rosepaw watched as he stalked off, tail flicking in agitation. Rosepaw asked, "What does he want you to do?"
"Find a better place to rest! But what place is good!? Jaystar will find us anyways." Frostfire snarled, eyeing Nightpelt as he talked with Snowclaw.
"Sunpelt wouldn't want you thinking like that!" Rosepaw snapped.
Yewflight, another expecting queen, murmured to Frostfire, "Nightpelt has been having trouble dealing with Sunpelt's death, you should cut him some slack, Frostfire."
Frostfire huffed, and walked away from Yewflight, she turned to Rosepaw, and mewed, "I understand how Nightpelt feels... My mate and best friend never returned to me."
"Him and Sunpelt were mates?" Rosepaw questioned.
"No, just very close." Yewflight sighed, "The clan has been broken down into rubble, the young warriors don't understand what to do deep inside, they're lost..."
Rosepaw frowned as she watched Yewflight pad away, following Frostfire. She frowned, and looked up at the stars, StarClan? Can't you see the trouble we are in? Please... Show us that we shouldn't lose hope.
Rosepaw jumped when Ajax padded into the clearing, Nightpelt growled something to him, and Ajax stared at him, shocked.
She padded up to them, and she asked, "What's going on?"
Nightpelt and Ajax looked at her, then Nightpelt sighed, "A lot of our clanmates are nervous, uneasy, they believe that they are now doomed."
"Have you told them otherwise?" Rosepaw asked curiously.
Nightpelt sighed, "I've tried, Rosepaw." He padded away, tail now low to the ground in defeat. Rosepaw twitched her ears.
"I've never seen my clan-mates look so defeated before." Rosepaw murmured.
Ajax mewed calmly, "Get used to these type of faces Rosepaw, I've seen my fair share, and so will you before your clan once again is at peace."
Rosepaw made a face, "Thanks for the comforting words, you're worse than your brother, except not as eccentric." She mewed huffingly.
Ajax raised an eye-brow, and mewed, "Thorn isn't that bad, he's just-"
"Eccentric, crazy as a bat, rogue that lives in a crumbling house that's going to fall." Rosepaw finished for him.
Ajax looked like he was about to laugh, but stopped himself, and asked, "What do you mean, it's going to fall? That place has been standing for as long Thorn has lived there."
"Look at this clan, it's been standing for longer than any of us, and now, it's fallen apart by a simple fact... That Jaystar wasn't afraid to kill his own clan-mates if he thought they were rebelling against him." Rosepaw shrugged indifferently, she gasped when Ajax bounded away from her, ears back.
"Hey! Ajax!" Rosepaw yelled after him, then chased after him.
He jumped on Thorn's fence, and bounded to the other side gracefully, but Rosepaw had a bit of trouble, and she landed on the other side on her belly, she muttered, "Oof."
"Ajax? What's wrong?" She asked, he was frozen head to tail, staring at the den, Rosepaw flicked her ears, and widened her eyes when the crumbling got louder. "Oh no..." She mewed quietly, she eyed the sides of the house, where parts of it started to fall off.
"Ajax! Is he in there?" Rosepaw asked.
Ajax sniffed the air, and so did Rosepaw, but all she could smell was debris. She watched as Ajax jumped into a small hole in the side of the house to look for his brother, Rosepaw went to follow, but another piece falling startled her, and she jumped away.
It was like time was slowing down, she was the roof of the den start to cave in. Then the walls started to lose balance, she yowled, "Hurry up you two!"
They didn't hurry up, and soon the den collapsed in on itself, sending dust across the whole clearing, Rosepaw coughed, and tried to sniff the air, but all she could smell was the dust cloud. She called, "Ajax? Thorn? Ajax!?"
There was no answer, her ears flew back, and she eyed the whole ruin. Her fur bristled on end. She jumped back when two tom cats shifted their way out of the rubble, dust clinging to their fur. One of them shook of their fur, and growled, "That was stupid."
Rosepaw recognised the voice of Thorn. His eyes were narrowed dangerously, as Ajax also shook out his fur. Ajax muttered, "Your tail is stupid."
Thorn flicked his tail, and padded off the ruins, he shook his fur out some more, and growled, "Great, it's going to take forever to get the stench of dust off me." He jumped onto the fence, and stared down at both of them.
Rosepaw looked at them both, and murmured, "I got to go back to my clan. I guess I'll see you two later?" She mused, but didn't wait for an answer, she jumped on the fence, and jumped down, and ran back to the forest. She could still feel Thorn's cold gaze on her.
When she arrived at the make-shift camp, Nightpelt and Snowclaw were now arguing, while Frostfire eyed them angrily.
Rosepaw asked, "Hey! What's going on?!"
Snowclaw eyed her, "You wouldn't happen to know anything about herbs would you?" He asked curiously.
Rosepaw stared at him, and flicked her tail, "I was training to be a warrior apprentice, not a medicine cat." She pointed out, and he rolled his eyes.
Frostfire hissed, "They're coming soon, are you serious!?" She asked.
Nightpelt mewed calmly, "Relax Frostfire, we're-" He jumped back when she took a swipe at him, he shook himself off, and stared at her.
Snowclaw snapped, "We're trying our best! But we're so short on prey, and the medicine cat stayed with the clan."
Frostfire hissed, her whole body shivering, "They're not going to wait, Snowclaw."
Rosepaw murmured, "I can go find what she needs, just what do I need?"
Nightpelt mewed, "Well, a stick for one, and maybe cobwebs, I don't know for sure..."
