Dun dun dun, this one ends with a cliffie ;) Enjoy! ^^
Warrior Cats © Erin Hunter
Chapter 8
Mistypaw led Wavepaw to a group of apprentices. She recognized the sandy pelt of her friend Spottedpaw, but no one else in the group.
"Hey guys, this is Wavepaw," Mistypaw mewed, taking her place in the circle, and Wavepaw sat nervously next to her.
"Hey Wavepaw," a light sandy coloured she-cat with amber eyes said with a smile, "My name is Sandpaw, and this is my sister Sunnypaw." She flicked her tail at the light ginger she-cat next to her who had pale green eyes, "We're from TreeClan." Wavepaw dipped her head politely in greeting.
"And I'm Chocolatepaw," a brown she-cat with warm ember eyes mewed happily, "LeafClan apprentice."
"Me to!" a smoky grey she-cat with bright blue eyes mewed from next to Chocolatepaw, "My name's Cinderpaw." Wavepaw dipped her head in greeting to them both, feeling a little overwhelmed.
"And I'm Afropaw," a black she-cat with bright green eyes mewed, "SpiritClan."
"It's very nice to meet you all," Wavepaw mewed with a purr, dipping her head at Afropaw too.
"So that makes cats from every clan," Chocolatepaw mewed happily.
"Why don't we invite Emberpaw over?" Wavepaw suggested and they all gave her looks of shock, "What?"
"Why in StarClan would we invite him over?" Mistypaw asked.
"What's wrong with him?" Wavepaw countered.
"He doesn't talk to anyone," Afropaw mewed, glaring at Mistypaw, "It's her first Gathering, she's hardly going to know is she?"
"Alright keep your fur on," Mistypaw snapped back at her and Wavepaw felt like rolling her eyes. Of all the friendships here, it was clearest that these two would be the two that constantly bickered. They were both too a like to get on.
"Emberpaw keeps to himself Wavepaw," Afropaw explained more softly to Wavepaw, with a small smile, "Even as a kit he wouldn't play with me, and were the only two apprentices. You have no idea how annoying it is having him act like he doesn't want anything to do with you beyond what he has too. His mother is exactly the same though so I suppose it's not surprising." Wavepaw blinked in surprise.
"He seemed pretty nice when we were talking a moment ago," Wavepaw mewed in confusion and all the cats turned to stare at her.
"He actually talked to you? And you didn't force him?" Afropaw mewed in shock.
"Of course I didn't force him!" Wavepaw mewed, reflecting Afropaw's shocked expression.
"Maybe he just feels less daunted around her because she's not training to be a warrior," Spottedpaw suggested and Afropaw shrugged.
"Maybe," Afropaw mewed thoughtfully.
"So do you always meet up in this group?" Wavepaw asked, changing the subject.
"Yep," Cinderpaw mewed, "You and Spottedpaw are our newest additions." Wavepaw glanced over at her friend and smiled. Spottedpaw smiled back, her blue eyes sparkling.
"Can Sugarkit join us when she becomes an apprentice?" Wavepaw asked and Mistypaw rolled her eyes. Afropaw spotted this and stuck out her tongue, rolling her eyes mockingly, trying to imitate Mistypaw. Wavepaw giggled and Mistypaw gave her a confused look that she returned with a smile, Afropaw grinning broadly.
"I don't see why not," Sandpaw mewed and the others all nodded, Mistypaw reluctantly joining in. Then a yowl sounded from the centre of the clearing and the chatter instantly died down.
"Here we go," Mistypaw said excitedly.
"Cats of all clans," Riverstar mewed, "Welcome to the Gathering. Palestar would like to speak first." Riverstar stepped back on the stump and Palestar stepped forward.
"SpiritClan is well off," Palestar mewed, "We have plentiful prey and our cat's bellies are full."
"How ever," he continued with a slight smile, "I would like to thanks OceanClan's medicine cat's apprentice for helping Starwatcher. The thanks of SpiritClan are with you Wavepaw." A purr went up among the crowd of cats and Wavepaw shuffled her paws in embarrassment. Riverstar beamed at her proudly from the tree-stump and Starshine who was with a group of elders close by purred happily. Snowwhisker sat taller, puffing out her chest in pride, smiling at her apprentice. Neither her mother nor father said a word, or turned to look at her.
"That's all from SpiritClan," Palestar mewed stepping back, and Riverstar took his place.
"Thank you Palestar," Riverstar mewed smiling, "I'm glad our cats could be of help to your medicine cat."
"We also have plentiful prey," Riverstar mewed, "The Ocean is feeding us well this Green-leaf." Riverstar dipped his head and stepped back, Spottedstar taking his place.
"I have come before you today on a less cheerful note," Spottedstar mewed, "I report theft of LeafClan prey." Spottedstar glared at Branchstar, "Branchstar, keep your warriors out of our section of the forest. The forest beyond the stream belongs to us; it is not hard to remember, so keep your warriors out of our territory."
