the forgotten clan: seeking refuge · web viewa brown tabby tom sat on the far side of the river,...

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The Forgotten Clan: Seeking Refuge

The Forgotten

ClanSeeking Refuge

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By: OpalflowerPrologue

The forest sat in silence, glowing like flames in the dusk light. Hot savanna and moorland winds brought signs that the blistering heat of greenleaf wasn’t over. Scents of the meadow rode high on the breeze, flowing around the trees of the forest. The river bubbled below the cliffs, flowing quietly away in the distance. The marshes beyond the trees were dry of any wetness, the ground cracked and dusty. Even the snakes under the Rockledge were hiding from the daily heat. The river had become quite low since greenleaf had started, not one sign of rain hanging in the patchy clouds that covered the dusk sky. The forest was in danger of such a bad drought that its inhabitants believed a fire was only days away.

A brown tabby tom sat on the far side of the river, picking at a mouse, another just sitting beside him. His green eyes flashed as he picked his head up at the sounds of someone approaching him. A purr rumbled from his usually rusty throat as he spotted a slender she-cat coming his way, three kits tumbling after her. The tom loved how she always flicked her black tail tip in welcome, and how her brown tabby pelt seemed to flow over her large muscles. She was beautiful in his eyes, and their kits were just the same.

“Vixenheart, I was worried you wouldn’t make it,” the brown tabby tom rumbled, leaping the river in a single bound. He licked her head and then gazed down upon their kits. Two had brown tabby pelts like their parents, while the other was dark brown with shades of ginger.

“Hawk and Swift kept trying to stray away,” the she-cat mumbled, licking the heads of the tabby kits. Hawk ducked down, being the touchy she-kit she already was, and Swift batted at his mother’s whiskers. “Red and Rock on the other hand are just like you Slash,” she added.

Slash purred and curled his tail around his son’s that had the pelt coloring of their own father and other brother. “I was hoping that at least one of them would be like me,” he purred. An awkward silence grew between them as Swift and Hawk started tumbling over each other in play. Slash looked into his mate’s bright green eyes. “Vixenheart, please don’t take this the wrong way, but I want the kits to live with me.”

The brown she-cat stumbled back with a hiss. “Why would you say that?” she hissed, her tail fluffed out. “They are well taken care of in my Clan.”

“That’s what I don’t want them around: the Clan,” Slash growled. “Those cats can’t be trusted.”

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Vixenheart narrowed her eyes. “My leader knows that I have gone against the warrior code, and she and my Clanmates have welcomed my kits in open paws. Our kits are in no danger.”

Slash shook his head and closed his eyes, trying to think without getting angry. Vixenheart was the only cat he had ever cared about, the only cat he had ever shown his true feelings to. He wasn’t ready to leave her or anything, but he believed that their kits were in danger.

“If you won’t give me the kits, then come home with me as well,” he offered. Vixenheart had turned her back and was already ushering her kits back

towards the Clan camp. “They are staying with me,” she hissed over her shoulder.Slash bared his teeth, and his hackles rose. The kits were a few bounds

ahead of their mother. He raced ahead and pounced in front of them. Swift and Hawk fell back with a squeak, while Red and Rock raced a little ways behind their mother. “The kits are coming with me!”

Motherly instinct made Vixenheart lash out a paw and score her claws over Slash’s cheek and muzzle. The tom’s eyes grew large and wild. Vixenheart pushed her kits away from Slash, moving them just in time as the tom launched himself at Vixenheart. They rolled on the ground, Hawk, Swift, Red and Rock watching their parents in fear. Slash dug his claws into Vixenheart’s shoulders, trying his hardest to pin her down. The she-cat yowled and wriggled out from under the tom, his claws pulling fur and skin from her as she went. Her shoulders bled heavily as she faced his haunches and rose on her back paws. Slash lashed around, catching her stomach with his claws as his mate fell down upon him in one of the warrior moves she had been taught moons ago.

Slash was forced to the ground, his chin cracking as it broke from the hit. He yowled and growled in pain as Vixenheart weakly scored her claws down his back. Slash quickly arched his back, throwing Vixenheart from him. She tumbled to the ground behind Slash, scrambling to her paws and slipping on her own blood that welled from her shoulders and belly. Her mate struggled to his paws; his jaw was slightly crooked now and blood was trickling from the side of his mouth. His green eyes flared with anger and hate as he started towards Vixenheart once more.

The she-cat rose up to meet Slash, slashing her claws up his belly as they lashed their claws at each other. Slash screeched and swiped a paw of unsheathed claws at her face, but Vixenheart had ducked and was aiming to bite for his back paws. She was able to nip one before he came harshly down on her back. Searing pain shock-waved down her spine, but nothing was broken. She rolled over, despite the pain, and squashed Slash underneath her. As quickly as her paws would let her, Vixenheart whipped around and slashed her claws at Slash’s throat. The tom gave a bubbly yowl, his paws flailed in the air, and then all was quiet and still.

