Chapter Eight

Recruiting

"Icepaw." Mmm... Icepaw rolled onto her side, enjoying the warmth of her new Clanmates as she purred and tried to convince herself that she was still asleep. "Icepaw..."

"Mmmm!" she frowned. The white furred she-cat knew that she should get up, but today, she just couldn't.

"Icepaw!" she got to her paws and blinked through narrow eyes. It was Pantherclaw, the expecting TreeClan queen, Elderflower's mate. He looked apologetic.

"Sorry to wake you up so early. Treepaw and the others have called a meeting." he padded away into the early dawn light. Back into his nest... she thought grumpily, and shook her fur. She would be a Clan leader soon, and refusal to get up in the morning would be poor leadership. It had been several dawns since she had taken her cats up to see the IceClan camp, and those dawns had been filled with quiet training and exploring.

She washed her ruffled fur and checked on the other cats sharing her den. Wispyheart was sleeping peacefully, with Birdkit and Greykit snuggled up by her belly, Ashenwhisker forming a circle around his mate and kits, with Brightfang behind Wispyheart, and a flattened mix of feathers and moss behind Ashenwisker where Icepaw had previously lain. With a sigh of pleasure, she padded out of the den and into the large temporary camp for all of the Clans that were under construction.

She headed towards the trunk of the huge willow tree that covered all of the camp, where the other leaders, Treepaw, Breezepaw, Flamepaw and Stonepaw were waiting.

"C'mon Icepaw!" Stonepaw growled impatiently. She picked up the pace and raced over to the group. Treepaw nodded, and started to speak.

"Ok, so I think it's time we started rounding up more cats, like kittypets and rogues." he mewed.

"Like, we just go up to their Twoleg nests, and say, 'Oh, sorry to bother you, would you like to join a Clan?' They'd never agree!" Stonepaw snorted. The tabby tom sighed sighed.

"No. I think we should all get them in one place, send cats out to find cats, and then we'd get them in one place, and tell them the story of the Clans."

"I think that might work." Icepaw mewed thoughtfully.

"But we might get lost." Flamepaw pointed out. Treepaw nodded. "I know, but I think the only thing we can do about that is not go too far, and be careful." he mewed. "We send out the parties today, and ask them to come tonight." After a few complaints and queries, they decided it would be done. They each headed off to their separate dens, and gathered their warriors. They left Peachfur of FireClan and Beechpelt of BreezeClan on guard, and set off in individual groups.

"Right, so the idea is to go around our territories, to try and find loners, and persuade them to come to a little gathering tonight, where we show them what being in a Clan is about. The others will do the same thing in Twolegplace, on the outskirts of the forest, but with kittypets. Got it?" she explained to Brightfang and Ashenwhisker. Wispyheart had stayed at camp to look after her kits. Brightfang cocked her head to the side.

"Would kittypets want to come? They're all the same, all they care about is food and a nest. There's no spark to them." she sniffed. Icepaw shook her head.

"Well what about Flamepaw and Breezepaw? They were kittypets."

By now, it was common knowledge that two of the destined leaders had previously liived with Twolegs, although it did ruffle some pelts at first. Brightfang nodded, unconvinced, but stayed silent as they trekked across the moor. "Aren't there any cats up in the mountains?" Ashenwhisker asked. Icepaw shook her head.

"I would know." was all she said, with a hint of sadness behind her tone. Neither of her warriors seemed to notice though, and she shook her head and padded on.

After a short while, Icepaw hissed and lay flat on the ground, and the cats behind her followed her example. Four cats came bounding over the moor towards them, chatting away as if nothing was strange at all. One of them, a black and brown cat, was holding a rabbit triumphantly in her jaws. Icepaw got to her paws, signaling to the others to follow her, and approached the foursome.

"Hey! What're you doing here?" a white she-cat with grey flecks confronted Icepaw.

"We don't mean to intrude. We just want to talk." she reasoned, and sat, beckoning that they did the same. They sat, although hesitantly, and with a few hastened snarls.

"A long time ago, there were five groups of cats who lived together, but in separate Clans," the tabby tom frowned in confusion, but Icepaw carried on. "They all obeyed a certain code, which they hunted by, fought by and lived by, and it kept them together. They have long since disbanded, but we have been chosen by our warrior ancestors, to revive these Clans, and we are holding a meeting tonight at the big willow tree, to talk more about these cats, and to try and recruit new members for the new Clans. That's why me and my friends are here today." She finished. The light brown tabby stepped forward.

