Lightpaw pushed her head through the nursery entrance. There had been no queens for quite a long time. Right now, Lightpaw and her mother were the only she-cats in the clan. She looked around at the dark brown walls of mud. The ivy had almost closed the entrance to the den completely, and it made her neck itch. She never worried about this though, it wasn't really a problem.
"Lightpaw," She pulled her head out of the den and turned around. Nettlewind was calling to her from the middle of the clearing eating a vole; he looked very serious; which was unusual. He flicked his tail. "Come here."
Nettlewind was her father, and he didn't look too happy right now. She wondered if she'd done something wrong. Was she not allowed to look in the nursery anymore? With her head down, she went over to him.
Her father sighed and wrapped his tail around his daughter. "Lightpaw, you are the shining star of my life. I always want you to know that," He licked the top of her head soothingly.
"I know daddy," Lightpaw mewed happily, "There's no doubt in my mind about that, and I'll always love you too."
Nettlewind abruptly unwrapped his tail away from her and gently pushed away. "Yes, I know, but…" Pain flashed through his eyes. "There's something very important that I need to talk about with you." His gaze flashed from side to side.
Lightpaw's breathing got faster and worry spread through her. She searched her father's face. "Oh, no! Have I done something? What's wrong?"
"No, no, no." he hissed. He turned his head to the medicine den. "Come with me, quickly now, Lightpaw."
He skidded off. She was right at his tail. Tears came to her eyes. What was troubling her father so much? He never got this serious, about anything! As they reached the medicine den she could hear her mother and the medicine-cat talking to each other.
"How could you!" Her mother shrieked. "Lionfang, have you all lost your minds? You're the medicine cat; you're not supposed to agree to such brutality!" Then she broke off to a yowl of rage.
Nettlewind went into the den, Lightpaw followed. She saw her mother pacing, stiff-legged and snarling. Then she looked up to her arriving family and sighed with relief when she was Lightpaw. "Oh, Light-"
But, Nettlewind rushed over to her mother and started whispering to her. "Pinebreeze, please don't act this way."
Lightpaw stood where she was, confused by all of this. Her mother seemed too angry; her father seemed so stern… What was happening? Wont anyone take the time to explain this to her? Lionfang, the medicine cat was standing erect; taking care to make sure she didn't leave. She always liked the old medicine cat, but now he was acting weird too.
Lightpaw just looked down at her soft yellow paws. It hurt her. Why was everyone acting like this?
Loinfang cleared his throat. Nettlewind and Pineflower turned around. Pineflower was still glaring, but kept herself under control.
"Should we tell her now?" Lionfang asked her parents calmly.
"Yes," Nettlwind said before Pineflower could reply. "But," he meowed again. "Damagedleaf should be here. Will you go find him? She needs to be with her mentor."
Lionfang didn't look happy being ordered around, but, he padded outside to go find him. All was quiet. The silence was eerie, and she didn't like it, but she wasn't going to break it either. Her parents sat still, like cats turned to stone until Lionfang came back.
Damagedleaf looked cheerful, as usual, and he came over and sat next to her. She sat as close as she could to him, wanting to feel protected from this entirely strange atmosphere. Lightpaw rested her head on his shoulder. Then Lionfang began…
She bit her lip. Lionfang cleared his throat again. "Lightpaw," he meowed softly. "We are all very sorry, it is not your fault at all, but things can't always be avoided."
"So, get on with it you old tom!" Pineflower snapped at Lionfang. He glared at her briefly and continued.
"Showerstar, your father and mother, and I have all made a decision." He paused momentarily. "I asked StarClan of this and they said to do what was best for the clan, so we agreed that we would. Now, Lightpaw, I am so very sorry this has to happen to you. You have a beautiful young heart, and none of us feels good about this, and it sends shivers down my spine but…" Lionfang paused again and sighed. "We need you to be a queen. Our clan is fading fast. TangleClan was founded just a few moons ago, and it's already in better shape than we are, surely you will understand our concerns. We're only doing what is best."
Her heart stopped. Lightpaw's eyes darted wildly from one cat to another and she backed away from Damagedleaf as far back in the corner as she could get from them. Suddenly, she felt a rush of hate for all of them, except for Damagedleaf; he didn't know about it either.
