I just noticed that this is a very long fanfic, and I apoligize. Once I start writing the chapters, they just keep getting longer.
Lightpelt opened his eyes slowly and yawned in the bright sunlight coming through the brambles above his head. Pausing to stretch, he heaved himself to his paws and tested his leg. This had become part of his routine now; every morning he would stretch his wounded limb until it became painful, then see just how much he walk with it. He noticed his stretches did seem to be help, as the pain receded every day, and he found he wasn't limping quite as much. With another yawn, he trotted over to Foxnose's den to see Talon. The medicine cat had insisted the dog stay in his den until he was sure there wasn't anything else wrong with his shoulder.
As Lightpelt crossed the clearing, he noticed Barkface coughing while Shortleg came back into the camp with Redpaw trotting doggedly after him, the tan cat's apprentice seeming much more tired than usual. As Lightpelt walked into Foxnose's den, he found that Moonfur was just leaving, her head held down.
"What's going on with all the cats? They all seem sick." Lightpelt said to Foxnose as the black and red cat readied herbs for Barkface, who had just walked in.
"I don't know." he said as he layed the herbs in front of Barkface. "But I fear it may be greencough." he added in an undertone as the light brown tom turned to leave.
Lightpelt turned to look at his brother in surprise. "Are they really that sick?"
"Not yet." he replied, shaking his head. "But if they don't get over it within a day or so, then it will get worse. And if the weather is anything to tell by, then we won't need sick cats during this leaf-bare. But don't listen to me." Foxnose went on. "I'll just depress you. You haven't been feeling sick, have you?"
Lightpelt shook his head. "Then I suppose you've come to visit Talon." the medicine cat went on. "Whatever convinced you to call him Talon, anyway?"
Lightpelt smirked. "It just seems to fit him, don't you think?" Foxnose eyed him for a moment longer before shaking his head and trotting out of the den, muttering something about finding Tallpaw. Ligtpelt turned back to Talon, suppressing laughter, to see the dog pawing the side of his muzzle in laughter at their little joke.
But their joy was brief. Foxnose was quickly back in his his den, Redpaw following him. The apprentice looked hardly able to walk, and his fur looked ruffled, as if he hadn't bothered to wash it. Shortleg watched from the entrance to the cave, the look on his face telling that he was trying to hide the concern he felt for his apprentice.
Foxnose led Redpaw over to a corner of the cave and began searching for the right herbs. Finally, he found the correct combination and took them over to Redpaw before coming back over to Lightpelt.
"I have a feeling I'm going to need all the room I can get, and Talon seems to be alright now, so go find him another place to rest until he heals completely. And while you're out there, send Tallpaw to me, wherever she is."
Lightpelt and motioned toward Talon for the dog to follow him. Once out of earshot, he whispered in his companion's ear for the dog to make himself a bed next to the warrior's den. As the dog made his way over there, Lightpelt saw Foxnose's black and white apprentice play-fighting with the other apprentices; Owlpaw, Berrypaw, and Lionpaw, Redpaw's sister. He managed to catch Tallpaw's eye and motioned to her with his tail, nodding toward Foxnose's den. The young she-cat ran off and came back nearly as quickly.
"Foxnose needs me to fetch some more poppy seeds and tansy for him, and he told me to get you to come with me, so that we could bring more back."
Lightpelt nodded and followed her out of the camp. "We can fetch the poppy seeds on the way back." Tallpaw was saying as she trotted onward. "But there's some tansy that grows near the stream, next to RiverClan." Briefly Lightpelt wondered if the life of a medicine cat suited Tallpaw; never having kits, and receiving signs from StarClan, free from the rivalries of the Clans. She just seemed too full of energy. But then he remembered how happy she'd looked when she'd learned she would be Foxnose's apprentice, and she seemed content now.
When the two cats drew closer to the stream, the scent of RiverClan grew stronger. Too strong, Lightpelt realized, even if they were just on the other side of the water. Tallpaw seemed to sense that something was wrong, though she couldn't scent as well as Lightpelt, and she followed suit as the older cat quickened his pace. As they crashed through the undergrowth near the stream, Lightpelt saw what was wrong. Two RiverClan warriors and an apprentice, obviously on patrol, had ventured onto WindClan territory, and were now scenting the air carefully. Lightpelt's fur was bristling as he and Tallpaw ran quickly up to them.
"Roanfoot!" the calico spat, acknowledging the mottled RiverClan tom. "What are you doing on WindClan territory?"
Roanfoot's eyes were challenging and his fur the same, but his tone was carefully controlled. "Streamtail's apprentice Rosepaw chased a rabbit from our land over here. We were searching for our prey."
