Tee hee hee hee :)

Chapter 5

The eagle glanced around for the juiciest prey, first it spotted Mudstripe who alerted the rest of the prey but it changed it's mind and flew towards young Eaglepaw, huge deadly talons opened.

"Eaglepaw!" Rainpaw cried, knocking her brother out of the deadly path, the eagle screeched in fury as it grabbed the scrawny apprentice instead of Eaglepaw.

"I'm coming!" Sparkpaw hissed, he leaped, only to get caught in the deadly talons. Sparkpaw writhed in fury, but was too helpless. Eaglepaw was watching with regretful and nervous eyes. Finally Sparkpaw gave up on struggling, the shouts of Nightsong and Shadepaw filled his ears.

Rainpaw groaned and opened her eyes, something soft was tickling her, grass? She looked underneath her paws, it wasn't grass, it was yellow-brown strings. Sparkpaw? Rainpaw tilted her head to the other side, Sparkpaw was lying face down on the strange grass.

"Sparkpaw!" Rainpaw cried out desperately, fearing that her friend might be injured, to her relief Sparkpaw groggily got up.

"Where am I?" Sparkpaw muttered.

"How am I supposed to know!" Rainpaw hissed.

"Well you were awake first!" Sparkpaw scowled.

"Quiet you two." Another voice whispered behind them. Rainpaw and Sparkpaw threw their heads back to examine the cat. The cat was a cream she-cat with green eyes.

Shadepaw was motionless, except for the trembling of his legs, Nightsong was sobbing and thrashing angrily beside him. "He didn't even get to be a warrior!" Nightsong cried, Brinefall ran over to comfort his mate but Nightsong pushed him away. "It's just not fair!"

"There might be a chance he's still alive..." Brinefall murmured, with a hoping tone at the edge of his voice. Nightsong seemed to calm down a bit.

"He might be dead while we speak!" Nightsong wailed, "we have to find him!" Wavestar watching the conversation shook his head, eyes glinting with despair. All three cats drooped their heads (Including Shadepaw).

"Maybe we can find Rainpaw and Shadepaw one day." Weaselstrike murmured from the nursery.

"I hope you're right." Nightsong muttered, walking away to the warriors' den.

"Who are you?" Rainpaw questioned the she-cat, Sparkpaw shot her a glare.

"A kittypet duh!" Sparkpaw hissed, refusing to meet Rainpaw's gaze, Rainpaw angrily spat something. The she-cats' eyes were dancing with laughter and amusement.

"I'm not a kittypet- in fact I'm a loner," The she-cat meowed. Rainpaw shot Sparkpaw a triumphant glance, "By the way my name's Dandelion." As the she-cat spoke a black she-cat with violet eyes shot up, the she-cat was surprisingly plump.

"Get down Jasmine for you and your kits' sake!" Dandelion hissed, "The eagle is looking for us!" The black she-cat cast a side-way glance at Dandelion and shot back in the strange grass.

"That was Jasmine, she's expecting kits. Luckily we live in the hay, because it's really safe, the hay is the grass we live in." Pointing her tail to the stacks of yellow grass.

"But how did we end up here?" Sparkpaw asked, "I thought we were going to get eaten by the eagle!"

Dandelion sighed before taking a long breath, "You were lucky that Rowan, Jasmine and I found you unconscious while the eagle was searching for more prey but the eagle is angry and is trying to find you." She explained to the two apprentices.

Sparkpaw never felt so grateful to anyone before, "Thanks, I'm very-" Sparkpaw was cut of by a screech from an eagle.

Jasmine shot up from the hay and pushed Sparkpaw and Rainpaw down into the hay, "Thanks are for later!" Jasmine hissed, Sparkpaw looked around amazed.

"We should have stayed in the barn!" A russet tom with deep green eyes hissed. Jasmine padded over to the tom and rested her head on the tom's shoulder.

"Rowan! You can't blame it that we got carried away by eagles!" Dandelion hissed. Rainpaw cocked her head in confusion.

"By the way who are those cats?" Rowan muttered, staring at Rainpaw and Sparkpaw with narrowed eyes.

"I wish to announce that Jayflight is my mate!" Wavestar confessed, his head held up high. Happy yowlings spread through the camp. Then Lightfeather stepped up unexpectantly.

"What about the gathering?" Lightfeather asked his leader, Shadepaw pricked up his ears, wanting to be picked.

Wavestar muttered something under his breath and meowed, "Fallingash, Brightwhisker, Tinywing, Twotail, Dapplepaw and Shadepaw, and of course us, Stripepelt and Flightpaw." Tinywing lifted her head weakly in thanks and drooped it down.

She lost her apprentice, Shadepaw silently thought, feeling a pang of sympathy. Without further ado, the chosen cats began trudging on the path to the Broken Rocks (Gathering Area).

The Broken Rocks appeared in view through the fog within minutes, "You're late," The booming voice of Snowdrop echoed.

"They must have passed through some obstacle," Heartstar meowed, "Do not blame them." Snowdrop hissed in annoyance and settled himself on a patch of grass.

Then a cry of glee caught Shadepaw's attention, Petalpaw was running towards him, "Nice to see you!" She giggled, Snowdrop hissed something at her rudely but Petalpaw ignored him. The two apprentices walked over to a surface of one of the many rocks.

"Meet me at the Broken Rocks," Petalpaw mewed quietly.

"But-" Shadepaw began, he silenced himself as he remembered Sparkpaw, writhing in agony as the eagle flew away in satisfaction.

"Something seems to be troubling you," Petalpaw meowed, her gaze perplexed with curiosity. Shadepaw sighed and nodded, looking up at the sky. Before he could meow a word there was a loud cry. The gathering has begun...

"Streamclan first," Heartstar meowed, pointing her tail to Wavestar in a kind manner. Wavestar nodded to Heartstar gratefully and began speaking.

"We have lost two of our apprentices- Sparkpaw and Rainpaw," Wavestar meowed, dropping his gaze on the cats watching below, murmurs of grief spread throughout the area. Snowdrop let out a quiet meow of satisfaction. "But we shall not loose hope! We shall thrive again! We also have new apprentices, Sparkpaw and Rainpaw who is now dead, Eaglepaw, Shadepaw and Tawnypaw." Wavestar finished, then he nodded to Heartstar.

Cheers from both Streamclan and Caveclan rose up as well as a few murmurs of grief (Most Caveclan cats), then Heartstar silenced the cats with a flick of her tail. Petalpaw stared at Shadepaw with eyes of sympathy, "I'm so sorry," she whispered before Heartstar spoke.

"We have three new apprentices, Cinderpaw, Petalpaw and Frostpaw," Heartstar announced proudly, more cheering rose from the crowd. "We have one new warrior, Starlingheart." Heartstar continued, a Caveclan she-cat apprentice looked down miserably. "Mintpaw was unable to complete the assesment for her leg is severely injured by a badger." Heartstar finished. Petalpaw let out a wince and walked over to Mintpaw to cheer her up.

"Is that all?" Snowdrop snorted, Boneflash shot him a quick glare which read, 'show some respect'.

"Yes, gathering dismissed." Wavestar meowed simply, Shadepaw ran over to his leader and began walking back to camp.

... Nothing to say ...