"Is that true?"

"Of course."

"Well...I'm Olly, this is Mia," he gestured to a light brown she-cat, "Chestnut," a black and brown she-cat with small green eyes, "and Sugar." he finished, and the white and grey she-cat who had confronted them dipped her head. He turned back to Icepaw, a look of concern on his face. "None of us know how to hunt, but sometimes we get lucky." Icepaw glanced at Chestnut's kill. "We need somewhere to live, and to settle down, and no disrespect, but are your Clans really the right place for us?" he shook his head, and the brown she-cat, Mia, came forward to rub her flank with his, as she murmured comforting words under her breath. Icepaw stepped closer. "Come to the willow tree tonight. You'll see whether it's...the right choice for you." she mewed gently, and mrrowed her goodbye.

As the group walked away, Icepaw exhaled heavily.

"That was a lot more emotional than I thought." she mewed. The next cats they met were a couple, and seemed a lot more enthusiastic to join.

"This is great!" The golden tom mewed, who seemed to have strong back legs, like his mate, who was a heavily pregnant fluffy grey she-cat. "Me and Tash are looking for a new home. I'm Tommy, we'll be there!" he purred. They met a few other cats, although mostly in the forest, near the river. One couple had a newborn litter of three, and could obviously see the cons of joining the Clans.

"We haven't named them, but would their names have had to change if we had?" Bella, the mother, asked.

"Yes, but you get to choose their name."

"Oh good. Well, I think we'll see you this Moonhigh then!" she purred, and they bounced back into the bushes. They returned to the willow tree with Treepaw's group; Pantherclaw and Cloverbelly, and when they broke through the branches they were astonished to see three tiny kits drinking from Elderflower's milk. Pantherclaw let out a little cry of joy, and Treepaw and Cloverbelly rushed over.

"I just had them. Help me name them, and then I have to go to sleep." Elderflower panted. Pantherclaw helped Moorfeather pick up the kits and move the family over towards the base of the tree. Icepaw smiled, and Brightfang purred.

"Come on. I think we should clear some space to get ready for Moonhigh." the white she-cat suggested. "Ugh, and then I am going to sleep!" Brightfang groaned. Icepaw, Stonepaw, Brightfang, Thorntail and Tinydove cleared some leaves away, before they went to sleep, asking various cats to wake them all up at Moonhigh.

Icepaw awoke to the sound of cats crashing through the long branches of the willow.

"Are you sure this is the place?" a familiar voice mewed anxiously. Icepaw got up and headed out of the cave. Some of the other cats had started to come out of their dens and see what was going on. She padded up to the group of four cats who were staring uncomfortably at the others emerging from their dens.

"Olly, Mia, Chestnut, Sugar!" Icepaw purred warmly. "I'm so glad you could come. Sit down, you're the first to arrive, but I'm sure they'll be more soon." They seemed to relax as Icepaw greeted them, and they sat down a couple of tail-lengths away from the trunk of the willow.

"Hi, um, wow..." A dark tabby tom with a white belly and chest approached her, and stopped mid-sentence, staring at the Clan cats who had now come out of their dens. She smiled to him, and his amber eyes stopped floating around the camp, and snapped back to her. "Hi. You're welcome to sit down, not everyone is here yet. I'm Icepaw, future leader of IceClan, by the way." he frowned in confusion, and Icepaw remembered that he didn't really know about the Clans yet.

"Thanks, er, I'm Sixer. Do you know where Stonepaw is?" he asked, and Icepaw flicked her tail towards where the grey and white tom was sitting and discussing what looked like battle techniques with Thorntail. "Over there." he nodded his thanks, and hurried off to greet the toms. Many more cats arrived, including the eager mates, Tash and Tommy, and Bella and Alex, who had brought their kits, much to the surprise to the other cats.

"We couldn't leave them by themselves, and we both need to hear this." Bella explained hurriedly.

Once the camp seemed to be full, Icepaw, Breezepaw, Flamepaw, Stonepaw and Treepaw each gathered on one of the low branches of the willow tree, Treepaw obviously being on the highest. Stonepaw yowled a summons.

"Let all cats gather here today, loner, kittypet or Clan cat, to encourage the future of the Clans."