“Shouldn’t she have opened her eyes by now?”
“Hush, Swiftbreeze. She’s only a day old.
She’ll open them when she’s ready.”
Bluekit felt the rasp of her mother’s tongue
on her flank and nestled closer to Moonflower’s milk-
warm belly.
“Snowkit opened hers this morning,”
Swiftbreeze reminded her. “And my two had theirs
open from almost the moment they were born.” The
she-cat’s tail stirred her bedding. “Leopardkit and
Patchkit are natural warriors.”
A soft purr sounded from a third queen.
“Oh, Swiftbreeze, we all know that no kit can compete
with your two,” Poppydawn gently teased.
A small paw poked Bluekit’s side.
Snowkit!
Bluekit mewled with annoyance and
snuggled closer to Moonflower.
“Come on, Bluekit!” Snowkit whispered in
her ear. “There’s so much to look at and I want to go
outside, but Moonflower won’t let me till you’re ready.”
“She’ll open her eyes in her own time,” Moonflower chided.
Yes. In my own time, Bluekit agreed.
Waking, Bluekit could feel the weight of
her sister lying on top of her. Moonflower’s belly rose
and fell rhythmically beside them. Swiftbreeze was
snoring, and Poppydawn wheezed a little as she
breathed.
Bluekit heard Leopardkit and Patchkit
chattering outside.
“You be the mouse and I’ll be the warrior!”
Patchkit was ordering.
“I was the mouse last time!” Leopardkit
retorted.
“Were not!
“Was!”
A scuffle broke out, punctuated by
squeaks of defiance.
“Watch where you’re rolling!” came the
cross meow of a tom, silencing them for a moment.
“Okay, you be the warrior,” Patchkit
agreed. “But I bet you can’t catch me.” Warrior!
Bluekit wriggled out from under her sister.
A newleaf breeze stirred the bramble walls and drifted
through the gaps—the same fresh forest smell her
father had carried in on his pelt when he’d visited. It
chased away the stuffy smell of moss and milk and
warm, sleeping fur.
Excitement made Bluekit’s claws twitch.
I’m going to be a warrior!
For the first time, she stretched open her
eyes, blinking against the shafts of light that pierced
the bramble roof. The nursery was huge! In darkness,
the den had felt small and cozy, but now she could
see the brambles arching high overhead, with tiny
patches of blue beyond.
Poppydawn lay on her side near one wall,
a dark red tabby with a long bushy tail. Bluekit
recognized her because she smelled different from
Swiftbreeze and Moonflower. There was no milk scent
on her; she didn’t have any kits yet. Swiftbreeze, in a
nest beside her, was hardly visible—curled in a tight
ball with her nose tucked under her tail, her tabby-and-
white pelt blotchy against the bracken underneath.
The most familiar scent of all came from
behind. Wriggling around, Bluekit gazed at her mother. Sunshine dappled Moonflower’s silver-gray
pelt, rippling over the dark stripes that ran along her
flank. Her striped face was narrow, and her ears
tapered to gentle points. Do I look like her? Bluekit
looked over her shoulder at her own pelt. It was fluffy,
not sleek like Moonflower’s, and was dark gray all
over, with no stripes. Not yet.
Snowkit, lying stretched on her back, was
all white except for her gray ear tips.
“Snowkit!” Bluekit breathed.
“What is it?” Snowkit blinked open her
eyes. They were blue.
Are mine blue? Bluekit wondered.
“You’ve opened your eyes!” Snowkit
leaped to her paws, wide-awake. “Now we can go out
of the nursery!”
Bluekit spotted a hole in the bramble wall,
just big enough for two kits to squeeze through.
“Patchkit and Leopardkit are already outside. Let’s
surprise them!”
Poppydawn raised her head. “Don’t go
far,” she murmured sleepily before tucking her nose
back under her tail.
“Where are Poppydawn’s kits?” Bluekit
whispered.
“They won’t arrive for another two moons,”
Snowkit answered.
Arrive? Bluekit tipped her head to one
side. Where from?
Snowkit was already heading for the hole,
scrambling clumsily over Moonflower. Bluekit tumbled
after, her short legs uncertain as she slid down her mother’s back and landed in the soft moss.
