Post by Fernpaw on Jan 22, 2009 23:15:29 GMT -5
((Critique is welcomed and appreciated! I was not sure where to post this so I just decided to post it here, feel free to move it if necessary.))
My Fan Fiction: The Beginning
Authors Note:
This is about Warriors, a series by Erin Hunter about feral cats who live in a forest full of dangers that are guided by their warrior ancestors in StarClan. If you have any questions I'll be happy to answer them. I'm currently on book four of Warriors: The Power of Three: Eclispe. A Fan Fiction is a story that has made up characters, and characters seen and talked about (in the book in this case). The real or cannon characters interact with the made up ones. A new plot is generally part of a Fan Fiction, and the story plot maybe included as well. For example, Firestar is real, but Thunderheart is not.
It was dark, not a signal star shone its milky white light on the earth below. It was quiet, too quiet. A soft rain was coming down making little more than a soft patter as it fell to the ground. The baked and thirsting Earth greedily drank it up. No creature stirred except two lithe, muscular shapes.
Her ears alert and erect, she paused and set down a bundle of squirming, crying ginger fur. She scented the air, tortoiseshell fur prickled with apprehension, and nervousness. Then something came tearing out of the bushes and leaped onto the she-cat. Her eyes wide with fear she quickly swatted the tiny kit out of harms way into some honeysuckle bushes. The attacking cat had torn ears and dirty matted fur that reeked of the thunderpath and crow food.
"You will not see the light of day again Speckledfur! You should have stuck with me I would have given you the world, but you had to chose him, but now you and your offspring shall pay!" The tom’s hot sticky breath on the she-cat's face made Specklefur's eyes water it smelled so bad. The dark tom pushed down on Specklefur's neck. Specklefur made a gurgling noise and tried to struggle free, but gave up it was no use.
"Never, I would have given up my life before I stayed with you; you were never any good Brokentooth!"
"And die you shall!" The tom raised his other clawed paw and struck the she-cat with all of his power, before he was plowed into by another tom.
"Leave her alone Brokentooth!"
"You're too late Thunderheart, she has gone, and now so will you!" Brokentooth lunged at Thunderheart with claws out stretched. Thunderheart dodged nimbly, and then launched himself at the tom’s back. They rolled into the bushes, screeching, biting and clawing one another.
The bushes stopped shaking and a single cat stepped out. He was cut and bleeding, lumps of light ginger fur were missing, but Thunderheart was alive. He rushed over to Specklefur. He bowed his head and began to grieve for her. The clouds parted just for a second to allow the moon to shine on the two cats before disappearing again a few moments later. Thunderheart almost thought that it had been his imagination only that Specklefur’s eyes and seemed to contain the stars light. Scarlet blood trickled out of the dead she-cat’s neck, spilling onto the tom's orange paws.
Thunderheart lifted his head as the first light of dawn began to glow faintly in the steel gray sky. He glanced around and saw some light ginger fur sticking out from beneath a honeysuckle bush. He stood up and stretched, his limbs were stiff and felt like lead from sitting by his mate’s side half the night. He walked over to the kit and began licking it, comforting it. He lifted his head sharply, scenting the Dawn patrol, he was upwind, so he still had time. He picked the kit up and dashed into the forest.
He set the kit down in front of a door to a twoleg nest. "Take care Gingerkit," he mewed softly. He scratched at the door before dashing off into safety behind the twoleg fence. He watched the twoleg step out of the house, and then scoop up the tiny orange kit stroking it and talking to it softly. Once the twoleg shut the door Thunderheart raced off back into the forest.
I hope you can forgive me Gingerkit, but this is for the best, your mother would have wanted it, he thought as he raced back toward camp. Right now being a forest cat was not the best thing in the world, there were terrible things going on right now, and the Clans were heading toward war.
"There now little kitty, you have nothing more to cry about. Here you go you poor little kitty-kitty." The kindly twoleg gave Gingerkit a bottle of warm cow's milk. Gingerkit instantly stopped her crying and began to suckle. The twoleg ran a gentle hand down her back as she suckled nosily.
When she was through she burped just a tiny bit and snuggled down in the twoleg's warm sweater. The twoleg took the bottle away from Gingerkit and wiped her mouth clean with the edge of her sweater. "There now," she said softly as Gingerkit fell asleep in her arms. "I'm going to call you Ginger", and she wasn't to far off the mark either of her real name.
*****
Thunderheart walked slowly back to camp with a heavy heart. Before he got there he came across Firestar and the rest of the dawn patrol. "What are you doing up so early," the ginger tom meowed.
"Nothing, I was just.......uh, out hunting. But I had no luck," he mewed.
"I see, so you mean to tell me that there is no prey in Tall Pines?"
Before Thunderheart could reply Mousefur bounded up to Firestar and meowed, "Specklefur is dead!" Firestar forgot all about Thunderheart and raced away with the rest of the dawn patrol hot on his heels.
Everyone knew that Specklefur was a RiverClan queen, to find her dead on ThunderClan territory surprised Firestar and the others. Thunderheart looked down at his paws, mourning over the dead she-cat.
"Rainwhisker, go tell RiverClan that Specklefur is dead. Ashfur, look around the area, I can smell ShadowClan around here."