"A stick?" Rosepaw asked curiously.
Frostfire hissed something, and Snowclaw sighed, "Just find those two things and we'll handle the prey." He guided Frostfire to a safe place, and Rosepaw ran back into the forest.
Okay, stick, stick... She sniffed the ground, and her nose bumped into a broken off stick. Rosepaw grabbed it with her teeth, and dragged it back to the camp.
Nightpelt, who was making a make-shift prey pile, noticed Rosepaw enter, and took the stick, taking it to Frostfire, who had her eyes narrowed in concentration.
Rosepaw ran back into the forest, she spotted a cob-web up in a tree, and she raised an eye-brow, "You've got to be kidding me." She mewed quietly, and padded up to the tree.
She dug her claws into the rough bark, and started climbing, she finally reached the branch with the cob-web on it. Rosepaw looked down at the ground, and she thought, Wow, that's a long way down. A very long way down.
Rosepaw gently grabbed the cob-web, and made her way back down carefully, then ran back to the make-shift camp. She had given the cob-webs to Snowclaw, who padded away from her towards Frostfire. She bristled, and sniffed the air.
All the cats had gone silent, some bristled, and some widened their eyes in fear.
"We've got to move!" Snowclaw yowled.
"We can't!" Yewflight yowled back, "Frostfire's kits are coming."
"They pick now of all times?!" Nightpelt asked in annoyance, "We don't have a medicine cat among us, nor an apprentice that has extensive knowledge."
Yellowpaw pointed out, "We could sneak into ThunderClan and ask the medicine cat for help."
"That'd be too risky." Another warriors pointed out right back.
Snowclaw noticed Rosepaw sitting idly by, he growled, "Rosepaw..." They both jumped when Frostfire started growling in pain, and Nightpelt nudged him.
"No time, Snowclaw, Rosepaw, go hunt." Nightpelt mewed calmly.
Rosepaw looked like she was about to argue, but finally relented after the look Snowclaw gave her, and padded into the forest. She sniffed the air, and spotted a squirrel, she got into a stalking stance, and followed it deeper into the forest.
It finally stopped, chewing a nut. She wiggled her haunch, preparing to leap. She stopped when there was a noise behind her. She jumped on the squirrel, kiling it quickly, and turned to face the thing following her. She hissed when it was Hawkflight, and his eyes were narrowed dangerously.
"You don't scare me, kit." He hissed back, and unsheathed his claws.
Rosepaw hissed back, "I'm not scared of you either." Her tail flicking. She unsheathed her claws also.
Hawkflight asked, "So, where are the other traitors?"
"Why in StarClan would I tell you?" Rosepaw hissed, and leaped at him, ears flat. Hawkflight jumped back, but Rosepaw already reached him, and she landed on his head, causing him to get a face full of dirt. He spat at her, but she jumped away.
Hawkflight launched his own attack, and pinned Rosepaw, Rosepaw kicked upwards, and rolled away from him, she kept low to the ground, keeping an eye on his movements. He laughed, "Scared, little kit?"
Rosepaw looked up, and saw Ajax watching Hawkflight calmly. She gasped when Hawkflight leaped at her, Rosepaw kept her belly low to the ground, and Hawkflight pinned her, she tried to wriggle free, but couldn't. Hawkflight laughed, "Give up, traitor?"
Rosepaw narrowed her eyes, "Not on your life." She hissed, and finally managed to flip onto her back, causing Hawkflight to prepare a killing blow, but she was faster.
She slashed her claws down his belly, he screeched, and jumped away from her. Rosepaw rolled away, ears flat against her head. Hawkflight stumbled back into the forest, she turned back to Ajax, and snapped, "You could have helped me!"
Ajax shrugged, "You weren't in any real danger, that cat is all meow and no bite. Besides, no better teacher than experience." He pointed out calmly.
Rosepaw twitched and ear, and asked, "Do you know anything about kittens being born."
"Uh, no." Ajax twitched his whiskers.
Rosepaw sighed, "Jaystar is close, he's trying to flush us out, we want to move, but Frostfire... Her kits are coming."
Ajax leaped down from the tree, and meowed, "They might have been born already, we might want to go check up on them, make sure Jaystar hasn't found them."
Rosepaw tsked, and led him back to the make-shift, Rosepaw raised an eye-brow when all the cats were hiding in trees or under bushes. They all eyed her, but it was silent.
Yellowpaw came out of the make-shift nursery, looking tired, she twitched her whiskers, "It went perfectly." She mewed.
All the cats seemed to sigh in unison, they finally crawled out of the bushes and out of the trees. Yellowpaw meowed loudly, "We can't move yet, give the kittens a bit of time."
One of the younger warriors mewed, "Jaystar won't give us time."
Rosepaw mewed pointedly, "Then we have to fight him off, that'll give Frostfire and everyone else to time to escape, if it'll come to that."
All the warriors nodded. Night had fallen, and Ajax had left them to scout the perimeter, after promising if he scented Jaystar or anyone else he'd warn them, and soon disappeared into the night.
Rosepaw ate the squirrel she had returned to the camp, Frostfire had already gotten some prey from the younger warriors. Yewflight had padded out of the nursery, with some of her kits following her, and she asked curiously, "How old are you now, Rosepaw?"
Rosepaw looked up at the moon, and murmured, "10 moons. I'm turning 11 moons soon, once winter comes."
Yewflight narrowed her eyes at that, and she mewed, "Do you believe we'll get our camp back?"
