The Raptor Clans was begun as part of National Novel Writing Month. NaNoWriMo's Young Writers Program got Sara started on her early writing career. What began as a 3,000 word goal turned into a 35,000 word novel!
Have you read Life of Leaf Clan? Let us know what you think in the comments section!
Read an excerpt from the novel:
Chapter One
h
R |
edscale was dashing through the trees. She was one Leaf-Clan raptor who wasn’t going to lose that rabbit, whatever it did.
She still remembered when she was a loner named Millie, and she didn’t have so many mouths to feed. Boulder Clan was having much more luck, partly because they eat almost any animals they can find. Sometimes the other two clans call it the cannibal clan, for they are known for eating each other in case they can’t find any prey.
Almost got it . . . She pounced. But before she could touch the ground, something pounced on her. The rabbit was hardly caught, almost free. She tossed it in the air, and let it run away. It’s hard to believe, but Leaf-Clan just chases things for fun since they hate killing things (for their love of nature).
She felt hard breathing in her ears, and then she heard a gasp. She knew this was one of her clanmates, an apprentice, her apprentice. This one made this mistake often, which was always followed by a short gasp.
“Blackclaw, for the last time! You have to sniff before you pounce!” Redscale gasped, struggling for breath.
“S-sorry, Redscale.”
Blackclaw had been training for only two seasons, and he was a pretty good animal finder for animals they can play with, although he didn’t seem to use as much of his nose as he should.
They headed to the clan grounds, since Blackclaw had gotten plenty of green leaves to eat. It was spring, the most leaf-rich time of the year. Redscale picked up the pile of leaves she collected, as their feet claws crunched the ones from many winters ago. As they got to the camp entrance, Earth-hawk, one of the fighters, greeted them.
As they set the leaves down on the food pile, Moonclaw, a female apprentice, pretty much pounced on the fresh, bright green leaves. Moon-claw’s mentor, Sunnylove, trotted in next to her.
When winter comes, and all of the dead leaves have fallen, they have to raid grocery stores. (They go into the fruit and veggies aisle, due to the bitter flavor of dead leaves.)
Echofur, the clan doctor, wandered into the nursery, where she saw Pearlcloud, the queen (queens are raptors either expecting or nursing), to check how much longer for her babies to be born. Rainflight, Pearlcloud’s mate, followed Echofur.
Redscale continued going around the camp until she found Mudtail, the clan deputy, sitting on top of the deputy’s den. It was easy to get on top of, because it’s made out of rocks piled on top of each other. Yep, thought Redscale, everyone is here.
“Let all raptors tall enough to grab leaves of branches gather round the leader’s den for a clan meeting!” shouted Redscale. This time, she was allowing Blackclaw and Moonclaw to come. “Moonclaw, please step forward. You have been training with Leaf-Clan for three years. You have learned what it is to be a clan raptor. I now pronounce you Moonflower.”
As the clan chanted her fighter name, Moon-flower proudly dipped her head.
The next day, Mudtail was addressing the patrols. “Moonflower, you go on a leaf collecting patrol with Rainflight and Earthhawk. I’ll take Sunnylove and Blackclaw for a border patrol with the Feather-Clan territory.”
Chapter Two
h
A |
s soon as the clan let out, Blackclaw started to complain, like Redscale had expected.
Back at camp, Pearlcloud saw orange scales flashing. “Um, Echofur, is that y-you?”
“No, I’m in my den. Why?” Echofur called back.
“I just saw some orange scales pass by the nursery!” she called back.
Redscale came running, and they heard a terrifying scream. Firetail, a Boulder Clan raptor, had come, seeing if there were any babies to take and eat. How cruel. He went yelling off to his boundaries.
But as he was out of sight, Thornfur, a female fighter, Adderfur, the male deputy, and Feather-spots, a male fighter, came in. Pearlcloud hid. Redscale and Blackclaw (who had snuck away from their patrol) were fending them off. The leaf collecting patrol had just returned, with oodles and oodles of leaves. As the Boulder-Clan patrol left, Redscale went to check on Pearlcloud. She was okay, just an ear nip, which only made a slight marking.
The next day, Redscale decided to take her clan-mates out to catch some animals for sport. She felt like having some fun, but it was kind of hard to take her mind off of the short battle. Why did they send so few fighters? Will they come back for revenge? What if they try to take our territory? They might hurt Pearlcloud! Then again, she used to be a fighter. There are so many possibilities.
As Redscale thought, there was something nudging her forward.
“What’s wrong?” It was Blackclaw.
There was a faint sound of a hiss.
“What is that?” asked Pearlcloud, frightened by the scent of it.
“Kitten, Pearlcloud. It’s a kitten stench,” re-plied Mudtail, with a low hiss in his voice.
Blackclaw turned around, wary of any move-ments. Redtail couldn’t hide her being mad at him. Blackclaw, kittens are much smaller than us! she wanted to tell him.
But as she thought of a way to say it, a pretty tortoiseshell kitten crawled over the fence that parted Leaf-Clan territory from the People place. A white tom followed her over it, and the raptors started to sneak closer. The kittens seemed to have a good nose, because they had realized there were eyes watching them. They scrambled over the fence, and as Redscale turned to leave, she saw Blackclaw looking dreamily over the fence.
“SNAP OUT OF IT, YOU FOOL!” she shouted to him from the front of the raptor stampede.
Blackclaw, like she asked him, snapped out of it at once. He ran over as fast as he could, although Redscale could still see the dreaminess in his eyes. She threatened to have a staring con-test (not with words), and he completely snapped out of it.
When they arrived at camp, she signaled Blackclaw to come over with her during a meal. “Blackclaw, do you know how much trouble it can be to fall in love with a cat!?” she asked.
“What do you mean?” he asked innocently.
“You know exactly what I mean, Brownie! I-- ”
“Hey! Don’t call me ‘Brownie’. That’s my loner name, and I hate it when you call me that!” Blackclaw interrupted.
Redscale sighed. “Well, think about what I said,” she continued. “You can leave if you want to mate with a cat!” she screamed back.
It’s quite common for Redscale and Blackclaw to get into a fight. Redscale went to go find a rab-bit or a fox to toss around in the woods. Maybe an ant, she thought. Then, she saw a flash of yellow and black.
Thunderscale, she thought.
Boulder-Clan had brought their leader for the revenge attack. She saw a fur-and-feather filled neck, and grey scales. I wonder why is Mistyscale with them, she asked herself. (Mistyscale is the Feather-Clan leader.) Goldenfoot, the Feather-Clan deputy, was there too, along with Adderfur. They were about to close in on her, so she dashed to the camp. She needed to warn the others as soon as possible.
“EVERYONE! THE BOULDER-CLAN IS ATTACKING!” she screamed.