Rainwhisker dipped his head and raced off toward the RiverClan border. Ashfur walked off scenting the air and following the ShadowClan cat's scent trail. He walked into the bushes and walked back out moments later with the body of Brokentooth. Brokentooth had been sent away to exile with Tigerstar. He was one of the few remaining loyal cats to the ambitious tabby.
Firestar stared at the two dead cats before turning to Thunderheart. "You know something about this don't you? You're the mystery father of her kit Thunderheart." Firestar gazed at Thunderheart with a gentle and questioning look in his eyes.
Thunderheart meet his eyes, but could not hold his gaze. "Yes Firestar I do," he mumbled. "I was Gingerkit's father. I loved Specklefur so much," he mewed sadly. "I couldn't help but love her, after all we have been through, all she did for me."
Thunderheart had gotten into lots of trouble with RiverClan when he was young and nearly drowned twice. Specklefur had always helped him out when he was in trouble. Their innocent friendship had turned into forbidden love.
Firestar understood what Thunderheart was going through. He knew how much it hurt to loose a mate, and so did his best friend Graystripe, the ThunderClan deputy. Graystripe had loved a beautiful RiverClan warrior named Silverstream. She had died giving birth to his kits, Stormfur and Feathertail, many moons ago.
"If RiverClan allows it, you have my permission to go with them when they bury her. For now, you can sit vigil. You can explain it to me later."
"Thank you Firestar," Thunderheart mewed. He was glad that he would be able to mourn in peace for her. He glanced up as Firestar signaled his patrol to move on, but Graystripe stayed behind. "I'll stay with you," he murmured.
Thunderheart nodded and together the two toms sat side by side, each grieving for her in their own ways. Mistyfoot arrived along with Feathertail and Stormfur a few moment later. They all looked sad to see Specklefur dead, but they were shocked to see Brokentooth dead as well. "What happened here and where is Gingerkit," Mistyfoot growled.
"Specklefur was coming here so that we could both take here to twoleg place where she would be better off with all that is going on. Then we met up with Brokentooth. He killed her before I could do anything. I fought Brokentooth so that he could not kill Gingerkit. After I finished with Brokentooth I carried Gingerkit over to twoleg place."
Mistyfoot nodded, her eyes clouding with sorrow for her dead Clanmate the RiverClan deputy didn’t say anything about Gingerkit knowing that it was much better for the kit to be safe in twoleg place than with all of the trouble in the forest, especially for half-clanners. "May I help bury her and take her back to camp? I loved her so very much," Thunderheart asked. It was common knowledge that Thunderheart and Specklefur both liked each other, but loved? That was news to the RiverClan cats and the ThunderClan deputy.
"Very well, come on Thunderheart," Mistyfoot said after a long pause. Graystripe must stay here though." Graystripe nodded knowing the turmoil and trouble he would cause if he went back again, but looked at his two kits affectionately. Feathertail and Stormfur hung back while Mistyfoot and Thunderheart carried Specklefur toward the border.
Feathertail was the first to move after the two cats had disappeared down the slope toward the river. "Father how are you? I've missed you so much!" She rubbed her head affectionately against his shoulder. Stormfur hung back, watching his sister and father. He would wait until they were done. Feathertail backed up a few paw steps to let her brother have a turn.
He, unlike his sister was a bit more formal, he touched noses with him and Graystripe purred with delight. He was happy to see them again. “I've missed you so much. How are things going for you in RiverClan, you know if you don't like it you can always come to ThunderClan. I'm sure Firestar will accept you and the......"
"Dad, everything is fine. There is nothing to worry about. There is plenty to eat and everything, quite you’re worrying." A little embarressed Graystripe shuffled his paws over the hard dry earth to hide his embarrassment from his kits. "It's just that I miss you and worry about you is all, you’re all I have left,” Graystripe mewed softly. Feathertail walked up to him and intertwined his tail with hers, reassuring him. Graystripe smiled and said "you should get going now, before Mistyfoot claws our ears off." Stormfur and Feathertail let out a small mrrow of laughter before they said good bye and ran after the RiverClan Deputy and Thunderheart.
Ginger opened her blue eyes and gazed out at the world for the first time. She was very surprised and scared. She closed her eyes tightly shut and then slowly opened them again. Nothing had changed since she had first seen the world, only now it was not as blurry and things were starting to take shape. As her eyes slowly took in her surroundings she began to realize that the world was not as scary place as it had first seemed. As she looked around she saw a huge beast not very far from her that lay unmoving. It had some hair on it that was white and curly, but there was very little hair on the creature from what she could tell.
Ginger got up on shaky paws and slowly approached the monster, she could hear it's even breathing the closer she got; this monster was not dead, only asleep it turned out when she was only three tail lengths away. She crept up on it closer still; however she was finding it hard to walk again as the surface she was standing on kept raising and falling rhythmically.
She was on a blue white surface that was lumpy, but soft with lines running all over it. Twice she nearly fell off as she inched forward slowly, one small paw step at a time, and then once she was nearly there, she leaned back on her haunches and prepared to spring. She sprung and landed on the monsters face. The creature sprang to life in an instant and flung Ginger off. She landed on the far side of the bed where she had been before on her feet just before she fell over flat on her face.
The twoleg glanced around and saw Ginger lying on the bed looking shocked and scared. The twoleg picked her up and began to stroke the cat soothingly. Ginger tensed up and nearly jumped out of her fur when she could no longer feel the soft and springy ground beneath her paws. Ginger soon calmed when she felt the twoleg's warm fingers caressing her. Ginger then knew it was not a monster that she had attacked, but her twoleg between the soothing words, smell and the gentle caresses. She felt bad about it, but it seemed that the twoleg had forgiven her.
