Warriors: Rise of ThornClan

Chapter 1

The wind howled and moaned outside, dragging heavy fleets of snow down from the sky and dumping them on the ThornClan camp below. At the edge of the camp, a dark brown tabby shecat flattened her ears and looked up at the sky, her emerald eyes filled with worry. Rolling her shoulders, she flicked her long tail and entered the nursery: a brittle, nettle-filled scraggly bush. Not the best of places for kits to be born and raised, especially with the harsh conditions of ThornClan- since the many moons ago when they had entered the Four Clan Systems' territory and taken over ShadowClan, RiverClan, WindClan, and ThunderClan, StarClan seemed to hate ThornClan for disrupting their peaceful existence, and never gave them any sunny days. On a good day, the cloud layer was thin, and no rain fell. Also, ThornClan's territory wasn't preferable; it consisted of a dry, bare tundra with a bush once in a blue moon. The ground was coated with scruffy bitter grass and briars. Fitting for a merciless clan. The shecat, leader of ThornClan, would almost have felt guilty- if not for the fact that ThornClan sneered at the notion of StarClan. Superstitious nonsense.
And, of course, the fact that they had no room for pity in their cold hearts.
A yowl split the frigid, bitter air in two.
The shecat flattened her ears and padded quickly toward the source of the sound, her bone- thin frame visible. In a land where the only prey was a scrawny, pitiful creature known as a nettlebird, no one was ever full. And as the leader of ThornClan, the shecat was fed last.
She entered the den. Inside, Brackenheart shuddered on the floor, her tawny pelt drenched with sweat and her amber eyes slitted with pain. Next to her, Snowpool, the shecat's best friend, shook her long ebony pelt- save one snow-white paw- and stared up at the shecat with anxious eyes. "She's having a hard time kitting," Snowpool told her nervously, "It'll be a winter miracle if both she and her kits make it through, Leafstep."
Leafstep, our narrative heroine, forced back a groan. Unfortunately, Spiderpelt, Brackenheart's mate, emitted a loud enough groan to trump Leafstep's would have been. The wind picked up speed outside, and Brackenheart shrieked.
The kits were coming.
Spiderpelt raced over, his long- legged frame and slate colored coat rippling as he passed. Snowpool nodded eagerly to Brackenheart. "Don't worry, honey..." she coaxed, and Leafstep felt a throb of pride for the calm head her friend was keeping. "Just one, two, three, and... there!"
Leafstep' heart leapt as a small bundle of flame- colored wet fur appeared from under Snowpool's feet. Leafstep rushed over and began to lick the kit, her heart beating rapidly. Could she save it?
"There's another!" Spiderpelt cried as a light grey shape came to.
"Two more, you can do it." Snowpool comforted Brackenheart, who contorted with agony- before a dappled dark grey kit and another ginger kit appeared.
"It's done." Snowpool breathed above the howling of the storm. Leafstep purred. "Four beautiful kits for ThornClan?  Brackenheart, you have made your clan proud."
Brackenheart dipped her head, her eyes  filled with immense joy. She nuzzled all of her kits closer, and nudged her firstborn, the bright ginger kitten. It opened its eyes, a startling shade of amber to match Brackenheart's. A tom kit.
"Firekit." Spiderpelt murmured, and Leafstep looked up at him. "To warm his siblings during these cold nights of winter."
Brackenheart purred throatily. "Perfect."
She then turned to the dark grey she-kit."Icekit?" Spiderpelt suggested, but Brackenheart shook her head. "Winterkit, for the storm."
She turned to the last two kits, the dark kit and the other ginger kit.
"Ebonykit?" Brackenheart thought. "Or, Amberkit? For her eyes?"
"What about Shadekit?" Leafstep rumbled. Spiderpelt nodded with a smile. "And the last should be Briarkit, like my lovely Brackenheart." He purred, nuzzling her. Snowpool and Leafstep exchanged knowing glances, and left into the blizzard to leave the happy family be.