A Life Alone

The Unknown Cat

The two toms sneaked over to the body, Rhubarbpaw heard a small gasp from his mentor, he searched his eyes for something, "What's wrong?" He meowed, Badgerpelt strolled next to the dead she cat as he discovered, this She-cat had just given birth to a litter of kits, two grey tabby toms, a black tom and white and grey She-kit, the two looked at these kits in amazement, Rhubarbpaw went to touch the queen's muzzle but as he did he heard battle cries raced through his ears as a voice meowed "Beware a battle which could kill your kits" Rhubarbpaw jumped back as he whispered to Badgerpelt, "I think StarClan just spoke to me," his mentor stared at him, "Beware a battle which could kill your kits," Badgerpelt looked back down at the dead queen, tears starting to develop in his eyes, "Rhubarbpaw, I need to tell you something which you should not tell anyone else," his apprentice tilted his head, "This queen, is my mate..." Rhubarbpaw looked shocked at his mentor's confession, "Her name is Moonstripe and we've been meeting up secretly," Badgerpelt kept his eyes on his dead mate, denying his apprentice's look of shock, "It's just I didn't know she had kits and died..." His meow turned into a cry, leaning down to touch the queen's side, Rhubarbpaw felt a presence next to him, he said to his mentor, "I feel your mate's presence," Badgerpelt looked up at the young tom, "She wants you to take the kits back to your clan..." His mentor smiled, "I certainly can't argue with that, Rhubarbpaw. I'm sure that StoneClan won't accept me coming in with 4 kits, half with a WillowClan scent, these kits need warmth and food, Rhubarbpaw, return to the camp, I need to collect food for the clan, mention my name, I don't want you getting into trouble, tell them the truth besides the meeting up, ok?" Rhubarbpaw nodded, "I won't disappoint you, nor Moonstripe!" His meow filled with pride, he threw one kit on his back and dragged three others by the scuff, heading towards the Ivy tunnel, he squeezed through, noticing no cats in the clearing other than some elders and the leader and the deputy, they all looked at him, he trotted over to Fawnstar, she looked in amazement, Wolfclaw, the deputy, repeating. Fawnstar quietly meowed, "Where did you find these?" Rhubarbpaw sighed and let down the kits, answering, "Me and Badgerpelt were up at Breeze Hill, where familiar CloudClan scents had been caught, instead we found a StoneClan queen, dead, with these four kits, I saw her with claw marks on her shoulder blades and back, it's looked liked she was dying, whilst giving birth to them," Fawnstar kept her eyes on the kits, "Rhubarbpaw, I'm sure that these kits are hungry and lonely, but these belong to StoneClan, I know we need more warriors but we can't accept these..." Rhubarbpaw shook his head and growled, "It was a message, from StarClan, they said to return to the camp with them, it wasn't my decision," His growl echoed through the camp, capturing the attention of some elders, "I can't possibly go against StarClan 's words!" He arched his back but Fawnstar had an angry look on her face, making Rhubarbpaw loose his anger, she meowed, "You got a message from StarClan?" He nodded, "What was it?" He answered, "Beware a battle, that could kill your kits," The leader and deputy looked at each other, Shocked...