*****
Ginger was now steady on her feet and was accustomed to the things around the twoleg nest and all of the sounds too. She was curious and bright, she was eager to go outside but "she was much too young" her twoleg would always say. Ginger sighed, how she longed to be out there, chasing birds and squirrels. She flicked her gaze away from the window as a movement caught her gaze. Ginger leaped from her perch on the window and chased after the brightly colored feathers that danced around on the floor.
After awhile chasing the feathers bored her, but not as much as it tired her out. Tiredly, Ginger walked over to her wooden nest lined with some warm, fuzzy, white bedding. She liked having it there to snuggle up to. It reminded her of her mother, who ever she was she thought distantly as her thoughts became a blur as sleep embraced her with open arms.
The sun shone a pinky orange through the window over the sink as the sun began to sink below the horizon. Ginger stretched and yawned. She shook herself and then licked her fur clean before she leaped over edge of the basket. She slipped on the hard smooth floor and went sliding across the floor into a wall. She hated it when that happened.
She shook herself again and then headed for the den to remind her two-leg that it was dinner time. She loved milk, it tasted so good to her, she loved it, but she hated how the water had a metallic tang to it. It made her sick. She leaned back on her haunches and sprang up onto the furniture next to where her twoleg sat. She meowed loudly and began to nudge her twoleg’s furless paw. The twoleg stirred and patted Ginger's head. "I suppose it's dinner time, well come on lets go."
Ginger hopped down and walked back into the kitchen, but this time she walked slowly and carefully on the shiny black and white surface she didn’t want to fall again. The orange cat waited impatiently for her food by her water bowl. She purred with delight when the twoleg set down her food bowl and petted her a moment before walking back to the den. When the twoleg was gone she turned her attention back to her dinner.
Her smile faded when she saw the contents of the bowl. Instead of milk there were hard dried pelts that smelled dusty and faintly of fish. Cautiously she bent her head and took a few bits. Yuck! That stuff was about as appetizing as it had looked. It almost looked like what her twoleg pulled out of her dirt box all of the time, except smaller. With her stomach growling to she bent her head and forced herself to eat more of the pelts.
When Ginger had had more than she could take she tried to wash the taste out of her mouth with water. It didn’t help much at all. Feeling sick to her stomach Ginger walked away from her food and water dishes back to her nest and the warm white fabric that lined it. The ginger she-cat circled a few times in the nest to try and get comfortable. Finally giving up she just plopped down and closed her eyes willing sleep to come, but sleep refused to come and she laid awake for what seemed like a moon before sleep finally enveloped her in its dark folds.
***
It had been a moon since Thunderheart had dropped off Gingerkit with the twolegs, and the air surrounding the four Clans was just waiting for the first spark to ignite the fire, the fire of war. He still missed his beloved, but every once in a while he would catch her scent floating o him in his dreams. She was still with him and always would be. He purred at the thought of Specklefur, and was jolted back to the present when Brambleclaw snapped "Thunderheart, are you coming or not?"
"Yes, Brambleclaw, I'm coming." He dipped his head and followed the border patrol. They were nearing the RiverClan border, when they spotted some RiverClan cats at Sunning Rocks! Thunderheart let out a battle screech as the patrol streaked toward them. Within a few heartbeats, he was in the thick of battle. He locked claws with Hawkfrost and then he retracted them quickly causing the powerful tabby to fall. In this one moment of opportunity, he jumped on the RiverClan cat, raking his claws down the warrior’s striped side. The tom beneath him screeched in fury and flipped himself on his back, exposing his soft belly fur, but threw Thunderheart off. The tabby warrior yowled in furry and hurled himself at Thunderheart.
Thunderheart felt the massive tabby land on him, claws digging into his shoulders pinning him down. He saw the quick gleam of teeth as Hawkfrost drew his lips back to deliver the death bite. Then all of a sudden, Thunderheart kicked out with his back paws, making the warrior loose his breath in surprise. Thunderheart once more was upon the RiverClan tom and shredded his ears.
The warrior shook him off and turned tail, but just as Thunderheart was getting ready to help out Mousefur who was pinned down by a black she-cat, Hawkfrost barreled into him from nowhere. The force of the cat slamming into him made him loose his breath. He fell on his side, gasping and heaving for air like a fish out of water.
"You won't get away this time," Hawkfrost hissed in his ear. And he was right, there was nowhere for him to go or any hopes of escape. Well at least I'll be with you again my love, he thought as Hawkforst drew back his massive tabby head, white fangs gleaming like daggers. He closed his eyes and prepared himself for his final adventure among the living, but the grip of iron jaws closing around his throat never came. All of a sudden, Hawkforst's weight was gone and a cat was hauling him to his paws. He was surprised to see that it was Brambleclaw, half brother to Hawkfrost.
Brambleclaw and Hawkfrost had the same father, the murderous Tigerstar. Hawkfrost's mother was a loner named Sasha. She had stayed with RiverClan for a short time, then left. She left her two kits, Mothwing and Hawkfrost in RiverClan wanting a better future for them.
