The Birth of RiverHeart's Kit

RiverHeart lay peacefully on the ground, sleeping. She groaned every now and then as one of the kits fidgeted in their sleep in her belly. She woke with a start as she began to feel sharp pains in her stomach. "Please come down, my darlings," she whispered to her belly, but the kits wouldn't sit still. She shuffled towards a Queen sleeping in the middle of her three kits and nudged her slightly.

The Queen woke up and looked at RiverHeart angrily. "What?" she asked rudely. "My kits.." RiverHeart said. "They won't - ow - sit still. I keep getting these sharp pains. - OW! - It hurts!" Her eyes widened. "Oh my God," she cried. "Oi, wake up!" she yowled. "River's giving birth! Wake up! She needs help!" Before RiverHeart could take in the fact that her four kits were coming, the other Queens were bustling around her, trying their best to lend a paw. "Someone call the leader!" A Queen shouted and immediatly three four-week-old kits ran out of the Nursery as fast as possible towards the leader's den where ShadowStar lay asleep.

ShadowStar woke up with a jolt and grabbed the medicine cat's apprentice - Leafpaw, on her way. She bolted into the nursery and yowled out her arrival to everyone. The Queens let her through and Shadow commanded the medicine cat to help.

The medicine cat worked on Riverheart, encouraging and licking her while she helped. Suddenly, one kit was out. Leafpaw didn't give it to Riverheart, but skidded it across the floor to Shadow, with the command to lick it. ShadowStar did so, rasping her tongue over it to remove the sticky, protective membrane. She finished with its membrane and tossed the slime over her shoulder while she licked the beautiful kitten to get its blood flowing and keep it warm. It mewed feebly, moving its weak little body so to raise its head. Its mouth gaped wide and pink, wanting milk. ShadowStar tipped it onto its side to determine its gender. "A boy." she called to Leafpaw, and she nodded without looking at Shadow and gave a second kit to an orange tabby queen. A third was passed to ShadowStar and she repeated her moves, moving her tongue harshly over its limp body. There were now two boys and a girl.

Through all this, Riverheart lay still, breathing heavily. Leafpaw gasped and flicked her tail nervously. "Riverheart," the brown she-cat said to the Deputy, "Riverheart, help me here. The fourth one is stuck." ShadowStar could do nothing but watch and keep the other two warm.

RiverHeart could barely glance at her new-born kits before she had to close her eyes in pain with the pushing. "Come on, my darling," she muttered under her breath between pushes. "Come on," she couldn't push any harder and looked over at the medicine cat. "Help," she mewed weakly. "Help my kit!"

Shadow pushed right next to the medicine cat apprentice, and looked at where the kit should be. Leafpaw was only a new apprentice and had never delivered a kit before, and Shadow - although she was even less knowledgeable, took over. She pressed a paw to River's belly and pushed down, in time to River's breathing. Finally, she could see the last kit's head. Ducking down, she grabbed its hold of fur before it could disappear again, and pulled it out. One swift, easy movement, and it was out. She remembered that this was how Riverheart and she met - helping to deliver a queen's litter. ShadowStar licked it vigorously and told the medicine apprentice to go back to her den, and the queens to go back to their own kits.

She got the last one - a girl, 's breathing and blood up to standard and nudged it towards River's belly, where it began to suckle. She picked up the other three and they drank too, their little bodies climbing over each other to find a good space. ShadowStar curled up against River and licked her soft black head. "Well done." she praised the deputy. ShadowStar didn't give out praise often. "Two toms, two she-cats."

After one final push, the kit was out and RiverHeart lay back peacefully with a weak smile on her sweating face. She allowed her kits to suckle and looked at ShadowStar. "Thank you," she managed to whisper. "You're life saver." She barely finished the end of her sentence before she fell into a deep sleep, a paw resting over all four kits.

She still had a smile on her face when she was asleep, but she had a dream. A horrible dream.

