A Hidden Threat

Mature Content

This page may contain profanity, violence, mild gore, or other forms of mature content.

This is a sequel to Briarstar’s Journey.

Life in the two Clans is peaceful. After the battle, a peace agreement was made. Now WoodClan and DewClan (begrudgingly) get along. Greenleaf has brought new kits, more prey, and longer days. However, not every cat feels content, and as a new danger threatens the forest, two cats will be separated from their Clans, and must learn where their loyalty truly lies.

## Allegiances

### WoodClan

**Leader:** Briarstar- calico she-cat with dark green eyes

**Deputy:** Sootpelt- pale gray tom with golden eyes

**Medicine cat:** Sundapple- cream-furred she-cat with a dappled coat and yellow eyes

*MC apprentice: Flowerpaw*

**Warriors:**

Cranefeather- light brown tabby she-cat with amber eyes

Lionclaw- huge, thick-furred golden tabby tom with amber eyes

Wildblaze- light ginger tom with a white chest and dark green eyes

Minnowfrost- silver tabby she-cat with amber eyes

Stormfang- silver tabby tom with with scarred ears and white paws

Hazelsong- light golden-brown she-cat with amber eyes

Duskheart- dark gray-blue tom with dark blue eyes

Shrewtail- brown tabby tom with amber eyes

Sparrowflight- dark brown tabby tom with white paws

Cherrynose- cream-furred she-cat with green eyes

**Queens:**

Briarstar (mother to Icekit and Haykit)

**Kits:**

Icekit- white she-cat with golden eyes

Haykit- golden-brown tabby tom with blue eyes

**Apprentices:**

Flowerpaw- small golden tabby she-cat with amber eyes

**Elders:**

Cloverbreeze- sleek white she-cat with a graying muzzle

Thorntooth- light brown tabby tom with amber eyes

Blackmoon- short-furred black tom with amber eyes

### DewClan

**Leader:** Froststar- pale gray she-cat, blind in one eye

**Deputy:** Lakewind- dark gray tabby tom with white ears and paws

**Medicine cat:** Dovemist- gray-and-white she-cat with blue eyes

**Warriors:**

Darkclaw- long-furred black tom with green eyes

Night- black she-cat with amber eyes

*Apprentice: Emberpaw*

Hawkfeather- tortoiseshell she-cat with amber eyes

*Apprentice: Mistpaw*

Badgerclaw- dark gray tom with white patches, amber eyes

*Apprentice: Thistlepaw*

Petalbreeze- white she-cat with cream splotches

*Apprentice: Goldpaw*

Snowsong- white she-cat with blue eyes

*Apprentice: Cloudpaw*

Kestrelwing- dark gray-and-brown tabby tom with green eyes

*Apprentice: Hailpaw*

Leafwhisker- light brown tabby she-cat with amber eyes

Larchclaw- dark brown tabby tom with green eyes

*Apprentice: Beetlepaw*

**Queens:**

N/A

**Kits:**

N/A

**Apprentices:**

Beetlepaw- dark gray tabby tom with white patches

Thistlepaw- black she-cat with a white muzzle, amber eyes

Goldpaw- golden-brown tabby she-cat with blue eyes

Mistpaw- pale gray she-cat with white paws

Hailpaw- dark gray tom with blue eyes

Cloudpaw- white tom with amber eyes

Emberpaw- ginger tabby tom with green eyes

**Elders:**

Toadspring- black tom with white patches and green eyes

Graystorm- dark gray tom with bright amber eyes

Brackenclaw- dark brown tabby tom with yellow eyes

### Cats Outside Clans

Amber- golden she-cat with a white chest

Sparky- massive ginger tom with tufted ears

Heff- long-furred brown tom with amber eyes

Henry- pale gray tabby tom with green eyes

Cream- cream-furred she-cat with blue eyes

Mossy- pale tortoiseshell she-kit with green eyes

Minty- pale gray tabby she-kit with green eyes

Remi- gray tom with green eyes

Milo- black tom with red markings and white paws

Luna- black she-cat with a white chest and paws, amber eyes

Fluffy- dark brown tabby she-cat with amber eyes

Shadow- dark brown tabby tom with amber eyes

Boo- black tom a white dot on chest, green eyes

Tabby- dilute calico she-cat with orange eyes

Samantha- pale gray she-cat with a darker face

Birch- dark brown tabby tom with amber eyes

Bark- light brown tom with white paws

Zoe- white she-cat with black patches

Bailey- light ginger she-cat with amber eyes

Thorn- yellow tom with amber eyes

Calamity- calico she-cat with green eyes

Gorse- white tom with ginger patches

Fly- dusty-brown she-cat with amber eyes

## Prologue

Amber raced through the trees, panic searing her pelt. She could hear her kit crying in her jaws, but she didn’t stop. She couldn’t.

