CHAPTER TEN
"Wake up, Ivypool! It's time for the Daylight Gathering!"
Ivypool groaned. "It's hardly dawn, Cherrypaw. The Daylight Gathering starts after sunhigh. And besides, I'm not an apprentice. And only apprentices are participating. I'll probably just stay here."
"I'm participating in fighting," meowed Cherrypaw excitedly. "Molepaw's participating in tree climbing, and Lilypaw's participating in running. Even though she hasn't been an apprentice for very long, she's fast! I hope..."
Ivypool wasn't listening. She flattened her ears and tried to go back to sleep. She successfully fell asleep and awoke a few moments after the warriors who had been at the other Clans returned to camp.
Bramblestar was now organizing the patrols for the Daylight Gathering. "Sandstorm, Lionblaze, Foxleap, and Rosepetal, you and your apprentices will come, of course, to the Daylight Gathering. I'll be bringing a patrol along with me, Squirrelflight, and Jayfeather. Brackenfur, you will come, since you're judging the tree-climbing competition. And we will also bring younger warriors, for the experience. Blossomfall, Bumblestripe, Toadstep, and Ivypool will come. I will also bring Dustpelt, Sorreltail, Berrynose, Poppyfrost, and Whitewing. Graystripe, you're in charge of camp while we're gone."Graystripe dipped his head. "We must leave now," meowed Bramblestar.
Ivypool felt surprised. It was an honor to be going to this special Gathering. She stood still for a moment, feeling as though she would sink in surprise and happiness.
Foxleap nudged her. "Come on, we have to go!" he meowed. He waited for her as Ivypool climbed to her paws. Then together, they raced out of camp.
They reached the island the same time as WindClan. Onestar halted his Clan and let them go first. Bramblestar dipped his head in thanks and leaped onto the fallen tree. ShadowClan and RiverClan were already there. They wasted no time when the last WindClan cat hopped down from the tree to start the Gathering.
"Who from ThunderClan is participating in running?" Onestar looked at Bramblestar. "Crouchpaw and Runningpaw are."
"Lilypaw, go join them," Bramblestar meowed. Lilypaw bounced over to where Crouchpaw and Runningpaw sat.
"No one from ShadowClan is participating in that event," meowed Blackstar.
"Flowerpaw, join the cats participating in running," ordered Mistystar.
"Mentors of those cats, go join them. Whitetail, go, too." Onestar mewed.
"Who from ShadowClan in participating in hunting?" Mistystar asked.
"Dewpaw is!" called Olivenose.
"Then go join Archpaw," meowed Mistystar.
"Seepdaw is," meowed Bramblestar.
Seedpaw and Lionblaze moved over to Olivnose, Dewpaw, Archpaw, and his mentor, Grasspelt. Splashpaw and his mentor, Sedgewhisker, joined them.
Quickly and efficiently, the rest was sorted out.
"Would you like to watch the fighting?" Foxleap asked Ivypool.
"Sure." Ivypool shrugged. Berrynose, Dustpelt, and Icecloud joined them and they set off for ShadowClan's territory.
Oakfur was the judge of the event. Stoatpaw and Shadepaw from ShadowClan, Larkpaw from WindClan, Tanglepaw from RiverClan, and Cherrypaw sat as Oakfur gave them instructions.
Then he paired them off. Cherrypaw and Stoatpaw, Larkpaw and Tanglepaw. They had one of WindClan's youngest warriors, Boulderfur, fight Shadepaw. Oakfur drew a ring with his claws and told them, whoever fell out of the ring first, or if one of the cats surrendered, the other one won. Whoever won would advance on to the next round, and then the loser of that round would fight the cat who didn't have a partner, and then the first winner and second winner would face off. At some point, Boulderfur would have to lose the battle, because this was an apprentice event. Ivypool saw Oakfur whispering the time to Boulderfur. It wouldn't be a claws-unsheathed match, but Littlecloud, ShadowClan's medicine cat, was there with herbs at his paws. Just to be on the safe side, Ivypool thought.
Larkpaw and Tanglepaw faced off first. They circled each other for a few moments, studying their opponent. Tanglepaw darted forward, knocked Larkpaw off her paws, and delivered three harsh blows to her hindquarters. Larkpaw screeched and flung him off. She leaped in the air, flying towards Tanglepaw. He leaped up off the ground and scrambled away a tail-length from where she was falling. Ivypool flinched, expecting that she would hit the ground hard. But she when she landed, she rolled under Tanglepaw, and locked her paws around his middle. She rolled over again, Tanglepaw rolling with her. Larkpaw stopped and pinned him down. Then she pulled him from under her, her teeth buried in his scruff. Tanglepaw writhed and squirmed, but Larkpaw was bigger than him, because she had been training longer than him and was older than him. She dragged him over to the edge of the ring and dropped him out of the circle. "Larkpaw wins!" yowled Oakfur.