She stood shakily before her dead mate. Vixenheart stumbled over him and headed for her startled kits. Hawk and Swift came crying out; terrified at the fighting they had just watched their parents do. Red and Rock was nowhere to be seen. Then she heard them both cry out, and saw that a ginger tom was carrying the tom-kits away from the Clan, their siblings and their mother. Vixenheart called after them and started to stumble after the ginger tom, but she was too weak and fell to the ground.

She lay there a few moments before getting to her paws. With Hawk and Swift walking quietly beside her, they headed through the trees and back to camp. The camp walls were in sight, the bramble entrance guarded by two of her Clanmates. Dizziness crawled over her as she started to climb a small slope and

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then everything went dark, the last sounds burst into her ears as she saw StarClan: her kits crying out, calling her back to them.

Yowls of death reached the ears of a spotted gray she-cat as she darted through an open field of flowers. Blue skies turned to dark thunder clouds in only a few moments as she and a brown tom raced side by side, carrying three kits together. Fear laced the eyes of the two cats as the yowls were getting closer.

A large monster swept past with a growl over a black Thunderpath. The brown tom set down a gray tom-kit, and a smaller gray she-kit. “Go across, Ruby,” he growled. “I’ll be with you in a moment, I promise.”

The gray she-cat shook her head. “We go together, or not at all,” she rejected with a lash of her puffed out tail. “Rockflame, I can’t leave you because I know what you would do!”

Rockflame ducked his head with a sigh and picked up the two kits once more. He gave a nod to Ruby, and twined his tail with hers. As the last monster went past, and everything was silent on the blacktop, they trotted across the large Thunderpath.

Suddenly, the gray she-kit Ruby had been carrying went tumbling from her mother’s mouth. Ruby gave a screech as a black she-cat dug her claws into Ruby’s back legs. Rockflame whipped around to help, but didn’t know how when he had three kits to watch.

“Get Dawn, Ash, and Mist to the other side!” Ruby yelled. “I’ll handle Umbra!” Rockflame looked unsure, but the safety of his kits was more important because they couldn’t fend for themselves. He would find a thick bush to hide them in and then come back for Ruby.

Umbra slashed her claws over Ruby’s face. “You are disloyal to us!” The black she-cat spat in Ruby’s face. “You know the punishment for betrayal!” Ruby yowled and struggled from the black she-cat and stood in the middle of the Thunderpath. Ruby wanted to run, but Umbra would follow her and then her kits would be in danger again.

“At least I have the courage to leave that horrid place,” Ruby hissed. “I rather die here than be abused any longer by Dark!”

“You leave my brother out of this!” Umbra screeched, launching herself at Ruby. The black she-cat gripped Ruby by the shoulders and pinned the gray she-cat to the sticky surface of the Thunderpath. The ground started shaking as Umbra’s lips curled back in an evil grin. “Guess you get your death wish after all,” she whispered in Ruby’s ear.

Ruby turned her head. Her eyes grew wide in fear as large, bright lights shined towards her. The ground was rumbling with the roar of an approaching monster moving at high speeds. Ruby yowled and tried to pull away from Umbra’s grip. She heard a call from Rockflame and it gave her the strength she needed to pull free a paw and lash her claws at Umbra’s chest. The black she-cat pushed away from Ruby and darted across the Thunderpath.

By the time Ruby was on her paws, the monster was on her. The front fender hit her in the chest and threw her to the ground before speeding past, leaving the gray she-cat lying motionless on the blacktop. Rockflame yowled and hissed as he raced to his unmoving mate and grabbed her by the scruff. Another monster was coming and he needed to get her away fast.

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Three monsters roared past just as Rockflame had pulled Ruby fully on the grassy sideline of the Thunderpath. He closed his eyes in sadness when he noticed that Ruby was no longer breathing. He lowered his head and buried his nose into his mate’s ruffled fur and sniffed in her sweet scent.

The sun went from sunhigh to dusk as Rockflame sat a vigil for his mate. He had gathered their kits beside him for warmth as the air began to cool, as well as Ruby’s body. He had dug a hole three fox lengths away from the Thunderpath, making it deep enough so no predators could dig for an easy meal. As the first star of Silverpelt began to show, Rockflame lowered Ruby’s body in the hole, throwing sweet smelling flowers over her and then covering the hole back in.

Rockflame sighed and turned from his mate’s grave. Taking the kits by their scruffs, Rockflame lifted them up and trudged away from the rumbling Thunderpath. He would take them back to his Clan, where another queen would hopefully be able to nurse the three kits until they were old enough to be apprentices.