"Push!" the medicine apprentice yowled. "Push harder!" River pushed with all her might for the final kit to come out, but it refused. It had almost been a full moon since the third kit had been born. "I can't!" she mewed weakly. "Don't give me that!" the medicine apprentice yowled at her. "Now push!" River pushed, but eventaully gave up. The medicine cat stopped and walked to River's head. "You're a disgrace as a mother and now your kit is dead inside you." And with that, he left. The words echoed through River's mind.

River woke with a start, panting heavily. She looked around at the other sleeping Queens and then at her dear kits. She cuddled them close, but couldn't go back to sleep.

ShadowStar decided that it would be best for River if she stayed there, but she also knew that the Queen would want to see RavenFang, especially now. She looked at the other queens. The oldest were 4 and a half moons old, and the youngest litter was about a moon. She decided that the cats would sleep in the empty apprentice dens. But the queen with the 4 and a half month old litter would stay with the warriors to give her more room since her kits were becoming loud and boisterous. She woke the queens and politely told them where to go, and watched as they all padded off with the kits in their mouths or trotting drunken-like at their feet.

Shadow watched River for a moment, then wandered back to her own den to fetch Raven. She found him asleep, but he had obviously been out and had three massive gashes on his back. She woke him and told him to come as soon as possible to the nursery, and trotted back to Riverheart. She looked at the sleeping queen and curled up against her warm black body.

RiverHeart licked her kits delicately. By now, they were asleep, but they had suckled until what seemed to be kingdom come. She rested her head on the soft ground until she saw Shadow come in. She raised her head and smiled at her leader. "I guess you're going to tell me to try and get some sleep?" she said. "Well, I have, but I'm feeling a bit restless at the moment." she stood up gently, trying not to wake her kits.

"When will I begin my duties as Deputy?" she asked. Her legs wobbled slightly, still not quite able to balance herself an she collapsed beside her kits. "I guess not now then," she muttered in reply to herself.

Shadow licked her paw and drew it slowly over her ears. "Not until your kits are 4 moons old." she said firmly. By then they'll start being able to do things by themselves, and it'll be only 2 moons until they can become apprentices." she looked onward as River toppled over again, next to her kits.

"But about the kits..." she began, shuffling to face Riverheart. "You said to Ravenfang that you'd each take care of two kits. But it won't be that simple, will it?" she looked straight into the queen's green eyes with her own heterochromic ones. "Which ones would you keep? Which would be sent away? And if Ravenfang stays, MossStar will have to know and have a good reason for letting him go. Otherwise it will seem that Ravenfang is not loyal to his clan and is a traitor." she paused to let Riverheart reply.

RiverHeart looked at her kits. She'd just given birth to them, there was no way she could give them up now. "I will have to keep all of them until they're weened." she replied slowly. She took a deep breath. "Then I will decide." She thought of everything that Raven was prepared to give up for her and her kits. She coulsn't take his kits away from him and keep them all to herself. She had to decide and she didn't have long. She licked her kits delicately and looked up at Shadow.

"I will think about it now, but I need to rest," she said, making an excuse to get rid of Shadow as, for the first time ever, her company was making River feel uncomfortable.

ShadowStar nodded and walked to the exit. She turned to face her deputy. "It'll take about a moon and a half until they're weaned." she said. "I'll appoint a substitute deputy while you're a queen."

she turned to leave, but remembered something. "Should I tell Raven not to come in then? If you're resting." she realised that it was probably her that was making Riverheart uncomfortable and smiled awkwardly. "It's your choice. I'll let him in then you can send him back or not. I'll bring you some freshkill at sunhigh." she dipped her head and left.

She got back to her den and curled up in her corner and fell asleep.

"Thank you," RiverHeart said as ShadowStar left. She had to let Raven see his kits, it was only fair. She lay still. She was so still that a young cub trotted over to her and nudged her slightly saying "Is she dead, Mummy?" But it jumped when River lifted my head. She smiled and the kit dashed back to a Queen who apologized.

River's kits were now awake and they began cuddling up together to keep warm. She stood up and adjusted herself so that she was positioned on her kits with their heads poking out.

