I'm back again! Hello! How are you all! The eighth chapter of Dustlight's Choice is here...wow. It's a miracle I followed through.
I'm still looking for OCs, so if you want to send some in, just PM me! I gotta fill this Clan up, lol.
Don't forget to leave a review if you have any favorite characters you wanna tell me about, have any suggestions, or just wanna talk! I mean, if you just wanna talk, PM me, but...you know what I mean!
Enjoy the newest installment, everyone! And happy summer!
Dustpaw awoke sometime later, blinking the sleep away from her eyes. Her dreams of a hot and bloody battlefield with the blur of bodies all around her faded into the back of her head and she was once again on the cold stone floor near the base of the Moonstone. She shivered involuntarily at the nature of her dream, vaguely remembering the taste of blood in her mouth. Still, it quickly dissipated from her memory, as most dreams do.
The light had passed over the hole at the top of the cavern, and the beautiful stone was no longer dazzling, but dark and still as it had been when they'd first arrived.
It appeared as though Dustpaw was the first of the group awake, but then she noticed Feathersong and Mintpaw were stirring. Mintpaw's head suddenly shot up, green eyes wide with an emotion unreadable.
"Hey," meowed Dustpaw, slightly concerned for her sister. "Nightmare?"
Mintpaw's head swiveled to look at her, and the tabby's breath seemed to hitch. "I—" she began, but Feathersong, who had since gotten up, hushed them sharply.
"You are to remain reverent until we exit Mothermouth. Do you two understand?" The two sisters nodded quickly, not wanting to incur Feathersong's wrath. The medicine cat's hard eyes lingered on Mintpaw for a moment longer than they had on Dustpaw, and Dustpaw couldn't find it in her to be envious of the attention. Feathersong was pretty scary.
Sunstorm was rising to his paws now, and he gently woke Birdleaf as well. Once all the cats were up, Feathersong nodded briskly. "Come on," she meowed, flicking her tail as a signal for the other cats to follow her into the tunnel leading out of the cave. "I'm sure we'd all like to be back in our own nests."
They journeyed in silence, even once they were out in the cool night air. Only once they'd reached the Thunderpath did they begin to talk.
"Okay," Birdleaf meowed, looking at Dustpaw, "do you remember how to best cross the Thunderpath?"
When they'd crossed it earlier that night, the smelly, black path had been rather busy with monsters. Neither Mintpaw or Dustpaw had ever seen a monster before, but they knew of the danger: Only three moons before their apprentice ceremony, an apprentice, Runningpaw, had been hit and killed by a monster. It had been very tragic, and the whole of WindClan had been very clear about staying away from the Thunderpath. Going to the Moonstone, however, required crossing.
Now, though, the path was largely quiet; there was no rumble of any oncoming monsters, and the air tasted cleaner than it had been earlier.
"You look both ways," recited Dustpaw, "and feel for the vibrations in the ground." When Birdleaf nodded encouragingly and praised her for her memory, Dustpaw felt herself puff up with pride.
Sunstorm nodded once, pressed his paw to the black stone of the Thunderpath, looked both ways, and darted across. "Mintpaw! You turn," he called, and Mintpaw, looking both ways quickly, scurried across as well.
Just as she made it across, the rumbling of an oncoming monster reached each of their paws, and soon enough the bright light of the creature sped by, momentarily lighting up the small group of cats, before once again shrouding them in darkness. Birdleaf pressed her paws harder against the path and featured for both Feathersong and Dustpaw to cross.
Dustpaw sprinted across, nearly tumbling into Mintpaw in her haste. Feathersong, though, took her time crossing, as if she weren't afraid of anything. Then Birdleaf called from the other side that she felt vibrations. Feathersong's eyes momentarily widened, and she let out a very kit-like squeak before trotting the rest of the way. The two apprentices couldn't help but giggle when the light illuminated a rather flustered Feathersong grooming her fur.
Soon after that, Birdleaf made it over, and the party continued on towards WindClan camp. When they were close, though, they all noticed something was wrong. There were shouts of pain and fury from the direction of the camp, and the group picked up the pace. Dustpaw's heart thundered in her chest. What happened? Did the ThunderClan patrol really attack us?
When they reached the mouth of camp, the sight was shocking. The cats who had been on patrol and the cats who had joined them were bloody and scratched up. Some limped, some stood up fine, and others still could barely move at all.
Feathersong leaped into action, ushering Mintpaw along to help aid her in gathering the necessary herbs. Dustpaw stood frozen, the fighting of her dreams coming back to haunt her. So it was ThunderClan.
She caught sight of Heatherstem attempting to clean one of the wounds on her hindleg and rushed to her. "Heatherstem!" Dustpaw exclaimed. "Mother! What happened?"
Heatherstem looked up at her grimly. "The life of a warrior is what happened," she sighed. "Don't worry yourself about this yet. Go stand with the other apprentices and warriors, so Feathersong can properly treat the wounded." Her mother and deputy shooed her away, and Dustpaw came to sit in between Thicketpaw and Rabbitpaw.
Thicketpaw looked over at her shyly, and Dustpaw gave an awkward dip of her head, still feeling a little nauseous from coming back to see the aftermath of the border skirmish.
"Hey, Dustpaw," Thicketpaw greeted, sounding way too unfazed about the scene before them. "How was the Moonstone?"
Dustpaw looked at the apprentice tunneler incredulously. "Um, it was fine. What happened here?"
Thicketpaw looked embarrassed to be brushed off, but Rabbitpaw quickly leaped at the chance to get a word in. "The hostile ThunderClan patrol turned out to be really hostile," he explained furiously, claws digging into the peaty earth. "Apparently, ThunderClan demanded that WindClan provide them with prey, or they'd take it by force."
