Here's another Soulclan challenge, hopefully I've done a little better this time :D
Write a story about an apprentice's first Gathering.
Words- 500 minimum
Have fun with it!
Falconpaw padded alongside his two littermates, Skypaw and Graypaw. Excitement was building into the gray-and-white tom's paws, because he was about to walk into his very first gathering! Falconpaw's fur rose, and he staggered as he caught a glimpse of the log that he would have to cross to get to the island.
He was so distracted, that he bumped into the hindquarters of the cat in front of him, who'd stopped. "Watch it, Mousebrain!" The cat snapped, and Falconpaw's ears flattened. "Sorry, Ivypool!" He said apologetically to the old she-cat. The elder hissed, and turned back around. Now Falconpaw could see that his leader and father, Stormstar, was at a stalemate with the ShadowClan leader, Spikestar, as the two toms had gotten to the tree-bridge at the same time.
Finally, after a moment of staring at each other, to Falconpaw's surprise, Spikestar stepped back. "Let ThunderClan go first." He said, no emotion in his mew. Stormstar dipped his head. "Thank you." He said icily, and Falconpaw started moving again. When it was his turn to cross the tree-bridge, he took a deep breath, and with a great deal of fear, pulled himself up onto it. His large gray paws shaking, Falconpaw continued the treacherous walk across, his claws digging into the soft wood. "Get moving, Slow-Slug!" A voice hissed behind him, undoubtedly one of his littermates. "I'm going!" He snapped back, focusing on putting his paws in the right place.
Finally, he hurled himself across the branches of the log, and relished the feel of dirt beneath his claws. "Mousebrain..." He heard his sister, Skypaw, mutter as she passed him, but his brother, Graypaw, shot him a sympathetic look as he followed her. Falconpaw didn't care, he was too excited. He pushed his way through the bushes and gasped at the sight. The Great Tree stood in the middle of a clearing, the four leaders already sitting in the branches, quietly conserving with each other.
In the clearing, there was cats of all sizes, shapes and colors sitting there. "Whoah..." Falconpaw breathed, slowly padding into the clearing, flicking his tail excitedly. "Hey." The voice came out of nowhere, and it took Falconpaw a moment to realize that the she-cat who'd spoken was talking to him. "Wha-me?" He stammered, looking at her with a puzzled expression. She was a very light brown, with darker brown paws and bright blue eyes. From her scent, Falconpaw could tell that she was from RiverClan.
"You want to come meet some of the other apprentices?" She asked, and he could see that she was neither friendly nor hostile. "Sure." Falconpaw agreed with a dip of his head. "I'm Falconpaw." He mewed, walking beside her. She didn't look at him. "My names Breezepaw." Her voice was cold and tight, and Falconpaw sensed that she wasn't a talker, so he shut his jaws.
Eventually the two apprentices came to a stop, and Falconpaw looked at the cats Breezepaw had brought him to.
His littermates were there, and Skypaw did not look pleased to see him, although Graypaw waved his tail cheerily at him. Then there was two ShadowClan apprentices, one more RiverClan, who Breezepaw sat next to, and three WindClan apprentices. He sat down, and was quickly introduced. The three WindClan cats were Whiskerpaw, Sunpaw, and Heatherpaw. The ShadowClan apprentices names were Shadepaw and Talonpaw, and the other Riverclan cat was Splashpaw.
Falconpaw introduced himself, and the apprentices sat, chatting about prey, assessments, just about anything, until they heard a yowl. "Shh!" Breezepaw hissed, her blue eyes darkening, and that shut them all up. Falconpaw's gaze landed on The Great Tree, and he noticed that it'd been Stormstar who'd yowled. "The gathering is starting!" Falconpaw hissed excitedly, but he clamped his jaws shut as he got a warning prod from Breezepaw.
The leader of WindClan, a light gray tabby called Whitestar, stood up and waved her tail for silence. She had pure-white paws that shined even in the shadows, and she-cat was apparently going to speak first. "WindClan's prey is running well, even for Leaf-Fall, and the rabbits have not started to disappear as of yet," Whitestar's voice was powerful, her pale green eyes sweeping around the gathered cats. "Furthermore, WindClan is strong."
Falconpaw's fur prickled uneasily at her last sentence, and he wondered if she was making threats... But why should she, so close to Leaf-Bare?
He was so caught up in his thoughts, Falconpaw missed the beginning of Spikestar's speech, but the gray-and-white apprentice shook his head and gazed up at the dark brown tabby leader. "-We have not scented any cats on our territory this moon," Spikestar was saying.
"But we will not hesitate to punish any non-ShadowClan cats in our territory."
At his last sentence, the ShadowClan Warriors hissed. Falconpaw rolled his eyes, not worried. ShadowClan made a million threats a moon, that's nothing out of the usual. Then Stormstar stepped up, his dark gray coat gleaming.
"Thunderclan prey is bountiful, and tonight we have three new apprentices, Skypaw, Graypaw, and Falconpaw." Falconpaw felt all eyes turn to him and his littermates, and he fought the urge to sink into his fur. "Skypaw! Graypaw! Falconpaw!" The cats chanted, and the apprentices they were sitting with gave them mews of congratulations.
Once the chanting wore down, Stormstar sat back, flicking his tail for the leader of RiverClan, a gray-and-white she-cat, to speak. The RiverClan leader, Duskstar, was the oldest cat in the Clans, as she had been a Warrior of RiverClan from the time of the great Firestar.
The old she-cat lifted her muzzle, which was turning white with age, and spoke. "RiverClan has more fish than ever, and we too, have one new apprentice here, Splashpaw!" This time, Falconpaw chanted with the others, turning around to give the she-cat a welcoming smile. "Splashpaw! Splashpaw!"
Duskstar had nothing else much important to say, and so the gathering was drawn to an end, Falconpaw saying goodbye to his new friends from other clans.
He felt no more fear as he padded across the log again, as his head was full of what he'd learned. 'That was fun!' He thought to himself as he walked alongside the other ThunderClan cats on their way back to camp.
That was it... Hope you like! (I'll update my stories soon, I promise!)
