Post by ♣Forevermint♣ on Sept 27, 2016 14:40:00 GMT -5
(Spoilers for the first Warriors series)
We always would wonder if the outcome could have been different if Tigerstar had died from his wounds that Scourge had inflicted. We would wonder, but in truth what would really cross our mind was what if. Nothing like that mercy could ever happen now.
My name is Smokepaw, the son of Littlecloud and Cinderpelt. Not only am I a cursed half clan cat I am also the son of two medicine cats. I am trapped inside the camp of what was once Thunderclan, and leader, Tigerstar, looks down at me with a small smile.
“Let us look down at this apprentice, would be future warrior of Tigerclan.” He paced back and forth across the highledge, his smile morphing into something more of a smirk.
My mind was blank with fear. My legs trembled with terror at the thought of what was coming. I had seen it before. I had seen it happen first to Heronpelt of once Riverclan, to Mistyfoot and Stonefur, to Feathertail. Every clan was now united under Tigerstar, but this also meant that his word was law. It meant that I was being condemned.
I couldn’t even look left or right to see if anyone could help me. If anyone tried their fate would be the same as mine. This, once Thunderclan camp, was where ever half clan cat was destined to go if they were found out. The only difference was that I wasn’t like Mistyfoot. I had heard of the first attempt Tigerstar had made on Mistyfoot’s life, back when there were four clans instead of one, cats had come to her rescue. But I was alone now, my mother and father imprisoned far away from here for their crimes.
“This here apprentice is of impure blood,” continued Tigerstar. “His mother was a Thunderclan medicine cat and his father a Shadowclan medicine cat. Even though we are now ‘one clan’ this cannot be allowed. Cats of mixed blood are weak and will destroy our perfect clan. Can we allow this?”
Cries of ‘No’ rang out from the cats behind me.
I voice whispered just by my left ear. It was my captor’s son, Hawkpaw. He was older than me by four moons and was one of Tigerstar’s lackeys. He would do whatever his father said. “Move forward, prisoner.” His voice grated in my ear. It was a hiss and a whisper against the noise of the crowd. My mouth felt like it was filled with ice water. Like the ice water in his eyes.
There is no hope here. If it wasn’t for some small remains of the warrior code and something my mother told me when I was very small… well, I would have died before I had seen my first moon. But now, all that was going to end and I would simply be another name whispered to kits. Don’t follow your heart over the border. It will only lead you to pain.
“I said move,” Hawkpaw’s voice came again and his shoulder was rammed into my back. “Do you want to end up like Firestar?” he asked. I shuddered. Another tale told in the nurseries now. Firestar’s death. My frozen paws moved a step forward.
I looked up into Tigerstar’s eyes. Which cat would kill me? That was the only thing left to decide.
I remember when I was still allowed to be close to my mother. It was the golden years of my life. Now, they just seek to remind me that she was my only home and now I won’t see her again.
They used to keep both her and me in a corner of Thunderclan camp. I was born just before Tigerstar killed Scourge and Firestar. But no matter how I try I can never remember a time when we weren’t watched over by some guard or another. It was just my life.
I do remember the stories though. That was what made it golden. I wasn’t allowed out, not until I was almost six moons, so my only ideas of what happened out there were from Cinderpelt.
The first time she ever told me a story at night, when the guard was sleep and hardly paying attention, was when I was three moons old. She huddled me into the back of the den and held me close. Her movement woke me up and I was hardly able to keep my eyes open as she told it to me.
“Listen, Smokekit. I’ll only tell you this once. Tigerstar was the one who made my leg like this.”
That got my attention and my eyes widened a little. “He probably feels some guilt because of it. I think that’s why he is letting you live.” My mother’s eyes narrowed. I don’t think she felt any kinder to the Tigerclan leader for doing that for her.
“He will come for you, one day Smokekit. And when he does, you need to remember, no matter what, that you must survive at all cost. Life outside these den walls is harsh, but it is always better than him. So, if it’s between I and escape always choose escape.” Many of her stories scared me like that. It was her way of teaching me.
