SHIMMERWIND'S RISE
The most ambitious rewrite of Starkit's Prophecy you'll ever see
CHAPTER SIX
AMIDST THE SHADOWS
a/n; hello hello hello! succulentsofa/lucy here hello!
Woahhh i'm finally actually writing for this badboy, really hope yall like my chapter! Over to virgo with the reviews :)
REVIEWS (by ThatOneVirgo)
Succulentsofa- THANK YOU! I'm glad someone found my attempt at humor amusing. But I'm really happy that the dialogue came across as natural and that you enjoyed the character movements and flow! Can't wait to see your chapter!
PhoenixEcho2007- Thank you Phoenix! And yes, she will now feel our pain.
DarkCrystal666- Thanks, Crystal! I agree 100%
Mintflight0245- AHHH THANKS! *bows* I'm really glad you enjoyed! I was worried about the tone, but I'm happy it worked!
dragonbreathjr- I'm glad you liked it dragon, thank you!
Despite Shimmerpaw's growing anxiety over what her and Songpaw had seen, she was still looking forward to the gathering.
Why shouldn't she? It would be an escape from that thing that was haunting her every resting moment, that skinny figure of a cat, those glowing green eyes, that white glint of bone she was certain she'd seen poking through the patchy black fur. Whatever Lionblaze and Cinderheart had said to her, it was still stuck in her mind.
So, yeah… she needed a distraction. (One that wasn't Songpaw talking about how cute that Shadowclan apprentice was.) And the gathering - that she'd been asked to go to, though she figured it was just Bramblestar feeling sorry for her - would be a pretty big one. It would be relieving, almost, to focus on petty border squabbles, and the other stuff Redpaw had been telling her about. Not monsters in the forest.
Talking of Redpaw, her and Splashpaw weren't going to the gathering. The ginger she-cat didn't seem too bothered, only making a joke or two about how Shimmerpaw had 'privileges', whatever that was supposed to mean. Then again, Redpaw, through Shimmerpaw's time of knowing her, had always been a bit over dramatic. Shimmerpaw had just decided to ignore her.
Songpaw and Cloudpaw were coming to the gathering with her, which pleased the silver she-cat. Ever since her and Songpaw had seen what they'd seen, she felt like they had a bond, or something. She was glad that they'd be coming with her. (Even if she got the feeling Songpaw would spend half the time talking about toms.)
The patrol was due to leave any moment now. Shimmerpaw sat by herself, absentmindedly shredding a leaf to distract herself. She looked up, noticing Jayfeather watching her. Which would be stupid, seeing as he was blind, and he couldn't see, but… there was an intensity in how his neck was craned in her direction. Like he was waiting for her to do something.
She shuddered, and turned back to the leaf. Just because she'd seen what she'd seen, didn't mean she was about to crack. She was going to be the greatest warrior Thunderclan had ever seen. Something like that shouldn't break her. She could be stronger, surely.
"Thunderclan!" A voice called, and Shimmerpaw sprung up. Bramblestar…
Her mentor paced in front of the gaggle of gathered cats, his brow furrowed. "We're leaving." He said, turning towards the entrance to camp. Shimmerpaw stared after him, watching as he turned to Squirrelflight, whispering in her ear.
Suddenly, Songpaw arrived at her side, nudging her. "What was that about?" Her friend asked.
Shimmerpaw just shrugged. "I don't know." She mumbled, getting ready to follow after the patrol.
"I heard that Shadowclan thought we were trespassing." Cloudpaw said casually, appearing at Shimmerpaw's side. Songpaw rolled her eyes.
"Who told you that?" She asked. Shimmerpaw brushed through the brambles that made up the entrance to camp, listening to her denmate's conversation.
Cloudpaw looked somewhat flustered, walking straight into a tree root. He huffed, and barged forward. "I-I just heard!" He exclaimed. Shimmerpaw got the feeling that he'd been doing something he shouldn't.
Shimmerpaw shared a glance with Songpaw, chuckling. In her amusement, she stumbled over the same tree root Cloudpaw had, almost sprawling over.
From then on, the patrol walked in relative silence. Shimmerpaw heard quiet whispering from Bramblestar and Squirrelflight, and the occasional barbed comment from Jayfeather, words indecipherable but the venom stinging.
