SkyClan Allegiances

Leader

Applestar- gray tabby she-cat

Deputy

Goldenfoot- golden tom with white tail and paws

Medicine Cat

Poppynose- brown she-cat

Apprentice, Rainpaw

Warriors

Stagheart- brown tom

Darkpelt- dark gray tom

Snowflight- white she-cat

Owlfeather- dark brown tom

Apprentice, Sprucepaw

Grayfrost- light gray tom

Wrenflight

Pantherstrike- gray tabby tom

Apprentice, Oakpaw

Violetpetal- white she-cat

Apprentice, Talonpaw

Ryeleaf- light brown she-cat with darker spots

Apprentice, Leafpaw

Mapletail- brown tabby she-cat

Timberheart- reddish brown she-cat with green eyes

Grassbreeze- gray and tan she-cat

Sandwhisker- tan tom

Apprentice, Honeypaw

Queens

Silkfern- light gray tabby she-cat, expecting Grayfrost's kits

Wrenflight- brown and black spotted she-cat, expecting Owlfeather's kits

Apprentices

Leafpaw- gray she-cat with white paws

Oakpaw- brown tom

Honeypaw- golden she-cat

Sprucepaw- brown tabby she-cat

Talonpaw- brownish-black tom

Elder

Morningbreeze- golden tabby she-cat

Oakpaw

I hissed at my opponent. She hissed back. We circled each other, daring the other to make the first move.

I got tired of waiting. With a growl, I leaped on top of her back, and she collapsed to the ground with an "oomf." But she rolled out from under me with ease and it was my turn to fall down. While I tried to get my bearings, she landed a few blows on my head.

As she hit my ears with her front paws, I swept her back legs out from under her. She gasped as she went down, and I pinned her to the ground. This time, I made sure there was no escape.

"Leafpaw!" Ryeleaf groaned and started walking toward her apprentice with a sigh. "How many times have I told you to keep your guard up! You can't assume someone won't fight back just because you've hit their head once or twice. Once you lift up your front paws, if they take out your back legs, you will fall down and they could easily kill you."

"Not always," Leafpaw muttered. "Good job, Oakpaw." She turned around and headed back to camp.

I looked at my mentor expectantly, waiting for his feedback. Pantherstrike noticed, and grumbled, "Make sure you can trap them the first time."

Figures. Maybe I shouldn't have asked. He never gives me any compliments, just criticism.

I have no idea why he hates me. Pantherstrike clearly should never have mentored anyone, but I guess Applestar just chose the first warrior she saw.

I don't take it personally. He's naturally a cold and unfeeling cat, and he acts like that towards everyone but the leader.

Not everyone gets to have a mentor who's a perfect match, I suppose.

Oakpaw

I snagged a sparrow from the fresh-kill pile and sat down near the apprentices' den. Leafpaw joined me with a hare.

"Does Pantherstrike reprimand you as much as Ryeleaf yells at me? I feel like I never do anything right."

I scoffed. "I see her praise you all the time. At least she pays attention to you. My mentor absolutely hates me. Pantherstrike's always distracted when I train, hunt, or patrol with him, and when I ask for any advice, he just points out all the things I've done wrong. And that's on a good day."

"Do you know why he hates you?" she asked. "It's not good to have that kind of relationship with your mentor. How do you learn anything?"

"Well, he either dumps me with one of the other mentors or makes sure I train with another apprentice."

"You should still do something, because he's not likely to change on his own." Leafpaw took a bite of her hare. With her mouth full, she added, "I think you could ask him up front why he treats you that way, and if he refuses to cooperate, tell Applestar what the problem is."

"Can't I just talk to her? Pantherstrike goes out of his way to avoid talking to me."

"That's only a last resort. Go on, then." She shooed me away with her tail.

I gazed longingly at my half-finished sparrow. "I'm in the middle of a meal! I can't just leave it there."

"Then I'll eat it," Leafpaw replied. She shoved the remains of her hare aside and started on the sparrow.

With no other choice, I looked around the camp for Pantherstrike. I caught a glimpse of his shiny dark fur behind the warriors' den. He was having a heated argument with Grayfrost, who stormed away in a huff.

I walked straight there, not giving myself a chance to talk myself out of it. As I got closer, Grayfrost bumped into me as he left, barely muttering, "Sorry," as he walked off, adding a string of curses under his breath.

As I approached him, I called, "Hey Pantherstrike, I wanted to-"

But he wasn't alone. Sandwhisker was standing right next to him. The pair of them stared at me with a mixture of triumph, amusement, and anger in their eyes.

"Wanted to apologize, Grayfrost?"

Grayfrost?

"What are you talking about? I'm not…" But as I started to protest, I looked down at my fur. Instead of finding a fluffy brown pelt, I saw short, light gray fur. Even my voice was different, taking on Grayfrost's deeper tone effortlessly.