Speaking of which, I need to mention that for half-clan cats like me, Scourge is a hero. It’s interesting really. It’s those what-ifs I was talking about. In this case, where we are now, Scourge looks better than Tigerstar right now. This is because we don’t know what he would have done. Tigerstar’s terror we have already experienced. So, now and again, my mother would tell of Scourge and Firestar. They both died the same day. Scourge was killed first. It happened like this. Tigerstar had lost three lives when Scourge attacked him. And when he finally came back Scourge died under his claws. He didn’t see it coming. He ‘warriors’ stared at each other, not knowing what to do. Then a she-cat’s voice cried out above everyone’s head, “Retreat!” The flow of warriors away from the body of Scourge was amazing. My mother said that even a few clan cats had the foresight to follow them. Then there was only Tigerstar and Firestar. Tigerstar seemed to know he had the upper hand now. Cats were scared and he wasn’t.
Firestar attacked first. He leaped into the air, hoping that Tigerstar was still weak from losing so many lives at once. Firestar’s leap would have worked, everyone said it later…If it wasn’t for the cat who launched themselves from the bushes. He was a smaller version of Tigerstar and my mother remembers his icy blue eyes. He caught Firestar unaware. He might not have even seen who his downfall was. Because what happened next was that Tigerstar’s claws met the fiery leader’s belly and cut the lives from him. He used the same move that Scourge had used on him. Tigerstar just left his body there. Leaving it for the crows. Hawkpaw was left to bury it.
“Bramblepaw, come forward,” said Tigerstar. Hawkpaw looked a little shocked, like he had expected his father to call on him. But he stepped aside as his half-brother took his place beside me.
He didn’t meet my eyes directly and I noticed that he seemed a little hesitant. He looked up at his father every now and again, like he wanted to please him. I wondered why he looked like he had so much to prove.
“Smokepaw,” said Tigerstar with a grin. “If you can beat my son then you can go free.”
I knew that was a lie. Everyone knew. He’d given that option to ever half-clan cat since the beginning. And once, just once, a warrior had killed his opponent. Heronflight. I believe I mentioned him before. It had been a deadly fight with Tawnypaw. She hadn’t fought very hard, but Heronflight was desperate. He had wanted to survive.
I had watched as a young apprentice from my prison as Tawnypaw had been pushed to the ground. I had watched her father stand there and do nothing. You could imagine his thoughts. She is weak. I cannot have a weak daughter.
Tawnypaw had led Heronpelt on until he was gasping with exertion. The cats who were watching had to keep moving so they could let the two run past. When Tawnypaw fell Heronflight had looked up, still gasping for breath, at Tigerstar. Tigerstar had motioned with his tail and Darkstripe stepped out of the crowd.
I turned away then. Heronpelt didn’t have the energy to fight anymore.
--
So, it was pointless. Hopeless. I couldn’t keep my promise to my mother.
“Fight!” said Tigerstar.
My claws dug into the ground and my fur was on end. Bramblepaw made the first move…at least he tried to.
But someone else was calling, from the entrance to the camp. “Attack! Someone’s coming!”
And then a large ginger tabby with flame colored pelt pushed his way between me and the other apprentice.
I’ll admit, I just stood there in shock. Hawkpaw (who had rejoined the crowd) and Bramblepaw looked just as surprised.
I tried to bolt then, but someone grabbed my tail. “Wait,” said the ginger tabby. He was crouched low to the ground and he was casting the occasional glance at the Tigerclan leader.
Tigerstar was fighting a white tom. The tom was currently not much of a match him, but another cat was scaling the rocks to his rescue.
The tom turned back to me and met my eyes. I noticed that both Bramblepaw and Hawkpaw hadn’t attacked him yet. They had these odd expressions on their faces and I couldn’t tell what they meant.
“We’re getting you out of here,” said the tom. “You are the son of Littlecloud, right?”
I nodded, not able to speak over the noise of the battle around me.
The tom leaned down, whispering in my ear. “There’s a way out behind the Highrock. Go.”
He let my tail go and I raised off. I think Tigerstar noticed me because I heard him shout something. But I just ran.
The ferns behind Highrock were thin and a small tunnel led me out into the forest. It looked like brambles had once covered the hole, but had recently been pulled away.
Behind me I heard a voice call a retreat. It must be the group that had attacked Tigerclan. I turned my head to look behind me, wondering if the tom who had saved me was safe.
