I know I promised to update every day this week, and I didn't. I feel bad about that, but I went away on a trip for the last few days. And before that, I had a lot of stuff to do with home, family, and of course, preparing for midterms. I'll update today and tomorrow, and then figure out when to post the next chapters.

Recap:

Flamepaw glared at all of us. "Hareflight's a traitor. He betrayed his Clan! And if you think even for a second he's done anything to redeem himself, then" –

"Is that what you really think?"

Swanpaw immediately turned around to see who it was. Sweetsong was standing behind them, staring at Flamepaw with a sickened look on her face.

"I can't believe I wanted to be friends with you," she whispered. "You're just an arrogant, selfish tom, Flamepaw. You're too busy thinking about your own problems to understand. Hareflight's suffered through a lot. Probably more than anything the rest of us have been through."

Flamepaw flattened his ears. "I'm sorry, Sweetsong," he said. "But just because he's your brother doesn't mean he gets a clean slate. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm due for a hunting patrol." He stalked off, not bothering to look back.

CHAPTER 32: PREPARING FOR BATTLE

The next day, at sunhigh

Eaglekit's POV

"Waterkit, what do you think of this den?"

The two of us were exploring, looking for a den. We were east of the WindClan border, which seemed to worry Waterkit. "We're getting too close to the Moonpool," she said. "Any StarClan cat would be able to spot us. We cannot go any farther.

Looks like we have to hide from even StarClan, I thought, dejected. The very cats who were supposed to be our saviors were now our enemies.

"Why not here, then?" I pointed at the den. "It's small and cozy enough for us to stay in."

"Sure," she said. "I'll go get moss, and you can hunt."

"Okay." I left the den. Hunting was very difficult for us. The StarClan prey didn't run so fast and it was much easier to catch. I had also never been taught to hunt when I was alive, seeing that I was a kit and all.

Thanks for sticking me with the harder job, Waterkit, I thought grumpily, sitting by a stream. At least fishing wouldn't be so hard. They weren't very fast and could never see you coming.

Luckily for me, I managed to get a carp, though it was difficult to pull it out of the water. When I finally did, I felt exhausted. I managed to carry the carp with me to the den.

Waterkit was also collapsed on the moss. "I'm so tired," she yawned. "We walked for so long, and just carrying that moss is making me"… She put her head down.

"It's probably a side-effect of us going through the Destiny Den," I said. "Here, take some carp. Be glad you didn't have to carry it all the way from the stream."

We ate in silence.

Flamepaw's POV

This was my first time ever going to the Gathering island by daylight. The sun was bright on my face, which was enough to make any cat growl. I didn't know why we had to have this meeting.

I saw Sweetsong up ahead of me. She glanced briefly at me, and then looked ahead. From what I could see, she still hadn't forgiven me for insulting her brother. Well, what was I supposed to do? I couldn't let everyone just blatantly ignore the fact that Hareflight was responsible for the death of my brother! If Sweetsong could hate Turtlepaw for her attempt on Hareflight's life, then I could hate Hareflight for what happened to Eaglekit.

"All cats go to your regular Gathering spots!" Crowstar yelled. I went with my Clanmates to the willow tree.

To my surprise, when I looked up at the pine tree, I saw Darkstar wasn't standing on it. Instead, Larkflight was standing on the top, with Darkstar nowhere to be seen.

There were other murmurs at this, but Larkflight spoke. "Darkstar has a small cold," she said. "It's not a big problem, and he'll be fine by tomorrow, but he just needs to rest today. I have taken his place."

"Yeah, right," Swanpaw sneered beside me, though made sure to keep her voice low. "He's probably still crying his eyes out about Featherheart's death, boo hoo hoo."

"First off," said Whitestar, taking charge, "we need to decide on a leader. All adult cats, which include warriors, deputies, medicine cats, and elders, get a vote. Leaders don't get a vote because we are the ones running to be elected. You can vote for one of the four leaders to lead the alliance, but you can only vote once."

What? I thought. We don't get a vote? That's not fair! But Whitestar wasn't done speaking yet.

"Apprentices, we will need your help to gather pebbles for the votes. Every warrior on this island gets a pebble. Any warrior below the age of twenty-four moons must go and help them, because this will take a while."

This is so stupid, I thought grumpily as I followed the other apprentices, nosing around for pebbles. We couldn't get a vote, and yet we were still expected to search for pebbles?

"As much as this sucks, be glad you're not a kit," Whitepaw advised me. "They had to stay in camp."

"Thanks a lot," I said sarcastically.

"This is so unfair," Swanpaw grumbled. "Why can't we vote, too? We're adult enough! And there are barely any apprentices here, how can they expect us to look for pebbles all by ourselves?"

"We're not searching by ourselves," Whitepaw pointed out. "He sent the younger warriors to help us."

"Oh, who cares?" snapped Waterpaw. "Let's just search for pebbles."

Whitepaw, Swanpaw, and I exchanged a look. Ever since Turtlepaw left, Waterpaw's mood has become progressively worse and worse. He won't talk to anyone at all, especially since we found out Turtlepaw's not coming back. He seems really depressed, mainly because of how she tried to kill Sweetsong. Though I think he's finally come to grips with it.

