Chapter 11

The Gathering seemed to go on forever, and Briarpaw couldn't get her mind off of Mapleshade. The ginger and white she-cat hadn't been seen for a moon, which was unexpected. Briarpaw had been anticipating some sort of retaliation, but none had come yet.

"The Gathering is now over, let's all go home," Stormstar, Riverclan's leader finally meowed.
Briarpaw silently thanked Starclan and got to her paws, searching for the rest of her Clanmates. Oakpaw spotted Brackenclaw and Tigerfang, so he nudged Briarpaw in their direction. Eventually they found the rest of the Clan and started toward camp. Oakpaw wouldn't stop talking about the Gathering, so Briarpaw made the excuse that she needed to speak with Tigerfang so she could get away. She sped up, matching Tigerfang's pace, and told him what Ripplestripe had said about Mapleshade.

"She's not in Riverclan?" He meowed incredulously. "You need to tell Dawnstar immediately. This can't end well for either Clan."

Briarpaw blinked calmly and nodded. "I will when we get back to camp, but how do you know that something bad is going to happen? She's been gone for an entire moon. If Mapleshade was planning something, it would have already been put in motion."

"Has it?" Sandcloud asked darkly from Briarpaw's other side.

The silver and white apprenticed narrowed her eyes until they were just slits. "I wouldn't know, would I? Sandcloud, I think that you're the last cat in Thunderclan that should be throwing around accusations."

"I'll leave you two alone," Tigerfang meowed awkwardly, slowing so that he was walking with Oakpaw.

Briarpaw bared her teeth and Sandcloud and unsheathed her claws. "Quit accusing me of things that you know nothing about. I'm not the one with a loyalty problem."

"Give me a break," Sandcloud snapped. "You would do anything that Mapleshade asked, and don't try to deny it. I know what you've done, and you know what I've done, so why don't we just keep our secrets to ourselves."

Briarpaw gave him a smug look. "Well, it's a little bit too late for that now. Pineleaf knows everything. She's always known."

Sandcloud's eyes glistened with hurt and betrayal. "I used to think that we had a future, Briarpaw, but now I know that we never will."

"Really?" Briarpaw sneered. "Well, you could have fooled me. You were the one cat that I trusted, and you dropped me as soon as Jayflight became a warrior. Don't act like you've done nothing wrong."

"I hate who you've become, Briarpaw," Sandcloud murmured. "I really do. You're not the cat that you used to be. After Mapleshade left, I thought you'd gotten better, but I can see it was just a mask for what you really are. You're worse than Mapleshade ever could have been."

"Then you'd better stay on my good side," Briarpaw snarled. "Or you'll be first."

Sandcloud's eyes widened and he stopped, his hackles raised. Briarpaw continued on, ignoring the confused looks from Tigerfang and Oakpaw. In all honesty, she'd surprised herself when those words came tumbling from her mouth, but she felt that something about them was true. There was no way that Mapleshade was going down without a fight, and Briarpaw was going to be right beside her the whole way.

Neither one of them had ever been given a chance by Thunderclan. They'd been labeled as battle-hungry she-cats, and the other cats avoided them at all costs. It wasn't Briarpaw's fault that she'd been given Mapleshade as a mentor, and maybe things would be different if Sandcloud had been her mentor, but it was too late now. Why try to become what other cats wanted if you knew that you never could? Why not act how you really felt?

Briarpaw seethed the rest of the way back to camp, walking by herself and thinking about her future. Maybe she should do as much damage in Thunderclan without it being known, and then go to Shadowclan when things started to fall through.
First she would kill Brackenclaw, just like she'd promised Mapleshade all those moons ago, then Jayflight. She would make Sandcloud pay. All of this was his fault. She could have grown up in Shadowclan as the daughter of a leader, but instead she'd started at the bottom in Thunderclan.

"Are you okay, Briarpaw?" Dawnstar's concerned meow interrupted the apprentice's thoughts.