The nest rustled and Bluekit felt a soft paw
clamp her tail-tip to the ground. “Where do you think
you are going?” Moonflower was awake.
Bluekit turned and blinked at her mother.
“Outside.” Moonflower’s eyes glowed and a loud purr
rolled in her throat. “You’ve opened your eyes.” She
sounded relieved.
“I decided it was time,” Bluekit replied
proudly.
“There, Swiftbreeze.” Moonflower turned,
waking the tabby-and-white queen with her satisfied mew. “I told you she’d do it when she was ready.”
Swiftbreeze sat up and gave her paw a
lick. “Of course. I was only thinking of my own kits—
they opened their eyes sooner.” She swiped her paw
across her muzzle, smoothing the fur on her nose. Moonflower turned back to her kits. “So
now you’re going out to see the world?”
“Why not?” Bluekit mewed. “Leopardkit
and Patchkit are already out there.”
“Leopardkit and Patchkit are five moons
old,” Moonflower told her. “They’re much bigger than
you, so they’re allowed to play outside.”
Bluekit opened her eyes very wide. “Is it
dangerous?”Moonflower shook her head. “Not in the
camp.”
“Then we can go!” Moonflower sighed, then leaned down to
smooth Bluekit’s fur with her tongue. “I suppose you
have to leave the nursery sometime.” She studied
Snowkit. “Straighten your whiskers.” Pride lit the
queen’s amber gaze. “I want you to look perfect when
you meet the Clan.”
Snowkit ran a licked paw over each spray
of whiskers.
Bluekit looked up at her mother. “Are you
coming with us?”
“Do you want me to?”
Bluekit shook her head. “We’re going to
surprise Patchkit and Leopardkit.”
“Your first prey.” Moonflower’s whiskers
twitched. “Off you go, then.”
Bluekit bounced around and sprinted for
the gap.
“Don’t get under any cat’s paws!” Moonflower called after them as Bluekit barged
ahead of her sister and headed through the hole. “And
stay together!”
The brambles scraped Bluekit’s pelt as
she wriggled out of the nursery. When she tumbled
onto the ground beyond, sunshine stung her eyes.
She blinked away the glare, and the camp opened out
in front of her like a dream. A vast, sandy clearing
stretched away to a rock that cast a shadow so long it
almost touched her paw tips. Two warriors sat
beneath the rock, sharing prey beside a clump of
nettles. Beyond them lay a fallen tree, its tangled
branches folded on the ground like a heap of skinny,
hairless legs. Several tail-lengths away from the
nursery a wide, low bush spread its branches over the
ground. Ferns crowded a corner at the nursery’s other
side, and behind them rose a barrier of gorse so tall
that Bluekit had to crane her neck to see the top.
Excitement thrilled through her. This was
her territory! Her paws prickled. Would she ever know
her way around?
There was no sign of Patchkit or
Leopardkit.
“Where’ve they gone?” she called to
Snowkit.
Snowkit was staring around the camp. “I
don’t know,” she meowed absently. “Look at that
prey!” She was staring at a heap of birds and mice at
the side of the clearing. It was topped by a fat, fluffy
squirrel.
“The fresh-kill pile!” Bluekit bounced
toward it, her nose twitching. She’d heard the queens
in the nursery talking about prey, and she’d smelled
squirrel on her mother’s fur. What would it taste like?
Thrusting her nose into the pile, she tried to sink her
claws into a small creature with short brown fur and a
long, thin tail.
“Watch out!”
Snowkit’s warning came too late. Bluekit’s
paws buckled as the plump squirrel rolled off the top
of the pile and flattened her. Ooof!
Purrs of amusement erupted from the two
warriors beside the nettle patch. “I’ve never seen
fresh-kill attack a cat before!” meowed one of them.
“Careful!” warned the other warrior. “All
that fluff might choke you!”
Hot with embarrassment, Bluekit wriggled
out from under the squirrel and stared fiercely at the
warriors. “It just fell on me!” She didn’t want to be
remembered as the kit who was jumped on by a dead
squirrel.
“Hey, you two!” Bluekit recognized
Patchkit from his nursery-scent as he padded out
from behind the nursery. “Does your mother know
you’re outside?”
“Of course!” Bluekit spun around to see
her denmate for the first time. Oh.