Ravenfang limped out of the den, wincing when his back brushed against some leaves from the willow tree. Even though his wounds would heal and had been treated, it hurt a lot. He stalked over to the nursery, and was surprised to see that only Riverheart was there and no other queens were. "Hi." he murmured softly, licking her soft jet-black head. He glanced at the kittens. From their scent her could tell that there were two boys and two girls. They were tiny and fragile, and he smiled caringly at the kits.

The largest was a boy, and had a black muzzle and a saddle pattern across his back, like that of an Alsation dog. He looked like he would be a strong fighter. The other tomcat was the smallest, scrawny and scruffy, with his wet fur sticking up in rosettes and spikes all around his body. He was a rusty, flame-red colour with black socks and black-tipped ears and tail, and was being squished by one of his sisters.

The she-cats looked very similar, both roughly the same size and with the same sort of build. One had a black line going from nose-tip to rump, down the spine. They were both a kind of soft blue-grey, but the one without the stripe was a lot darker than her sister.

Ravenfang licked his kittens in turn, before huddling up close to Riverheart and purring softly to himself.

RiverHeart smiled to RavenFang as he approached her and their kits. She waited patiently for him to finish meeting each kit and then rubbed her face into his warm fur once he'd lay down beside her. She looked up at RavenFang and knew that it would be better if she began the conversation tha she'd been dreading.

"Which two do you want?" she asked, her heart beating in time with each word. Every word felt like a sword slashing her heart. The fact that her kits would be separated, killed her, but she knew that she had to.

Shadow's dream continued almost as soon as she fell asleep...
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Leafbare had come. Kits were playing in the snow and their parents were watching over them with warm, kind eyes. Shadowfang - back then she was Shadowkit, was playing with her brother. They were the only two to survive from their litter of five. Flamekit and Shadowkit yowled and mewed as they playfighted in the soft snow blanket.

Suddenly, an eerie yowl sounded from over the hill which hid the ShadowClan camp. The area was in chaos. Warriors took up their positions and elders slunk back into their dens. Queens panicked and picked up as many kits as they could carry, even if they didn't belong to them. A horde of rogue cats swarmed over the hill and raced towards the camp. Warriors dashed to meet them and a fierce battle ensued.

Shadowkit and Flamekit scampered widely over the hill, avoiding the fighting, but were met by two ferocious rogue cats. The siblings fought bravely; Flamekit receiving his noticeable scars and Shadowkit was swiped across the face, scarring over her eye. Shadowkit was knocked unconscious and carried away, while Flamekit was left, wounded and quivering in a pile of snow...

Raven flinched as River's words had stabbed into him like a shard of ice. He froze, gazing at the four tiny kittens. It was impossible to choose, as if he were choosing a piece of meat from the freshkill pile or deciding which warriors would patrol with him. He didn't look at River, and gazed at the ground. "I...I can't choose." he murmured to Riverheart. He flicked his tail uneasily. "I should go back to WindClan and talk to MossStar...he should know what to do. If he approves of me staying here, I can stay. If not, I won't be accepted in the clan any more and I'd come here anyway." He nudged the nearest kitten- the striped female, who had strayed too far away, back to her mother's side.

RiverHeart got up immediatly at these words, looked him in the eye, and mewed one word firmly: "No." She walked closer to him, almost nose-to-nose. "I will not have you risk your dedication to the clan because of a stupid mistake that we made. I realize that you want to help with the kits, but there must be some other way. Maybe ShadowStar can think off something."

RiverHeart took hold off a each kit the scruff of there necks and put them gently on her back before setting off to Shadow's den. "Come on," she said, walking awkwardly to keep the kits balanced on her spine.

Shadow awoke and looked up at the cats. "You shouldn't strain yourself." she noted to River. She looked at the moon and got to her feet. "I was going to wake everyone soon anyway..." she shook herself and stretched. "River, we'll talk after the ceremony." she said. "Leave the kits with Yellowflower and come with me. Raven, go through WindClan to the Gathering."

Shadowstar assembled all but a few of the cats for the Gathering and set off.

[TOPIC CLOSED.]