Chapter 8

Mossflower walked through the trees heading for Fourtrees. Scourgeclaw was padding along beside her, she could tell that he was excited about the gathering from the look in his eyes, even though his face remained neutral. She looked behind her and spotted Firepaw, Graypaw and Ravenpaw murmuring excitedly to each other wondering what would happen at the gathering. She sighed thinking about how Runningwind was left behind in camp, she missed his company but was happy to spend time with Scourgeclaw again, she hadn't realized how much she missed his company. She glanced over and spotted Rosetail, a light ginger tabby she-cat with a pinkish-orange tail, who was speaking to Whitestorm. While she watched them, she saw Whitestorm turn his head to stare at her unblinkingly for a moment, she noticed his eyes widened slightly as he looked at her before turning his attention back to Rosetail. 'That's odd' Mossflower thought to herself. She saw Goldenclaw murmuring to Frostfur who was padding along next to the golden warrior. She glanced around and noticed that the other cats looked relaxed, yet eager to get to Fourtrees.

They made it to the top of a slope, and peered down into Fourtrees. The apprentices looked excitedly down the slope naming warriors that they could see from the other Clans. Mossflower looked down and saw a cat that she believed to be the ShadowClan deputy, Blackfoot, talking to a silver tabby tom. She felt Scourgeclaw stiffen beside her. She glanced over at him and noticed that his eyes glittered with surprise and excitement and a tiny flicker of something else that she couldn't quite figure out. 'I guess he's more excited about this gathering then I thought.' Mossflower peered around the clearing. She could slightly make out the scents of ShadowClan and RiverClan but, there wasn't a trace of WindClan.

"Do you think anyone from WindClan will come?" she murmured to Scourgeclaw. He shrugged.

"It's unlikely, but there is a chance they'll come. Now we need to be quiet Bluestar's getting ready to lead us down. " Mossflower looked over to where her mother stood with her tail raised . Her mother gave the Clan the signal and they raced down the slope. They paused just outside the clearing before heading in and looking around. Mossflower was impressed by the amount of warriors present the gathering. She could barely believe that cats present were a from two different clans and that they were only some of their clans.

"Wow its surprising how many cats there are here right Scourgeclaw?" she breathed. She received no answer. She turned her head to see that her companion had disappeared. She glanced around the clearing to see if she could spot him, but had no luck. She was about to go back up the slope to see if he had stayed up there when a voice interrupted her train of thought.

"Greetings, you must be new I've never seen you at a gathering." Mossflower turned around to see a dark gray tom with battle scarred ears standing in front of her. She could tell from the tom's scent that he was a RiverClan warrior, but despite this she felt oddly comfortable in his presence.

"Yes I am, my name is Mossflower and this is my first gathering." The tom nodded his head.

"I suspected so, my name is Stonefur, its nice to meet you. I was wondering if there was someone you were looking for?" She nodded in return.

"Its nice to meet you too Stonefur and yes I was looking for my clanmate, who I thought was with me, but he must have wondered off without me noticing." she sighed.

"Well, he's probably going over to meet with other cats after all this is the best time to see the other clans and meet the other cats."

"Your probably right, I should be meeting with cats of other clans right now, I'm sure I'll see him later."

"Yes well it was nice talking with you but I should probably go" he meowed

"Yes as do I" she meowed. They exchanged respectful nods before going their separate ways. Mossflower couldn't help but glance back at the dark RiverClan tom, instantly feeling that comforting feeling again. 'Why do I feel so comfortable around him, when I just met him and on top of that he's a RiverClan cat ?'Mossflower shook her head clear and spotted Tigerclaw talking amongst a group of warriors telling about his battle with RiverClan, she could just make bits of the story that she already knew because the story had spread around camp. She saw Firepaw watching the dark tabby warrior from a distance and padded over to him.

"Hey Firepaw" Firepaw's eyes brightened when she padded up to him.

"Hi Mossflower, what are you up to?"

"I've been looking for your brother but I haven't seen him since we entered the clearing." she sighed. Firepaw shrugged.

"He probably just needed some time to get use to the number of cats here I'm sure will see him soon."

