Hi everyone! So here I am again, writing a starting authors note, which really isn't needed.


For every other cat at the gathering, there was no snow, no ice, as it was not yet leaf-bare. But for Tadpolepaw, ice shot into her paws, leaped into her blood and froze her, right then and there.

She just couldn't move. As she locked eyes with the cat which had ruined her life, the cat that had threatened to kill her, tiny earthquakes hit her, making her shake in fear. A loud buzzing noise started, blotting out all sound. Terror gripped, the buzzing became worse, she just wished the ground would swallow her….

"Tadpolepaw!"

Tadpolepaw regained control of her body, and turned her head to see Shadepaw, Owlpaw, Ashenpaw, and another cat that she didn't know all looking at her strangely.

"Er… I wanted to introduce you to Deerpaw," said Ashenpaw, flicking an ear towards the cat that she didn't know. "He's training to be WindClan's medicine cat."

"Hello." mewed the black tom.

Tadpolepaw was still reeling from seeing the WindClan and couldn't bring herself to get the nerve to talk to any cat, much less a WindClan cat. Instead, she gave Deerpaw a polite nod, and slowly, shyly, she returned her gaze back to the WindClan warrior.

Or, where he was. She tried to find him, but in the sea of cats, it was a hopeless task. She did notice Sheerain, who it appeared had wandered off from the group of apprentices, but no sign of that WindClan warrior. Then her eyes slid over the Great Rock, and then over it again. Near the bottom of the rock, where the deputy's sat, there were three cats. There was Stormfall, and Shellstorm the RiverClan deputy. But the third deputy, the WindClan deputy, was the cat who had attacked her.

Tadpolepaw was hit by another bout of fear, and it took a very hard to send it away. Quickly forcing her eyes away from the great rock, she turned to Deerpaw. She was tired of referring to him as just "the WindClan warrior."
"Deerpaw." she said sharply, not caring that he and Ashenpaw were deep in conversation.

Deerpaw looked a little annoyed at Tadpolepaw's interruption but answered her anyway. "Yes?"

"That's your deputy, right?" she said, flicking her tail at the cat who she could not bear to bring herself to look at. Deerpaw nodded.

"What's his name?" Tadpolepaw asked

"Uh, it's Thornleap." Deerpaw responded

"Thanks." mewed Tadpolepaw

Thornleap thought Tadpolepaw, the name sending a shiver down her spine. So that was the name of the cat who had attacked her and given herself so much pain. And he was the WindClan deputy. Why did he hate her so? And as the WindClan deputy, he must have so much influence in the clan. Had he went home bragging, about what he had done to a poor defenseless kit? How much of the clan would agree with him about what he had done to a defenseless kit simply because he was deputy? Or did the whole clan already know?

"Let the gathering begin!"

Tadpolepaw jumped. She hadn't noticed ThunderClan arrive. She looked up at the great rock, avoiding Thornleap, and saw that Swiftstar, the ThunderClan leader was now up there with the other three leaders.

"WindClan will start," mewed Quickstar. "And we do have news. Just when we thought ShadowClan were finally beginning to honor the warrior code, we discovered ShadowClan scent on our land again! Seedstar, when will you learn to keep your cats to their territory!"

A quick glance at her fellow apprentices, followed by her clan mates, showed shocked looks of anger on their faces. Tadpolepaw, who was similarly feeling anger at being falsely accused, shot a glare at Deerpaw, who was looking sheepish and, after receiving Tadpolepaw's glare, stared glumly at his paws.

On the rock, a slow growl escaped Seedstar.

"What evidence do you have to support these claims?" Seedstar's voice was icy.

"Thornleap discovered ShadowClan scent on our side of the border." Quickstar's reply was similarly icy.

"Where is your proof?" hissed Seedstar

"I have my deputy's word." retorted Quickstar

Tadpolepaw felt a shiver of anger. He was stirring up trouble for absolutely no reason! She swallowed another bout of fear. as she realized just how much influence the cat who had attacked her had. She gazed up at the moon. A cloud was hurtling towards it. StarClan was angry. Tadpolepaw noticed several ShadowClan and WindClan cats with their claws out. If there was to be a battle, Thornleap would have an excellent excuse to finish the job.

