A small ginger furred kit ran out of the nursery briefly. Her yellow-green gaze glanced around the clearing checking to see if their mother or big brother Ferretfuzz was around. “I don't see em.” She mewed quietly. She turned to look at her brother Torrent as he came up behind her. “Come on! Let's go explore!” Zinnia exclaimed as she darted towards the place the clan made dirt.
“Zinnia…this isn't a good idea. Remember what happened the last time you decided to go explore and dragged me along? Mom scolded us for hours! I felt like our ears were gonna bleed.” The brown and gray striped kit lowered his ears at the thought. He felt like he was dying a slow death that day.
The fluffy ginger kit sighed as she rolled her eyes, while her brother voiced his concerns. Of course Zinnia didn't care much what her brother thought. The ginger kit craved adventure. She wanted to live life to the fullest. But instead she felt her brother was always trying to hold her back. “Oh quit worrying. Mom will be out for a while anyway. I heard she was going to go out and teach Briarfrost how to hunt today and show the territory. So we won't see her until meal time.” She replied seriously. Without another word, she turned and ran for the dirt place, leaving her brother behind.
“Zinnia!!!” Chasing after her, Torrent began wondering just when his sister's curiosity would die down. He had a deep feeling in his belly that her impulsive spirit was going to get her in serious trouble one of these days, one that she wouldn't be able to fix…
With ears perked, Zinnia treaded through the marshland territory with a skip in her step. Meanwhile, Torrent had finally caught up with her, breathing heavily from the run. All that surrounded them was ponds filled with lily pads and the sound of frogs croaking in the distance as they sat and swam among the waters. Giant reeds grew near the ponds, along with pines surrounding the area from every side. The farther out from camp they went, the pines seemed to thin.
As the kits walked further into the open, an unknown danger lurked in the sky above, its eyes scoping for prey. It's beady yellow eye locked in onto one of the Shadowclan kits, diving downwards with unexpected speed. Its talons sharp and glistening in the sunlight as it opened its rough scaled feet. The kits had been watching intently on a frog hop by when all of a sudden the giant bird pierced Torrent's brown and gray striped pelt, grabbing him tightly.
“TORRENT!!!” Zinnia screamed in horror as her brother was effortlessly lifted into the sky. Her eyes widened with fear as her brother screamed in terror in the Hawks clutches. He saw his sister grow ever smaller as the bird flew over the marshland, her screams fading as the Hawk began flying away from the territory. In an instant, Zinnia began following the bird above, trying to locate where it was taking him. But she only run so far before running out of breath.
The hawk had flown towards windclan, Zinnia following it near the clans borders in a panic for her brother. She didn't care about anything else. If the border patrol found her, it was worth the risk. Torrent began struggling with all his might in the hawk's grip, causing the bird to let go. Zinnia watched in horror once more as her brother fell from the major height, the river below breaking his fall.
The shadowclan kit felt the pain of impact as he broke through the water's surface, water submerging him underneath the watery depths in an attempt to an early grave. Yet, Torrent was not willing to give in and join the ranks of Starclan. Instead he began kicking his legs with all the strength he had until his head broke the water's current. He gasped for breath as he began trying to paddle near the riverbank's edge, his sister in the distance alongside it ready to help. Yet once more he was submerged underneath the strong current, hitting his head hard on a sharp rock below the riverbed in the process. He remained underneath unconscious for a few moments before coming out of it and being swept away further downstream out of sight. His sister couldn't find him, much less run any further. Torrent had broke the surface near Thunderclan and Riverclans borders, being tossed around like a sack of potatoes into the rocks of the riverbank, leaving cuts along his gray and brown striped flank. Finally making it to the edge of the river, tiredly the small kit pulled himself out and collapsed unconscious alongside the water’s edge…
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Without a thought, the fluffy ginger furred kit ran back deep into ShadowClan territory. Her head swivled, yellow-green eyes darting around looking for her big brother as she runs towards camp. “FERRETFUZZ!!!” She yelled loudly. Her ears lowered against her head, tears streaming down her face. Zinnia didn't want to tell her mother about Torrent and worry her. So she went searching for the black and white warrior instead. The fact the last she saw her brother was taken underneath the current had made her worry his body was floating lifelessly within the river. “Please be alive, Torrent.” She thought as she tried to suppress her sobs. “FERRETFUZZ!!!” She yelled again desperately.
It didn't take long for Venomrose to perk up at the sound of their young kit's cries of distress and Spiderkit was thrilled that they were quick on their paws. She felt a sense of comfort when Venomrose's tail draped over her small body to offer her a sense of comfort but she paid it no mind as she continued licking at Torrent's face and head. "Why won't he wake up, papa?" She asked her larger look-alike. It wasn't but a moment later that Venomrose had Torrent pulled away from the edges of the water and instead back onto the shore.