They arrived at the lake, and even if Shimmerpaw had already seen it, it still took her breath away. It was completely different to see it during the night time, to see the full moon reflected on the lake, to see the shadowy figures of cats gathered on the island. She shivered, and drew herself shakily over the tree-bridge, clambering after Bramblestar. The Thunderclan leader had already made it to the other side, his head raised, and his shoulders pushed back defiantly.
Shimmerpaw landed on the other side, lurching over, a solid form of a cat the only thing stopping her from falling to the ground.
Unfortunately, said cat was Lakepaw, who curled his lip at her, and turned away, heading over to another apprentice - Shadowclan, presumably, who settled beside him, glaring after her. Shimmerpaw flinched, not quite sure what she'd done to deserve this grey tom's scorn.
Shardpaw passed her, something in his eyes that Shimmerpaw couldn't quite decipher. He wasn't holding himself with that coiled arrogance from the other day, and there was no sting in his blue eyes. Just… emptiness, really.
Songpaw nudged her. "He's making it hard for me." She said dreamily, mock-fanning herself with her tail.
Cloudpaw narrowed his eyes, sighing heavily at his adopted-sister's brazenness. "Hard for you to do what?" He asked. "For you to not claw him? Because that's what you should be thinking about." He snapped, way too suddenly in Shimmerpaw's opinion.
"I'm just saying that I can appreciate a good-looking tom when I see one." Songpaw said, sticking her tongue out. Cloudpaw returned the gesture, and Shimmerpaw half-wanted to join in.
Instead, she sat down, wrapping her tail around her paws. She was close enough to Lakepaw, and Shardpaw - who had just joined him, taking a seat on the other side of his brother - to just about make-out some of their whispered conversation. But very little, just fragmented words, and she soon gave up with a sigh, turning back to Songpaw and Cloudpaw, who had stopped bickering.
"What do you think Bramblestar will talk about?" She asked, almost absentmindedly, still sneaking the occasional glance at Shardpaw. It wasn't like she had a crush on him or anything. She was just… curious. About what life in Shadowclan was like, obviously.
He was still just looking dead-ahead, not paying any attention to Lakepaw, and the other tom's conversation. He just seemed utterly out of it, with a foggyness in his blue eyes that she didn't like.
She was jolted back to reality by Songpaw's anxious mew. "He… he won't mention it, will he?" She asked, shifting her paws. Cloudpaw looked visibly uncomfortable, looking away.
Shimmerpaw shook her head hurriedly. "No, no. Of course not." She said. "It's Thunderclan business, anyway." She added, which for some reason made Lakepaw rise to his paws, fur bristling.
"What's Thunderclan business?" He hissed, and Shimmerpaw flinched. She'd thought that gatherings were a time for peace, not… whatever this was.
Cloudpaw, to his credit, seemed unperturbed, stepping in front of Shimmerpaw and Songpaw protectively. Shimmerpaw was a bit annoyed at that, did he think she couldn't look after herself? It was just one apprentice.
Except, it wasn't. Lakepaw had been diligently followed by the grey tom that seemed almost stuck to his side, with Shardpaw following behind them both, looking away. Behind them, came yet more Shadowclan apprentices - two she-cats, one ginger and long-legged, and the other light brown, and one tom, a stocky russet with green eyes. Shimmerpaw shivered. What did they want? She didn't think she'd done anything wrong yet.
"So, what business are you talking about?" Lakepaw repeated, his voice smug. He'd been joined, in the time it had taken for her to look, with panic, widened eyes from Cloudpaw to Songpaw, by another cat, a black she-cat.
Cloudpaw puffed his chest out. "Like we'd tell you, Shadowclan scum." He spat, and Shimmerpaw winced. This was not going to go well.
She heard a sharp intake of breath from Songpaw, to the side of her, and she herself had to hold back a gasp. They were vastly outnumbered.
Lakepaw narrowed his eyes. "It wouldn't have anything to do with the prey-stealing, would it?" He questioned, and Shimmerpaw shot a glance to the base of the tree, where Squirrelflight, Bramblestar and Jayfeather were still talking. Huh. Cloudpaw had actually got it right, for once.
She decided that she wasn't going to stand by and let her clan's reputation be run through the mud. She could speak to some measly Shadowclan apprentices. She could defend her clan.
