SeaClan: Low Tide

Chapter One

Tidekit wriggled her grey-splotched haunches eagerly, staring at the mouse (leaf) in front of her. The sand cushioned her paw steps as she gingerly picked her way toward it, imagining the way a mouse might scratch itself or nibble a seed while she crept up on it. When she thought she was close enough, she bunched up her haunches to spring and landed an entire mouse-length away. A breeze tossed the leaf into the air, and she chased it with a soft mrrow of laughter as an apprentice shook his head at her.

"No, Tidekit!" he meowed, lowering his slender, pale brown muzzle toward her. The fur along his back rippled, his fur sticking out at all imaginable angles. "You have to keep your tail straight when you leap! Otherwise, you'll lose balance and miss the prey. Try again."

"Can't Whalekit try?" she whined, tiring of the training session with Spikepaw. Sure, the fighting lessons were fun, and learning how to pry open oysters was too, but trying to pounce on the same leaf over and over was tedious. Tidekit kicked at the leaf dejectedly as it fluttered around her legs, angry at herself because she was struggling. It really wasn't her fault; both of her parents, Olivebird and Crabfoam, had told her that they'd had trouble with pouncing as apprentices too. It wasn't fair that her brother was so good at it! "We're SeaClan cats, anyhow. Shouldn't you be showing me how to catch rays?"

"Just try again," Spikepaw repeated, crouching down to show her. "See how my tail sticks straight out? See how my belly touches the sand? Show me." She dropped into a crouch, copying him almost exactly. He stood up and nudged her into a position he favored, then nodded in approval. "Good! Now," he said, voice dropping to a mischievous whisper, "I'm going to talk to Frondpaw. See if you can get his tail without him noticing." The medicine cat apprentice was watching his mentor from across camp, and when his brother approached him, he vehemently denied his actions. While Spikepaw teased him for his crush on both Littlebloom and Aspenpaw, she slunk over to his rapidly wagging tail.

With a small cry, Tidekit threw herself at Frondpaw's tail and bit into it, dragging a yowl from the pale tom's snout. He whipped around and swatted her off, ears twitching in embarrassment as he realized he let a kit sneak up on him and scare him. Spikepaw burst into loud, echoey laughter as Tidekit proudly produced a clump of fur from Frondpaw's tail to him. "Good job," he praised, touching his nose to the kit's ear. "That's enough for today, I think. Wow, Tidekit! You and your denmates are gonna be apprentices soon!" Spikepaw flicked his unruly tail. "I'll have to deal with your snoring and Frondpaw's!" The pale brown tom received a harsh nip to his ears and swatted his littermate in retaliation, earning a squeak of "keep your claws to yourself!"

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Wavestar emerge from the ground and walk briskly to the boulder they used for meetings, her deputy trailing after her. Her grey coat was still sandy from sleeping in her den, but she walked with a confidence that only a leader could manage. She hopped upon the large rock, looking down to ensure Coralspray was settled beside her in the deputy's position, and cleared her throat. "Let all cats old enough to avoid a ray's sting gather around Sunrock for a Clan meeting!" she called. She heard Whalekit meow from the nursery: "Our ceremonies?"

"No," Olivebird replied, licking down a blue-grey tuft from his head, "You're only five moons. You and Tidekit are too young." She took him to the meeting anyway, beckoning Tidekit with a flick of her tail. She felt a shoulder bump into her, and turned to see Dolphinkit smiling brightly in her direction, waving his bushy grey tail. Tidekit smiled back and swatted at him playfully, darting away before he could retaliate. He settled down next to her with a light nip at her ankles when she reared up to peer over the sea of pelts.

"Cats of SeaClan, it pains me greatly to inform you that our PalmClan allies have turned against us to work with CoveClan," Wavestar meowed. The statement elicited various yowls of outrage and disbelief. PalmClan had been aligned with SeaClan for longer than any of them could remember, and even though Tidekit hadn't lived long enough to know it, she protested along with her Clanmates. They all quieted as Wavestar raised a paw for silence, and Coralspray barreled into the crowd to cuff a cat that talked loudly about his dislike for the broken truce. "They've declared war against us as well for our territory, and we'll hold Council to see whether or not we should strike before they do. For now, we'll need more warriors to fight when the times comes. Tidekit, Whalekit, Shrimpkit, Dolphinkit, and Splashkit, step forward."