Lightpelt continued to bristle at the warrior. "Well, you've obviously lost it now, so leave now and you won't be harmed."
Roanfoot hissed in frustration as Streamtail stepped up beside him and Rosepaw showed her teeth threateningly. Tallpaw stood up quickly and looked up to Lightpelt, ready to do as the elder warrior commanded. Lightpelt didn't want to have to fight, but he and Tallpaw would be able to hold them if necessary until some warriors heard their screeches. But Roanfoot was smart enough not to start trouble over a single piece of lost prey, even in leaf-bare. The brown warrior turned and trotted back over the stream, Streamtail and Rosepaw following him. Lightpelt relaxed. The Clan didn't need a threat from RiverClan, with so many cats sick.
A sigh of relief came from Tallpaw as she walked over to a plant growing near the water. She turned back to Lightpelt and motioned with her tail to head back to the poppy seeds, her mouth full of herbs. The pair traveled quickly back toward the camp, Lightpelt stopping to grab the small black seeds growing near the entrance. He headed quickly back over to Foxnose, only to see the medicine cat busily rushing around his den.
"Oh, good, you're back. I was looking for those. Kinkstar's fallen ill." Foxnose took the tansy from Tallpaw's mouth, ignoring the surprised looks on both cat's faces. He looked at Lightpelt for a moment, signaling with his tail to Tallpaw, telling him to give them to her. The medicine cat hurried out of his cave and toward the Clan leader's den. Lightpelt had wanted to tell Kinkstar about the patrol as soon as possible, but he had a feeling Foxnose wouldn't let him near the sick cat. He dropped his poppy seeds in front of Tallpaw, who took them over to Redpaw, who was still lying in the back corner of the cave, now joined by Barkface. Apparently, his cough had gotten worse.
Lightpelt sighed in frustration and trotted out of the cave in search of Patchclaw. If he couldn't talk to Kinkstar, then he would have to tell the deputy about RiverClan. He found the black and white warrior sitting anxiously outside Kinkstar's den. Lightpelt realized he would be worried terribly about the leader, though Lightpelt felt the orange cat would pull through. He was a strong cat, and he'd only lost one life so far; the one he'd lost in the battle with ThunderClan where Butterseed had died.
Lightpelt trotted up to the deputy and proceded to tell him all about the patrol they'd found on their land. When he'd finished, Patchclaw shook his head sadly.
"The last thing we need now is an threat from RiverClan. Not everyone is sick, but none of us feel the best, and now that they all know Kinkstar's ill, they're in no condition to fight. And there's a Gathering in two days!" The deputy seemed to age visibly as Lightpelt understood why he looked so worried. While Kinkstar was recovering, Patchclaw would have to run most of the Clan, and at the moment, the Clan wasn't going to be easy to manage. They could easily all fall sick, and many of them could die; greencough was often deadly. And if too many of them were sick, they wouldn't have enough warriors to hunt and they would run out of prey, or they couldn't patrol their borders and it would all too easy for a neighboring Clan to invade.
"Don't worry, Patchclaw. Kinkstar will be up and running before you know it. He's not the kind of cat to let himself be kept down for long." Lightpelt hoped he was sounding optimistic, and it seemed to be working, as Patchclaw gave him a slight smirk and walked off to organize the evening patrol. Lightpelt sighed as he watched the deputy leave and looked up at the sky, praying StarClan would help them through the leaf-bare.
Sharpclaw woke suddenly to see dark amber eyes set into a dark tabby face. It took a moment for her to realize that it was Kal who was trying to wake her up. Sharpclaw yawned and stood up, stretching. Kal looked relieved.
"Good, you're up. C'mon, it's time for the march." Sharpclaw remembered the black tabby mentioning this the night before and followed curiously after her, confused.
"But I don't know what I'm supposed to do!" she hissed into Kal's ear.
"Just do what I do." she replied. It was now that Sharpclaw saw a group of toms filing in from the entrance to the female's side of camp. There wern't many of them, but Sharpclaw recognized the light brown tabby who'd addressed her yesterday, walking beside another tabby that she couldn't help but stare at. This tabby was huge! He was easily twice the size of Sharpclaw, and she could see it nearly all muscle. His sleek black fur, darker even then Kal's, shone whenever he took a step, and his muscles rippled beneath it.
The massive tom sat in the middle of the clearing and the smaller light brown cat beside him gave a nod to the white and black tabby who'd first greeted Sharpclaw. The she-cat then stood up and began walking around the clearing in a circle around him. The other cats followed, including Kal, and Sharpclaw padded after her. Sharpclaw raised her heard slightly to see the line in front of her and saw that in single file, the way the head she-cat had arranged it, every cat would pass directly in front the huge tom, now staring at each of them, while his underlings counted and acknowledged each one of them. Her apprehension mounting, Sharpclaw followed the line, and before long, she was passing in front of the head tabby. She mustered enough courage to look up at his face.