Boulderfur and Shadepaw faced off next. Ivypool thought this was a fair battle. Boulderfur had been a warrior for about a moon, and Shadepaw, who was Stoatpaw's littermate, was nearly ready to become a warrior. Boulderfur may lose anyways, trying or not. They attacked immediately. Boulderfur delivered the first attack, pummeling Shadepaw with his hind legs. Shadepaw counterattacked with a front paw strike. Boulderfur seemed dazed. Shadepaw used this moment to do a scruff shake. Now he was even more dazed. Shadepaw delivered a blow that sent Boulderfur flying out of the ring. "Shadepaw wins!" announced Oakfur. Shadepaw raised her head proudly and padded over to the other side of the ring, where Larkpaw sat, Crowfeather muttering in her ear. Smokefoot, Shadepaw's mentor, ran over and began to meow softly in her ear.
"Stoatpaw and Cherrypaw!" called Oakfur. "Go, Cherrypaw!" cheered Ivypool. Cherrypaw purred and raised her head. She strode into the ring proudly. Stoatpaw sat on the far side of the ring. He snorted at Cherrypaw's bold strut. "Oh, you'll regret that." Cherrypaw's gaze lit up. "Begin!" yowled Oakfur. Cherrypaw and Stoatpaw circled each other, studying their opponent. Stoatpaw made the first move. He leaped on Cherrypaw, but because of his skinny body, Cherrypaw flung him off easily. He landed with a thud on the ground, only whiskers-length from the lines that ended the ring. Stoatpaw lay panting as Cherrypaw stalked up to him. Roll him out of the ring! begged Ivypool silently. The fight could end quickly and Cherrypaw could advance to the next round. But Cherrypaw wasn't finished. She boxed Stoatpaw's ears. Then she took him by the scruff and flung him across the ring. Stoatpaw screeched and scrambled to his paws. Spitting, he charged at Cherrypaw. Cherrypaw backed up to the edge of the ring. As Stoatpaw neared the apprentice, Ivypool felt despair. This would be it. Cherrypaw trying to get more blows in would make her lose! But Cherrypaw leaped up high in the air. Stoatpaw tried to stop, but it was too late. As he attempted to stop, he tripped, and landed with a dull thud outside the arena. Cherrypaw had won! She was going to the next round! Cherrypaw yowled in triumph. Foxleap, Berrynose, Dustpelt, Icecloud, and Ivypool cheered loudly for the young cat.
"Larkpaw and Shadepaw!" called Oakfur. "Begin!" They wasted no time attacking each other. Larkpaw leaped on Shadepaw, but she flung her off. She pounced on Larkpaw and pummeled her. Larkpaw writhed under Shadepaw but failed to get up. Shadepaw got a hold of Larkpaw's scruff and flung her out of the ring. "Shadepaw wins!" cried Oakfur.
Now it was Cherrypaw's turn. She would face Larkpaw, and if she won, she would face off with Shadepaw for the championship match. "Begin!" cried Oakfur. Cherrypaw attacked first. Since Larkpaw had just been fighting, she collapsed when Cherrypaw rammed into her. Larkpaw made no attempt to fight back as Cherrypaw pinned her down. Cherrypaw, realizing how weak her opponent was, scrambled off her and, purring, she nudged her gently out of the arena. "Cherrypaw wins!" announced Oakfur. Cherrypaw yowled in triumph. Ivypool cheered. She could win! She still had much energy to use in the fight against Shadepaw.
Shadepaw stepped into the ring. "Begin!" yowled Oakfur. Shadepaw let out a yowl and dove on top of Cherrypaw. She screeched and flung Shadepaw off of her. Shadepaw leaped to her paws and darted towards Cherrypaw. She nimbly stepped aside and leaped on Shadepaw. Shadepaw flung a paw up and caught Cherrypaw's ear. Ivypool gasped as the top of Cherrypaw's ear turned red and she smelled blood. "Time out!" roared Oakfur as Cherrypaw yelped in surprise and flung Shadepaw off. "Littlecloud!"
"It can wait!" sniffed Cherrypaw impatiently as Littlecloud and Berrynose hurried over to her.
"Shadepaw, do you have anything to say?" barked Oakfur.
Shadepaw scuffed the ground with her paws. "Sorry, Cherrypaw." Littlecloud backed away from Cherrypaw. Her ear was now swathed with cobwebs.
"What are you going to do about that, Oakfur?" growled Crowfeather. "There ought to be some penalty for that."
"Truthfully, there's nothing to be done, Crowfeather," meowed Oakfur slowly.
"Except an automatic win," commented Berrynose. His eyes glittered with hope.