Thunderheart dipped his head in thanks to his Clanmate and was happy to see the other RiverClan cats fleeing. ThunderClan had won the battle for Sunning Rocks yet again. While Thunderheart had been remembering Brambleclaw’s history and blood lines, the tabby warrior had been battling his half-brother, and won. Hawkfrost was reluctantly, swimming across the river back into RiverClan territory. The warrior glared daggers at Thunderheart before stalking stiffly off into the reeds.
Chapter 3
Ginger lifted her head from her front legs as her twoleg walked by to the metal snake that spouted water when punched. She stood and stretched each of her legs in turn before walking over to her twoleg. Her twoleg bent down and stroked her on the back, the way she liked before picking her up.
She stopped purring a soon as her feet no longer felt the smooth and slick surface of the floor beneath her paws. She let out a mew of surprise and unsheathed her claws as she was sailing through the air. The warmth of the twoleg and the soothing voice soon reassured her. Ginger relaxed slightly and retracted her claws some so that she was not cutting into the hairless flesh of the kind twoleg that held her.
She set the ginger tabby cat on the smooth surface of the counter marble counter top and patted her head. Ginger looked up at her curious as to why she was up here and not on the floor. Normally she would be shooed away like she always was when she was on the counters. The only place she could be was on the window sill. She thingyed her head slightly when her elderly twoleg walked away from her.
Ginger walked to the edge and looked down. It was still a long way down to the floor, and there was nothing near enough that she could jump on that would be lower to the ground. Sighing, the kit sat down on her haunches and waited for her twoleg to come back.
A few moments later and her twoleg appeared with a forest green box that had bars running along the sides and front. Her green eyes widened in fear and she let out a hiss. The ginger colored tabby retreated behind a jar of flour. She poked her pink nose out from behind the jar and scented the air. It smelled dusty and acrid from fear scent. She snaked her orange and white head around the jar to look at the cage box.
"It's all right Ginger, it's just a cat carrier. We're going to see the vet today to get you your shots so that you can go outside. You're about six weeks old now."
Ginger only understood a few words of what her twoleg said like her name and that it was OK. She nervously came out from behind the glass jar and walked toward the deep green barred box that was now sitting on the counter. She sniffed it and drew back quickly. It was covered in the fear scent of another cat, dust, and a weird, sharp smell.
"Come on now girl, its fine."
Ginger watched warily as the woman opened the cage door. It made a loud shrieking sound as two points were pushed into a plastic, black rectangle before the door swung open. The twoleg's paws reached for her and Ginger shrank away. She really didn't want to go in there. The last cat that had been in the carrier had not been in there for a while and was afraid, very afraid. She didn't want to become stale fear scent herself! Besides, what was that weird sharp smell that was faint, but lingering?
The ginger tabby hissed at the carrier again, her hackles were starting to rise. She really didn't like this thing at all! She lashed out at her twoleg's paw as it reached for her. As soon as she scratched her twoleg's paw she felt bad and lowered her hackles. She hung her head sheathed her claws.
"Oh it's all right dear. Now in you go." The woman picked Ginger up carefully and set her in the cat carrier. She shut and locked the door. "There now, see it's not so bad." The woman left again and came back with her keys jingling in hand.
Ginger, unsure of what was making that intriguing noise stuck her white and ginger splotched paw through the bars, trying to bat at the dangling shiny thing in front of her. Then she was knocked to the back of the plastic container as it was lifted from the counter. Ginger got to her paws only to fall again as the cat carrier swayed back and forth rather violently.
The orange cat peered cautiously between the bars of the cage and saw that she was hovering in the air by a fox length! Terror ripped through her sharp as a claw. The ground moved below her at moderate pace, but she wasn’t even moving, how could that be? The carrier finally stopped rocking and she could tell that she was back on solid ground. She slowly stood up and walked to the front of the cage. Peering through the bars she discovered that she had ended up in the belly of a monster some how! Ginger shrieked and moved to the very back of the cage as the monster gave a loud roar and began to move. The young ginger tabby watched as the landed around her flashed by through the bars of the cage. Ginger ducked down every time she spotted another monster coming toward them on the other side of the blackpath.
After what seemed to take seasons the monster finally quiet moving. After being thrown around in the cage it was a relief to finally stop. Her relief was short lived as her twoleg got out of the monster ad picked up the cage. It was back to hovering again. As the carrier was carried outside she could pick up a lot of fresh scent and the smell of many different cats and dogs and even birds. There was a loud squeak and a burst of cool air blasted her and the acrid stench of fear hit her like a brick. It was almost over whelming.
The smell that she could not identify earlier was all over the place. A door opened as she felt the cage being set down again. Ginger could hear dogs barking and cats crying from the open door, but were quickly cut off before she could figure out what hey had said. The orange tabby sat tensely in the cage watching animals come and go in and out of doors with twoleg’s in white pelts.
One of the twolegs clad in white pelts walked up to her twoleg and spoke with her a moment before it turned and walked away. Ginger’s twoleg picked up her cat carrier and followed the first twoleg. The man held the door open for them as they passed through and quietly shut it. The twolegs talked for awhile and then the strange, new twoleg walked over to the cat carrier and opened the door, reaching one of his slightly haired paws inside.
Yowling with terror she slashed at the paw reaching for her with her claws while trying desperately to get out of the cage. Without stopping the paw kept coming closer and closer to her. Nothing she did slowed its progress. Ginger’s heart leapt into her throat as the huge hairy paw closed around her and pulled her out of the cage.
