The sound of frantic pawsteps could be heard first, Amberpaw growing alert and rising from her spot near Cliffstripe where they’d been chatting. Part of his hearing damaged by his loss of an ear, it seemed the ginger warrior was unaware something was approaching before his companions demeanor changed, looking up at her quizzically with his remaining yellow eye.
“Someone’s coming.” She meows simply, fixated on the camp's entrance. Cliffstripe pulls himself into a sitting position, trying to prepare himself for anything.
Dashpaw is a blur when he breaks through the clearing; had it not been for the unfamiliar scent he carried with him, the ginger warrior might not have been able to tell that he even had a kit held firmly in his jaws. The half-white tom locks his eyes on Amberpaw, making a b-line to her and promptly placing the kitten a tail-length in front of her paws.
“I need you to look after him.” Without waiting for a response, he turns his head towards Cliffstripe. “Cliffstripe, I need you to follow me. There are two more kits still. Flippaw is running a diversion, but I don’t know how much time she’ll have.”
Cliffstripe nods firmly. “Got it.” In an instant, he’s on his paws, muscles tensing and preparing for a run.
“A diversion!?” Amberpaw shouts, looking desperately at Dashpaw for more details. “Dashpaw what-”
“There’s no time to explain right now! I’ll tell you everything in a bit!” In typical Dashpaw fashion, he’s gone before she could finish her questioning. Cliffstripe shoots her an apologetic glance before taking off after the other tom.
Giving a sigh, Amberpaw slumps back onto her haunches and looks down at the young kit that was placed at her paws. “Well, guess it’s just you and me, kit. I’m Amberpaw.” She offers the tan tabby a kind smile, thinking back to the time when Flippaw was still this small and hoping to StarClan the molly was going to be alright.
--
“Explain to me what’s going on.” Cliffstripe says firmly between the pounding of his paws. “What do I need to know?”
Dashpaw was a few paces ahead of him, leading the way. He doesn’t spare a glance back at the warrior, and hopes that his voice can be heard well enough from his position. “Flippaw and I were in the outer fields -- she smelled blood, I smelled a wolf. I tried to leave, but she found these kits instead-” He stops for a second to catch his breath before continuing. “-she said she was going to lead the wolf away so we could get the kits! She didn’t even give me a choice about it!”
Were it not for the severity of the situation, Cliffstripe would almost find it humorous; perhaps Dashpaw had rubbed off more on the younger molly than he had thought. “Did you find their mother?”
“I’m guessing that’s the source of the blood-smell.” Dashpaw shouts back grimly.
Try as he did, Dashpaw couldn’t catch a single trace of Flippaw’s current whereabouts; maybe that was for the best? Hopefully that meant she was successful in leading the beast away.
When they reached the remaining two kits, one of them had started crying out for its mother, the sound of her tiny voice causing Cliffstripe’s heart to ache. To lose one's family so young… He approaches the kit slowly, lowering himself to appear less threatening.
“Hey, it’s okay.” The other kit, the blue one, hisses and lashes a tiny paw out defensively. Her sister waddles forward on unsteady paws and sniffs at Cliffstripe curiously.
“This is sweet and all, Cliff’, but we gotta be going.” Dashpaw warned, tail twitching nervously behind him.
Drawing himself back up, Ciffstripe licks at his chest, feeling slightly embarrassed. “Ah- no, you’re right.” He turns back to the pair of kittens and picks up the remaining brown and white she-kit, Dashpaw following suit and grabbing the cranky blue one before making themselves scarce.
--
By the time they return, Amberpaw has put a nest together for the kits; lined with downy feathers from an earlier catch, it seemed the mottled tabby kit Dashpaw had brought in before had already taken up residency within. With the other two kits placed into the nest, they greet each other excitedly, the blue kit pouncing sloppily onto her brother.
“Is that all of them?” Amberpaw asks, looking at the toms.
“These are all the ones Flippaw and I found.” Dashpaw confirms.
