Well here is Chapter 2 of Foxpaw's Destiny!
Between that last chapter and this one I read Sign of the Moons and I realise a few things are wrong with the allegiances but anyway I'll work around that XD
This is up much faster than I thought it would be but I suddenly had an idea! Anyway thanks go to Lionfire99 and Lifepaw for reviewing and making me want to create this story even faster!
This time it's from Blackpaw's pov instead of Foxpaw's but we'll get back to him next chapter :)
Disclaimer: I do not own Warriors, only the cats not seen in the books.
Blackpaw padded into camp with a rabbit in her jaws. Heathertail followed her daughter in with a couple of mice.
Probably learnt how to catch them from Lionblaze.
A part of her thought she was being unreasonable, after all they do have woodland on their territory and she knew that warriors were trained to hunt in them but after hearing how her mother willingly took a mate from another clan she wasn't sure if she could trust Heathertail.
She pointingly turned her back on her mother and deposited her fresh-kill on the pile before heading to the medicine den to check on Rabbitpaw. As her eyes adjusted to the dark area she pricked her ears and sighed in relief when she heard the apprentice's shallow breathes.
She inspected the wounds again and was satisfied that they were healing as well as they could be. Blackpaw could only hope that her old denmate would recover fully. Less than a moon ago there had been a fight on the Thunderclan border and Weaselfur had been injured almost to the point of death. They'd been able to save his life but a long deep cut on one of his front legs never fully healed and he'd had to retire to the elders den.
The black apprentice shivered as she remembered the story of the battle and how Breezepelt saved his clan mate by blinding the old Thunderclan deputy, Brambleclaw. Even thinking about Breezepelt made her sick inside, she'd been so proud to be his daughter but he wasn't her father and only a few cats knew it.
She'd been born outside the warrior code. How could she be a medicine cat if she wasn't pure Windclan?
"No, that's mouse brained. Apparently every older cat knows Jayfeather's a half clan cat and he's a great medicine cat," she whispered to herself.
As long as she was loyal to the medicine cat code and the warrior code it shouldn't matter if she was the kit of a Thunderclan tom. Should it?
"Blackpaw?"
The scent of marigold filled the den as Kestralflight padded in; having gone out looking for the herbs while his apprentice was out hunting.
"We'll need these to re-dress her wounds as well as the other warriors who fought in the battle. How is Rabbitpaw?" he mewed, setting the leaves down in their store.
"She's not any worse than she was before but her breathing is still shallow," Blackpaw replied.
"Good, when she wakes up we'll give her a couple of poppy seeds so she can sleep better, no more than that or it could harm her instead. How did the hunting go?"
"I caught a rabbit," she announced, forcing herself not to bristle. "I paired up with Heathertail. Foxpaw went with Whitetail."
The black apprentice winced as the lie left her mouth. She was already lying to protect her family!
"Good," the mottled grey medicine cat blinked at her warmly. "We'll be going to the gathering tomorrow so make sure you rest tonight. I'll get Weaselfur to watch her while we sleep."
Blackpaw nodded before going to stand beside her mentor and helping him sort through an old pile of cat mint.
A full moon shone high in the sky as Blackpaw emerged from the medicine cat den.
"Remember if anything happens to her and we aren't back yet to get Swallowtail. She should be resting before having her kits but she knows the most about herbs," she heard Kestralflight mew to Eaglepaw, who had volunteered to stay with his sister so the medicine cats could go to the gathering.
"Are you ready for our second gathering?" Foxpaw asked her, racing over from the other side of camp with a gleam in his eyes.
It was as if he didn't care he was half clan. Blackpaw shuffled her paws nervously. What if the other clans found out somehow? Can something like this stay a secret forever? Foxpaw opened his mouth, puzzlement on his face, but was interrupted.
"This'll be my first gathering," Gorsepaw announced, jumping about as if she was a kit and distracting Foxpaw.