Stars sparkled around a dark colored she-cat as he emerged from the greenleaf trees. The grass weaved and waved around his paws, little dew drops splashing from each blade as he walked towards a ginger tom. A bird called through the trees and then grew silent as a large sandy colored tom pounced on it and killed it with one swift bite to the neck. Muscles rippling under his slick black pelt, another tom joined the group, a single reddish fang showing underneath the top lips of the tom.

“Why have you called us together, Adderstar?” the black tom asked.The dark colored she-cat sat with her head bowed. “There are dark times

coming ahead for our Clanmates,” she replied, amber eyes glinting in the darkness. “The rouges are growing stronger, and then I see more darkness following; only a small light of hope is coming their way.”

“What do you mean, is ‘coming their way’?” the ginger tom growled.Adderstar lifted her head, her spiky pelt shaking free of the starlight that

sparkled on her fur. “There are warriors heading towards the Clan, seeking help,” she mewed, licking a paw. “These cats will have no choice but to stay, and that gives the Clan more warriors and more hope.”

“Who are these warrior cats?” Fireclaw snarled. “Should we trust outsiders?”“Not all outsiders are bad,” a gray spotted she-cat reminded them as she

joined the group. “I found peace with the Clan and found myself here, now didn’t I?”Fireclaw and Adderstar purred. “No offense, Ruby, but you are the only

outsider we’ve trusted,” the sandy colored tom mewed carefully.“And Slash is the only outsider that we haven’t been able to trust,” the black

tom added.“Redfang, you bring up a good point,” Adderstar said. “So far there is a fifty-

fifty chance that these cats are good or bad, just like the rouges.” She turned to the sand colored tom. “Sandpool, don’t you remember that Bloom and Spark have some good in them as well?”

Sandpool rolled his eyes and sighed. “Well maybe they should join the Clan.”“First we have to get Copperpaw and Bloom away from the Dark Forest,”

Fireclaw hissed. “Those dark and night warriors are really irking me.” Fireclaw gave a snort and padded away, disappearing into the sky in a pelt of starlight.

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“StarClan, I assure you that these cats are good,” Adderstar sighed with a flick of her black tail tip. “They are our Clan’s only spark of hope. There’s a new prophecy coming, and these warriors can help the Clan fulfill it. Let’s help Katestar welcome them with open paws.”

Chapter 1 Over the top of a grassy rise, flames burst into height as a single, raging

hot boulder of liquid fire bombed the ash strewn forest. Birds sped from the trees as that small fire bomb spread into wildfire, burning the bark from the trunks and licking upwards and smoldering the leaves until they turned black and disintegrated. A family of foxes barked as they ran towards the river, only to find it steaming hot, and yipped away until they disappeared into the thickening smoke. As the fire continued, crackles and sparks flew towards an old site of boulders, threatening to burn whatever lay beyond the few standing stones left.

This was the devastation brought upon all the Clans in the dying, burning forest, being watched helplessly by the ancestors in the sky above. The first leader of each Clan that once lived peacefully together now joined together in sorrow and mourned for their dying Clanmates. The history that was being destroyed, the lives being lost, the hopes and dreams dissipating into fog; this was what CometClan had never wanted to see: sheer extinction of the Clans.

Even through the continuous, roaring, shaking bangs the distant volcano made, and the fleeing cats that had just attacked, a single white she-cat, patched

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gray, watched her camp be destroyed. Boulders fell around her, yet she did not move. Instead, her crystal blue eyes were captured to the rising spirits of her Clanmates rising towards the stars. She was the only one who could see them, for she was the one with the strongest connection ever to CometClan. Her eyes watered from the ash dust floating in the air, and she felt like she was crying, something she knew a cat could never do.

The she-cat’s throat stung as she cried out, “CometClan, why have you let this happen?” She looked up to the sky, and imagined seeing a single star that would have given her hope, but all that showed were dark ash clouds blocking away all light that once had given life to the forest.

Never once did this she-cat flinch as more boulders crashed around her. Erupting bangs forced her to press her white ears to her head so she wouldn’t lose her hearing like almost did only a few moons before. The once beautiful white tail of the she-cat rested on the ground, black with ash. Her once fluffy, clean pelt was now torn and bloody from a recent battle before the volcano blew moments after. The devastation in the last moon darkened her usually bright eyes.

A greater weight slammed into the white she-cat and tried pushing her to her senses. “Opalflower, we need to go!” Black fur framed icy blue eyes as Opalflower’s sister, Iceshadow, moved into her view. For once, fear showed in the deputy’s eyes, and that made Opalflower realize that this was all real, that all this was happening. Her Clanmates were gone, the camp was destroyed, hopes and dreams burned away like the shriveling forest; not a single part of this was a nightmare.