She hadn’t expected Patchkit to be so
big. His black-and-white fur was smooth like a
warrior’s, and she had to tip her head back to look up
at him. She stretched her legs, trying to appear taller.
Leopardkit scampered after her brother,
swiping playfully at his tail. Her black coat shone in the
sunshine. She stopped and stared in delight when
she saw Bluekit and Snowkit. “You’ve opened your
eyes!”
Bluekit licked her chest, trying to smooth
down her fluffy fur and wishing her pelt were as sleek
as theirs.
“We can show you around,” Leopardkit mewed excitedly.
Snowkit bounced around the older kit.
“Yes, please!”
Bluekit flicked her tail crossly. She didn’t
want to be shown her territory. She wanted to explore
it for herself! But Leopardkit was already trotting
toward the wide patch of ferns near the gorse barrier.
“This is the apprentices’ den,” she called over her
shoulder. “We’ll be sleeping there in a moon.”
Snowkit raced after her.
“Are you coming?” Patchkit nudged
Bluekit.
Bluekit was gazing back at the nursery.
“Won’t you miss your old nest?” She felt a sudden
flicker of anxiety. She liked sleeping next to Moonflower.
“I can’t wait to move into my new den!”
Patchkit yowled as he darted toward the apprentices’
den. “It’ll be great to be able to talk without
Swiftbreeze telling us to be quiet and go to sleep.”
As Bluekit hurried after him, the ferns
trembled and a tortoiseshell face poked out between
the green fronds.
“Once you start your training,” yawned the
sleepy-looking apprentice, “you’ll be glad to get some
sleep.”
“Hello, Dapplepaw!” Patchkit skittered to
a halt outside the den as the tortoiseshell she-cat
stretched, half in and half out of the bush.
Bluekit stared at Dapplepaw’s pelt, thick
and shiny; the muscles on the she-cat’s shoulders
rippled as she sprang from the ferns and landed
beside Patchkit. Suddenly Bluekit’s denmate didn’t
seem so big after all.
“We’re showing Bluekit and Snowkit
around the camp,” Leopardkit announced. “It’s their
first time out.”
“Don’t forget to show them the dirtplace,”
Dapplepaw joked. “Whitepaw was complaining only
this morning about cleaning out the nursery. The place
has been filled with kits for moons, and there’s more
on the way.”
Bluekit lifted her chin. “Snowkit and I can
keep our nest clean now,” she declared.
Dapplepaw’s whiskers quivered. “I’ll tell
Whitepaw when she gets back from hunting. I’m sure
she’ll be delighted to hear it.”
Is she teasing? Bluekit narrowed her
eyes.
“I can’t wait to go hunting!” Patchkit
dropped into a crouch, his tail weaving like a snake. Quick as the wind, Dapplepaw pinned it
down with her paw. “Don’t forget to keep your tail still
or the prey will hear you swishing up the leaves.”
Patchkit pulled his tail free and
straightened it out, flattening it to the ground.
Snowkit stifled a purr. “It sticks out like a
twig,” she whispered in Bluekit’s ear.
Bluekit was watching too intently to reply.
She studied how Patchkit had pressed his chest to
the ground, how he’d unsheathed his claws and
tucked his hind paws right under his body. I’m going
to be the best hunter ThunderClan has ever seen,
she vowed.
“Not bad,” Dapplepaw congratulated
Patchkit, then glanced at Leopardkit. “Let’s see your
hunting crouch.”
Leopardkit instantly dropped and pressed
her belly to the ground.
Bluekit longed to try it, but not until she’d
practiced by herself. “Come on, let’s leave them to it,”
she whispered to Snowkit.
Snowkit stared at her in surprise. “Leave
them?”
“Let’s explore by ourselves.” Bluekit saw a
chance to slip away unnoticed.
“But it’s fun hanging out with…”
Bluekit didn’t hear any more; she was
already backing away. Glancing over her shoulder,
she spotted a low, spreading bush beside the
nursery. Patchkit and Leopardkit wouldn’t find them
there. She spun around and dashed for the bush,
diving under a branch. As she caught her breath, she
tasted lots and lots of different scents clinging to the
leaves. How many cats were there in ThunderClan?