She looked her leader in the eyes and nodded. "Yes, I'm fine. I need to talk to you about Mapleshade, though. Riverclan didn't allow her to join them, and they didn't know anything about Firekit and Ripplekit, Ripplestripe said that they thought she'd left the kits in Thunderclan."

"This is troubling," Dawnstar meowed heavily, motioning for Briarpaw to follow her into her den. When they were inside, they sat down and Dawnstar shook her head slowly. "Briarpaw, even though you're an apprentice, I feel that your burdens are as abundant as an elder's. You could have been made a warrior any time in the last moon, trust me, but I didn't want to provoke Mapleshade, and now I think I've done more harm than good. You act like you're happy, but I don't think that you are. The other cats are frightened of you, Briarpaw. The only ones that spend any time with you are Darkpatch, Tigerfang, Ravenpaw, and Oakpaw, and I don't understand how that foolish tom can stand to be around you."

"If all you're going to do is criticize me, I think I'm going to leave," Briarpaw meowed angrily, getting to her paws.

"I'm sorry," Dawnstar replied, "That's not what I wanted to say. I wanted to tell you that I'm sorry for everything. I shouldn't have made Mapleshade your mentor, and I should have been watching you more carefully. You've all but turned into her, and any cat knows that that can only mean trouble."

Briarpaw dipped her head. "I understand your concerns, Dawnstar, but don't worry about it. I know that I have a lot of making up to do to everyone, but I think I can do it. I don't want to be like Mapleshade; in all honesty, I want to be like you, Dawnstar."

The Thunderclan leader wrapped her tail around Briarpaw's shoulders. "You will be a great warrior one day, but only if you change your ways, Briarpaw, and I trust that you will. You seem willing to try something new. Now, go get some rest, we're going to be on dawn patrol tomorrow, and then we'll have some battle training. I want to assess your skills, and if you do well, you could become a warrior within half a moon."

"Thank you for trusting in me, Dawnstar, even when nobody else does," Briarpaw meowed gratefully. "I won't let you down."

They meowed quick goodbyes and Briarpaw left the leader's den, smug as can be. She picked up a vole from the fresh-kill pile and settled down to eat it. As she bit into it, Jayflight came stalking up to her.
"Did you go hunting today?" The blue-gray she-cat asked snippily.

"Do you really want to go there?" Briarpaw sighed. "You're wasting my time."

Jayflight glared at the younger she-cat and sat down. "I think that you're wasting the entire Clan's time. We all know that you're going to turn out bad, so why don't you just leave? Go find Mapleshade, wherever she is, and stay there. You're not wanted here."

"Maybe not wanted by you," Briarpaw sneered, "but I know that Sandcloud would forget about you in an instant if I asked him to. You're just his little plaything, nothing more."

Jayflight's eyes widened and she unsheathed her claws. "That's not true."

"What do I have to gain by lying to you?" Briarpaw asked smoothly. "I don't care for Sandcloud; he's the furthest thing from my mind. You, however, are on my mind all the time." She got to her paws and began circling Jayflight, making sure that Oakpaw and Brackenclaw were watching them from across the camp. "If you so much as look at me anymore, I will shred you, and you can count on that. I will destroy you. But if you want to fight, bring it on."

Jayflight narrowed her eyes and lashed out at Briarpaw, catching her cheek. Briarpaw was filled with both rage and excitement, because she'd been waiting for this moment for a long time. She unsheathed her claws and began slashing at Jayflight's chest. The older she-cat backed away and then leaped toward Briarpaw, trying to get her off balance. But the apprentice knew it was coming. She jumped at Jayflight, meeting her in midair. They fell to the ground and became a ball of claws and fur, each one trying to get the upper hand. But Jayflight never stood a chance. Briarpaw dug her claws into Jayflight's back, making her screech with pain, and then buried her teeth in her shoulder, trying to inflict as much pain as she could before the Clan could pull them apart. Finally, an angry caterwaul from Dawnstar stopped the fight, and the two she-cats split apart, their claws still unsheathed.

