Chapter Six

"Hey, Bluefur! Wake up!"

It was Redtail. I hesitantly opened my eyes.

"Yes?"

"Gingerpelt is kitting," he exclaimed excitedly. "Come on!"

The two of us walked quickly out of the warriors' den and into the sunny ThunderClan camp. It was late greenleaf now, and soon leaf-fall would come. The Clan was crowded around the nursery. Just then, Spottedleaf came out.

"Two she-cats!" she announced. "Willowkit and Goldenkit!"

As the Clan cheered, I was thinking about my sister. Goldenkit, I thought. Why did Gingerpelt have to name her kit after her?

I then walked over to the warriors' den after everyone had settled down. All of the warriors were there.

"Okay," I mewed, taking a deep breath, "Whitestorm can lead a patrol with Lionheart and Tigerclaw. Oh, take Darkpaw with you too. Right now. For an evening patrol, Frostfur, Dappletail, Redtail, and Sharpclaw can go. As for a hunting patrol, Halftail, Patchpelt, Runningwind, and Bladenail can go."

The named cats nodded and took off. I walked to Spottedleaf's den.

"Morning, Spottedleaf," I mewed. "Is the Clan recovering?"

"Slowly," she answered, busily organizing her den. "We'll get better. Eaglestar wants to attack ShadowClan, doesn't he?"

"Yes," I replied. "He wants to get rid of Shadestar."

Spottedleaf grunted. "That sometimes isn't the best way to do it," she murmured. "Perhaps Shadestar could be reasoned with?"

My eyes flashed. "I doubt it," I mewed in a harsher tone than I'd intended. "His warriors killed Goldencrest. He can't be reasoned with."

Spottedleaf stared at me for a moment before going back to her work. I turned around and stalked out of the den, swishing my tail.

It was strangely quiet in the Clan, but perhaps that was because we were short a few members. I walked over to the fresh-kill pile and enjoyed a magpie. I looked around for Redtail or Runningwind before I remembered that I had sent them on patrol. Being deputy would certainly get confusing.

With nothing else to do, I got up, stretched, and headed for the river next to RiverClan territory. There was a patrol there, but they left after a while. I had to wait quite a long time for Oakheart to show up. The reddish-brown tom finally appeared, looking across the river.

"Oakheart!" I called. The RiverClan deputy looked up.

"Bluefur," he greeted, swimming across the river to me.

"How are the kits?"

"Their eyes are open," he answered. "But they're still about a moon old. They won't be apprenticed for a while!"

"What did you tell the Clan?" I inquired.

"I gave them right to Graypool, one of our queens," he answered. "I told her that I found them in the forest."

I nodded. "Good."

"I don't like keeping secrets from my Clan." Oakheart's voice was suddenly harsh. "Thanks for dropping this on me."

"Oakheart," I gasped, "I didn't –"

He ignored me as he swam across the river and into RiverClan territory, without looking back.

"Bluefur!"

It was Spottedleaf. She ran to me after I got back from seeing Oakheart.

"It's Snowfrost," she gasped. "She died."

"Oh, no," I whispered. There had been way too many deaths in the Clan recently. I padded over to the side of the camp, where the Clan was grieving over Snowfrost. Now there were only two elders; Smallear and One-eye. I bent down to share tongues with Snowfrost for the last time. "I enjoyed the story about Halftail," I murmured. "I'll miss you."

I padded away to sit next to Redtail. He gave me an affectionate lick on the shoulder.

I ate a thrush before going out to hunt – to really hunt, not to see Oakheart. I caught a squirrel and a rabbit and brought them back to the Clan. As I set them down at the fresh-kill pile, I spotted Sharpclaw, a dark brown tabby tom, stumbling out of the tunnel. His breath came in short gasps as he dropped his prey next to mine.

"Are you all right?" I asked him.

Sharpclaw tried to answer, but his voice was almost gone. I sniffed him and instantly leapt back – he smelled horrible, the obvious smell of sickness.

Greencough.

"Is Sharpclaw going to be okay?" I asked, padding into Spottedleaf's den.

She turned toward me. "Aaack! Bluefur, get out! We don't want you catching the sickness as well!"

She pushed me hurriedly out of her den.

"As well?" I repeated. "Spottedleaf…do you have the sickness?"

Spottedleaf hesitated. Then she let out a mrr-ow of laughter. "If I do," she answered, "then StarClan would be insane to let someone as beautiful as me die!"

"Spottedleaf!" I gaped at her. "So you are sick as well. But you didn't answer my first question: is Sharpclaw going to be all right?"

The tortoiseshell looked into the den where Sharpclaw rested. "Only time will tell," she answered. "He's in the paws of StarClan now."

"That's excellent," I mumbled sarcastically as I padded away from her. I waited at the entrance of Eaglestar's den for him to call me.