Spiderkit remained where she had been seated and the bridge of her nose crinkled as she scrunched up her nose. Cinnamonkit wasn't far behind their papa but she directed her attention to her sibling instead of the medicine cat. "Other than my bottom being completely soaked?" She asked sarcastically and pulled herself up out of the water and padded up onto the drier edges of the shore. She sat once again, making sure to keep her gaze upon Torrent and Venomrose. "I don't know where he came from. He was just.. on the edge of the water, like a pile of moss. I didn't even know it was a kitten!"
She crouched down and wrapped her tail around her body then leaned into the warmth of her sister's drier coat. She kept a frown on her petite face and her amber gaze remained fixated obsessively on the entrance to the medicine cat den. "Do you think mama, papa, and Uncle Copperstar will keep him? He might be fun to play with- but I call dibs on him being my best friend first because I'm the one who found him!" She turned her gaze threateningly onto Cinnamonkit, even though it wasn't likely that she'd ever bring actual harm to her sister. She sighed softly and settled down as comfortably as she could in the presence of her litter mate, but she kept her attention on the den where the unconscious kitten was at.
She wanted to know who he was. Where he was from. If he wanted to be friends! Was he going to stay? Was he going to leave? Poor Spiderkit had so many questions and she just couldn't wait for Torrent to awaken and walk out of the healing den so that they could play and go on adventures together. If he wasn't from RiverClan, maybe that meant he had interesting stories! Could he have tales from the twoleg place? Or another Clan? She rested her head on her paws and sighed with impatience, wondering when her answers might be answers.
If Copperstar had expected anything of significance today, aside from the usual hustle and bustle of clan life, it surely was not his clanmates finding a half-drowned tom-kit curled up on the riverbank. If anything, if he were to expect something to happen at all, it would be kits being born to queens, kits becoming apprentices, apprentices becoming warriors, maybe some of his clanmates coming down with the case of sniffles as flowers began to blossom all about them.
Nothing like this, that is for certain. Copperstar, pregnant and expecting his own third batch of kits, felt a sense of duty to sit beside the poor little darling. Surely, he had a mother out there who was missing her kit? A sensation of sorrow and sympathy for the surely frantic Queen out there intensified with every passing second.
It was a miracle that the kit had survived such a harrowing journey.
There was no doubt in Copperstar’s mind of what had happened. The story was laid out before him, those wounds sustained to his back were caused by a bird of prey, no doubts there. Copperstar could only imagine the scene, this young unsuspecting kit, playing without a care in the world.
Perhaps he was out chasing a beautiful butterfly, or rolling around in the emerald, green grasses and pretty petals of long patches of flowerbeds. or he was out near the ocean lying on the rocks and sunbathing? Given the fact that it was evident he'd dragged himself out of the river, which would suggest he could swim. And the shallow pools of the beach were a perfect place for kits to learn to swim. Whatever the case might be, it was chilling to think about the next series of events this tom-kit had to endure.
Snatched up, talons piercing deep into his skin and the bird of prey carrying him up and into the air, then at some point the kit must have been dropped and fallen into the river. Where he was then ruthlessly carried by the currents, bashing and banging into sharp and unforgiving rocks, roots, and other such debris.
“Starclan must have been watching over this kit, for him to survive such an ordeal. That and he must have a natural inclination for swimming, otherwise the river would have swallowed him up- that I have no qualms about. However, none of our queens are missing their kits, and I do not recognize him.”
He looked the kit over, knowing that this wasn’t one of their own. He would remember, as Leader, he had a duty to know and remember the faces, pelts, eye colors, and scents of his clanmates and their names. For in a sense, all those who were birthed, lived, and then joined Starclan under his Leadership- were like his kits. This kit was not one of the clan’s own, of that Copperstar was quite certain.
“Wherever he is from, he must have had some experience in swimming, that is the only explanation as to how he made it out. I would suggest he might be a kitten from the Two-Leg docks by the beach, yet... for him to make it upriver all on his own is unlikely. Perhaps the bird of prey picked him up from the beach and carried him upriver? Regardless, a Queen out there is missing her kit. Once the kit has had time to recover, we should try to figure out who he is and where he may have come from. As clan code decrees, we are not to ignore a kit in distress, clan born or otherwise.”
Torrent remained unconscious as the Riverclan kit yelled for help. He had been out cold, even to the point where Spiderkit attempted to help by dragging him away from the rivers bank and beginning to dry him. He had used every ounce of his energy just to stay afloat in the strong current of the river, much less paddling to shore. Most kits would not have been able to survive such a predicament without a warrior's help. Yet somehow Torrent had the skills to swim himself to safety…barely. He had swallowed a lot of water as the river took him under the water for the second time and smashed his head into a sharp rock, making him unintentionally swallow more water as he sank to the bottom. If he hadn't come to consciousness, he surely would have joined Starclan that day.
With the help of Spiderkits parents, the small brown and gray striped tom had finally come around. Coughing up the large amount of water that was trapped inside his body, he gasped for breath as he felt more air finally reaching his lungs. Still, he did not move much as he was gently picked up by the scruff and brought into the camp. He hung limp, his fur clinging to his body as Torrent's blue eyes slowly opened. He began to shiver as the wind began blowing, his gaze glancing around to see where he was. A bunch of cats had gathered in the camp clearing looking onwards with curious glances. Torrent's right ear twitched slightly as he overheard a couple of kits. “Where'd that kit come from?”
