Chapter One

Autumnkit darted toward her brother, Lionkit, and snatched the ball of moss away from him. 

    "Got it!" she yowled triumphantly. Eaglekit, a black-and-white tom-kit, was standing nearby with Kitekit, a reddish-brown she-kit. Suddenly Eaglekit darted forward and wrestled Autumnkit to the ground. The weight of the older kit caught Autumnkit off guard and she stumbled, dropping the moss-ball.

    She leaped forward to grab it again, but it was too late. Eaglekit had grabbed it, leaped back, and shot away in a heartbeat. Autumnkit's amber eyes widened. 

    "Hey!" she purred, and darted forward to follow him.

 Their game of moss-ball was interrupted by Hailstar as he leaped on top of the Highbranch.

    "Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather beneath the Highbranch for a Clan meeting!"

Emerging from the Warrior's den was Quailwhisker and Swanwing, followed closely by Dawnflicker. Oakleaf appeared from the Elder's den and settled himself in the shade of the maple tree that created his den.

    Opalpaw and Foxpaw raced across the clearing and sat down in front of the Highbranch. Their mentors, Irispool and Swiftriver, sat beside Yarrownose and Violetmoon. Frogleap rose from eating his shrew by the fresh-kill pile to join them, and Bluewing padded over to join them.

    Both medicine cats, Skybloom and Leafrise, sat outside the Medicine cats' den and watched the clearing.

    "It is time," Hailstar began, "for the making of two new warriors." He looked down at Swiftriver. "Swiftriver, do you believe that you've trained Foxpaw to defend the Warrior code and the code's honor?"

    "Yes," Swiftriver told him. "He had an excellent hunting crouch when he cornered the rabbit, and I've

never seen a cat climb so fast when he caught that squirrel. As for his loyalty to StormClan, I don't doubt it."

    Hailstar rested his gaze on Foxpaw. "Now then, I, Hailstar, call apon my Warrior ancestors to look down on this apprentice. He has trained hard to understand the ways of your noble code, and I commend him to you as a warrior in your turn," he spoke.  "Foxpaw, do you promise to uphold the Warrior code and protect and defend your Clan, even at the cost of your life?"

    Foxpaw's answer rang through the whole clearing. "I do."

    "Then with the powers of StarClan, I give you your warrior name. Foxpaw, from this moment, you shall be known as Foxtail. StarClan honers your bravery and loyalty, and we welcome you as a full warrior of StormClan." 

     He spoke the same words to Opalpaw, honering her for her cleverness and fighting skills and naming her Opalsight.

    "Opalsight! Foxtail! Opalsight! Foxtail!" the Clan cheered. Foxtail and Opalsight's parents, 

Woodberry and Havenwhisker, yowled loudest of all, pride shimmering in their eyes.

    Autumnkit spotted Quailwhisker slinking away into the shadows, casting sly looks toward his Clanmates. He didn't spot me, Autumnkit thought, relieved. But she wondered where he was going and what he was doing. She nudged Lionkit beside her.

    "Quailwhisker's slinking out of camp like a weasel!" she whispered into her brother's ear. "Let's follow him!"

    Lionkit glanced at her, unsure. "I don't think we should." 

    "It'll be an adventure!" Autumnkit urged. Lionkit hesitated for a heartbeat, than nodded slowly.

    "Okay, he murmured. "But we have to be very quiet."

                                   Chapter Two

Autumnkit hurried to the camp wall and glanced back at her brother.

    "Lets go!" she hissed. Lionkit blinked, glanced around, and followed. To Autumnkit's relief, the Clan was focused on Opalsight and Foxtail that they didn't notice the two kits breaking away from the crowd.

Autumnkit, who was desperate because she couldn't see Quailwhisker anymore, glared at Lionkit.

    "Slow slug! We have to catch up to Quailwhisker!" she snapped. Lionkit shot her a look and bolted up the thorn tunnel.

    "Can you scent him?" Lionkit asked once they were outside.

