Warriors: The Prophecy of Fire

Chapter Twelve

It had been about a moon since Dawnstar was made leader, Lakeclaw had been moved to the queens den about seven sunrises ago, and the Clan had finally adjusted to the new leader. Dawnstar was doing well as a leader, and Lilypelt was a great deputy. It was almost sun-up, and Hawthornepaw was fast asleep.

She was in the forest again, the fire burning all around her, the sound of cats yowling out in pain, their cries each more and more desperate. The two familiar shadows made their way into the fire, all around them the fire started dimming, slowly extinguishing, the yowls fading with it. They opened their jaws and...

"Hawthornepaw!" A voice called out, she opened her eyes, why could she never hear what the cat had to say? She shook out her fur and saw the black tom standing over her, his amber eyes glowing in worry. "Lakeclaw's kitting, come help!"

"But she's not supposed to kit for a little more than a quarter moon!"

"Sometimes queens kit early, it's not completely uncommon, but she needs us, hurry." Hawthornepaw leapt out of her nest and followed Mosstail to the nursery, where she sees Lakeclaw lying on her side, Hawkheart next to her. "Hawkheart, go grab a stick for her to bite on," he nods and races away. "Hawthornepaw, go get some raspberry leaves." She nods and races back to the den, grabbing the leaves, and bounds back to the nursery, where Hawkheart is giving his mate a stick. He sees Hawthornepaw with the leaves and pulls it out of her mouth so that she can eat the herb, she quickly chews it and he gives her the stick back. She yowls into the stick as she pushes out her first kit, a grey/blue she-cat, and Hawthornepaw nips her sac and pushes her to her mother, who drops the stick and pulls her tiny, healthy, kit close. Next comes a tiny brown tom, who she pulls in next to his sister. Finally comes a light brown she-cat, Hawthornepaw hurriedly nips her out of her sac but she isn't breathing, so she starts licking her fur the wrong way, which can help her start breathing, but it doesn't work, the tiny kit lies there, her body limp. Lakeclaw reaches over and pulls the lifeless kit to her, urgently licking her fur, trying to get her to wake up. Mosstail rests his tail on the distressed queen's shoulder.

"I'm so sorry, Lakeclaw. She's dead." The queen lets out a yowl of despair as she stops licking her kit, the light brown she-cat's eyes closed. 

The queen whimpers, her eyes glazed in grief, and Hawthornepaw feels Mosstail brush past her and sees the dusty brown tom enter the den, his face soft with concern when he sees his mate lying there, and pads gently over to her, seeing her looking down at the light brown kit. Hawthornepaw hears him stifle a whine as he walks over to his dead kit, gently licking her and picking up the tiny kit by the scruff. The queen stays surrounding her two remaining kits and Mosstail stays with her, making sure the queen is alright. Hawthornepaw follows Hawkheart into the camp, where it looks like the whole Clan is out there, evidently woken by the queens yowls. They see the limp kit in his jaws and start murmuring among themselves, and Hawthornepaw steps forward, addressing her Clan.

"Lakeclaw is in good health, and she has given birth to two healthy kits, a tom and a she-cat, but she did have a still born she-cat, we tried to revive her but we held no avail." Ravenwing had left the den and waked up and nuzzled the dusty brown tom, Hawthornepaw remembered hearing at one point that the black tom was his father. Mosstail made his way out the nursery and whispered in Hawkheart's ear, and the tom made his way back to the nursery, carrying the kit with him. Soon, he came back out and gently placed the kit on the ground.

"Lakeclaw and I have named her Hollykit, we thought it would be right to let her have a name before we bury her," he says, before digging a hole next to the nursery, and gently placing the light brown kit in it. Dawnstar steps forward and rests her tail on the tom's shoulder.

"Hollykit, may the sun warm your back and the fish leap into your paws." The tom takes his paw and pushes a scoop of dirt over the kit's body, and the Clan follows suit, soon Lakeclaw makes her way out of the nursery to say goodbye to her kit, then goes back to her nest to be with her other kits. When Hollykit is finally buried completely, Lilypelt sighs and forms patrols for that morning. Hawthornepaw races into the medicine cat den and grabs some borage before racing back to the nursery and giving it to the queen. She eats it and her kits start nursing.

"Have you picked names for them yet?" 

"Yeah, me and Hawkheart were thinking Skykit for the she-cat and Oakkit for the tom."

Hawthornepaw purrs, "Those are beautiful. I'm so sorry about Hollykit, but I know that you will be a great mother to these two."

Now it was Lakeclaw's turn to purr, "Thank you, Hawthornepaw. I know that you will make a great medicine cat someday." Hawthornepaw flicks her tail in appreciation and takes one more look at the two tiny kits before heading out of the nursery and over to Hawkheart, who was still standing over Hollykit's grave.

"Hey Hawkheart," she says gently. "Lakeclaw's nursing right now, but I know she would love for you to come visit her soon."

The brown tom sighs, "Of course, is she doing ok?"

"She's doing great, and Skykit and Oakkit are doing well, too." He purrs at the names of his kits and shakes out his fur before padding his way over to the nursery and stepping in, purring again at the sight of his kits. Hawthornepaw sighs and grabs one of the tiny fish from the fresh-kill pile and eats it before heading back to the medicine cat den to sort some more herbs that Mosstail had just gotten back with. 

Before she knows it, the sky is pitch black and the Silverpelt is glimmering. Purring to herself as she takes one last look at the sky, she falls asleep, mourning the loss of a cat so young, but happy that her littermates had made it.