Did they really all fit in the camp?
The branches shook, and Snowkit
crashed in after her.
“I thought you weren’t coming!” Bluekit
squeaked in surprise.
“Moonflower told us to stay together,”
Snowkit reminded her.
Together they peeped out to see if
Leopardkit, Patchkit, and Dapplepaw had noticed
their escape. The three cats were staring at the
nursery, looking puzzled.
Dapplepaw shrugged. “They must have
gone back to their nest.”
“Never mind.” Patchkit paced around
Dapplepaw. “Now you can take us to the sandy hollow
like you promised.”
Sandy hollow? What’s that? Bluekit
suddenly wished she’d stayed with the others.
“I never promised!” Dapplepaw protested.
“We’ll be in trouble if we get caught,”
Leopardkit warned. “We’re not supposed to leave the
camp until we’re apprentices, remember?”
“Then we won’t get caught,” Patchkit mewed.
Dapplepaw glanced uncertainly around
the clearing. “I’ll take you to the edge of the ravine,”
she offered. “But that’s all.”
Jealousy burned Bluekit’s pelt as she
watched Dapplepaw lead Leopardkit and Patchkit
toward the gorse barrier and disappear through a gap
at the base.Maybe we can follow them and see where
they go….
Suddenly a muzzle nudged her
hindquarters and sent her skidding out from her hiding
place. Her sister tumbled after her, and a gray tabby
face peered out at them from under the leaves.
“What are you doing here? This is the
warriors’ den!”
“S-sorry!” Snowkit backed away.
Bluekit faced the warrior. “How were we
supposed to know?” she protested. Do warriors have
a special scent or something?
The tabby tom narrowed his eyes. “Are
you Moonflower’s kits?”
Snowkit’s pelt ruffled and she looked
down at her paws.
Bluekit lifted her chin. She wasn’t scared
of the grouchy warrior. “Yes. I’m Bluekit. And this is my
sister, Snowkit.”
The tabby slid from under the bush and
straightened up. He was even bigger than
Dapplepaw. Bluekit took a step back.
“I’m Stonepelt,” meowed the gray tom.
“Are you looking for Stormtail?”
Snowkit glanced up eagerly. “Is he here?”
“He’s out hunting.”
“We weren’t looking for him, actually,”
Bluekit told the warrior, even though she would have
liked to see her father now that her eyes had opened.
“We were hiding from Patchkit and Leopardkit.”
“Hide-and-seek, I suppose.” Stonepelt
sighed.
“No,” Bluekit corrected him. “They were
trying to show us around the camp, but we wanted to
explore it for ourselves.”
Stonepelt flicked his tail. “A good warrior
learns from his Clanmates.”
“W-we thought it would be more fun on our
own,” Snowkit blurted out.
The warrior’s pelt bristled. “Well, it’s no fun
being woken from a well-earned rest by a stampede
of kits.”
“We’re sorry,” Snowkit apologized. “We
didn’t realize.”
“That’s what happens when kits are left to
wander around by themselves.” Stonepelt snorted and
turned his gaze toward the fresh-kill pile. “Now that I’m
awake, I might as well eat.” With a flick of his tail, the
warrior headed across the clearing, leaving the two
kits alone.
Snowkit turned on Bluekit. “Did you have
to pick the warriors’ den to hide in?” she mewed
crossly.
“How was I supposed to know?” Bluekit
snapped back.
“We would have known if we’d stayed with
Patchkit!”
Bluekit flicked her ears. Now they knew
where the apprentices’ den was, and the warriors’.
They had wanted to explore the camp, hadn’t they?
She gazed across the clearing, waiting for her eyes to
stop being blurry. She hadn’t tried to see this far away
yet. As the rock at the opposite end of the clearing
came into focus, she noticed scuffed earth around the
base. Paw prints led into the shadows and
disappeared where a patch of lichen hung at one
side. Where did they lead?
Forgetting that she was cross with
Snowkit, Bluekit meowed, “Follow me!” She ran over
to the lichen, then reached out and prodded it with her
paw. It swung under her touch and then gave way. Her
paw sank through the brush and into empty space.
