Outcasts of the Stars: Exiles (Book 1)

Chapter 1

                The four cats gathered at the middle of a clearing they found. "This sounds really mousebrained, but I don't know all of your names yet..." The tabby trailed off. "Well we should probably introduce ourselves. I'll go first, I'm Starlingfur." A black tom announced. "I'm Branchtail." The tabby flicked his tail, signaling someone else to go. "Well I'm Gorsethorn, and this is Quickwind." The golden she cat nodded to the cat next to her.
                 "You know each other then?" Branchtail asked. "Yes, we've seen eachother at gatherings." Quickwind spoke calmly. "Oh don't be such a liar, I think it's obvious we're at least friends!" Gorsethorn purred. Quickwind looked away in embarrassment and tried to change the subject by suggesting a hunt to explore the new territory.
                  Each cat found plenty of prey to eat and formed a fresh kill pile in the clearing. The next best thing to do would probably be finding spots to form dens and start to make this into a proper camp, Quickwind thought. She shared her idea with her new clanmates and they agreed. "Let's split up and explore the camp," Branchtail suggested. "Quickwind, check the rock edge, Gorsethorn, you can check the bushes, and Starlingfur, go and check the trees."
                    So confident already, does he think he'll be clan leader? Quickwind bounded to the looming cliff face at the northernmost edge of the camp. It was large, with a lot of cave entrances dappling the otherwise smooth rock. Maybe those caves can make good dens... She thought passively. As she jumped up to the edge of the lowest entrance, a snake met her with a hiss of anger. She fell backwards but got a grip on the edge of the rock.
                      After a few moments of shock, she yowled. Gorsethorn heard her and ran to the rock. She jumped up to see what happened before Quickwind could warn her. She saw the snake and instinctively slashed at it with her front claws. The snake backed away into the furthest reaches of the cave. "That's right! Run you mangy creature!" Gorsethorn yowled after it.
                       She turned her attention once again to Quickwind, who couldn't get enough of a grip to crawl back up. She let out a rumbling purr at the sight before hauling her clanmate back into the cave. "You alright?" She asked. "Yeah, I just wasn't expecting to see that though." Quickwind gave herself a few embarrassed licks of her chest fur. "Thanks for getting me up, I thought the caves would be alright but on second thought, I don't think anyone would like snakes in their bedding."
                        As the two she cats met with Branchtail to give their report, Starlingfur finished checking out the trees. "Bad luck." Branchtail grimaced at the thought of snakes. "Did you finish checking the bushes, Gorsethorn?" "Yes, they aren't the best for shelter but we could use them as a last resort." Starlingfur joined the three and gave the knews of just how well the trees would make for shelter. "We could use the holes and gaps in the trunk to sleep in if we put bedding in there, and they double as decent hiding spots should dangerous animals come strolling into camp."
                       "Well now that the dens are settled, we should probably think of a leader and a name for ourselves, otherwise we aren't really a true clan." Branchtail insisted. "Yeah, but even then four cats doesn't really make a clan either." Gorsethorn retorted. "Besides, which of us should be leader? We don't know if Starclan is even this far away from the other clans." Starlingfur pointed out. They didn't see the Starclan cat earlier? Weird. Quickwind shifted her paws uneasily at the thought of oncoming hostility from the other cats. After all, the others do look eager to become leaders one day, I don't want to get on their bad side...
                        "Well..." She started, "A Starclan cat visited me when we arrived, and said that this is our rightful home. Maybe we can find some way to contact them and have them choose." "Sounds reasonable. Good thinking Quickwind." Gorsethorn mewed. "How do you think we could get Starclan's attention? Is there somewhere like the Moonpool here maybe?" Starlingfur inquired. "If there is then we just have to explore the territory to find it!" Branchtail replied decisively. Then I suppose we should get to it.