Here's the first draft of chapter one. I hope you like it! Let me know if you find any mistakes. :)
Chapter One
*
Duchess bounded out of the
kitty-door and onto the low back porch of her owner’s house. The morning
sunshine made her newly-cleaned blue-gray tabby pelt gleam. She blinked to
adjust her blue eyes to the bright light, then hopped off the porch and into
the tall, dewy grass. Her short legs were quickly soaked as she raced around
her yard, stopping to investigate every leaf and stick that she came across,
her curious eyes taking in everything she saw. Suddenly she stopped, ears
perked and tail erect. She sniffed the air, trying to catch a whiff of the
scent that had so alerted her. A faint whiff was all she needed. Slowly she
crouched down, crawled towards her target, careful to keep her shiny new collar
from jingling. Then... at just the right moment...POUNCED! Perfect timing! The
intruding squeaky toy mouse was quickly caught between her tiny paws.
Duchess was just barely out of
kitten-hood. She had been adopted when she was 8 weeks old a few months ago.
She was now 6 months old, and still just as full of energy as ever. Her fur was
still kit-soft, and she wasn’t very big. In fact, she was small. But size
didn’t bother Duchess!
After wrestling with the squeaky toy for a
few minutes, Duchess got bored. She wanted real playmates, and real prey--not
just squeaky toys! No cats lived in the houses on either side of hers, and she
hadn't been able to get near the fluffy white Persian who lived several houses
down. She had seen him through the fence a few times, but had never talked to
him. Longingly, she glanced over her shoulder at the woods beyond the metal
fence. I bet there are some real mice in there, and I'm sure there are other
cats... she thought. She missed the companionship that being around other
cats provided. There was a sense of belonging when you had others around you to
keep you company. Here, she felt completely alone. There was no one to talk to,
no one to play with, and no brothers and sisters to snuggle up with when she
went to bed.
Sighing, she climbed onto the porch and lay
down in the warm sunshine. Wistfully, she thought of the days she had spent
with her brothers and sister in her old home with her Mother....
* * *
Two cats had been
watching Duchess intently. In the moons that Duchess had lived here, they had
taken a great interest in her.
“Did you see the way she crept through the
grass, Silverpaw? With some practice, I think she could be a great hunter!” a
sleek reddish-brown she-cat whispered to the cat next to her.
“I agree, Ravenstar.” Silverpaw meowed. He
was an average-sized black cat with a patch of brown fur on his forehead, and a
silvery-gray underbelly. “Do you think she would ever come with us?”
“I never said anything about her coming
with us,” Ravenstar hissed.
“Oh, uhh, well I uh.. I just assumed...”
Silverpaw stuttered.
Ravenstar smiled. “Not yet anyway.”
Silverpaw relaxed. He hated making his
mentor angry, especially since she was also the leader of their
clan--ThunderClan. He turned his attention back to the gray tabby sleeping on
the Twoleg nest porch.
“Follow me,” Ravenstar beckoned.
Silverpaw followed her as she began
walking closer to the fence that separated Duchess’s world from the world of
freedom.
When they reached the fence, Ravenstar began digging. She scratched the ground
near the edge of the fence. “Help me. We need to make this big enough for her
to squeeze through, but small enough that she’ll have to work at it a
bit," she instructed.
Silverpaw joined his mentor and began digging.
The cool dirt felt good between his toes, and he longed to just go right on
digging. But a nudge from Ravenstar stopped him.
“That’s enough,” she nodded.
Slowly, the two cats crept back into the
forest to wait...
* * *
“Bet ya can’t catch
me!” Ginger taunted, and she raced off. Toby and Steel followed her, trying
their best to catch their spunky sister. Toby was a plump calico kitten, while
Steel was a sleek light gray one. Ginger was--of course--ginger in color. She
was a large tabby kitten, and had laughing amber eyes.
“Oh, I bet I can!” Duchess mewled. The
smallest of the litter, Duchess was often far behind in skill for games like
wrestling, but in this game--tag--she was excellent! Her small size allowed her
to take shortcuts where her larger siblings could not go, and her quick
thinking made up for her lack of strength.
Ginger raced around the couch, her
brothers following her. But Duchess crawled under the couch. She peeked
out, waiting for her sister to race by. Just before she did, Duchess sprang out
from under the couch right in front of Ginger’s nose.
Ginger stopped--startled. That moment’s
hesitation was all Duchess needed. “Surprise!” she squealed before promptly
pouncing on her sister’s head. She nipped Ginger’s ear, and Ginger threw her
off gently. Then she pounced on Duchess and the two kittens were wrestling with
each other, tumbling and rolling all around the living room floor.
Finally, they stopped. Both panting and
happy.
The they heard the sweet voice of their mother,
Tilly. "Time for you kittens to be in bed now," she purred. "You
need your rest."
All four kittens slowly made their way
towards the fluffy pillow that served as a bed for the five cats. They snuggled
up to each other, and the boys were quickly asleep.