She stepped in front of Cloudpaw, ignoring his worried expression. She wasn't a kit. She could handle herself.
"No, because we haven't been stealing prey." She said, in the most relaxed voice her righteous anger would allow.
The grey tom standing beside Lakepaw looked positively outraged. "We've seen you!" He said, the fur on the back of his neck rising.
"Who's we?" Shimmerpaw asked.
"I saw a Thunderclan warrior on our territory, whilst I was out hunting with Greypaw." Lakepaw drawled. For some reason, the black she-cat snickered, and the grey tom - Shimmerpaw guessed it was Greypaw - shot her a look, yellow eyes narrowed.
"What did they look like?" Shimmerpaw pressed him. To her surprise, Shardpaw looked like he almost wanted to intervene, his tail twitching from side-to-side, and his mouth slightly ajar. He didn't seem half as angry as his clanmates, not all-believing in Lakepaw.
She wondered why that was. She thought they were brothers, did they not trust each other, or something? She didn't have a littermate of her own, but Cloudpaw and Songpaw, despite having no blood-ties, always seemed so in sync, ready to do away with any petty argument immediately. Sighing, she turned back to Lakepaw.
The blue-grey tom seemed somewhat flustered at her question, Shimmerpaw realised. "I… uh, didn't see them properly." He said, seeming unsure of himself for the first time. A gentle nudge from Greypaw was all it took for him to regain his composure. "But they were Thunderclan!"
All of a sudden, Shimmerpaw felt uneasy. Could it have been a Thunderclan cat? But… why? There was no need to steal prey, not right now. And Redpaw and Splashpaw were way too responsible to trespass. Songpaw and Cloudpaw were out of the question, they daren't misbehave lest it reflect back on Bramblestar.
It couldn't have been any of the warriors, either. Which just told her that Lakepaw and Greypaw either had very poor eyesight, and weren't aware of boundary lines, or were lying to stir up trouble.
She preferred the idea of them just being stupid.
Turning her nose up at the apprentices, she looked away from them, and back at Cloudpaw and Songpaw. "Whatever." She muttered under her breath, hoping the lack of response would get them off their back. Mercifully, her theory seemed to work, with Lakepaw and Greypaw storming off, the other apprentices streaming behind them.
Shardpaw lingered for a heart-beat. Shimmerpaw looked around, and met his gaze, and the Shadowclan tom mouthed something, but Shimmerpaw couldn't work out what he was trying to say for the life of her. She just shrugged, and if she knew any better, she would have thought that the Shadowclan tom looked hurt.
She turned back to her friends, opening her mouth to comment on the oddness of that entire situation, but before she could, a loud yowl sounded from the gathering tree. Shimmerpaw jolted, her nerves still on edge, and turned to face Bramblestar, who'd sounded the gathering call, with a worried expression.
She could hardly focus as the first two leaders - Mistystar and Onestar - said their pieces, sharing what she gathered was mundane news, information about prey running well, and apprentices flourishing. She bounced from side to side on her paws, rocking slightly, tail-tip twitching. She wondered what Bramblestar would say, Redpaw and Splashpaw had told her that he'd call out her new name, and the gathering would repeat it. Would they repeat it, though? What if they didn't like her?
And about what Blackstar would say. Would he also accuse Thunderclan of stealing? He'd been sitting stock-still the entire time that Mistystar recounted a short story about a fox patrol, his lip curled just so. Though, in one of her many visits to the elder's den, Purdy had said that Blackstar had a - she'd quite liked the way he'd put it - resting bitch face.
Mistystar finished up her story, and dipped her head stiffly to Blackstar, moving out of the way. Shimmerpaw got the impression that the two leaders had some shared history, and not nice history either.
"Shadowclan has been fine." The old leader rumbled, stepping forward to address the clans. "The prey has been running just fine, and the clan thrives." He sat down, and wrapped his tail around his paws.
In front of them, Shimmerpaw caught the end of a whisper, some cat hissing "Isn't he going to-"
A familiar voice cut them off. Shardpaw. Shimmerpaw didn't hear his words, but something in his tone just sounded utterly exhausted.
"We've made a number of new apprentices." Blackstar announced, and Shimmerpaw attempted to sit still. "Pinepaw, Fawnpaw, and Reedpaw have been joined in the apprentice's den by Shardpaw, Lakepaw, Greypaw, and Fallenpaw."