There hadn't been a gathering for two whole moons because clouds had covered it and the three newest apprentices had had to wait for over two moons to go to a gathering. Blackpaw sighed sadly, only Gorsepaw would be coming out of her littermates because of Riverclan.
"They'll think this is your first day as an apprentice if you behave like that," Leaftail, Gorsepaw's mentor, mewed lightly, cuffing the young cat over the ears gently.
At that moment Onestar appeared from his den and signalled for his cats to follow him as he ran over the rise at the edge of camp. Blackpaw kept pace with her brother as they ran to the tree bridge. From up on the moorland she could she shadows appear out of Thunderclan's forest and a different clan already crossing over to the lake. She wondered who Thunderclan's new deputy was.
They reached the tree before Thunderclan and Onestar crossed first, leaving Whitetail to trail at the end. For the first time excitement filled the young black apprentice as she took her first pawsteps on the island that night.
"What's that smell?" Gorsepaw mewed as she landed next to Blackpaw, her head cocked sideways.
"That's Shadowclan. See you can smell a dank marshy scent hinted with pines," Blackpaw mewed back.
The medicine cat apprentice waited beside the younger cat as Kestralflight crossed the bridge, watching her brother's red ginger pelt disappear into the ferns.
"Let's go," the grey tom mewed and lead the way into the large clearing on the island.
Only Shadowclan were there, looking ruffled but not overly hostile towards the Windclan cats. Maybe that's because we don't share borders.
She recognised LIttlecloud's small body sitting next to Rowanclaw. Her paws instinctively wanted to pad over to him and it confused her. She'd been told stories about how every cat used to mingle at gatherings from Tornear and the senior warriors, especially the medicine cats, but at the last gathering almost no cat had dared drift from their clan mates.
Heathertail and Breezepelt stood sat side by side near the great tree. It wasn't right that Breezepelt couldn't know she wasn't his daughter. Should she tell him if no other cat would?
"Look Thunderclan has finished crossing the tree," Foxpaw whispered, appearing beside her.
His green eyes were glowing as he caught sight of Lionblaze and it still amazed her how easily he had gotten used to the fact that the golden warrior was their father. Blackpaw glanced back at her mother and saw she was whispering softly to the black warrior, completely ignoring her real mate.
"Where is Mistystar? We can't wait here forever," a yowl came from the branches of the tree and Blackpaw could just make out the white fur of Blackstar.
"They had just arrived at the tree as we finished crossing," a golden brown Thunderclan warrior the young apprentice didn't know mewed.
Barely heart beats passed before the first Riverclan warrior entered the clearing, glaring at the Windclan cats.
"What's gotten up their fur? They attacked us!" Blackpaw hissed and noticed her brother flick one of his ears uncomfortably.
Curiosity sheered her fur, there was something Foxpaw wasn't telling her.
"Welcome to the gathering," Firestar yowled. "Who would like to start?"
"I will," Blackstar mewed. "Since we last met Dawnpelt has moved to the nursery and is expecting kits. She'll be due to give birth any day now according to Littlecloud. The two legs have returned to the lake, as I'm sure you've noticed, but other than being on the half bridge they are no threat to Shadowclan."
The white leader gave a swift glance to Firestar and Blackpaw noticed the other Thunderclan warriors start to bristle.
I wonder what that's about.
With a nod from the Shadowclan leader, Onestar stood up. "We have named three new apprentices, Gorsepaw, Rabbitpaw and Eaglepaw."
He paused as the Windclan cats called out the young cats names, along with a couple of yowls from the other clans.
"I can only see one new apprentice. Where are the other two?" A dark tabby Shadowclan warrior demanded.
"They are back in camp, Rabbitpaw was gravely wounded in a battle against Riverclan and is fighting for her life and her brother, Eaglepaw decided to watch over her. A battle, I might add, that was unjustified and only proved to spill blood."
"It wasn't unjustified," the Riverclan deputy, Reedwhisker, hissed. The rest of the Riverclan cats yowled their agreement.