Dustpaw looked at him curiously. "How do you know?" she asked. "You weren't on the patrol."
Rabbitpaw puffed out his chest. "My mentor told me so," he replied, not without some boast.
That's right, Dustpaw recalled, looking to where Badgerfur was having a poultice applied to his torn shoulder. Badgerfur was on the patrol.
Rabbitpaw continued, "I wish I could have gone! I would have given those ThunderClan fleabags a piece of my mind!"
Turtlepaw rolled her eyes from the other side of Thicketpaw. "No you would not have," she said. "You're about as ferocious as a moth." From next to Rabbitpaw, Wasppaw snickered, as Rabbitpaw bristled.
Dustpaw was hardly paying them any mind though, even as Thicketpaw tried to get her attention, too busy watching Feathersong instruct Mintpaw about which herbs needed to be crushed up to create the necessary poultices. She wondered if Feathersong had her eye on Mintpaw for medicine cat apprentice. After all, Feathersong was not young anymore. In fact, Feathersong was only a season or so from the age of an elder. Was she looking for an apprentice?
Judging by the hard look Sunstorm was giving the medicine cat, he was wondering the same thing.
Willowleap crossed the camp to talk to Feathersong, quietly as she moved on to treat Hollowstar. Her father's older sister merely shook her head at whatever it was Willowleap had said. Dustpaw shifted uncomfortably.
When it was Hollowstar's turn to be attended to, he shrugged off Feathersong's attempts to treat his deep shoulder wound, instead struggling up onto Tallrock, hissing at the strain put on the slash.
"Let all cats old enough to run the moor gather around the Tallrock for a Clan meeting!" he called; all the cats outside we're already looking at him, though, and Hollowstar cleared his throat awkwardly.
The tawny leader scanned all of WindClan, who looked up at him expectantly. Hollowstar sighed, then spoke, his voice seemingly stretching across the moor, "ThunderClan has allied with RiverClan and demanded we give them prey during this leafbare so that they do not go hungry. They said if we do not comply, they shall take it by force. As you can see," he meowed, gesturing to the wounded cats from the patrol with his tail, "WindClan has chosen not to comply."
The Clan was silent for a moment, then began muttering amongst themselves, some nervous, but most angry.
So Rabbitpaw was right, Dustpaw mused, glancing over at the ginger tom only to find him even more livid than he had been before. He caught her eye, and Dustpaw was surprised by the intensity of the gaze. Her pelt flashed awkwardly with heat, and she looked away, embarrassed. Thicketpaw shuffled closer to Dustpaw, and when she looked over at him, he appeared very nervous. Because of the fighting, surely, Dustpaw concluded, looking back up at Tallrock when Hollowstar motioned his tail for silence.
"Even if ThunderClan is hungrier than we are this leafbare, it does not mean we will be able to hold them off without some struggle...especially if RiverClan joins in the fighting at our southern borders." Hollowstar shifted his weight, wincing at the movement. Feathersong rolled her eyes and shooed Mintpaw over to where the other apprentices sat. As Mintpaw settled in beside Turtlepaw, Hollowstar continued, "It's no secret that our numbers are smaller than that of the other Clans. Though both RiverClan and ThunderClan might not have enough prey to go around, they certainly have enough warriors and apprentices. This is why we need to intensify our training and have every available cat prepared to take on the coming moons."
A flurry of agreement rippled through the watching cats, and Dustpaw felt a twinge of excitement rush through her. Did this mean she would be participating in her first battle? Judging by the way Thicketpaw tensed beside her, he was thinking the same thing, without the excitement.
Hollowstar seemed to be hesitant about his next words, and it quickly became clear as to why. "Swiftkit, please step forward."
A hush fell over the cats, and Littleflower's cry of surprise could be heard clear as day from the nursery. Dustpaw blinked in surprise. Swiftkit is only five moons! Hollowstar couldn't possibly...
"I know that young Swiftkit is not at the proper age of an apprentice yet," Hollowstar explained, "but we must have all cats who are able to be training, training. Swiftpaw will not participate in any perspective fighting until she reaches six moons, but she will begin her training early so that she is well prepared for when she does need to fight." The tension in camp seemed uneasy, but at Hollowstar's encouraging gesture, Swiftkit stepped forward; cats parted for her. "Swiftkit, from this day on, until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Swiftpaw. Your mentor will be Stormpelt." Stormpelt looked up from where he was lapping at one of his more shallow cuts. "I hope he will pass down all he knows on to you."
Stormpelt stood shakily, obviously not totally thrilled to be taking on a kit as his first apprentice. When he reached his place beside the newly named Swifpaw, Hollowstar continued the ceremony:
"Stormpelt, you are ready to take on an apprentice. You have received excellent training from Roseheart—may she run with StarClan now—and you have shown yourself to be a brave and skilled warrior of WindClan. You will be the mentor of Swiftpaw, and I expect you to pass on all you know to her."
Stormpelt nodded, and he leaned down to touch noses with the nearly buzzing Swiftpaw.
Everyone seemed hesitant to chant, but Mintpaw, ever the good friend, called out: "Swiftpaw! Swiftpaw! Swiftpaw!"
Dustpaw, knowing that it would shame Swiftpaw should she not add to the call, joined in as well, and Thicketpaw joined in quickly, as well. Soon, all the apprentices and a few warriors joined in, but it was nowhere near the support any other apprentice had received. That was understandable, though; this went blatantly against the Warrior Code.
This didn't deter Swiftpaw, though, and she practically beamed with excitement.
The wind changed direction just then, blowing softly at Dustpaw's back, and she knew that times were changing. Thicketpaw shuffled closer still, and Dustpaw could tell it was only a matter of time before something happened.
She only hoped that it was good.
