The Kill Of Dawn- Book 2

Chapter 18

  Littlecloud reached up, slotting a twig between two bramble threads. Jaysong passed him another. They were rebuilding the camp walls.
"Greystar has returned!" Jaysong exclaimed. Littlecloud almost lost balance. He had requested that Greystar went to ShadowClan and ask if he could rejoin.
"Greystar! What did they say?" Littlecloud asked desperately. The leader avoided his gaze.
"Let's go to my den," the leader mumbled, padding over to the rock in the centre of camp.
"What did they say then?" Littlecloud repeated nervously as he settled into a moss nest.
"Dagger confronted me and he well, he told me you no longer belong in ShadowClan," Greystar sighed.
"What?" Littlecloud gasped ,"Why did he let Rowanpaw join then?"
"I would tell you if I knew," Greystar unsheathed his claws and started to scrape at the sandy floor. There was something else on his mind.
"Did anyone else say anything? Like, Tallpoppy? Cedarpaw?" Littlecloud narrowed his eyes. Greystar was quiet for a moment. 
"Tallpoppy did mentioned the fact you should stay with the larger clan where there is likely to be more cats in need," Greystar told him after a while. 
"Oh, I see," Littleclouds heart sank. Did they really not want him back? Tallpoppy and the apprentices were his only family left. ThunderClan would never feel the same to him. There was a full moon in two sunrises where Littlecloud to talk to them for himself at the gathering. 
Greystar cleared his throat. 
"So, let's get back to duties, you should do some training with Tulippaw," the leader suggested. Littlecloud narrowed his eye. He seemed uneasy. Maybe it was just the stress of rebuilding a clan or having to break the news to him. 
He tried to push it all to the back of his mind and get on with training. 

"So, what is this?" Littlecloud asked, tapping at a large bush covered in dark red berries with his tail. 
"Deathberries or yew berries," Tulippaw answered uncertainly. 
"Correct, now what is this?" Littlecloud tested, gesturing to a yellow flower. 
"Ermm... Goldenrod?" she sniffed the plant carefully. 
"Would you bet your life on it?" Littlecloud asked. 
"Umm... No.." Tulippaw frowned. 
"It was wrong, but you weren't too far off. This is marigold, goldenrod has very small flat flowers," Littlecloud explained. 
"Got it.. sorry," Tulippaw lowered her gaze in embarrassment. 
"Don't be sorry, it's called learning," Littlecloud nudged his apprentice. She was slow at first but was quite quickly getting the hang of it. "Now I want you to bring me lavender." 
"Alright," Tulippaw brightened up, scampering off, nose in the air and focus shining in her eyes. Littlecloud yawned sitting himself down, watching as two crows fought over a nut. Suddenly he heard his name being called. 
"Littlecloud!" he heard it again. It sounded urgent! 
Littlecloud raced through the forest, heart pounding with fear as he followed the calls. He skidded to a halt as he saw Tulippaw emerge from under a bramble bush. 
"What? What is it Tulippaw?" Littlecloud frowned. 
Suddenly four cats followed after her, eyes wide as the moon. A black she-cat stood protectively over two kits, a ginger tom by her side. 
"I found them hiding in the forests," she then turned back to the cats ,"This is my mentor Littlecloud, he won't do anything to hurt you." 
"We're sorry we intruded on your land, just please don't hurt our kits," the she-cat begged.
"It's alright, I'm here to help," Littlecloud assured, sniffing at the white kit. The she-kit backed away, hiding behind her mothers leg fearfully.
"We should take them to Greystar, he'll know what to do," Tulippaw turned to the black she-cat ,"He is a very fair leader."
Littlecloud was impressed by her new found skill in reassuring stressed cats.  
The black she-cat cast the ginger tom by her side a worried glance. 
"We don't have much choice Robin," he frowned. 
"Well.. Okay then." 

By sun up they had reached camp. Longtail was guarding the entrance. 
"Who are they?" the striped tom asked, eyes narrowing. 
"Some rouges we found in the forests," Littlecloud answered. 
"They don't seem too friendly," he heard one of the kits whimper. 
Greystar was sat next to Brackenfur, evaluating the camp. 
"Littlecloud! You're back! Pikeclaw has a thorn in his paw and-  who are they?" Greystar cut himself off. 
"We found them in the forest. They seem lost," Littlecloud explained. 
"We're sorry for intruding," the tom apologised again. 
"Easily forgivable," Greystar smiled ,"But why are you here? Were you hunting? Searching for shelter?" 
"Well.. A lot of reasons actually," the black she-cat who must be Robin sighed ,"Me and my mate, Rusty, have had a litter of kits, as you can probably tell, and we just want somewhere to spend the night. Last night we slept by those jagged rocks in the distance and Jewel was almost stolen by a fox in the night! I don't have the energy to hunt," Robin explained. 
"And I'm constantly on watch for predators," Rusty added. 
"I see, so you want to stay here?" Greystar inquired.  
"Well.. It's an option. We would be extremely grateful if you decided to let us stay. After a nights rest I may be able to start contributing. I'm not too sure about your whole code and your rules but I would be eager to learn them," Robin enthused. 
"Of course you can stay, our clan is a bit short on cats," Greystar invited.
"Thank you so much!" Robin dipped her head gratefully, happiness and relief shinning through her blue eyes. "Littlecloud, take Robin to the nursery. Jaysong can help her settle down. Tulippaw, you can introduce Rusty to some of our warriors and to his nest in the warriors den," Greystar ordered. 
"Wait, me and Robin won't be in the same nest?" Rusty asked worriedly.
"There isn't enough space in the nursery, but you'll be able to visit any time you like," Tulippaw told him as she urged him over to the half-built warriors den.
"It's nice here," Robin commented ,"It feels much more safe."
"Yeah, we're still in the process of rebuilding it. Have you heard of BloodClan?" Littlecloud asked.
"Of course I have. You can't be a rouge or loner around here and not have heard of them!" Robin snorted.
"I guess their hard to ignore," Littlecloud laughed ,"Well they took over our camp and well.. they completely ruined it."
"Wait, so this wasn't always BloodClan's territory?" Robin titled her head in confusion.
"Ermm... Jaysong can explain it all to you," Littlecloud didn't really have time to tell the whole story.
He briefly introduced her to Jaysong and explained to the grey she-cat that she was joining her in the nursery.
Now Littlecloud was sat in the medicine den, sifting through his measly stock of herbs. BloodClan seemed to have taken the time to shred and rip up every last herb that had remained here and left ThunderClan in the middle of Leaf-Bare with no herb stock. Littlecloud just had tp pray nobody got ill... 

(A quick A/N, Robin, Rusty, Sunny and Jewel (The rouges) do not belong to me, they are Saraka_Koheras OCs :D)