"If we can displace Jaystar, we will." Rosepaw muttered.
Yewflight shrugged, and led her young kits back to the den. Rosepaw's ears went forward when there was a noise in the bushes, she stood up, and leaped into the bushes, landing on the poofy noise maker.
"Cloudpaw?!" Rosepaw asked, surprised.
Cloudpaw stared up at her, and asked, "Rosepaw?! You look like you haven't eaten in moons." He pointed out.
"Thanks for the observation, what are you doing here?" She hissed defensively, itching to unsheathe her claws.
"Woah, calm yourself, I'm not here to tell Jaystar where you are, I'm here to warn you, can you go get Nightpelt?" Cloudpaw asked quickly.
Rosepaw narrowed her eyes, and called, "Nightpelt!" She kept Coudpaw pinned.
Nightpelt padded up to them, he looked tired, and asked, "Cloudpaw? What are you doing here?"
Cloudpaw eyed Rosepaw, "Can you let me up?" He asked jokingly.
Rosepaw let him up reluctantly, and Cloudpaw shook out his fur, and he mewed quickly, "Jaystar is coming, he knows where you are, don't ask me how, I don't know."
Nightpelt looked like he was about to ask how, but finally sighed, and mewed, "Frostfire's kits aren't ready to make that kind of journey."
Cloudpaw asked, "Frostfire had kits?" Rosepaw nodded, and soon, all the cats that were awake were listening in, some edged towards the nursery. Cloudpaw mewed, "Look, Jaystar isn't going to wait, he's coming now, you guys have to move."
Nightpelt sighed, "I know, but..." He looked up at the sky when snow started falling, he flinched, and murmured, "We're running out of time."
Rosepaw mewed, "We're just going to have to make do, we have to go, we have to go now, get to Thorn, he'll back us up."
Cloudpaw nodded, "I won't tell Jaystar where you guys went." He retreated back into the darkness.
Snowclaw finally padded up to Nightpelt, and asked, "Should we move the kits first, before the snow gets heavier?"
Nightpelt nodded, and turned to the cats, who were now fully awake, he mewed, "We need some cats to take Frostfire and her kits ahead of us, Rosepaw will show you the way to Thorn, he'll be able to help you, I don't want to hear how he's a rogue, he's not the enemy." Nightpelt hissed, hackles raised, when some younger warriors started to argue.
Rosepaw mewed, "But I want to help you guys hold off Jaystar."
Snowclaw snapped, "It won't have to come to that if you can get Frostfire out of here quick enough, remember, you need to help Yewflight with her kits too..."
Rosepaw stared at him, and finally sighed, some warriors were already guiding Frostfire out of the make-shift den, two apprentices were carrying kits, while a warrior helped Frostfire. Rosepaw bounded up to Yewflight, who was trying to get her kits to follow her.
Rosepaw looked at the two queens, and finally murmured, "Follow me, I promise I won't let anything get to us."
Frostfire seemed to scoff, and kept a close eye on her kits. Rosepaw asked, "Have you decided to name them?"
"Yes," Frostfire pointed at the kit being carried by the warrior, "That's Harekit," she pointed with her tail to one of the younger apprentices, "That's Brownkit," she finally pointed to the other apprentice, "That's Creekkit."
Rosepaw mused, "Nice names."
Frostfire didn't reply, Rosepaw flicked her ear when there was a screech of battle behind them, but it was distant. She mewed, "Think they'll be all right?"
"You still have a lot to learn, Rosepaw," Frostfire muttered, "No, warriors will never be all right, very rarely will we survive to elder age, you need to have the luck of StarClan." She mewed flatly.
Rosepaw remembered what Thorn had told her, What has StarClan done right? He had said, very bluntly, and Rosepaw was starting to see why he would say that, rogue or not.
Roepaw continued leading them forward, she could scent ThunderClan behind them, but it gave her chills down her spine, she murmured, "We have to hurry, they're catching up to us."
They all nodded, and they broke into a fast walk, Rosepaw finally reached the ruins of Thorn's old home, she hoped he was still here. Rosepaw leaped onto the fence, and called, "Thorn! Ajax? Anybody? We need help! We have kits!"
There was no answer, and the scent of ThunderClan was getting closer, she yowled, "Please!" She finally turned to the group, and mewed quickly, "Get the kits over the fence, it'll give us time."
The younger apprentice went first, struggling to get up the fence, Frostfire hissed, "Be careful, mousebrain."
Rosepaw grabbed Brownkit, allowing the apprentice to get up on the fence, and take the kit back, leaping to the other side. The older apprentice came first, Rosepaw grabbed Creekkit, who meowed loudly, and Rosepaw murmured, "Shut it."
She passed Creekkit back, and the older apprentice was on the other side.
Frostfire took Harekit from the warrior, who looked around at the shadows behind them, Rosepaw dragged Frostfire up with trouble, and soon the warrior joined them on the fence, he mewed, "We have to hurry." He watched as Frostfire jumped to the other side, and went to join her.
"You clan cats might want to hurry." Thorn mewed calmly.
They all whipped around to face him, every cat except Rosepaw raised their hackles and hissed. Rosepaw mewed, "I've been calling you guys."
"Were you?" Thorn questioned, and stretched from his place on the fence.
Rosepaw nodded and asked, "Hey, can you help us, or at least find Ajax?"
Frostfire was glaring at Thorn suspiciously, but Rosepaw flicked her tail, and Thorn mewed, "I don't know where Ajax ran off to."
