Hi, this is Goldenheart, and welcome to another challenge from Songclan! Hope you enjoy it! Now, on to the story!
The cold leaf-bare wind unnerved Swiftmoon's light gray fur as she padded along the trail to the gathering with the rest of WindClan, hoping there would be no trouble. RiverClan had caused a bit of trouble at the last gathering with ThunderClan, and she wasn't sure if it had blown over yet. As she entered the island, she headed towards the other medicine cats, noticing Shadowclan was late. As the leaders prepared to go on without Shadowclan, they burst in last moment.
"Where's Redstar?" She heard someone whisper. A brown ShadowClan tabby tom with deep green eyes jumped onto the tree with the other leaders and announced,"Redstar is dead!"
Everyone gasped and murmured in surprise. But he just became leader three moons ago! Swiftmoon thought, Although he did seem pretty sickly last gathering.
"So Pinedust, have you received your nine lives yet?" said her leader Blizzardstar, a lanky white tom with light blue eyes. Everyone knew that Blizzardstar did not like ShadowClan's deputy, having lost several battles due to him.
Pinedust glared as he replied,"As a matter of fact Blizzardstar, I have. And it's Pinestar, now."
"Enough about Pinestar, already! We all know ThunderClan's the real menace! They keep stealing prey from the lake!" Interrupted a sleek blue-eyed black and white she-cat.
A silver she-cat outburst with a fiery temper,"How would you know, Mallowstar! You can't even see us fishing!"
"Well, for your information, Rainstar, we've been asking Windclan to keep an eye on you," Mallowstar shot back. It was true, Riverclan had asked WindClan patrols to tell them if ThunderClan was still fishing when they checked the ThunderClan border.
"Getting other clans to do your dirty work, huh? Isn't that so typical of you, Mallowstar?" Rainstar growled her orange eyes flashing.
"I'll show you what's typical!" And then Mallowstar leaped at Rainstar, claws unsheathed. They tussled on a branch and fell to the ground, landing on their paws. RiverClan and ThunderClan started attacking each other, WindClan jumped to RiverClan's defense, which made Pinestar decide to lead ShadowClan against WindClan.
Swiftmoon watched in horror as the gathering truce was broken. She had seen arguments at gatherings before, but never fights. As she turned to the other medicine cats, she saw the same expression on all their faces. She realized this wouldn't help and swallowed her fear. "We have to do something!"
The other medicine cats looked at her like she was crazy. Morningpaw looked at her, determination glinting in his sparkling amber eyes,"I want to help! What should I do?"
Swiftmoon smiled, glad someone would help her,"You take your mentor and gather the elders to the edge of the island where it's safe," she looked at the chaos around her, taking it in, realizing the direness of the situation,"Anyone have any idea how to stop this?"
Sunnyleap, ThunderCan's cheerful medicine cat burst out suddenly,"Oh! Maybe they'll stop fighting if they see StarClan's covered the moon!" They all looked up hopefully, but the moon was not covered by clouds.
ShadowClan's medicine cat, Lilytail sighed,"It's hopeless!"
Swiftmoon interrupted her thoughts of despair,"No it's not! EVERYONE STOP!" she screamed. But try as she did, nothing could get their attention, not with the screeches and yowls of a battle. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Blizzardstar and Mallowstar teaming up to fight Pinestar and Rainstar. Maybe I can stop this at the source. Without thinking any further with her plan, she raced up to them, and knocked Rainstar aside. Mallowstar, aiming a death blow at Rainstar, hit Swiftmoon instead. A wide wound opened up in Swiftmoon's throat. She dropped to the ground, a last look of surprise on her face. Everyone stopped fighting.
Sunnyleap and Lilytail ran up to Swiftmoon, trying as hard as they could to save her,"It's no use. She's dead," Lilytail said sadly as she took in the the fact that she couldn't save her own friend.
Then, seeing the damage they had done, the leaders took their clans home, and all was peaceful for a while more.
Swiftmoon: And that was how I died.
Goldenheart: I didn't know that, I'm so sorry!
Swiftmoon: Don't worry Goldenheart, at least I died a hero.
Goldenheart: Well, I hope you enjoyed the story, young kits. Until next time!
~Goldenheart