~Chapter Five~

Thunderclan:

Leader;
Copper'star: A sleek brown she-cat with darker brown dapples.
Apprentice: Breeze'paw

Deputy;
Small'hiss: Skinny she-cat with slick brown and white fur.

Medicine cat:
Torn'foot: A dark golden tabby she-cat with lighter golden markings. She has a injured foot, showing her toe bones, giving her the name she got.
Apprentice: Cream'paw

Warriors;
Evening'slip: A golden tabby she-cat with darker brown stripes
Smoke'flower: A grey she-cat striped with white on her paws, muzzle, chest and underbelly, tailtip and ears.
Apprentice: Lavender'paw
Sun'breeze: A pale, golden she-cat with deep blue eyes
Apprentice: Night'paw
Bat'leap: A dark brown she-cat riddled with old scars.
Golden'blaze: A deep golden tom with darker golden stripes down his body. He has bright blue eyes, like the river.

Apprentices;
Night'paw: An inky black tom with white markings along his pelt.
Lavender'paw: A bright lavender-colored she-cat with green-ish blue eyes
Cream'paw: A cream colored she-cat with shaded yellow spots marked along her body
Breeze'paw: A blue she-cat with darker blue, almost black, spots.

Queens;
Dew'tail: A slick white she-cat striped with darker grey stripes and spots.

Kits;
Black'kit: A dark brown tom with white speckles along his pelt. Amber-yellow eyes. Dew'tail's first born.
Blizzard'kit: A white she-kit with brown stripes running in a pattern along her body. Heterochromia, she has one amber eye, one blue eye. Dew'tail's youngest.

RiverClan:
Leader;
Storm'star: A sleek blue she-cat, stripes of white on her fur.

Deputy:
Otter'stalk: A slim brown she cat with some light blue spots on her fur.

Medicine cat:
Ice'whisker: A skinny she-cat, pure white. She looks like an albino, if it wasn't for her slight blue tinges.

Shadowclan;

Leader:
Mouse'star: A scraggly brown tom.

Deputy:
Dawn'cloud: A slick red and white tortiseshell she-cat.

Medicine cat:
Twisted'echo: A smooth-furred she-cat. Her main color is black, although her muzzle is a different shade of grey, and even a lighter shade of grey. Along with her ears, eye splotched and eyebrows. Under her neck is a grey color, that goes to her underbelly. Her legs are the grey color to her toes. Her toes are pure white, giving her a snow-like color. Her tail starts as black, fades to grey, then to white near the tail tip.

Windclan;

Leader:
Fieldstar: A golden and ginger tom. Tabby.

Deputy:
Gingerleap: A ginger tom with some markings of white and a lighter ginger.

Medicine cat:
FallWings: A bright golden tom. He has the colors of early leaf-fall, a bit struggle with hunting.

Cats outside of clans:

Jess: A black kittypet she with white markings on her tailtip, around her eyes and chest fluff.
RiDie: A jet black tom with deep, almost red amber eyes; Rogue
Riah: A nice chocolate colored she-cat, with bright green eyes; Rogue
Damien: A dark brown tom with white markings on his underbelly, tail tip, an ear and a paw. His brown fur seems to fade into the white marks as they approach. He also has amber eyes that can look red on first glance; Rogue
User/Usy: A white and black spotted she-cat with deep amber eyes; Loner
Jewel/Jew: A grey she-cat with a white underbelly and a white streak under her tail. She has deep blue eyes and a deep blue bow around her neck; Loner
~

