Okay, this is the first book I've written, in my series, The Clans are RainClan, SnowClan, HailClan, and StormClan. I have not finished editing yet, so you will find errors. I am working on book two, Loyalties. Please note, that writing books and making websites are hard work and take a while, I will not be posting these books, even thought they are not all that long, frequently. Please enjoy!
With special thanks to Kate Cary, Cherith Baldry, and Victoria Holmes, the writers of Warriors for giving me the idea of all that is in this book.
Preface- Littlekit is Born
Littlekit opened her eyes to see the branches of the tree that her Clan, RainClan lived. She looked down in terror to see the water below. RainClan lived in something similar to a valley with hills. There it rained so much that there was always water, it was like living in a lake. Littlekit shuttered at the thought of going down the whirlpool. The whirlpool was trails of trees making the water go in one direction ending with a whirlpool. Even the strongest warrior would not be able to get out of that whirlpool.
RainClan wasn’t the only Clan in the area; in fact there were three more Clans. Littlekit had never actually met them but the older cats, also known as elders had told her stories of them. There was HailClan, StormClan, and SnowClan. They all had horrible weather. SnowClan had tons of snow, even their camp was made of snow! HailClan didn’t have hail all over the place, but their camp had rocks sheltering them so that they wouldn’t get hurt, sometimes the hail was as big as a warriors paw! They also had thick pelts to protect them. StormClan had so much lightning, that there were often fires! Their camp is low to the ground; it’s the safest place when there is a storm.
We cats live in the forest, unlike Kittypets who have Twolegs who feed the yucky crow food. Littlekit would soon be an apprentice and have a mentor to teach her all about the warrior code and how to protect her Clan. She was so excited to become an apprentice. Littlekit was a small she-cat that was grey; she also had lots of wavy lines on her pelt, which almost looked like a stream.
Chapter I-Littlekit is missing
“Cats of RainClan, gather around the bent stick for a Clan meeting!” All the RainClan cats gathered around the bent stick, where their leader Meadowstar sat. Suddenly there came a screech from the nursery, “Help!”
Littlekit tried to grab a branch but it was too late, she crashed down into the cold water below. She tried to swim, and it kind of worked. She wailed when she realized that she was heading strait for the whirlpool! She started going down one of the paths that led to the whirlpool. Littlekit jumped as high and far as she could and grabbed hold of a tree. She crawled up the tree and fell asleep. She woke up in her nest with her sister Leafkit looking at her.
“Hurry up!” she said, “It’s our apprentice ceremony!”
Finally, thought Littlekit, but she wondered why no one had said anything about her falling out of the tree and getting lost. Leafkit and she went to the bent stick to meet Meadowstar. Littlekit quivered with excitement, this was a big moment.
“Blackfur,” said Meadowstar, “You are ready for an apprentice, so you will be mentor to Leafpaw pass on your passion and talent to this young cat.” “I have not had an apprentice for quite a while now so I will be mentor to Littlekit, however, Littlekit showed bravery and courage when she almost went down the whirlpool, so from now on she will be known as Streampaw.”
All the cats chanted Leafpaw, Streampaw, Leafpaw. That night Streampaw and Leafpaw slept in the apprentices den with the other two apprentices, Lightningpaw, and Branchpaw. The next day would be her first day of training when she would learn so much. Streampaw had an honor, as not many cats were mentored by the Clan leader. She had so much to learn, how to fight, hunt, swim, and so many more. Streampaw knew that she would give her life for the Clan, and she just wanted to be the best warrior that she could.
That night Streampaw dreamed she saw her warrior ancestors. The Clans’ ancestors were the droplets of Rain falling from the sky (SnowClan was the snowflakes, HailClan were the pieces of Hail, and StormClan was each strike of Lightning. Then Streampaw saw a white she-cat appear. It was Moonstar, one of the greatest leader that RainClan had ever had. He spoke firmly, yet softly,
“Streampaw, you, Lightningpaw, and your sister Leafpaw have great futures that will make RainClan great!” Moonstar slowly faded away and left Streampaw alone.
“Wait! You must explain!” she cried desperately, but he had left. She woke up and left the apprentices den to sit in the middle of the tree that RainClan lived in and groomed her fur. She thought carefully about her dream, and tried to work out what it had said. Should she tell Lightningpaw and Leafpaw? No she decided, they would just make fun of her and say that it was a stupid dream.
