Warriors Forbidden Kits

Chapter 9

"Are you sure that she said Stormstone was their father?" Stonepaw asked. Starpaw nodded.

"And none of the Warriors seemed surprised?" Stonepaw asked.

"Not a bit. Tumbleleaf seemed to want me not to find out." Starpaw said. Smokepaw was silent, staring off into the distance.

"Who do you think they are?" Stonepaw wondered.

"Whoever they are, they must be confused. There's no way Stormstone was mates with a Waterclan cat... right?" Starpaw asked.

"This reminds me of the story of the River Spirit Amberpaw was always telling us about, remember? No one believed him when he was a kit and told everyone a cat saved him from drowning." Smokepaw said suddenly.

"How does that have anything to do with Stormstone and those two apprentices?" Stonepaw asked. Smokepaw shrugged.

"I just thought that some cat wasn't being entirely honest. Something's going on. Someone is hiding something." Smokepaw said, looking directly into her brother's eyes.

"But the question is who, and what, and why?" Starpaw said.

"Well I'm going to get some answers." Stonepaw said.

"How are you going to do that? Ask Stormstone, 'Hey, we're you ever mates with a Waterclan cat? And did you have kits that stayed in Waterclan?'" Starpaw asked sarcastically.

"Maybe. But I was thinking more along the lines of interrogating other cats. Mainly Amberpaw, Featherfur, Morningstar, Herbfall, Fleetfoot, and possibly Jaggedstar." Stonepaw explained.

"Are you crazy?" Starpaw asked.

"And maybe those two apprentices too." Stonepaw continued.

"You can't interview Jaggedstar! He'll kill you!" Starpaw said.

"Sure I can!" Stonepaw said.

"Do you have a death wish?" Starpaw asked.

"No." Stonepaw said.

"Because of you do, going to Waterclan will give you exactly what you want!" Starpaw continued.

"What do you suggest then?" Stonepaw asked.

"I suggest we wait until the next gathering. Then we can meet up with the two apprentices. Together the five of us may be able to convince Stormstone to tell us the truth." Starpaw suggested.

"Promise me we'll find out the truth at the next gathering?" Stonepaw asked.

"Promise." Starpaw said.

--- at the gathering ---

Smokepaw, Stonepaw, and Starpaw sat together. They had purposefully avoided their mentors tonight. It had been almost a moon since the day they had decided to question Stormstone. They were ready for answers.

The gathering passed uneventfully, with no interesting news. When it finally finished, the three apprentices quickly stood up and walked among the cats, looking for the two apprentices. Finally they spotted them, along with a third apprentice. Starpaw led the way.

"I remember you! Starpaw, right?" The she cat said. Starpaw nodded.

"These are my siblings Smokepaw and Stonepaw." Starpaw said.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Snowpaw, and this is my brother Shadowpaw and my brother Cloudpaw." She said.

"He wasn't there when you came to find Stormstone." Starpaw pointed out.

"He was training with his mentor." Snowpaw explained.

"So you guys think Stormstone is your father?" Stonepaw asked.

"We know he's our father." Shadowpaw muttered.

"Well, he's our father." Smokepaw said.

"He might be our father too, if he had two mates or something." Cloudpaw pointed out. Smokepaw wrinkled her nose.

"I hope not." She said.

"We have a plan to find out the truth once and for all. If all six of us go and confront Stormstone right now, he'll have to tell us the truth!" Starpaw said.

"Hm... I like it!" Snowpaw said.

"What are we waiting for?" Shadowpaw asked. Together, the six apprentices went in search of Stormstone. They finally found him. When he saw all six of them together, he froze.

"Stormstone... dad... we have something very important to talk about." Starpaw said. Stormstone looked like he wanted to die on the spot.

"Yes son?" He replied.

"Tell us the truth. Tell us the truth about our parents." Cloudpaw said. Stormstone looked from one apprentice to the other. Then he sighed.

"You're all just apprentices. So young, to have your lives ruined." He said sadly. The apprentices waited patiently.

"No. You're too young. I won't shake your lives. Promise me this, never talk about this again. Don't ask any cats questions. Don't mention it. Go back to being normal apprentices. The minute you turn into warriors, I promise I'll tell you everything." Stormstone said. The apprentices looked at each other.

"We promise." They said in unison.