Opalflower was normally a very calm and sweet cat, but when it had come to protecting her Clanmates in battles, she never showed it, or any weakness. She never showed any signs of response to her sister, so the black she-cat grabbed hold of her scruff and started pulling the white she-cat from the middle of the camp to the entrance, now open to the sky. As if she felt like she was being torn away from CometClan and her Clanmates, Opalflower began flailing, trying to pull free from her sister.

“No, our Clanmates need me!” she yowled, springing away. A ginger-and-white tom stepped in front of her, his deep green eyes stopping

her. Opalflower remembered those eyes when she had first seen him, The love that remained in the tom’s eyes always relaxed her anger and pain. “There’s nothing you can do,” he rasped. Opalflower threw herself at her old mate and buried her nose into his shoulder fur. Even after she had left him to become a medicine cat apprentice under Flowerbeam, he still loved her as he had promised he would.

“No herb could change what has happened, my sister,” Iceshadow sighed. She sounded just like a leader trying to calm her Clan. Rubblestar would be proud if he had heard it from CometClan. Iceshadow turned from Opalflower and Buzzfox, and disappeared through the entrance. The ground shook once more as they chased after their new leader. Opalflower cast a glance over her shoulder as she stood on the highest rise of the blackened ravine beneath her paws. Where she stood, she knew the camp was gone forever, never to be repaired. Boulders had fallen inside the camp and covered most of what had once been a clearing, though the cave dens were left untouched. The stones that had once surrounded the camp were never to be moved into their previous positions ever again.

Leaving behind what was left of RockClan’s camp, Opalflower followed Iceshadow into WoodClan territory, Buzzfox sticking close beside his former mate. He had a large wound trailing over his shoulder, now encrusted with dried blood. Opalflower had a couple wounds herself from the attack of PureClan launched only

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moments before the volcano erupted. Iceshadow limped from a bite on her foreleg, but the black she-cat tried her best to hide it. Being one of the greatest medicine cats to have lived in RockClan, not even the strong leader could hide wounds from Opalflower.

The destruction for the volcano had not yet reached WoodClan territory, and Opalflower hoped it wouldn’t. A hole in the fence that once was a border between RockClan and WoodClan for many years was created by a single fire bomb. It was much quicker route than going along the length of the fence to the water tunnel farther down. Almost instantly the three Clan cats stumbled upon a few of their other survivors with WoodClan’s healer, Sagestorm.

Opalflower broke away from Buzzfox and fretted over her gray-and-white daughter Songbird. The young she-cat had been carefully watched over by her mate Spiritsoul, a golden-and-gray tom. He was still sitting there, praying quietly to CometClan that his family was safe and at peace. Iceshadow joined her other siblings, Destinyfern and Bravewish, as they got their battle wounds treated. Destinyfern was well relaxed as marigold juice soaked into her wounds, and from the feel of Zeekstorm’s fur pressed against her. She didn’t care that he was once a kittypet; he received a warrior name so he was warrior born to her. The gray tabby’s deep blue eyes were clouded in worry, yet he was sharing peaceful and hopeful words to Destinyfern. Iceshadow was depressed over the thought that these were the only cats that still made RockClan live on.

A silver she-cat whisked her waving tail over Opalflower’s shoulders. Another she-cat appeared from behind the WoodClan warrior and trotted over to Iceshadow. Her mint green eyes burned with agony at having to see these RockClan cats suffering. If one of their warriors had come for help in time, she would have sent all her warriors to RockClan when PureClan had attacked them. When she discovered that PureClan’s numbers had kept anyone from leaving the camp, she knew that if the volcano had blown at that time, all warriors of RockClan would have been wiped out.

“WoodClan is terribly sorry for everything,” the white she-cat sighed, bowing her head to Iceshadow. Her black flecked pelt twitched with unease.

“I’m sure you would have helped us if you had known,” Iceshadow murmured, sitting down beside her brother. Sagestorm was placing marigold on his wounds that cluttered on his gray-black-and-white fur. Bravewish hissed in pain as the juices soaked in.

“Will you all stay in WoodClan then?” Mintstar asked. Another bang echoed through the thickening smoke. The volcano was still erupting. The ground shook once and then a single, dying rumble announced the end of the eruption.

“We’ll stay here for a few days and then find somewhere else,” Iceshadow decided. “We are still RockClan, and will find a way to rebuild our Clan.” She turned her blue eyes from the WoodClan leader and to Opalflower. Iceshadow wanted her sister’s advice and opinion most of all, but she had become unresponsive once again. Her eyes were distant as if she was in a dream.

“But where ever would you go?” Forestshine growled. “Your territory has been destroyed and all other areas farther away have never been explored.”