My Fan Fiction: The Beginning
Authors Note:
This is about Warriors, a series by Erin Hunter about feral cats who live in a forest full of dangers that are guided by their warrior ancestors in StarClan. If you have any questions I'll be happy to answer them. I'm currently on book four of Warriors: The Power of Three: Eclispe. A Fan Fiction is a story that has made up characters, and characters seen and talked about (in the book in this case). The real or cannon characters interact with the made up ones. A new plot is generally part of a Fan Fiction, and the story plot maybe included as well. For example, Firestar is real, but Thunderheart is not.
The Beginning: Prologue
It was dark, not a signal star shone its milky white light on the earth below. It was quiet, too quiet. A soft rain was coming down making little more than a soft patter as it fell to the ground. The baked and thirsting Earth greedily drank it up. No creature stirred except two lithe, muscular shapes.
Her ears alert and erect, she paused and set down a bundle of squirming, crying ginger fur. She scented the air, tortoiseshell fur prickled with apprehension, and nervousness. Then something came tearing out of the bushes and leaped onto the she-cat. Her eyes wide with fear she quickly swatted the tiny kit out of harms way into some honeysuckle bushes. The attacking cat had torn ears and dirty matted fur that reeked of the thunderpath and crow food.
"You will not see the light of day again Speckledfur! You should have stuck with me I would have given you the world, but you had to chose him, but now you and your offspring shall pay!" The tom’s hot sticky breath on the she-cat's face made Specklefur's eyes water it smelled so bad. The dark tom pushed down on Specklefur's neck. Specklefur made a gurgling noise and tried to struggle free, but gave up it was no use.
"Never, I would have given up my life before I stayed with you; you were never any good Brokentooth!"
"And die you shall!" The tom raised his other clawed paw and struck the she-cat with all of his power, before he was plowed into by another tom.
"Leave her alone Brokentooth!"
"You're too late Thunderheart, she has gone, and now so will you!" Brokentooth lunged at Thunderheart with claws out stretched. Thunderheart dodged nimbly, and then launched himself at the tom’s back. They rolled into the bushes, screeching, biting and clawing one another.
The bushes stopped shaking and a single cat stepped out. He was cut and bleeding, lumps of light ginger fur were missing, but Thunderheart was alive. He rushed over to Specklefur. He bowed his head and began to grieve for her. The clouds parted just for a second to allow the moon to shine on the two cats before disappearing again a few moments later. Thunderheart almost thought that it had been his imagination only that Specklefur’s eyes and seemed to contain the stars light. Scarlet blood trickled out of the dead she-cat’s neck, spilling onto the tom's orange paws.
Thunderheart lifted his head as the first light of dawn began to glow faintly in the steel gray sky. He glanced around and saw some light ginger fur sticking out from beneath a honeysuckle bush. He stood up and stretched, his limbs were stiff and felt like lead from sitting by his mate’s side half the night. He walked over to the kit and began licking it, comforting it. He lifted his head sharply, scenting the Dawn patrol, he was upwind, so he still had time. He picked the kit up and dashed into the forest.
He set the kit down in front of a door to a twoleg nest. "Take care Gingerkit," he mewed softly. He scratched at the door before dashing off into safety behind the twoleg fence. He watched the twoleg step out of the house, and then scoop up the tiny orange kit stroking it and talking to it softly. Once the twoleg shut the door Thunderheart raced off back into the forest.
I hope you can forgive me Gingerkit, but this is for the best, your mother would have wanted it, he thought as he raced back toward camp. Right now being a forest cat was not the best thing in the world, there were terrible things going on right now, and the Clans were heading toward war.
Chapter One
"There now little kitty, you have nothing more to cry about. Here you go you poor little kitty-kitty." The kindly twoleg gave Gingerkit a bottle of warm cow's milk. Gingerkit instantly stopped her crying and began to suckle. The twoleg ran a gentle hand down her back as she suckled nosily.
When she was through she burped just a tiny bit and snuggled down in the twoleg's warm sweater. The twoleg took the bottle away from Gingerkit and wiped her mouth clean with the edge of her sweater. "There now," she said softly as Gingerkit fell asleep in her arms. "I'm going to call you Ginger", and she wasn't to far off the mark either of her real name.
*****
Thunderheart walked slowly back to camp with a heavy heart. Before he got there he came across Firestar and the rest of the dawn patrol. "What are you doing up so early," the ginger tom meowed.
"Nothing, I was just.......uh, out hunting. But I had no luck," he mewed.
"I see, so you mean to tell me that there is no prey in Tall Pines?"
Before Thunderheart could reply Mousefur bounded up to Firestar and meowed, "Specklefur is dead!" Firestar forgot all about Thunderheart and raced away with the rest of the dawn patrol hot on his heels.
Everyone knew that Specklefur was a RiverClan queen, to find her dead on ThunderClan territory surprised Firestar and the others. Thunderheart looked down at his paws, mourning over the dead she-cat.
"Rainwhisker, go tell RiverClan that Specklefur is dead. Ashfur, look around the area, I can smell ShadowClan around here."
Rainwhisker dipped his head and raced off toward the RiverClan border. Ashfur walked off scenting the air and following the ShadowClan cat's scent trail. He walked into the bushes and walked back out moments later with the body of Brokentooth. Brokentooth had been sent away to exile with Tigerstar. He was one of the few remaining loyal cats to the ambitious tabby.