"Come on, Bluefur," he meowed. "What is it?"

I sat down in front of our leader. "Bad news, Eaglestar," I mewed. "Sharpclaw came back to camp with greencough."

"What!" Eaglestar sprang to his paws. "Oh, StarClan, no…"

"We can still attack ShadowClan," I continued. "We just have one warrior down. But Spottedleaf thinks she's catching it as well, and that's the only thing I'm concerned about."

"Maybe we should attack ShadowClan right now," mused Eaglestar, "while not all of the warriors are sick…"

I shook my head. "Sorry, Eaglestar, but most of the warriors have not recovered from the battle with ShadowClan."

The golden leader looked disappointed and lost, but then he mewed, "But ShadowClan wouldn't dare attack us either, not when the Clan is sick."

"True!" I nodded. "Good point."

Eaglestar sighed and nodded. "Right, Bluefur. That's what we'll do. You may leave."

Just as I was walking out of the den, Eaglestar called after me. "Bluefur, if you remember what happened during the ShadowClan attack, when Raggedclaw killed Goldencrest…" I froze in shock and anger. He dare mention that? "If you attack Raggedclaw like that again, I don't know what I'll do with you, Bluefur." He sighed. "You were in a frenzy of anger. You had no idea what you were attacking. You could have been killed."

My fur was bristling when he finished. I whipped around and faced him, trying to hide the extreme anger in my voice. "I cannot guarantee that I will not try and kill Raggedclaw," I mewed, "but I will not try to kill him as you have just described."

He nodded in satisfaction. "That's my deputy." Eaglestar purred.

I left Eaglestar's den in rather low spirits. I had lost Goldencrest…I had lost Rustkit…Mistykit and Stonekit were in a different Clan…who was next? Steelfur and Bladenail, my parents? Most likely, I thought bitterly as I chewed on a thrush.

I looked up suddenly as Flowerpetal ran from the nursery into Spottedleaf's den. A second later, both she-cats were running into the nursery. I stood up quickly.

"What's going on?" I asked Gingerpelt, who was across from me.

"I'll bet that Orangecoat is kitting!" exclaimed the she-cat, leaping to her paws. "Let's wait a moment and see…"

Sure enough, Spottedleaf came out of the nursery, yowling, "Orangecoat has given birth! A she-cat and a tom, Mousekit and Longkit!"

The Clan erupted in yowls of happiness. Two kittings in one day! I thought happily. That was excellent. And would Mousekit and Longkit make good warriors?

I saw Tigerclaw and Darkpaw return from a training session. I bounded over to them.

"How did Darkpaw do, Tigerclaw?" I asked the dark brown tabby.

"He's going to become a fine warrior," he answered. "But he needs to work on his hunting skills."

Tigerclaw was no longer the annoying apprentice he had been; he had certainly become an able warrior. After he had earned his warrior name, he had been acting much better.

I nodded. "Good," I mewed, satisfied. "Keep it up, Tigerclaw." The dark warrior dipped his head to me and walked toward the fresh-kill pile.

The next day, another tragedy struck – Gingerpelt became sick as well, and was too ill to care for her kits, Goldenkit and Willowkit. So she had to move into Spottedleaf's den and the kits were given to Orangecoat to take care of. The entire Clan was giving her plenty of fresh-kill and water because she now had four kits to take care of. I hoped she could manage it.

The season was late leaf-fall, and soon it would become leaf-bare. Most likely, the greencough would become even more overpowering, and I constantly wondered how ThunderClan would survive.

I wanted to see Oakheart, but I wasn't sure how he would react to seeing me again after he had snapped at me the last time.

In the meantime, a Gathering would be held tonight. I was extremely nervous about it because I wasn't sure how the other Clans would react about my being deputy.

Eaglestar called the cats to go to the Gathering. "Bluefur, Spottedleaf, Whitestorm, Lionheart, Redtail, Runningwind, Halftail, Patchpelt, Steelfur, Bladenail, and Darkpaw." The golden tom leapt down from the Highrock.

The journey to the Gathering was tiring as usual, but I couldn't wait to get there because I might be able to talk to Oakheart. As soon as we arrived, Eaglestar leapt up to the Great Rock with Shadestar and Tallstar.

"Mousedung!" I cursed. RiverClan wasn't here.

I went over to talk to Heartflower, who had recently become a warrior. The white she-cat greeted me with more hostility that usual.

"Hello, Heartflower," I meowed coolly. "Is all well in ShadowClan?"

"All is very well," she answered, sniffing closely. Heartflower winced; she could smell the sickness from the other cats on me. It didn't matter; all the cats in the forest would know soon.

"Have any more of your apprentices become warriors?"

"Just me." Heartflower raised her head proudly.