The monstrous truth of what had just happened made her heart shatter, but it also made her want to run, and keep running, until she could escape the horror seizing her skin, throwing her into an icy, freezing state of shock. She felt as though she was trying to escape her shadow; no matter how fast she ran, no matter how hard she tried, she would never be able to get away.

She only stopped when she reached a Twoleg barn. She knew she would be safe here. Beetle had taken her here when she was just a small kitten. She often came to this place just to think. No...to escape. The thought made guilt seize her heart, but she couldn’t ignore it. She hadn’t wanted to admit to herself that what he was doing was wrong, but now she couldn’t ignore it. The only secret she had ever kept from him was that she came here.

*He was my mate...and he killed Beetle.*

Once she was inside, she gently placed her kit in a soft nest made from hay. She stroked her tail over his pelt, staring down at him affectionately. The only good thing about Birch was that he was able to father such a perfect kit. Not that he deserved to be the father. Amber would never let her son know that his father was a murderer. He would never meet or know Birch, and Amber was going to make sure of it. She would do anything to keep her son safe, and far away from his father.

She was starving, but she didn’t want to leave her kit here, alone and helpless. He had only been born the day before, and his eyes weren’t open yet. He was so young that he didn’t know about the horrors of the forest, and Amber would have liked for it to stay that way forever.

Sighing, Amber curled herself around his tiny body. Slowly, she began to drift off to sleep.

*Swish.*

Amber blinked her eyes open in alarm. That was unmistakably the sound of paws rustling hay.

”Who’s there?” She called, trying and failing to keep the panic out of her voice.

No response.

Amber pricked her ears, listening intently. She couldn‘t hear anything.

*You fool. It was just the wind.* But she still felt uneasy. She wondered if she should sleep or not. She was certainly exhausted, but she was afraid that some cat would find her here. She was terrible at fighting, and always had been. She’d spent the first few moons of her life as a kittypet, but had quickly decided that the lifestyle wasn’t for her. A few days before she ran away from her Twolegs, they took her to the vet one last time. Her memory of this time was foggy, but she remembered that when she woke up, she immediately knew that something was wrong.

The Twolegs had taken away her claws.

Amber shuddered at the memory. Her kit began to cry again, and she began to wash him.

Then, very suddenly, something landed on top of her, blocking her vision.

Amber yowled loudly, fear pulsing through her pelt. She struggled to breathe. This couldn’t be happening. How didn‘t know where to find her. She felt an odd sense of tingling horror as she looked up and immediately recognized Birch’s tabby face, his amber eyes smoldering as he glared down at her.

“N-No!” She wailed, desperately struggling to push him off. She saw him smile, and the world seemed to flash oddly before her eyes. He unsheathed his claws, and Amber knew what was going to happen a second before it did, and then the shadows seemed to swallow her whole. The world faded, and everything went black.

## Chapter 1

Haykit wasn’t entirely sure how he ended up being a part of WoodClan.

Or why he wasn’t dead, for that matter.

You could say that he just got really lucky. Perhaps the murderer of his mother thought he wouldn’t be able to survive without her. Perhaps, somehow, he had thought Haykit was already dead. Haykit tried to make sense of these ideas, but he found that he was simply unable to. Surely if that cat was going to kill Haykit’s mother, he would kill Haykit, too?

Sootpelt often said that StarClan had blessed little Haykit, but Haykit often laughed at this idea. Why would StarClan, if they even existed, save his life? His mother had been a loner. Why would StarClan care if he lived or died? His Clanmates certainly didn’t seem to care. He often heard cats whispering about him behind his back. He wasn’t a Clan cat. WoodClan had just taken him in.

”You shouldn’t listen to those stupid cats!” cried Icekit one day in the middle of Greenleaf. They had just heard Thorntooth and Blackmoon meowing that Haykit was an extra mouth to feed.

