Chapter Eight

Firestar blinked open his leaf-green eyes and sat up stretching. The warmth that seeped into his fiery pelt with the rays of the rising sun waking him. Yawning widely, the ginger tom sat at the entrance to his den and surveyed his Clan, just now coming to life after the long night.

Purring, he watched his nephew, Cloudtail, and his mate, Brightheart, pick a rabbit out of the fresh-kill pile and share it. He saw Dustpelt and Ferncloud sharin tongues outside of the nursery, their two kits, Foxkit and Icekit, playing at their paws. Firestar reminded himself that the kits' apprentice ceremonies would be soon. They were getting far too big for the nursery, and were running Ferncloud ragged. Even in peaceful times like these, Clan life went on.

It was then that Firestar felt a sudden chill run down his spine. One look at the peaceful cat below, with the dawn patrol led by Brambleclaw coming back looking unharried, told him that there was no immediate danger to his Clan. However, he was sure that the chill was a dark premonition of danger to come.

---

Lionpaw saw Leafpool's look of fear and turned in time to have his nose sliced open by the fox's razor sharp claws. The ensuing spurt of blood flew into his eyes, blinding him. It was only by luck that he managed to avoid a bite that passed right by his ear. Reeling away, the pain from his nose making him dizzy, he hoped that Leafpool had taken his advice and run.

A sharp pain from a sudden cut beneath his eye brought the sudden truth crashing down on him. No one was coming to save him, there would be no walking away from this battle unscathed. This was the ultimate test of his skill: a battle for his life.

The sudden realization of this made Lionpaw freeze in terror. He didn't want to die, not this young. He wasn't even a warrior yet! A snapping sound close to his tail jerked him back to reality. He could worry later, right now, he needed to concentrate entirely on fighting.

Leafpool stared on, her amber eyes wide. Trembling, she watched in horror Lionpaw fighting the fox, each time narrowly avoiding it's deadly bite. But Leafpool knew he couldn't continue like this forever, something somewhere had to give. The disease lent the fox a tireless fighting energy, but Lionpaw was already beginning to tire. Already, the misses were becoming narrower, and she could see him panting heavily from here. She knew that, if he didn't rest soon, he would die.

But how am I to get him away? she asked herself desperately. She knew that Lionpaw would lay down his life fro her or any other ThunderClan cat without hesitation. ThunderClan couldn't afford to lose that type of courage and dedication and courage.

It was while she was pondering this that a lithe silvery form flooded over the side of the Moonpool's hollow and launched itself onto the back of the fox, biting and scratching and tearing. The fox let out a high-pitched whine and rolled over onto it's back, trying to loose this unexpected adversary..

Lionpaw seized his chance and sliced open the fox's exposed belly. Blood swelled everywhere, and a great big spurt of it caught Lionpaw straight in the face before it began flowing freely from the wound. The blood-soaked corpse of the fox began to move and, utilizing the last of his remaining strength, Lionpaw helped to shift it off of the newcomer that had quite possibly saved his life.

The silver cat, quick as a fish, wriggled out from beneath the fox and turned to face Lionpaw and Leafpool. He had stony-blue eyes, and though his silver pelt was ragged, torn, and soaked red with fox blood, Leafpool got the impression that underneath all of that he was quite a handsome cat.

The stranger flicked a ragged ear and spat out a bloody tooth. Then, addressing the others, he meowed, "My name's Silverfish. Who're you?"

Lionpaw had collapsed to the ground in exhaustion, so Leafpool answered for them both. "My name is Leafpool, and that's Lionpaw.'

Silverfish took one look at the gasping apprentice and meowed, "He needs to be healed. Is there any among you who knows how to heal wounds?"

"Of course," sniffed Leafpool, chagrined taht she hadn't thought of that first. "Follow me and I'll take you back to our camp." She ficked her tail for them to follow and led them out of the hollow, Lionpaw leaning heavily upon Silverfish for support. Glancing back, Leafpool saw the fox's blood pouring into the Moonpool, turning the normally clear water a faded crimson. She shuddered. StarClan had blood on their paws.

---

When they stumbled back into camp, every cat was gathered in the clearing. It seemed as though the smell of blood and a stranger had foretold their arrival. Firestar raced forward towards them and, in a voice full of worry, asked, 'What happened? Who's this?"

"I'll tell you later," mumbled Leafpool. "Right now, I need to see to any wounds these cats have." Firestar stepped aside, and the other cats followed his example, leaving a clear path to Leafpool's den.

---

The scent of blood woke Hollypaw. Thinking that an enemy may have invaded the camp, she bolted upright and, flicking a piece of moss off of her ear, she scrambled out of the apprentice's den.

Already a great multitude of cats had gathered around, crowding together so that it made it difficult for Hollypaw to see what they were looking at. Jumping up and down in an attempt to see over the heads of the other cats didn't work, and not for the first time she wished that she commanded the respect of a leader. No cat in the Clan would dare to block her view then!