Chapter II- Streampaw Begins her Training
Streampaw woke up quite early the next day. Leafpaw was still sleeping. Streampaw decided to let her sleep. She went into the clearing of the camp and sat down to eat a plump sparrow. She let the juicy flavors fill her mouth. Prey was scarce around this time of year, as it was leaf-bare. She did not waste any of the precious meat. Meadowstar came into the clearing and said,” Ready for training?”
“Sure!” said Streampaw,”What are we going to do?”
“I am going to show you the territory, but first I am going to teach you how to swim.” Streampaw nodded and followed Meadowstar to the edge of the tree. “Okay, swimming is actually pretty easy; all you do is move your legs like this and do the same with your arms.”
Meadowstar demonstrated with her legs. Streampaw copied what Meadowstar did.
“Perfect, now I am going to jump into the water and wait for you. You will jump in and start swimming. I will get you if you start going under.” Streampaw jumped in and started trying to swim. It was working! She could finally swim! “Okay, now I am going to show you the territory, lets swim this way for a while.” They got to the edge of the territory. Meadowstar asked,” What do you smell?”
“I can smell something that smells kind of like Rain,” Streampaw observed.
“That is the smell of SnowClan; I’ll take you to the StormClan border.”
“Now it smells like smoke!”
“Yes that is the smell of StormClan, we will come here tomorrow again and I’ll start teaching you how to hunt.” They swam back to the camp and ate a bit. Streampaw and Leafpaw shared what they had both done at their first training. In about half a moon there would be a gathering. A gathering is where a few cats from each Clan would get to go and talk to cats of other Clans, and share news. Streampaw wondered if she would get to go to the next gathering.
Chapter III- The Gathering
Streampaw’s training had gone well; she had become a good hunter, and was getting along in fighting. The day of the gathering came and Streampaw was so excited to find out if she would go. Gingerfur, the deputy came to Streampaw and said,” You and Leafpaw will be going to the gathering, please tell Leafpaw.”
“Okay!” Streampaw said. She was surprised, usually apprentices didn’t get to go to the first gathering of their apprenticeship, however at the same time she was really excited. Streampaw went to the apprentices den to wake Leafpaw and tell her the good news.
That night Streampaw went with the group of warriors, elders, and apprentices all led by Meadowstar. She was excited to meet the other apprentices from the other Clans! She also wanted to ask so many questions! She really wanted to ask a SnowClan apprentice about Snow, it rarely snowed in RainClan territory, so she had never seen it. She wanted to know if it was really cold, would it be colder then Rain?
However right when RainClan got there the leaders started sharing the news about their clan. Blizzardstar of SnowClan came first. “Cats of all clans, I have very important news for all the Clans, this could be a real threat to us all. Yesterday our dawn patrol scented cats; they were not kittypets, yet not like rogues either. They did not scent like rogues because rogues live alone, and we smelled about thirty cats. The patrol followed their scent all the way to the RainClan border. These cats stole a large amount of prey from us, and I would like to say that if any of you have a problem with these cats then SnowClan will help you rid of them.”
“Thank you Blizzardstar, our patrols will keep a look out,” Meadowstar said,” RainClan too will help any clan in need of help with these cats.” The other leaders agreed to help, and they all shared their news, however not many cats were paying attention thirty rogues would be a huge threat, were the clans prepared?
Chapter IV- Assessment
“Nice job,” said Meadowstar, as Streampaw leapt on Meadowstar’s shoulders and knocked her over. “This time I am going to try and get you after the leap.”
“Okay,” Streampaw replied. She crouched down and looked side to side, trying to decide where to pounce. Streampaw had been an apprentice for four moons already, and this was her eighth battle training. Streampaw leapt onto Meadowstar’s left shoulder, as that was her weak spot. Meadowstar rolled over and batted Streampaw on the head with her claws sheathed. Streampaw tried to get her belly, but Meadowstar was faster and leapt on Streampaw, pinning her down.
“It could use some work, but it was okay. I see that you did my weak side, clever for me, but in other battles you will not know your enemy’s weak side.”
“Yes, you make a point,” said Streampaw.
“Why don’t we go hunting, I’ve been meaning to assess you for a while now. Streampaw nodded and set off. She decided to go near the HailClan boarder, as there were many birds there to hunt. In RainClan they could only hunt birds, as any other prey would have drowned. She climbed up an aspen and leapt high to catch a robin. Then she stood still as a rock right next to the robin. A huge eagle swooped down to get the robin, not knowing that Streampaw was there.