Lionfang took a step forward, but he didn't get too close to her. "We need the clan to go on for generations to come, Lightpaw. Right now, you are the only hope for our clan. Your parents have decided to move into the elders den, so the clan will need more warriors-"
"But what about my dreams of becoming a warrior?" Lightpaw interrupted him. "No one ever thought about that, did they? Nope, just use her and throw her in the kill pile when you're done with her!"
Pineflower stood up. "Now, no one thought that about you Lightpaw. After this is all over with, you can go back to your warrior training just like your brothers. Hollowpaw and Warypaw can wait for you."
Damagedleaf confronted Pineflower. "How dare you do this without my knowledge? None of you have the right to keep her from training without my permission. I am her mentor, it is my decision if she gets to train before or after, and I say before. It is terrible you should think to do this to an apprentice of her age anyway. You all ought to be ashamed, even Showerstar!"
Lionfang hissed and lashed his tail. "No, you should be ashamed for talking against the word of StarClan and your leader. Watch what you say, Damagedleaf." He snapped at the young warrior.
My mentor sat smoldering and digging his claws into the soft dirt. Then he padded over to me and wrapped his tail around me protectively. Damagedleaf very, very quietly whispered in my ear. "I will protect you, don't worry. You'll be safe." Then he pushed me in front of him and guided me out of the den.
Lightpaw looked around fearfully at the entering hunting patrol Smallwing, Coldpelt, Sandfur, and Hollowpaw all came in carrying some sort of prey. She rushed over to Hollowpaw. He stepped back eyeing her. "What are you all in a hurry for? Sister, I swear you've been way too paranoid lately. What's wrong with you? I didn't know you were that hungry."
Lightpaw just stood there and cried. Hollowpaw didn't do anything; he just sat there trying to act tough. "Mom and dad…" she whimpered. "Showerstar, Lionfang… They want to hurt me. They don't want me to be a warrior."
"But, you can't be the medicine-cat apprentice, Warypaw is." Meowed her brother. "I don't think Showerstar would let you switch with him. And why would they ever want to hurt you. Goodness, you're worse than I thought."
"No, Hollowpaw! This is much worse than that. They…" Her voice trailed off when she noticed the medicine cat went into Showerstar's den. Her parents came out of the den after him. Quickly she mewed. "Where is Warypaw? I need to speak with him; now!"
Hollowpaw answered. "Lionfang told him to go see if there's any more catmint coming up near the tall white flowers. And you're still acting really weird, Lightpaw. Wait, here he comes now."
Lightpaw looked. Her small brown tabby brother was coming through the entrance over to them. His bright green eyes were glowing. "Hello." He mewed around a few dock leaves as he passed by them and went into the medicine den.
Her mentor who was standing next to the medicine den walked over to her parents who were sharing some prey that the patrol had just brought. Damagedleaf didn't sit down to talk to them, he spoke where he was. Nettlewind snarled at whatever he had said, but Pineflower just flicked her tail silently telling him she agreed.
All of this was overwhelming Lightpaw, but if it's what StarClan said was right then she'll obey her ancestors. She bent her head and thought. She was very self-conscious about herself anyway. But, this was absolutely terrible! It made her feel like crying just thinking of that sort of thing.
Hollowpaw gave her a nudge. "Lightpaw, what's wrong? Why are you acting like this?" He asked.
"You'll find out soon enough, Hollowpaw." She cried.
Hollowpaw looked around to see if anyone was watching him before he showed affection to his sister. "Come on," he mewed. "Let's go get some prey." She loved her brother's comfort even if he didn't like to show his soft-heartedness. She licked his ear and they walked side by side together to the fresh-kill pile. Hollowpaw picked out a wood pigeon for them, and found the sunniest spot to share in.
"Thanks, Hollowpaw." Lightpaw mewed and they sat down together. Warypaw came out of the medicine den. Lightpaw waved her tail. "Warypaw, come join us!" she called to him. She was still sad and afraid, but she felt better when she was with her brothers.
