Chapter 10:
Lakepaw rolled over in a stretch beside the fresh-kill pile. Rain drenched her pelt but she didn't mind too much. She had gone out with Fleetwind, Sedgestream, and Bramblewing today. She had even caught a rabbit this time.
Now she was waiting for Flamestar to decide which cats would go to the Gathering before they left.
Flamestar padded out of his den, his dark ginger pelt glowed in the moonlight.
"Crowclaw, Rosewind, Spottedsky, Fleetwind, Lakepaw, Jaggedclaw, Mothpaw, Wolfspirit, Tinystorm, Sedgestream, and Hazelmist will attend the Gathering." He announced.
Lakepaw jumped to her paws and looked for Mothpaw.
Rosewind glanced over her shoulder as she joined the rest of the clan in the clearing. "Antwhisker is still healing but he'll be able to train Russetpaw again in a few days."
"Good." Flamestar nodded.
~*O*~
Lakepaw could smell the scents of Shadowclan and Riverclan on the breeze as she neared the island with her clan. The two clans must have arrived already.
She hesitated as it was her turn to cross the treebridge.
"Hurry up Lakepaw." Hazelmist growled impatiently.
"Sorry." Lakepaw jumped up hastily after Tinystorm, nearly sliding off the trunk as she did so.
"Careful." Fleetwind grabbed her scruff and steadied her.
"Thanks." Lakepaw mumbled, hurrying to the other side.
The scents of the other cats overwhelmed her.
"Wow." She murmured as the different colored pelts below shuffled around.
"Come on." Fleetwind beckoned her with his tail. "I'll show you some Shadowclan cats."
Lakepaw shuddered at the thought of facing any Shadowclan cats now but she followed her mentor anyway.
"Stonepaw, or whatever his name is now, never had a chance." A young brown tabby was boasting to a black tom with a ginger tail and a pale ginger tabby.
"He never had a chance Oakstorm." The tom agreed with a purr.
"His name is Scarpaw now." The tabby added.
That cat gave Scarpaw that horrible injury! Lakepaw shivered.
"You're just a showoff." A skinny gray tom beside Oakstorm rolled his eyes.
"You're just jealous, aren't you Rattail?" Oakstorm gave the other tom a good natured shove.
"Who's she, Fleetwind?" The black tom glanced at Lakepaw.
"This my new apprentice." Fleetwind answered. "Lakepaw."
"I remember you." The tabby she-cat nodded. "You're the apprentice who came out of the ground."
Lakepaw shuffled her paws.
"Lakepaw, this is Oakstorm, Rattail, Finchtail, and Olivetail." Fleetwind nodded to the other cats.
"She's too big to be six moons." Finchtail narrowed his eyes.
"She's ten." Fleetwind replied.
"Where's she been?" Olivetail asked.
"She was a loner." Fleetwind explained.
The other cats were silent for a bit.
"Interesting." Olivetail meowed at last.
Fleetwind sighed. "Come on." He led Lakepaw back to their own clanmates.
"That's Featherstar, Shadowclan's leader, and Darkstar is Riverclan's." He nodded to the silver she-cat from Shadowclan and a dark gray tom. "The medicine cats are Scorchwing and Runningstorm." Fleetwind added.
Lakepaw followed his gaze and saw the Shadowclan medicine cat sitting beside a brown tabby and Rosewind.
"And the deputies are over there." Fleetwind continued, waving his tail to the roots of the trees where Crowclaw chatted with the black tom from Shadowclan and a silver tabby.
"Spiderclaw and Swiftclaw." Tinystorm joined them.
Fleetwind opened his mouth to respond but shut it abruptly as Thunderclan cats poured into the clearing.
"At last Sorrelstar." Darkstar's tail twitched. "Now we can start."
Sorrelstar did not respond as she clawed her way up the tree and sat beside Flamestar.
"Thunderclan are our allies." Tinystorm explained to Lakepaw in a whisper. "For now at least."
Lakepaw nodded as Featherstar stood forward to speak.
"Shadowclan has four new warriors." The silver she-cat began. "Oakstorm, Rattail, Duskcloud, and Dawnmist." She paused as the other clans cheered.
"We also have several new apprentices." She continued. "Skypaw, Cloudpaw, Bluepaw, Stormpaw, Hawkpaw, Crowpaw, and Hollypaw."
The clans cheered the names of the new apprentices.
Featherstar purred. "Frostheart and Lightfoot have had their litters. Foxkit, Icekit, Darkkit, and Silverkit combined." She turned to Flamestar but annouced to all the gathered cats. "Shadowclan is keeping careful watch of our borders."
Lakepaw stared at the ground as she spoke.
Sorrelstar looked puzzled but smoothly announced that Scarpaw had changed his name and that Ivypaw and Berrypaw were now apprentices.
Darkstar stood up at the same time as Flamestar but the Riverclan leader ignored the ginger tom. Lakepaw blinked in surprise. She had thought the leaders would be more respectful of each other.
"Beechpaw and Fallenpaw have earned their warrior names and are now Beechfall and Fallenstorm." He yowled. "Sandfrost has three kits, Bluekit, Pebblekit, and Brindlekit, and Mallowpaw and Morningpaw have moved to the apprentice's den." Darkstar exchanged a glance with Featherstar. "We are grateful a Windclan cat could help one of our queens but we will not allow furthering meddling."
"What?" Jaggedclaw curled his lip. "Our apprentice saved your queen and her kits and that's the thanks she gets?"
Darkstar ignored the black tom and stepped back for Flamestar.
Flamestar glared at the Riverclan tom. "Windclan has taken in two strays from a Twolegplace. We are glad to have Lakepaw and Darkkit as members of our clan now."
"Loners?" A dark gray Shadowclan she-cat snorted crossly as other cats muttered agreement.
Flamestar lashed his tail but did not address the angry cats. "The Gathering is now at a close."
Lakepaw dragged her paws as the cats filed off the island. Did she really belong in the clans?