”It’s quite easy for you to tell me not to listen to them,” muttered Haykit through gritted teeth. “They’re not talking about *you.*”

Icekit was Briarstar’s kit. Her only kit. Unless you counted Haykit, who was Briarstar’s adopted son. Haykit often thought that Briarstar loved Icekit more than him. Of course, he had no proof, but it only made sense that Briarstar would care more about her actual kit rather than her adopted kit. Icekit had told him that Briarstar loved him just as much as she loved her, and that he was incredibly stupid for believing such fox-dung. And, as a result, she had immediately gotten a scolding from Briarstar for using bad language.

Haykit sometimes wondered if she was right, and he was just being stupid. But that insecurity still stuck with him, even now that he was five moons old, and was almost old enough to be an apprentice.

”Hello, Haykit, Icekit!” Called a voice from the entrance to the camp. It was Hazelsong. She and Stormfang were always particularly kind to Haykit. Haykit wondered if this was out of pity or actual affection. Perhaps it was both.

Icekit raced over to the tabby she-cat, beaming. “Hi, Hazelsong! Did you catch any prey?” Haykit wasn’t sure how, but Icekit always managed to make friends with every single cat in the Clan. And it was *annoying.*

”Just this starling,” Hazelsong meowed, nodding to a bird that was slung over her back. “Sparrowflight caught two squirrels and a mouse, though.”

Haykit glanced across at the fresh-kill pile and, sure enough, there was Sparrowflight, seemingly overflowing with confidence as he added his prey to the pile.

”Arrogant furball,” Haykit muttered darkly.

”Oh, come on, Haykit.” Hazelsong meowed cheerfully. “He’s not arrogant, just confident. There’s a difference, you know.”

”Yeah, and hedgehogs fly.” Haykit growled.

Hazelsong gave him a sideways glance. Then she shook her head. “Well, I’ll be going, now. I could use a good rest.” She headed off toward the warriors’ den.

”I hope she’s my mentor.” Icekit purred. “She’s really nice.”

”I don’t like her,” Haykit mewed. “I wish she would stop pitying me. She needs to just leave us alone.” Did he really mean that? Did he really want yet another cat whispering about how useless he was? Shouldn’t he be glad to have an ally? He shoved the thought to the back of his mind.

Icekit looked at him in surprise. “She doesn’t pity you,” she meowed. “She *understands* you. Her best friend, Stormfang, was a loner for the first few seasons of his life. He was a loner for much longer than you, but he’s earned his place in WoodClan.” She flicked her tail at where Stormfang was sprawled out in the sun, next to Duskheart and Hazelsong.

”I don’t want anyone to *understand* me,” Haykit meowed angrily.

Icekit sighed. “You‘d rather be tragically misunderstood, I know. You realize how immature that is, right?”

Haykit opened his mouth to argue, but Icekit prodded him roughly with her paw. ”Just think about that, okay? Instead of wallowing in your misery all the time, you should just be thankful that you’re alive, and that you have a home.”

Haykit watched her walk over to the nursery, her tail held high. What did she think she was saying? She didn’t know what it was like to be in Haykit’s position. He felt like he didn’t belong in WoodClan, that he shouldn’t even be there. When he looked around the dens of the camp, he didn’t feel like he was home. He felt like he was being kept prisoner, and that he needed to escape.

Suddenly an idea popped into his mind. *Escape?* Of course, it seemed so obvious now. He didn’t have to stay in WoodClan. He could find a way to sneak out. But, as he looked over at the entrance to camp, his heart sank. There were always two warriors guarding the entrance, and kits weren’t allowed to leave camp. He would have to wait one more moon.

He turned around swiftly and headed toward the nursery, a newfound hope burning brightly in his heart. Yes... one day he would get to leave WoodClan.

## Chapter 2

Some days are so perfect that it seems like nothing could possibly go wrong.

Some days, you are so happy that you feel like you will never be sad again.

At least, that’s what this day was like.

Imagine this scenario: it’s a beautiful day in Leaf-fall. The sun is shining brightly through leaves of dark red and auburn, and you are lying in the warmth. Dry, crackly leaves are under you, and the bright blue sky is above you, peaking through the branches of oak trees.

It was on a day like this when Dovekit learned that she was going to be a medicine cat.

