Warriors 1. Chapter 1: The Garden

Sol's Story:

The Search for the Clans

Prologue:

"Mama? Where are we going?" A small tortoiseshell kit asked, panicking as she lifted him from the ground by the scruff of his neck.

"Away. We have no home here." She answered, nudging him up the stairs of a twoleg den.

"Do I have to stay here?" A reddish-brown kit inquired, wrinkling her nose at the strong scent of twolegs.

"Aw, come on Scarlet, Mama wouldn't leave us with these stinky creatures." A silver-white kit teased.

"Sol, come away, this isn't your home. Dragonfly, you will live here from now on, don't try to argue. Scarlet, you will live in the house near by, and Sol… I'll find a place for you." A dark gray she-cat ordered.

"H-h-h-here? With the twolegs? But mama, they're dangerous. You said that yourself." The silvery-white kit protested, lifting his head to stare at his mother, fright in his eyes.

"Mama, I want to stay close to Scarlet and Dragonfly!" The tortoiseshell protested.

"I said don't argue. You can't stay near here, Sol. There are only two places here that are as close to a home as you can get with twolegs. I said I'll find a place for you, but not here." The dark gray she cat snapped.

The three remaining cats padded past a few twoleg dens, finally stopping in front of a big red one.

"Mama, will Dragonfly be okay?" Sol asked.

His mother didn't answer, and she lifted Scarlet by her scruff, settling her on the top step of the den. She wailed pitifully, then bounded away. Hiding in the thick leaves of a bush, Sol watched as a twoleg stepped out of the den and lifted Scarlet in its arms, making soft cooing noises as he carried her inside. Sol raced after his mother and hoped that she would find a place for him, but knowing in his heart that he would never have a place to call home.

Chapter 1:

Birds sang and leaves rustled on the trees outside the twoleg den.

Sol sat on the windowsill, watching as twoleg monsters raced past, feeling satisfied with the knowledge that they couldn'tget to him through the window. A soft breeze moved the pieces of cloth used to trap light outside at night. The door was open just a crack, and the draft was bothering Sol, chilling his fur. He swiftly leaped from the windowsill and butted the door closed with his head.

He sighed, realizing how soft and pampered he was becoming. He knew he had to stay sharp and alert if he was ever going to find the legendary Clans, swift like the wind, jumping as high as the moon, roaring as the breeze ruffled their golden manes. Such cats did not seem likely to exist, but Sol had to search.

He had promised his mother, Cinder that he would find them. Those words had been the last he had said to her the day she left him with his twolegs.

He still missed his brother, Dragonfly, his sister, Scarlet, and his mother, but his twolegs cared for him and fed him and kept him warm in leafbare.

He jumped from his place on the windowsill and leaped out the flap in the door that he used to exit and enter the den.

Padding across the garden, he sat on the soft, springy grass, basking in the warm sunlight of Greenleaf.

A bush rustled nearby and Sol leaped to his paws, suddenly alert.

A bird fluttered from the bush and Sol shook his head in confusion.

Why had he been so sure that someone was in the bush?

Strolling down the warm pavement of the street, he opened his jaws, tasting the air. He smelled another cat this time.

He looked up to see his friend Sunshine padding toward him. He greeted her with a nudge of his muzzle.

"Hello, Sunshine, what are you doing here? Don't you usually stay in your garden?"

He realized for the first time that her eyes were wide with fear.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

Sunshine shook her head.

"It's nothing, everything's fine." She replied.

The two cats padded back to Sunshine's garden, leaping over the tall fence that surrounded her territory.

"Well, I'd better get back. I wouldn't want to miss feeding time." Sol meowed, leaping back over the fence and bounding back to his garden.

After he had eaten his fill, Sol went back outside to sit in the warm sunlight, hoping that this time he would not be disturbed.

He jumped through the flap in the door and padded across the garden to sit in the shade, near the little pond where the twolegs' fish swam.

He knew not to try and eat them, for one time his twolegs returned when he was sitting next the pond, a small goldfish trapped beneath his paw.

They had been angry and he had not been let out for the rest of the day.

Sol leaped up again as he heard the same bush rustle. He neared the bush cautiously.

"Who's there?" He called. "I know you're there, you can come out now."

The bush shook again as a small, lithe reddish-brown she-cat padded from its leaves.

"Sol? Is it really you?" She looked at him in wonder.

Sol sat down, looking at this strange cat, confusion in his eyes.

_Who is this cat? How does she know my name?_

His eyes cleared and his confusion was replaced by disbelief.

"Scarlet?"


	2. Chapter 2: The Beginning

"Sol, I know it's been a long time, but I need to talk to you. It's important." Scarlet's eyes dropped and she stared at a ladybug inching along the ground.