"You must have some idea." Rosepaw pointed out.
Thorn looked on thoughtfully, and shrugged. He looked back at the forest though, "I can probably get you far enough away from the danger, but I can't help your clanmates that stayed behind." He mewed flatly.
Rosepaw watching as Thorn jumped toward his ruined home, flicking his tail, Frostfire whispered, "What if he leads us to two-legs?"
"He won't, have you ever been past the nests?" Rosepaw asked.
"No, Jaystar forbidded it." The warrior replied.
Rosepaw twitched her whiskers, "Sounds like he's hiding something." She pointed out, and went to follow Thorn, she heard hesitant pawsteps behind her, but she could also smell more ThunderClan cats in the distance.
Rosepaw flicked her ear, and looked at the warrior, she murmured, "Are you guys okay?"
"Yes, why?" The warrior asked.
"I'm going back." Rosepaw turned, but Thorn called back.
"Do you think that's such a good idea?" Thorn asked calmly.
Rosepaw turned to look at him, and she twitched, "I don't have a choice, protect Frostfire and the kits, please."
Thorn blinked, then shrugged, "Your choice, not going to stop you." He mewed, then looked at the group, "Well? I promise I won't lead you to two-legs, the apprentice even said please."
Frostfire stared at him in disbelief, but followed him reluctantly, Rosepaw jumped back towards the fence, and watched the disappear into the bushes on the other side, she thought, Thank you, Thorn... You don't know it, but you're saving my clan in more ways than one.
Chapter 6[]
The choices we make
Are a means to an end
Rosepaw followed the ThunderClan scent, she neared the clearing they all were. Rosepaw almost coughed from the scent of blood, she hoped to Starclan she wasn't too late.
She came upon the clearing to get immediately pounced on, but not by one of Jaystar's cats, but Nightpelt. He growled cautiously, "No, Rosepaw! I thought I told you to take Frostfire away!"
"I did, I came back to help." Rosepaw mewed, trying to wriggle out from under him, but he wouldn't budge. He flinched.
"You don't want to go any furthur." Nightpelt warned.
Rosepaw stared at him, "Why not?" She asked.
Nightpelt seemed to frown, and mewed quietly, "Well, when Jaystar attacked, some of his cats turned on him almost immediately, your mother among them."
Rosepaw stared at him, then finally pushed him off, Nightpelt jumped back when she ran into the clearing, looking around wildly, but her mother was no where to be seen. Jaystar however, was fighting Snowclaw. Rosepaw growled, "No no no!"
Jaystar looked up when she pounced, he immediately stopped his attack on Snowclaw, who rolled away. Rosepaw screeched when she landed on him. Snowclaw looked shocked, and she snapped at Jaystar's face. He kicked her off.
Rosepaw looked up in horror as Jaystar raised his paw to finish her, and he mewed, "Your mother fought bravely for the good of Thunderclan, say hello to her in Starclan."
Nightpelt mewed from behind Rosepaw, "I don't think so."
Rosepaw felt someone grab her scruff, and pull her back, Nightpelt yowled, "Thunderclan, retreat!"
Most of the Thunderclan rebels turned tail and ran away, Snowclaw got up, and went to catch up with Frostfire. Jaystar yowled, "This isn't over, traitors."
Rosepaw raised her hackles, "Next time I see you, Jaystar," she unsheathed her claws, "I hope you say hello to the traitors for me in the Dark Forest." She hissed.
She turned to follow Nightpelt, who went to catch up to Snowclaw, Rosepaw tried to keep the sadness within her, I need a way to focus, I can't let my feelings get ahead of me.
They finally reached Thorn's old nest, they immediately jumped over, and Rosepaw took the lead, following Thorn's pineconey scent. It stopped in a heavily forested area. Frostfire was herding her kits into a small cave, Ajax was observing, but Thorn was no where to be found.
"What is this place?" Rosepaw mewed in a strained voice.
"My old home, it's secluded enough, big enough to hold a half clan." Ajax mewed calmly.
Rosepaw looked around, they must have been near a small lake, because there were a few willows surrounding the camp. But mostly it was normal trees, the grass was a bit longer than in the old camp, and there was only the one cave Frostfire was using, but there were a couple alcoves by the willows and the normal trees.
Nightpelt muttered, "It'll have to do."
Some of the Thunderclan cats looked around critically, Yellowpaw seemed unimpressed. Rosepaw mewed, "It's great, it's all we have."
Some of the younger warriors looked at each-other, then walked towards an alcove by the cave, and layed down. The apprentices looked at each-other in excitement, and went towards the willow, looking up at it in interest.
Ajax looked at Nightpelt, and mewed, "It's the best I can do until I can find a better place."
NIghtpelt sighed, "No, it's okay."
Rosepaw looked at the warrior, even though he wasn't as old as 15 moons, he looked older than he ever has. Seeing the clan so broken made her angry, I understand now... How Yellowpaw and all of them feel, they just want their home...
Snowclaw mewed, "We need to teach some of the cats basic herbs, it's going to be long moons ahead of us."
"Do any of us actually know basic herbs?" Nightpelt asked curiously.
Another warrior padded up, "I know a bit, mostly from listening to the medicine cat, I can probably collect some." He mewed.
Snowclaw bowed, "Thanks Hailfur." Snowclaw watched as the warrior padded into the bushes cautiously. Yellowpaw finally came up.
"Me and Rosepaw can go hunting deeper into the woods, we won't head past Thorn's nest." Yellowpaw mewed calmly.