But, as it was, for now she was just a lowly apprentice who was too small to see over the crowd. Sighing, she halted her futile attempts and began to push her way through the crowd. It was difficult at first, but then she began to spot narrow pathways scattered among the shuffling bodies just large enough for her to squeeze through. Slipping through them, it wasn't long before she had brought herself up to the front of the crowd and could finally see what had gathered them all. What she saw shocked her.

Suddenly Hollypaw's world narrowed. The noise of all the other cats, so booming and deafening before, was now muted into hardly discernable background noise. To Hollypaw, all that mattered was her brother, Lionpaw, covered in blood and bleeding from what seemed a hundred gaping wounds. She felt sick, watching all that blood drip slowly onto the ground, leaving behind him a trail of red pawprints. Never in her young life had she seen so much blood before, and never did she wish to again.

"Don't worry," murmured a comforting voice in her ear, and Hollypaw turned to see Jaypaw sitting next to her, looking grim. "Most of that blood belongs to a fox. You can smell it's stink from here." As if to put emphasis on this, he wrinkled his nose in disgust.

"Aren't you going to go help him?" asked Hollypaw, curious as to why Jaypaw was still sitting next to her.

"Aren't you?" he replied, fixing her with his sightless stare. "Why should I? Can't Leafpool handle this on her own? He's not even that badly hurt!"

"But you're the medicine cat apprentice!" gasped Hollypaw, disbelieving. "It's your duty!"

"Who said I was medicine cat apprentice?" he asked irately. "Hasn't Leafpool told you yet?"

"Told me what?"

"I'm not her apprentice anymore. Aren't you going to go find out what happened?" he asked, walking away.

Hollypaw nodded dumbly, at the moment too preoccupied with trying to figure out when Leafpool had lost her apprentice to argue. Besides, she really did want to know what had happened to her brother.

---

For Lionpaw, the world swam in and out of focus. When he could see, all he saw were shadowy figures and blurry images. Even the voices were distorted beyond either recognition or decipherability. When he attempted to concentrate on this, he got a feeling like his head was splitting open. After a while, he just found it easier to sink back into the blackness, silently watching as it took over the world he knew. Sighing softly, he allowed it to claim him.

---

Leafpool laid Lionpaw down in an empty nest, seeing to his wounds right away. Firestar, Squirrelflight, Brambleclaw, Hollypaw, and Jaypaw had followed them in, and Silverfish sat in the corner, watching. There wasn't much Leafpool could do for Lionpaw except dress his wounds. She would have to wait till she could get some water before washing off his pelt, and no herbs she knew of would bring him safely into conciousness.

"Leafpool," Firestar took a few steps towards his daughter, worry clouding his usually bright green eyes.

Turning to face her visitors, Leafpool met her father's concerned gaze. "Yes?" she asked, sounding tired.

"What happened?" burst out Squirrelflight, stepping forward to stand beside their father. "And how's this?" She jerked her tail in Silverfish's direction, sounding almost as if she were blaming him for Lionpaw's condition.

"I'm Silverfish," meowed the silver tom, bowing his head respectfully to Firestar. Then, having heard the accusation in Squirrelflight's voice, looked directly at her and added, "And if it weren't for me, Lionpaw would have died."

Squirrelflight averted her gaze and took a step back. Her tail twitched with embarrassment, and not for the first time, she regretted her argumentative nature.

Leafpool sighed. It seemed as if the time for telling the story had come. "I was visiting the Moonpool. Lionpaw must have followed me out of camp. I don't know, I just know that a rabid fox attacked me. It caught me unawares. It would've killed me if Lionpaw hadn't shown up.

Lionpaw began attacking it, and I warned him that it was infected with the crazy sickness. He didn't get bitten, but there were some narrow misses. We both would have died if Silverfish hadn't shown up and saved us."

"So he'll be okay?" asked Hollypaw eagerly, taking a step forward.

Leafpool nodded. She didn't want to worry Hollypaw by telling her that some of the froth from the fox's mouth had landed in Lionpaw's wounds. The less cats worried, the better.

"What were you doing at the Moonpool, Leafpool?" asked Brambleclaw, speaking up for the first time. "I saw you leave. Cloudtail said that you told him that you were out getting herbs. Why would you lie to him?"

"Yes, Leafpool. Why would you lie to one of your own Clan's warriors? Unless you had something to hide." This last came from Jaypaw.

Leafpool's tail tip twitched nervously. She had hoped that wouldn't come up. Clearing her throat, she meowed, "I was talking with StarClan."

"Have you had a prophecy from StarClan?" asked Firestar anxiously.

"No," explained Leafpool swiftly. She didn't want her Clan worried about a nonexistant prophecy. "Anyway, what about isn't important. What's important is that Lionpaw get as much rest as possible."