Autumnkit buried her nose beneath the earth and sniffed. "This way!" she yowled, and bounded toward the scent. 

They crouched under a large bramble thicket and stopped when they heard voices.

    "Quailwhisker!" Autumnkit hissed. "He's talking with someone.."

    "Who?" Lionkit asked, fighting to work between the brambles to get to his sister.

    "I don't know!" Autumnkit responded. 

Lionkit was almost to his sister when his paw crunched on a stick. Autumnkit's head swung around and she bolted from their hideout, but Lionkit was tangled in a thorn and couldn't go back. 

    "Who's there?" Quailwhisker snarled and bounded toward the bush, then appeared a moment later, Lionkit dangling from his teeth. 

    "What do you think you're doing?" growled the other tom, a gray tabby.

Quailwhisker dropped Lionkit and held him down with one paw as Autumnkit struggled up a maple tree, her tiny claws raking the bark as the fought to cling on.

    The gray tom was edging closer, his claws unsheathed and aimed to strike.

    "Don't," Autumnkit whispered, her heart beating faster by the second. But she was helpless to the two strong toms.

Finally, she was brave enough to climb down and bound up to the toms. 

    "Stop!" she screeched. "Please, stop!"

    "Well, well, well." the gray tom hissed. "I suppose two could work."

Quailwhisker muttered something and shoved Lionkit to his paws. "Lets get going before patrols come."

    The gray tom swiped Autumnkit along the ear. She cringed and crept toward Quailwhisker, who was digging his teeth into Lionkit's scruff and lifting him off the ground. 

    "This one's too weak to walk," he told the tom. "Just carry the other kit too." Autumnkit's eyes widened as the gray tom did the same. Somehow, she was too scared to yowl for help and kept her jaws tightly shut.

    "We have to hurry," Quailwhisker meowed around Lionkit's scruff as Autumnkit heard voices in the distance.

    Without making a sound, the gray tom headed to the stream that was nearby and soared over it, 

landing on the other side with a tail-length to spare.

    After Quailwhisker crossed, she bounded up the stream and broke from the trees in a moorland slope. Autumnkit glanced over to where Lionkit was staring, wide-eyed, at Quailwhisker. 

    Autumnkit gently wriggled down, unsheathed her claws, and caught a tuft of the gray tom's fur, giving it a tug.

    Thankfully, she was able to get some without the gray tom noticing. She just hoped her plan was good enough in her head for it to work in the real world.

                                  Chapter Three

Autumnkit woke, wriggling in the sand that surrounded the bramble hollow. Lionkit was waiting, nudging her with his paw.

    "Come on! Eaglekit and Kitekit want to play moss-ball!" he yowled. Further away, Kitekit and Eaglekit were sitting impatiently, staring at Autumnkit. 

    Autumnkit scrambled to her paws and shook sand from her back. Lionkit darted over to the side of the clearing and clawed a clump of moss from a rock before darting back over to her.

    "Here, start!" he purred. Autumnkit grabbed the moss-ball in her teeth and shot away from him. Kitekit bolted from Eaglekit and streaked across the clearing toward Autumnkit. But before Kitekit reached her, the ground disappeared from beneath Autumnkit's paws. he found herself flailing in an open pit of darkness, surrounded by the wailing of her denmates.

Autumnkit woke, shivering from the memory of the dream. Lionkit lay beside her, eyes half open and blinking. Autumnkit guessed he just woke up. She glanced around the den and found Quailwhisker on guard at the entrance, glaring at the two kits but saying nothing.

    "How are you?" Autumnkit murmured softly. Lionkit sighed and whispered, "We never should have gone out of camp. What will happen to us now?" 

    "Quiet!" Quailwhisker snarled, leaping forward. Autumnkit jumped, startled, and turned back to Lionkit.

    "I'm sorry for that. But I have a plan." She lowered her voice so that she could hardly hear herself. Lionkit glanced at her. "Really? You know how to get out of here?" 