Firestar stared at the two dead cats before turning to Thunderheart. "You know something about this don't you? You're the mystery father of her kit Thunderheart." Firestar gazed at Thunderheart with a gentle and questioning look in his eyes.
Thunderheart meet his eyes, but could not hold his gaze. "Yes Firestar I do," he mumbled. "I was Gingerkit's father. I loved Specklefur so much," he mewed sadly. "I couldn't help but love her, after all we have been through, all she did for me."
Thunderheart had gotten into lots of trouble with RiverClan when he was young and nearly drowned twice. Specklefur had always helped him out when he was in trouble. Their innocent friendship had turned into forbidden love.
Firestar understood what Thunderheart was going through. He knew how much it hurt to loose a mate, and so did his best friend Graystripe, the ThunderClan deputy. Graystripe had loved a beautiful RiverClan warrior named Silverstream. She had died giving birth to his kits, Stormfur and Feathertail, many moons ago.
"If RiverClan allows it, you have my permission to go with them when they bury her. For now, you can sit vigil. You can explain it to me later."
"Thank you Firestar," Thunderheart mewed. He was glad that he would be able to mourn in peace for her. He glanced up as Firestar signaled his patrol to move on, but Graystripe stayed behind. "I'll stay with you," he murmured.
Thunderheart nodded and together the two toms sat side by side, each grieving for her in their own ways. Mistyfoot arrived along with Feathertail and Stormfur a few moment later. They all looked sad to see Specklefur dead, but they were shocked to see Brokentooth dead as well. "What happened here and where is Gingerkit," Mistyfoot growled.
"Specklefur was coming here so that we could both take here to twoleg place where she would be better off with all that is going on. Then we met up with Brokentooth. He killed her before I could do anything. I fought Brokentooth so that he could not kill Gingerkit. After I finished with Brokentooth I carried Gingerkit over to twoleg place."
Mistyfoot nodded, her eyes clouding with sorrow for her dead Clanmate the RiverClan deputy didn’t say anything about Gingerkit knowing that it was much better for the kit to be safe in twoleg place than with all of the trouble in the forest, especially for half-clanners. "May I help bury her and take her back to camp? I loved her so very much," Thunderheart asked. It was common knowledge that Thunderheart and Specklefur both liked each other, but loved? That was news to the RiverClan cats and the ThunderClan deputy.
"Very well, come on Thunderheart," Mistyfoot said after a long pause. Graystripe must stay here though." Graystripe nodded knowing the turmoil and trouble he would cause if he went back again, but looked at his two kits affectionately. Feathertail and Stormfur hung back while Mistyfoot and Thunderheart carried Specklefur toward the border.
Feathertail was the first to move after the two cats had disappeared down the slope toward the river. "Father how are you? I've missed you so much!" She rubbed her head affectionately against his shoulder. Stormfur hung back, watching his sister and father. He would wait until they were done. Feathertail backed up a few paw steps to let her brother have a turn.
He, unlike his sister was a bit more formal, he touched noses with him and Graystripe purred with delight. He was happy to see them again. “I've missed you so much. How are things going for you in RiverClan, you know if you don't like it you can always come to ThunderClan. I'm sure Firestar will accept you and the......"
"Dad, everything is fine. There is nothing to worry about. There is plenty to eat and everything, quite you’re worrying." A little embarressed Graystripe shuffled his paws over the hard dry earth to hide his embarrassment from his kits. "It's just that I miss you and worry about you is all, you’re all I have left,” Graystripe mewed softly. Feathertail walked up to him and intertwined his tail with hers, reassuring him. Graystripe smiled and said "you should get going now, before Mistyfoot claws our ears off." Stormfur and Feathertail let out a small mrrow of laughter before they said good bye and ran after the RiverClan Deputy and Thunderheart.
Chapter Two
Ginger opened her blue eyes and gazed out at the world for the first time. She was very surprised and scared. She closed her eyes tightly shut and then slowly opened them again. Nothing had changed since she had first seen the world, only now it was not as blurry and things were starting to take shape. As her eyes slowly took in her surroundings she began to realize that the world was not as scary place as it had first seemed. As she looked around she saw a huge beast not very far from her that lay unmoving. It had some hair on it that was white and curly, but there was very little hair on the creature from what she could tell.
Ginger got up on shaky paws and slowly approached the monster, she could hear it's even breathing the closer she got; this monster was not dead, only asleep it turned out when she was only three tail lengths away. She crept up on it closer still; however she was finding it hard to walk again as the surface she was standing on kept raising and falling rhythmically.
She was on a blue white surface that was lumpy, but soft with lines running all over it. Twice she nearly fell off as she inched forward slowly, one small paw step at a time, and then once she was nearly there, she leaned back on her haunches and prepared to spring. She sprung and landed on the monsters face. The creature sprang to life in an instant and flung Ginger off. She landed on the far side of the bed where she had been before on her feet just before she fell over flat on her face.
The twoleg glanced around and saw Ginger lying on the bed looking shocked and scared. The twoleg picked her up and began to stroke the cat soothingly. Ginger tensed up and nearly jumped out of her fur when she could no longer feel the soft and springy ground beneath her paws. Ginger soon calmed when she felt the twoleg's warm fingers caressing her. Ginger then knew it was not a monster that she had attacked, but her twoleg between the soothing words, smell and the gentle caresses. She felt bad about it, but it seemed that the twoleg had forgiven her.
