Chapter 4: The Kits Are Coming!
Crowfeather stood rooted to the spot by his paws, acrid fear making his fur stand on end. He couldn’t even remember what Leafpool had told him to do. StarClan, StarClan, StarClan...!
A sweet scent wreathed the air around him. It smelled of wildflowers and leaves and honey, and of ThunderClan. A voice spoke clearly in his ears, and it sounded like water sliding over smooth pebbles.
Crowfeather, you musn’t panic.
“Who are you?” he asked. Sasha and Cody glanced at him in surprise, but he paid them no mind.
My name is Spottedleaf. I’m going to help you, so listen to what I have to say.
“O-Okay,” he whispered. Again, the two she-cats gave him odd looks, but again, Crowfeather ignored them. “Is she okay?”
She’s doing fine, Spottedleaf soothed. Place a paw on Leafpool’s flank, and tell me what you feel.
Crowfeather did so, and he felt his beloved’s flank tense and roll beneath his paw.
Another spasm is coming. Her muscles are working to push the kits out, she explained. In a moment she’s going to have to help by pushing too. Tell her to push.
“Push, Leafpool!” gasped Crowfeather, trembling from the tip of his nose to the tip of his tail.
Leafpool trembled, and she pushed with all her might.
The first one is coming, Spottedleaf told him.
Crowfeather could see it.
Leafpool pushed again, and a new scent filled the air, warm, musky, and fresh. A damp bundle fell onto moss.
Crowfeather stared at it for what seemed the shortest moment and the longest forever. His first child.
Open the sac so it can breathe, ordered Spottedleaf.
“How?” asked Crowfeather, bewildered.
Nip it. Just be careful not to bite the kit.
What advice, thought Crowfeather. Nervously, he nipped at the delicate membrane. It split between his teeth and tore open, and the kit tumbled out, squeaking and struggling. “It’s breathing!” he whispered, trembling with excitement.
Leafpool gasped aloud, another yowl bubbling in her throat.
“The next one’s coming,” announced Cody. Sasha dragged the first kit out of the way and began to lick it slowly from tail base to neck.
Do you see what Sasha is doing? Spottedleaf said. She’s warming it and helping it start breathing.
The kit gasped in its first breath of air.
Leafpool moaned, and a second kit was born. Cody nipped open the sac as Crowfeather had done earlier, dragged it gingerly away, and washed it as Sasha had done earlier.
“Is that all?” Crowfeather asked. Leafpool had stilled, her breathing less ragged and more steady.
No. There’s another coming.
Leafpool screamed as though punctuating Spottedleaf’s statement.
A cat streaked into the clearing. Crowfeather bristled, but he relaxed when he recognized the cat as Sparrow.
“How is she?” he asked breathlessly.
“She’s already had two kits, and she’s having another,” Crowfeather explained rapidly. “Where’s Raindrop and the herbs?”
Sparrow shrugged. “I don’t know. Moss just told me to run here as fast as I could.”
It’s okay. Leafpool doesn’t require herbs.
“We don’t need the herbs,” Crowfeather told him, shaking his head.
Leafpool yowled again, and a third bundle plopped out. Sparrow took the initiative and nipped open the sac and licked the kit; he had definitely been present when Moss had her kits.
There’s another one.
“Another one!” gasped Crowfeather. Sasha, Cody, and Sparrow looked up at him.
“She’s having four?” Cody squeaked.
“Apparently so!” snapped Crowfeather, and Leafpool groaned again.
“I can’t do it, Crowfeather!” she gasped.
“Of course you can,” soothed Crowfeather.
Of course you can, Leafpool, echoed Spottedleaf.
Leafpool heard the StarClan cat’s voice. “Spottedleaf?”
Yes, dear little one. I am always here.
Leafpool yowled once more, and the fourth and final kit came into the world. Leafpool turned and released it from the sac. She purred loudly, washing it gingerly.
Crowfeather, Leafpool, you have three toms and a she-kit, announced Spottedleaf.
“Three toms and a she-kit,” Crowfeather echoed. Cody, Sasha, and Sparrow mewed words of congratulation as Crowfeather’s four tiny children scrabbled toward the warmth of their mother. The sound of their suckling made Crowfeather’s heart throbbed with a feeling he had only felt when looking at Leafpool, and a certain other she-cat...
Feathertail is very proud of you, Crowfeather, murmured Spottedleaf. As am I. Farewell. The scent of Spottedleaf slowly faded from around him, and it was replaced by the musky smell of the forest, and of new life.