    Autumnkit nodded. "I need your help." She leaned forward and whispered into Lionkit's ear her instructions. 

    When she was done, Lionkit stood back and gave her a look that said, "Are you sure that would work?"

But without speaking, he glanced at Quailwhisker. The brown tom had turned his back and was talking with the gray tabby. Seeing his chance, he edged up the wall and stared up at the hole, then Autumnkit, and whispered, "See you when we get out." Then without another word he plunged up the hole, making no sound. Then she turned to play her part of the plan.

                                    Chapter Four

Lifting her chin, Autumnkit padded toward Quailwhisker and the gray tom.

    "I need to make dirt," she announced. The gray tom's head swung around and gave her a scathing glare. "Quailwhisker will go with you. I will guard the den." He stared into the empty den. "Where's your brother?" he growled. 

    Autumnkit vaguely shoved her head toward the den. "Sleeping." 

    Quailwhisker nodded. "Fine. Follow me." Then he he turned and padded up the slope and out of the small camp and approached a small dusty spot surrounded by bushes.

    "Now hurry up." he growled, and sat down to start grooming.

    Autumnkit breathed deep and headed inside. Once she knew Quailwhisker couldn't see her, she crouched under the other side of bushes and stalked through. She hoped she was ready for the 

run of her life.

    Then, gaining energy, she stepped out into the open and shot forward.

There's no going back now.

    "Hey!" Quailwhisker screeched, and struggled through the brambles which were slowing him down.

Autumnkit knew that she couldn't run as fast as Quailwhisker but kept running as fast as she could anyway. She spotted Lionkit waiting right near the hole, and when he saw her, he bolted away from Quailwhisker. Autumnkit bounded alongside him and they ran, pace for pace, toward StormClan territory. 

    By now the gray tom had begun to give chase and was gaining on them as well. Quailwhisker was nearly on top of them and reached forward to bat them down.

    "Now!" Autumnkit screeched, and they split from each other and both headed toward StormClan's camp, but now they were separated and the gray tom shot after Lionkit, Quailwhisker still following Autumnkit. 

Keep going! Autumnkit urged herself as she and Lionkit neared StormClan territory. 

    Finally, they leaped over the scent line and flung themselves down the thorn tunnel. 

Cats gasped in every direction and Hailstar shot toward them.

    "Where-" he started, but cut off as Quailwhisker bolted through the tunnel.

    "He kidnapped us!" Lionkit wailed. 

    "I didn't," Quailwhisker responded when Hailstar rounded on him. "A cat took them in the forest and I followed them, then fought the kidnapper and rescued them," he finished. "Don't ask me why they were in the forest in the first place."

    Liar!

    Autumnkit bounded forward and hissed, "It was you who kidnapped us with the tom!" 

Anxious murmuring rippled through the gathered cats.

    "They could have been mistaken."

    "Maybe Quailwhisker looked like the gray tom from a distance."

    "Quailwhisker's so brave!"

    At Kitekit's purr to Eaglekit, Autumnkit shot a snarl to them.

    "He's lying!" she growled.

Kitekit and Eaglekit exchanged glances. 

    "Are you sure?" Eaglekit mewed. "I think you're mistaken. Quailwhisker's a loyal cat. He wouldn't steal kits."

    "And what good would that do?" Kitekit added, casting sympathetic glances  toward Autumnkit. The two kits padded away as Lionkit walked up to her. 

    "No cat believes us," he sighed. "We never should have left camp... and now the other kits think we're crazy."

    "Don't you see?" Autumnkit gasped. "If we didn't leave, Quailwhisker would never have been found out, even if it was us kits."

    They turned and ran into Dawnflicker, Skybloom, and Leafrise.

    "Tell us," Dawnflicker whispered. 

    "We've seen Quailwhisker sneaking out many times now into the forest," Skybloom added.

    "Come with us," Leafrise murmured as he snuck into the dirtplace tunnel. "And tell us everything."

                                    Chapter Five

Once they were out, Lionkit told them everything that happened, Autumnkit cutting in to add her own side too. 