*****
Ginger was now steady on her feet and was accustomed to the things around the twoleg nest and all of the sounds too. She was curious and bright, she was eager to go outside but "she was much too young" her twoleg would always say. Ginger sighed, how she longed to be out there, chasing birds and squirrels. She flicked her gaze away from the window as a movement caught her gaze. Ginger leaped from her perch on the window and chased after the brightly colored feathers that danced around on the floor.
After awhile chasing the feathers bored her, but not as much as it tired her out. Tiredly, Ginger walked over to her wooden nest lined with some warm, fuzzy, white bedding. She liked having it there to snuggle up to. It reminded her of her mother, who ever she was she thought distantly as her thoughts became a blur as sleep embraced her with open arms.
The sun shone a pinky orange through the window over the sink as the sun began to sink below the horizon. Ginger stretched and yawned. She shook herself and then licked her fur clean before she leaped over edge of the basket. She slipped on the hard smooth floor and went sliding across the floor into a wall. She hated it when that happened.
She shook herself again and then headed for the den to remind her two-leg that it was dinner time. She loved milk, it tasted so good to her, she loved it, but she hated how the water had a metallic tang to it. It made her sick. She leaned back on her haunches and sprang up onto the furniture next to where her twoleg sat. She meowed loudly and began to nudge her twoleg’s furless paw. The twoleg stirred and patted Ginger's head. "I suppose it's dinner time, well come on lets go."
Ginger hopped down and walked back into the kitchen, but this time she walked slowly and carefully on the shiny black and white surface she didn’t want to fall again. The orange cat waited impatiently for her food by her water bowl. She purred with delight when the twoleg set down her food bowl and petted her a moment before walking back to the den. When the twoleg was gone she turned her attention back to her dinner.
Her smile faded when she saw the contents of the bowl. Instead of milk there were hard dried pelts that smelled dusty and faintly of fish. Cautiously she bent her head and took a few bits. Yuck! That stuff was about as appetizing as it had looked. It almost looked like what her twoleg pulled out of her dirt box all of the time, except smaller. With her stomach growling to she bent her head and forced herself to eat more of the pelts.
When Ginger had had more than she could take she tried to wash the taste out of her mouth with water. It didn’t help much at all. Feeling sick to her stomach Ginger walked away from her food and water dishes back to her nest and the warm white fabric that lined it. The ginger she-cat circled a few times in the nest to try and get comfortable. Finally giving up she just plopped down and closed her eyes willing sleep to come, but sleep refused to come and she laid awake for what seemed like a moon before sleep finally enveloped her in its dark folds.
***
It had been a moon since Thunderheart had dropped off Gingerkit with the twolegs, and the air surrounding the four Clans was just waiting for the first spark to ignite the fire, the fire of war. He still missed his beloved, but every once in a while he would catch her scent floating o him in his dreams. She was still with him and always would be. He purred at the thought of Specklefur, and was jolted back to the present when Brambleclaw snapped "Thunderheart, are you coming or not?"
"Yes, Brambleclaw, I'm coming." He dipped his head and followed the border patrol. They were nearing the RiverClan border, when they spotted some RiverClan cats at Sunning Rocks! Thunderheart let out a battle screech as the patrol streaked toward them. Within a few heartbeats, he was in the thick of battle. He locked claws with Hawkfrost and then he retracted them quickly causing the powerful tabby to fall. In this one moment of opportunity, he jumped on the RiverClan cat, raking his claws down the warrior’s striped side. The tom beneath him screeched in fury and flipped himself on his back, exposing his soft belly fur, but threw Thunderheart off. The tabby warrior yowled in furry and hurled himself at Thunderheart.
Thunderheart felt the massive tabby land on him, claws digging into his shoulders pinning him down. He saw the quick gleam of teeth as Hawkfrost drew his lips back to deliver the death bite. Then all of a sudden, Thunderheart kicked out with his back paws, making the warrior loose his breath in surprise. Thunderheart once more was upon the RiverClan tom and shredded his ears.
The warrior shook him off and turned tail, but just as Thunderheart was getting ready to help out Mousefur who was pinned down by a black she-cat, Hawkfrost barreled into him from nowhere. The force of the cat slamming into him made him loose his breath. He fell on his side, gasping and heaving for air like a fish out of water.
"You won't get away this time," Hawkfrost hissed in his ear. And he was right, there was nowhere for him to go or any hopes of escape. Well at least I'll be with you again my love, he thought as Hawkforst drew back his massive tabby head, white fangs gleaming like daggers. He closed his eyes and prepared himself for his final adventure among the living, but the grip of iron jaws closing around his throat never came. All of a sudden, Hawkforst's weight was gone and a cat was hauling him to his paws. He was surprised to see that it was Brambleclaw, half brother to Hawkfrost.
Brambleclaw and Hawkfrost had the same father, the murderous Tigerstar. Hawkfrost's mother was a loner named Sasha. She had stayed with RiverClan for a short time, then left. She left her two kits, Mothwing and Hawkfrost in RiverClan wanting a better future for them.