"Stop," mewed Swiftstar, positioning herself between the two angry leaders. "StarClan is angry. I'd quite like to keep the gathering going. Quickstar, do you have anything else to add?

After Quickstar angrily shook his head, Swiftstar sent a quick glance at Crystalstar. The light grey she cat received the look, nodded, and rose to her feet. Tadpolepaw shot a glance at the moon. The cloud which had been racing towards the moon was now nowhere to be seen.

"We have two new apprentices in RiverClan, Beechpaw and Sedgepaw. Their mentors are Beaverfang and Creekheart."

"Beechpaw! Sedgepaw!" called out the clans and the Tadpolepaw noticed the one that she thought was Sedgepaw, give her chest an embarrassed lick.

Swiftstar stood. "The prey is running well in ThunderClan, and we are as strong as ever." Swiftstar then sat down, tail folded neatly over her legs.

Seedstar stood, and Tadpolepaw could see anger still blazing in her eyes from Quickstar's accusation. But she spoke in a calm and even tone.

"ShadowClan has never been stronger, as this past moon we added two new apprentices to our ranks. Tadpolepaw and Shadepaw."

"Tadpolepaw! Shadepaw!" went the calls. Tadpolepaw shrank down onto the cold ground, hearing her name ring around Fourtrees.

"Does any one else have any news?" asked Swiftstar. After a brief waiting period, where no cat responded, Swiftstar continued speaking. "Then the gathering is now over. We will give you a brief period to mill around and talk, and then we shall return to our separate territory's."

Swiftstar then jumped down from the great rock, followed quickly by the other three leaders and chattering of cats began again.

"Why didn't you tell us we were going to be accused of prey stealing, yet again!" Shadepaw growled, glaring at Deerpaw.

"I'm sorry," mewed the small black tom. "I thought you guys would leave me if I told you. Accusations of prey stealing just keep coming, don't they?"
"I think it would have been better had you told us straight up." mewed a more calm Owlpaw.

"Yeah, I know," responded a sullen Deerpaw. "I guess – Oh! Thornleap!"

It took every last piece of Tadpolepaw's will to stop herself from screaming. Her attacker was standing right next to her! She wanted to run, but her legs just refused to work. Terror gripped her. She felt like ice. Then, Thornleap opened his mouth.

"Deerpaw," he growled. "Say goodbye to your ShadowClan friends and go to the rest of the clan. We're leaving."

Deerpaw nodded and mewed a quiet "Bye" to the four ShadowClan apprentices.

Thornleap turned to leave, but then stopped, starting another panic attack for Tadpolepaw.

"I would be careful if I were you, ShadowClan," he said, practically spitting the word at them. "One day WindClan will not be so lenient to your prey stealing." The WindClan deputy then turned tail and walked icily away.

As Thornleap walked away, Tadpolepaw breathed for the first time in what felt like moons. She feigned that she was OK to her fellow apprentices, But this was a lie. WindClan were making excuses to stir up trouble with ShadowClan, and Thornleap knew she was alive and around. What would happen next?


So, here we have it folks. You have your identity of the "WindClan warrior." You know, it was getting tiresome calling him that.

Reviews!

Amberpetal: Wow, thank you so much! That truly means a lot to me. And yes, Shadepaw has some adolescent attitude problems.

A Sky of Blazing Stars: Yes! And thank you so much for mentioning me in your What If book!

I-really-hope-not: Uh..Ok. Thanks! Shadepaw and Honeypaw are not yet in a relationship, but Honeypaw is pretty embarrassed of him! Yeah, Thornleap and Lilacpelt both do suck.

ExplodingQuasar: Thank you! Although sorry that I lied and said that Flightpaw would appear this chapter when she didn't. Anyway, he didn't attack her. So yay?

ASJ7: When choosing Tadpolepaw's mentor, I looked through all of the ShadowClan warriors, and chose the one that had the best personality for a cat who is shy, angry, and experiencing plenty of PTSD. Weaselfoot best fit the bill, so he was always meant to be Tadpolepaw's mentor.

Thanks for the reviews! Please keep them coming, they matter so much to me, and I will see you next time!

Thanks!

- Willowstorm