Post by starclan on Feb 12, 2009 13:11:30 GMT -5
From the beginning...
A. THE WAR
Long ago, farther back than any living cat could ever recall, a war broke out between the clans. Cats were killed left and right, without a care for their age or wrong-doings. Everyone was suspicious of each other, even clanmates.
Apprentices rarely lived to become warriors, and mothers were blessed when they lived long enough to see their kits grown. It was a dark time.
And it would have destroyed all of them entirely if four cats hadn't stepped forward to end the fighting.
It was tough being a leader during the War. Many leaders didn't last more than four or five moons in their position. But worse was watching your clanmates die day after day. Boulderstar, Dreamstar, Swiftstar, and Sweetstar had all had enough. They wanted the War over.
At night, they all agreed to meet at a small clump of trees in the middle of the four territories. There they discussed and agreed on simple terms. It had been a very long time since anyone could recall the terms on which the War had actually begun, so they basically all decided to stay off one another's territories and fully reinstate the warrior code. Any cat caught killing another after that night would be punished. The decided to gather all of the cats in the forest together the next night to announce their new peace treaty.
When they met the next night, the moon was full above them. To commemorate that night, they decided to hold Gatherings every full moon in a night of peace.
B. THE FOX ATTACK
For many moons, the forest lived in peace. Swiftstar was succeeded by his daughter Fernstar, Boulderstar by Crimsonstar, and CherryClan's new leader was eventually Nightstar. Dreamstar remained leading RavineClan for several more moons, even after the other of the War-ending leaders had passed away.
But all wasn't perfect. A drought was spreading over the forest. Most of the clans weren't affected too horribly. TealClan had the sea from which to hunt fish. RavineClan's heavily wooded territory almost never dried out fully, and CherryClan could hunt in Twolegplace if they had to. But BrookClan was left with nothing. The single brook that ran through there territory soon dried up entirely. Their prey fled into the sheltered land of RavineClan's territory. They were slowly starving.
Fernstar knew none of the other clans would give BrookClan more territory to live on. After all, the brook shrank every year and they still managed to survive. But this year was different, worse. Fernstar worried such heat might return again, decimating her clan once more.
She made her desicion.
Fernstar enlisted the help of a group of foxes led by the black vixen Kolette to force the other clans to give BrookClan more land. But, as the world often did, things turned badly. Kolette decided she wanted the territory of the clans as her own and allowed her followers to begin killing cats of all four clans, even BrookClan. After Fernstar's own deputy was killed, she tried to drive them away once more, but it was too late. Kolette had gathered even more foxes around her, creating an army much too large for the clans to defeat, even together.
After Crimsonstar died, several RavineClan leaders were mauled, and Nightstar murdered, the other three clans decided it was time to leave. They would find a new home. Fernstar begged themt o allow BrookClan to come as well, but they refused. Fernstar had brought this doom upon her clan and she would have to watch all of the clanmates die one by one.
The day after the other clans left, a group of BrookClanners went after them, abandoning all claims to their home clan.
C. THE JOURNEY
It was the journey of a lifetime. The clans came together as they had never done before. In the beginning, the three clans tried to keep themselves separate, but they were slowly melding into one clan. The queens all helped each other watch the kits of all the clans. And the warriors hunted for any cat who was hungry, not just their clanmates. The apprentices taught each other different techniques that had once been secrets of their clans.
It bothered the leaders how close the cats were getting, but there was little they could do about it. They all needed to rely on each other to get through the Journey alive.
It was a very long trek. For moons, they traveled as fast as they could. But there were setbacks. Queens gave birth, kits grew ill, and more dangers than could be counted lingered around every corner.
It was during this time that the deputy of CherryClan, who hadn't had the time to go to the Moonstone to become leader before they'd left the forest, suddenly disappeared. CherryClan was left with no one to lead them. A tom named Redstorm, who had previously been of BrookClan, had been giving advice to the young deputy and had grown trusted by the whole of CherryClan. The other two leaders agreed that he would do well with the position. Since there were no other cats to take it, Redstorm took over the leadership of CherryClan. He had once been Fernstar's deputy.
D. HOME
It seemed the Journey would never end. A number of cats had lost their lives to the search of a new home. All of them were weary to the bone. Some kits had grown knowing nothing but the Journey. Clan customs and rules were slowly being lost. If they didn't find a home soon, they would be reduced to little more than a large group of traveling nomads. Whether it was StarClan or fate, they did not meet that destiny.
The clans came upon a forest nestled beneath the foothills. Along one border was a shining blue lake and all around it protective peaks. There were expanses of forest and even a few golden fields. The nearest Twolegplace was a good day and a half off.
Their new home had once been what twolegs called a "state park," but it had long since been abandoned. Long-empty thunderpaths lay cracked and broken, a few empty twoleg dens stood unguarded.
But it was too perfect to be found without any inhabitants already. There was a strange group of cats who lived in one corner of the forest. The called themselves Druids. They were peaceful cats and gave no objections to sharing their home with the weary cats.
At long last, the three clans were home.
E. LEFT BEHIND
While the other three clans were stumbling upon their wonderful heaven, BrookClan was fighting its way through hell. It was like being thrown back into the War, only Kolette's followers didn't hesitate to slaughter kits. No one was safe.
Fernstar, distraught at the situation she'd placed her clan in, slowly wasted away. Her own deputy had been among those to desert their clan. If it hadn't been for her younger brother Swiftclaw(named after his father Swiftstar), the clan would have fallen into despair. Swiftclaw organized patrols and guards when his sister was too ill to do so. And when she died one night, he became BrookClan's new leader. StarClan had left with the other clans, so there was no way for him to be fully recognized by them, but it didn't matter. To his clanmates, he was better than any cat with nine lives.
Swiftclaw's own kits were born in the moons after the other clan's left. They, too, helped keep the clan afloat. Despair and sadness was everywhere for them. The joy of kits helped keep life in the clan. As the kits grew, the clan's customs began to change. Instead of assigning single mentors to each kit, the young cats were trained by the entire clan. Swiftclaw wanted the young cats of his clan to be close to all of their clanmates, so they would never be able to comprehend betraying or abandoning any of them.
One dark night, a deep yowl woke BrookClan's camp. Warriors ran to find the source of the noise and found Swiftclaw badly injured-- and laying over the body of a dead Kolette. At last BrookClan could be free of their curse. But what did it matter? Their forest was ruined. It would take several generations for it to return to it's former glory. No, BrookClan would follow the other clans in search of a new home.
They could have never expected their new home to be the same new home as the other three clans...
... and beyond.