Firestar dipped his head. "You're right, of course," he mewed. "Besides, I have other matters I need to see to. Chiefly, about our guest."

"Aren't you going to let him stay?" asked Hollypaw. She was looking forward to learning all she could from the mysterious stranger that had saved her brother. Besides, she reasoned, such information could be beneficial to the Clan.

"Normally, yes. But the Clan might have had all it can take of bringing in strangers. Remember, I might be Clan leader, but my actual leadership rests on the opinions of the Clan. Anyway, there's no need for you to worry about it." Flicking his tail at Brambleclaw, Squirrelflight, and Hollypaw, he meowed, "Come on. Let's leave Leafpool in peace so she and Jaypaw can take care of their patient."

"I'm not staying here," announced Jaypaw, walking out of the den. Over his shoulder he announced, "I'll go get any herbs we might need, and this time I'll actually get them!" he added pointedly, causing Leafpool to wince.

Squirrelflight turned to Leafpool and asked, "What happened?" She knew that Jaypaw could be a difficult cat to handle, but not even he would be so pointedly rude for no reason. Besides, the distress waves she felt coming off of her sister were too pained for her to leave alone. She just had to know what was wrong.

Leafpool, her eyes full of pain and confusion as she stared after Jaypaw blinked and shook her head vigorously. "Nothing," she replied quietly. "Nothing at all."

---

Willowpaw lay on a rock that projected a short way out over the lake, admiring the way the sunlight glinted off of the waves. Or, at least, she looked like she was admiring the lake.

In reality, RiverClan's medicine cat apprentice was lost deep in thought. It had been fiive days since Mistyfoot's injury, and the deputy had healed up nicely, with just a slight soreness when she overexerted herself. But this wasn't what consumed Willowpaw's thoughts. No, what filled them was anxiety.

Tonight was the night of the Gathering. Willowpaw, of course, was going, as were Mothwing, Pebblepaw, Minnowpaw, Pouncepaw, Blackclaw, Voletooth, Mistyfoot, Mosspelt, Reedwhisker, and Dapplepaw. However, it was more of what was going to happen at the Gathering itself that concerned her.

Leopardstar had promised that, of course, WindClan would be made to atone for their trespassing and attack of a RiverClan patrol. But even this was far from Willowpaw's thoughts. No, what attracted all of her attention at the moment was a certain ThunderClan tom; Jaypaw.

She had had another dream about him last night, but this dream was different from all of the ones before, and it confused and scared her. In it, she had been padding along at night under the light of StarClan looking for herbs, when suddenly she had come across Jaypaw's scent.

Curious as to what he was doing, as well as scared stiff that her Clanmates would find her tracking him and notice the thrill of excitement that was travelling up her spine, she followed his scent trail. It led her far away from the lake, farther away than she had ever been before. She knew that she should be tired by now, but for some reason or other, she didn't feel tired.

Cresting the top of some unknown hill she stopped, frozen, in her tracks. There, standing just a short ways from her at the foot of a dark forest, stood Jaypaw. He was just standing there, as if waiting for something or someone. Willowpaw tried to call out to him and longed to run down the hill to meet him, but couldn't move or speak. It was as if she was literally frozen.

Then, after a while, Jaypaw disappeared into the forest, and when Willowpaw tried to move, she found she could. Tumbling head over heels down the somewhat steep, rocky cliff she found the other side to be, she landed with a thud, covered in the scrapes and bruises which she knew should hurt, but for some reason didn't.

Rolling to her paws, she headed up to the forest. As she was nearing it, her neck fur unvolutarily rose, and her ears flattened themselves to her head. Still, she travelled onward, her heart compelling her paws forward until she was at the fringe. Taking deep, cautious breaths, her nose was flooded with a scent of abandonment, loss, danger, and, most of all, resentment.

Gulping audibly, she took a deep breath and gathered up all the courage she possessed. If Jaypaw could go in there, I'm going too, she thought, taking a step forward under the dark, foreboding canopy of the strange woods.

The floor was cold, hard, and unyeilding. A windy echo travelled between the tall, widely spaced trees, and her ears twitched nervously when she heard it. It reminded her of the yowls of cats in deep, unbearable pain that no one, not even Death, could relieve. What Jaypaw could possibly want in as foreboding a place as this, she didn't know.

Looking upward, she gasped when she saw nothing but darkness hanging above her. Not even StarClan's light dared to penetrate these trees. Losing her nerve, she turned to leave, but found herself surrounded by trees on all sides. She was trapped!

Beginning to panic, she opened her mouth in a soundless mew, and to her horror heard it join the endless stream of voices in the wind. No matter which direction she turned, she was met with an impenetrable line of trees. And what was worse, they all seemed to be slowing but surely closing in on her.