"I suppose your right, I smell Graypaw and Spottedleaf close by lets go see what their doing." she meowed leading him toward the scent. Firepaw nodded and followed closely after her. She couldn't help but noticed how happy Firepaw looked after she mentioned Spottedleaf's name. 'I wonder if he likes her, she's a very pretty cat, but that doesn't change the fact that she's a medicine cat. I may have to keep an eye on him.' she thought briefly. They found the two sitting amongst a group of RiverClan cats. A young light gray tom with fluffy tail was talking with Graypaw. Mossflower noticed that Firepaw had a look of agitation and she wondered where it had came from. She noticed that Spottedleaf was talking to two RiverClan warriors that were sitting on either side of her, but realized quickly that that wasn't the reason for Firepaw's unease. A young mottled gray tom was staring rather intently at Spottedleaf. She could tell that the tom must be an apprentice and from his scent she could tell he was RiverClan. She looked back over to Firepaw and brushed her tail over his ears purring softly.

"Come on lets talk to Graypaw." Firepaw nodded and padded over to sit next to Graypaw. Mossflower padded up to sit next to him.

"Hello Graypaw, whose this?" she asked looking at the light gray tom.

"My name is Troutpaw, This is my first gathering and that's my brother Shellpaw" he meowed with a flick of his tail over at the mottled gray tom. Now that she had a closer look she could see the resemblance between the two cats.

"I'm Firepaw, and this is Mossflower." Firepaw meowed pointing his tail directly at Mossflower. She waved her tail in greeting. Troutpaw gave a respectable nod to Mossflower.

"I wonder what is keeping WindClan, do you think they are going to show up soon?" Troutpaw asked.

"They still have time." meowed Graypaw.

"Is that Runningnose, ShadowClan's new medicine cat ?" asked Troutpaw pointing his tail in the direction of a small gray and white cat.

"I don't understand why he's there medicine cat, look at his nose, he can't even cure his own cold." meowed Graypaw. Mossflower looked over at the ShadowClan medicine. She heard that he was talking about herbs that were no longer around because of the twolegs. The cats sitting around began to voice their displeasure.

"If TigerClan were still around the twolegs wouldn't have dared to set foot in our territory." growled a silver tabby. Spottedleaf came to sit beside Mossflower and murmured in her ear.

"If the great cats were still here we wouldn't be." Mossflower nodded I agreement.

"Who were TigerClan?" asked a little tabby apprentice sitting near Firepaw.

Graypaw started to explain how there were three great Clans that ruled the territory they now lived on, He was able to explain who TigerClan were, though he was having a hard time remembering the others.

"Don't you youngsters know your history?" Lionheart meowed from behind them. Goldenclaw was with him, giving Graypaw a look of amusement.

"Really Graypaw? I wasn't aware that there was a Great Clan named SpottyClan." he mewled in amusement. Mossflower and Spottedleaf purred in amusement. Graypaw sniffed.

"I think he meant LeopardClan, Goldenclaw." Lionheart purred.

"It's a shame that these apprentices don't know their history." meowed Goldenclaw

"LeopardClan were large horse sized cats that were very swift with golden pelts and black spots. We should be thankful to all the great Clans." meowed Lionheart.

"But, why?" asked the young apprentice.

"Because each of us has a trace of every great clan in us. TigerClan the ability to hunt at night, from LionClan we get our enjoyment of the sun and from LeopardClan gave us an ability to be swift and efficient hunters. How old are you? You look small for an apprentice. " meowed Lionheart, Mossflower looked over at the young apprentice and felt that Lionheart was right, the apprentice was rather small. 'He looks like he may have just turned four moons old.'

"He's old enough. Leave him alone" growled a ginger she-cat who was making her way to Lionheart, a gray and white apprentice followed closely behind her. The gray and white apprentice went to sit next to the smaller tabby apprentice.

"I meant nothing by it Amberpelt." meowed Lionheart calmly. Amberpelt moved until she was almost nose to nose with Lionheart.

"Oh really? Why do you need to know his age? He wouldn't be at a gathering if he wasn't old enough. Or do you think its okay to pick on an apprentice just because he's so small?" she hissed. Mossflower moved to stand beside Lionheart.