"A long time? I haven't seen you in seasons! The last time we spoke was when we were kits. How do I even know it's you?" Sol burst out, scraping his claws along the ground in anger.

Scarlet's eyes widened and she drew in a breath, stepping back and fixing Sol with an accusatory glare.

"How can you say that? I know it's sudden, but can't you tell it's me?" Scarlet's voice was ridden with frustration and Sol could even catch a hint of fury.

"Prove it." The challenge was simple and Scarlet's shoulders sank a bit as she relaxed.

"Remember the stories Mother used to tell us? About the great, fierce cats as strong as lions, the Clans? Remember Dragonfly, do you remember how Cinder left us each with a different twoleg because she couldn't care for us, or she was too cowardly to try?" Scarlet's voice rose as her words carried more feeling.

Sol's thoughts were suddenly filled with memories of his mother, most filled with contempt and anger at her actions, leaving them alone and confused because she had given up. A wave of sadness crashed over him and he let out a sorrowful sigh. He brought himself back to reality and saw Scarlet staring back at him, waiting for him to say something. He lifted his head and padded closer to her and touched his nose to hers, trying to ignore the flash of wariness her eyes betrayed.

"I'm sorry, I have just spent so many seasons trying to forget the past, it's hard to accept it and welcome a part of it into my life. How have you been? What do you need to speak to me about?" He meowed.

Scarlet's face brightened and she rubbed the side of her face against his, purring.

"It's great to see you, Sol! I need to ask you a favour… a pretty big one, mind you."

"What is it?" Sol's mind spun with ideas of what she could want and he wondered if it would include their mother.

Scarlet's gaze fell and her eyes filled with sadness. She sat on her haunches and absentmindedly pawed at a passing butterfly.

"What is it?" Sol said, his voice softer and kinder this time.

The tortoiseshell cat moved to sit next to her, brushing his pelt against hers and licking her ears lightly in his attempt to comfort his sister.

"Well, my twolegs were great to me for a while, I had a warm bed and they fed me the good, wet food, not those dry, horrible pebbles…" Her voice trailed off and she sighed.

"But?" Sol inquired, trying his hardest not to sound too eager to hear what happened to her.

"When the kind female twoleg left one day, she didn't come back and the other twoleg took me to a strange place one day in my carrier, a place with oddly shaped rocks where a wooden box was lowered into the ground and there were many twolegs dressed in black." Scarlet stood and began to pace.

"After that day, he started drinking from a lot of shiny bottles and he wasn't kind anymore, just cruel. I met a wonderful tom, his name was Rex. We were together a lot, he was my mate. When I bore his kittens, the male twoleg took them from me. He was kind that day, but I don't know what he did to them. The next day, he threw one of the shiny things at Rex. It broke and Rex was hurt…" Her head dropped again and she lay down on the ground, hiding her head under a paw.

"Scarlet, it's alright, you don't have to tell me if it's too hard." Sol mewed, lying beside her and beginning to groom her fur with soft, comforting strokes of his tongue.

"No, I'm fine. Rex's wound never healed and he died. When my twoleg kicked me the day Rex died, I knew I had to leave. I ran away and I found you. I still have one kit, Silver, and if she's going to survive, we have to find the clans." Scarlet told him, her voice pleading.

"I'll help you through anything you need me to. Where is silver?"

"In the forest nearby. I'll take you." Scarlet began to bound away and Sol followed.

When they arrived at the forest, Sol was out of breath but Scarlet didn't seem the least bit bothered by the long distance they'd had to run.

A high pitched mew caught Sol's ears and he turned his head to see the source.

"Mama? Mama, I'm hungry." A tiny, silvery-white kit stumbled over to Scarlet, sitting between her front paws.

Sol stared at them, softly purring without realizing it. The soft-furred kit had his mother's beautiful violet eyes and the same dark brown fleck at the top of her ear.

"Silver, this is Sol. He is my brother, the one we came all this way to see." Scarlet gazed fondly at her daughter.

"It's nice to meet you." Silver said politely, staring up at him with wide eyes.

Sol's head was spinning. This was all happening too fast and it was taking a while for him to process. Why did Scarlet need to find the Clans? He knew it was easy enough for him to leave his home, there wasn't much for him to leave.

"I know this is moving pretty fast, but will you help me?" Scarlet read his mind.

Sol thought for only a few heartbeats before agreeing with only a small hesitation.

"I'll go. Why is it so important that you find the Clans?" He asked her.

"Silver needs a place to go. The twolegs are building dens and other larger places around the places we could live, and since I can't be sure that none of the twolegs will take her away if they see her. That rules out living with new twolegs. I need a place to go, please, Sol. Help me." Scarlet pleaded, desperation showing in her eyes.

"Where do we go first?"


End file.

Warriors, Adventure