Chapter 4 - Chapter One- EDITED!!!!!

Chapter One- The Prophecy





MapleKit felt CrystalTail's warm breath on her ear as she lay sleepily in the nursery.



“CrystalTail, why did my parents die?” She asked tiredly.



CrystalTail's silver eyes slowly turned to meet MapleKit's, and she pressed her gray fur against the almost-apprenticed kit's brown body.



“MapleKit, I know you miss your parents, but I think that you need to worry about your apprenticeship now. It is tomorrow after all.”



“I know that!” Announced MapleKit stubbornly. “ But I want to know CrystalTail. I want to know what happened to them before I'm an apprentice,” she added, her voice filled with sorrow.



“ I'm sorry MapleKit, you'll know when you're older, but I will tell you this; they died in honor, for the sake of the clan. Now get to sleep you silly kit, you'll need your rest for tomorrow!” Purred CrystalTail, in attempt to change the subject.



MapleKit rested her head on CrystalTail's paws, and knew not to say anymore. Questions about her parents and excited thoughts about apprenticeship swam through her head, but finally her eyelids drooped as she dozed off into a deep sleep.

* * * * *

Hissing and screaming boomed in MapleKit's ears, causing her to leap up into the air, fur on end. Five or so full-grown warriors were running away from something, their eyes wide in fear. But three warriors ran in the opposite direction. Soon, MapleKit discovered where everyone's terror was coming from. A massive, cat-like creature ran toward the three brave cats that had been running to where everyone was running from, roaring, hissing, and spitting. MapleKit stumbled backwards, her ears and tail low, but fell against a rock. At first she considered taking off, but curiosity got the better of her. The three cats suddenly attacked the giant cat, and gave it several wounds, but the giant cat lept into the air, tossing the warriors off of its body. One dark brown cat landed on the ground in a crouching position. The brown cat got up, and ran forward to the cat-like creature. The huge cat opened its jaws, and snapped at the warrior's paws, which were trying to swat it in the head. One bite narrowly missed one of the brown cat's paw's. Or so MapleKit thought. As she studied the brown cat, who was now lying on the ground from falling back, she realized that he looked vaguely familiar… It was a younger BrokenTwig! MapleKit then noticed where BrokenTwig's missing toe usually was. It was bleeding, and bad.



“BrokenTwig!” MapleKit bawled. “Hold on!”



But BrokenTwig paid no attention to MapleKit's cries. Even though he seared with pain, his eyes were fixed on the wild cat, and his mouth gaped in fear. MapleKit slowly lifted her small head, and nearly fainted when she saw what BrokenTwig was staring at. In the jaws of the large cat limply hung the dead body of the light brown she-cat who was helping in the fight. The other cat, a gray tabby tom with green eyes, had stopped dead in his tracks, gaping, horror-struck, at the dead she-cat.



“NOOOOOO!” he wailed in agony, throwing his head back to yowl at the sky.



The gray tabby warrior stared silently at the ground in disbelief. Suddenly, the sadness that was clouding his face vanished, to be replaced with determination. He slowly lifted his head, bringing his eyes up to stare the massive, murderous cat in the face. Adrenalin pumped through his veins as he bunched his muscles and leaped onto the wild cat. His claws dug deep into the light brown colored skin on the huge cat's side, and blood trickled down to its white underside, staining it red. It let out a ground-shaking roar and leaped crazily into the air, trying to fling the gray tabby off of itself. MapleKit flinched as she watched the gory scene, and squeezed her eyes shut. She could hear the bloody roars of the evil, enormous cat, and thought that the warrior had won the fight. She opened her eyes to see the giant cat holding the green-eyed tabby in its massive paw.

The tabby tom yowled and hissed, then started purring uncontrollably from fear and pain. Out of his last bit of energy, the gray tom bit hard into the giant cat's paw. The wretched thing roared tremendously, and threw the gray tabby against a small, barren tree. The warrior's blood stained the bark of the tree, and painted it red as he slid slowly to the ground. MapleKit's attention then went back to the huge, killing cat, and then realized that it was bleeding to death. It fell onto its chest, and collapsed to its side. The rise and fall of its chest slowed to a stop, and MapleKit looked back to the tabby warrior. His gray fur was matted with mud and blood, and deep gashes ran down his side. He crawled weakly over to BrokenTwig and whispered, “Take care of MapleKit. Make sure she doesn't…get…hurt.” The tom's head then fell to the ground, and his eyes closed in death.



BrokenTwig then leaned forward, and pressed his head against the dead tom's flank.

“Don't worry,” he muttered, his voice trembling with sadness. “May you hunt with StarClan now.

Next, many things struck MapleKit at once. The large cat was a Mountain Lion, as she had heard of in the elders' stories. The Mountain Lion was the reason BrokenTwig had one missing toe. BrokenTwig, she now realized, was her true mother's dad. But most importantly of all, her parents were the two cats that the Mountain Lion had killed. They died fighting. Suddenly, a warm essence overcame MapleKit.



“MapleKit,” a soft voice whispered. “You now know what became of us.” The voice was that of her mother.



“Remember, my child,” a voice that now belonged to her father breathed in her ear, “Wait until the day when Ice Sparks.”



The comforting presence of MapleKit's parents faded, along with the scene. She was left in a cold darkness. Where had her parents gone? What did her father mean? When ice sparks? That was impossible, ice wasn't able to spark, was it?



“Wait! Don't leave me! I still have questions! … Wait…” She mewled warily, and then collapsed onto her side. “…Wait…”

* * * * *

MapleKit's eyes flashed open. She swiveled her head around, and sighed in relief. She was in the nursery, and it was safe. MapleKit tried to shake the dream out of her head. She now knew how her parents died, but she never expected to figure it out like that.



Don't worry, MapleKit thought. I'll figure it out in time. After all, StarClan told me to wait until the ice sparks. It hasn't sparked yet, so I shouldn't worry until it does.



With that thought, MapleKit dozed off into sleep.

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