“Travel deep into the unknown, following the wooded river when shown,” Opalflower mewed. All eyes turned to the white she-cat but she was staring off into nowhere. “CometClan just gave me a prophecy,” she added, turning to Iceshadow. “I just told you the first part.”

Destinyfern struggled to her paws. “How does that help us find a new home?”

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“We follow the wooded river,” Zeekstorm repeated. “But the problem is that we don’t know where that is.”

Mintstar watched the RockClan discuss the prophecy. The ‘wooded river’ could mean many possibilities: a river in WoodClan territory perhaps? There was one that flowed through the whole territory, breaking off into many streams that eventually led into the other territories of the Clans. No one usually fished in it because it was always filled with leaves and tree pieces from farther upriver. The river carried so much forest colors in it that sometimes it would look like wood…

“I know where it is,” Mintstar announced with a flash of her mint green eyes. “I can take you there in the morning.”

Iceshadow sighed and relaxed; the first problem of the prophecy was solved. “What’s the rest of the prophecy, Opalflower?”

“Dangers lay resting in your path, and darkness will show its rath,” the white she-cat continued. “Though you may separate along the way, some shall find a Clan in the coming days. Syndicate attacks, scary packs, the Clan shall survive, and possibly be helped to derive. In moons to come, should you return to whence you’re from, you shall find at your arrival that there will be survival.”

Opalflower took a deep breath before collapsing to the ground, her surviving Clanmates helping her back up. Sagestorm checked the exhausted she-cat before announcing, “She just needs some rest.”

The white RockClan medicine cat pulled away from the others with a hiss. “I’m fine,” she growled. “Speaking with CometClan and receiving a prophecy is very energy draining.”

Iceshadow nodded but was still annoyed at how stubborn she was like herself. Her ears pricked as a gray-and-brown tom darted towards them, a small brown tabby tom-kit swaying in his jaws.

“Where in the name of StarClan did you find that kit, Birchshard?’ Mintstar growled to her deputy.

He set the kit down at Opalflower’s paws, where the she-cat inspected the kit. “I was checking our territory for any PureClan warriors, as you had ordered,” Birchshard started to explain. “I was near the water tunnel when I found two of the vile creatures fighting Marbleshade. I was too late to help him, but was able to help Sunstreak fight them away. She was terribly wounded and knew it was too late for her as well so she had me take the kit.”

Iceshadow narrowed her eyes in thought. “I always thought Sunstreak had been expecting one of my cat’s kits,” she growled. “Did she just give birth to him?”

Birchshard nodded. “There was another kit as well but was taken by a PureClan cats,” he added.

Opalflower looked up and met her sister’s eyes. “He’ll be alright,” she reported. “He just needs some milk and warmth. The kit is strong and healthy otherwise, and have you seen the size of his paws?” She lifted the brown kit up by the scruff and showed all the cats his paws. They big compared to his small kit body. He gave a large meow and swiped out a paw at Iceshadow’s muzzle.

“He’s a little warrior already,” she chuckled. Iceshadow remembered when she had been a small kit, the smallest in the litter when Granitefoot had always called her a little warrior. If the tom-kit was older, he probably would have done everything she had back then.

“Sunstreak had told me that she wanted his warrior name to be Massiveclaw,” Birchshard put in.

“That’s understandable,” Iceshadow purred.

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Forestshine padded up and sniffed the young tom-kit after Opalflower set him back on the ground. “He’s gonna grow into a very big warrior.”

The RockClan medicine cat purred and licked her friend’s ear. “If Mintstar agrees, I would love to see you train him to become that warrior.” Opalflower turned her gaze away from Forestshine’s surprised eyes and looked to Mintstar for an answer.

“But he’s of your Clan,” Mintstar objected with a flick of her tail.“He has WoodClan blood as well,” Iceshadow reminded the WoodClan leader.

“If we are to be journeying a long way, this kit would not make it. He’ll be much safer here in WoodClan.”

“It’s not just the long journey that he wouldn’t make it through,” Destinyfern brought up. “The prophecy spoke of upcoming danger.”

“Also attacks from Syndicate, and scary packs,” Zeekstorm added with wide eyes.

Opalflower snorted and slashed her claws over the wet ground. “We don’t know what any of it means yet,” she hissed. “Prophecies have creative ways of unraveling, and not always in the ways we expect them to.”