She felt an uneasy tingling sensation along her spine. Looking up, she saw that the darkness was closer now. She blinked, and when her eyes were open again, it had descended fully around her, surrounding her in a sea of black. She tried to breathe, but she was suffocating, and soon she would die, alone and terrified in this unfamiliar place. It was with this realization that the dream had ended.

Willowpaw wondered if it had been a dream sent to her specifically from StarClan, warning her of what was to come if she pursued Jaypaw. Involuntarily, she shivered. It couldn't be all that bad, could it? Feathertail herself had told her that you couldn't help who you fell in love with. Surely StarClan couldn't be so cruel as to deny Willowpaw her heart's greatest desire, not when she had been so faithful to them for so long?

But of course, I did know what I was committing myself to when I became Mothwing's apprentice. The fact ran around in her head for a minute, and in due course she shook it off, but it kept returning to her, making her feel guilty.

"Willowpaw!"

The pleasantly surprised voice of one of her Clanmates roused the medicine cat apprentice out of her musings. Turning her head, she saw Pebblepaw standing on the part of her rock that came up out of the shore. Sighing, she turned away from him and flopped back down heavily. "What are you doing here, Pebblepaw?" she meowed tiredly.

"Oh, I don't know. Hunting," he answered, padding up until he was sitting right beside her. "Now, what's wrong with you? You look more down than a squirrel who's lost all it's nuts!"

"I've got a lot on my mind," replied Willowpaw, closing her blue eyes. "Now, I'm sure you've got better things to do with your time than worry over me and my problems."

Pebblepaw frowned slightly. "No, I don't. Listen, Willowpaw, you're my friend. I'm not just going to ditch you when you're feeling down. Nothing is more important to me than the feelings of my friends. So, I'm not leaving until you're nice and happy."

"That's sweet," mumbled Willowpaw, sounding almost as if she were asleep.

Pebblepaw's heart skipped a beat. That was the nicest thing anyone had ever said to him, evenmoreso because it came from Willowpaw. He couldn't stand seeing her so depressed, and he began trying to think of ways to cheer her up. Suddenly, a brilliant idea popped into his head.

Going behind her, he lowered his head and pushed her into the lake. Luckily for her, Willowpaw was a RiverClan cat and the water didn't bother her much, though the fall did.

Spluttering and spitting out lake water, she clawed her way to the surface. Finding her footing in the shallow water, she stood there, swaying gently in the rippling waves, glaring up at Pebblepaw, who was rolling around laughing. "What was that for!" demanded the pale gray she-cat, the fur plastered to her skin making her look thin and strangley.

"Oh, ha ha! Hee hee!" laughed Pebblepaw, to busy laughing to answer her question. He was laughing so hard, tears were rolling down his cheeks, and his entire body shook and rolled around with the force of his mirth. Of course, he had forgotten where he was. With a peal of laughter that turned into a yowl of surprise, he rolled right off of the edge of the rock and landed wiith a Slpash! in the lake beside Willowpaw.

The she-cat's whiskers twitched with distaste as even more cold water splattered onto her already drenched pelt. She smiled, however, as she saw the smaller, shocked-looking Pebblepaw emerge beside her. Flicking her tail, she headed for shore, head and tail held high in a haughty manner.

"What was the point of pushing me into the lake?" she asked, pausing in the licking of her flank as Pebblepaw splashed noisly up to her side.

"To cheer you up," he replied simply.

"Does it look like you cheered me up?" she asked, gesturing with her tail to her soggy pelt, the water still trickling off, forming a small puddle at her paws.

"Well, he considered, "At least you don't look all depressed anymore."

She had to laugh at that one. The image of Pebblepaw, shivering slightly in the chill caused by wet fur, still managing to smile and tell her how alive she looks when she's in the same predicament just compelled her to. "Yeah, I guess you're right," she meowed, flicking water off of one completely soaked paw.

"Of course I am!' retorted Pebblepaw, puffing out his chest in mock pride. "Hey," he added, "wanna race back to camp?"

"Sure! And we can dry our fur off along the way!"

"Last one there's a rotten fish!" With that, Pebblepaw took off, leaving a mockly indignant Willowpaw behind him.

"Hey!" she laughed, "Wait for me!" As she pelted off after him, she found herself grateful for having a friend as great as him.

I must say, I really sympathize with Hollypaw in this chapter, when she can't see over the heads of her Clanmates. I usually don't personalize my writing, but I've experienced that so many times, I just had to include it. Yeah, I know, I'm really short. And you know what's really weird? All of my friends are taller than me. It's like they're all ridiculously tall. I mean, what the hell? But, yeah, enough of my short rant. Enough people have heard it anyway.

So, yeah, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I think I just beat myself in the competition for long, wordy chapters. This is seriously the longest chapter I have ever written. Have a nice, tall, day, and don't forget to review.