Fortunately, the pebble-collecting didn't take too long, since we had some warriors to help us. We brought them back to the island and gave each warrior one.

"Thank you," Crowstar said, when all the pebbles had been distributed. "If you're voting for me, place your pebble near the oak; if you're voting for Sassafrasstar, place your pebble near the willow tree; and so on."

As the cats moved around, we apprentices began to talk. "I wonder who Sweetsong is voting for," Whitepaw said.

"For Sassafrasstar, of course," said Sweetsong, coming back to join us. "She's the best leader."

"Everyone's going to say that about their own Clans," Whitepaw pointed out.

"Yeah," agreed Swanpaw, "except ShadowClan." She laughed. "It would be sad if any cat voted for Darkstar."

Swanpaw, Whitepaw, and Waterpaw left, clearly with the intent of speaking with the other apprentices. This left me and Sweetsong behind, standing rather awkwardly together.

"Hi," she said, rather quietly.

"Look," I began, but she cut me off.

"I thought we could be friends!" she said in a rush. "I mean, you and I went to ShadowClan together. How can you" –

"We didn't do that much together," I interrupted. "Where would you get that idea from? You and Whitepaw have a much closer bond, because both of you were captured for such a long time. Us, we were barely together for a day."

Sweetsong growled, but she didn't have much to say after that. I just snorted.

"What is with you she-cats and friendships?" I sneered. "'Oh look, let's all be best buddies and get along.' Why do you need a friend ever? It's so much better to just be alone! I don't need anyone! And least of all someone who defends a traitor!"

"He's my brother!" Sweetsong screamed.

"He's still a" – I began, but someone cut me off.

"Stop your bellyaching, apprentices! Some of us are trying to vote here."

The voice came from Frostypool, one of the elders. She glared at us for a moment before walking away. Sweetsong huffed, clearly indignant at being called an apprentice; she cast me one withering look before storming off. I sighed and sat down on my paws.

"Every cat has cast their votes!" shouted Crowstar. "We will count the votes now." He leapt down from the oak tree and looked at his pile of pebbles. The other Clan leaders did the same.

The deputies were in charge of announcing their leaders' votes. They stood on top of their Clan's tree, ready to speak. When the leaders were done telling deputies the amount of votes, the deputies would speak. Larkflight went first.

"For Darkstar, there are… ten votes!" Larkflight announced. There was laughter from all the cats.

"Ten votes?" whispered Swanpaw. "That's not going to get him anywhere!"

Goldenear took the stand. "For Crowstar there are… forty votes!" she announced.

The laughter stopped. Forty votes was a lot. But they weren't done announcing.

"For Sassafrasstar," called Badgerfoot, "there are forty-five votes!"

"She's not going to be alliance leader," said Sweetsong, looking disappointed. "It's still not enough."

"And lastly, for Whitestar," said Sunstreak, "there are… sixty-five votes!"

The effect was instantaneous. The Clan cats started yelling, "WHITESTAR! WHITESTAR!" at the top of their lungs. Whitestar looked out at everyone and smiled.

"Greetings," he said. "I am happy to be leading the alliance. I may be old, but I will lead us to defeat the Legion."

The Clan cats cheered. Whitestar was a popular choice. He dealt with things fairly and tried to stay as peaceful as possible, which was why even cats from other Clans admired him. As the oldest leader of the Clans, he was also very wise. He had also fought with the RainClan alliance against FlowerClan, and rebuilt WindClan to glory after the fall of Flowerstar.

"To prepare for battle, I say we must strike tomorrow," said Whitestar. "We're going to have to do intensive training all day."

"Why tomorrow?" asked a ThunderClan warrior.

"If we wait any longer, we are putting the lives of our imprisoned Clan cats at risk," explained Whitestar. "They claim they will kill them two days from now. But we can't go today, either. We're not done planning yet."

"I have a suggestion," said Sassafrasstar. "I think we should make stretchers for the battle, so we can carry the wounded off the field."

"Sounds good," agreed Whitestar. "I don't know about the other Clans, but WindClan always has a few of those stretchers in the medicine den."

"I have some," said Mistfur.

"I don't have any stretchers currently," said Oakleaf, "but I'll go and get all my medicine supplies here."

"Yeah, neither do I," added Bluemist.

"How many stretchers does that amount to?" Whitestar asked.

"Um, four in WindClan and three in ShadowClan," said Mistfur. "That amounts to seven total."

"That should be enough," said Bluemist. "If we need more, we can always reuse them."

"Right," said Whitestar, brusquely. "Medicine cats, go back to camp and bring whatever medicine supplies and stretchers you have. Take some warriors with you."

"Sure," said Bluemist. "Whitepaw, come with me. Carpflight and Spottedsky, come with me, too." He led the medicine cats out of the island.

"What will our battle tactics be?" asked Whitestar, looking out to the four leaders.

"I say we should fight near a river," said Sassafrasstar. "My cats will have the best chance of success then."

The other cats snorted. "I don't know of any river in that area," said Crowstar.

Clove spoke up. "There's a river very near my home," she said. "I can show you."