“There’s a gap!” Excited, Bluekit pushed
her way through and found herself in a quiet cove. Its
floor and walls were smooth and, although no cat was
there, a nest of moss lay at one side. “It’s a den,” she
hissed back through the lichen to Snowkit.
“It’s Pinestar’s den,” replied a voice that
wasn’t her sister’s.
Bluekit froze for a moment, then backed
cautiously out of the cave. Was she in trouble again?
A pale silver tom with bright amber eyes
was sitting beside Snowkit.
“Hello, Bluekit.”
Bluekit tilted her head. “How do you know my name?” she asked.
“I was at your kitting,” the tom told her. “I’m
Featherwhisker, the medicine cat’s apprentice.” He
nodded toward Pinestar’s den. “You shouldn’t go in
there unless you’ve been invited.” His mew was soft
but grave.
“I didn’t realize it was his den. I just
wondered what was behind the lichen.” Bluekit looked
down at her paws. “Are you going to tell Pinestar?”
“Yes.”
Bluekit’s heart lurched.
“It’s better that I tell him. He’ll smell your
scent anyway,” Featherwhisker explained.
Bluekit looked up at him anxiously. Would
Pinestar say she couldn’t be a warrior now?
“Don’t worry,” Featherwhisker reassured
her. “He won’t be angry. He’ll probably admire your
curiosity.”
“Can I go and look too, then?” Snowkit mewed.
Featherwhisker purred. “One kit’s scent
will smell like curiosity,” he told her. “Two kits’ scents
will smell like nosiness.”
Snowkit’s tail drooped.
“I’m sure you’ll get a chance to see inside
one day,” Featherwhisker promised. “Why don’t I take
you to meet the elders instead? They like meeting the
new kits.”
Again they were to be shown around!
Annoyance prickled in Bluekit’s pelt, but she
reminded herself what Stonepelt had said: A good
warrior learns from her Clanmates.
Featherwhisker led them to the fallen tree
and squeezed under a jutting branch. Bluekit trotted
after, Snowkit at her heels. Grass, ferns, and moss sprouted from
every crevice in the tangle of wood, turning the
decaying bark green with newleaf freshness. Bluekit
followed Featherwhisker as he weaved his way
through a maze of twigs until he reached an open
space among the tangled branches.
A mangy brown tom was lying with his
back to the fallen trunk, while a tortoiseshell she-cat
groomed his ears with her tongue. A second tom, his
orange pelt flecked with white, was eating a mouse at
the other end of the den.
The tortoiseshell looked up as
Featherwhisker entered. “Have you brought mouse
bile?” She looked hopeful. “Mumblefoot’s got another
tick.”
“He insists on hunting every day,” the
orange tom commented. “He’s bound to get ticks.”
“The day I stop hunting, Weedwhisker, is
the day you can sit vigil for me,” meowed Mumblefoot. Weedwhisker took another bite of his mouse. “I’ll never stop hunting, either,” he muttered
with his mouth full. “There aren’t enough apprentices
to keep us fed these days.”
“Patchkit and Leopardkit will be starting
their training soon,” Featherwhisker reminded them.
“And we’ve got another pair on the way to becoming
apprentices.” He stepped aside, revealing Bluekit
and Snowkit.Weedwhisker looked up from his mouse. Mumblefoot sat up, pricking his ears.
“Kits!” The tortoiseshell she-cat’s eyes
brightened, and she hurried forward and gave Bluekit
a soggy lick on her cheek. Bluekit ducked away,
rubbing her wet face with her paw, then stifled a purr
as Snowkit received the same welcome.
“It’s their first time out of the nursery,
Larksong,” Featherwhisker explained. “I caught them
trying to make a nest in Pinestar’s den.”
“We were not—” Bluekit started to object.
“Don’t take any notice of Featherwhisker,”
Larksong interrupted. “He teases all the cats. It’s one
of the privileges of being medicine cat.”
“Medicine cat apprentice,”
Featherwhisker corrected her.
“Huh!” Mumblefoot wrapped his tail over
his paws. “Which means you do all of Goosefeather’s
duties while that lazy old badger pretends to look for
herbs.”
“Hush!” Larksong looked sternly at her
denmate. “Goosefeather does his best.” Mumblefoot snorted. “What herb was he
supposedly collecting this morning?” he asked
Featherwhisker.