An uneasy silence fills the clearing at the mention of the spotted apprentice’s name. Her plan was so hurried that they didn’t take the time to discuss where they’d meet up after, where she planned to goad the wolf into chasing her, really anything.
“She’ll be okay.” Cliffstripe meows, causing the others to look at him.
“How can you be so sure? She’s only been an apprentice for two moons!” Amberpaw’s voice is harsher than she intended it to be, and she flinches back from her own voice. “I’m sorry for yelling, I just-”
Cliffstripe shakes his head. “It’s okay, I understand. Just believe in her, okay? Dashpaw did, I’m going to choose to do so as well. If Flippaw thought she could manage this, then I trust her.”
Amberpaw looks uncertain still, but remains silent and simply nods. As confident as she was in herself, she struggled to find the kind of trust that Cliffstripe seemed to have in everyone.
Seeming uncomfortable with just sitting around, the molly turns her attention back to the trio of kits and tries to usher them off of the nest. “Come on, I’ll bring you inside so you can sleep.”
Dashpaw fights the urge to argue their nest placements; now wasn’t the time. He looks back to Cliffstripe, worry knitted in his brow. “When should we go out to look for her?”
“When the moon is high. I want to make sure we give her enough time and don’t meet the wrong end of a wolf.” Again.
He nods back silently, light-blue gaze fixated on the stars beginning to fill the sky. ‘StarClan, if you really exist… you better keep her safe.’
A small red tom woke with a start, fear and adrenaline filling his veins as the thick stench of blood filled his senses. The lone apprentice of ▇▇Clan doesn’t even take the time to stand properly, bolting immediately from his nest and sending its contents scattered behind him. He barely has a moment to parse the camp in front of him before whirling on his paws and angling left to the nursery; he couldn’t count how many cats had already fallen, but against such a massive enemy the tom knew instinctively they stood no chance either way.
Misfortune had followed a patrol home; a patrol of young wolves out for a hunt. The packs northward had been growing larger over the past seasons-- more pups meant more prey which needed to be killed. Though predators themselves, Cliffpaw knew it was foolish to believe cats weren’t also prey in their own right.
“C’mon, c’mon, c’mon! Let’s get going!” a kit nearly his own size shoved his way past ▇▇▇▇, a smaller she-kit following behind with what could only be a moon-old kit in her jaws.
“Head to the tunnels!” ▇▇▇▇ shouted over their shoulder, just barely audible against the snarling and barking of wolves.
Giving himself a firm nod, Cliffpaw overtakes the eldest kit and begins to pick up the pace. “Follow me-- I can lead us somewhere no wolf can find.” He hoped. He’d only been there once, two moons prior the beginning of his apprenticeship with Magpiestar; The Moonlit Caverns. A place where those blessed with the ability to do so commune with their ancestors, sacred and protected.
A small dip beneath a stone obscured by plants Cliffpaw never learned the name of marking an emergency tunnel into the system below -- it was narrow, and not well-maintained but it would have to do. A shriek sounds from behind him, shrill with terror. “AMBERKIT!” Cliffpaw hears the tomkit shout as his eyes meet the dark stare of a wolf whose jaws clamped around the tail of the white and grey tabby she-kit.
“Take the little one and through that hole and RUN-” Cliffpaw orders, hoping his few moons of training would be enough to save Amberkit and get out of there before the wolf could get a worse hold. Without hesitation, he lunges forward and latches to the large hounds face, teeth fighting for a grip against its massive forehead.
He looks down at the wolf, eyes black and hollow, and then further down at Amberkit, tiny and helpless within its jaws. His paw begins to slip when an idea strikes him. Leaning into the weight, Cliffpaw scores his left-front paw down the wolf’s left eye and landing with a thud when it pulls itself back, a high-pitched whimper leaving its muzzle, releasing its hold on Amberkit’s tail.