"Thank you Clove," Whitestar said. "We will fight near a river." He looked around. "I think in order to lure some of the Legion cats, we will need a patrol of the fastest WindClan warriors to bring them there."

There were protests at this. "How do you expect us not to become prisoners?" one cat shouted. "Swiftrunner and Runningpaw are some of the fastest cats in WindClan, and they got captured!"

"Okay then, scratch that plan," said Whitestar.

Crowstar spoke up. "Do you think if we kill some prey and lure them with the scent of blood, they'll come?" he asked.

Larkflight frowned. "Isn't that against the warrior code?" she asked. "Killing prey not to be eaten?"

"I don't think the spirits will be mad at us if we kill one squirrel, Larkflight," said Whitestar. "Besides, desperate times call for desperate measures."

"So when they come, how are we going to fight?" asked Crowstar.

"The RiverClan cats will fight first," said Sassafrasstar. "The rest of you should be hiding somewhere. After some time, the rest of you will jump in and surprise the Legion warriors."

"That makes sense," agreed Crowstar. "But will your warriors be able to hold them off for that long?"

"Actually," said Larkflight, "I think RiverClan and ShadowClan should fight together in the beginning. There's no way just one Clan can hold off so many cats."

I immediately guessed what Larkflight was up to. She was trying to make peace with RiverClan. Sassafrasstar looked surprised, but accepted.

"Thank you Larkflight. ShadowClan and RiverClan will fight together." She looked at Whitestar and Crowstar. "The ThunderClan-WindClan group will come in only after we get the battle started."

"We also need a patrol to rescue Goldensun, Swiftrunner, and Runningpaw," added Whitestar. "We can't leave them there."

"Of course not," agreed Crowstar. "I think we should send two warriors of each Clan, and a medicine cat. Who will it be?"

"I think Whitepaw can be the medicine cat," Sassafrasstar said suddenly. "He should go, because he's an apprentice and all the full medicine cats will be needed at the battle."

Whitestar thought for a moment, and nodded.

"Now since that's settled," said Whitestar, "WindClan will send Darkbird and Yellowstripe. They were captured by the Legion, and know their way around the prison area. Yellowstripe, Darkbird, do you accept this mission?"

Both warriors nodded eagerly. I watched Sweetsong looking over at the two warriors eagerly. I could tell that she approved of Whitestar's choice, particularly since they had been captured by the Legion together.

"RiverClan will send Sweetsong and Frostheart," said Sassafrasstar. "Sweetsong knows the prison area, and Frostheart is an experienced warrior. She will be able to help guide the others. Sweetsong, Frostheart, will you go?"

"Yes!" said Sweetsong firmly, while Frostheart nodded. I started to feel a bit of grudging admiration for Sweetsong. Although she was captured by the Legion, she's still brave enough to go and face them again… I was still annoyed with her for wanting me to be her 'best friend', but she was a good warrior.

"I'll take volunteers from my Clan," said Crowstar. "Anyone?"

"I volunteer!" called Squirrelstep. "So do I!" yelled Lionpaw eagerly.

Goldenear frowned at him. "Lionpaw, you're only an apprentice. You cannot go."

"Oh, darn it," Lionpaw muttered.

"I'll go too," said a reddish-brown warrior.

"Okay, it's settled," said Crowstar "ThunderClan will send Squirrelstep and Redclaw."

"I ask cats in ShadowClan to volunteer, too," said Larkflight.

A ginger she-cat stepped forward. "I will go," she meowed.

"So will I," said a gray tabby tom. "I would like to go with my mate."

"Very well then," said Larkflight, "ShadowClan will send Gingerspike and Rainstorm."

"And I think we should send Clove and Talon as well," said Sassafrasstar. "For those of you who don't know, they are loners who were living in my Clan. They know the area of the Twolegplace well enough, and will be able to give these cats guidance."

"Why should we send loners?" asked Crowstar. "What use are they to us?"

Sassafrasstar glared at him, but Whitestar intervened. "I think we should send them, Crowstar. They saved RiverClan's and my apprentices from the Legion, and we owe them one."

"I… I never said they couldn't go, I was only"… Crowstar looked embarrassed. "Fine, I mean. They can go."

"Thank you," said Sassafrasstar diplomatically.

"Is that all we should have planned?" asked Whitestar.

"I think so," said Larkflight. Crowstar agreed.

"We should go home now, then," said Whitestar. "We'll all meet in RiverClan camp tomorrow, because it's closest to the Legion. Get some rest, everyone; it's going to be a long day tomorrow."

I have something important to say here. The next few chapters are going to be very intense and filled with long battle scenes, crazy supernatural stuff, and all that jazz. They're the last ten chapters of the story, but they're the longest and the scariest. I just want to warn you guys that if that's the sort of thing that gives you nightmares, you shouldn't read this at night.

I actually mean this seriously. Once, I had to read a short story for homework, and I ended up reading it at ten in the night (because I procrastinated and didn't read it earlier). It was the scariest, most creepy story I had ever read. I'm not even kidding. I don't think I even slept that night, I was that disturbed. So if tragic death scenes and evil dead cats is something that disturbs you, don't read this too late in the night. Please.