    Once they were finished, Leafrise meowed, "I believe you."

    Skybloom blinked. "Do you have a tuft of fur of the gray tom?" she asked.

    Autumnkit's eyes widened. "I do!" she gasped, and reached into her long chest fur. But the gray tom's fur was gone. 

    "I took some!" she wailed. "Where did it go?"

    "That's okay, Autumnkit," Dawnflicker told her. "What did he look like?"

    Skybloom blinked thoughtfully. "Maybe he'll come back.."

    "Lets hope he doesn't steal kits, though," Leafrise growled.

    Dawnflicker sighed. "I don't know what to do."

    "Well, we know that he's gray," Leafrise meowed, "And we know that Quailwhisker used to be a rogue. Is there some connection?"

    "Maybe!" Skybloom purred, her eyes shining. "Let's go tell Hailstar!" 

    "Hold on," Dawnflicker meowed. "Hailstar is a newly made leader. He hasn't even named a deputy yet--"

    "Clan meeting!" 

    "Let's go!" Leafrise hissed. "We can tell Hailstar after."

    "But--" 

    "We have to--"

    "Maybe we should--"

    "Stop!" Skybloom growled.

    "Stop bickering like kits! Hailstar has called a Clan meeting, and we're supposed to attend to it!"

    Leafrise glared at Dawnflicker for a moment longer, then sighed. "Okay, lets go."

    "Autumnkit, Lionkit, you'd better use the hole near the nursery," Dawnflicker suggested. "You shouldn't get in trouble that way. Just be quiet."

    As Lionkit took the lead and scrambled under the brambles and emerged into the den, Autumnkit could hear Hailstar's words.

    "I say these words before StarClan.."

    "Hurry!" Autumnkit urged.

    "...So they may hear and approve of my choice."

    "I'm trying!" Lionkit responded, and finally they stumbled from the nursery. But Hailstar's next words made them freeze in horror.

    "The new deputy of StormClan shall be Quailwhisker."

                                    Chapter Six

    "No!" Lionkit hissed. "Oh no!"

    "I have chosen Quailwhisker because I believe he has done well in rescuing the kits." Hailstar dipped his head. "Welcome, Quailwhisker!"

    Autumnkit turned to look at Dawnflicker, Leafrise, and Skybloom. "What are we going to do?" she whispered. "Quailwhisker almost killed us!"

    "I don't know what to do," Dawnflicker sighed. "Maybe--"

    "There's one more thing I'd like to announce," Hailstar meowed. "Autumnkit and Lionkit step--"

    "They're too young!"

    "Only four moons!"

    "But they had their first adventure today," Hailstar pointed out. "And anyway, I'm the leader. My word

is law." He stepped forward.

    "Lionkit, until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Lionpaw. Your mentor shall be Yarrownose." 

    Yarrownose stepped forward, eyes shining, and rested her chin on Lionpaw's muzzle. Autumnkit was just close enough to hear her brother's vow, "I'll work really hard!"

    "I hope so," Yarrownose purred back.

    "Autumnkit, until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Autumnpaw," Hailstar continued, "and your mentor shall be Swanwing." 

    Autumnpaw's heart sank as she dragged her gaze over to the grumpy old she-cat. Awkwardly, she reached forward and Swanwing rested her chin on Autumnpaw's muzzle.

    "I'll be your best apprentice you've ever had," Autumnpaw told her.

Swanwing grunted. "Oh, sure."

    Autumnpaw glanced at the white she-cat, then looked away quickly. She narrowed her eyes.

Puffing out her chest, she stalked over to Quailwhisker.

    "You may have convinced my clanmates that you rescued us, but I will get the secret out. Lionpaw and I--"

    "Get away from me, you kit," Quailwhisker snarled. "You will never win."

    Autumnkit blinked. "Lionpaw and I will work against you and you will never be trusted again."    

    Turning, Quailwhisker snorted and stalked away. "I'd like to see you try."