The medicine cat apprentice twitched his
ears. “Comfrey.”
“Well, I saw him sunning himself by the Owl Tree, fast asleep. His snoring was scaring the
prey.” He flicked his tail toward the morsel that
Weedwhisker was enjoying. “It took me an age to find
that.”
“Goosefeather has taught me a lot,”
Featherwhisker said in defense of his mentor. “And
there’s no herb in the forest he doesn’t know how to
use.”
“If he can be bothered to pick them,”
Mumblefoot muttered.
Featherwhisker glanced at Bluekit and
Leopardkit. “Take no notice,” he meowed.
“Goosefeather and Mumblefoot have never seen eye
to eye.”
“And you shouldn’t be saying such things, Mumblefoot,” Larksong scolded. “You know Goosefeather is their kin.”
“He is?” Bluekit blinked at the
tortoiseshell.
“He was your mother’s littermate,”
Larksong explained. She swept Bluekit and Snowkit
forward with her tail. “Come and tell us all about
yourselves.”
“My name is Bluekit, and this is my sister,
Snowkit. Our mother is Moonflower and our father is
Stormtail,” Bluekit chirped. “And today is the first time
we’ve been out of the nursery!” Weedwhisker licked his lips as he
swallowed the last of the mouse. “Welcome to the
Clan, little ones. I’m sure you’ll be up to trouble in no
time. Kits can’t seem to help themselves.”
Bluekit pricked her ears. “Have
Leopardkit and Patchkit been in trouble?”
Larksong purred. “I don’t know a kit who
hasn’t.”
Relief warmed Bluekit’s belly. She didn’t
want to be the only one who got things wrong. Like
having a squirrel fall on my head.
“It’s about time Pinestar made those two
apprentices,” Mumblefoot croaked. “They have too much time on their paws. Every time I go to the fresh-
kill pile, I trip over one of them kicking up dust with
some silly game or other.”
“I’ll ask Swiftbreeze if I can take them herb
gathering in the forest tomorrow,” Featherwhisker
suggested. “That should keep them busy.”
Bluekit’s eyes grew wide. “In the forest?”
she echoed.
Featherwhisker nodded. “We won’t go far
from camp.”
That must be where Dapplepaw was
taking Patchkit and Leopardkit. Bluekit wondered
how much more there was beyond the clearing and
the dens.
Beside her, Snowkit yawned.
“You’d better be getting them back to their mother,” Larksong advised. “Snowkit looks like she’s
going to fall asleep on her paws.”
Bluekit turned to see her sister’s eyes
drooping. She suddenly realized that her own legs
ached and her belly was rumbling. But she didn’t want
to leave; she wanted to learn more. What did
Mumblefoot’s tick look like? Where was Goosefeather now?
“Come on.” Featherwhisker began to
usher them out of the den.
“How can we learn anything back in the
nursery?” Bluekit objected.
“You’ll learn a lot more once you’ve
rested,” Larksong meowed.
“Come back and see us soon!” Weedwhisker called.
Bluekit stumbled as they crossed the
clearing. Though her mind whirled with questions, her
paws were clumsy with fatigue. She felt relieved when
Featherwhisker nudged her into the nursery.
“What did you see, little one?” Moonflower
asked as Bluekit snuggled down beside her mother
with Snowkit.
“Everything,” Bluekit yawned. Moonflower purred. “Not everything, my
darling.” Bluekit closed her eyes as her mother went
on softly. “There’s a whole forest for you to explore.
And even that is just part of the Clans’ territories.
There are lands beyond—Mothermouth, Highstones,
and even farther.”
“How far does the world stretch?” Snowkit murmured sleepily.
“Only StarClan knows,” Moonflower
replied.
Bluekit imagined trees and bracken and
nettles and gorse stretching far beyond the camp into
an endless sky. “But my legs aren’t long enough to
travel that far,” she protested. As her visions faded
into dreams, she heard her mother’s voice continue.
“They’ll grow, my sweet, until one day
they’ll be strong enough to walk the whole world.”
Bluestar's Prophecy
by kega321
- ·
- September 21, 2014 10:57 pm
kega321 likes this.
kega321
I know it is pretty long but it passes the time.
- September 21, 2014
- ·
- Like