“Wow, Duchess!” Ginger praised. “That
was great! You really had me fooled when you came out from under the couch like
that!” She gave Duchess a friendly lick on the ear.
Duchess smiled, and shrugged. “It was
nothing, really." She closed her eyes, and was soon fast asleep...
* * *
Duchess woke up,
suddenly. “Ginger!” she exclaimed. She looked around, then realized she had
only been dreaming. She sighed, and then stood up and stretched. It was warmer
than it had been earlier. She squinted up at the sky. The sun was now high
overhead. Wow, I’ve been asleep for hours! she thought.
She padded over to the kitty-door, and
walked into her owners’ house. She trotted up to her water bowl, and wrinkled
her nose. Yuck! The water smelled stale. She shrugged and went back outside. It
had rained during the night, and she knew there would be a puddle she could
drink from at the back of the yard near the corner of the fence.
She scampered through the grass, which was
no longer wet, and stopped in front of the puddle. Slowly, she drank her fill.
Duchess lifted her dripping muzzle into
the air, and sniffed. Whenever she was at the back of the yard, the most
tantalizing smells greeted her. Today, the sweet scent of catmint called to
her, and the earthy smell of moss beckoned her along with dozens of other
smells that she couldn’t put names too. She yearned to find some way out of the
yard and into the woods.
She eyed the metal fence with hatred. She
could see through the fence, but the holes in the mesh were just small enough
that she couldn’t get out. It was as if it was taunting her, just the way her
sister used to. Only there was no way to outsmart a fence. She’d tried to climb
over before, but her small legs and tiny paws weren’t strong enough yet to
propel her up and over.
Back home, Mother had always warned
Duchess and her siblings of the dangers of wandering out of their yard, but
Mother wasn’t here to stop her this time! She walked along the back edge of the
fence, searching for any sort of escape route. She had done this many times in
the past weeks, but not ever so carefully before.
Then something caught her eye. At the
bottom of the fence, she spotted something that hadn’t been there before--a
small hole. Well, not a hole, really, but the grass and some dirt had been
scratched away under a tiny part of the fence. Carefully, she sniffed it. It
smelled like something she had never smelled before. The smell reminded her of
her mother and siblings, but it was much more wild-smelling. She nervously
flicked her tail and peered into the woods behind the fence. She could see
nothing, but just to be sure, she sniffed the air. Nothing.
She looked over her shoulder, just to make
sure no one was watching. Satisfied, she turned back towards the hole and
flattened herself to the ground. Carefully, she crawled under the fence.
She poked
her head out onto the other side of the fence, and breathed deeply. The smells
of the forest greeted her. They made her almost giddy, as she finally realized
how close to freedom she was.
She crawled
forward when she suddenly felt a sharp pull on her neck. Her collar was caught
on the fence. She grunted, and tried again to pull herself forward, harder this
time. The collar stopped her again.
Desperately,
she tried backing up, and then pulling forward again. But her collar jerked her
back. She gave a frustrated hiss, and stretched out her forelegs. She scratched
the ground with her sharp needle-like claws.
For a few
minutes, she continued trying to struggle her way out from under the fence, but
it was no use. Her collar held fast.
Sighing,
she laid her head on her paws and prepared to wait. She didn’t know what for,
but she knew that she couldn’t get out of this predicament on her own.
The hours
passed slowly. The sun sank along with Duchess’s hopes of ever reaching
freedom. An ant crawled in front of Duchess, its shiny black body illuminated
by the setting sun. She batted at it with her paw until it finally crawled out
of her reach carrying its leafy burden back to some hidden anthill.
Finally,
she heard the familiar creak of the hinges on the back porch door. She couldn’t
turn her head far enough to see behind her, but she imagined the flood of light
that would come pouring out of the door, soaking the dark backyard with its
artificial rays. She heard her owner calling, his voice harsh and expectant.
She knew he would not be happy with her for staying out so late. Usually, she
came inside before it got dark.
She mewed,
hoping that he would hear her and come to her rescue. But he didn’t. Duchess
heard the door shut behind him as he trudged back into the house.
Determined
not to wait out the night in this awkward position, she again began to
struggle. She squirmed and pulled, but the stubborn collar would not release
her.
Suddenly,
she heard a rustle in the bushes in front of her. She stopped, ears pricked and
eyes wide. The tips of her paws tingled as she imagined what could have
possibly made the noise. She remembered how her mother had said that there were
many dangerous creatures living out in the wild. Could it be one of the
creatures her mother had warned her about? She sniffed the air. All she could
smell was the same old smell of the woods. But then a gentle breeze hit her
face, bringing with it a smell that she recognized.
It was the
same smell she had scented at the hole that afternoon! The scent had faded from
the hole, but it now was brought to her stronger than it had been.
The fur on
the back of her neck stood up. From the bushes, she spotted a pair of bright
yellow eyes staring straight at her!
She gulped,
and managed to whisper, “Who’s there?”
No answer
came.
