So finally my exams are over, and I have escaped my school horror. Sorry I haven't updated: my parents wouldn't let me on the Internet due to my test nightmares.
So for this chapter I am doing something different. It should be pretty easy to see what I did.
Review!
-Lilith
*Appleleaf's POV (ThunderClan warrior)
Oh StarClan. Chillstar was going to be furious.
My paws drummed the earth as I ran, dashing through the trees. Behind me, I knew that Cobraflame, Shrewpaw, and Emberflame were following. The small tuft of fur in my mouth was foreign, strange. The scent rolled off of it and was flooding my nostrils, but I ignored it.
It had started off as a simple hunting patrol. We needed all the food we could get, especially now, when we were trying to fight off the effects of leaf-bare. We had already lost one of our own: Silverkit, Ivyleaf's only kit. She was still grieving for her young kit, who had been no older than three moons before the hunger got at him. I could barely look at Ivyleaf without feeling an immense amount of sympathy.
Anyway, back to what we had been doing. Cobraflame and his apprentice Shrewpaw, Emberflame, and I had all volunteered to go on the hunting patrol. We decided to cover the area near the WindClan territory, hoping maybe a stray rabbit had run from their territory to ours. Instead, we had found three WindClan cats, one stuck in a thicket and the other two trying to help it out.
"Ah fox dung! Why does ThunderClan territory have to have so many brambles?" She she-cat who had been stuck in the thorns asked when she got free.
"Only StarClan knows." A tom muttered, and then turned away from them. "I think I saw a bird over there. Come on!" He said, and they all hurried after him.
Keeping to the shadows, I leaned forward and sniffed the hair left on the thorns. Wind, grass, the faint smell of the forest. Definitely WindClan. Snagging a tuft in my mouth, I hurried back to the others to show them my find.
"WindClan fur." Shrewpaw said, sniffing it as well.
"Does anybody recognize it?" I asked.
Emberflame leaned forward and sniffed it, taking in a whiff. "It doesn't smell like one cat. Smells like three." He murmured.
"Can you identify them?" I asked as he took even deeper breaths, trying to pinpoint the scent.
"Smells like…Ravenpaw…Seedpaw…and Spiderpaw. I knew them. We used to be good friends and talk at the Meetings." He said.
"Apprentices." Cobraflame muttered. "Getting their paws in places they don't need to be putting them."
"Hey." Shrewpaw said, shooting a glare at him. Even though he was a young apprentice, he had spunk.
Cobraflame didn't say anything, just ignored him. "We've got to tell Chillstar."
And that's pretty much what happened.
As we raced to the camp, the sunlight caught on my fur, making it glitter like black diamonds. Shrewpaw was hot on my heels, making me run faster so he wouldn't trip me up.
Suddenly the camp loomed in front of us, and we all ran into it, surprising the others. Ravensong, the elderly black tom with one blind eye, peered out from his nest. A group of apprentices stood near the apprentice's den, and they turned to stare at us as we thundered past. Quietpaw, Rushpaw, Nuthatchpaw, and Hazelpaw all watched as we raced up to Redpelt, who was waiting for us.
"What happened?" She asked, taking us in.
"WindClan…fur...found it." I said around heaving gasps, trying to calm my breathing.
I laid the tuft of fur down on the earth and watched as Redpelt leaned forward to sniff it delicately before picking it up in her mouth. "Thank you." She said around the piece of the WindClan apprentice's pelt before hurrying to Chillstar's cave.
It was only a matter of seconds before Chillstar came out, fur bristling. Leaping up on a huge rock, he yowled once to call the clan to him, but it wasn't necessary: everybody had already gathered, wanting to know what was going on.
"Appleleaf, please tell me how you happened to find this fur." He said in a deadly calm voice, one I was familiar with. He was furious and holding it down, but promising himself to use his fury later.
So I retold him the story, ignoring the feel of the other's gazes on me as I stared into his cold, penetrating eyes. I knew that I shouldn't keep secrets from him, but it was no use: his eyes seemed to know everything, just by looking at you. So I didn't bother, just told him the truth.
His white pelt, which had already been bristling, seemed to puff up even more with anger. "That's it." He spat, pacing on the rock. "WindClan won't taunt us anymore. We must attack them before they steal more of our prey."
His response was mostly yowls of approval. But I couldn't help but turn back and look at the entrance as I pictured the apprentices in my head. They weren't warriors. Just apprentices, and they didn't look like the strongest apprentices either. Couldn't Chillstar just talk to Cherrystar about this and settle it? After all, it seemed like the group stealing our prey were only apprentices, not full grown warriors, so they could probably be scolded easily.
But then I faced Chillstar again and felt a rush of loyalty. I was just a ThunderClan warrior: I couldn't make clan decisions, no matter how I felt about them. I had to follow Chillstar's orders.
At the same time though, I didn't want to extinguish the spark of ambition deep inside my heart. It was just a little bit, thank StarClan, so I shouldn't be worried about becoming the next Tigerstar. Not enough to become a hungry blaze, but to eventually burn strong and true.
But for now I had to follow my leader's orders, no matter what I thought about them.
Okay that was for Gummybear01, who suggested a while back that Twigpaw could meet a ThunderClan patrol with Appleleaf, Emberflame, Shrewpaw and Cobraflame on it. But the problem is that ThunderClan is nowhere near RiverClan, so I kind of had to botch that idea. So I am going to try to make another one of Gummybear01's ideas become a reality in this story anyway. Probably in the next chapter.
Review!
-Lilith