"But that's not what I was told to do," retorted Oakfur. "If anything happens, Shadepaw will be punished by her mentor, or her Clan. And trust me, there will be something," he growled when he saw Berrynose's eyes narrow, Foxleap hiss, and Shadepaw open her mouth to defend herself.
Berrynose sniffed and stalked out of the circle, leaving Cherrypaw where she sat, trying to get a look at her torn ear. Shadepaw eyed Cherrypaw, who had now flattened her ears to her head, still trying to see her ear.
"Can we get this re-started?" Crowfeather growled.
"Yes." Oakfur nodded.
"Cherrypaw, you can take a look at your ear later!" called Foxleap. "Get ready!"
"Begin!" Oakfur yowled. This time, Cherrypaw made the first move. She dove under Shadepaw and flipped her over. She gave two blows to Shadepaw's belly and then began to roll. Shadepaw tried to stop it, but Cherrypaw kept going, despite Shadepaw's desperate attempts to knock her off her. Cherrypaw suddenly stopped and kicked out. Shadepaw flew out of the ring. "Cherrypaw wins!" cried Oakfur. Ivypool could hear disappointment in his voice that a ShadowClan cat didn't win. But he announced Cherrypaw's name loud and clear. "Yeah!" cried Cherrypaw and she let out a yowl of triumph.
Berrynose and Foxleap leaped into the ring and ran towards Cherrypaw. "Well done!" purred Berrynose, nuzzling his daughter.
"Good job, Cherrypaw!" congratulated Foxleap.
"Well, we better get back and report to the leaders," meowed Oakfur. "You can celebrate in your camp later."
Cherrypaw yowled in triumph. Then she quieted down. "Okay."
They hurried back to the island. The other cats were already back there and were waiting. Oakfur bounded over to where the leaders sat, at the base of the main tree. Ivypool watched as Bramblestar's eyes lit up as Oakfur gave the report.
"Let the cats gather!" Blackstar yowled. Oakfur leaped up the tree and sat on the first branch. Brackenfur, Whitetail, who had judged the running competition, and Graymist, who had judged the hunting competition, followed. Ivypool stared with surprise at the senior warriors. It was the leaders who addressed Gatherings, or occasionally deputies, if the leaders were busy or sick. She could see that she wasn't the only one unsure about this. She looked around, and there was uneasy murmuring around her.
Oakfur spoke first. "I do know that it seems wrong for us to be up here, but we have the leaders' permission to be up here. We are only giving the scores. Then we will get down." The uneasiness died down and Oakfur went on. "My event that I judged was fighting. The apprentices in my event were Shadepaw and Stoatpaw from ShadowClan, Larkpaw from WindClan, Cherrypaw from ThunderClan, and Tanglepaw from RiverClan. Tanglepaw and Stoatpaw came in fourth place, Larkpaw came in third place, Shadepaw came in second, and Cherrypaw came in first."
"Cherrypaw! Cherrypaw!" cried the Clans, ThunderClan the loudest.
Whitetail went next. "Running, running, we had some very fast cats! Lilypaw of ThunderClan came in fourth place, Flowerpaw of RiverClan came in third, Crouchpaw of WindClan came in second, and Runningpaw from WindClan came in first!"
"Runningpaw! Runningpaw!" cheered the Clans. From the base of the tree, Ivypool watched Onestar, whose eyes glittered with pride as though this was his own son. Did Onestar even have a son, let alone a mate and kits?
Graymist went next. "All the hunters were impressive. We had Dewpaw, Splashpaw, Archpaw, and Seedpaw. Dewpaw came in fourth, Seedpaw came in third, Splashpaw came in second, and Archpaw came in first!"
"Archpaw! Archpaw!" the Clans cheered, RiverClan, Archpaw's Clan cheering the loudest.
"For my event, I had Molepaw from ThunderClan, and Mistpaw and Sparrowpaw from ShadowClan. Mistpaw came in third, Sparrowpaw in second, and Molepaw in first!" Brackenfur annouced. Ivypool cheered loudly for the young cat. As she did, she saw Blackstar draw back his lips in a silent snarl. Ivypool stiffened. No ShadowClan cat had won an event. Blackstar would surely see this as something offensive that damaged his Clan's pride. But how would he take his anger out? Ivypool shivered, recalling the deadly battle between ShadowClan and ThunderClan, where Firestar had lost a life and ShadowClan's deputy, Russetfur, had died. Surely he wouldn't start a fight? The senior warriors leaped down from the tree, and the leaders replaced them.
"This Gathering is over." Blackstar announced. His voice was crisp and cold. "Until the next full moon, may StarClan light your path." It seemed to Ivypool that the last thing Blackstar wanted for the other Clans was for StarClan to light their paths.
