Warrior Cats Fanfiction- Ripples of Fear

Chapter 6

Rosekit's eyes fluttered open. She looked out of her den, shuddering slightly as she felt a frosty gust of new leaf-bare wind. She fluffed out her fur, then bounced out of her nest, not even glancing at her mother and sisters, and tumbled out of the nursery. Her bright orange gaze swept across the camp, and rested on Foxpaw, who was lugging a huge wad of moss toward the elders' den, Breezepaw tugging beside him. Loudflame waited at the entrance of her den, flicking her tail impatiently. "Hurry up, would ya?" She called, lashing her ragged, patchy tail in annoyance. Rosekit rolled her eyes. Loudflame's littermate, Squirrelfoot, had joined StarClan before Rosekit was born, Echostep told her, and Loudflame had been cranky ever since. But Rosekit believed all elders were always grumpy. She sighed, then bounced over to Foxpaw and Breezepaw.

  "Hey!" Rosekit squeaked.

  "Oh, Rosekit!" Breezepaw greeted her. "The territory was awesome! We explored it yesterday." She flicked her ginger-ringed tail proudly, dropping the moss and lifting her chin with a pompous, sophisticated air. "Too bad you can't leave until you're apprenticed." She sneered slightly.

Rosekit was slightly taken aback at Breezepaw's quick change of attitude and haughty remark, but she just rolled her eyes. Breezepaw was always that way, after all.

"Foxpaw, do you wanna play a game?" Rosekit turned to the ginger tom with black paws, ignoring Breezepaw's statement.

  Foxpaw glanced up from his moss to look at Rosekit, his amber gaze blank with confusion for a moment, clearing as he realized what she had asked him. "Oh, I guess-"

"WHAT TAKES YOU YOUNG'UNS SO LONG TO GET THE FLEA-RIDDEN MOSS TO A NEST NOWADAYS!?" Loudflame shrieked, causing Breezepaw to whirl around, Rosekit to flinch, and Foxpaw to jump, fur on end.

"Er..." Foxpaw mewed, settling his fur down. "I'm a little busy. Maybe later?" Without waiting for a response from Rosekit, Foxpaw picked up the moss in his jaws and began dragging it to Loudfire's den again.

Breezepaw snorted, then picked up the moss too. "Bye, kit." She sneered, before resuming her work of hauling the moss to Loudfire's den.

Rosekit sniffed, her eyes wide in hurt. Breezepaw and Foxpaw were only a few moons older than her! That didn't give them the right to boss her around, though! No cat could boss her around! Rosekit whirled around and stomped off, her short, fluffy ringed tail streaming behind her.

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  Rosekit, Silverkit, and Shadedkit tumbled into the elders' den, eyes shining.

  Loudflame looked up sharply from a plump, slightly frosted water vole she was eating as she heard the noise, but her gaze softened as she saw the kits. "Oh, what're you young'uns doing about here?" She rasped, flicking her patchy tail.

  The three she-kits glanced at one another.

  "Tell us about when you were young!" Shadedkit squeaked finally.

  Loudflame chuckled. "Ah, it's a story you want, eh? Well, I think I got a few stories in this old brain of mine, here." She looked purposefully thoughtful. "Oh! How about the Great Fire that rampaged through the Clans, a long, long time before you three were born, when I was only a relatively young warrior." She shifted a bit in her nest, settling into a comfortable position for her story-telling. "Well, it was a dry day, as to be expected. I was out patrolling with my brother, and Froststar. Well, we were out patrolling, as I said before, now, and while we were patrolling, like I already said, well now, we heard a strange crackling and smelled something... Smokey, now, while we were out patrolling, my brother, Froststar, and me, well that's when we smelled it, patrolling. Well we were greatly alarmed, as to be expected, smelling that smokey smell while we were patrolling, now. And, well, we heard of them fires that were in these here woods around us, and while we were patrolling, now, we remembered them stories, we did, and we were talking 'bout them, us patrolling, now. So Froststar decided we should run back and warn the rest of ReedClan, and he decided this while we were out patrolling, now, me, my brother, and Froststar. So we ran back to the camp and alarmed the rest if the camp, and while we were running, we could feel our pelts get warmer, now, running, and while we were running, now, we could look behind us and see a bright light explode from the trees on FireClan territory. In the distance, now, while we were running, we could hear shrieks from cats who were running from the fire. Some FireClan cars burst out of their territory and began running with us, now, just ahead of the hot blaze. Well, we got to the camp and shrieked that there was a fire, now, and all the cats began screaming and bursting out of their dens, swarming like ants, trying to escape the flames that were beginning to appear at the mouth of the camp, devouring the trees. Well, now, the queens were trying to gather their kits, and a bunch if cats threw themselves into the river while I just stood there, shocked. The FireClan cats that escaped onto our territory soon disappeared into the crowd of our own cats. Well, my head began focusing like heads do in dire times, y'know, and all the shrieking around me faded and I just dashed for the river, leapt in, then leapt out, running toward the fire. Well, now, I wanted to see if there were any cats I could save. Well, trees, of course, blazing trees, were falling, blocking my path, just like in them stories, and I leapt over each one, not slowing. Well now, I heard mewling, and I looked between some tree roots and saw some FireClan kits. And believe it or not, those kits survived and grew up to be Mistshimmer, Nightpelt, and Yellowburst, yes, indeed, and I remember those names because I was extremely proud to have saved them for all my years, and yet still today. Anyways, I grabbed them three kits in my jaws by the scruff and I continued on, leaping over blazing barricades. Well, I got to the camp, and ran right through it, and I jumped in the Lake, and I held those kits there, heads above water, of course, for a surprisingly short time, until a huge, fire-red, twoleg monster arrived, spouting huge amounts of water and things and there was some twoleg flying, bird-like thing dropping stuff down into the forest. Now, the fire was put out, and all us cats hid from them twolegs. Now, once they left, I returned the kits to FireClan and I returned to my Clan and such, and we eventually fell back into line." Loudflame yawned. "Well now, young'uns, that'll be it for today.

Silverkit, Rosekit, and Shadedkit were huddled together, wide-eyed, completely silent, for the whole story, and when Loudflame ended it, they all breathed in awe.

"Wow." They breathed simultaneously.

  "A fire really went through all the Clans?" Rosekit whispered, orange eyes huge.

  "Oh, yes." Loudflame mewed. She shuffled again, flicking her ears. "Now, you three young'uns go run on back to your mother. She probably needs your help somehow."

"Okay!" Silverkit squeaked, eyes glistening with awe for the old calico she-cat. She scampered out of the den, closely followed by her sisters. Loudfire purred in amusement as they left.

  "Those poor kits." She murmered once the kits were out of earshot. "If only they knew the whole story."