Chapter Thirty-three –Warning By Night

To Gingertail's surprise, Quickflight seemed to fit into the Clan mold naturally. She loathe admit it, but she was becoming quite fond of the ex-WindClan tom. He often came to the nursery to visit Creampelt and the kits, and Gingertail (who was now there all the time, as her kits were so close to coming) was getting to know him rather well. He had a sense of humor that befit a real ShadowClan cat. He had managed to earn himself a little honor for his bravery when word got around how he had managed to leave WindClan and not start a war between the two Clans.

Not everyone in the Clan, however, was able to adapt to the young warrior's presence as well. It was often that you could find groups in the clearing, muttering and throwing the new ShadowClan tom dirty looks. Cedartail seemed to be the head of these groups, followed of course by his son. Soddenpelt and Snakefang were often seen with them, along with Petalsong (when she was out with Cedarkit), and Whiskertail with Stonepaw would often join them. To Gingertail's dismay, Tinyclaw would often be sitting with them. She tried to comfort herself by saying that not a lot of cats really trusted Quickflight.

The young warrior was learning very fast. Already, he brought back as much prey as the other warriors, and he seemed keen to learn ShadowClan fighting moves. Briarstar was restricting what he could know. For instance, he wasn't learning night hunting yet, and he definitely wasn't allowed on WindClan border patrols. But he made up for his lack of night-time skills by working extra hard during the day.

Having him join the Clan was paying off in another way. With so many queens in the nursery, the warriors were really struggling to keep up with all of their duties. In addition to his regular warrior duties, Quickflight was cleaning out the nursery and elders' den so that the apprentices were free to go out with their mentors and bring back extra fresh-kill. It had earned him good points with the apprentices, who were glad to have an excuse not to do those simple chores.

Most importantly, Briarstar's willingness to let him stay seemed to have given Quickflight a new attitude to induce in the sulky ShadowClan cats. He was rather cheerful, and it was infectious. Soon, he had a good bit of the warriors laughing at jokes, or smiling at some private thought. It was as though he had brought with him a ball of sunshine that reached out and touched almost every cat.

It was a good thing that he had brought this good attitude with him. The Clan was struggling to keep up with the sheer mouths they had to feed now that so many kits were in the nursery. Briarstar was no help to the Clan, as she had become so indisposed with Greencough she hardly ever left her den. Swanfeather spend every spare moment with her. Moonblaze was starting to take over full medicine cat duties, including going to the Moonstone alone at the Half Moon.

"I don't mind," she'd told Gingertail once when visiting her. "Swanfeather knows she can count on me, and it gives me a chance to take on more responsibilities."

Gingertail hadn't really been paying attention. Her kits were growing restless inside her. They wanted to come out, she knew, but StarClan was holding them back for whatever reason. Moonblaze had said they were waiting until the "appropriate moment arises" but it meant nothing to Gingertail. She wanted them to be out of her body.

The Gathering was fast approaching. To the Clan, it looked like both their leader and their medicine cat wouldn't be going. Moonblaze was more than capable of representing ShadowClan as a medicine cat, but with Gorsefur leading the patrol, they would be admitting to the other Clans that they were weaker. It put pressure on Gorsefur to get his words exactly right, so that his Clan still looked strong.

Four nights before the Gathering, the Clan began to show signs of straining. Snow had fallen and covered the marshland. The marsh had frozen over, and hunting parties came back with less prey each time. Although the queens still got fed, it was tough on Gingertail to know that the warriors were starving so that she could have a full enough belly. She tried to encourage the warriors to share prey with her, but this was a subject Hailfur was adamant about.

"No, Gingertail. Look at the size of you! We want you to stay as healthy as possible, and if that means that we go hungry sometimes, then so be it."

By 'we', he meant himself. Although not every cat got an extravagant meal every day, most cats got about the same amount of food. They were all maybe too thin for Gingertail's liking, but at least they caught enough to survive. Gorsefur, however, refused to take any prey if the other warriors hadn't eaten. It was starting to show on him. Rather than his normal glossy pelt, his fur now hung loosely from his body. Gingertail was starting to see his ribs through his thin pelt. It was frightening to watch.