Small'hiss padded out of camp slowly, sniffing the air for prey. She wondered if she could frame someone for Dew'tail's murder instead of doing the dirty work herself. She stalked along the territory, and found a jay pecking at some seeds on a rock. She was surprised this kind of prey was still around because it was leafbare. Gradually, she crept closer to the prey, hiding a fair distance away in a bush that barely had leaves left. She wiggled her haunches, about to pounce, before a grey blur of fur shot out and killed the jay easily. Small'hiss crouched down, eyes narrowing as she glared at the grey cat. The cat that killed her prey was a light grey color, with white markings along her underbelly and tail; A perfect fit for leafbare, beside the dark blue bow around their neck, Small'hiss noted. Small'hiss picked up the scent of the barn, mingled with she-cat, and some sweet scent that made Small'hiss perk her ears. Small'hiss opened her jaw, trying to focus on the sweet scent. Small'hiss froze as memories flashed in her head, recognizing the she-cat. When Small'hiss focused back on the world, she saw the tip of the she's tail disappear in the faint undergrowth. The warrior quickly shot to her paws and followed after the scent she picked up, wandering around her territory. Small'hiss didn't know where she was going, she just wanted to follow after the scent, and figure out if this was really her. After a bit of walking, Small'hiss had stalked the loner she-cat to the cave where they met Riah, RiDie and Damien. Another familiar scent wafted into Small'hiss's nose, making her fur bristle. The grey and white loner mewed out, and another figure emerged from the cave. It was another she-cat, and, as she emerged from the shadows, revealed her pelt to be black and white, splotched in different places. Small'hiss almost wanted to meow out loud right then and there, but just carefully rustled the bushes to draw attention to herself. The two loners turned their heads, the grey one dashing into the den, while the black and white one narrowed her eyes and hissed. Small'hiss poked her head out of the bush as she saw the loner stare at her, carefully walking out of the bush and resting beside it once she fully emerged. "What's your business here?" The loner growled at her, fur bristling. Small'hiss could tell she was unnerved, and quickly said the first thing on her mind. "I'm looking for two cats.. Usy and Jew...?" The shecats pelt lowered and her figure rose, but her eyes were still narrowed at Small'hiss. "Yes, that's us.. What do you want with us?" Small'hiss couldn't hold back purring, and stood up. She made sure to have a soft smile on her face, and just the thought of having found her friends made faint tears enter her eyes. "D-Do you remember someone of the name 'Eli'?" Small'hiss cleared her throat to help herself not stutter, silently watching as the loner, Usy, nodded. "She was an old loner friend of ours.. We saw her as kin... She ran off after another friend died.." The loner had glanced away and not noticed as Small'hiss got closer. Once she was close enough, Small'hiss pressed her nose on Usy's cheek, and murmured. "It's me, Eli..." She felt the muscles in her friend tense, and the two fell into a silence. After what felt like a moon, Usy turned and dug her muzzle into Small'hiss's neck, and Small'hiss could feel the warm tears of the other fall. Small'hiss purred comfortingly, nuzzling into Usy. "Eli-..." The dapples she-cat murmured, smiling as she pulled back. She turned over her shoulder. "Jewel! Eli's back!" Usy called, watching as the grey she-cat emerged from the den. She scanned her deep blue eyes over Small'hiss before pelting over, and skidding to a stop about a mouse-length infrotn of her. Small'hiss felt awkward with the hard glare of her friend, but soon was comforted when Jewel licked the side of Small'hiss's cheek. Small'hiss purred, nuzzling Jewel in return, a feeling of relaxation and peace rushing over her figure. Small'hiss lifted her head and watched as Jewel pressed on her left side, and Usy pressed on her right, both shecats nuzzling into her. (so gay oml-) Small'hiss smiled, not noticing the rank scent of one of her friends in the midst of the air, surrounded by the sweet scent of Usy and Jewel. The warrior opened her eyes and glanced around, noticing the dark brown glows in the bush, her fur bristling. Time seemed to slow down as she watched a shadow leap from the bushes, and she dashed from her friends, tackling the mass of fur that aimed to attack Jewel. She felt the mass thud onto the ground with the force of her leap, loud hissing coming from behind her, Jewel and Usy. Small'hiss glared down at the mass of fur, a dark brown with almost a darker black stripe along her back; Small'hiss knew this cat anywhere, Bat'leap. The former rogue kicked Small'hiss off of her before shooting to her paws, eyes narrowing at all three. Small'hiss lashed her dark brown tail, making a signal to her old friends behind her, feeling the gentle pawsteps hit the ground as the two figures moved next to Small'hiss, yet still behind her. "Small'hiss, this looks very bad for the deputy to be sitting and nuzzling against two loners." Bat'leap growled, her pelt bristled. Usy stepped forward, examining Bat'leap. "Dep... It's no issue, we're friends." Bat'leap's eyes widened, before narrowing again at Usy. "Ah.. User, Jewel... I didn't notice it was you two..." Small'hiss could sense the tension between the three shecats, watching as User and Jewel walked