Warypaw picked out a vole the same time Flyingfoot the elder was limping over to get something to eat. Instead he took the vole to her and came to share the wood pigeon. The elder flicked his ear with her tail. Flyingfoot really wasn't old. She was deputy, and still would be, if there hadn't have been a two-leg trap hidden under some leaves one day when she was out hunting. She lost her paw because of it, and then she couldn't hunt or fight anymore so she had no other choice but to retire to the elders den. Warypaw sat down in front of them.
"That was very kind of you, Warypaw." Lightpaw meowed encouragingly. "I'm sure Flyingfoot really appreciates it and Branchclaw too." The two elders were sharing food together.
Warypaw shrugged. "I wasn't really that hungry anyway." But he took a small bite of the wood pigeon. "So," he asked through a mouthful. "What's been happening in you two's world today?"
"Well," Hollowpaw began; and I was glad of it because I really didn't know what to say. "I've had a pretty good day so far. Sandfur's been bragging ever since he became a warrior though, he's really annoying. And look at him over there; he's not even sharing that squirrel with anyone when we're sharing this skinny wood pigeon between the three of us! If anyone should get that squirrel it should be the elders!"
Hollowpaw and Sandfur never did get along. I didn't like him either. When we were apprentices he would always brag about how he was better at fighting, or he was better at hunting than us. Pineflower was his mentor. Not punishing him for that bad behavior was the only thing I hold against my mother.
"How has your day been?" Lightpaw asked Warypaw. "Did the catmint look like it was doing well?" She took a bite of the wood pigeon.
"Yeah, it looked pretty well. Leaf bare was gracious to it." Warypaw replied. "But, I decided to check and see if the dock was doing well, and there was a bunch so I decided to just collect some. I took a nice little walk too; I don't think Lionfang would've mind if I was gone a little while. It gets boring staying cooped up in this camp all the time."
"I bet it does." Hollowpaw commented. He took another bite of the wood pigeon.
Out of the corner of Lightpaw's eye she saw Showerstar's pelt reflecting in the sunlight as he stood on the Long Rock. Frantically trying to escape, Lightpaw thought up of something to say quickly. "I need to go." She meowed, and then ran to the dirt place tunnel. It reeked in there, but she looked up around the walls trying to spot an escape.
"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey come before to Low Rock for a clan meeting!" Showerstar's voice rang out through the trees. Her breathing skyrocketed.
Then her gaze met a small hole. He padded over and started digging under it to make it so she could fit through. Lightpaw slipped through the hole and started running as quickly as she could. The forest blurred around her. Thorn bushes tugged at her pelt. The pads of her paws got sore, but she had to get away from them. They were going to abuse her!
The old reek from the dirt place was being replaced by a new, worse smelling odor. TangleClan territory must not be far away. Lightpaw veered left so she would be going into unknown territory instead of another clan's.
When she knew she was finally out of MothClan territory she went out of the woods and onto a field. Lightpaw went over a rise and finally collapsed. Hoping they wouldn't find her, she fell asleep.
She awoke again to a blinding light. Lightpaw blinked and everything started coming back into vision. To her horror, she was in the middle of the camp lying flat on her back. Growling she jumped to her paws, and her fur spiked up. Showerstar, Smallwing, Coldpelt, Serpentheart, Damagedleaf, and Sandfur were all lined up in a row in front of her. She hadn't even noticed someone was standing next to her until they rested their tail tip on her shoulder.
Flyingfoot was looking gently at Lightpaw. "Don't be scared." She meowed. "I have talked to Showerstar. He agreed that you should not go through this alone. I'm even younger than your mother. There's still some way I can give back to the clan. Lightpaw, you shouldn't have to be the only one faced with this hard decision. I'll be a queen with you." Flyingfoot licked the top of Lightpaw's head.
Lightpaw leaned against Flyingfoot so very thankful. She rubbed her shoulder, and then turned back to the line of cats. Damagedleaf looked as if he were about to be sick. He was about to tip over, but his brother, Serpentheart, braced him.
Coldpelt was looking at his paws, almost embarrassed. Flyingfoot was his mother. Maybe he thought she was thinking badly of him.
Showerstar broke the silence. "We have come to a conclusion that it is only fair to let you decide about who you chose. You both have until half-moon to decide."