Warriors: In The Cold of Night [1]

Chapter 12

Featherheart nodded slowly. She understood what Sharpleaf  had said and described, but she wasn't sure if it was right. Dovefur looked less hostile now that Sharpleaf had explained to Featherheart. "I'll have to go now. I'll see you soon." Dovefur meowed as she padded back into the reeds of RiverClan territory. Sharpleaf nodded and wove his tail in a 'goodbye'. 

Sharpleaf bounded over the stepping-stones carefully and hurried back into the snowy undergrowth. Featherheart followed him, assuming he was going back to camp. The snow was thick, at least a rabbit-length deep. The wind was still howling and she was still being buffeted by snow, but it was bearable.

Sharpleaf and Featherheart padded back through the snowy undergrowth to ThunderClan's camp.

Featherheart entered the gorse tunnel and emerged into a snow covered catastrophe. The blizzard had died down to a soft flurry, but that was probably the only good thing.

Featherheart saw the kits from the nursery running around and playing in the snow. Fernleaf and Mistytail were running after them, trying to get them back to the nursery. Redstar was helping the queens catch the kits. She obscured the kits' path when they attempted to run away from the queens. Coldpaw quickly emerged from the warrior's den and charged at one of the kits, Cedarkit.  She picked up the little brown kit by the scruff and placed him in the nursery.

Firepaw dashed out of the warriors den and aided his sister. He grabbed Mudkit and Sunkit. THe dark ginger and white tabby padded to the nursery to put them back. Sunkit tried to wriggle free, but she wasn't strong enough. "No fair!!!" Sunkit squeaked. Firepaw placed Sunkit and Mudkit into a moss nest. "Who started this mess?" He asked in a stern, but smooth tone.

"Um—" Mudkit began, but Sunkit finished his sentence. "—Honeykit and Sparkkit did!"

There was only one kit who stayed in the nursery. It was Smokekit. Smokekit was a dark gray tom who didn't really speak much. Firepaw kept forgetting that Smokekit even existed. Firepaw remembered when Rosepelt brought back the freezing kit. Rosepelt cared for the kit as if it was her own. Now Smokekit just sat along and stared at other cats.

Firepaw sighed and began to pad out into the clearing to look for the two golden kits in the gentle flurry of snow. Coldpaw brought back Bouncekit, then dashed out to collect more kits. Bouncekit couldn't control his excitement. The ginger tabby tom was bounding around the nursery, bothering the other kits. Firepaw shook his head and headed out to find the kits who caused this.

Firepaw found Parsleykit and Cloverkit trying to hide in the snow. Parsleykit had her head stuck in the snow, while Cloverkit had the back of her body stuck in the snow. Firepaw picked up Cloverkit. Cloverkit, a white she-kit with a blue-gray tail and legs, was wriggling out of Firepaw's grasp. Firepaw adjusted his grip on Cloverkit's scruff and hurried back to the nursery. Parsleykit, a pale brown and white she-kit, followed obediently. 

Firepaw left the kits in the nursery and hurried off to find Sunshine's kits. Coldpaw made sure the kits stayed in the nursery. She hissed something to the kits and all of the kits went silent, even the rambunctious Bouncekit. Firepaw was shocked how the kits could go quiet and behave so quickly. "There's no need to scare them, Coldpaw! They're just kits!" He reminded his sister.

"They needed to shut up somehow." Coldpaw meowed in a cold tone. "So I decided to tell them that if they made more noise, the forest monster would come to ThunderClan camp and eat them all up."

Firepaw winced. "That was a bit much. . ." He meowed. Coldpaw rolled her eyes. "Let's just find the last two troublemakers." She dashed out of the nursery and scanned the clearing for anything unusual. Firepaw sniffed the air and caught the scent of the two kits. Firepaw followed the trail and it led to the medicine cat's den.