Nightpelt nodded, "Good idea, get Frostfire fed, the winters are going to be long." He mewed calmly.
Ajax cut in, "I can help making sure that Jaystar doesn't go past Thorn's nest, which I don't think he will, he's scared of Thorn."
"So we have time to rebuild." Snowclaw mewed.
Rosepaw put her ears back, and looked at Yellowpaw, who mewed quietly, "Come on, let's go hunting, get some food for everyone."
Rosepaw nodded, and followed Yellowpaw deeper into the territory, they jumped when they nearly fall off a small hill and rolled into the lake, but they had a laugh about it. Yellowpaw asked curiously, "Think I could catch a fish?"
"I can't smell fish, they're under water." Rosepaw pointed out, staring at the small lake with interest.
"Really, put your nose closer then." Yellowpaw advised.
Rosepaw obeyed, and choked, "Ew... Smells like Riverclan."
Yellowpaw laughed, and set herself by the bank, "Get used to it, you're going to be eating it." She mewed calmly.
Rosepaw watched as she digged her claws into the water, hooking a fish. Yellowpaw mewed, "A Riverclan apprentice accidently showed me during a small hunting game during a gathering," She set the fish at Rosepaw's paws, and mewed, "Go take that back to camp, while I get some more variety of prey."
Rosepaw reluctantly picked it up in her mouth, almost choking at the taste, but brought it back to camp. Nightpelt stared at it, but shrugged, and mewed, "Take that to Frostfire."
Rosepaw nodded, and took the fish to Frostfire, who's kits were snuggled at her side. She mewed tiredly, "Thank you, Rosepaw, I'll take anything, kits are exhausting."
Rosepaw set the fish down by Frostfire, and left to return to Yellowpaw, who was carrying a couple birds to camp, she mewed through feathers, "I left a couple mice and a squirrel back at that spot, go get them before something else does."
Rosepaw ran back to the spot, and immediately scented the prey. She grabbed all of it, and struggled back to camp. She placed it at the slowly growing prey pile, the sun was slowly setting, and Rosepaw frowned. Yellowpaw came up to her and asked curiously, "Want to share a piece of prey with me and Birchpaw?"
Rosepaw nodded, and followed Yellowpaw to where her and Birchpaw were eating, they were sharing a small rabbit and a bird, but Birchpaw looked at the bird, unimpressed.
"You'll get used to the taste of feathers." Yellowpaw told him.
Rosepaw watched them joke around, she thought darkly, I'm not even that hungry...
Hailfur had come back with some basic herbs, and had stored them into the cave Frostfire was in, he came back out, shaking out his fur.
Rosepaw finally relented to eating the small hare, Birchpaw commented, "You're becoming a warrior soon, right, Yellowpaw?"
"I was, but now that the clan has broken off... I don't know when, we don't have a leader among us," Yellowpaw mewed quietly. She finally turned to where Nightpelt was eating, alone, his eyes distant, "He's been acting weird ever since Sunpelt went missing." She commented.
Rosepaw looked up at the sky, and so did Birchpaw, Rosepaw mewed, "Well, yes, um... Listen, Yellowpaw..."
"Yellowpaw! Come on, it's time for your assesment, we're doing that no matter what, Sunpelt gave us instructions." Hailfur called.
Rosepaw watched her leave towards Hailfur, and Rosepaw asked Birchpaw in distress, "How am I going to tell her?!"
"Don't, let Nightpelt or Snowclaw tell her." Birchpaw pointed out.
Rosepaw scoffed, "Nightpelt can hardly believe it himself, and do you see Snowclaw being a comforting cat?" She asked.
Birchpaw looked on thoughtfully, "Some of us see this as a nightmare, we just want to wake up, we hope we're going to wake up, that this is all a lie." He mewed quietly.
"Do you think that's why some of the cats in the old group were spared by Jaystar?" Rosepaw asked.
Birchpaw stared at her, "Are any of them alive?" He asked quietly.
Rosepaw didn't know how to reply to that, she mewed flatly, "I'm going to bed, I need to get back to training." She walked to the apprentices tree, some of the younger apprentices were talking excitedly, but Rosepaw chose a spot away from them.
She tried to sleep, but she couldn't, her dreams were haunted by her mother, calling to her, "Why didn't you save me, Rosepaw?" She mewed distantly.
Rosepaw cried, "I didn't know, I didn't know!"
Her mother disappeared, replaced by her clanmates, Yellowpaw, Birchpaw, Nightpelt, everyone... They were dead or dying, and Jaystar was staring down at her with sharp, malicious, amber eyes. He whispered as the dream went dark, "Say hello to Starclan for me little Rosepaw." He hissed.
She woke up with a jolt, and curled her tail, she hissed, "Great, he can't even let me sleep."
Rosepaw stood up, and shook out her fur angrily. Some of the apprentices were sleeping soundly, it gave her a feeling of annoyance. She walked out of the make-shift camp.
She immediately scented two-legs as she travelled deeper. She spotted Thorn on a fence, looking around suspiciously.
She followed him, he walked along the fence, he seemed to sigh, and jumped off the fence. Rosepaw stood up fully, and she asked, "What are you doing?"
"Nothing," Thorn grunted, "It's dangerous for clan cats to be around here."
Rosepaw raised an eye-brow, and asked, "Why?"
"These pale skins, they love cats, I won't deny, but they love them a bit too much, if I'm honest, they're very curious about what they call... Er, what was it..." He faltered.
Rosepaw blinked, and pointed out, "I thought you weren't a kitty-pet."