But then
the eyes started moving towards her. They came closer and closer until they
finally emerged from the bushes. Out stepped a young tom. His silver chest
shone against his black fur, and there was a brown patch of fur on his broad
forehead.
They stared
at each other for a moment. Duchess was too scared to speak, but the tom
meowed, “Need some help?” His voice was gruff, but not unfriendly.
Duchess
simply nodded.
The black
cat stepped forward, and bent down toward Duchess’s neck. Gently, he grabbed
her collar with his sharp teeth.
“Now back
up,” he instructed through clenched teeth.
Duchess
obeyed. She backed up, and at first it seemed as if it was simply a waste of
time. But she kept pulling, and gradually she felt the collar slipping over her
ears until it finally was all the way off.
Duchess sat
up and looked at her rescuer. He still held the collar in his mouth and was
using it to pull the fence upward so that Duchess could wriggle through.
“You comin’?”
he asked, a bit impatiently, Duchess thought.
Duchess
squirmed under the fence, and, at last, was on the other side.
“Thanks!”
she breathed. She was still a bit shocked at this sudden appearance.
The young
tom shrugged. “It was nothing,” he replied.
The two
cats sat in awkward silence. Then the silence was broken by a loud rumbling of
Duchess’s stomach.
Embarrassed,
she looked down at her paws, and tried to act natural.
The black
cat’s yellow eyes suddenly filled with concern, and he asked, “How long were
you stuck like that?”
Duchess
looked up at him, her eyes glittering with defiance. She didn’t want to appear
like a little kit to this young stranger. “Not long,” she answered coldly.
The tom
noticed the defiance in her eyes, and his whiskers twitched with amusement. “Well
when was the last time you ate?” he questioned.
Duchess
shrugged, and looked down at her paws. “This morning,” she mumbled.
The young
tom nodded, and stood up. He padded off into the bushes. “Follow me,” he called
over his shoulder.
Duchess
stood up and followed him into the bushes. She caught up to him, and kept pace
with him. They walked side-by-side through the dense undergrowth for a little
while, neither one saying a word. Then Duchess spoke up, “By the way, I’m
Duchess.”
The black
cat nodded, but didn’t give any reply. He kept up a steady pace, and Duchess
found it a bit hard to keep up with him since her legs were quite a bit
shorter. The tips of her ears only came up to his eye-level.
“What’s
your name,” she finally asked.
He stopped
and looked down at her. “Silverpaw,” he meowed. “I’m an apprentice in
ThunderClan.”
Duchess
looked up at him, confused, “A what-ice?” she said.
“An
apprentice,” Silverpaw clarified. “It means I’m training to be a warrior.”
“A warrior?
What for?” Duchess asked. This whole thing wasn’t making any sense.
Silverpaw rolled
his eyes and tried to patiently explain. “I can see I’ll have to start at the
very beginning,” he said. “Further into this forest, there’s a lake. Around
this lake there are four groups of cats: ShadowClan, RiverClan, WindClan, and Thunder
Clan. That’s the one I’m in.” He stopped to make sure Duchess had understood
everything he said.
Duchess was
sitting and looking up at him, her clear blue eyes filled with curiosity. The
patchy moonlight that came through the tree-tops glimmered on her silvery fur. “Go
on,” she prompted.
“So each
Clan has their own territory and boundaries. We warriors have to protect our
territory from invaders from the other Clans,” he continued.
“But I
thought you weren’t a warrior yet. You said you were training to be a warrior.”
Duchess pointed out.
Silverpaw
shuffled his paws and huffed, “Well, yes I did say that. But I still help
protect my clan,” he defended.
Duchess’s
whiskers twitched with amusement, but she simply said, “Okay, then what.”
“Well,” he
said, “we also hunt for food to feed our Clan. And we all work together to
protect the Camp. The Camp is where we live. There are separate dens for the
warriors, the apprentices, the kits and their mothers, the medicine cat, and
our Clan leader, Ravenstar.”
“A medicine
cat?” Duchess interrupted. “What does a medicine cat do.”
Silverpaw
tried to remember Twoleg terms Ravenstar had used when describing the life of a
kittypet so that Duchess could better understand what he was trying to explain.
He looked at her and asked, “Well, you know the vet?”
Duchess
nodded, “Yes, I was there once for a check up. My Mother said my owners would
eventually take me there again when I was older, but I haven’t been back since.”
Silverpaw continued,
“Well, it’s like that. The medicine cat takes care of sick cats, and tends to
wounded ones. She uses herbs to treat us.” Silverpaw’s wrinkled his nose as he
said, “Sometimes they taste nasty. But at least they work.”
Duchess’s
stomach growled again. But she looked at Silverpaw, trying to act like nothing had
happened.
Silverpaw
shook his head, “What are we doing standing here talking? I should get you to
my mentor, Ravenstar. You’re probably hungry enough to eat a whole rabbit by
now!”
Duchess laughed.
She followed Silverpaw as he again began his steady trot through the woods.
to say, but I thought of the title "Blue Skies" first and...well...I don't want you using it. It truly breaks my heart 