"There's no need for this, Lionheart was merely asking him a question, one that he didn't have to answer, there's no need to get so defensive." meowed Mossflower. Amberpelt sniffed glaring at Mossflower crossly.

"Well next time he can keep his nose out of ShadowClan's business. Come one Littlepaw, you too Pinepaw." she hissed whipping around quickly and walking away with the two apprentices following closely behind her. Mossflower glanced at Lionheart. She noticed Lionheart was watching the small apprentice curiously.

"Something's not right" murmured Lionheart. Mossflower nodded before turning to look at Firepaw and Graypaw, whose fur was standing on end from their confrontation with Amberpelt. She padded over to the brushing her tail over their ears and purring softly.

"Hey why don't we go find Ravenpaw? Graypaw and Firepaw nodded following Mossflower around the clearing before finding Ravenpaw telling the same story Tigerclaw had been telling the other warriors, not too long ago, to some other apprentices. Mossflower noticed that Firepaw had a curious look on his face for a moment which turned to a look of shock after he looked up. Mossflower quickly turned her head in the same direction he was looking a noticed how furious Tigerclaw looked at his apprentice. Mossflower's jaw almost dropped in shock. ' Could Scourgeclaw have been right about Tigerclaw, and he treats Ravenpaw?' she started to listen to Ravenpaw's story trying to see if there was anything the apprentice had said to cause such a furious look, but before she could get in any details a call sounded from the High Rock.

"Mossflower?" she glanced at Firepaw.

"Yes Firepaw?"

"If Redtail killed Oakheart then who killed Redtail?" whispered Firepaw. Mossflower froze and turned to completely face Firepaw.

"What are you talking about? I thought Tigerclaw killed Oakheart because Oakheart killed Redtail." she whispered back.

"But, Ravenpaw just said that Redtail killed Oakheart… never mind he must have been mistaken." Firepaw quieted down glancing over at the spot where he had seen Tigerclaw. A chill went down Mossflower's back 'That's what I missed. That must have been why Tigerclaw was angry but, why would he be so furious over a mistake?' she thought as she sat down in a spot with a good view of the High Rock. She to one more look at Firepaw and she could tell from his expression that he didn't fully believe his own words. 'I've got to tell Scourgeclaw about this.' she thought, but as she looked around she didn't see him anywhere in the clearing. 'Where did he go? He's going to miss the meeting.' She looked up and saw her mother, Brokenstar, and Crookedstar on the High Rock. Cats began to murmur about the lack of WindClan cats present.

"There isn't a single WindClan cat here." a light brown she-cat with white chest and legs murmured to Mossflower.

"They wouldn't start the meeting without WindClan present, would they?" Mossflower meowed back at her. Before the she-cat could answer a voice rang out from above the commotion.

"We can't start yet without WindClan." Mossflower watched as Bluestar approached the edge to address the present Clans.

"This is true but, Brokenstar wish to speak now." she meowed, stepping back to give Brokenstar room to speak.

"Fellow warriors I'm here to talk to you about ShadowClan's needs." Cats began to interrupt him asking where the WindClan representatives were, but Brokenstar ignored them all and continued to speak about the harsh leaf-bare they had weathered and spoke of ShadowClan needing more territory to feed its growing Clan.

"I feel that every clan should allow ShadowClan to hunt in their territories, to support my growing Clan." The cats below began to growl and hiss angrily at Brokenstar. Mossflower this time let her jaw drop in disbelief at the ShadowClan leader. 'Is he mad? Why should we give up part of our territory because his clan can't feed itself in its own territory?'

"WindClan failed to understand the needs of my Clan and they were driven from their territory, and I will drive the rest of you from your territories as well if you don't understand as well." The cats fell silent with looks of shock on there faces. 'ShadowClan drove out WindClan.' she was so wrapped in her thoughts she almost didn't hear Crookedstar address the clans telling them that he had given up part of RiverClan's territory to ShadowClan. She looked at the light brown she-cat sitting beside her and saw her shake in rage.