closer to Bat'leap. The fur of all three cats was bristled along the spine, eyes narrowed at each other, a gentle growl rising in Users throat. Bat'leap narrowed her eyes, straightening her stance. Small'hiss felt like it would get too escalated and stepped forward, shoving the shecats away. "Hey, hey. The three of you, calm down." She let her fur bristle as she watched User and Jewel submit, backing up about a tail-length and sitting down. Small'hiss thrashed her head to her other side, growling at Bat'leap, who also backed away. Small'hiss shook her fur, becoming calm once more. "User, Jewel, do you know of a barn to live at?" Small'hiss meowed, her gaze turning to the two loners, who shook their heads. "It's just over there, the coast of that other territory," Bat'leap pointed her tail to where they usually went to talk to Riah, RiDie and Damien. "There are others like you there, and they know us. Just meow at the door, or look around the windows. When the rogues ask who you are, explain that you know us." User and Jewel had their ears lifted, nodding, before gazing over to Small'hiss, who also spoke up again. "Three names in specific those cats are close to. The big brute of a tomcat has Bat'leap close to his heart, the smaller brown tom with white markings has my daughter, Lavender'paw close to him," Small'hiss flicked her ears, getting cut off as Bat'leap finished it off. "And the smaller, brown she-cat has our leader, Copper'star, fairly close to her." User and Jewel nodded, turning their heads to where Bat'leap pointed. They said farewell and padded off, disappearing in the snowy trees, leaving the clan cats to wander back to camp like they had done before. Small'hiss and Bat'leap returned to camp shortly, it was busy like usual; Warriors huddled around each other for warmth, apprentices messing around and getting led out of camp to train. Small'hiss turned her head to quiet squeaks and meows from the nursery, just to see Dew'tail's two kits, Black'kit and Blizzard'kit, jump out of the nursery and pounce on the snow. Blizzard'kit almost disappeared into the snow, and Dew'tail had to fish her from the thick white substance. Small'hiss growled, glaring at the queen and kits, before she was called by Copper'star. "Small'hiss, gather a hunting patrol. The prey pile is low, this leafbare looks like we'll struggle." The dappled leader spoke, motioning to the near-empty pile. Small'hiss nodded and gathered a few warriors before heading out. Small'hiss led them towards ShadowClan territory, wandering towards the frozen lake as the others disbursed. Small'hiss lay on the snow, stalking along for scents, soon catching a scent of water vole. She sat silent, her ears twitching as she saw a mass of brown rise from a burrow and wander onto the frozen lake. She wiggled her haunches and leaped, hearing the sound of the ice crack under her heavy paws as she landed, the water vole having scuttered away. Before Small'hiss could react, her hind was submerged with the cold, dark water, her claws gripping the weak ice desperately. She let out a yowl as she felt her claws slip, wishing desperately that someone of her hunting patrol would hear her. She couldn't see above the ice anymore, her claws just barely hung onto the surface, her jaw barely floating above the water. Small'hiss felt her claws slip, and just about was fully submerged before she felt something sharp dig into her scruff. She was tugged back onto land, and she felt herself get tugged from the ice onto the snowy dirt, blinking her eyes open. Sun'breeze had dragged her out of the water, Night'paw and Evening'slip sat by her side, rubbing her pelt to warm her. Small'hiss shook her pelt and sat up, stumbling onto her paws with Sun'breeze and Evening'slip flanking her. "What happened, Small'hiss?" Night'paw perked up as the group headed back to camp. "I was chasing a water vole and the ice caved under my paws..." Small'hiss murmured, shaking her pelt at the cold. "You might get some sort of sickness, just incase, we'll drop you off with Cream'paw and Torn'foot." Sun'breeze purred. Small'hiss simply nodded, letting the cats lead her to camp, the barbs of the gorse soon coming into view. Small'hiss stumbled into the camp with the shecats flanking her sides, Night'paw sat behind them. Small'hiss was still soaked from almost drowning in the freezing lake, parts of her pelt having dried up in spikes. The deputy lifted her head as Cream'paw bounded over to her, Torn'foot limping along after her apprentice. "Mom! What happened?" Cream'paw exclaimed as she got close, pupils slitted, seeming to be in fear. "Don't worry, dear... I just fell into the lake a bit.." Small'hiss murmured, trying to calm her daughter. "She half-drowned. If we weren't gathering around, she would be submerged in the lake." Evening'slip meowed, gently shaking her pelt. Cream'paw flattened her ears, staring up at her mentor as the limping medicine cat approached, taking Small'hiss from the other cats and leading her to the medicine den. Small'hiss flopped down into a warm nest of moss as she entered the den, letting out a heavy sigh, blinking her eyes open as Cream'paw set down some herbs. "Eat. It'll help your body temperature and stuff." She murmured, making Small'hiss purr out of amusement, eating the herbs. Cream'paw advised her to rest before jumping into the main clearing, and Small'hiss did just that, laying her head down in her paws and falling into a deep sleep.

~

2473 Words

Eek eek, next chapter has Dew'tail and her kits dying- ;>