Chapter 14

Only a night has passed since the fight with the rebellion. While most of the cats who left Forestclan were 'taken care of,' the event had a large impact on the clan as well. Everyone that participated had to visit the medicine cat den to check their wounds, including the dark grey tom who was stretched out in the warrior den.

It was almost Sunhigh and Wolfclaw still felt exhausted from the day before. He was covered in small scratches. While they stung, it was nothing compared to the unlucky ones, such as Runningshade. He watched Icestar carry the she-cat back to camp later in the night. Last he heard her condition was stable but there was no doubt she got more scars to add to the one on her leg.

The sun moved just enough to reach his eyes, making him cringe from the unexpected sunshine. Wolfclaw shut his eyes tightly but he still saw the red glow through his eyelids.

Red... That's all he saw the night before. The deputy has been in gruesome battles in the past but none where the ultimate goal was to mercilessly kill the enemy. He was used to seeing blood spill but not cold blood. Though he personally disagreed with what they were doing, he had to fight by order of Icestar.

Or to be more exact: by order of Shadowthorn. Icestar may have chosen the cats to go, she never told the warriors to kill the rebels. Shadowthorn assured them that it was Icestars' original order but Wolfclaw couldn't imagine the leader wanting that. He's known her for a while but not long enough to understand the way she thought.

The grey tom vaguely remembered Shadowthorn fighting through the chaos. He was a monster in the heat of battle and seemed right at home. The thought of him hurting others without blinking an eye made him feel uneasy. Wolfclaw would attack without hesitation if he needed to but he would prefer not to, just like anyone else. Shadowthorn, however, truly had no morals.

Wolfclaw sighed and brought himself to his paws, not wanting to waste the day anymore. The tom padded outside and followed the sound of cats arguing. He noticed Stormtooth and Hawkwing were at it again and Icestar was trying her best to stop them from arguing. He thought about helping her but decided to just keep walking. He wasn't one to jump into situations.

While he walked past, Icestar noticed him and paused what she was doing. "Wolfclaw, wait one moment," she said quickly and left the two toms behind.

"I have to deal with these two but I plan to have Oakpaws' warrior ceremony soon. Can you confirm he's in camp? I wouldn't want him to miss out on it," she said with a brief smile and turned her attention back to the bickering cats once Wolfclaw nodded.

Since Forestclan was formed, it's been difficult to know when someone was in camp or not. Keeping track of every warrior was no easy task, especially for the leader.

After asking around, Wolfclaw learned Oakpaw was last spotted walking into the elders' den. The grey tom padded inside the den and saw the apprentice refreshing the bedding for the elders. It just occurred to him how quiet the elders have been lately and he couldn't help but wonder why.

Since there was no reason to stay any longer since he learned where Oakpaw was, Wolfclaw started to turn towards the exit but the blind elder, Gravelstone, caught his eye. The grey tom was lazily sitting in a nest in blank silence. What was he thinking? Was he used to the blindness? It would be easy to imagine how useless the former deputy used to be. Becoming a blind elder was enough but they everything he knew changed and he was forced into Fourtrees. Gravelstone couldn't leave even if he wanted too. Just about everyone in the clan felt bad for cats like him.

Wolfclaw forced himself onward and quickly told Icestar about Oakpaw. The leader didn't waste any time to begin the ceremony.

"All cats old enough to catch their own prey, gather beneath the Great Rock for a clan meeting," she called and everyone in the camp came forward. Wolfclaw watched casually from below. "Leafpaw and Oakpaw, step up."

Wolfclaw almost forgot about Oakpaws' sister, Leafpaw. He hasn't seen her much around camp. She was in the battle with the rogues as well. Perhaps he just didn't notice the small she-cat.

The brown apprentices jumped onto the rock and faced Icestar proudly.

I Icestar, leader of Forestclan, call upon my warrior ancestors to look down on these young apprentices. They have trained hard to understand the way of your noble code and I commend them to you as a warrior. Oakpaw and Leafpaw; do you promise to uphold the warrior code and defend your clan even at the cost of your own lives?"

"I do," Oakpaw said clearly, for everyone to hear.

"I do," Leafpaw said excitedly, trying to keep back a purr.

"Then by the power of Starclan, I give you your warrior names. Oakpaw, you will be known as Oakbreeze. Starclan honors you for your loyalty and confidence. We welcome you as a full warrior of Forestclan." Icestar stepped forward and rested her muzzle on the toms head for a moment before turning to Leafpaw.