“They’re perfect...” Crowfeather meowed softly. The warm glow of love radiated from Leafpool’s amber eyes as they settled on Crowfeather, then on their four kits.
“The she-cat has a beautiful coat,” she commented. “It’s just a few shades darker than yours.”
“We could name her Hollykit,” suggested Crowfeather. “And that gray tabby tom’s fur is colored like the feathers of a blue jay. He could be Jaykit.”
“Those names sound good. I’d like to name the biggest tom Lionkit, and the tom that looks just like you could be Breezekit,” decided Leafpool.
“Hollykit, Jaykit, Lionkit, and Breezekit,” murmured Crowfeather. “They’re so beautiful. Just like you,” he added.
An excited squeal erupted from the bushes. The tiny forms of Otis and Stormy exploded from the foliage, more slowly followed by Moss and Raindrop, whose jaw was closed around a pile of leaves that Crowfeather recognized to be borage.
“Have they been born yet?” squeaked Otis.
“What are their names? How many of them are there?” Stormy asked, her dark blue eyes wide.
“Hush, kits!” scolded Moss. “Leafpool is very tired right now.”
“Yes, I’ve had four kits,” yawned Leafpool. “Hollykit, Jaykit, Lionkit, and Breezekit.”
“Why is ‘kit’ on the end of their names?” asked Stormy.
“Sounds weird,” Otis agreed.
“Otis! Stormy! If you don’t shut your mouths, I’m taking you back to the barn!” snapped Moss. The two kits were silenced.
“They’re so precious...” Cody mewed, her eyes happy and sad at the same time. Crowfeather wondered why.
“Your kits are probably still alive and happy,” meowed Leafpool sympathetically. She coughed a couple of times and laid her head down beside Jaykit, who was suckling furiously. Lionkit and Breezekit were trying to nurse at the exact same spot without success, and Hollykit was trying the stunt of lying on top of Leafpool’s belly and suckling upside down, which resulted in her tumbling down and landing on her back with a disgruntled squeak.
“When will they open their eyes?” asked Crowfeather, looking up from his kits.
“Mine opened theirs when they were two days old,” supplied Moss.
“So did mine,” Sasha added.
“Mine had theirs opened the day after they were born. That was the last day I saw them,” sighed Cody. “My Twolegs took them.”
Crowfeather blinked but didn’t comment.
The sun was starting to set. Sasha noticed this and commented that they should be moving Leafpool and the kits back to the barn.
“Surely they’re too young to be moved?” Cody protested.
“Usually we wouldn’t, but it’ll be too cold out here tonight for them to stay,” explained the rogue. “If we take it careful and easy, they’ll be fine.”
“Can I carry a kit?” pealed Otis.
Sparrow snorted. “Please. You can’t even hold onto your whiskers, let alone a kit.”
Stormy giggled. Otis glared at her.
“Can you walk?” Crowfeather addressed Leafpool.
“Of course I can,” she scoffed. “What do you think I am, some rickety old queen?”
Crowfeather chuckled.
“Cun ah gi’ dese o’t o’ m’ mou’?” Raindrop’s voice was muffled by the borage in her mouth.
Leafpool mrrowed with laughter. “Yes, I’ll take them.” She took the leaves from the gray kit and ate them, wincing from the bitter taste.
“What were those for?” mewed Otis.
“Borage helps a queen’s milk come,” Raindrop told him in such a matter-of-fact tone that Crowfeather had to bite his tongue to keep from laughing.
“I’ll take a kit, Cody can take another, and Crowfeather will take the third, and Sasha can take the last one,” Moss decided.
“Actually, I’ll carry a kit,” meowed Leafpool. “Crowfeather will probably need to keep me from toppling over.”
Moss dipped her head. “Very well. Sparrow, you take the lead, Otis, Stormy, Raindrop, you stay with him, and I mean it.”
Sasha spoke up. “There’ll need to be a cat in the back whose not carrying a kit, in case something comes up from behind us. Crowfeather, can you take a kit?”
“Of course.”
Leafpool struggled to her feet; the kits tumbled from her belly and all started to squeal angrily. “They’re going to get all bossy, just like you,” Crowfeather teased his mate. Leafpool snorted and picked up Jaykit by his tiny scruff. He wailed aloud, his tiny gray limbs flailing.
Moss took Hollykit. The black she-kit was unusually silent; she only squeaked once, and then she went completely still.
Cody took a gentle but firm hold of Lionkit, which left Breezekit to be carried by Crowfeather.