"Heartflower!"

It was Lightpaw. The ShadowClan apprentice quickly appeared by Heartflower's side. The light brown tom glared at me and mewed, "Come on, we don't want to stay with ThunderClan fox dung, do we?"

"No, we don't," she agreed, and allowed Lightpaw to lead her away.

Feeling lonely, I went to find my friends: Redtail and Runningwind. I spotted them surrounded by a bunch of WindClan warriors: Morningflower, Ashfoot, Skycloud, and Mudpaw. All of them seemed much less hostile toward ThunderClan now that we had rid them of Breezestar. I sat next to Redtail.

"The LionClan leader, named Manestar, circled around the clearing, listening intently for any signs of TigerClan." It was a common story I had heard when I was a kit, but I still enjoyed it nonetheless. Ashfoot, an older gray warrior, continued on. "And then…out of the bushes, sprang Streakstar! The two leaders clashed violently with each other. Fur flew into the air, claws scrabbled, tails lashed. And then the LionClan leader lost a life…it was his second to last."

Mudpaw leaned in closer to hear. I guess they didn't tell this story very often in WindClan.

"Thankfully, more LionClan warriors appeared out of the trees! Skytail, LionClan deputy, pulled Streakstar off Manestar. Streakstar attempted to silence Skytail, but then Silvercloud tackled him, biting hard into his neck. The TigerClan leader was silent for ten seconds as the trance of losing a life came. This gave LionClan a chance to run. Their leader was in no shape to fight, and they were weak from sickness. LionClan then –"

"RiverClan's here," interrupted Redtail. "Wow. They don't look so good…"

I gazed to the southwest where the RiverClan warriors were arriving. Redtail was right; they looked horrible. The Clans scattered quickly as the Clan entered the clearing. I could smell sickness off them.

Crookedstar, looking even more frail under his black coat, leapt up on the Highrock next to the other Clan leaders. Shadestar, Tallstar, and Eaglestar edged away from him. I don't think I'll talk to Oakheart, I thought dryly.

"Crookedstar." Tallstar spoke up. "You don't look well."

Crookedstar coughed and stepped forward. "Greencough has spread into our camp, Tallstar," he answered. "It has already killed three of our warriors: Riverclaw, Lilypaw, and Waterpaw."

Eaglestar shook his head pityingly. "Two apprentices lost," he sighed. "That is never good to hear." He looked right into Crookedstar's eyes. "How long have this sickness been in your camp?"

"A week after the last Gathering," he answered. "Why?"
"Because ThunderClan has it as well."

Now WindClan and ShadowClan were edging away from ThunderClan as well. I sighed. This was not going well.

"In the meantime," rasped Crookedstar, "one of our apprentices, Blackpaw, was made a warrior. He is Blackclaw now."
Yowls of approval rang through the clearing. Blackclaw held his head high.

Crookedstar stepped back and then Shadestar took his place. I noticed he was limping from a wound Eaglestar had given him. Nice one, I thought as Shadestar glared at our leader.

"ShadowClan has no sickness of any sort," he mewed.

You smell like it.

"The usual news from our Clan – one of our apprentices, Heartpaw, has become Heartflower." The white she-cat raised her head proudly as yowls of approval came from the Clans. Shadestar stepped back and continued to glare hostilely at Eaglestar.

It was Tallstar's turn. "Skypaw is now Skycloud," he announced, and more yowls sounded. WindClan obviously didn't have a lot of news, and Tallstar stepped back.

Then it was Eaglestar's turn. My stomach prickled uncomfortably. "A little while ago, ShadowClan attacked," he meowed, and WindClan and RiverClan hissed at Shadestar's warriors. "We were able to fend them off, but we lost three warriors." He sighed. "Wolfpelt, Thistleclaw, and Goldencrest are deeply missed."

"Wolfpelt and Thistleclaw?" called out Mudpaw, an ignorant WindClan apprentice. "Who's your new deputy and medicine cat?"

"I'll tell you," answered Eaglestar as Mudpaw's mentor scolded him. "Tigerpaw was made a warrior after the battle, and he is now Tigerclaw. Spottedpaw, the new medicine cat, is now Spottedleaf. Another one of our kits, Darkkit, is now Darkpaw, and Tigerclaw is mentoring him." I swallowed nervously. He had saved the best for last. Or the worst. "Bluefur is our new deputy."

Many rows of eyes turned to stare at me. I looked down at my paws. Mousedung, I thought bitterly. Why did Eaglestar have to choose me? I shook that thought away. I was glad, not furious. What was wrong with me?

The Gathering ended quickly after that. All four Clans headed back for home.

Okay, I think that Willowpelt and Goldenflower aren't sisters, and Mousefur and Longtail aren't brother and sister, but who knows? Maybe they are.