What she saw nearly made her stop and stare at him a moment longer. His eyes were yellow. Yellow! Back home, she'd seen all shades of green, amber, hazel, brown, and even her own rare color, blue. But never yellow! But instead of stopping, Sharpclaw hurriedly looked away and padded after Kal. Eventually, the march stopped and the cats dispersed. Sharpclaw followed Kal back to the den, where they sat together in a corner, away from the other two cats. Sharpclaw turned her head to look at Kal, fear beginning to show in her eyes.
"Who was that? Out there?"
Kal stared back at her, a slight smirk playing on her face. "That big one that sat there in the middle? That's Katalion. The Lord."
Sharpclaw's eyes grew wider. "He's huge!"
"Yea, I know. I never expected him to come oversee a march personally. But then again, it's the season of fight, so it makes sense he'd want to make his minions don't try to overthrow him." Sharpclaw only stared back at her in deep confusion. Kal laughed. "I can see I'm going to have to explain. You see, this is the Pride of Katalion. Or whoever happens to be ruling at the time. This whole Pride is run by the toms, while we sit around doing nothing, really. Anyway, the season of fight is when the toms are always fighting with each other, either to win a mate, one of us, or for leadership of the Pride. To be Lord is one of every single one of the toms' ambitions. It's bad luck they had to bring you in during this season. The toms are always harder on us now more than usual."
"But they don't really hurt you, do they?" Sharpclaw asked, apprehension making her voice rise.
Kal took a breath. "Well, no, they never truly hurt us, but once in a while they do remind us that they're in charge. But don't worry. Since you're not tabby, or Pure, as they say, they'll probably send you over to the Pride of Tassayo."
Sharpclaw's ears pricked up. "You mean there's other Clans..er, Prides?"
Kal gave her a questioning look before answering. "Of course there is. Well, there's only one other one. The Pride of Tassayo is nearly completely the opposite of this Pride. They say over there, the Pride is run by the she-cats, while the toms do all the work." Kal eyes were shining with admiration and false hopes that she would be in the Pride of Tassayo. "The two Prides are always fighting. You never know when you're going to be attacked becuase most of the time we're just fighting to be fighting. There's no real reason; Tassayo's Pride will launch an attack on us at any time, or us on them, and noone cares how many cats die."
Kal's eyes were flashing now, angry. "The Pride of Katalion just takes their dead bodies and tosses them out for the crows. I don't know what they do in Tassayo's Pride." She shook her head, then looked up. "But enough about us. What about you? You said something about Clans."
And so Sharpclaw told about the forest and the four Clans, and about her life in WindClan. She told her how all the cats, tom or she-cat, tabby or not, were treated with equal respect. How they all shared their duties and raced in battle only when they had to, and their dead were given proper burials. Seeing Kal's shining eyes again, Sharpclaw couldn't bring herself to say that she'd run away and left all that. She wouldn't understand. Suddenly feeling tired again, Sharpclaw finished her tale and wandered off to a far corner while Kal went off to talk to the other two cats in the den.
It was then, trying to sleep, that Sharpclaw realized she wasn't tired. She was homesick. Hearing Kal's story, and then reliving her own past, she now remembered just how much she used to love the Clan life. Everything she had there, the cats that cared for her, the cats she cared about, she'd left them all behind. She'd caused them pain, for no apparent reason. And now that seeing Kal, and life she lived, Sharpclaw realized just how much she took for granted about her own life. She'd been selfish; she'd run away from a perfectly good home because she thought she could find a better life for herself away from all that.
But now that was all over. She'd left it all behind. The patrols, play-fighting with Flashfur, helping Foxnose with his herbs, leaping into battle next to her friends, ready to avenge the death's of former Clan-mates. She wouldn't be able to do it again. She was a prisoner. Never again would she see the faces of the cats she cared so much about. Never again would she patrol the borders with them, share food from the fresh-kill pile with them. There would be no more Gatherings, no more feeding the Clan, no more of Lightpelt popping up in unexpected places.
Sharpclaw's heart jumped as she thought about the calico tom, and she felt like yowling in protest. How could she have been so blind all this time? The other cats had seen it, why hadn't she seen that Lightpelt was overly fond of her, and she of him? And now she would never see that perky, flecked face again. She laid her head down on her paws slowly and felt her heart crying herself to sleep.
Review!