Stealthstar's Origin

Story style from Erin Hunter's 'Warriors'

Creekkit bounded into the Elder’s Den, a mouse in her mouth, “Cloudclaw, can you tell me a story that no one has ever heard before? Pleeeeez?” 

“Well, I suppose I can’t say no to a cute lil’ youngster like you now can I!” he sighed, “Alrighty, I’ve got a story about your leader.” Cloudclaw took a breath about to continue,

“A story about Stealthstar?” Podburst walked in followed closely by Sugarfoot,

“I never heard one of those in my life!” Sugarfoot exclaimed,

“Move over, I wanna hear this too!” another cat scrambled in,

“Sootpaw! Weren’t you cleaning Willowwhip’s nest?” Cloudclaw reprimanded,

“Well, yeah,” Sootpaw admitted, “But she takes moons for her to make dirt, I can wait for a little.”

“Alright, alright, settle down everybody. I’ll tell you the story, but you all have to promise not to tell anybody else.”

“We promise!” Creekkit squealed, “Just please tell us the story already!”

“Manners Creekkit!” Sugarfoot reminded, “But yes, we all promise Cloudclaw.”

“Okay. It was the middle of leaf-bare, the coldest one we had had in a few dozen-moons. Then one day, prey started going missing. A thin mouse here that everybody just thought anybody else had eaten, a skinny squirrel missing right on a stump, it was freaky. Until, the day we found the culprit. It was a warmer day, it had stopped snowing. I was on a hunting patrol assigned to the prairie marshes. I had caught a fat rabbit that I was going to give to our leader-”

“You mean Stealthstar?” Podburst interrupted, Sugarfoot shot him a glare. 

“No, I had just caught a fat rabbit by Leaf-bare standards, that I was going to give to our leader Crowstar.” a collective gasp when around the gathered cats. Stealthstar stood by the entrance, she had poked her head in, and was now listening from the entrance.“When we got back to camp, I went to make dirt. Dragging the rabbit behind me, I left it at the tunnel entrance where I could easily see if it was being stolen. It drew an unappreciative glare from Thunderlily,” his tail motioned to the rock-like cat sleeping across the cave from him, ”Who’s big frame blocked my view for a few seconds as she tried to step over it. Next thing I know, she’s thanking me for moving it as I see a small paw dragging it quickly away! I dash out before covering me dirt, earning me another hateful stare from Thrunderlily. I run out and see the rabbit’s tail slipping into a crevice in the rock all the way across camp! I pelt after it, and manage to grab the very ends of the tail before it slipped away for good. The thing stealing it,” Stealthstar winced at the word ‘thing’ she didn’t like it. “Pulled on the rabbit, thinking it had caught on a rock, so I bet it was a bit surprised when I pulled back. So much of a surprise, that when I pulled, I got a flying rabbit, with a cat hanging onto the end. The poor thing was all muscle, no fat. I had found the food stealer. She screeched in my face like there was a fire in her mouth, her claws were sharper even than mine! She clawed me without mercy, and almost made me deaf!” Stealthstar had to stifle a laugh. Cloudclaw looked up, “The thing is, I was Hazepaw at that time! There was another Cloudpaw. But Stealthstar is the reason behind my warrior name! See these claw marks?” Cloudclaw gestured to long, angry, furless claw marks on his flank, “Those are the marks her claws made that day. That’s right, Stealthstar, was the food stealer! It took me, plus five other warriors to subdue her enough that Brackenfern, our medicine cat at the time, could put poppyseeds in her mouth! The minute Crowstar set eyes on soon to be Stealthkit, her small muscled form all splayed out in different angles, her teeth and claws still dripping with blood, her jaw still locked in an angry menace, he knew he needed her in Grassclan and had her join as a kit the second she woke up.” Stealthstar cleared her throat, making nearly every cat in the room to jump, their fur fluffed up, “Thank you for that detailed origin story Cloudclaw, but I’ll take it from here. If I remember correctly there were six warriors and you Cloudclaw. Soon after I became an apprentice, Crowstar lost his third life to sickness. He was weak for many moons after. Honeyskip got bitten by an adder on a hunting patrol, dying just as she reached the medicine cat’s den. Buffaloleg drowned in the river, trying to save a rogue ally, Marsh. Spiderwing crushed his spine when he fell from a tree, a rock the cause of both pushing him down, and delivering the killing blow. When I became a warrior, my old mentor Reedwhisker went blind after a weasel attack, moved to the Elder’s den, and died shortly after. Jaggedfall threw himself in front of a monster to save me.” Stealthstar remembered, willing her voice not to crack, “Thunderstep became Thunderlily when she got shoved down a cliff and a lily clump saved her life, but left her with a memory problem. Shortly after I was made deputy, Crowstar lost his second life, after inhaling too much smoke when a densely wooded area caught fire. He lost his final life, after being forced to eat deathberrys by Lynxstar, Blossomstar, and Deepstar, the leaders of Fogclan, Treeclan, and Cloudclan.” her voice rang bitterly around the cave. The next day, Cloudclaw caught green-cough and died. Creekkit ran a high fever and once recovered, couldn’t remember anything from before she had woken up okay. Sootpaw went missing and her scent, blood, and fur were found three days later in a recent fox den. Sugarfoot became extremely skittish, and would only sleep in the nursery until she stopped speaking, went deaf after a monster bellowed next to her ear, and couldn’t run when a bush fire burnt the nursery to the ground while she was sleeping, killing her. Podburst, having lost his mate, and scared for his own life and his kit’s, ran away at the break of dawn the day after Sugarfoot’s vigil. Stealthstar relaxed in her den. She had nine lives, and her secret was safe again. She had asked Fernwish, her medicine cat to give her some deathberrys. If/when Creekkit started to remember Stealthstar’s origin, she would take care of it.
 

TheSilentPoet

VT

15 years old

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