That cat looked like how Mother described Firestar.
Could the old Thunderclan leader possibly be alive?
“Psst ,” hissed a voice from the nearest bush. I looked up, fur once again on end.
“Whose there!”
“Quiet, I’m just here to help,” said a she-cat’s voice.
And then Scourge stepped out of the bushes. It looked like him down to the color.
I backed up until my back was to the ferns. My mother had described this cat as well. But for sure, he was dead.
Scourge sighed. “I get that reaction from clan cats all the time. Look, if you think Tigerstar’s going to treat you any better, go back to him.”
I paused. The shape of this cats head was different than it should be. The voice was also to high.
In Smokepaw’s shock he hadn’t realized that this cat was female.
“Who are you?” he asked
“My name is Rose and I’m the leader of the new BloodClan,” said the she-cat. “And we just saved your fur.”
Rose checked behind herself every now and again to make sure I was still following. I wasn’t really sure why I trusted her, except maybe it was that I had no other place to go and very few choices. Choices being: Return to TigerClan and die or follow the apparent daughter of Scourge and only possibly die. I remembered what Cinderpelt had told me. If it came down to it, possible was better than not at all.
I had never seen further then ThunderClan territory. I’d never seen much outside the camp. So, the sight of the moor took my breath away. It truly was amazing. Rose didn’t pause in her journey and I had to run to catch up. I wasn’t sure whether I should ask questions or not and just ended up looking at my paws most of the way.
“WindClan knows that we are here. At least, their patrols avoid where we have made our camp,” said Rose, finally, breaking the silence. I looked up, nodded, then returned my gaze to the ground. Rose seemed a little miffed at this, but stopped talking. My stomach turned over a couple of times. What was I doing? Was there even a goal in following this cat? I was doomed anyway.
The camp was hidden inside some gorse bushes and the dens seemed to include old rabbit warrens. Rose pushed her way into the camp and I followed, losing a bit of my fur on the way. Cats, some injured from the resent battle and some not, gathered in the small area. I frowned. The numbers had seemed so large when they had attacked TigerClan camp, but here they looked like only about twelve to nineteen cats. The white tom I’d seen attacking Tigerstar was running around, treating those who were wounded even though one of his paws clearly was badly injured. “Fairytale!” called a voice behind me and I stiffened. It was the fire colored tom. He’d just entered behind us and now he passed me with hardly a glance and he walked down into the gathered cats. The white tom hesitated, looked up, and asked, “Huh? Repeat that again, Copper.”
My spirits sagged. This cat wasn’t Firestar, was he? Unless he was using a different name.
“Fairytale,” said Copper again. “Stop running around like a deranged rabbit and pay attention to the fact your hurt.” The white tom looked down at his paw as if he had only now just noticed it was bleeding. “Uh…” he said, then looked around and a few other cats. “Uh, come someone get me more cobwebs. They’re in my den.” His tail swept along the earth to indicate a den in the corner of the cramped camp.
Two cats, who were uninjured, shared amused looks and went off to get what he needed. Then, both Fairytale and Copper turned to look at me and I froze, wondering why they were only now noticing I was here.
“That’s the son of Littlecloud that you both where talking about, right?” asked Fairytale. “Yes,” said Rose, walking down into the camp. I slowly followed, wondering why everyone kept defining me as Littlecloud’s son. I’d never even met my father. All I knew was that he had been the ShadowClan medicine cat before TigerClan ruled the forest. Copper frowned at me, as if trying to see the likeness of my parents in me. Hadn’t Firestar known Littlecloud? I couldn’t help asking.
“Wh-why does that matter?”
Rose looked to Copper and the latter frowned. “I thought you knew. Littlecloud was killed yesterday in RiverClan camp by Leopardstar’s orders. Cinderpelt was killed three days ago and no other half clan cat remain alive. You are the last clan cat with two clan bloodlines running in you.”
My legs grew shaky. Not because I was the last clan cat. But because I had not yet heard the news of my mother’s death. Fairytale frowned at me, taking a couple of seconds to see my body start to tremble.
“Um, Copper. I don’t think he knew that. Smokepaw? Smokepaw?!” My mind was to numb to hear him.