"I'm not, but since I guess your clan is taking over for now, the prey is going to go down, a former kitty-pet has to do what he has to do." Thorn mewed flatly.
Rosepaw stared at him, "You've been accepting food from them..."
"What other choice do I have, to feed you guys, some of us have to go hungry, I hate being hungry for days on end, I'll take whatever is offered." Thorn growled.
Rosepaw hissed, "But... That's the lowest of the low."
"To you clan-cats, but if you have another option, please share," Thorn snapped, "I don't like it anymore than you do, their food tastes disgusting, nothing like real prey."
Rosepaw went silent, she flicked her ear, there was a noise. She jumped when a two-leg pointed a bright light at their direction. Rosepaw raised her hackles, and prepared to run off, Thorn mewed, "You'll only make it worse."
She couldn't see the two-leg's face clearly, the light was almost blinding. She turned to face the two-leg, and bared her teeth. Thorn rolled his eyes.
"Clan cats..." He murmured.
"Why aren't you doing the same thing! Two-legs are dangerous." Rosepaw asked quickly, starting to back up.
Thorn raised an eye-brow, "Didn't you tell me not a minute ago I was a former kitty-pet?" He asked curiously, "I've learned to tolerate the pale-skins."
Rosepaw screeched when the two-leg seemed to hold her down, and started brushing her fur back. Rosepaw hissed, and asked, "What is it doing to me?!"
"Petting you, mousebrain." Thorn mewed calmly.
Rosepaw stared at him in disbelief, he mewed, "Believe it or not, these pale-skins are the only protection you have, based on your reaction, Jaystar wouldn't even go near them," The human seemed to poke at her ears a little bit, and finally stood up straight, and walked back into the nest. Rosepaw shook herself off, her hackles still raised. Thorn mewed, "So get used to it."
"I'm not a rogue, or a loner, or a kitty-pet, I'm a clan cat!" Rosepaw spat.
"Yeah yeah..." Thorn muttered, returning to the fence, "I don't exactly care or have any love for your kind, but your enemy is an enemy I've known for my life."
Rosepaw watched as he jumped to the other side, she rolled her eyes, and returned to the camp. She returned to the willow tree. The moon was rising slowly, Rosepaw watched it for a long time before she finally drifted off into unrestful sleep.
~*~*~*~
She woke up to birds chirping in the willow tree. Rosepaw blinked, and looked up. She sighed, and stood up, she walked out of the willows strands, and into the clearing.
Rosepaw looked at the small prey pile, she made a face, and sighed. Rosepaw sniffed the air, scenting a squirrel nearby. She stalked it to a small creek, but didn't have the energy in her to hunt it, she sniffed around for the slightly less skittish voles.
She caught a couple voles, but not enough to feed her group, she grabbed the small measly prey, and brought it back to camp.
Rosepaw nudged the voles into the small prey kill pile, some older warriors were whispering nearby, staring at the measly prey pile. Rosepaw frowned, and walked over to the Nursery, she peeked her head in, and saw Frostfire licking her kits fur, Rosepaw backed away, and looked around.
She saw Nightpelt trying to give some of the warriors a pep talk, Rosepaw flopped her ears when they looked on defeatedly, Nightpelt kept urging them on, they finally relented, and they went to help Ajax with the border.
She heard one of them mutter, "Soon we're going to have start stealing from kittypets, we're no better than rogues."
Rosepaw huffed, and rolled her eyes, but then got a strange thought in her head, Starclan wouldn't mind... If we had no other choice? They'd understand, wouldn't they? The code did nothing to save us when we were back in Thunderclan... Maybe this is the only chance we have of survival?
Rosepaw shivered at the thought, and paced around the camp, Nightpelt had returned to the makeshift warriors den. Rosepaw sighed, "Maybe in the end, we don't have a choice." She padded towards the apprentices den, where Yellowpaw was cleaning herself.
Rosepaw walked in cautiously, unsure. Yellowpaw flicked her tail in hello, and continued, Rosepaw sat down, and sighed, the stars above her twinkling pitifully. She looked up sadly, and thought quietly, Why would you let this happen...
She narrowed her eyes, and stepped out of the den, Yellowpaw looked at her in confusion.
"Rosepaw, where are you going?" Nightpelt called.
Rosepaw stared at him for a long time, then she mewed, "I'm going to see if I can catch anything, we're so little on food." She indicated to the measly prey pile, which had a very thin squirrel, Nightpelt's whiskers twitched, and he sighed, then nodded quietly.
She walked out of the makeshift camp, she walked by the two-leg nests, sniffing the air as she went.
"What are you doing near here? You're not considering the kitty-pet life are you?" Someone asked above her.
She looked up, and saw Ajax, she mused, "I wouldn't worry, I'm not the kittypet type."
Ajax sniffed, "Well, neither are the cats in these nests, they're former feral cats, not as bad as Thorn, but they can hold their own against intruders." He mewed calmly.
Rosepaw shivered, and she asked carefully, "Do you know some of them?"
"I know most of them, but not a name basis." Ajax jumped down beside her, "Well, okay I know a couple of the younger ones names, since they're not as cautious." He mused.
Rosepaw nodded. Ajax walked forwards, indicating his head, "This one, he's about your friend Yellowpaw's age. His name's Blue, sweet cat, but don't get on his bad side." He mewed calmly.
He walked up the next one, "This one, well, she's pretty weird too, if I'm honest, meek, I guess..." Ajax mused, then turned to Rosepaw. He shrugged, "Those are the ones I know."