"How could he?" she hissed under her breath. Mossflower turned her attention to her mother watching her closely. 'Don't give into him Bluestar.' she thought. As if she had heard her daughter's words she spoke to her clan.

"I will discuss this with my clan before I make any such decisions." meowed Bluestar. 'Good' was all Mossflower thought. Brokenstar stepped forward to speak up again.

"I have other news, a ShadowClan cat turned rouge and we chased her from our territory, we do not know where she has gone, but until she is caught I think it is best that you keep a close eye on your kits." 'He must be talking about Yellowfang' Mossflower thought to herself. She could her a low growl come from her fellow clanmates. 'They can't seriously be that worried over her?' After Brokenstar had spoken he leapt from the Great Rock and began to lead his Clan away. Mossflower moved over to her Clanmates who were voicing their concerns about Yellowfang. She herself wondered what Bluestar would do about Yellowfang. She didn't think that Yellowfang was much of a threat at the moment to kits' she looked around for Firepaw but didn't see him. She went directly over to Graypaw.

"Where's Firepaw?" she asked

"He went back to the Clan to warn Yellowfang, he thought it be fair to let her know what was coming." he meowed. Mossflower sighed

"Hopefully he'll have enough sense to stay out of sight when we get back." she murmured to herself. Once Bluestar had reached the group she quickly lead them out of the clearing a charging up the slope. Mossflower could hear the distress in Frostfur's voice as the quickly moved back to camp. Goldenclaw murmured comforting words to her which had calmed her down but she still had a look of anxiety on her face.

When the entered the camp Frostfur broke away from the group and almost dived into the nursery. She felt fur brush against her and turned her head to see Runningwind

"What happened?" Mossflower quickly explained what had happened at the gathering from the explanation of why WindClan had not been to the gathering to the ShadowClan rogue that was a supposed to danger to the Clan. She started to look for Firepaw when commotion broke out. She saw Tigerclaw and Darkstripe dragging Yellowfang from her nest while she struggled hissing and spitting. Bluestar voice rang out in fury.

"What is going on here? I didn't give any order to attack Yellowfang." she growled. "What has she done to deserve this? Brokenstar didn't call her by name and all of our kits are safe." She told every cat that Yellowfang was not to be harmed. She told the Clan that they would be increasing their patrols now that ShadowClan had made it clear that they are a threat. Mossflower was relieved for Yellowfang and her thoughts went to ShadowClan briefly before remembering Firepaw . She glanced around for Firepaw and spotted him next to Graypaw. She made her way over to him quickly.

"Firepaw that wasn't smart, what if someone had seen you? What would you have done if Bluestar had decided to exile Yellowfang?" Firepaw flattened his ears to his skull and his eyes flashed with a little guilt.

"Sorry Mossflower I wasn't thinking, I just wanted to let Yellowfang know what she would face if she stayed in camp. I didn't think about the consequences of my actions." he meowed.

" Well your lucky no one except myself, Ravenpaw and Graypaw noticed you missing." she froze suddenly. Firepaw and Runningwind looked at her concerned.

"What's wrong Mossflower?" meowed Firepaw. Runningwind touched his nose to her shoulder. Mossflower shook her head slightly, then she glanced around the camp slowly before looking at Firepaw.

" Firepaw, where's Scourgeclaw?"

A dark brown tabby, with unusually long fur and a broad flat face lead his cats to a tunnel that lead beneath the Thunderpath. Cats followed him one by one. A silver tabby tom trailing from behind paused and looked around before heading to some bushes. A ginger she-cat came back and called out to him. He assured her that he was just going to make dirt. She sighed and told him to hurry before racing after the others. As he moved behind the bush and scratched around for a good spot. Suddenly a blur of black fur crashed into him knocking him off his feet. He hissed and began to struggle when a white paw touched his neck. He froze when he didn't feel claws but, long, cold, pale teeth lightly digging into his neck. He looked up and stared in disbelief at the cat who had pinned him.

"No, it can't be."

"But it can. Now tell me Boulder, what is your leader planning?"

(Not my best chapter, but i wanted to get it out of the way, I wonder what going to happen now.

School is a nightmare as always, hopefully i will get the next chapter up soon and i hope it will be better than this chapter.)