Chapter 1
We always would wonder if the outcome could have been different if Tigerstar had died from his wounds that Scourge had inflicted. We would wonder, but in truth what would really cross our mind was what if. Nothing like that mercy could ever happen now.
My name is Smokepaw, the son of Littlecloud and Cinderpelt. Not only am I a cursed half clan cat I am also the son of two medicine cats. I am trapped inside the camp of what was once Thunderclan, and leader, Tigerstar, looks down at me with a small smile.
“Let us look down at this apprentice, would be future warrior of Tigerclan.” He paced back and forth across the highledge, his smile morphing into something more of a smirk.
My mind was blank with fear. My legs trembled with terror at the thought of what was coming. I had seen it before. I had seen it happen first to Heronpelt of once Riverclan, to Mistyfoot and Stonefur, to Feathertail. Every clan was now united under Tigerstar, but this also meant that his word was law. It meant that I was being condemned.
I couldn’t even look left or right to see if anyone could help me. If anyone tried their fate would be the same as mine. This, once Thunderclan camp, was where ever half clan cat was destined to go if they were found out. The only difference was that I wasn’t like Mistyfoot. I had heard of the first attempt Tigerstar had made on Mistyfoot’s life, back when there were four clans instead of one, cats had come to her rescue. But I was alone now, my mother and father imprisoned far away from here for their crimes.
“This here apprentice is of impure blood,” continued Tigerstar. “His mother was a Thunderclan medicine cat and his father a Shadowclan medicine cat. Even though we are now ‘one clan’ this cannot be allowed. Cats of mixed blood are weak and will destroy our perfect clan. Can we allow this?”
Cries of ‘No’ rang out from the cats behind me.
I voice whispered just by my left ear. It was my captor’s son, Hawkpaw. He was older than me by four moons and was one of Tigerstar’s lackeys. He would do whatever his father said. “Move forward, prisoner.” His voice grated in my ear. It was a hiss and a whisper against the noise of the crowd. My mouth felt like it was filled with ice water. Like the ice water in his eyes.
There is no hope here. If it wasn’t for some small remains of the warrior code and something my mother told me when I was very small… well, I would have died before I had seen my first moon. But now, all that was going to end and I would simply be another name whispered to kits. Don’t follow your heart over the border. It will only lead you to pain.
“I said move,” Hawkpaw’s voice came again and his shoulder was rammed into my back. “Do you want to end up like Firestar?” he asked. I shuddered. Another tale told in the nurseries now. Firestar’s death. My frozen paws moved a step forward.
I looked up into Tigerstar’s eyes. Which cat would kill me? That was the only thing left to decide.
Chapter 2
I remember when I was still allowed to be close to my mother. It was the golden years of my life. Now, they just seek to remind me that she was my only home and now I won’t see her again.
They used to keep both her and me in a corner of Thunderclan camp. I was born just before Tigerstar killed Scourge and Firestar. But no matter how I try I can never remember a time when we weren’t watched over by some guard or another. It was just my life.
I do remember the stories though. That was what made it golden. I wasn’t allowed out, not until I was almost six moons, so my only ideas of what happened out there were from Cinderpelt.
The first time she ever told me a story at night, when the guard was sleep and hardly paying attention, was when I was three moons old. She huddled me into the back of the den and held me close. Her movement woke me up and I was hardly able to keep my eyes open as she told it to me.
“Listen, Smokekit. I’ll only tell you this once. Tigerstar was the one who made my leg like this.”
That got my attention and my eyes widened a little. “He probably feels some guilt because of it. I think that’s why he is letting you live.” My mother’s eyes narrowed. I don’t think she felt any kinder to the Tigerclan leader for doing that for her.
“He will come for you, one day Smokekit. And when he does, you need to remember, no matter what, that you must survive at all cost. Life outside these den walls is harsh, but it is always better than him. So, if it’s between I and escape always choose escape.” Many of her stories scared me like that. It was her way of teaching me.