The Clan was healthy enough, but it couldn't go on like this.

And it seemed the StarClan was willing to oblige.

It was a warm night. Gingertail could almost picture the snow melting in the warmth. The smell of newleaf on the way was what she had fallen asleep to. It was comforting, because she knew that soon, her Clan would be strong again.

The kits were curled against their mothers. The milk-scent of the nursery was stronger, because Quickflight had found a rabbit, and his speed had come in handy to catch it. Even Petalsong couldn't deny tasting the delicious meat. It had been the largest prey caught yet this leaf-bare. Quickflight had practically had to carry it on his back so it hadn't dragged on the ground. His catch had been the deciding factor that he could stay. Briarstar hadn't made the official call yet, but everyone in the Clan assumed that she would.

Outside, the warriors were tucking in to sleep. Cedartail's night patrol had gone out early, and would be back before too long. In the meantime, Bloomleaf had taken up guard duty at the camp entrance.

Gingertail was dreaming of newleaf when she was kit. She remembered the tantalizing scents of the forest brought in on her father's coat every time he visited. In her dream, she had kits that were playing with a rabbit in the clearing. Marshwhisker and Molefoot sat side by side, commenting every now and then how to properly play with it. Gingertail would have been content to join them, but Spottedwhisker was fighting with Tinyclaw. They were yelling back and forth, and it was really distracting to Gingertail and her kits. She wanted to tell them to stop, but didn't see how, because they were both right.

And then the yelling became very real.

Gingertail woke with a start, and stared around the nursery as the yell was abruptly cut off. Beside her, the other queens were sitting up and looking at one other. "Petalsong?" Cedarkit breathed. "Where's Petalsong?"

Dustcloud shook her head. "I don't know, Cedarkit, but you'd better come over to my nest for now." He glared at her.

"I don't want your nest, I want-"

"Quiet!" Sagepool ordered. "Did you hear that?"

Gingertail pricked her ears, listening extra hard. If she looked between the branches, she could just see the clearing. Were those dark shapes moving around the clearing her Clanmates? She thought she recognized a few of them.

She shook her tail out as cats slipped into the warriors' den. It's just Cedartail's patrol returning, she thought. They scared Bloomleaf. That's why she called out. Her heart was racing. Nothing's wrong.

Somebody wailed out into the night as cat turned on cat. Battle seemed to explode. Cats poured into the clearing into a waiting ambush, where they screeched in fear and surprise. Gingertail drew back, yelling. The other nursing queens had jumped to their feet, Cedarkit practically diving into Dustcloud's nest. The nursery wall shook as cats tumbled into it. "What's going on?" she demanded. "We're being attacked!"

Creampelt peered out into the clearing and gasped. "Great StarClan!" she exclaimed. She drew back as all the other queens stared at her in horror. "Those aren't enemy warriors! Those are our Clanmates!"

Gingertail went to stand and collapsed back into her nest with a yowl. Sagepool jumped over to her and began nuzzling her cheek. "What do you mean?" Dustcloud asked. " 'Those are our Clanmates.'?"

"Our Clanmates are fighting for us," Violetcloud answered shakily. "That has to be it, right?"

"No!" Creampelt practically wailed. "Yes! Both! Our Clanmates are fighting each other."

"That doesn't make any sense!" Violetcloud yelled back, just as hysterical.

"It's...it's terrible..." Creampelt whimpered looking back out onto the scene.

In the silence that followed, Gingertail's stomach gave an unpleasant lurch. A strong ripple passed over her flank. She screamed without meaning to. Fourteen pairs of eyes locked on her as another ripple made her twitch.

"Great StarClan!" Dustcloud repeated Creampelt's earlier cry. "Our Clan is literally fighting with itself and her kits are coming!"