"You know perfectly well what we're talking about, Grayfrost. Or do we have to spell it out for you?"

Oh well. If they thought I was Grayfrost, I guessed I was able to spy on them and figure out what they were up to. The whole situation screamed, "shady and suspicious."

So I said, "I still don't see how I'm in the wrong."

Sandwhisker laughed, a cold, humorless laugh. "Of course. Grayfrost, do you really think we're just going to let you insult our carefully thought out plan-"

"Excuse me?" Pantherstrike growled. "It's not 'our' plan, it's not your plan, or mine. Leopardscar was the one who came up with the whole idea. You weren't even the one to get the dream, so how dare you even suggest you had a paw in this plan!"

"Calm down. I misspoke, that's all. Now, as I was saying, Grayfrost, you can't just insult Leopardscar's carefully thought out plan like that. He specifically chose you to take over WindClan, so nothing you do will change that. Unless you would rather he choose someone else and kill you off because you know too much."

I gulped and murmured, "Now that I think about it, WindClan doesn't sound too bad."

"Glad you've decided to cooperate."

"Out of curiosity," I continued, "When are we going to follow through with this plan?"

Pantherstrike rolled his eyes. "My gosh, you cats are so needy! Can't you just accept the fact that we don't know? Goldenfoot and Timberheart already asked me twice each already, and this is your third time. When Leopardscar is ready, he will send me another dream with the full instructions."

"So you don't know anything?"

"Well," my mentor leaned forward and whispered conspiratorially, "he did tell me last night that he gave a single cat in each clan a special power to make the transition… easier for us, if you will. We still have yet to narrow down the exact cat in SkyClan, but Leopardscar will tell us soon enough. Then he will pair each of them with one of us, and together we will take over the Clans."

Special powers… Wait, cat's can't usually change their appearance like I did. Could I be the SkyClan cat?

"I'm still not perfectly clear on why he's doing this, though." I look at both of them, praying I said the right thing to avoid detection.

"Let's just say that Leopardscar didn't appreciate the way the Clans were run when he was alive, so he decided to give his birth clan a chance to make things right. Keep in mind that he's only giving us this opportunity because he expects us to carry out his will, exactly as he wants or he'll dispose of you and replace you with someone else."

Fun. "Well, now that that's sorted out, I'll be going now." Pantherstrike and Sandwhisker nodded at me and turned to each other, and I backed away. Once I knew I was far enough away, I sprinted to the warriors den, where today's dawn patrol was sleeping.

How do I change back into myself? Concentration, maybe?

I squeezed my eyes shut, focusing on how I used to look. Brown fur, dark blue eyes-

"Grayfrost!" Clearly it didn't work yet. I turned around, looking at Darkpelt. He snapped groggily, "What do you think you're doing? Are you making dirt in the den?"

"Of course not!"

"Sure you aren't. It'll smell awful, so go to the dirtplace."

I had tried to find a somewhat private spot to change back, but I guess that the warrior's den wasn't the best spot. The dirtplace worked, though. It wasn't like cats wanted to hang around in there.

I closed my eyes a little less tightly and focused, breathing in and out slowly. After a few moments, I looked down, relieved to see brown fur again.

A loud yell sounded from a little ways outside of camp. Everyone but the residents of the nursery scrambled to see what the fuss was about.

I pushed through the crowd, finding a body on the ground, with familiar gray fur and a large gash across his neck. Grayfrost.

But… I didn't tell anyone what I heard. Why would he be killed off? Maybe I could figure this out.

I casually tried to pass Pantherstrike, noting which cats he was in the company of. Sandwhisker and Goldenfoot, so those two were out. I sneaked behind the warriors den and concentrated on the rusty color of Timberheart's pelt.

With luck, I looked exactly like Timberheart. Pantherstrike and Sandwhisker looked up at me as I approached them.

"Timberheart!" Sandwhisker gestured for me to sit next to him with his tail, also on the other side of Goldenfoot. "I wondered when you were going to show up. We were just discussing Leopardscar's choice in replacement."

"Who is it?" I asked, glad that my voice was the same as Timberheart's, becoming higher pitched to match her tone.

"The new cat that will take over WindClan," Pantherstrike replied, "will be Ryeleaf."

"You know, I don't entirely agree with his choice-"

"Goldenfoot?" Pantherstrike whispered dangerously. "Do you want to die like Grayfrost did? We have told you cats time and time again not to question Leopardscar. He knows best about matters like these."

Sandwhisker leaned over to me and added, "Grayfrost apologized to us around sun-high, but a little while later he came back to complain, claiming he'd never changed his mind in the first place."

I guess Timberheart was kept out of the loop about the reason behind his death.

Goldenfoot lowered his head. "I won't question Leopardscar anymore." But I heard him mutter, "in front of your face."

Pantherstrike sighed, rolling his eyes. "I'm glad that's settled then. Because if we see anyone dare question the cause, we'll know they must have a death wish."

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