Speaking of which, I need to mention that for half-clan cats like me, Scourge is a hero. It’s interesting really. It’s those what-ifs I was talking about. In this case, where we are now, Scourge looks better than Tigerstar right now. This is because we don’t know what he would have done. Tigerstar’s terror we have already experienced. So, now and again, my mother would tell of Scourge and Firestar. They both died the same day. Scourge was killed first. It happened like this. Tigerstar had lost three lives when Scourge attacked him. And when he finally came back Scourge died under his claws. He didn’t see it coming. He ‘warriors’ stared at each other, not knowing what to do. Then a she-cat’s voice cried out above everyone’s head, “Retreat!” The flow of warriors away from the body of Scourge was amazing. My mother said that even a few clan cats had the foresight to follow them. Then there was only Tigerstar and Firestar. Tigerstar seemed to know he had the upper hand now. Cats were scared and he wasn’t.
Firestar attacked first. He leaped into the air, hoping that Tigerstar was still weak from losing so many lives at once. Firestar’s leap would have worked, everyone said it later…If it wasn’t for the cat who launched themselves from the bushes. He was a smaller version of Tigerstar and my mother remembers his icy blue eyes. He caught Firestar unaware. He might not have even seen who his downfall was. Because what happened next was that Tigerstar’s claws met the fiery leader’s belly and cut the lives from him. He used the same move that Scourge had used on him. Tigerstar just left his body there. Leaving it for the crows. Hawkpaw was left to bury it.
Chapter 3
“Bramblepaw, come forward,” said Tigerstar. Hawkpaw looked a little shocked, like he had expected his father to call on him. But he stepped aside as his half-brother took his place beside me.
He didn’t meet my eyes directly and I noticed that he seemed a little hesitant. He looked up at his father every now and again, like he wanted to please him. I wondered why he looked like he had so much to prove.
“Smokepaw,” said Tigerstar with a grin. “If you can beat my son then you can go free.”
I knew that was a lie. Everyone knew. He’d given that option to ever half-clan cat since the beginning. And once, just once, a warrior had killed his opponent. Heronflight. I believe I mentioned him before. It had been a deadly fight with Tawnypaw. She hadn’t fought very hard, but Heronflight was desperate. He had wanted to survive.
I had watched as a young apprentice from my prison as Tawnypaw had been pushed to the ground. I had watched her father stand there and do nothing. You could imagine his thoughts. She is weak. I cannot have a weak daughter.
Tawnypaw had led Heronpelt on until he was gasping with exertion. The cats who were watching had to keep moving so they could let the two run past. When Tawnypaw fell Heronflight had looked up, still gasping for breath, at Tigerstar. Tigerstar had motioned with his tail and Darkstripe stepped out of the crowd.
I turned away then. Heronpelt didn’t have the energy to fight anymore.
--
So, it was pointless. Hopeless. I couldn’t keep my promise to my mother.
“Fight!” said Tigerstar.
My claws dug into the ground and my fur was on end. Bramblepaw made the first move…at least he tried to.
But someone else was calling, from the entrance to the camp. “Attack! Someone’s coming!”
And then a large ginger tabby with flame colored pelt pushed his way between me and the other apprentice.
Chapter 4
I’ll admit, I just stood there in shock. Hawkpaw (who had rejoined the crowd) and Bramblepaw looked just as surprised.
I tried to bolt then, but someone grabbed my tail. “Wait,” said the ginger tabby. He was crouched low to the ground and he was casting the occasional glance at the Tigerclan leader.
Tigerstar was fighting a white tom. The tom was currently not much of a match him, but another cat was scaling the rocks to his rescue.
The tom turned back to me and met my eyes. I noticed that both Bramblepaw and Hawkpaw hadn’t attacked him yet. They had these odd expressions on their faces and I couldn’t tell what they meant.
“We’re getting you out of here,” said the tom. “You are the son of Littlecloud, right?”
I nodded, not able to speak over the noise of the battle around me.
The tom leaned down, whispering in my ear. “There’s a way out behind the Highrock. Go.”
He let my tail go and I raised off. I think Tigerstar noticed me because I heard him shout something. But I just ran.
The ferns behind Highrock were thin and a small tunnel led me out into the forest. It looked like brambles had once covered the hole, but had recently been pulled away.
Behind me I heard a voice call a retreat. It must be the group that had attacked Tigerclan. I turned my head to look behind me, wondering if the tom who had saved me was safe.