Rosepaw asked, "So they were rogues turned kitty-pets?"
Ajax nodded, "I guess when it was hard to find prey, they had to turn to something," he mewed, "They had the same mind-set as Thorn, here, I'll introduce you to them." He jumped up onto the fence, and Rosepaw looked around quickly, then followed him.
They both landed in the yard, and Rosepaw looked around, there were hedges surrounding the yard, giving a menacing, yet secure feeling. She watched as Ajax walked up to a small entrance, and peeked his head in, she immediately retreated into the hedge. Rosepaw watched as a blue-grey tom peeked his head out with a quizzical look.
Ajax flicked his tail, then looked at Rosepaw, Rosepaw blinked, then stared down at her paws, she crept out of the hedges slowly. Blue stared at her in confusion.
She muttered, "Hello."
Ajax mewed, "Rosepaw, meet Blue, Blue, this is Rosepaw," he tipped his head forward, and whispered, "She's Thunderclan, but half her clan got chased out."
"A clan cat?" Blue mused.
Rosepaw muttered, "That's still on question."
Ajax and Blue gave each-other a dark look, Blue asked curiously, "Why is it still on question?"
"Because we're not living like clan cats, we don't even have a medicine cat, and who knows what might happen to us if we don't get one." Rosepaw whispered.
Ajax looked at the yard next to Blue's, and he muttered, "Well, that's one problem we can fix." He jumped into the hedge, Rosepaw and Blue watched as he reappeared on the fence. He disappeared again, and was gone for a couple minutes.
Blue and Rosepaw glanced at each-other, and soon Ajax was back, with a cat right behind him. Blue bowed his head, and the she-cat stared at Rosepaw critically, "Ajax has told me that you clan cats need help?"
Rosepaw nodded quietly, and the she-cat sighed, "All right, I'll help you all get some knowledge of the herbs around here, show me to your clan," she looked at Blue calmly, "Are you coming?"
Blue shook his head quickly, and retreated back to his den. Rosepaw led Ajax and the strange cat back to her clan.
The cats watched them warily, but were too tired to hiss or raise their hackles. The she-cat looked around, "Wow, you guys are in really bad shape. Who needs what first?" She asked curiously.
"Well, our queen could use some help with the kits." Rosepaw pointed with her tail.
She nodded, and mewed, "Name's Snow by the way." She followed Rosepaw's direction, and disappeared into the cave slowly.
Yellowpaw walked up to Rosepaw, "Fixed our medicine problem?" She asked curiously.
Rosepaw nodded, and asked, "Why?"
"Get her to check Nightpelt after, morale is low enough as it is, and I know he's trying his best, but he's weak, I don't think he's going to make it through the winter without help, he doesn't get sleep, he rarely eats, he's in shock," Yellowpaw commented. "Whenever I bring prey to him, he just shoos me away."
Rosepaw thought, Yeah, because his close friend is dead, I'd be in shock too, but Yellowpaw is right, if we lose him, we lose the rest of the others, until we find a leader, he's all that we've got. Rosepaw nodded, "All right, I'll get her to check on him."
Yellowpaw bowed her head, and disappeared back into the apprentices den.
Rosepaw watched as Snow returned from the queens den, and she mewed, "All she needs is some moss, and warmth, she'll be good, anyone else before I start teaching you all how to take care of yourselves?"
Rosepaw nodded, and looked at the warriors den, she mewed, "One of our warriors is sick, really sick, apparently he isn't getting any sleep, and doesn't eat..."
"Does he have white-cough? Or Green-cough?" Snow asked carefully.
Rosepaw stared at her, then Snow sighed, "White-cough isn't as dangerous as Green-cough, but still, you're going to need cat-nip, it looks like fluffy leafs, and smells good."
Some of the warriors that were listening in perked their ears at the mention of cat-nip, and one of them called, "You mean the stuff that is grown in Two-leg yards?"
Snow nodded, then watched as the warriors bounded out of the camp, Snow muttered, "Take me to the warrior."
Rosepaw led her to the empty warriors den, where Nightpelt was asleep in a corner, Rosepaw padded up to him, and poked him gently, he stirred, and looked up. Snow sat in front of him.
"This is about one of your clanmates, isn't it?" Snow asked quietly, Nightpelt flicked his ears, Rosepaw mewed, "Sunpelt... She was the one keeping this thing together, and Jaystar killed her."
Snow sniffed, and asked, "Was she expecting kits?"
Rosepaw looked at her quizzically, and gasped when Nightpelt nodded, "I don't know when exactly, but I assume they died along with her." He said sadly.
Rosepaw blinked, and sniffed the air, and she asked, "Maybe.. Sunpelt saw this coming, she knew she was going to die, but she knew Jaystar well enough when it came to expecting queens, so if he waited until her kits were born to kill her..."
Snow concluded, "That means the kits could possibly be alive, and Jaystar is going to use that agaisnt you." She looked back at Nightpelt.
Nightpelt rasped, "And what if they're not."
Rosepaw whispered, "I can sneak in and check."
Nightpelt went to stand up to argue, but couldn't, he sighed, "Just be careful Rosepaw... I don't even think it's worth it."
Rosepaw left Snow with Nightpelt, and walked out of the camp, If this helps you, it will be worth it. All I need to do is try and pick up Sunpelt's scent among the kittens, if that's possible... She thought quickly, then finally reached the old camp, but it looked like nothing she remembered.