"Leafpaw, you will be known as Leafwing. Starclan honors you for your intelligence and reasoning. We welcome you as a full warrior of Forestclan." Once again, Icestar rested her muzzle on Leafwings' head for a moment.

"Oakbreeze, Leafwing," the cats below cheered the names of the warriors.

Once they quieted down, the leader continued. "You two will have your silent vigil tonight. Clan meeting dismissed." The siblings jumped off the Great Rock and were immediately swarmed with cats congratulating them.

Wolfclaw didn't say anything to them, having nothing to say. In all honesty, the clan doesn't really need any more warriors. If there was no more fighting within the forest, wouldn't there be an overpopulation problem?

The grey tom sighed and walked away from the confusion surrounding the Great Rock, not being one for crowds. Before he got very far, he paused and realized it was Sunhigh.

About time I send out a border patrol, the deputy thought and turned back to the cats. The first cat to catch his eye was Bluefire. She was standing at the edge of the crowd around the two new warriors but she wasn't joining in on the conversations. The blue she-cat was staring into space with a conflicted expression.

"Bluefire," he called, jerking her out of her trance. "Stop wasting time. Go on a border patrol with Mudwhisker, Skypath, Bluefoot and Silverstone." He listed off the names randomly the moment he spotted the cats.

"Alright," Bluefire said and walked away, leaving Wolfclaw quite surprised. It was usually difficult to get the four guards to follow orders from the deputies. They liked to believe they held a higher position in the clan than the deputies despite how often Icestar clarified otherwise. Bluefire in particular liked to follow a deputy's order somewhat reluctantly. Why was she so willingly this time? Could it have something to do about how distracted she looked?

"Whatever," he sighed to himself and quickly gathered up the other cats to go on a border patrol. Once that was taken care of, he eyed the fresh-kill pile at the other side of camp.

Maybe I should go hunting, he thought idly. He's been very busy since Hawkwing was forced down from deputy. He and Featherstripe had to handle everything themselves. Where is Featherstripe anyway? The grey tom glanced around camp but couldn't bring himself to care enough to search for her.

He sighed and padded towards the Fresh-kill pile. Before he reached it, he noticed the four kits were outside the Nursery with Silverheart and Blackspot watching them. The toms, Snowkit and Sootkit, were tumbling over each other as they flung a moss ball around. The older kits, Ashkit and Hollykit, were fighting each other. Hollykit was pretending to be a fox while Ashkit fought her off. The two groups eventually collided and the four of them all played a game together.

Wolfclaw heard himself chuckle at the sight but he decided to keep moving. Before he could take more than three steps, Shadowthorn walked past the Nursery as well. The kits rolled in his way without any warning and the dark tom tripped over Ashkit in particular. He gasped in alarm and caught himself before landing on the young cats.

"S-sorry," Ashkit mewed after he realized what happened.

"What do you think you're doing?" Shadowthorn hissed the moment he regained his balance and swung in paw in front of the grey kit. At first, it looked like nothing happened but it soon became clear that Shadowthorn just clawed Ashkit across the face. The kit cried out in pain and the other kits took several steps back, afraid of the large tom.

"Ashkit!" Blackspot exclaimed and ran over to her kit to see if he was alright. Wolfclaw moved in closer on the event out of curiosity and saw the kits' face was only grazed but there was some blood which was easy to see through his grey fur.

Shadowthorn was a rather feared cat but no queen would stand for their kit getting hurt in such a way; that was common knowledge. The spotted she-cat looked up at Shadowthorn with her eyes blazing. "How dare you lay a claw on my kit?" She demanded. Her loud voice caught the attention of anyone nearby. "Don't get anywhere near them!"

"If you keep them away from me," Shadowthorn growled, "then we're at an agreement."

Wolfclaw just remembered that Icestar went hunting a while ago and hasn't returned yet, so as a deputy, he had to step in. "Break it up," he said and stepped forward while spectators began to slowly gather.

He had more to say but Shadowthorn spoke up quickly. "Gladly, he muttered coldly and padded away without giving anyone a chance to say anything.

"Hey, I'm not done yet-"Blackspot began, still enraged. She stepped forward to go after him but Silverheart got in her way and shook her head against the idea.

The cats around them lost interest as soon as they got it and began to disperse. Despite the lack of motivation, Wolfclaw turned to Blackspot and said, "I'll take him to the medicine cats."

