Chapter 5
Hawkpaw heard a rustling in the bushes near him, he took a closer look, and then, Duskkit, Thistlekit, Larkkit, Longkit, and Sedgekit all jumped out of the bushes and leaped onto the apprentices.
"Attack!" Duskkit yowled.
Hawkpaw winced as tiny claws pierced his pelt.
"Kits!" Lionnose laughed.
"Get back here now!" Blackmoon hissed angrily at the kits. "I'm so sorry," she meowed apologetically to Sharprunner. "Did they disturb you?"
"No, they're okay," Sharprunner meowed.
"Can we play later? Please?" Thistlekit looked up at Blackmoon.
"No! Of course not! You five get back to the nursery right now," she scowled at them.
"We won't cause trouble!" Duskkit looked up pleadingly at his mother.
"I said no! No is no, go back to your dens now," Blackmoon nudged her kits along.
Hawkpaw stood up and shook his pelt.
"Let's all get some rest," Wolfpaw walked to the apprentice den, Hawkpaw and Lightningpaw followed.
"This is awful, still," Lightningpaw muttered in Hawkpaw's ear, "We deserve to be warriors tomorrow,"Hawkpaw nodded and drifted off into a deep nap.
"All cats old enough to enough to run the moors of WindClan, gather beneath the High Ledge for a Clan meeting!" Coldstar's yowl woke Hawkpaw.
Hawkpaw scrambled out of the den to gather with the rest of the Clan.
"Patrols!" Stormfeather yowled. "Hunting patrol, Shadepelt, Lionnose, and Mudstripe,"
"Border patrol, Streamlight, Lightningpaw, and and I will go also," she meowed stepping off the place next to Coldstar.
Hawkpaw walked to Wolfpaw and sat next to him.
"So how are things going for you?" Hawkpaw looked at his brother.
"Well… Let's see, Coldstar destroyed our assessments, I feel really angry on the inside, and my mentor doubts my success, so yes, I'm feeling great" He glared at Hawkpaw.
"Okay then," Hawkpaw got up and walked to the fresh kill pile and chose a sparrow that appeared to be starving and started eating.
Hawkpaw padded outside of camp, to where he found Sharprunner standing at the place he always goes to.
"I thought I'd find you here," he meowed. "Come on, we need to continue training, if you want, you can get Wolfpaw and Buzzardclaw," Hawkpaw shook his head.
"Wolfpaw needs time alone, he is somewhat enraged at the moment,"
"Got it," Sharprunner got to his paws. "Start hunting," he ordered.
Hawkpaw crouched and plunged into the heather bushes. He tasted the air.
Something is wrong… he crept closer, he could tell something else was there, blood… he leaped out. In his eyes, were the terrifying things.
Sharprunner appeared beside him, fur ruffling.
"Twolegs…" Hawkpaw breathed.
"They killed foxes… and… and those weird furry brown things,"
"What are those?" Sharprunner looked at the brown bodies in the monster.
The twoleg screeched and the cats shrunk away.
Luckily, they didn't notice them, Hawkpaw sighed with relief.
"Come on, forget training, we need to tell Coldstar," Sharprunner turned tail and ran back to camp.
Hawkpaw followed.
When they got back to camp, it was a mess, three twolegs had found their way to the camp, cats were clawing, biting, trying to fend for their lives.
"Coldstar!" Blackmoon wailed in despair as a twoleg used a silver claw and slashed at Coldstar's neck.
Blood sprayed the clearing, the cats stood agape at Coldstar.
The battling cats stopped, the twolegs retreated.
"Cold..Coldstar?" Blackmoon nosed her mate's body.
Coldstar didn't reply, a huge gash spanned from his neck down to his shoulder blade.
"He's…dead, all lives stripped from him," Creekwater meowed sorrowfully.
Blackmoon wailed and buried her nose into Coldstar's pelt, Thistlekit, Larkkit, Sedgekit, Duskkit, and Longkit did the same. Stormfeather dipped her head, she motioned all the wounded to the medicine den.
"My brother, I will miss you," Lionnose hung his head.
"We were always good friends," Sharprunner mewed.
Tears streamed from Blackmoon's eyes.
Stormfeather jumped onto the High Ledge.
"Cats of WindClan, I will announce the deputy now, I say these words before the body of Coldstar, who has died in vain and I would like Lionnose, Coldstar's brother, to be deputy, you are very kind and loyal, and I would like it if you would serve beside me,"
Lionnose dipped his head,
"I would be honored to serve the Clan, in memory of my brother," Lionnose meowed.
"Very well, Creekwater, I would like to go to the Moonstone tonight," she looked to her.
