Warriors: Rise of the Shadows (Book 2)

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Lilyleaf thought back to the first time she'd met a cat from another Clan. She shuddered as she remembered the circumstances. Now that she and three other cats from the other Clans were meeting in secret, she would have to break the code.

As she rose to her paws, her belly growled and she gingerly made her way to the prey pile. Driftlake took out a patrol before she left her nest and hadn't returned yet. So the only pieces of prey on the pile were two mice, an old vole, and a rabbit.

Not wanting to look greedy, Lilyleaf snatched the old vole and carried it across the camp on heavy paws. Her stomach ached and so did her paws. But nothing hurt more than her heart. Waspsting didn't want the kits, but Lilyleaf did.

Sighing to clear her mind, the she-cat bit into her prey and began chewing. The vole was tough and tasteless, but she didn't care. Prey was prey, no matter what it tasted like.

With her kits due at any moment, Sagepine urged her to eat more than her normal one piece of prey each meal.

"It'll help you and the kits if you eat more," the medicine cat had told her the other day when Lilyleaf entered her den for a check-up. "If you move to the nursery, I can have one of the other warriors give you prey."

Lilyleaf turned down the offer and refused to go into the nursery for fear of being stuck in the den forever. A chill went down the length of her spine at the thought of being trapped in the nursery, unable to go on patrols and providing for her Clan.

When she told Kinkfern about her kits, her brother was ecstatic. But when she explained that Waspsting didn't approve of the kits, he turned sympathetic and supportive. Stating that he would help care for the kits once they were born.

Though she loved her brother, Lilyleaf discouraged him from assisting in raising them. She wasn't helpless and she wanted her kits to grow independent and not rely on others.

As she finished off the vole in a few bites, her belly began to twist into a pain she had never felt before. Lilyleaf gasped, surprised at how much pain she was in and doubled over.

The cats in the camp looked over at her with concern and only a pawful approached her. One of them being Hailstorm, one of the youngest and newest warriors.

"Are you okay, Lilyleaf?" Asked the tom, gazing at her with alarm. After seeing her glazed eyes, Hailstorm took a step back. "I'll get Sagepine!" He meowed quickly and rushed to go find the medicine cat.

"Sagepine is out collecting herbs with Halfmist!" Mintfall meowed, his eyes widening. "Find Sparrowstar!"

Primrosewing hissed in annoyance, her tail lashing as she bounded towards Lilyleaf. "What good will the leader of our Clan do when a cat is kitting?"

No one answered to that question and Lilyleaf was glad no one did. Her stomach pulsed and she cried out in pain so loudly, she thought the other three Clans would come running to shut her up.

Acting on her paws, Flameheart yowled. "Find a stick!" She ordered and every cat looked dumbfounded at her sudden demand.

As though being smacked on the nose with a paw, Blossomflight raced towards her with a stick in her jaws. She laid it in Lilyleaf's paws and the she-cat took it between her jaws.

Biting down hard on the stick and hearing it splinter, Lilyleaf dug her claws into the bark and the ground.

Sure enough, there was a small crying kit that was at her tail. She let go of the stick and turned her head to peer at the wailing bundle. It was a dusty brown tabby with a white chin, chest, belly, and paws.

Lilyleaf instantly fell in love with her kit but pain shot through her and she yowled, biting down on the stick. Splinters poked at her gums but she hardly felt it due to the painful part of kitting.

Blossomflight meowed something that was drowned out by the mewls of a white tabby with black stripes. There were freckles under its eyes and Lilyleaf purred weakly before howling once more.

This time, a motionless white and gray patched kit was at the base of her tail. Blossomflight and the rest of her Clanmates stared at the silent kit with sorrow and sympathy.

"W-why isn't he crying?" Lilyleaf whimpered, the pain slowly leaving her body. She prodded her quiet son with a paw and she looked up at Blossomflight. "He's dead, isn't he?" She whispered, to which her sister nodded.

Her two surviving kits, two toms, mewled for her attention and she nosed them to the curve of her belly. Newfound grief crushed her at the sight of her stillborn son.

Blossomflight dipped her head and picked up the tiny bundle, who appeared to be peacefully sleeping. "I'll bury him," she meowed quietly to Lilyleaf and bounded away out of the camp.

As her sister left her and the Clan went back to what they were doing, Lilyleaf picked up her two sons by their scruffs and stood up. She was shocked at how light they were and worry settled in her belly to get them fed and settled in the nursery.

She made her way towards the nursery and curled around her kits, watching as they began to nurse in silence. Warmth and love filled her heart at the sight of her kits and she bent down, licking their heads as they suckled.

Names popped in her head as she gazed thoughtfully at her newborn kits. She touched her nose to the dusty tabby's head and spoke. "Your name will be Logkit," Lilyleaf purred. She looked over at her other kit, the white tom with black stripes.

"And you will be named Flintkit, because of your stripes." She meowed and laid her head on her paws, eyes closing.