Thunderheart's Past

Chapter One

  Stormkit edged farther along the slippery branch. He unsheathed his claws and dug them into the frozen bark. "Be careful!" Oakkit called from the camp clearing. "Yes, please be careful! We can't swim yet, so we would have to get Rainflower if you fall in!" Thunderkit called from next to her brother, Oakkit. 

"Shut up, Oakkit and Thunderkit! I'm a warrior!" Stormkit looked down, past the fat, mouse-brown bulrush heads, into the dense forest of reeds that jutted out of the icy river. He pressed his pale brown belly to the bark, wrapped his hind legs around the narrow branch, and swung his forepaws down toward the tiny fish. Stormkit had missed. Starclan please let Stormkit not fall in! Thunderkit thought in her head. 

Stormkit stretched harder, trembling with the effort. "What are you doing?" Oakkit yelped. "Let him be!" Stormkit heard Rainflower silencing Oakkit, a purr rumbling in her throat. "Your brother has the courage of a warrior already." Stormkit clung tighter to the branch. 

"Look out!" Oakkit squeaked. A rush of wind tugged Stormkit's fur. A flurry of black-and-white feathers battered his ears. "Magpie!" Thunderkit shrieked. The Magpie scraped it talons on his spine. Dear StarClan, No!  Thunderkit thought as her brother fell off the branch and into the water. 

"Someone help him!" Thunder screeched. 

"I got him!" Tanglewhisker call racing over to the edge and pulled Stormkit out of the water. Shivering with cold, Stormkit bunched his paws against his belly, wincing with embarrassment as Tanglewhisker pushed his way through the reeds and deposited Stormkit on the bank next to his mother. "Nice dive, Stormkit!" Volekit teased. 

"Like a kingfisher," Beetlekit added. "Maybe Hailstar should change your name to Birdbrain.

  Echomist paced anxiously behind them, her soft gray fur fluffed with worry. "Don't tease, you two." Petalkit pushed past her brothers. "I wasn't teasing!" The pretty tortoiseshell she-cat stuck her nose in the air. "I think he was brave to try!" Purring, Rainflower licked Stormkit's ears. "Next time, grip the branch harder." Stormkit shook her off. "Don't worry. I will."  

  As Tanglewhisker shook water from his long tabby pelt, Birdsong hurried down the slope from the elders' den. "You'll catch cold!" she scolded. Tanglewhisker blinked at his tabby-and-white mate. "Did you want me to let him drown?"

 "One of the warriors would have rescued him," Birdsong retorted. 

Tanglewhisker shrugged. "They're busy."  

 Rainflower purred. "I think Stormkit would have found his own way out. He's a strong little cat, aren't you?" 

Stormkit nodded and looked around the the clearing. This was the home of RiverClan, the greatest Clan of all. She hadn't seen it before the flood, so the smooth brown mud that covered the ground and the heaps of battered wet reeds that cluttered every corner were more familiar to her than the densely woven walls and open spaces that were emerging. Timberfur and Cedarpelt were carrying bundles of freshly picked dry reeds across the clearing to Softpaw and Whitepaw, who were weaving them into the tattered apprentices' den. Farther along the river's edge, Shellheart and Ottersplash were gathering more stems. Fallowtail was helping Brambleberry clear the last of the muddy debris from the medicine den. Owlfur and Lakeshine were dragging deadwood and bark that had been washed through the reeds and into the clearing. 

  A whole moon had passed since the stormy night when Stormkit, Oakkit and Thunderkit had been born, but the camp still showed signs of being swept away. Fortunately the elders' den had held firm and only needed a little reweaving here and there. And the nursery, a ball of tightly overlapping willow branches and reeds, had been found downstream, wedged between the stepping-stones. It had been easy enough to drag it back to camp and lodge it among the thick sedge bushes. A few patches had repaired it, though it was still damp inside from the soaking. Rainflower tucked fresh moss into their nest every evening, but Thunderkit still woke each morning with a cold, wet pelt.