-Chapter 12-
The cats waited by
highledge. News of Shadowclan's attack spread quickly.
Jayfeather
sat right beside Snowpaw in the crowd. For some reason he
was
drawn to her. Not romantically but some force was telling him that
something was weird or wrong with her. There was more going on
than a
Shadowclan attack and he needed to find out.
He
closed his eyes and slowed his breathing to hers. Trying hard to
connect to her soul, he waited. Suddenly, he was in a strange
forest. The
trees looked happy and lively but his senses told him
something evil was
happening. Slowly and quietly, he approached
the bracken and peered
through. A battle cry sounded and a cat
that looked like Snowpaw, fully
grown, attacked a tortoiseshell
tom. The snow-white cat ran into his
side and sent him flying to
the ground. "How dare you come on Winterclan
territory,
Hawkclaw."
Hawkclaw slowly got to his paws, coughing.
"What's wrong with you,
Snowfang? We are friends, remember?"
Hawkclaw bright green eyes looked
in her light blue eyes. "I
have no friends." She growled at him.
Hawkclaw grew fearful.
Winterclan was known for no mercy
killings. Taking a deep breath,
he ran for it.
Jayfeather didn't know whether to stay or
follow Hawkclaw. Sundenly, a
gray she-cat walked passed him,
through the brambles, and sat right next to
Snowfang.
"Let
all cats old enough to catch their own prey, gather beneath
highledge." To Firestar's surprise, everyone was already
there.
No! No! Jayfeather had been kicked out of
Snowpaw's mind when she moved
to sit next to her mentor.
"It
seems that Shadowclan attacked us without giving us a reason or an
opportunity to talk."
"They attacked us in the
middle of our training session." yelled
Squrrellflight.
The clan yowled their disapproval. "We must attack them
now!" yowled
Cloudtail. All the cats either nodded their
head or mewed 'attack
Shadowclan'.
"Normally, I
would let a scuffle like this slid and wait for the
gathering but
I agree with you all. This time Shadowclan has gone too
far."
Firestar took a deep breath and looked around. "Lionblaze,
Graystripe, Brightheart, Snowpaw, Mousewhisker, Sandstorm,
Dustpelt, and
I will go right away. Brambleclaw, make
preparations just incase."
Firestar leaped down and wait at
the entrance for those he had called. As
soon as everyone
gathered, they departed.
While warriors and apprentice were
running past Jayfeather, all he could
do was stare at the
entrance. She mustn't go. She is evil. She is going
to kill,
just because she can. Jayfeather had finally understood
Snowpaw.
She was no ordinary kittypet joining clan life. But a killer,
joining clan life, to prey on innocent cats.
Jayfeather
slowly walked to the medicine cat den and sat outside. So
he'd be
ready to help, but had some quiet time to think. This was a past
flash, not a future flash. Maybe she isn't the cat she was
before.
Maybe...maybe. Arg. Why do I even care? Is it that
Starclan wants me to
care? Why? What happened in her past life
should be no concern to me.
Ravenpaw came running up to
Jayfeather. "We hear some yowling in the
distance. The
battle has begun." Jayfeather twitched his tail, telling
Ravenpaw that he had heard. Ravenpaw ran back to the entrance and
waited.
"The war has begun." Jayfeather mumbled
to himself. "May Starclan be
with you, Firestar and
Blackstar.