Onestar snorted in disbelief. "Don't you believe my deputy Onestar?" Mistystar growled, her normally calm appearance replaced by one of the scariest things Blackpaw had seen. "Maybe you should be looking at your own clan for traitors and liars instead of calling out against a different clan."
"What are you going on about?"
"A moon and a half ago Mothwing went out for some herbs near the marshy area close to the horse place and she never came back. When we sent out a search party they found her dead with your clan's scent all over the place," she snarled and a few cats gasped in horror. Blackpaw turned to look for Whillowshine and saw the grey tabby lower her head sadly.
Kestraflight tensed and gazed sadly over at the Riverclan she-cat. Blackpaw spotted Littlecloud staring at his paws and Jayfeather blinking his blind eyes in Willowshine's direction. She'd been taught by Kestralflight that Starclan had decreed that the medicine cats could no longer help one another but looking at them now she could see how hard that was for them to do.
"Are you accusing my clan of killing a medicine cat?" Onestar yowled furiously. "Every cat knows that's against the warrior code."
Mistystar forced her fur down and gazed at him with calm eyes, "haven't you noticed that the warrior code is disappearing. One of your own cats came to me and told me that they saw your own cats murdering Mothwing as if it was planned. Not only that but for any cat to know where she had gone they would have had to be spying on our camp."
Onestar froze, Blackpaw wondered if it was at the she-cat's icy calm tone or her words. From the corner of her eyes she saw a Riverclan cat look terrified. Kestralflight had pointed him out as Hollowmist last time and she couldn't work out what made him look like that. Obviously he had known his medicine cat had died so what else could it be?
"If there is a traitor in my clan I'll deal with them myself," he finally hissed.
He hasn't killed any cat in cold blood like Breezepelt has. The words her brother had mewed the day before suddenly echoed through her head. She hadn't paid much attention to them then but now that's all she could hear.
"You know something," she hissed to the young tom so no other cat could hear.
His bright green eyes widened and she could feel his guilt. "I'll talk to you later about it ok?"
She nodded and realised she'd missed the rest of Onestar's report, though she did notice that he didn't mention that Weaselfur had been permanently wounded and moved to be with Tornear.
"Willowshine is the new medicine cat," Mistystar yowled. "We have two new apprentices, Rainpaw and Stormpaw and Hollowmist has finally become a warrior."
The dark brown tom dipped his head but his eyes still betrayed his unease. Blackpaw knew that the warrior had gotten some mysterious injuries during his apprenticeship and it had taken many moons for them to recover. She glanced at Antpelt and remembered the story her mentor had told her about the warrior, he'd almost died from similar injuries.
When the blue grey cat finished speaking, Firestar started to speak. "Over these last few moons we have had plenty of prey and even the twolegs with their small green dens can't affect our hunters." The flame pelted tom gazed down at the golden brown warrior that Blackpaw hadn't recognised at the beginning of the gathering. "Brackenfur is the new deputy of Thunderclan."
A tortoiseshell she-cat stood up from near the front, looking troubled. "What happened to Brambleclaw?"
"He was blinded during a battle with Windclan, he's moved to the elders den," Firestar spoke gently to the Shadowclan warrior.
She bowed her head in grief. Why is a Shadowclan she-cat worried about a cat from another clan? The gathering started to break up. Blackpaw paused when she saw Foxpaw padding over to Lionblaze and a grey she-cat calmly.
"You're Foxpaw aren't you? Heathertail and Breezepelt's kit?" The grey warrior mewed.
"Yeah I am," the young cat looked down as if in embarrassment.
"I'm Cinderheart and this is Lionblaze. Don't worry if he snaps at you, he can have a pretty sharp tongue."
"Don't worry my mentor is Crowfeather and I don't think any cat could outdo him."
Blackpaw heard Cinderheart purr in amusement. "It's nice to see an apprentice who isn't afraid to talk to the warriors from other clans. No cat seems to like talking to each other anymore. I miss the old days when every cat would mingle around after the gathering."
"Eavesdropping on your brother?"
Blackpaw jumped as she heard the mew just behind her. Turning she gazed into Jayfeather's sightless eyes in surprise. "How could you tell?"
