Chapter three
Driving Snow
Falconpaw looked outside her den, shivering as the wind changed direction and blew snow into her face. It was so cold. This was the day for the gathering and conditions were like this! Usually this time of year it would already be melting! Sighing, she turned back to Riverfall, who was nursing a kit with kittencough.
"Riverfall, why is it still cold?" the brown femme asked. Riverfall, a sleek, silver tabby, sighed. The kit looked up from his herbs, which he had no doubt been hissing over.
"Well," sighed Riverfall as he covered the kits ears with his tail. The kit mewed in protest. From the looks of things she was about to hear a dream. "Well I have been having strange dreams lately. I see the wind howling in a great storm and many cats struggling, but eventually falling. Soon the snow covers them so nothing can be seen. Then I hear words, echoing eerily against the howling wind. They say 'Beware of the storm, for it may grow stronger than the will of starclan.' Then I wake up,"
Falconpaw's mind swam with worry. Was this the sign of a horrible leafbare? It was definitely foretelling death to clancats. If whatever this was grew beyond the will of starclan . . . this was bad.
"But one more thing happened before I woke up," murmured Riverfall, dipping his head, "The snow, though once a blinding white, began to slowly turn red, as if blood was slowly being poured onto it," Blinking, Riverfall sat up and uncurled his tail from around the kit. "Now Musickit, you need to eat your herbs," smiled Riverfall, almost altering his mood instantly.
"But, It's icky!" spat Musickit. The heavy air evaporated at the kits reluctance to eat the herbs. However, still in the minds of both medicine cats, the threat of death hung heavily.
Blood. One of the worst things prophecies could foretell. Blood and death, both foretold great danger, and both were in this. When the elders told stories of old prophecies and the evils that followed, those words had always been present. But what was with the snow? Sighing, she decided she would leave unraveling prophecies to after the gathering. But at the moment, she just needed to check on the elders. Grabbing the necessary herbs, she hurried out of the den and into the howling snow.
xXxxXxxXxxXx
Falconpaw braced herself against the snow as she made her way to the gathering. They had already gotten out of the dense trees, so now they just had to make it across the plains.
That was the hardest part.
Snow blew all around them, blasting their faces. What an awful day for a gathering. Riverfall, who raced in front of her, looked exceedingly worried. Falconpaw herself was nervous. This reminded her of walking across the thunderpath. Stinging paws, this time from cold, not hard surfaces. Driving wind, only thing new was the snow. To tell the truth, she had only seen snow last moon. Hey, everyone has first time experiences.
Finally her clan stood on the edge of the cliff of stars. Steep cliffs ran around, with a few less steep sides where cats could walk down. In the middle, rose a plateau where around six cats could stand if crammed. They were the first ones there, as usual. Her clan was the most loyal and focused the most on time. The Murkclan fleabags always were last it seemed like.
She raced down after her mentor into the sheltered area of the cliff. Falconpaw huddled against the plateau, muttering under her breath about how much she hated the cold. Especially with her short fur, it was hard to bear the arctic chill.
One by one clans started to appear; Harmonyclan, then Mirageclan, and at last, Murkclan. However, Tempestclan had yet to appear.
Anxious murmurs spread throughout the gathered cats. Even the usually passive Murkclan seemed tense. Falconpaw heard a few cats whisper to their partners 'where are they?', or 'did they leave already?'. Some cats obviously thought that Tempestclan would leave. The brown femme kneaded the ground in impatience. She wanted to hear Quailstar, her leader, barrage Shiningstar with questions. Why were two of her apprentices in our woods? Why did they attack her? But still no Shiningstar. The glimmering black and white female was still nowhere to be seen. If they didn't come. . .
This thought was interrupted by a loud sigh.
"Sorry we are late, we just, needed some time to get ready," said an icily beautiful voice from the edge of the cliff of stars. A long furred cat gracefully leaped over the gap between the cliff and the plateau.
"Shiningstar, you're late," nagged Barkstar, the leader of Murkclan.
"I wouldn't be one to talk badly of that sort Barkstar," retorted Duststar, leader of Mirageclan.
The tense atmosphere decreased as the leaders joked around in their normal fashion. One should only be worried when they didn't bicker like that.
"Anyways, Let the Gathering begin!"