Clans

*Warning: intense battle scenes
Prologue

A pale brown tabby she-cat crept along the shadow of an old barn. A strong scent of smoke hit her nose, wrinkling her nose in disgust, she slipped into the crumbling building.
Why does Crowstar care about this place so much?! , she thought back to the order she received from her leader.
“Applebreeze, go spy on those terrible rogues’ barn so we know what to do when we attack them!”, she mimicked her leader’s demanding tone.
Then she remembered the rogues that killed his mate and Stormfang’s sister.
I shouldn’t be so selfish, she thought.
With a new purpose she continued on. Suddenly she heard the rogues. Backing up, she perked up her ears to listen to their conversation.
What’s this?, she thought, I thought we were fighting rogues, not kits!
There were five cats around a nest. Three she-kits that looked to be around, a queen, and a fully grown tom cat. The adult she-cat curled her long furred auburn pelt around the three kits. Then she lifted her head and began talking to the tom.
Probably her mate, thought Applebreeze.
Applebreeze began creeping forward to listen.
“That won’t be hard. They are already perfect Flower,” purred the tom with light gray fur.
So Flower is the name of that auburn furred queen,
Then an older she-cat with the same auburn long fur padded over.
Flower is probably her daughter, thought Applebreeze.
“Hi grandma!”, squealed one of the kits.
“Hi Fern. You can just call me Pine. It sounds tougher!”, the kit’s grandma, Pine, mock growled, acting tough.
“Eek!”, screamed the kits, diving back into their mother’s fur.
“You have your paws full there! Three kits are a real pawful!” Pine purred.
Just then, a dark brown tom kit scampered over curiously.
“Did I look like that when I was born?” he asked.
“Yes you did” Flower responded.
“Oak! Get over here! You should be asleep!” yowled a she-cat with a similar pelt to the clumsy tom kit.
She’s probably Oak’s mother, thought Applebreeze.
“Come on Ivy let him meet them!”, laughed Flower.
Turning her attention to Oak, Flower said “Be very careful, they may be three moons, but they are still much younger than you”
“Ok,” Oak said, nodding.
Suddenly, a large black tom crashed into the barn with blood dripping down his side.
“Shadow!”, cried Ivy, “What happened?!”
Shadow stood there for a moment trying to catch his breath.
Wait! What’s that?, thought Applebreeze as the scent of her clan hit her nose.
They’re not supposed to be here yet!, thought Applebreeze.
Shadow finally managed to get out some words.
“WindClan, they’re coming”, he sputtered.
Flower shrieked and rushed to hide the kits in her nest. Applebreeze paused, unsure of what to do.
Then WindClan came.
Crowstar let out a loud caterwaul and streaked into the barn with a group of WindClan’s strongest fast on his heels. The swift battle trained Clan cats easily gained the upper hand. Applebreeze snapped back into and jumped into the fray. She raised her paw and swiped, it collided with the light gray furred tom Moss. They rolled around, clawing each other. Blood was pounding in Applebreeze’s ears and the adrenaline of the battle had made her confused. Finally Applebreeze saw her chance. She faked to the left, catching Moss off guard, and swiped to the right, raking Moss down his side. Moss ran further back into the barn.
Probably to find his mate, thought Applebreeze.
Focusing back on the battle she found her clanmates driving back the rogues. The battle was hectic and it was hard to discern a rogue from clanmate. There were more than Applebreeze thought, but they still didn’t stand a chance. Then she saw Stormfang, a broad-shouldered tom cornering Flower.
Uh oh, thought Applebreeze, the kits!
He was approaching Flower with his teeth bared. Applebreeze saw Flower rear up and strike Stormfang.
Oh no, thought Applebreeze, Stormfang is set on avenging his sister!
Stormfang let out a snarl and viciously swiped at Flower. Flower rolled out of the way and clawed him in the muzzle. Flower fought hard, but it was obvious to Applebreeze that WindClan was stronger. Just as the rogues fled the barn, Crowstar called to retreat.
“We have beaten them! They will leave forever! WindClan retreat!”
Crowstar, Applebreeze, and the deputy, Longstep had all begun to exit the barn but no other warriors followed. Clearly the heat of the battle had dulled their senses. All of the rogues had appeared to abandon the barn. Zeroing in on the two remaining WindClan warriors, Applebreeze gasped. Flamerunner and Stormfang were batting at Flower in her nest. Just as Stormfang swiped his paw at Flower time seemed to stop. Fern crawled out from behind the nest, confused and wailing. No one noticed her. Flower was engaged in the fight with Stormfang and Stormfang just wanted to avenge his sister. Applebreeze gasped as she saw Stormfang go for the killing blow.
He has no idea that she has kits just like him, thought Applebreeze.
Then something happened that Applebreeze did not expect. Just as Stormfang went to rake his claws down Flower’s stomach Fern stumbled and fell right in the way of Stormfang’s claws. The blow went right through both of them and ended them instantly. Stormfang paused, unsure of himself, then crumpled.
Crowstar looked at Stormfang with a pitiful gaze, then looked to Longstep and nodded. Crowstar grasped Flower’s scruff with his teeth and exited the barn with Flamerunner.
To bury her, thought Applebreeze sadly.
Then Longstep went to get Fern.
“Wait,” called Applebreeze, “there are two other kits.”
“What!?”, cried Longstep.
“Here, I’ll show you”, said Applebreeze, picking apart the nest to reveal the two she-kits.
“They’ve gone into shock”, sighed Longstep.
“Yes, but what will we do?”, burst Applebreeze, realizing what had just happened.
“I can assure you that those rogues are not coming back after this fight. I’m afraid that Crowstar has gone too far this time”, moaned Longstep.
“That doesn’t solve anything!”, cried Applebreeze, “Are we just going to take them to WindClan like nothing happened?!”
“Yes,” replied Longstep, “that is exactly what we will do.”