He shrugged, "I can just tell these things. I know about Lionblaze and I don't want you to make the same mistake our sister made. It would only hurt your clan and create an even bigger war. I watched the stars when you were born; each of you has a great destiny a head. I couldn't tell what they were but I know if you revealed who your father really is then all the clans will be lost."
The black medicine cat apprentice bristled in alarm. Is Jayfeather crazy? No, she could hear the truth in his words.
"I will keep the secret for as long as it doesn't endanger my clan," she whispered, flinching at a promise to protect something that was against the warrior code.
Then again Mistystar had said it was disappearing. No, the warrior code is as old as the clans it would never disappear so quickly if ever.
"Windclan, we're leaving," Onestar called out from the edge of the clearing.
Blackpaw nodded at Jayfeather and bounded away.
"Yeah, goodbye to you too," she heard him hiss in annoyance.
Only then did she remember he was blind and didn't see her nod but she didn't have time to go back and hoped the grumpy medicine cat wasn't too unhappy with her. Foxpaw and Gorsepaw ran over from a couple of Shadowclan apprentices and fell in beside her.
"I can't believe I got to meet Lionblaze," the light grey she-cat mewed, her pelt fluffed out in excitement. "If we'd stayed longer you would've totally beaten Snakepaw."
"Were you fighting?" Blackpaw mewed crossly.
"Of course not," Foxpaw snorted. "We were practicing some moves to see who could fight better, claws sheathed. Is that against the warrior code?"
"I guess not," she admitted.
They had arrived at the tree and made the rest of the way back to camp in silence. Blackpaw was suddenly aware of the apprehensive atmosphere that surrounded the warriors.
"Whitetail, Kestralflight and Blackpaw I want you three to stay here with me. Breezepelt make sure the rest of you get back to camp."
The black warrior nodded and ran at the head of the patrol with his tail held high.
"Have either of you had any signs from Starclan?"
Onestar looked hopefully at them. "I haven't had a sign since Starclan told me that all clans must fend for themselves," Kestralflight looked thoughtful. "If one of our clan mates is a traitor to the code or the clan I don't think they would tell us unless they were a danger to us."
"How about you?"
Feeling her leader's burning gaze on her, Blackpaw glanced away. She hadn't had any signs since she'd been made a medicine cat apprentice and gone to the Moonpool but if Foxpaw knew more than he was telling then the cat they knew as her father had something to do with it.
No, Breezepelt has raised me as his kit so I'll treat him as my father. I barely know Lionblaze, it's the cat that's raises you that's important .I'll keep it a secret but I'm not going to act like it's true!
"No, I haven't received any signs either," she mewed.
I can't betray my father and I should talk to Foxpaw first before spreading rumours.
"I guess we'll have to find out without Starclan's help," the deputy mewed.
"Is it possible to watch all our warriors at once?" Kestralflight questioned.
"No, but we can try," mewed Onestar. "Until we can think of a better idea or Starclan have spoken to us."
All the cats agreed and padded back to camp. Blackpaw itched to talk to her brother but he was curled up next to his den mate, fast asleep and she didn't want to get yelled at for waking him. Heathertail padded up to her, placing her muzzle against the apprentice's ear.
"Goodnight, Blackpaw," the light brown she-cat mewed gently.
Blackpaw unsheathed her claws and glared at her mother. She would keep her betrayal a secret but that didn't mean she would talk to her. As far as she was concerned only Breezepelt and Foxpaw were her family now.
She went into her den without a word to the warrior and lay on the other side of Rabbitpaw, Eaglepaw had fallen asleep next to his sister on the one side. With barely a look at her patient she wrapped her tail around her paws and closed her eyes, falling into a dreamless sleep.
So Blackpaw's found a solution to being half clan, pretending she's Breezepelt's kit anyway!
I thought I'd better explain why Weaselfur and Brambleclaw were both 'elders' now and why Mothwing wasn't the Riverclan medicine cat anymore.