Streampaw leapt again and caught the eagle. She kept on using the same strategy, until she had caught about five birds, then she carried them back to the camp.
“Streampaw,” said Meadowstar,” Could you please come and see me in my den. Streampaw nodded and went directly toward Meadowstar’s den. “I was very impressed at your hunting you did today, you caught more than any of the apprentices ever had. Lightningpaw and Branchpaw will become warriors tonight, and you will have yours not too long from now.”
“Have any of the patrols seen the rogues?” asked Streampaw nervously.
“I’m afraid not, though they have scented them, and they did steal prey, we may have to send our best trackers to try to find them.”
“Lightningpaw could do it! When I trained with him he rolled in ferns, I couldn’t smell him, and he crept up on me so well!”
“I will think about it,” replied Meadowstar,”It’s time that we have Lightningpaw and Branchpaw’s warrior ceremony.
“Thanks Meadowstar,” said Streampaw. Meadowstar went to the bent stick for the warrior ceremony. Meadowstar was on her fifth life; all leaders were granted seven lives form their ancestors, which they called CloudClan, as all storms come from the clouds. Lightningpaw became Lightningpelt and Branchpaw became Branchfoot. That night the two newly made warriors would have to stand guard at the camp until sunrise the next day. Streampaw couldn’t wait for that to be her.
Chapter V- The Rogues
“Wake up! The rogues are attacking!” came a voice from outside. Streampaw jumped up and flung herself into battle. A dark brown tabby and a grey she-cat were both on Meadowstar. Streampaw hurled herself at the dark brown tabby; she scratched and rolled until the tabby went running away.
“Get SnowClan!” said Meadowstar quietly to Streampaw,”Have them send someone to the other Clans!” Streampaw raced away and jumped to the ground below. She swam as fast as she could to the SnowClan territory. She had never been their camp, so she just followed their scent. She got to a huge pile of snow that smelled like them a lot. Streampaw walked around it, looking for the entrance. Suddenly she fell in a hole, which, she realized was the entrance. She crawled through and screeched,
“The rogues are attacking!” Blizzardstar sent Silverdapple, a warrior of SnowClan to get the other two clans. Streampaw realized that not all the cats would know how to swim, so she would have to lead them. They raced through the SnowClan territory, letting the cold snow freeze their pads. Streampaw was ready to unsheathe her claws and rip the enemy to shreds.
Streampaw turned around to teach them how to swim but Blizzardstar said, “No need, we know how to swim!” So they swam through the cold water, breathing in the air of blood. They got to the tree and climbed it. Then, Streampaw got an idea. If they brought the battle below the tree they would do better, the rogues couldn’t swim very well. “Bring the battle into the water!” she yelled, as cats plummeted down being followed by their attackers.
Chapter VI- Alliance
Soon Silverdapple came with most of the cats in the other Clans. They four Clans had united against the rouges. A tortoiseshell she-cat leapt onto Streampaw, pinning her down. She was about to bite her shoulder when she heard a voice, ”Get off my sister!!!”
Leafpaw had come to the rescue! She leapt on the she-cat’s shoulders, knocking her of Streampaw. “Thanks!” she said quickly and swam off to go help Pinetail, the deputy of HailClan, because he had two cats attacking him. After she helped Pinetail she saw one of the rogues climbing up the tree. Then she realized that the kits and elders were up there alone! Streampaw swam to the tree and climbed up, just in time to see Short-ear, one of the elders fling himself at the rogue. Though he was old he still was fighting very well. Streampaw rushed to help. She grabbed his scruff with her teeth and flung him down into the water.
“Thanks!” she said and went down to help. Streampaw jumped onto the back of a gray tom and screeched, ”What do you even want from us?”
“This territory will soon be ours! We will live here and hunt here! You will either leave, or be ripped apart!
“We will do neither!” she cried, ”This territory has and always will be ours!” The tom ran away, and she realized that most of the other cats were too. They had won! Meadowstar padded to the bent stick and said, “I would like to give my thanks to SnowClan, HailClan and StormClan, if you ever need my help then tell me!”