Chapter 2

Chapter 3BlogClan

Leader Katestar- brown-and-white she-cat with green eyes; Hazelburrow’s motherDeputy Copperclaw- slim, brown tabby she-cat with green eyes and copper colored clawsHealer Dawnmist- graceful silver-gray tabby she-cat with soft green eyes

Apprentice- SilverpawWarriors (toms and she-cats without kits)Hazelburrow- golden tabby tom with green-blue eyes; Copperclaw’s mateApprentice- HollypawWildheart- black-gray-and-white tom with green eyes; Flowerspot’s mateFlowerspots- tortoiseshell-and-white she-cat with amber eyes; mother of Rosebriar, Darkstorm, and RazorclawRosebriar- tortoiseshell-and-gray she-cat with blue eyesApprentice- MothpawDarkstorm- dark gray she-cat with green eyes and black earsRazorclaw- dark gray-and-black tom with amber eyesApprentice- CinnamonpawOakleaf- dark golden tabby tom with amber eyesApprentice- Stonepaw

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Goldenfeather- golden-brown she-cat with green eyesFadingstorm- light silver tabby tom with white chest and belly, and deep blue eyesHalfmoon- small, black she-cat with a white chest, belly and paws, and green eyes; Fadingstorm’s sisterBreezeflight- dark-and-light gray tom with blue eyes; Brightfawn’s brotherOwlbranch- gray-and-brown tabby she-cat with green eyes; Breezeflight’s mate, Hollypaw’s motherBrightfawn- ginger she-cat with cream flecks and blue eyesDawnstreak- tortoiseshell-and-white she-cat with green eyesRainpath- white tabby she-cat with blue eyes; daughter of RosebriarMoonbeam- black-and-white she-cat with blue eyesHawkfeather- brown tabby she-cat with a light brown-white underbelly that leads up to her muzzle, black ears and tail tip, and blue eyes; Swifttalon’s sisterSwifttalon- large sandy colored tabby with dark brown stripes, blue-green eyes, white underbelly and black earsAshstorm- fluffy gray tom with green eyes; Dawnmist’s brotherFalconstorm- fluffy gray-and-brown tomFrostfang- white she-cat with deep blue eyesRockflame- dark brown tabby with green eyes; Dawnmist’s and Ashstorm’s fatherApprentices (kits more than six moons old; training to be warriors)Silverpaw- young silver tabby she-cat flecks of gray, brilliant blue eyes, white front paws and a long tailHollypaw- brown she-cat with gray tabby stripes and green eyesCinnamonpaw- brown she-cat with amber eyes; Diamondflower’s daughterStonepaw- light gray tabby tom with green-blue eyes and white muzzle; Mothpaw’s brotherMothpaw- cream-orange she-cat with blue eyesQueens (she-cats expecting or nursing kits (cats’ less than six moons))Copperclaw- slim, brown tabby she-cat with green eyes and copper colored claws; nursing Hazelburrow’s kits: Bronzekit and SoftkitElders (retired toms and she-cats)Cherryleaf- golden-and-white she-cat with green eyes; Oakleaf’s motherGraypad- gray she-cat with green eyes; Brightfawn’s and Breezeflight’s motherOthersDiamondflower- brown-and-white she-cat with amber eyes; nursing Cloud’s kits: Maple, Hazel, Mint, and GingerChill- white she-cat with gray paws and blue eyes; Cinnamonpaw’s sisterMeek- brown-and-gray tabby tom with amber eyes; Chill’s mate

Chapter 4Chapter 5

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Chapter 6Chapter 7Chapter 8Chapter 9Chapter 10Chapter 11Chapter 12Chapter 13Chapter 14Chapter 15Chapter 16Chapter 17Chapter 18Chapter 19

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Chapter 20Opalflower raced nimbly to Copperstar’s den, her fur on edge with happiness.

“Copperstar!” she gasped. The golden she-cat lifted her head; she had been speaking quietly with Swifttalon. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but my ancestors… they told me it’s safe to return home... to RockClan!”

The BlogClan leader and her brown tabby mate stood up. “That’s wonderful to hear,” Copperstar purred with a twitch of her whiskers.

“Does that mean you’ll be leaving?” Swifttalon asked with sadness.The white she-cat bowed her head, realizing what this meant. “I have to

return,” she whispered. “My home, my Clan, they need me and Iceshadow.”Copperstar pressed against her mate and looked at him closely, asking for

silence from him. The brown tabby ducked his head and left the den. The leader brought her eyes back on Opalflower. “BlogClan will miss you all greatly,” she stated.

“And we’ll miss you,” Iceshadow mumbled as she walked in with Buzzfox. The ginger-and-white tom let his fur settle back down after being fluffed out from the cold. “But CometClan has spoken and told us that our home is safe and repaired for our return.”

“We appreciate the hospitality you and BlogClan gave to us,” Buzzfox added. “But we always thought that one day we might leave.”

Copperstar dipped her head, her green eyes shining. “I understand. So when do you plan on leaving?”

Opalflower looked to her sister. Their eyes met and they seemed to be thinking the same thing. They echoed, ending in a chuckle afterwards, “In two days, at dawn.”

