Pantherpaw's journey Ch. 2

Pantherkit was eating with her brothers when she saw Bluestream leave the nursery.  Shouldn't she still be with her kits?  She wondered as she saw Bluestream disappear into Bramblestar's den.  "Why is Bluestream meeting with Bramblestar?"  She asked her brothers as she watched Bluestream go back to the nursery with Bramblestar following.
"Who cares?"  Tigerkit answered, not even bothering to look up.
Pantherkit narrowed her eyes at him and snuck over to the opening of the nursery and settled down to listen.
"-clan warrior told me" she heard Bluestream saying.
"Are you sure he was a member of Starclan?"
"Yes, I was standing at the highest peak on this mountain, with the pool of stars below me."
"Then you must have met a warrior of Starclan.  No one but Starclan hunts the skies by The Pool of Stars.  Among our guardian clan, that is common knowledge."
Guardian clan?  Pantherkit wondered, why did Bramblestar call our clan the Guardian clan?
"But what did he tell you?"  Bramblestar pressed.
"He said 'You will find the names of your kits written in the skies.  The sun, moon and stars live in the sky, as your kits will live here in the clans.'  And with that, he walked out of the nursery, the same way he came."
"So why did you tell me this?"
"Because I have decided to name them Sunkit, Moonkit, and Starkit."  Bluestream stated simply.
"You can't name your kit Starkit, she could never be a leader with that name!"
"Look at her paw, she'll never be a warrior." Bluestream sadly whispered.
Pantherkit couldn't take the suspense any more.  "What's wrong with Starkit's paw?" She asked slipping into the den.
"You were listening." Bramblestar said, leaving no doubt that he knew she had heard the whole thing and had not just gotten there.
"Yes," She admitted, knowing that she could not lie to him, "But what's wrong with Starkit's paw?"  At her question he nodded towards the tiny kit as Bluestream nudged her, causing her to roll over.  Pantherkit gasped when she saw the tiny paw, because there was no paw.  Half of the kit's hind leg was missing.


The icy wind whipped at Pantherkit's fur as she stalked the mountain bird across the rocks, knowing that it would be forced to land before long.  She padded forward on silent paws, following the bird as it swooped towards the rocks.  Good! She thought as she saw it land in an area the cats usually avoided because of the many chasms, at least the ledge is big enough for me to land safely.  She positioned herself above the bird and leaped, but as she reached the height of her leap, she heard a cat cry out in pain and rage, causing her to lose her focus, and she tripped as she landed, rolling in a flurry of tail and paws.  Desperate, she reached out and managed to grab a hold of the cliff edge as her hindquarters slid off.  She was hanging there, struggling to pull herself up, when she noticed the bird standing by her, watching her.  She locked eyes with it and froze in fear, for in the bird's eyes was all the cold of leaf-bare, and she knew she could expect no mercy from it.  The bird struck with beak and talons, wrenching her claws from the rocks, and Pantherkit howled with rage and fear as she slipped over the edge, and into the black abyss.


Pantherkit struggled back into the waking world when something small and furry landed on top of her head.  "She won't wake up!" a tiny voice screamed in her ear.  "Moonkit, go and get Goldenwing."
"I might be able to get up if you would get off my head, you great lump!" She growled, shoving her denmate off of her face.  She groaned when she opened her eyes and saw which kit had pounced on her.  Of course it was Starkit who was stirring up trouble.  "For Starclan's sake, Starkit" she growled when she saw the kit crouch down and wiggle her hindquarters. "Can't you wait for me to get up?" with that she flopped back onto her side and added "I'm trying to sleep."
Her eyes were closed for half a heartbeat when she felt Starkit land on her head again.  "You can't win if you're asleep!" Starkit crowed in her ear.
"I can't, can I?" Pantherkit growled menacingly.  A split second later, she leapt up, sending Starkit sprawling into her nest, squealing with delight.  She heard a rustling on the other side of the nursery and saw that Bluestream was waking up.  Vole dung!  She thought with a glance at Starkit.  Bluestream had been overprotective of Starkit since the day she was born because of her bad leg.  If she sees us playing like this I'll be the one getting yelled at!  "Come on Starkit," She called to her denmate, trying to escape the nursery before Bluestream woke up, "Let's go play outside!"
That was all it took.  She blinked and Starkit was already gone.  She followed Starkit out into the main cave, and was surprised by a voice behind her.  "So where are we going?"  Moonkit had followed them out.
"Let's go visit Goldenwing.  Maybe she'll let us out of the cave to gather herbs!"
"That won't work, Starkit.  I've already tried, but I have an even better idea!" Pantherkit definitely wasn't trying again after last time.
"What is it?"
"Let's go to the training cave!"
"But kits aren't allowed in there!" Moonkit broke in, "What if we get caught?"
"Warriors aren't afraid of anything!" Pantherkit challenged, "Are you a mouse or a warrior?"
"I'm a warrior!" he cried.
"Then let's go."  She whispered, "And for Starclan's sake, be quiet.  We can't be caught."