"What is this?" Dawnstar asked, disbelieve tingeing her voice. "Briarpaw, what did we just talk about? Was everything you said a lie?"

Briarpaw acted apologetic and stared at the ground. "Dawnstar, trust me, it wasn't. I don't even really know what happened. Jayflight was upset and started an argument and then attacked me without reason."

"She's lying," Jayflight meowed desperately. "She provoked me into attacking her. She wanted this to happen."

Briarpaw gave the frightened she-cat a strange look. "Why would I want you to attack me? We're supposed to be Clanmates. We were great friends when you were still an apprentice, and I wish we could go back to that."

Jayflight's jaw dropped and she glanced around at all the cats that had come out from their dens. The entire Clan was watching them, and they seemed to be taking Briarpaw's side.

"Oakpaw and Brackenclaw," Dawnstar called out, "I saw that you two were out here during the fight. What did you see?"

Briarpaw eyes met with Oakpaw's and he gave a slight nod. "Jayflight went over to Briarpaw and it looked like she started the whole thing. Briarpaw was just eating her vole. It looked as though Jayflight was trying to threaten Briarpaw, but I don't know why she would."

"Is this true, Brackenclaw?" Dawnstar glanced at her deputy.

He dipped his head and stared solemnly at his leader. "It is."

Dawnstar shook her head. "Jayflight, as a warrior, I'd hoped that you were better than fighting one of your Clanmates. You will be on apprentice duty for the next moon, and you'll be confined to camp unless a warrior takes you out. And Briarpaw, I'd expected more of you as well. Since you didn't start the fight, I don't find it necessary to punish you, but just know that you're on thin ice. Now, everyone go to bed, we're going to need to keep our strength up. The worst of leaf-bare is yet to come, and we don't need any illnesses."

The cats dispersed, and Jayflight sat in the middle of camp with Dawnstar, speaking quietly with her. Briarpaw watched from the apprentices' den, extremely happy with herself. She'd planned on something like this happening, but hadn't anticipated it happening so soon. Oakpaw tapped her with his tail, distracting her for a moment.

"Thanks, Oakpaw." She meowed softly. "You're a great friend."

The dark tabby purred loudly and touched her side with his nose. "I know. You're not too bad yourself. Should we make a nest for Jayflight? Or should I say Jaypaw?"

Briarpaw chuckled and nodded. "We'd better, or else she'll put it right next to our nests. Let's put it in the corner over there. We don't want Jaypaw to be too close to us."

"Ha ha, very funny," Jayflight meowed dryly from behind the two apprentices. "And don't worry about me wanting to have my nest next to either one of you. I'd rather sleep outside than in here."

"Why don't you?" Oakpaw asked.

Briarpaw laughed lowly and moved so that she was sitting in her nest. "Let's go to sleep, Oakpaw. Jaypaw can sleep wherever she wants."

The two apprentices curled up in their nests and closed their eyes, ignoring Jayflight. Briarpaw soon fell asleep, but it lasted until only moonhigh. She woke up and left Oakpaw in his nest, padding out into the camp. Jayflight lay just outside the apprentices' den, and Briarpaw couldn't help but feel a little bit sorry for her. But she shook it off and padded over to the Highrock, leaping onto it. She imagined calling Thunderclan to a Clan meeting, and an excited shiver ran down her spine. Then she imagined calling all four of the Clans to a meeting and a rush of ambition made her dizzy.

"Someone help!" A frightened yowl came from just outside of camp.

Briarpaw leaped down from the Highrock and bounded toward the entrance. Outside stood Fallownose and Ripplestripe, each with their hackles raised.

"Thank Starclan," Ripplestripe meowed breathlessly. "Briarpaw, Riverclan is being attacked by a group of rogues. We're losing badly, and we need help. Can you get Dawnstar?"

"No need," Dawnstar meowed loudly. "We will come to Riverclan's aid."

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