With Leafpool leaning against Crowfeather, the six cats and seven kits made their slow way back to Sparrow’s barn. Once a fox wandered up on them, but one ferocious snarl from Sasha and Sparrow sent it in the other direction.
At last, when the moon was high in the sky, the cats made it to the barn.
But there was a problem.
“How are we going to get the kits up the ladder?” wondered Cody.
Moss frowned. "Maybe if we-”
“Go slow?” suggested Otis.
Moss blinked. “That’s a wonderful idea.”
“You think like a warrior,” praised Crowfeather. The golden kit beamed proudly.
“I’m a warrior!” he boasted to Stormy. “Crowfeather said so!”
“Okay, warriors, climb on up,” meowed Sparrow with an amused gleam in his flaxen eyes. Otis and Stormy bounded right up, but Raindrop hesitated.
“Won’t you need help?” she asked, eyes wide.
“We’ll be fine,” Leafpool assured her. “You and your brother and sister need to be up there so we can pass the kits to you.”
Raindrop brightened. “Okay!” The gray kit clambered over the rungs with silken grace.
“All right, how are we going to do this?” asked Sasha.
“I’ll go up too,” decided Sparrow. He climbed up the ladder.
“I’ll go first,” mewed Cody. Gripping Lionkit so he wouldn’t be dropped, she put two paws on the first rung, then her back paws, then two paws in the second rung, then up with her hind paws... With slow care, she made it to the top without bumping Lionkit once. She waved her tail at the top, signaling that the next cat could start their ascent.
That cat was Moss. She was a bit quicker than Cody, and Hollykit didn’t hit anything at all on the way up.
Crowfeather glanced at Leafpool. The queen was still exhausted after her kitting, and walking the whole way back to the barn with Jaykit in her jaws had tired her out.
“I’ll take Breezekit up,” he meowed. “Then I’ll come back down for Jaykit, and you can go up on your own.”
Leafpool’s eyes softened. “Yes, that would be best.”
Purring, Crowfeather began to make his way up the ladder with patience that he very rarely had. Once he was at the top, he deposited Breezekit amongst his siblings. He purred again. Things were going well.
Then his optimism shattered.
“Oh no...” Cody breathed.
“What?” Sparrow asked; Cody pointed at the barn entrance with her tail, and the tawny rogue bristled.
Crowfeather followed his gaze and his heart sank to the tip of his tail.
Dogs!
Three of them, huge, ugly brutes. With icy water trickling down his spine, Crowfeather recognized the three dogs that had pursued them a moon before.
“Leafpool!” Crowfeather yowled. Several things happened at once.
Leafpool whirled around, Jaykit still swinging in her jaws.
Sasha and Sparrow leaped from the loft, their claws outstretched as they landed in the soft hay below.
Moss jerked her three kits backwards, away from the edge of the loft, and gathered all six kits in the corner, standing protectively over them.
Cody stared in wide-eyed horror at the dogs as they made their way towards their prey: Leafpool.
Crowfeather felt something rise from within him, a warrior like feeling of rage and fear and hatred, the ferocity of the ancient Clan cats coursing through his blood. Everything in the barn faded away except for five things: the three dogs, Jaykit, and Leafpool.
“Stay back!” he yowled to the terror-struck Cody before launching himself down the loft.
Sasha and Sparrow hurled themselves at the dogs; the two tawny cats distracted them for a few moments.
Crowfeather landed beside Leafpool.
“Take Jaykit!” gasped Leafpool around the tiny kit’s scruff.
Crowfeather felt torn. “No, I can’t leave you down here!”
“Well, you’re not leaving him!” snarled Leafpool. “Now go!”
Crowfeather gave up and took the kit from Leafpool. He hadn’t missed the sheer terror in her beautiful eyes. “I won’t be long!” Crowfeather mewed before he leaped up on the ladder. There was no time to be slow and careful. Jaykit squealed every time he hit a ladder rung. Crowfeather felt for the kit, but he was sure Jaykit would rather have a bruised tail than one that was disconnected permanently from the rest of his body.
Crowfeather made it up in record time. He laid Jaykit down beside Cody and rushed back to the edge of the loft.
Sasha and Sparrow were doing their best to hold off the dogs, but one had managed to evade them and sneak toward Leafpool...
“Leafpool, GO!” screamed Crowfeather.
Leafpool leaped, managing to reach the fifth rung.
The dog reared up on its hind legs, its slavering jaws only a couple of mouse-lengths from the tip of her tail. It leaped up, its muzzle brushing her hind leg.
Leafpool panicked, scrabbling upwards. Her paws suddenly missed the rung and she began to fall into empty air.