Brambles covered every entrance, even the main one, she sniffed her way to the apprentices den, and crawled through the back entrence, everyone was asleep. Cloudpaw however, had his eyes wide open, Rosepaw glared at him, and he nodded, and went to sleep. She crept past the thorny apprentice den, and snuck out.
She frowned, the prey pile was no where to be seen, she looked around the camp, brambles were everywhere, she felt trapped, she headed towards the nursery, and peeked her head in.
Cinderflight looked gloomy, her tail by her side, but she perked up when she saw Rosepaw, "Oh, Rosepaw!" She mewed loudly.
Rosepaw rushed in, and shook her head, "Cinderflight, I have a question." She whispered. Cinderflight perked her ears up.
"What happened to Sunpelt's kits?" Rosepaw asked, "Are they alive?"
Cinderflight seemed to smile, and raised her tail, Rosepaw stared at the three small kittens, two of them looked a lot like Sunpelt, while the other looked eeriely like Nightpelt.
"My kits did not make it through this time, but somehow, they did, so I begged Jaystar to let me have them, that it was not right to punish them," she bowed her head, and whispered, "Sunpelt didn't deserve to die either, but hopefully, she can live on with these kits, watching from Starclan."
"Are you ever going to tell them you're not the mother?" Rosepaw asked.
"I want to tell them as soon as they're ready, but out of Jaystar's ears, they need to be strong for what's coming ahead." Cinderflight mewed calmly.
Rosepaw nodded, and she asked, "Are you sure Jaystar won't hurt them?"
"If it happens, Rosepaw, I promise I'll come running myself." Cinderflight looked at her calmly.
Rosepaw bowed, then retreated out of the den, and returned to the apprentices den, Cloudpaw was still awake, and Rosepaw stepped on his tail, "Hey, Cloudpaw, mind doing one last favour?"
Cloudpaw flicked his ear, and asked, "Yeah?"
"Watch Cinderflight's kits, and if you even catch a whiff of trouble, you're to help her to Thorn's, from there, I'll meet you guys." Rosepaw hissed, and soon retreated back into the forest, with Cloudpaw staring after her in disbelief.
~*~*~*~
She returned to the camp, Snow looked tired as everyone kept asking her questions, Rosepaw pushed past them, and into the warriors den. Yellowpaw was trying to reassure Nightpelt, but with no luck. Rosepaw mewed, "I'm back!"
"Good news?" Yellowpaw asked excitedly.
Rosepaw nodded, "Yes, good news is, the kits aren't dead, they're being taken care of by Cinderflight." She recalled quickly, "She said once the kittens are ready, she'll tell them, and if there's trouble, she's to head straight to Thorn's and meet me there."
There was no response from Nightpelt, Rosepaw and Yellowpaw watched as he slept through the noise, Rosepaw sighed, "I can't believe it, when did he fall asleep?"
"Must have been when we started talking." Yellowpaw shrugged, and she mewed, "I don't understand... He's not that much older than me, yet it's like he's aged moons these past few days," Rosepaw jumped when she added, "You have to, Rosepaw, you may not be able to see it, but you look older."
Rosepaw tipped her head, "What do you mean?" She asked.
Nightpelt muttered, "She means you look like a warrior that has been in many battles." He started to stand up, but Yellowpaw looked like she was about to protest.
NIghtpelt growled, "What am I doing?" He shook his head and turned to Yellowpaw and Rosepaw, and asked, "How old are you?" Rosepaw noticed that colour had returned to his eyes, which looked flat moments before.
Rosepaw and Yellowpaw stared at him in disbelief, Yellowpaw stammered, "12 moons!"
They both looked at Rosepaw, she muttered, "11 moons." She frowned, she knew what was coming, and she'd have to wait another moon.
Nightpelt sighed, "Yellowpaw, I'm no leader, but you deserve to be a warrior," he looked down at the ground, "Rosepaw, so do you, you may be 11 moons, but you've fought like a warrior the past few moons, you look much older than what you are." He asked, "If you guys would want that."
Yellowpaw nodded quickly, but Rosepaw thought, What about Starclan...? Will they allow this?
Thorn's words rang in her head again, What have they done right?
She nodded as well, Nightpelt walked out of the warriors den, where everyone was crowded around Snow. Nightpelt called, "Can I have your attention please?"
Everyone looked at him attentively, he coughed, and mewed, "I'm not a leader, but we still have duties to perform, first, warriors." He nodded to Yellowpaw and Rosepaw.
They both stood up, and Nightpelt muttered, "Well, even though we're living this way, there shouldn't be any change," he mewed, "Yellowpaw, Rosepaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code, and to protect and defend the clan, at the cost of your life?"
Yellowpaw nodded, Rosepaw did more hesitantly, Nightpelt took notice of it, but said nothing. "All right, then, from this moment on, Yellowpaw, you'll be known as Yellowflower. Starclan honors your compassion, and we welcome you as a warrior of Thunderclan."
The cats cheered Yellowflower, who flicked her tail nervously, Rosepaw looked up when he finally called on her, "Rosepaw, from this moment on, you'll be known as Rosefire, Starclan honors your bravery and spirit, and we welcome you as a warrior of Thunderclan."
The cats cheered for her, Rosefire twitched her whiskers in nervousness, Nightpelt whispered to them ,"Unless you want it to be done officially once we've chosen a leader, you can change it if you want."
Rosefire mewed, "No, it's great!"
Nightpelt twitched his whiskers and walked away.
Rosefire jumped up and down excitedly.
This is the beginning
of the End