That was a good question. Where did he come from? Who was he? He couldn't remember. Torrent's throat hurt too much from the water he had forcefully swallowed earlier as he tried to voice his own question, but barely managed to even utter a word. Instead it came out as an inaudible squeak. Realizing he needed to wait a bit longer before he could ask where he was exactly, Torrent knew he needed to get his bearings.
As Venomrose took him to their den, Torrent could smell the many arrays of herbs they had stored. Once settled in a nest, he began to notice the stinging on his upper back and flank in general coming to the forefront of his mind. Unknown to him, the hawk's talons had caused rather deep puncture marks earlier during his flight. A few other scratches also stung on his sides, but more elongated from the sharp rocks he had been crashing into once he struggled in the rough current of the river.
Venomrose was sitting by their den quietly chatting with Darktorrent. The large tomcat wasn't the clan leader anymore, but he had been when they were brought into the clan and they still greatly valued his insight on certain things. The discussion was quickly shut down when Venomrose heard a familiar voice ring out from the nearby stream, however. Concerned for their daughter's safety, the dark medicine cat quickly jumped to their paws and started towards the water, only for their eyes to widen and their pace to quicken when they fully processed what she had said; There was a kitten on the shore.
They broke through the reeds, scanning the bank until their gaze landed on Spiderkit, who was grooming the strange kit. "I'm here, papa's here," they cooed as they approached, gently resting their tail on their kit's back to comfort her. They bent down to sniff at the mysterious kitten that laid on the pebbles. They feared the worst, but they could see the subtle rise and fall of the kit's flank, and the scent of death was not wafting off him. He was alive, but not for long if he stayed here in the water. "You did well, my darling. I'm proud of you," they murmured to Spiderkit before carefully lifting the injured kit out of the water and taking him further up the shore.
They laid the kit down on the warmer, dry pebbles away from the stream. They needed to make sure there was no water in the kit's lungs. They turned him onto his side and began compressing his abdomen, working diligently until the little one coughed up the water he'd swallowed, and once they were sure the water was all coughed up, they picked the little tom back up and quickly whisked him away to their den, paying no mind to the small crowd that had gathered around due to the commotion.
One of the cats that had come to see what was going on was Cinnamonkit, one of Spiderkit's littermates. She watched their papa go, then scurried over to the black she-kit. "What happened? Are you okay?" She squeaked to her sister, sniffing at the other kit to make sure she was alright. The ginger-splotched kitten twitched her whiskers, looking towards Venomrose's den. "Where'd that kit come from?" She wondered out loud, gently pressing her pelt against Spiderkit's. "I hope he'll be okay."
Dark ebony fur puffed out in a mixture of boredom and annoyance and the young molly lashed out with a paw to express just how she felt. Her soft pad connected with a small and thankfully smooth rock that was near her and sent the rounded object skipping across the ground and into the river with a plunk. An offshoot from the river bordered their camp and provided a mild stream where kittens and apprentices would play and hone in their swimming skills.
Today was no day for playing or swimming as amber hues settled on an odd looking bundle of moss that had washed up further up the shore, teetering on a line that separated the territory from the camp. Tufted ears perked and she cast a wary glance towards her Clanmates in wonder. Was anyone around to fuss at her for straying so far from camp? More importantly, was anyone around to examine the odd moss? She couldn't decide whether it was good or unfortunate that no one else was near, but that wasn't about to stop her from giving in to her curious desires.
With light and cautious steps, Spiderkit trotted along the stream's edge until she was closer to what she had previously thought was moss. She was much closer than she had been which now allowed her to see that, instead of an extra heap of bedding, the thing that had washed up on their shore was actually a kitten that barely surpassed her in size. Her amber hues widened and her fur bristled with discomfort and uncertainty. "Mama, papa, uncle Copperstar! There's a kitten on the shore!" She called out desperately to her family in hopes that they were within earshot - something she didn't doubt due to the high volumes she could reach with her voice.
She kneaded at the sand and contemplated running back into the central area of the camp to sound the alarm but a voice inside of her told her not to abandon Torrent where he lay unconscious. So instead of leaving him like she had briefly considered, Spiderkit instead got closer to the tom kit and grabbed a mouthful of his scruff. Her paws dug into the sand and pebbles, pushing against it as she made a feeble attempt to pull him out of the shallow waters so she could take him back to camp herself. His body was completely waterlogged though, and she ended up releasing him with a frustrated snort.
Unable to do anything other than wait for a larger cat, the black tabby seated herself in the shallow water of the shore. She draped her tail over his body as best as she could and got to work with doing the only thing she knew how - licking his fur against the way it naturally grew. She had noticed queen grooming their newborn kittens that way, so surely it was an effective way to help, right? Not to mention, if she tried grooming his face and head first - she didn't want to irritate the lacerations across his body that had been sustained from both the hawk and river rocks - then maybe, just maybe, she could rouse him out of unconsciousness.