"Our territory is the most difficult to hunt in," Branchstar mewed, unphased by Spottedstar's threat, "And we have less prey than usual and my cats are going hungry in Green-leaf. You must give up some of yours to help us."
"Must," Spottedstar spat, "I don't take commands from TreeClan nuisances. You will stay out of our territory. Any warrior caught there will be shown no mercy." The LeafClan cats howled their approval at their leader's words.
"Will you allow your cats to kill my warriors?" Branchstar asked, his voice menacing, "I can't see the warrior code allowing that either."
"Your cats are no better than rogues if you steal our prey," Spottedstar spat back; "You belong here if you break the warrior code."
"TreeClan are not rogues," Branchstar mewed emotionlessly, his dark amber eyes shining as he loomed over the LeafClan leader. TreeClan cats growled in agreement, LeafClan cats nearby snarling back. Surely they wouldn't fight at a Gathering! Wavepaw thought.
"Enough!" Riverstar mewed, pushing between the quarreling leaders, "This is supposed to be a night for peace, not fighting. The Gathering is over." Riverstar leapt down and Palestar followed him. Spottedstar gave Branchstar one last glare before following them. Wavepaw heard the close sound of snarling and turned to see Sandpaw and Sunnypaw, hackles raised, snaring at Chocolatepaw and Cinderpaw who snarled back.
"We'll show you who the rogues are," Sunnypaw snarled, her voice menacing.
"Only when we've taught every stinking tree lover a lesson," Chocolatepaw snarled back, all the friendliness Wavepaw had seen gone from her eyes.
"Ha! You weaklings don't have anything on our warriors," Sunnypaw snapped back.
"At least we can fight, we don't have to hide in the trees like prey," Cinderpaw growled.
"Come on Sunnypaw, Spottedpaw," Sandpaw mewed in disgust, "Lets go. We don't need them and there pathetic arguments anyway." With that Sandpaw spun around and stormed off, her sister behind her. Spottedpaw looked both ashamed and embarrassed, but ducked her head in apology before darting after them.
"Humph," Chocolatepaw mewed, lashing her tail, "They better not cross us. No good rogues. Come on Cinderpaw." And both the apprentices walked off into the crowd. Wavepaw shivered as she watched them go.
"Don't worry about them," Emberpaw mewed coming over to her, "There always at each others throats." Mistypaw and Afropaw both gave him shocked looks before quickly disappearing into the crowd, leaving them alone.
"But why?" Wavepaw asked, still shivering, "Why can't they just get on?"
"Because then we wouldn't be clans," Emberpaw mewed soothingly, "Don't worry, they'll all be friends again next Gathering. And then by the end of it they'll hate each other. It's just a thing they do, StarClan only knows why." Wavepaw nodded.
"Was that true though," Wavepaw asked him, "What they said about you? Do you really not talk to anyone?" Emberpaw's eyes flashed with hurt.
"Yeah its true," Emberpaw mewed sadly, "I just…I don't even know how to explain it. I bet you don't want to talk to me anymore anyways…" Wavepaw rubbed her cheek against his.
"Of course I still want to talk to you," she mewed softly, "You're my friend. I don't care what they think. I was just curious more than anything." Emberpaw's eyes widened in surprise but he let out a contented purr.
"Thanks Wavepaw," he purred, "That means a lot to me."
"Anytime," she mewed with a smile.
"So will I see you next Gathering?" he asked, waving his tail happily.
"Sure," she mewed and he purred again.
"Great," he mewed, "I'll see you then Wavepaw."
"See you," Wavepaw called after him as he ran off excitedly. She purred to herself and got up to go and find Snowwhisker. But before she could take more than a step a big dark brown tom blocked her way. Branchstar!
"Why hello there," he said silkily, looking down at Wavepaw, who was doing all she could not to shiver in terror, "Wavepaw isn't it?" She nodded.
"You know me, Branchstar, leader of TreeClan," he continued, "I wanted to congratulate you on helping Starwatcher."
"Thanks," Wavepaw mewed, trying to keep her voice steady.
"You know though," Branchstar added, "I don't know why she doesn't get an apprentice. The old-" But he was cut of by a cat clearing their throat. Branchstar turned around to see Snowwhisker glaring at him.
"Excuse me Branchstar, but its time for us to leave," she mewed pointedly and Wavepaw dodged around him to stand next to her.
"Oh, very well," Branchstar said as pleasantly as he could, though Wavepaw picked up a menacing tone beneath it, "Until the next Gathering." He dipped his head and slunk into the crowd.
"What did he say to you Wavepaw?" Snowwhisker demanded, herding her away.
"He just said he wanted to congratulate me on helping Starwatcher," Wavepaw mewed, letting out an involuntary shudder, "Thanks for getting me away, I didn't like the look in his eyes when he looked at me." Snowwhisker nodded, lost in thought. They traveled back with the rest of the clan in silence, the warriors and apprentices chatting around them. When they got back, the cats all disappeared into their dens, the chatter dying down. On her way with Snowwhisker to the den, Riverstar called her over.
"I'll be back in a heartbeat," Wavepaw mewed and Snowwhisker simply nodded again, ducking into the den. Wavepaw ran over to her leader.