Thunderheart dipped his head in thanks to his Clanmate and was happy to see the other RiverClan cats fleeing. ThunderClan had won the battle for Sunning Rocks yet again. While Thunderheart had been remembering Brambleclaw’s history and blood lines, the tabby warrior had been battling his half-brother, and won. Hawkfrost was reluctantly, swimming across the river back into RiverClan territory. The warrior glared daggers at Thunderheart before stalking stiffly off into the reeds.
Chapter 3
Ginger lifted her head from her front legs as her twoleg walked by to the metal snake that spouted water when punched. She stood and stretched each of her legs in turn before walking over to her twoleg. Her twoleg bent down and stroked her on the back, the way she liked before picking her up.
She stopped purring a soon as her feet no longer felt the smooth and slick surface of the floor beneath her paws. She let out a mew of surprise and unsheathed her claws as she was sailing through the air. The warmth of the twoleg and the soothing voice soon reassured her. Ginger relaxed slightly and retracted her claws some so that she was not cutting into the hairless flesh of the kind twoleg that held her.
She set the ginger tabby cat on the smooth surface of the counter marble counter top and patted her head. Ginger looked up at her curious as to why she was up here and not on the floor. Normally she would be shooed away like she always was when she was on the counters. The only place she could be was on the window sill. She thingyed her head slightly when her elderly twoleg walked away from her.
Ginger walked to the edge and looked down. It was still a long way down to the floor, and there was nothing near enough that she could jump on that would be lower to the ground. Sighing, the kit sat down on her haunches and waited for her twoleg to come back.
A few moments later and her twoleg appeared with a forest green box that had bars running along the sides and front. Her green eyes widened in fear and she let out a hiss. The ginger colored tabby retreated behind a jar of flour. She poked her pink nose out from behind the jar and scented the air. It smelled dusty and acrid from fear scent. She snaked her orange and white head around the jar to look at the cage box.
"It's all right Ginger, it's just a cat carrier. We're going to see the vet today to get you your shots so that you can go outside. You're about six weeks old now."
Ginger only understood a few words of what her twoleg said like her name and that it was OK. She nervously came out from behind the glass jar and walked toward the deep green barred box that was now sitting on the counter. She sniffed it and drew back quickly. It was covered in the fear scent of another cat, dust, and a weird, sharp smell.
"Come on now girl, its fine."
Ginger watched warily as the woman opened the cage door. It made a loud shrieking sound as two points were pushed into a plastic, black rectangle before the door swung open. The twoleg's paws reached for her and Ginger shrank away. She really didn't want to go in there. The last cat that had been in the carrier had not been in there for a while and was afraid, very afraid. She didn't want to become stale fear scent herself! Besides, what was that weird sharp smell that was faint, but lingering?
The ginger tabby hissed at the carrier again, her hackles were starting to rise. She really didn't like this thing at all! She lashed out at her twoleg's paw as it reached for her. As soon as she scratched her twoleg's paw she felt bad and lowered her hackles. She hung her head sheathed her claws.
"Oh it's all right dear. Now in you go." The woman picked Ginger up carefully and set her in the cat carrier. She shut and locked the door. "There now, see it's not so bad." The woman left again and came back with her keys jingling in hand.
Ginger, unsure of what was making that intriguing noise stuck her white and ginger splotched paw through the bars, trying to bat at the dangling shiny thing in front of her. Then she was knocked to the back of the plastic container as it was lifted from the counter. Ginger got to her paws only to fall again as the cat carrier swayed back and forth rather violently.
The orange cat peered cautiously between the bars of the cage and saw that she was hovering in the air by a fox length! Terror ripped through her sharp as a claw. The ground moved below her at moderate pace, but she wasn’t even moving, how could that be? The carrier finally stopped rocking and she could tell that she was back on solid ground. She slowly stood up and walked to the front of the cage. Peering through the bars she discovered that she had ended up in the belly of a monster some how! Ginger shrieked and moved to the very back of the cage as the monster gave a loud roar and began to move. The young ginger tabby watched as the landed around her flashed by through the bars of the cage. Ginger ducked down every time she spotted another monster coming toward them on the other side of the blackpath.
After what seemed to take seasons the monster finally quiet moving. After being thrown around in the cage it was a relief to finally stop. Her relief was short lived as her twoleg got out of the monster ad picked up the cage. It was back to hovering again. As the carrier was carried outside she could pick up a lot of fresh scent and the smell of many different cats and dogs and even birds. There was a loud squeak and a burst of cool air blasted her and the acrid stench of fear hit her like a brick. It was almost over whelming.
The smell that she could not identify earlier was all over the place. A door opened as she felt the cage being set down again. Ginger could hear dogs barking and cats crying from the open door, but were quickly cut off before she could figure out what hey had said. The orange tabby sat tensely in the cage watching animals come and go in and out of doors with twoleg’s in white pelts.
One of the twolegs clad in white pelts walked up to her twoleg and spoke with her a moment before it turned and walked away. Ginger’s twoleg picked up her cat carrier and followed the first twoleg. The man held the door open for them as they passed through and quietly shut it. The twolegs talked for awhile and then the strange, new twoleg walked over to the cat carrier and opened the door, reaching one of his slightly haired paws inside.
Yowling with terror she slashed at the paw reaching for her with her claws while trying desperately to get out of the cage. Without stopping the paw kept coming closer and closer to her. Nothing she did slowed its progress. Ginger’s heart leapt into her throat as the huge hairy paw closed around her and pulled her out of the cage.