"In the name of StarClan, Coldstar just died! We are all going to sit vigil for him tonight, tomorrow, first thing in the morning, we leave, feel some sympathy," Creekwater looked back at Stormfeather.
Stormfeather twitched an ear and padded into the leader's den.
While Creekwater was treating wounds, the cats gathered before the body of Coldstar and waited for the sun to set.
"Maybe Stormfeather was waiting for Coldstar to die," Hawkpaw heard a murmur upon the grieving cats.
By the time of dawn, Snowfang, Lionnose, and Shadepelt had lifted Coldstar onto their backs and had set off into the moor to bury him.
Meanwhile, Creekwater had left with Stormfeather to the Moonstone, and had left Lionnose in charge for the moment.
"I want no training today, just regular patrols," those were Stormfeather's last words before she left.
Wolfpaw bounced into the air.
"No training! A day off! Finally I don't have to be stuck with my mousebrained mentor!" Wolfpaw's eyes were shining with joy.
"Are you kidding? By the time we get to go back to training, we will be as plump as kittypets, beside, Buzzardclaw only want to help with your training, and there are vicious twolegs out there, you saw what they did to Coldstar," Hawkpaw shivered at the memory of blood staining the clearing
"Hawkpaw's right, you should be feeling sorrowful, not overjoyed." Lightningpaw looked at Wolfpaw with worry in his eyes.
"I guess I can't spend my very exciting day with my brothers," Wolfpaw snarled and padded into the moor.
"Don't get sliced open by twolegs!" Hawkpaw called.
Wolfpaw flicked his tail but didn't reply.
"I'm scared Hawkpaw, scared of our brother, he's to vicious, thirsts for blood lately, he hates Buzzardclaw, seriously, hates him with all his heart, so much, that he would skin Buzzardclaw just for fun, what's happened to our old brother?" Lightningpaw sniffed.
"What happened with him and Buzzardclaw?" Hawkpaw asked.
"Well, it was when you hadn't opened your eyes yet, me and Wolfpaw were exploring on our first day, Buzzardclaw tripped Wolfpaw and he even got stepped on by Buzzardclaw, Buzzardclaw had admitted that he was sorry, next thing you know, Wolfpaw gets slapped by his tail, I'm surprised that he wouldn't forgive him for that long just as a kit, kits usually forgive and forget, but not Wolfpaw," Lightningpaw meowed.
"Well, you never know, every cat has their own personality, I'm pretty sure Wolfpaw will forgive him one day," Hawkpaw tried to remain optimistic, to much had happened in the few moons as an apprentice.
"I hope so," Lightningpaw muttered as he padded back to his den.
A wail erupted from the nursery, Redheart's ears pricked.
"Heatherbreeze is kitting!" Blackmoon's own litter of adopted kits and her own expecting litter slowed her down.
"Kits go to the elders den, I'm pretty sure Snowfang has another good story!" Windsong nosed the kits to the elders den.
"Why can't we watch?" Larkkit looked at her mother.
"Some things, kits aren't supposed to see yet, keep going!" Windsong pushed them into the elder's den and Blackmoon padded inside with them.
"Can we watch?" Lightningpaw looked up at Shadepelt, Heatherbreeze's sister. But Shadepelt shook her head.
For a long moment, there were wails, screeches of pain, but after that, it was over.
"Two toms and a she kit!" Redheart yowled.
Goldenfur purred and brushed against his mate, who was licking her new kits.
"Let us see!" Lightningpaw pushed his way past the cats and sat down next to the kits.
"Congratulations!" Shadepelt purred after the rest of the cats murmured their congratulations before dispersing.
"What are their names?" Goldenfur asked.
"You name them," she looked at Goldenfur.
"Okay, the white she cat is Icekit, the light grey tom is Silverkit, and the black tom is Jaggedkit," Goldenfur wrapped his tail around Heatherbreeze and fell asleep.
"They are beautiful names," Hawkpaw murmured.
"What's happening?" came a voice from behind, Wolfpaw was standing there.
"If you stayed with us you would know!" Lightningpaw bared his teeth.
"Okay, you don't have to be so fox-hearted, but really what happened?" Wolfpaw looked at Lightningpaw with eager eyes.
"Our new brothers and sister were born," Hawkpaw meowed.
"Good," Wolfpaw flicked his tail and walked away.
"Don't you want to see them?" Lightningpaw yowled after him.
"I don't care!" Wolfpaw walked away to Brightstream and started talking.
Lightningpaw lashed his tail and stormed to the apprentice den, by the time of dusk, cats were beginning to worry.
"Stormfeather and Creekwater should be back by now!" Lionnose swished his tail.
"Agreed," Redheart looked at the camp entrance worriedly.