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Jewelflare looked down on her two half-moon old kits; hurt filled her heart every time she set eyes on them. She remembered each time that these were Bronzeheart’s kits as well, that they carried his blood. Never did she go a day without wondering what she might’ve done wrong, why he might’ve left her for Ivystorm. Had he even come to see her and the kits once, even when she was sleeping? Did he even care about his kits even if he didn’t care about their mother?

Willowkit gave a yawn and stretched her claws into her sister Sunkit. The smaller sibling gave a squeak, jumping to her paws with her ginger-and-white fur spiked out. She hissed at Willowkit and cuffed her sister over the head before leaping on top of her. The two kits jumbled together before landing on their paws, almost falling over from loss of energy.

Morningdapple poked her head in, a smile growing on her face as she saw her nieces start playing again on the nursery’s moss floor. “Opalflower just shared great news!” she squealed in happiness. “We can return to RockClan!”

Moonflame and Frostfang lifted their heads in surprise. “I thought RockClan was completely destroyed?” Moonflame reminded them.

Jewelflare nodded her head, and looked back to her sister in confusion. “How can we? There is no more RockClan; that’s why we are here.”

Her ginger sister sighed impatiently. “CometClan shared a dream with Opalflower and told her that the camp is safely repaired,” she explained, her tail tip twitching. “And with PureClan gone, we never have to worry about being wiped out again.”

Mistykit stood on Jewelflare’s side with her front paws and stared at Morningdapple. “Are you leaving?” she asked quietly. “Is it a journey? I wanna go too!” She looked over her shoulder at Moonflame, her eyes pleading for permission. Instead, she received a tug on her tail by Burningkit and they instantly started play fighting.

Jewelflare sat up, and closed her eyes for a moment. She longed to get away, to never see the one cat that had hurt her so much. “When do we leave?” she asked, meeting her sister’s green eyes.

“At dawn in two days,” Morningdapple answered with a purr. Her paws kneaded the mossy ground. “I’m so excited!” There was a flash of ginger fur, and she was gone.

Omenstorm pressed against Fallingsnow, both of them chatting with Vixenheart and Wolfheart under the Twisted Tree. The gray tabby she-cat was so happy that she got her warrior ceremony done and over with the night before instead of any other night from now on. Leaf-fall was coming quickly, and the air was cooling down more and more each night. Clear skies always promised bitter air, and clouds always kept bringing chilly rains.

“Soon it’ll snow,” Vixenfrost purred with delight. “I love playing in the snow... when I was a kit anyways,” she added when they all looked at her funny. Wolfheart smiled and washed his mate behind the ears.

Fallingsnow shivered at the thought of the white crystals. “I hate leaf-bare and everything that comes with it,” he growled. “It’s cold for five moons and the Clan is always hungry.”

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Omenstorm nodded and realized something. “The Clan is much bigger now than last leaf-bare probably,” she pointed out with a flick of her tail. “That means a harder leaf-bare than usual.”

Shiningheart joined them with Nightclaw tagging closely behind as normal. She seemed so much happier than when she had been with Cometstreak, but today her eyes showed only sadness. “Did you all hear?” she started. “All the cats of RockClan blood are returning home.”

Wolfheart and Fallingsnow rose to their paws in shock. Vixenfrost and Omenstorm just stared at each other, wondering why this was happening. Morningdapple trotted past, humming a birdsong tune; she was in a much better mood than usual.

“My mother never said anything to us about it,” Vixenfrost admitted sadly. She pressed up against Wolfheart, praying that it wasn’t true. She couldn’t leave her mate and what about their kits? Smokepaw had a mate, and Winterpaw had just started her training again after she recovered from her injury from the wolf attack.

Jewelflare, and her two she-kits, padded from the nursery. Vixenfrost trotted up to her angered sister. “Do you know what’s going on with RockClan cats leaving?” she growled to Jewelflare.

The white she-cat snorted and dug her claws into the ground. “Morningdapple just bounced happily in announcing that Opalflower had a dream.” Jewelflare let out a growl as Bronzeheart went past, keeping his eyes low to the ground. “I guess RockClan’s camp is repaired and safe once again so we’re all returning.”

Vixenfrost shook her head and ran back to Wolfheart. She buried her pink nose into his thick fur and longer to stay there forever. “I can’t… I can’t leave,” she cried into his pelt. Wolfheart sighed and pulled a leg and paw over her shoulders, pulling her close to him in a hug. Omenstorm watched, not saying a word. I guess it’s our time to start saying good-bye, she figured. She turned to Fallingsnow, the small tom that she had fallen in love with when she became an apprentice, but no words left her mouth.

Galaxyshard couldn’t believe her ears when Bravewish told her the good news. “We’re returning to RockClan!” he had exclaimed. She purred in delight, now knowing that she would never have another problem with the Dusk Syndicate again. She weaved around her mate a couple times, to spice up the energy in her bones before darting away to the warriors’ den where her mother was sleeping.