She had been almost six moons old, and she was lying right outside of the DewClan camp. Kits weren’t allowed out of camp until they were apprentices, but older kits could stretch the rules a bit if they had permission from an older cat. Leopardheart, Dovekit’s mother, had told her daughter that she could leave camp, just while she was out for a walk with Dovekit’s father, Darkclaw. Dovekit had also been instructed that she had to stay in sight of Leafpaw and Larchpaw, her older siblings.

“What’s so interesting about just lying in the sun?” Larchpaw had growled, flicking his tail crossly.

”I’m not *just* lying in the sun,” Dovekit had murmured. “Look how beautiful the forest is. Look at the rays of sunlight coming through the trees and hitting the forest floor, and the way those orange leaves glow like fire. The forest is so peaceful. Aw, there’s a cute little chip—*hey!”*

The two apprentices had darted toward the chipmunk, claws out and teeth bared. The chipmunk scurried up a tree and the two cats crouched down at the trunk, their tails swishing the leaves, there eyes wide and their pupils slits.

”Now you’ve ruined the peace,” Dovekit had mewed, feeling a little cross. She mostly felt bad for the chipmunk, though. It had done nothing wrong.

Larchpaw turned on her. “Dovekit, you‘re never going to be a warrior if you feel bad for every piece of prey you catch. Would you rather starve? Besides, Leaf-bare is coming, and we need as much prey as we can get.”

Dovekit glanced at the ground. Not because she was hurt by what Larchpaw had told her, though. She was actually watching a row of ants crawl past her paws, each one carrying a tiny piece of leaf. How did they carry things that were twice their size? How could they do that, but not cats? It was very mystifying, thought Dovekit.

”Dovekit, do you hear me?” someone was saying.

Dovekit looked up in surprise. “What—oh, hello, Toadspring.” She smiled at the tom.

He smiled back, his expression a mixture of affection and exasperation. “I was just telling you that I’ve talked to Froststar about what you asked me earlier.”

”Really?” Dovekit gasped, sitting upright and trying to shake bits of leaf off her pelt. “What did she say?”

“She said, considering that I’m not a young cat, it would be a good idea for me to train an apprentice.” Toadspring smoothed her pelt with his tail. “Do you want to train to be a medicine cat?”

”Yes!” Dovekit cried, beaming up at him. She had never felt this excited, not even the first time she had left the camp, not even the first time she’d been able to help Toadspring treat a Clanmate’s wounds. She’d felt like nothing could have made her upset. She’d felt like she’d be happy forever and ever, and no matter what happened, she’d never let anything get her down.

All of that, however, was before her mother had died.

She‘d gotten the news later that day. Leopardheart had died on patrol, killed by a viscous badger that was defending its cubs.

”I tried to save her,” Darkclaw had meowed. “I tried to fight the badger. But if I had stayed much longer, it would have killed me too, and I knew there was nothing else I could do.”

Dovekit had never felt grief like that. It was so bad that it threatened to overwhelm her, to the point were she just wanted to lie down and make the pain disappear. She had wanted everything to just be gone.

But Dovekit had always been observant, more observant than a lot of her Clanmates. And, as she glanced at Leopardfoot’s body through her haze of pain, she realized that those scratches were too small to have been made by a badger. She had glanced up at Toadspring and they had shared a glanced, and Dovekit knew, immediately, that Toadspring recognized the claw marks of a cat as well.

Toadspring hadn’t said anything, so Dovekit hadn’t either. She didn’t want to admit it, but she knew, deep down, that Darkclaw had killed Leopardheart. And she knew that Toadspring knew.

And, even now, seasons later, when Dovekit was now Dovemist, she still knew.

## Chapter 3

The next moon of Haykit’s life went by very slowly.

It felt like six moons had passed since he decided to leave WoodClan, and now that he was about to be apprenticed, he knew that the time was not far away. His tail-tip twitched eagerly as he thought of being alone for once, not having to worry about the warrior code, not having to endure his Clanmates’ rumors and snide comments about him.

Now he was grooming himself next to Icekit, getting ready for his apprentice ceremony. Icekit kept muttering about fleas and was desperately trying to get her fur to stay smooth and flat. Briarstar, who was sitting behind her two kits, suddenly leaned down and nuzzled them both.

“I’m proud of you,” the she-cat meowed. She then leapt up onto the High Branch. “Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather beneath the High Branch for a Clan meeting!” A moment later, once every cat was sitting beneath the High Branch, Briarstar began to speak.

WIP