His mind fights to take the moment to look across the camp while the wolf was still dazed -- were ▇▇▇▇ and ▇▇▇▇ still alive? Did they somehow escape as well? Precious seconds are wasted while Cliffpaw fights against himself, muscles tensing in indecision. A growl, deep and low is quick to make the decision for him. The red tabby surges forward, grabbing Amberkit by her scruff and forcing himself through the tunnels.
Whatever happened above, they would have to get through this together.
hiii welcome to my latest little clangen venture :3
this save, i selected a single apprentice and all the kits i could and decided to let it up to fate if they can rebuild from such a tragedy
post style will probably change moon to moon while i figure out what kind of flow i like, but i hope you enjoy!
“May all cats of BuddingClan gather beneath the Echoed Stones for a clan meeting!”
The words were more familiar now, not feeling so much like a kit playing pretend. Cliffstripe sat confidently atop the towers of stone, reminding himself of how unstable he was the last time he called to the clan.
Amberpaw and Dashpaw were the first to arrive; they offered for Flippaw to stay in the den recovering, still unable to put weight on her injured leg, but she insisted that she’d be there. The sound of kittenspeak alerted the group to the final apprentice’s arrival, an apologetic grin crossing her face as the trio of kittens stumble their way into the clearing.
“Sorry guys, I couldn’t stop them from following me.” She meows, carefully limping to a spot besides Amberpaw.
Pinekit is quick to start pawing at Amberpaw’s cheek fur, looking up at her with large, kitten-blue eyes. “Where been?” She squeaks, sniffing deeply into Amberpaw’s chest. “Smelly.” The kitten backs away, her mouth agape and filled with the new scent.
“Checking the borders.” Amberpaw meows simply, bending down to lick Pinekit’s forehead. “Come here, you can sit in my tail while Cliffstripe talks.” The mottled brown and white she-kit seems to think about the offer for a moment before tottling over and disappearing behind Amberpaw’s abundant fur.
Cougarkit remains by Flippaw’s side as she settles down, Cowkit preoccupied by the apprentice’s waving tail. “Now you guys promised you’d be quiet, right?” The first of the two nods quickly, placing a paw over his mouth in acknowledgement -- the latter remains quiet, focused on Flippaw’s tail.
“If Cowkit causes you trouble, send her over and I can sit on her.” Dashpaw teases, making eye-contact with the kit who shrinks somewhat before moving to sit on Flippaw’s other side.
“Well, no worries, Flippaw. It’s hard when there’s no one else who can watch them.” Cliffstripe speaks up, seeing everyone finally settle. “Without further ado…”
The ginger tom nods to Dashpaw, who raises when Cliffstripe begins.
“Dashpaw, you have trained diligently and have far proven yourself ready for your warrior name. I call down upon our ancestors to look down upon you, and commend you as a full-fledged warrior of BuddingClan. Do you promise to uphold the warrior code and defend this clan with your life?”
“Then, from this day forward you will be known as Dashrabbit; BuddingClan honors your charisma and ability to think fast in dire situations.” Cliffstripe would be lying if he said he wasn’t a little nervous; was naming in honor of Rabbitsnow the right thing? Was that insensitive? He steals a glance at Dashrabbit, who seemed to be gazing upward, eyes brimming with pride.
“Amberpaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and defend this clan even at the cost of your life?”
“I do.” Though she remains seated, Amberpaw’s chest is puffed out, back straight.
“From today, you will be known as Amberhare. BuddingClan welcomes you as a full warrior and honors you for your drive to help others.”
Flippaw is the first to erupt with cheer, to be met by a confused and startled Cougarkit, who thought they needed to be quiet. Before long, Cowkit and Pinekit join in the merrimaking, cheering the new names even if they didn’t fully understand what all of this meant.
Cliffstripe descends from the stones, bumping roughly into Dashrabbit’s shoulder, and then slightly less roughly into Amberhare’s. “Congratulations. I know you'll do great."