Blackspot, as if she was ignoring him, picked up the suffering kit by the scruff and moved quickly to the den. Without thinking twice, he followed.

He was right: Shadowthorn had no morals. He probably doesn't care about anyone considered 'weak,' including the kits. How disturbing…

When Wolfclaw got inside the Medicine cat den, it was slightly busier than usual thanks to the battle the other day. Runningshade was sleeping restlessly in a nest in the far corner and each of the Medicine cats were tending to someone.

Nightwind was the first to notice the injured kit. He hastily finished what he was doing and rushed over to get a closer look at Ashkit.

"It hurts," Ashkit complained through his tears when his mother put him down on the ground.

"The kits accidently tripped Shadowthorn and he attacked him," Blackspot answered angrily. The mention of Shadowthorn caused Nightwind to change his expression to one more serious and dark. Did he know something about the tom?

The grey medicine cat wasted no time into getting some herbs and carefully squeezing the juice of one on the cut. Ashkit squealed from the pain while his mother assured him over and over again that it's alright. A moment after, he got some cobwebs and covered the claw marks with them.

"Will it scar?" Blackspot asked fearfully as she wrapped her tail around her son.

Nightwind shook his head. "It's not deep," he answered. "It should heal within days."

Blackspot sighed with relief. "Thank Starclan. But if he gets near my kits again" she said, glaring outside, "I'll be picking his fur out of my claws for a moon!"

Wolfclaw almost scoffed but held it in. He doubted many cats would be able to best Shadowthorn in a fight after seeing him the night before.

Blackspot picked up her son once again and headed for the exit. He glanced at Wolfclaw and said thanks through her teeth. She probably didn't mean it and felt inclined to but the tom didn't really care.

Before he had a chance to walk out as well, he heard someone talk to him once again.

"Hi Wolfclaw." He turned to see it was Mapleshine. She wasn't injured in any way so he assumed she was checking in on a friend or something.

"Hi," he replied, already knowing why she spoke up. Mapleshine had trouble regaining everyone's' trust since she rejoined Forestclan. Rockstorm convinced a few cats to give her another chance but the majority for the clan still avoids her. She's been trying to get closer to the cats slowly and befriend everyone all over again. "Sorry for interrupting. I wanted to ask you something," the rich she-cat said with a smile.

Wolfclaw suddenly had an idea as to what the question was. "Don't ask who I prefer." An off question began roaming around camp since Shadowthorn began taking more charge. Some cats prefer to way he handles clan situations over Icestar and it was not a common topic within the warriors. Cats have begun to take sides for whatever reason. No one knew how it started but since Shadowthorn showed off his ability in the fight with the rebels, Wolfclaw had been asked the question a number of times within a single morning. He never gave a clear answer.

"Huh?" Mapleshine looked confused. "I just wanted to ask how your day was going."

What? How pointless. The tom wasn't inclined to believe her. In fact, he suspected she did plan to ask him if he was on Icestars' side or not but changed her mind the second he spoke. He didn't blame her though.

He sighed "my day is fine so far." Rockstorm walked over to his sister and they bounded off together after saying goodbye.

That was weird, he thought as he left the Medicine cat den. He had no doubt that Mapleshine would side over Icestar despite what happened between them in the past. He couldn't see a cat like her agreeing with the hasher way Shadowthorn did things. Wolfclaw was honestly not sure which side he would choose if it ever came down to it. Did Icestar and Shadowthorn know about the topic? It was hard to say.

It was also strange that the conversation started so suddenly through the camp. It was as if everyone was preparing to choose sides for some epic battle between them or something. But he couldn't see that happening since Shadowthorn and Icestar seemed so close though everyone wondered why.

The chances of them turning against each other seemed very slim. There was nothing to worry about.

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A/N: Sorry for the wait and short-ish filler. Wolfclaw was supposed to be more important… And by the way, you'll learn about Icestars' thoughts on the previous battle in the next chapter or the one after; haven't decided yet.

I haven't had much time to work on it. But anyway, I finally finished a solid layout for the rest of this story. Course, I've always known what was going to happen but I finally wrote it down! Yay! Looking at it now, there's going to be nine more chapters at most. If a chapter is too short, I might merge it with the next chapter or something like that but at least you have a general idea. I'm getting excited!

Until next time, thanks for reading and please review!

Have a nice day~