Chapter VII- Warriors at Last
Once the other three Clans had left Leafpaw and Streampaw went into the apprentice den and slept. Streampaw had the same dream that she had had before. She wondered what it had meant, what great destiny? She wondered if Lightningpelt and Leafpaw had had the same dream as, it talked of the three of them. When she woke up it was already sunset. Then she heard Meadowstar say her name. She went into Meadowstar’s den.
“Streampaw, you and Leafpaw fought bravely this morning, it is time that you are made warriors, we will hold the ceremony now. Go and tell Leafpaw.” Streampaw was so shocked that she didn’t know what to say, so she just dipped her head and went to the apprentice den to tell Leafpaw.
“Leafpaw! Get up! It’s our Warrior ceremony!”
“Really!” cried Leafpaw. Streampaw nodded and went outside into the clearing. She heard Meadowstar calling the warriors.
“Leafpaw and Streampaw fought well in the battle this morning, it is time for them to become warriors. Leafpaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and protect your clan even at the cost of your life?”
“I do,” Leafpaw said softly, yet firmly.
“Then with the powers of CloudClan I give you your warrior name, from now on you will be known as Leafspash, CloudClan honors you for your skill and bravery.”
Streampaw walked forward as Meadowstar said, “Streampaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and protect your clan even at the cost of your life?”
“I do,” Streampaw said strongly, truly meaning it.
“Then with the powers of CloudClan I give you your warrior name, from now on you will be known as Streamheart, CloudClan honors you for your courage and loyalty.”
The cats started chanting, Leafsplash! Streamheart! Leafsplash! Streamheart!
“The Warrior code says that you must hold your silent vigil tonight until dawn tomorrow morning.”
Chapter VIII- The Vigil
Streamheart and Leafsplash were looking at each other, both smiling. They both wanted to say congratulations, but it was their vigil and they needed to stay silent. Streamheart’s ears were pricked listening for any enemy that might be near, waiting for some cat to pounce. She was ready to defend her clan. She felt a little tired, but she had to stay up, it was just for one night. Then she caught a smell it was the rogues! “The rogues are attacking!” she yelled, as a massive cat knocked her down.
She used all her strength to heave the heavy cat off her. He tried to jump onto her shoulders again, but Streamheart was faster. She rolled out of the way and waited for her next chance. The cat jumped again, this time stronger and higher. Streamheart ran underneath him and bit his leg hard. He limped away wailing.
A light brown tom yelled, “Retreat! But we will return, this will be our territory soon!”
“Never!” yowled Meadowstar. The cats retreated; Streamheart heard the splashes as they jumped into the water. Then she heard a wail from inside the camp. Meadowstar was standing over the dead body of a cat. Streamheart could not tell who it was. She padded forward to see whose body lay there. The moonlight shone on the muddy fur. Streamheart gasped when she saw who it was. It was the clan deputy, Gingerfur.
Chapter IX- The New Deputy
Streamheart couldn’t help thinking that it was her fault, if she had scented them early enough then she could have yowled an alert earlier! Morningstar went to the bent stick and mewed, “Our beloved deaputy Gingerfur died, and it is time to appoint a new deaputy. This Warrior is young, but I have no doubt that she will do well, so I say this in front of Gingerfur’s body, Streamheart will be the new deaputy of RainClan!”
Everybody chanted, “Streamheart, Streamheart!” Streamheart was so surprised, she had just been made a warrior! She knew that she would work her hardest and die for her clan, so she was honored to be the deputy of RainClan.
The next morning she had to start appointing cats to patrols. “We need to stock up our fresh kill pile. Blackfur, Branchfoot, Silverfoot, please go hunting. Lightningpelt, Leafsplash, Lakefur, and Ashdapple, take the dawn patrol. She saw the medicine cat Stripedclaw tending Sparrowfeather’s wounds. Stripedclaw had been working all night. Streamheart walked over to her and said, “Stripedclaw, go and rest, you need to have energy incase the rogues attack again.”
“Okay, let me just finish Sparrowfeather’s leg, he almost broke it!”
“Ouch! It hurts!” wailed Sparrowfeather.
“I’ll leave you with Sparrowfeather!” said Streamheart.
Epilogue
Two moons later Meadowstar died fighting the rogues. Streamheart became leader and received her seven lives and earned her leader name as Streamstar. The rogues became a huge threat to the Clans, and many times the Clans will have to unite to defeat the rogues. This is only the beginning; Streamstar will have to bring the Clans through great times of trouble.
