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Chapter Three

Frostflower


Name: Frostpaw/Frostflower

Appearance: white and ginger she-cat, amber eyes

Family

Father: Noblestar

Mother: Nettlemouse

Siblings: Goldenstar

Nieces/Nephews: Cedarspirit, Cloverpelt

Apprentices

Maggotstripe

What Has Happened to Him/Her

She received the prophecy that led Rowanwind to kill Sly, leader of DarkClan.

Faith

"Frostpaw, don't feed her that!" Stripedpelt yelped.

Frostpaw dropped the leaves and turned frightened, amber eyes on her mentor.

"Those are dock leaves, Frostpaw, not borage leaves!" Stripedpelt scolded, pawing the leaves away from Smokemask, whose belly was swollen with her kits.

"I'm sorry, Stripedpelt!" Frostpaw mewed, hanging her head.

"You should be apologizing to Smokemask, not to me," Stripedpelt replied, pulling out the real borage leaves. "Here, Smokemask. These should help you with your milk. You're very close to having your kits."

"Don't be so hard on her, Stripedpelt. She's doing her best," Smokemask meowed before lapping up the leaves. She wrinkled her nose as she chewed.

Stripedpelt sighed. "You can go now, Smokemask."

The she-cat waddled out of the medicine cat's den after saying thanks.

Frostpaw continued to stare at her paws, unable to meet her mentor's eyes. This was the third time she'd gotten something wrong in the past two days.

"Frostpaw, is something bothering you?" Stripedpelt asked.

The apprentice shook her head a little.

Stripedpelt sat down next to her and touched her shoulder with her tail-tip. "Something must be bothering you, Frostpaw. You can tell me."

Frostpaw took an unsteady breath. "StarClan won't talk to me."

"What do you mean?" Stripedpelt whispered soothingly.

"Every time we go to the Moonpool, I don't have any dreams! I always see darkness...just darkness!" Frostpaw mewed.

Stripedpelt purred reassuringly. "Oh, Frostpaw. You don't have to worry. Sometimes StarClan has nothing to say. You should be glad that you aren't being shown anything; it ony means that something tragic is coming."

"I...never thought about it that way," Frostpaw said, finally looking up at her mentor.

Stripedpelt wasn't there.

"Stripedpelt?" Frostpaw shouted. "Stripedpelt, where are you? Stripedpelt!"

Frostflower woke with a jerk. She sat up in her nest, her breath coming in gasps. The rest of her den was utterly quiet this early in the morning. She had no patients, and she was alone. The shadows around her felt like they were pressing in on her, reminding her of the darkness she continued to see whenever she visited the Moonpool.

Stripedpelt, why did you have to leave me? Frostflower thought with a sob. She slid out of her nest and shook moss from her white and ginger fur.

"Stripedpelt, why can't I see anything?" Frostflower whispered. "There must be something that StarClan has to show me!"

She paced around the den, too awake to even try and go back to sleep. The shadows seemed to dance as she moved. They were scary shadows, full of everything and yet nothing at all.

"I don't understand," Frostflower mumbled. "Is this the wrong path for me? Do I not have enough faith in StarClan to be shown anything?"

"Frostflower, did you have another nightmare?" a familiar voice meowed.

Frostflower turned to see Goldenstar, her ginger-furred brother, sitting in the entrance of her den.

"Goldenstar," Frostflower meowed. "How long have you been sitting there?"

"Only a few moments," he replied, padding further into her den. He touched his nose to her cheek. "What happened this time, Frostflower?"

She knew he was referring to her nightmare. "I...was remembering when I almost fed Smokemask dock leaves instead of borage leaves. Stripedpelt scolded me and then asked me what was bothering me..."

Goldenstar nodded and cut her off. "And you told her it was because StarClan wasn't showing you anything. What did she tell you in your dream, Frostflower?"

"She told me that I should be glad they aren't showing me anything," Frostflower sighed. "Because it means that there is nothing tragic about to happen."

Goldenstar purred. "You see? That was a dream from StarClan, sent to reassure you that everything is okay. Frostflower, you are on the right path. I know you are. You need to stop doubting yourself. ThunderClan needs your wisdom of healing to keep us all strong and healthy."

"I know, Goldenstar," Frostflower meowed. "But I have this feeling that...StarClan has their doubts about me."

"If they have any doubts about you, Frostflower, then they are a bunch of mouse-brains," Goldenstar said with a laugh. "Remember that ThunderClan needs you, no matter what StarClan might think."

"Thank you, Goldenstar," Frostflower said. "It is nice to know that at least one cat has faith in my abilities."

Goldenstar shook his head. "Frostflower, every cat in ThunderClan, from the youngest kit to the oldest elder, believes in your abilities. It's you that needs to learn to have faith in yourself. I have to go now. I'm supposed to lead the dawn patrol this morning."

"Have fun," Frostflower meowed.

"Try and get some more sleep," Goldenstar told her. "You look like you could use a few more hours of rest." He turned and padded out of the den.

"I hope you're right, Goldenstar," Frostflower said under her breath. "I just hope that StarClan realizes that I'm on the right path..."

A few moons later, ThunderClan was riddled with greencough. Many cats died, and there was little that Frostflower could do to stop it. One half-moon, she headed to the Moonpool with the medicine cats from the other three Clans, reluctant because she knew that StarClan had nothing to say to her. They would have no explanation for the greencough epidemic that was taking so many ThunderClan cats, both young and old.

Yet, this time was different. When Frostflower lapped at the water and curled up next to the Moonpool, she drifted off into a shadowed forest echoing with the screams of kits. She raced to their aide, only to realize when she reached them that they were kits who had passed on from the greencough epidemic.

Guilt flooded Frostflower when the other cats who had died of greencough began to appear, chanting, "Only the ghost of starlight can heed his cause, when teeth meet teeth and claws meet claws. Nine lines he'll have, but no leader's name. The descendant of Fire, two of the same."

That was when her mentor, kind and gentle Stripedpelt, had come forward to speak to her.

"I'm sorry, Frostflower, my sweet apprentice. I wish the things to come were not in your future. Be strong for your Clan. You've had a rough time, but it is going to get much harder."

"What's coming, Stripedpelt? Please...don't tell me more are going to die! I will die myself if I'm unable to save another cat!" Frostflower moaned to her old mentor.

"Go back and warn your brother of what is to come, Frostflower," Stripedpelt said. "A ginger tom will rise to conquer the dark, his friend be the apprentice of a lark. Without love, without faith, he will fall, lest the wall of hatred cover you all."

"Don't leave me!" Frostflower mewed. "I need a better answer! What does it all mean, Stripedpelt?"

But the shadows of the forest around her dissolved, and Stripedpelt left her all alone once more.


End of Chapter Three