Hailstorm's Fear

Prologue

    Gasps from the Clan cats greeted Oakstar's arrival with two kits in his jaws. He leaped up the Great Rock with not much effort,due to his large size,and placed them down.

"Who is this?"Cloudstar narrowed his eyes.

All the Clans were silent,waiting for his response. "A rogue gave them up to us. Never explained who is their mother,nor why he did so."

Cloudstar sniffed them,and the orange one stood in front of her brother,baring her teeth. Cloudstar fixed them with his blue gaze,and that seemed to make them recoil. "What are their names?"

"Thrushkit is the tom. Robinkit is the she-kit."

"You're expecting one of us to take them?"Amberstar meowed with disbelief.

Oakstar stared at him. "Yes. The warrior code says that we cannot abandon a kit."

Falconstar leaped to his paws. "But these are a rogue's kits!"

"Oakstar is right,"Cloudstar straightened. "We cannot just abandon these two."

"So you will take one?"Oakstar demanded.

"I'll take the she-kit."Yowls erupted from RiverClan in protest at the leader's statement. Cloudstar swung his head around,his eyes narrowed to slits.

"Silence!This is my decision,and the leader's word is law!"RiverClan immediately silenced,as they shuffled their paws guiltily. A few other cats were surprised,including the leaders,as Cloudstar often kept his cool.

"Amberstar?"Oakstar turned to the ShadowClan leader. "Will you take the tom?"

Amberstar flattened his ears. "No."

"I will not take him too."Falconstar glared mistrustfully at Thrushkit.

Thrushkit started to tremble at all the attention fixed on him. He scrambled back,almost falling off the Great Rock when Oakstar placed his paw to halt him.

"I will keep Thrushkit,then."Oakstar announced.

The leaves of the Fourtrees rustled as wind blew calmly over them. Thrushkit felt a nose touching his ear-tip,and felt protected.
~~~~~~~~

"Branchpelt!"

The RiverClan deputy finally came to her with an annoyed look on his face.

"Why were you so slow?Age catching up to you?"Skycloud teased her father.

Branchpelt growled,but there was no anger or threat to it. "Watch how you speak to your deputy. Your voice could have scared all the fish away."

Lionwhisker padded up to them along the stream,with a limp fish in his jaws. Skycloud had to shut her mouth from showing the other two warriors her watering jaws.

"Good catch,Lionwhisker. I'm surprised Skycloud hasn't scared all the fish."Branchpelt sniffed.

Skycloud was about to tease him again when something white flashed in the river. She whirled around,and stared.

"There's a cat in the water!"Skycloud exclaimed. Without waiting for a response,she leaped into the warm water.

There was a white tom gliding along with the current. Skycloud did not recognise him at all,but she swam towards him and grabbed his scruff. With a heave,she pulled them both out of the water and paddled with all her might towards shore.

"Skycloud,you alright?"Lionwhisker asked worriedly,approaching her.

She dropped the tom onto the grass. "I'm just tired. This tom might be small,but I swear he is made out of muscle."Skycloud panted out,before giving her chest fur a few quick licks.

Branchpelt sniffed the tom warily. "He doesn't smell like a rogue. Or a kittypet too. It's like he was in the river his whole life."

"Maybe the river washed his scent away?"Skycloud suggested,getting up and shaking her pelt.

Lionwhisker ignored the flecks of water flying towards him. "Branchpelt's right. His scent is...empty. Like a newborn kit."

The tom chose to wake up at that exact moment with a jolt. All three warriors jumped,and Branchpelt immediately flattened his ears.

"Who are you?Why were you floating in the river?"Branchpelt demanded.

The tom looked confused and fearful. "I don't know who I am. And I was floating in the river?"

Skycloud stared at him curiously. "Are you a rogue?"

"A rogue?What's that?"

"I think he hit his head on a rock."Skycloud narrowed her eyes.

"Where am I?"The tom asked,looking frantically around.

The RiverClan warriors exchanged glances. Lionwhisker growled and turned towards the mysterious tom. "He must be lying."

"No,I'm not!"The tom widened his eyes in horror. "Why can't I remember anything?"

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The prologue was so badly written. I'm way too tired to rewrite it now,so I can only promise you better chapters.