Warriors: A Dawn Rising

Chapter Twelve

            Dawnflight's ears twitched as she listened to Jay complain. "We've never had to walk this far!" He groaned, his silver tabby paws were tingling. "Right, Hawk and Pigeon?"

             "Stop complaining, you'll have to walk even farther once you're apprentices." Heavykit muttered. "I feel embarrassed to still have a kit name."

              "You could have changed it... Heavystar." Dawnflight purred as Amber pressed against him. Cedarheart was bringing up the rear as Dawnflight slid down the tumble of rocks into the clearing. The kits and Amber seemed to barely be able to balance but Heavykit was sure-footed, as if he'd walked the same tumble of stones all his life.

              "Who are they?" Spiderclaw hissed, neck fur bristling. Willowmask blocked Mousepaw's sight.

             "This is my brother, his mate, and his kits. Do you have a problem with a former warrior being found?" Dawnflight snarled, Spiderclaw stared at her.

            "My dear son!" Robinstar exclaimed, he padding to touch his nose to Heavykit's head but the black tom took a pace back. "I see you're still mad."

           "You ignored us! How could I not be mad?" He spat, tail lashing, Amber put her tail to his shoulder comfortingly. "Though, you're Clan leader, it seems. This is Amber, my mate, and these are our kits, Jay, Hawk, and Pigeon."

           "All cats old enough to catch their own prey, gather here beneath the Clanrock for a Clan meeting!" He called, leaping on the tumble of stones. "We have a previous warrior joining us today, I welcome Heavyclaw, Jaypaw, Hawkpaw, Pigeonpaw, and Amber to the Clan."

            The Clan was entirely silent and Dawnflight hissed. "Heavyclaw! Jaypaw! Hawkpaw! Pigeonpaw! Amber!" Soon enough the Clan joined in, reluctantly.

            "So what are we doing about this ThornClan situation?" Heavyclaw asked Robinstar, tail lashing and eyes narrowed.

              "Nothing yet. We're being extra cautious to not provoke them." Robinstar responded, a growl rose up in Heavyclaw's throat.

             "I understand you want to protect your Clan, father, but we should not have to hide around in our own territory like scared mice! We are warriors, not prey." He argued, a few other warriors murmured agreememt.

             "And what can we do? We can't attack without getting hurt." Robinstar asked.

             "Dawnflight knows where their camp is, perhaps we can attack them in the heart of their territory!" Thrushpaw suggested.

            "We have no idea how to fight on their territory." Dawnflight argued.

             "But I could teach you!" Lightpaw suggested, tail twitching. "I still remember most of the battle moves they taught me."

            "Very well, Spiderclaw, set up a training group later today. Meeting dismissed." Robinstar meowed as he leaped off the stones and padded away.

            Leafshine padded next to Dawnflight, curiousity in her eyes. "Heavyclaw? Our... brother?" She asked, Dawnflight nodded. The Clan seemed to be excited about this new idea of attack, the apprentices were already play-fighting each other.

           "Heavyclaw, I'd like you to meet mine and, uh, Cedarheart's kits." Dawnflight meowed to her brother, Flamekit, Cloudkit, Honeykit, Briarkit, Thunderkit, and Littlekit popped their heads up and padded over.

            "They're wonderful." Amber purred, nuzzling Littlekit. "Do you mind if I watch after them in the Nursery while you continue your warrior duties?"