She poked her head into the dimly lit den and looked around. Near the center of the den, a small gray mass slept soundly near Pantherfur. Galaxyshard knew she would miss both her mother and her brother, but she was so excited that it didn’t cross her mind yet. She dashed up to her sleeping Clanmates, but carefully woke her mother and brother awake with a couple light nudges.

Pantherfur gave a large yawn, baring yellow teeth. “Is something going on?” he muttered sleepily.

“Has Copperstar called a meeting, or something?” Fernleaf yawned as she slowly uncurled like a flail elder.

Galaxyshard shook her and suddenly her words caught in her throat. Fernleaf was beginning to watch her daughter in worry, her green eyes never straying from her daughter’s one good blue eye. Then everything came out in a rush. “Mother, Pantherfur, I’m leaving with Bravewish and the other RockClan cats back to their

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home. Their camp was rebuilt and is safe now that PureClan is completely gone. We’ll be leaving at dawn in two days.”

Fernleaf got to her paws and pressed up against her daughter, her cheek rubbing against the back of Galaxyshard’s head. “I’ll miss you,” she whispered. Galaxyshard purred as she stood there with her mother, happy to have treated her like a mother in the end. Pantherfur ended up pressing up against his sister on her other side. Only if Shade was here too, she thought sadly, but the Dusk Syndicate leader would never know this feeling with their mother and brother.

The blue-white she-cat pulled away from her mother and brother after a few moments of silence. “I also wanted to tell you,” she started, moving so her side showed. Her belly was bulging slightly, and Fernleaf knew exactly what it meant, but let her daughter finish. “I’m expecting Bravewish’s kits!”

“That’s great, sweetheart,” Fernleaf purred.Pantherfur looked unsure about this. “Doesn’t that make your journey to

RockClan very dangerous then?”Fernleaf ignored her black pelted son and continued. “Does he know about

it?”Galaxyshard shook her head, having ignored Pantherfur’s doubt as well. “I’ll

tell him when we get back to RockClan’s camp,” she replied with a swish of her tail. “I’ll be the first queen to have kits in the new RockClan.”

Copperstar climbed up to Largestone and called out the formal words to call her Clan together. “All those old enough to hunt, join me beneath the Largestone for a Clan meeting!” Many cats instantly gathered, moving as one. Much of the Clan had already been outside the dens, gossiping about how the RockClan cats were suddenly acting.

“Maybe we’ll get an answer now,” Shadowfur growled to Silverflower. They sat in front of the nursery where Rosekit and Foxkit played separately from their adopted siblings. Skunkkit was acting as Shade, the Dusk Syndicate leader, while Olivekit was acting like Copperstar. Skunkkit had a deep hate for his grandmother, as well as the rest of BlogClan. Opalflower remembered that day when the wolves attacked and Copperstar had lost a life. Skunkkit had just sat there, hoping she really was gone. She still has eight lives to go, she thought with narrowed eyes.

Buzzfox, Vixenfrost, Morningdapple and Jewelflare gathered around at the front. Opalflower trotted up to her mate and pecked him on the nose before sitting down. Iceshadow and Emeraldnight joined them with their kits as well. Tinyleg scratched behind his ear, having a little trouble because of his short legs. It couldn’t be helped, but Opalflower turned her head to look at Darkeyes. The black she-cat seemed to gain more muscle every day, and she had noticed that Darkeyes was gone from camp often. I’ll watch her myself before I report my suspicions, Opalflower decided. She turned her blue eyes back on Copperstar as she started the meeting.

“Opalflower has told me that CometClan has visited her in her dreams and says that RockClan can be reborn,” Copperstar started. “She says her and the other RockClan cats will be leaving in two days at dawn.”

All eyes turned on them and complaints rose in the air. Opalflower lowered her eyes on the ground, trying to not meet any of the other cats’ eyes. It was painful to have to leave all the friends they had made, through all the dangers and battles they faced, she knew they would always be truly Clanmates.

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“Are you really going to leave, after all that happened?” Hawkfeather asked. The brown she-cat was sitting beside Goldenheart and Grayfox. Moonflame pressed up against Goldenheart and Ashfall peeked around his sister. Opalflower focused in on Dawnmist behind her kits and received a nod from the BlogClan medicine cat.

“RockClan needs us,” Opalflower answered. She wrapped her fluffy white tail around her. “It’s my home Clan, and to have this chance to rebuild it again….”

Moonbeam gave Opalflower a small smile. “I think we all understand what RockClan means to you,” the black-and-white she-cat replied. “We’ll miss you, but I feel out paths will cross once again.”

the forgotten clan: seeking refuge · web viewa brown tabby tom sat on the far side of the river,...

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