Yay new chappie! I can't decide if I like this one that much...some parts yeah, but the ending is a bit rushed. Anyways, enjoy, and remember to review!
The half moon shone brightly down on the pretty brown tabby cat and her blue-gray apprentice. They moved smoothly across the moonlit moorlands, their pelts shifting with every step.
"There's Littlecloud and Barkface with Kestrelpaw," Jaypaw meowed quietly. Leafpool nodded and hurried toward the other medicine cats, shivering with excitement.
"Greetings, Leafpool, Jaypaw." The big dark brown tom meowed, dipping his head.
"Hey Jaypaw," Kestrelpaw added. The blind apprentice just nodded and flicked his ears, turning around.
"Mothwing and Willowpaw are coming." He meowed. The other medicine cats didn't question how he knew this; they were used to Jaypaw's keen sense of smell and hearing.
Sure enough, the pale-gold medicine cat and her gray tabby apprentice topped one of the moorland's hills, padding steadily toward their meeting place. When they reached them, the other medicine cats greeted them and they began to pad onward to the moonpool.
"How are things in WindClan, Barkface?" Leafpool mewed casually.
"We have plenty of herbs, and not too many cats are ill. Nightcloud had a small cough, but I gave her some tansy and it left quickly. The kits should be fine."
Leafpool smiled slightly and tried to look unconcerned as she meowed, "And when are Nightcloud's kits coming?"
"About another moon and a half," he mewed, glancing at her curiously. To change the subject, she addressed Littlecloud next.
'And how are ShadowClan, Littlecloud? Firestar is worried about the border again. Are you running short on prey?"
Leafpool saw Jaypaw's ears prick and tried to ignore him. Her apprentice had still not learned all the ways of a medicine cat.
Littlecloud rolled his eyes as he meowed, "No, we have plenty of prey, but you know Blackstar. He wants all the territory for ShadowClan he can get, and after Firestar gave up that last piece of territory, he thinks he'll be able to do it again."
"He's wrong!" hissed a voice angrily, and all the medicine cats stopped and turned to face Jaypaw. The apprentice's fur was on end, and his eyes were narrowed at Littlecloud.
The ShadowClan medicine cat looked taken back, and he meowed quickly, "I never said he was right, Jaypaw. I was only telling Leafpool what I heard."
"Apologize, Jaypaw! Remember, you are a medicine cat, and the ways of warrior rivalry are far beneath us." Leafpool felt embarrassed that her apprentice's behavior was so hostile towards the other medicine cats.
Jaypaw muttered an apology and the medicine cats began traveling again, climbing up the rocks leading to the moonpool. Tension filled the air as Mothwing and Leafpool gave reports on their own clans.
Leafpool lay down on the edge of the moonpool when they reached it, and breathed in the scent of the star-filled water.
The other medicine cats settled around her, crouched at the edge of the pool. She dipped her head and licked up a few drops of the sparkling icy water, tasting liquid starshine on her tongue.
Immediately, she was on empty moorland, wind whipping her fur until she had to dig her claws into the ground to keep still.
She looked around frightened. Where am I? "Spottedleaf!" she called out.
Immediately, the wind ceased. A familiar tortoiseshell cat was padding toward her, beside a pretty silver tabby. Feathertail!
Leafpool ran forward to meet them, and the starry she-cats purred with delight. "Feathertail! Spottedleaf!"
"Greetings, Leafpool." Feathertail meowed kindly. She touched her nose to Leafpool's.
"Oh Feathertail…what should I do? Crowfeather is always in my heart, but I know he loves Nightcloud."
Feathertail flicked her tail onto Leafpool's shoulder and began padding across the moorland. "Follow me." She mewed. Leafpool hurried after her, and Spottedleaf padded by her side, reassuring her with her warm pelt.
They suddenly topped a hill, and below them lay the WindClan camp. Leafpool could see cats moving around inside it, looking like mice from far up on the hill.
Feathertail and Spottedleaf suddenly sprinted down the side of the hill, and Leafpool hurried after them. They reached the edge of the camp, and Feathertail waited patiently by it.
Leafpool's words caught in her throat as a familiar gray-black tom suddenly appeared out of a hidden tunnel in the bracken, followed by a round-bellied black queen. The two cats didn't glance their way, and Leafpool realized that neither could see them.
"Crowfeather, what in StarClan do you want?" Nightcloud meowed irritably. The dark tom turned his gaze on her.
'Nightcloud," he mewed quietly. "Are the kits really mine?"
The queen stiffened. 'Of course Crowfeather, who else could be the father?" she snapped, but her tail twitched nervously. Leafpool's eyes widened in shock.
Crowfeather continued to gaze at her with his penetrating blue eyes, and Nightcloud glanced around nervously. "I don't believe you." He mewed finally.
Nightcloud hissed and dropped her voice. "Of course you don't believe me, you would much rather pad after that ThunderClan medicine cat then bother with more kits of mine."
Leafpool's heart pounded and she glanced at Feathertail, but she was still gazing at Crowfeather.
This time it was his turn to hiss. "Leafpool and I…are finished. If anything, she's just a friend." His eyes filled with pain, and Nightcloud looked outraged.
"Don't lie to me, Crowfeather!" she hissed. "I see how you stare at her at gatherings, and keep patrolling the ThunderClan border, hoping you'll see her. Well, maybe I'm tired of being second best to the cat that didn't love you enough to choose you over her own clan. Maybe I want a tom that will treat me better then you do!" with that, Nightcloud turned and padded back into the camp, leaving Crowfeather standing alone.
Leafpool could clearly see pain etched into his features, filling his eyes. The pain of losing his third love. She longed to reach out to him, but she knew he wouldn't be able to feel or see her.
Then the WindClan camp, along with Crowfeather, vanished. She was standing in a clearing filled with trees that glittered with dew, and she knew she was in StarClan territory. Feathertail and Spottedleaf had vanished.
Her ears pricked as a beautiful golden-colored she-cat padded towards her, and she recognized her instantly.
"Goldenflower?" she mewed to Brambleclaw's mother.
She dipped her head and gazed at Leafpool. "Beware the enemy and accomplice of Hawkfrost who has penetrated your clan. He has a noble and loyal heart, but is driven by fear to do Blackstar's bidding, as the wicked leader holds the cat that he loves most in danger."
Leafpool's eyes widened and she was about to answer, but the golden cat, along with StarClan's hunting grounds, vanished, and she was lying by the moonpool, blinking her eyes open.
Jaypaw stood stiffly beside her, and she wondered briefly what he had dreamed about. Had Goldenflower given him the same message?
Leafpool's thoughts were swept far away from Goldenflower's ominous message, however, as she padded across WindClan territory to ThunderClan. Crowfeather didn't love Nightcloud! The kits weren't his!