Chapter Twelve

Camp was buzzing with activity as the first rays of light poured into the nursery. Reedkit sat impatiently next to his three sisters as they squabbled over who would make the best apprentice. Their ceremony was to be held today at sunhigh. Acornpaw and Pebblepaw weren't looking forward to sharing their den with the noisy kits from what Reedkit had heard. The two apprentices were already glaring at the nursery as they stalked past for battle training.

Reedkit rolled his eyes and looked back at his mother, who was speaking quietly to Ambertail. At her belly were three tiny kits that had been born two days ago. One was a dark ginger kit like Scarletpaw, only one of it's paws was white. Ambertail had named the kit Redkit. The second kit was a tortoiseshell kit with dark ginger paws, which Ambertail had named Dawnkit. The last kit was an orange tabby kit – rare to the Clans but not unheard of – named Firekit.

The new kits had made the nursery fuller than Reedkit would have liked. He and hi