RisenClan Book Two: Evermore

Chapter One

Ruinstar rolled over off her belly wincing in pain. It would be a huge litter. Much more than she felt she could handle. She was just glad she would have Risenspirit's help to raise them. He would be the best father. Always taking care of them, and watching them while RuinStar had other duties to attend to. Risenspirit was only a bit worried for her safety while she was out of her den and taking care of the only few duties she could do in this state. He did not know she was down to one remaining life. The only people who did was Spiritsong and Finchkit. 

She was getting quite large. Tulip-paw estimated about five sunrises before they were born. She also guessed that she could have as many as six kits! She yawned and rose to her feet. The sun poked through the canopy of leaves, it left a pretty design on the ground that looked like tabby stripes. She smiled and licked Risenspirit's head. She wanted to let the tom sleep a bit longer. She padded out of her den and heard a loud scream come from the nursery. Flashstorm! She raced as fast as she could towards the nursery. The first thing she noticed was a gaping hole in the back and then she noticed there was no kits in the nursery at all. Immediately Worthypelt woke up and looked from left to right to see her kits were missing too.

"When did you last see them?!" She shouted at the queens. Now cats gathered, including Hallowstorm.

"I went to sleep with them right here!" Flashstorm meowed, her voice cracked and she was shaking.

"You stupid she-maggots!" Hallowstorm started, it was a word he used to describe every she-cat including his mate and sister. "How could you lose eight kits?!" He hissed angrily.

Ruinstar slammed her paw on the ground, now there were even more cats. "We must gather a search party!" She meowed loudly. "Sunnyside, Whitefrost, Grizzlypaw, and Soaringpaw you four go!" 

"Soaringpaw left this morning to do something." Grizzlypaw shouted.

"Very well." Ruinstar meowed. "Then you can take Finchpaw." 

The four left and Ruinstar attempted to calm down Flashstorm and Worthypelt. Hallowstorm was so angry, he paced left and right hollering about his tom kits. Gentleheart attempted to calm him, but he walked away angrier.

"We mustn't worry." She meowed. "They could not have gone far. Maybe they wanted to explore." She hoped that was the case. She sniffed around the back, there was no strange scent left behind, only the kits. 

As the morning began to pass she sent out a hunting patrol and ate breakfast on Risenspirit's command. Now Soaringpaw padded into camp with four mice grasped in his mouth. "Good morning Soaringpaw." She meowed as he placed the kill into the freshkill pile.

"Good morning." He meowed and grabbed a mouse for himself. He began to pad away but Ruinstar would not let him. "Soaringpaw, turn around. Come sit with me." So he did and they began to eat. She inhaled his scent to find anything odd, but he smelled like RisenClan. "Have you seen any of the kits this morning." She asked.

Soaringpaw peered over to the nursery and saw no kits outside. "Have not." He replied softly. "Where are they?"

"Well they are missing." She meowed. 

Soaringpaw looked worried. "You have sent out a search party?" He asked.

"Yes." Ruinstar could see the apprentice was sleepy. He should not have gotten up so early. She was not sure where he had been, and had no intentions of asking, but if she took him out to train he  may think twice about leaving so early again. "After we are done we will go train a bit, yes?"

He looked at her sadly, but did not protest. "Okay." 

So the two set off into the woods, Ruinstar was slow behind but she could not just be lazy all the time, even in this state. "Alright, let me see your technique when you do a hunters crouch." She meowed and sat down to watch Soaringpaw. 

The young apprentice got down on his legs and walked a bit loudly and crookedly towards a leaf. It was in no shape a good hunters crouch. "Where did you learn that?" She said in a quite nasty tone.

"W-what do mean?" The kitten asked as he turned around to face her. 

"You step like you can't hear!" She meowed boredly.

"S-sorry." He said.

"Try again, this time leap onto that leaf." She replied with the flick of her tail.

The apprentice began his crouch again and made his way over with little improvement. He leaped up, much to high and to loud and landed on the leaf. He turned to face her, a smile on his face.

"No." She said with the shake of her head. His smile faded into a frown. "Your doing it all wrong, who taught you that?" She meowed.

"Hallowstorm." He replied slowly.

"You need to work on that, or you will be as useless as a dead fox." She hissed. She had no clue what had gotten into her, hormones? Whatever herbs she had been given by Tulip-paw and Spiritsong. It was out of character.

She wished to be hunting with Finchpaw right now. He was smart and quick. A fast learner, that little one. She could be hunting with Nightwatcher again, except not even he would please her as much as Finchpaw did. She had felt some sort of connection with him ever since she had given him her 2nd to last life. Her love for him was different than her love for Risenspirit, or her love for her deceased mother and brother. It was almost like he was her son. She did not feel she even needed her own kits if she could have him with her all along the way. 

"Why can't you grow to be more like Finchpaw?!" She hollered. "He is so brave, and smart, faster, stronger, cunning, clever. And what are you Soaringpaw? An unwanted kittypet." She spat.

As soon as she had finished the sentence she knew she had spoken harshly and quite incorrectly. She watched Soaringpaw's sweet face turn from sadness, to bitter shock and horror. At first he did not even know what to do. They both stood there for a moment, he looking into her eyes with pain. Then he turned and raced away before she could even explain herself. Ruinstar closed her eyes and let a few tears slip down her cheeks. So unlike her...

His face appeared in her mind, the sweet face she had rescued as a kit, to his bitter hated look now. A soft whisper seemed to echo through the forest at that moment, it rattled the bushes in one large breeze. "Start of the finish."