Spottedstream
Beechpaw blinked her eyes open at the
sound of a confused yowl. She slipped from the den quickly and
loped to the gathering group beneath the Highledge. Coalpaw had
recovered, testing his paw out of the medicine cat den the day after
the Gathering. Lionstar had warned the other leaders of the rogues,
but other than that nothing had happened. Yawning, she trotted up
to her friend who wore a worried expression.
"What are they all muttering about?"
Beechpaw asked quietly, pricking her ears at the hushed meows of the
cats.
"You'll see," was all he said.
Her indifference quickly turned to
curiousness, and she parted her jaws to drink in the scents of the
cats. Nothing was unusual except for the small hint of crowfood.
But then the swirling air in the hollow blew into Beechpaw's mouth,
carrying with it a rank but familiar stench.
"A rogue!" she hissed.
Immediately sprang to her paws and lashed her tail. "Why don't
we chase him out?"
"One," muttered Coalpaw, "It's
a she-cat, and two, she's barely six moons. I doubt she can do any
harm. And besides, she doesn't talk."
Beechpaw's eyes widened in wonder. "Not
a word?" she mewed.
Coalpaw shook his head. "I think
she can
talk but she just doesn't want to for some reason."
Her curiosity spiked, and she left
Coalpaw's side to push through the still growing crowd. Just below
the Highledge, flanked by Tawnyfeather and Brackenshadow, sat a
small black cat. Her fur was matted and stank, and when she looked
up her mohagony brown eyes were dull and wary. A sort of fear
flashed through her eyes each time a Clan cat glanced at her.
Beechpaw saw no danger from this cat.
Finally, Lionstar emerged from his den
and gazed over the Clan on the Highledge, Spottedstream, his deputy,
and Iceflower beside him.
"Cats of ThunderClan," he
yowled over the mutterings. "It has come to my attention that
the dawn patrol spotted this cat, of whom belongs to no Clan."
The cats under the Highledge continued to mutter, though they died
down to hear their leader speak. "It seems she cannot speak,
or will not. I have spoken to your deputy and medicine cat, and we
believe she poses no threat." The murmurs turned to yowls or
shock or anger. Was their leader thinking of letting this cat join
the Clan?
The little black cat flicked her ears.
Something flashed across her eyes, but Beechpaw could not depict
what it was, so she turned back to Lionstar. The golden tom gazed
over the cats before shouting for silence. Looking down to the tiny
she-cat, he meowed, "Will you join our Clan? We cannot let a
young cat such as yourself die."
Beechpaw exchanged a glance with Coalpaw.
How was the cat supposed to answer? But the black she-cat nodded
and flicking her eyes to the cats surrounding her, nervously began
etching something in the sand.
"What is she doing?" Rockfur
murmured from somewhere behind Beechpaw.
After a moment the little cat stepped
away from the sketch and let Lionstar look down. His face was set
in a thoughtful frown and he glanced at Iceflower, whom stepped up
and looked at the picture also. Craning her neck, Beechpaw tried to
look over the cats' shoulders, but they were all pushing in to see.
Iceflower tapped her tail.
"ThunderClan cats! Step back,
please."
Soon Beechpaw found herself thrust
backwards until she was beside Coalpaw again. "Did you see
it?" the tom asked. Beechpaw shook her head.
"Everyone was closing in I couldn't
see a thing!"
The two apprentices looked back up to the
Highledge. Iceflower was looking down at the she-cat with interest
and nodded to Lionstar, who yowled to the Clan, "This she-cat
has drawn herbs in the sand. Iceflower has looked down at this
she-cat and claims she has potential. From this day forward, until
you've earned your warrior name- " The Clan stood at shocked
silence. " -you will be known as Spiderpaw." Every cat's
eyes grew wide. "Iceflower will be your mentor."
"Medicine Cat apprentice?"
Duskpaw stepped forward, his fur bristling as he hissed in anger.
Beechpaw looked at the tom apprentice. She had to agree with his
anger. She couldn't believe her leader, her father, could go and
let a rogue
be Iceflower's apprentice!
Shocked yowls erupted from the Clan cats
below Lionstar. The leader held his head high, but Beechpaw saw a
flash on uncertainty cross his gaze. But it was gone, and the
golden apprentice looked around at her Clanmates. Spiderpaw's eyes
widened in the gale of fury and shrunk back against the rock under
the ledge. Just before the Clan could surge forward, Iceflower
leaped down and blocked her new apprentice from view.
"Stop this at once!" she
yowled.
The Clan abruptly stopped and stared at
Iceflower. Was the medicine cat letting the rogue in? Did she
persuade Lionstar to do this? The white she-cat sat down, her tail
tip tapping on the dust.
"You do not
contradict your leader's words," she meowed, icily calm. "You
do not
even think about killing a young cat. And you certainly do not
have a word against your leader's or your medicine cat's judgement."
With that, she spun around, her tail across Spiderpaw's shoulder as
the two padded to the medicine cat den.
Coalpaw edged closer to Beechpaw, his
eyes wide. Iceflower never
got angry with the Clan cats. But then again, the Clan were acting
selfishly, maybe. Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, Beechpaw
shoved her friend to his paws and they slipped into the apprentices'
den. Eaglepaw was already there, and soon Duskpaw and Brindlepaw
joined them. The young cats gazed at one another before settling
down close.
"Iceflower never gets angry,"
Coalpaw echoed Beechpaw's thoughts.
Eaglepaw nodded. "How could she
accept that mangy furball as her apprentice?"
"A rogue
no less," Brindlepaw added.
"But maybe she has a reason?"
meowed Coalpaw.
"What could be her reason?"
replied Duskpaw sharply. "She looked like she wanted to claw
every cat's ears off."
Beechpaw flicked her tail tip as the
other four apprentices bickered. Did Iceflower have a reason?
Maybe - "She had a sign."
Her friends adruptly stopped and turned
to look at her. Swallowing the forbodeing that rose in her throat
like bile, Beechpaw continued. "Maybe Iceflower received a
sign in her dreams from StarClan. Maybe they want Spiderpaw to
become a medicine cat. Maybe there's something special about her."
The other apprentices shrugged, but
Eaglepaw suddenly went uneasy. "I overheard Lionstar and
Iceflower talking," she admitted, shuffling her paws. "She
recited a prophecy she had got at the Starflower."
Coalpaw and Beechpaw edged closer until
their fur were brushing, and Duskpaw stood up restlessly.
"She said," Beechpaw's sister
continued. ""Something comes Though there is hope. The
paths of four are hard to follow. Then she was describing how the
four elements, air, water, fire and earth were yowled and then the
air was whistling in a tornadoe, the water was rising and fire swept
past her before the earth tore itself apart."
Now all the cats were wide-eyed with
fright. "So, there are four which will save us from this,"
finished Eaglepaw.