Shimmerpaw paused, not quite knowing if she should call out their names or not - they'd just insulted her, and everything her clan stood for - but she heard Thunderclan voices around her, her father's deep mew thundering above the rest, and somewhere, her mother's lilting voice.
Cloudpaw also joined in, but his calls were unquestionably ironic, his mew rich with irony. She glanced at Songpaw, who shrugged, and just started mumbling the apprentice's names.
Sighing, she followed in Songpaw's pawsteps, her repetition of the new names little more than a whisper. There. She'd followed tradition.
It was quite exciting, really. She was doing everything she'd been raised on, everything she'd grown up knowing about. She started grinning, her eyes lighting up, and before she knew it, she was calling out the names just as loudly as any other cat.
(Songpaw did the same, but just for Shardpaw's name.)
Blackstar wrapped up his report without a mention of Thunderclan's supposed trespassing, which calmed Shimmerpaw's nerves significantly. But not for long. Because now it was Bramblestar's turn, and he was padding forward, surveying the clans with his warm amber eyes, and Shimmerpaw thought she was about to be sick.
She guessed she'd have to get used to attention, and eyes on her when she was a real warrior. When she'd be singled out for single-handedly fighting off a Shadowclan patrol, for rescuing a litter of kits from a fox. She'd do all of those things, she promised herself fiercely. She'd carve out her own elder's tales.
"Thunderclan has made three apprentices." Bramblestar said slowly. "Two of them are my kits, now Songpaw and Cloudpaw." He paused, to allow time for the clans to take that in. Shimmerpaw tensed. Even in the midst of her panic, she recognised how lovely it was that Bramblestar saw Cloudpaw as his son. Cloudpaw had been born to two warriors he'd never met, Hazeltail and Foxleap. Hazeltail had passed away giving birth to Cloudpaw, and Foxleap had followed shortly after. A broken heart was what she'd been told, in a hushed whisper, by Redpaw late at night.
Bramblestar smiled. "And I've taken an apprentice in Shimmerpaw." He called out. Shimmerpaw all but wilted under the many eyes on her, looking away shyly.
Songpaw, next to her, was quite the opposite, puffing her chest out, and batting her eyelids. Shimmerpaw rolled her eyes, and tried to perk up a bit, smiling slightly.
Cloudpaw just looked puzzled.
With a stab of resentment, Shimmerpaw realised that the Shadowclan apprentices had all remained silent, Shardpaw included. Huffing, she went back to looking at the ground. It wasn't like she was wanting the surly Shadowclan apprentice to pay attention to her, far from it. It would just be nice if he… if he listened to what was expected of him, she guessed.
It was foolish of her to think that the argument of just a few moments ago would be forgotten that quickly.
She flicked her ears back, just wanting the gathering to be over with. She felt embarrassed, almost, and something else. Not anticipation… just the feeling that something was coming. Something she'd have to keep an eye out for.
Bramblestar wrapped up the gathering, and Thunderclan prepared to leave immediately. Shimmerpaw raced to the tree-bridge, eager to get back to camp.
The walk back to camp was quick. At one point, Shimmerpaw got the feeling that her parents had wanted to talk to her, which she'd avoided by doubling back on herself, and walking with Purdy. Which had been good in terms of avoiding her parents, but he'd started talking, and talking about the gathering, and by the time she was back, she felt like she was dead on her paws. She loved his stories, but not when she was moments away from passing out.
She stumbled into the apprentice's den, mumbling a sleepy greeting to Redpaw and Splashpaw (who had burst apart as she'd entered. Weird.) and falling face-first into her nest.
As she drifted off, she had one last thought.
Who was the cat that Lakepaw and Greypaw had seen?
Alrighty this took me wayyyy to long but it's done now! I do believe that the next up is my good comrade Mintflight0245, so be on the look out for her chapter!
"OMGOSH I CNAT BLEIFE THAT HIS HAS ONLY BEEN UP FOR A DAY AND YORU ALREDDY FMALING!1!11!1! :( STOP! JUSES MIGHT LIKE GAT NOW BUT THAT DOENT MEAN EH LIKKS FLAMMERS"
- darkroses, Our Lord and Savior