That cat looked like how Mother described Firestar.
Could the old Thunderclan leader possibly be alive?
“Psst ,” hissed a voice from the nearest bush. I looked up, fur once again on end.
“Whose there!”
“Quiet, I’m just here to help,” said a she-cat’s voice.
And then Scourge stepped out of the bushes. It looked like him down to the color.
I backed up until my back was to the ferns. My mother had described this cat as well. But for sure, he was dead.
Scourge sighed. “I get that reaction from clan cats all the time. Look, if you think Tigerstar’s going to treat you any better, go back to him.”
I paused. The shape of this cats head was different than it should be. The voice was also to high.
In Smokepaw’s shock he hadn’t realized that this cat was female.
“Who are you?” he asked
“My name is Rose and I’m the leader of the new BloodClan,” said the she-cat. “And we just saved your fur.”
Chapter 5
Rose checked behind herself every now and again to make sure I was still following. I wasn’t really sure why I trusted her, except maybe it was that I had no other place to go and very few choices. Choices being: Return to TigerClan and die or follow the apparent daughter of Scourge and only possibly die. I remembered what Cinderpelt had told me. If it came down to it, possible was better than not at all.
I had never seen further then ThunderClan territory. I’d never seen much outside the camp. So, the sight of the moor took my breath away. It truly was amazing. Rose didn’t pause in her journey and I had to run to catch up. I wasn’t sure whether I should ask questions or not and just ended up looking at my paws most of the way.
“WindClan knows that we are here. At least, their patrols avoid where we have made our camp,” said Rose, finally, breaking the silence. I looked up, nodded, then returned my gaze to the ground. Rose seemed a little miffed at this, but stopped talking. My stomach turned over a couple of times. What was I doing? Was there even a goal in following this cat? I was doomed anyway.
The camp was hidden inside some gorse bushes and the dens seemed to include old rabbit warrens. Rose pushed her way into the camp and I followed, losing a bit of my fur on the way. Cats, some injured from the resent battle and some not, gathered in the small area. I frowned. The numbers had seemed so large when they had attacked TigerClan camp, but here they looked like only about twelve to nineteen cats. The white tom I’d seen attacking Tigerstar was running around, treating those who were wounded even though one of his paws clearly was badly injured. “Fairytale!” called a voice behind me and I stiffened. It was the fire colored tom. He’d just entered behind us and now he passed me with hardly a glance and he walked down into the gathered cats. The white tom hesitated, looked up, and asked, “Huh? Repeat that again, Copper.”
My spirits sagged. This cat wasn’t Firestar, was he? Unless he was using a different name.
“Fairytale,” said Copper again. “Stop running around like a deranged rabbit and pay attention to the fact your hurt.” The white tom looked down at his paw as if he had only now just noticed it was bleeding. “Uh…” he said, then looked around and a few other cats. “Uh, come someone get me more cobwebs. They’re in my den.” His tail swept along the earth to indicate a den in the corner of the cramped camp.
Two cats, who were uninjured, shared amused looks and went off to get what he needed. Then, both Fairytale and Copper turned to look at me and I froze, wondering why they were only now noticing I was here.
“That’s the son of Littlecloud that you both where talking about, right?” asked Fairytale. “Yes,” said Rose, walking down into the camp. I slowly followed, wondering why everyone kept defining me as Littlecloud’s son. I’d never even met my father. All I knew was that he had been the ShadowClan medicine cat before TigerClan ruled the forest. Copper frowned at me, as if trying to see the likeness of my parents in me. Hadn’t Firestar known Littlecloud? I couldn’t help asking.
“Wh-why does that matter?”
Rose looked to Copper and the latter frowned. “I thought you knew. Littlecloud was killed yesterday in RiverClan camp by Leopardstar’s orders. Cinderpelt was killed three days ago and no other half clan cat remain alive. You are the last clan cat with two clan bloodlines running in you.”
My legs grew shaky. Not because I was the last clan cat. But because I had not yet heard the news of my mother’s death. Fairytale frowned at me, taking a couple of seconds to see my body start to tremble.
“Um, Copper. I don’t think he knew that. Smokepaw? Smokepaw?!” My mind was to numb to hear him.
