Doom of the Tourtured Servant Chapter 10 To the Gathering Honeypaw's POV
I know I've been typing shorter chapters, but I'll get a longer one in then.
I bounded over to Hollyfrost, awakened from my nap. "Has Firestar said who will go to the gathering?" I asked.
Hollyfrost nodded. "You and Streakpaw, Whitepaw and Stormpaw are going." She purred. "Good thing you took a nap, because we're leaving at dusk." It had been three days since my first dawn patrol.
"Great! I'll tell the others!" I waved my tail and pelted over the the apprentices den. Toadpaw and Rosepaw were basking outside, and Whitepaw and Stormpaw padded out of the den. "Guess what?!"
"What?" Whitepaw yawned, streching. She sat down, her blue eyes questioning.
I purred excitedly. "Streakpaw, Whitepaw, Stormpaw and I are going to the gathering!" I twined my tail with Whitepaw's, purring. Stormpaw gasped and flew into the apprentices. He woke Streakpaw and the two padded out.
"Really!?" Streakpaw purred. "I thought the day would never come!" He leaped over to me and affectionately licked my cheek. I flicked his ear with my tail.
"We've already been to gatherings." Toadpaw meowed. "Remember, never make the ShadowClan deputy mad." He giggled, and Rosepaw let out a murrow of laughter. I wondered why.
The four of us apprentices going to the gathering each chose some prey to eat and settled down. We didn't say much, until Streakpaw started blabbing. "I bet everyone will be there. Warriors like Rainstorm, the new RiverClan deputy, Blackclaw, Crowfeather, Tawnypelt and Rowanclaw!"
"Leopardstar just died three moons ago," commented Stormpaw. I realized that three moons ago I had still been serving Knife and the gang. In fact, three moons ago was when we'd met Ravenpaw and Barley.
"Mistystar isn't young, though. She's Bluestar's daughter, and had a litter of kits her own. Mousefur said to us that Mistystar had been deputy since Stonefur, her brother was killed." Streakpaw meowed. "That was back when BloodClan attacked."
I really had only a vague idea of BloodClan, from what I'd heard from the other cats, they were pretty evil. We chatted for a while, then I heard Firestar's call. "We'll be leaving now!" I joined Brambleclaw, Jayfeather, and the other apprentices as we sped off from the camp.
Finally, finally, we got to the edge of the island. I didn't know what the gathering would be like; the other Clans didn't even know about the Barn Gang. It had been three quarter moon since we even met ThunderClan. Amberleaf watched me carefully as I padded across the log, then the beautiful she-cat followed me over.
I leaped down off the tree and padded over to Streakpaw. "Let's go sit somewhere." I could tell by the scents that RiverClan; which I'd only smelled once before, and WindClan were already here. As Streakpaw and I settled close to the front of the group of cats, ShadowClan poured in. I looked around for Blackstar, the white tom with black paws.
Firestar leaped up onto the tree. "If we're all here, we may as well start early." He meowed. A tortoiseshell she-cat, a tabby she-cat, and a smokey gray tom joined him. Brambleclaw sat at the roots as the deputy, but no cat joined him.
For a moment the ThunderClan leader looked confused. "Tawnypelt, Minnowheart and Crowfeather? But Mistystar, Blackstar, Onestar and your deputy's couldn't have possibly died?"
"No," Crowfeather meowed heavily. "They were stolen. Kidnapped and taken by what their leader called..."
"KnifeClan!" Minnowheart yowled. I froze. When Knife had made his getaway, he'd mentioned KnifeClan. Was this what he'd talked about? "They took half our warriors, apprentices and queens." Minnowheart went on.
"We have been living like this for two days now," Tawnypelt sighed. "We tried to track them, but Knife, the leader, took them away, far, or what it seemed, from Clan territory."
Gasps came from ThunderClan. "What does it mean?"
"ThunderClan must be next!"
"We should defend ourselves!"
I closed my eyes and shivered. "We must go home now, then." Firestar gazed around the cats. "We will prepare for battle at once!" My first gathering, and we stayed for about ten minutes. I rolled my eyes as I watched ThunderClan file out. I finally rose to my paws and followed Amberleaf at the rear.
I wondered how soon Knife would attack. It was now a matter of when, not if.