Chapter 8

"Oh, hi Cherrypaw! I heard you totally destroyed Quinpaw" his voice was cheery with laughter.

"Oh, yeah! She had a nice strategy, but it was poorly used. "Cherrypaw chimed in. Mothpaw looked up at his mentor and asked if he and Cherrypaw could go out hunting. Darkfang threw a glance at Honeywing then nodded. "Of course. As long as you come back with a reasonable amount of fresh-kill."

"Yes Darkfang!" Mothpaw said and ran off with Cherrypaw into the forest.

"Wait!" a little voice squeaked from behind. It was Snowpaw. She was so exhausted; her voice was high-pitched and seemed like a burden to talk at all. However, they couldn't hear her from the sound of their own excitement. Darkfang padded towards the tired apprentice and asked "Snowpaw? Are you ok? You seem very tired!" But she couldn't answer anything apart from gasps of air. A little kit ran towards her and stopped to ruffle itself into her fur. Darkfang stared with a confused look at the kit as Snowpaw tried to get her breath back. "Hey there Hivekit." She gasped. The kit looked up at her with a big smile. "ShadowClan cats attacked and me, Lynxkit and Mintkit defeated them!" Hivekit bragged. Snowpaw's blood turned cold at sound of ShadowClan. She was flooded with the memory of when she met them with Lionfoot and they threatened to kill her if he was found on their territory. Then she calmed down realising the kit was just playing around. "Shouldn't be joking about that." she finally felt better and was able to properly breathe. She stood up and told the kit "You're getting too big and rough for the nursery. You'll need to become apprentices soon. Especially with Sirentails's new litter coming soon." her voice seemed very proud at the sound that she will have new kin. Darkfang padded towards her and said, "Is that what you were so excited about?" Snowpaw nodded "Well, that is great news, RiverClan does need more cats. And with the next three kits becoming apprentices, we will be stronger than ever." Hivekit looked up and Darkfang for a moment then became very agitated. Was he afraid? "Hivekit are you ok?" Snowpaw bounded next to the kit and tried to comfort him. "He has... many wounds..." the frail kit said. Snowpaw understood what he had meant. Hivekit was afraid of Darkfang's scars. Snowpaw began to lick the kit on the head and told him that they were scars and nothing to be afraid of. "In fact, it'll indimidate the enemy." Drakfang chimed in.

Honeywing finished grooming herself and stood up. She silently padded over to Hivekit and calmly said "If you think that's scary, you should see the damage I can do without holding back." A cold shiver crawled down Snowpaw's spine as Honeywing laughed. She knew Darkfand was spooked too, she could smell it. But Hivekit was admiring her. It made sense; he didn't know what she was capable of. But once he does, he'll be grateful to StarClan that she wasn't on any other Clan or his enemy in battle. She heard a leaf crack under another cat's paws and Snowpaw's ears perked up. It was Goldensun. She was walking next to Ironblaze. There was excitment in the air. "Hello Goldensun! How are you?" Honeywing asked. Goldensun looked up at Ironblaze with happiness in her eyes and said, "I'm expecting Ironblaze's kits!" She smiled. The was a long pause of shock and excitement built up in everyone. Drakfang pounced of Ironblaze and laughed "Well, well, look who'll be a father soon! Mister, I'm not Goldensun's mate."

"Get off!" Ironblaze laughed and Darkgang and him engaged in a play-fight. The she-cats and the kit looked in disbelief and them but then threw the attention on Goldensun. "Are you serious Goldensun? You're really expecting kits?" Snowpaw asked. Goldensun nodded ad sat down. Her yellow fur glowed in the strong sunlight. She was very beautiful. No wonder Ironblze fell in love. She stood up, slowly nodded her goodbye and guided Hivekit back to the nursery. Goldensun swayed her tail as she watched the apprentice leave and then resumed her conversation with Honeywing.

"Hello Rosefur." Snowpaw greeted. The young queen raised her head and yawned. Her ears perked in greeting.

"What brings you here?" Hivekit peeked his head from behind Snowpaw's tail and she raised it to reveal the mischievous kit. "Oh Hivekit! You scared me. For a second there I thought I would have to move a paw to find you." Snowpaw rolled her eyes with a smile. Rosefur and Greyprey were almost identical. They both think highly of eachother, are a bit annoying at times, and only share a soft spot for eachother. They were meant to be. "I bet Greyprey feels like Clan leader with pride because of your kits." She joked. Rosefur payed no attention and studied her claws.

"You know, my kits will one day be strongest kits in the forest. Maybe even Clan leader. I can already see it. Hive--"

"Now, now Rosefur, it's not that easy. Plus, I'll need to die first. Do you really want that?" a new voice arose from the entrance of the nursery. Silverstar! What was she doing here? Rosefur's fur bristled at the thought of Silverstar's death and shook her head.

"No, you're right. If you die, it would feel like StarClan goes to war with us. Honestly. I've known you ever since I we were kits. Losing you is like loosing Greyprey!"

"Such a tragedy." Snowpaw said sarcastically in her head. Greyprey was dragging the Clan down. However, no would dare say that since Stalewing was the same. She was so weak, the Clan wondered how she was still alive. But of course, they couldn't say it to her face because they loved her out of pity. "Well, what brings you here Silverstar?" Snowpaw asked. Silverstar looked and Snowpaw and gave her an amused smile.

"Here to congratulate Goldensun. Have you seen her?" she asked. Rosefur saw that the attention was no longer in her favour and continued to groom herself as Hivekit joined Lynxkit and Mintkit in their play-fight.

Snowpaw nodded "Yes I have. In fact, she's right there." she pointed her paw out to show what was behind Silverstar. She turns and sees Goldensun waving goodbye to Honeywing as she stalked off with Browndust. Goldensun padded into the nursery to be greeted by Silverstar. "Hello, Goldensun. I came to congratulate you. The exciting news spread fast around here. Everyone knows!" Goldensun gave a weak laugh and sat down on one of the moss beds and was greeted by Sirentail and Rosefur. Silverstar nodded and padded out. Snowpaw waved her tail to say goodbye and left to catch some prey. She really wanted to go to the gathering tomorrow.

As she ran into the forest, she bumped into a dark figure. Its green eyes stared at her only to realise in was Quinpaw. "Quinpaw, you scared me. But this time I hesatated. Don't want what happened last time." Quinpaw nodded but then her eyes went to a petrified look. She turned around to see what the problem was. Behind her, a figure loomed over them. His scent wasn't of RiverClan, nor of ShadowClan. So then what clan? WindClan or ThunderClan? ThunderClan was too far away so, WindClan?!

"Who are you?"Snowpaw demanded. The figure stretched then fell down at the size of an apprentice.

"What do you mean? Is this not WindClan territory?" his orange eyes burned with curiosity. But there was something that shocked Snowpaw and Quinpaw. He was about their height. "I'm guessing you're a WindClan apprentice?" Quinpaw said. The tom nodded and looked around.

"Oh, and I'm guessing this is RiverClan territory. I'm so sorry. Lolliwhisker will have my fur if she finds out. Please don't tell anyone at the Gathering tomorrow." he begged. The two apprentices looked at his with a shocked look and Quinpaw finally said, "Alright, fine. We'll escort you out, but we will need to tell Silverstar. You did no damage, like steal prey, so I'm sure it's not too bad." The tom looked very happy at the news and agreed at once. Maybe they'll meet again at the gathering. But first, they needed to catch some prey.