"Yes Riverstar?" Wavepaw mewed.
"I just wanted to say I was very proud of you at the Gathering today," Riverstar mewed, purring as he rubbed his check against hers, "You've made Snowwhisker, and the whole of OceanClan proud to have you as our Medicine Cats apprentice." Wavepaw purred back.
"Thanks Riverstar," she purred, touching noses with him. Riverstar licked her shoulders.
"Now off to bed with you," he said playfully, "You must be tired." Wavepaw yawned.
"Exhausted," she mewed with an amused smile, "Good night Riverstar."
"Good night Wavepaw," Riverstar mewed with a soft smile and she walked back to the den. Once she got to her nest she realized her mentor was already sound asleep. She touched her nose to her white flank.
"Good night Snowwhisker," she mewed softly and she curled up into her own nest. She didn't see Snowwhisker open one eye to look at her apprentice, and smile warmly, before both cats drifted off to sleep.
Thunderheart sat outside camp, his ears pricked incase any cat dared approach. The moon was still high in the sky and he could see well with the added light. But something didn't feel right. He almost felt he was being watched. He scented the air again, trying to reassure himself. Nothing was coming. This was their camp; no cat would dare try and attack. But he caught the scent of something on the breeze, something very out of place. No, he thought, it couldn't be. He was about to yowl a warning to his clan when black shadows erupted at him from every angle, their eyes shining with malice. But before he could yowl anything he felt claws meet his throat, dealing the killing blow with deadly accuracy. He choked and slumped to the ground. He saw the cats swarm around him as everything started to fade. They hissed to each other and two left, ducking into camp. He wanted so badly to yowl a warning to his sleeping clan but he had no energy left. Everything went black.
Snowwhisker knew she was dreaming. She's had this dream ever since she'd last been to the StarCove. There were dark shapes of cats all around her, there eyes shining with hate, blood running from their paws.
"Who are you?" she growled, "What do you want?" But they didn't answer, they never did. Then she heard a yowl of terror. She spun around to see them surrounding Wavepaw, who was trembling in fear staring desperately at Snowwhisker, begging for help.
"No!" she snarled, "Leave her alone!" Snowwhisker ran over to her, but the faster she ran, the further away they got, "No! Give her back!" She watched in horror as the cats circled around her helpless apprentice.
"Snowwhisker please!" Wavepaw cried, "Please help me! Their going to-" But she was cut off as one of the cats dealt the killing blow and she slumped to the floor.
"NO!" Snowwhisker screeched, "WAVEPAW!" She blinked awake, leaping to her paws in terror, panting as though she'd run a mile. Seeing that she was back at the den, safe, her apprentice sound asleep beside her, Snowwhisker flattened her fur and took a calming breath of air. It was a dream, just a dream, she thought, Wavepaw is safe. She remembered the feeling in her heart when she'd seen Wavepaw go down. Wavepaw was more than just an apprentice to her, she was like the daughter she'd never have. She also reminded her a lot of her little sister, Tadpolekit. But she'd died after only living a few moons. It wasn't fair such a young life had been taken, but they'd all been to young to understand what would happen if they did played around too much and in the wrong places. Her death had taught both herself and Riverstar a painful lesson, one neither would ever forget. Yawning, she wondered how she hadn't woke Wavepaw up yet. Despite the fact her apprentice was death in the one ear, she seemed to grasp things a lot easier than most cats her age, and when she was afraid, she could never hide it from Wavepaw, who would sense her fear in a heartbeat. She turned her head to look at the sleeping form of her apprentice. It was too dark in the den to see anything properly, but something didn't look right. Getting to her paws, she walked over quietly to look and nearly gasped with horror when she realized exactly what was wrong. Rat! That wasn't Wavepaw. Snowwhisker looked around the den in surprise. Why was there a rat in Wavepaw's nest? And where was Wavepaw? She opened her mouth to scent the air and immediately wish she hadn't. TreeClan stench was everywhere in her den, mixing with the scent of blood and rat. No…Snowwhisker thought, Oh StarClan please no! She ran outside, following the scent of the TreeClan cats to the entrance. How had Thunderheart not seen them? But she got her answer far too soon when she spotted blood and the form of the ginger warrior laying very still in it. They'd killed Thunderheat. Terror sweeping through her Snowwhisker let out a loud yowl of alarm. Immediately she heard the sound of pawsteps behind her. Riverstar came out first, the rest of the clan behind him.
"Snowwhisker what…" but he cut off when he saw Thunderheart, "Thunderheart!" The clan cried in horror, they could all scent the blood.
"Snowwhisker what happened here?" Riverstar asked, his eyes shining with concern as he pressed his flank against his sisters. But Snowwhisker was heart broken. How could she have failed Wavepaw so badly? She was supposed to protect her. StarClan had sent her dream to warn her but she'd never thought far enough into it to work out the obvious and save her apprentice.
"TreeClan…" she mewed quietly then she cried with grief, "TreeClan have killed Thunderheart and stolen my apprentice!"