“Leafpool!” cried Crowfeather, craning his neck forward in an attempt to catch her. She gripped the side of the ladder with her front paws and managed to keep herself from falling. The dog howled.
Okay, that dog has to go, thought Crowfeather, and he launched himself down at the hound. He sliced at its ear, distracting it momentarily from Leafpool.
But not for long. Angry, it cuffed Crowfeather with a paw and sent the smaller being flying into the wall. His head connected with the wall with a resounding crack.
He thought he heard some cat call his name, but he wasn’t sure. His vision swam as though he were looking through water. He felt blackness crowd in on the edges of his perception. He needed to take a good long nap...
Crowfeather! a voice he knew so painfully well snapped him out of his reverie. What he saw made his heart stop cold.
Leafpool was clinging to the edge of the loft, her forepaws barely hanging on and her foot paws churning helplessly. The dog waited below, and a howl of victory filled the room.
Before Crowfeather’s very eyes, Leafpool lost her grip and fell. Moss and Cody skidded to a halt at the side of the loft, their eyes wide with horror.
Had Leafpool’s pelt just changed color? To Crowfeather’s eyes, her pelt looked a very light gray. And the dog below looked so like a golden-furred lion without a mane...
Feathertail...
“NOT AGAIN!” screamed Crowfeather. He leaped forward...
... and caught Leafpool by the scruff.
Her sudden weight caused him to lose a couple of tail-lengths, but Crowfeather still managed to land on the ladder well above the dog’s reach. Leafpool scrabbled desperately, managing to grip a rung with all four paws.
Moss and Cody were gaping at him once he had managed to get them both up.
“How did you do that?” gasped Cody.
“Because I love her,” Crowfeather answered simply. And because I loved Feathertail...
Leafpool lay on the floor, trembling, for just a second; as soon as she could stand, she was among her kits, nosing them and licking them anxiously.
“Are they okay?” Crowfeather asked in concern.
Leafpool purred. “They’re shocked, but they’re fine.”
Crowfeather felt his fur lay flat, and he pressed himself against his mate, purring loudly. Leafpool trembled, twining her tail with his. Crowfeather was suddenly aware of the fact that Leafpool had only just kitted and mewed, “Maybe you should lay down. I’m sure the kits are hungry.”
Leafpool seemed asleep on her paws, but she shook her head in distress, her amber eyes shadowed with worry. “But Sasha and Sparrow are still down there, and now there’s three dogs...”
“Don’t you worry,” Moss reassured her. The gray she-cat turned to Cody. “Make sure my kits stay put.” When the former kittypet nodded, Moss flung herself off the loft with a harsh battle cry.
Crowfeather tensed, ready to aid his newfound friends in their fight against the dogs, and yet he was unwilling to leave Leafpool.
The tawny shape of Sasha suddenly leaped up onto the loft. One of her ears was badly torn, and blood ran down the side of her head. There was a chunk of fur missing from her shoulder, but other than that, she was relatively unharmed.
“Two of the dogs are already gone,” she reported, twitching her torn ear and making scarlet drops fleck the floor. “Moss and Sparrow are working on the last one.” Her attention flicked to Leafpool, then to the kits. “I think they’re hungry,” she commented. “You can rest. Those two know what they’re doing.”
Leafpool settled down in some hay and gathered her kits to her. “But your ear...”
Sasha shrugged. “I’ll be fine. You worry about your kits. You can dress it later if you want to. Those kits haven’t had any milk since they were kitted.”
As if to agree, Lionkit let out a loud peal.
Leafpool purred, and the four blind kits scrabbled and stumbled their way to her belly, latching on and kneading their tiny paws in delight.
It wasn’t long before Moss and Sparrow had joined them. Moss was completely unhurt, as she had joined the battle at the end, but Sparrow was limping. He bravely tried to shrug it off, but Moss forced him to lay down. Leafpool instructed little Raindrop on how to clean and dress her father’s wound, and she had done the task as though she were a full-fledged medicine cat herself. Leafpool would love to teach her...
Teach her...
A sudden realization exploded in Leafpool’s head so violently that she jerked, nearly throwing the feeding kits off.
“I know what to do,” she said calmly.
Eight pairs of eyes settled on her.
“What?” squeaked Otis.
“My kits need a Clan,” Leafpool meowed.
Another cliffie~! :3 I sorta changed from Crow's perspective to Leaf's there at the end, but bleh. I dun really feel like going through and making the necessary revisions. x3 Please review, I wanna hear your opinions, good, bad, or otherwise~!