Chapter Six
GrassClan was settled over a massive territory consisting of identical rolling fields of grass and extraordinarily few landmarks. Rainpaw wasn't pleased to discover this, especially since he had two rabbits in his jaws and they were heavy. He thought he recognized that tree, but then again, he had also thought he'd recognized that funny shaped bush. He dropped his rabbits and sighed.
He was lost.
A rustle, not unusual on the wind-swept plains, sounded through the grass. Rainpaw unsheathed his claws just in case. A gray and white head poked out of the swaying stalks.
"Pinewind," Rainpaw exclaimed with more than a little relief. Her green eyes sparkled.
"Nice day to be lost, wouldn't you say?" she teased. Rainpaw rolled his eyes and nudged a rabbit at her.
"Just help me get back so we can eat," he said.
"Tigerfrost is looking for you, you know," she replied as she reached out to grab the rabbit in her teeth. Rainpaw grunted through a mouthful of his other rabbit. They trotted companionably through the stalks of grass, with Pinewind leading the way through the identical stalks of grass. Rainpaw didn't know how she did it. Scouts, he declared to himself, as though that explained everything.
It turned out that he'd been walking the wrong way for most of the morning. It figured. But finally, Rainpaw caught the scent of the cats of OneClan and GrassClan and saw the trails they'd pounded into the stalks of swaying grass. Pinewind led the way onto the knoll and set the rabbit down on the pitifully small freshkill pile. Rainpaw sighed. He knew that the GrassClan cats needed to be watched carefully for signs of rebellion, but the OneClan warriors did nothing but scare prey away when they accompanied the smaller plains cats hunting.
"It looks like he's over there with Blackflash," Pinewind murmured, flicking her tail. Rainpaw followed the motion, seeing that she was right. Sighing once again, he bid the scout goodbye. No matter what he did lately, it was always wrong when it came to Tigerfrost. He anticipated this conversation would be no more fun than the last few.
Blackflash's sharp green eyes scanned the apprentice. Rainpaw tried to stand tall against the cold gaze, wondering if she found him wanting. "Don't forget, Tigerfrost," she flung over her shoulder, and then slid away on nearly noiseless paws.
A scowl was on Tigerfrost's face as Rainpaw turned back to him.
"Pinewind told me you wanted to see me," Rainpaw said warily. His mentor snorted derisively.
"I take it you've been hunting," the massive tabby replied. "I'm patrolling with Froststar to mark our borders at sunhigh." Rainpaw nodded; he'd been expecting it now that they'd wrestled GrassClan under control. "There will be a Clan meeting at moonrise. Until then, you're to guard that den." Tigerfrost's tail flicked towards a large mound carved out of the ground.
"Understood, sir."
Tigerfrost growled under his breath and stalked away, his striped pelt rippling under the sun the same way the grass rippled under the wind. The apprentice glanced at the mound and grinned. Poor Screechpaw looked so bereft, guarding that den there. Rainpaw saw no problem in making him wait just a little longer. Or a lot longer. He sat down and began grooming his thick gray chest fur. Every now and again he caught Screechpaw's yellow eyes and grinned at him.
After a while, Rainpaw rolled his eyes and trotted over with a chuckle. "I'm to relieve you, Screechpaw," he said cheerily. The other apprentice growled at him and stalked off, only to plop down a few foxlengths away for a nap. Lazy mousebrain, Rainpaw thought. It occurred to him that cats' growling at him was becoming a trend. As he sat down outside the entrance to the mound, his nose caught a soft, milky scent. The nursery. A faint mewling drifted through the tunnel to meet his ears.
For the first time since the battle, Rainpaw thought about the cats he had fought. So many of them had been trapped inside the dens, but he remembered Nettlesting, that troublesome amber-eyed coward, and the yellow-brown tom that had nearly ripped off his foot. He wondered whether the cream she-cat whose belly he'd mangled was in the nursery, with the queens and the kits. A twinge of guilt flickered inside him as he heard another plaintive mew echo up the tunnel. If it wasn't for OneClan, they would not be going hungry. Rainpaw sighed angrily and fluffed out his fur.
"We're uniting the land," he muttered. He'd seen the southern conquest; he knew how much better conditions were for OakClan and PineClan now, and for those valley cats from below the mountain. GrassClan will be the same, he declared to himself. His father would make it so.
"Guard," a voice hissed. Rainpaw jumped and wrenched around at the sound. Sharp yellow eyes blinked out of the gloom at him and the apprentice felt a flush creep under his fur at reacting so anxiously.
"Yes?"
The she-cat padded forward, and Rainpaw nearly snorted at the irony of it. Speak of the cat, he thought. The cream colored cat from the battle glared at him with her accusing yellow eyes. "The kits are hungry. We need food."
"I'll find someone to get a rabbit to you soon," he replied. Her proud head tilted upwards in disgust and she turned to pad down into the darkness again. Rainpaw felt that same fluttering of guilt in his heart again.
"What is your name?" The words leaped unbidden from his tongue. The she-cat turned back to him with wariness in her eyes.
"What does it matter to you, kit?"
"I—well, I…" Rainpaw trailed off, feeling his fur prick with embarrassment. Was it hot, or was that just his fluffy pelt talking? And really, why did he want to know? He dropped his eyes from her burning yellow gaze. She snorted.
"It's Heatherclaw, little kit. See that we get the rabbit." Her cream tail swished as she retreated into the darkness of the den once more. Rainpaw huffed and sat down.
"This kit managed to claw you to shreds during the battle, Heatherclaw," he muttered under his breath. Still, a smile crept onto his face.
"Hey Screechpaw," he called, a mischievous grin flitting across his lips. "Go fetch the prisoners a rabbit, would you?" The other apprentice lifted his head and growled. Rainpaw chuckled. Messing with that furball was just too much fun.
~oOo~
Sunset painted the sky with burnished oranges and fiery reds by the time Crowthorn came to relieve him. By then, the dark gray apprentice had become tired and hungry, ready for a nap after his day of hunting and guarding, and he sensed that somehow Crowthorn could see his weakness. Rainpaw hated his narrowed amber eyes; the warrior seemed to always be sizing a cat up, looking for a lapse in their defenses. It gave Rainpaw the creeps.
All Rainpaw wanted to do was lie down and go to sleep, but he remembered Tigerfrost's instructions about the meeting and grudgingly padded over to the knoll where he knew his father would hold it. The sun slipped over the horizon quicker than Rainpaw expected. Soon, stars twinkled in the purpling sky. Paw steps rustled in the trampled grass nearby and Rainpaw turned his head to meet Swanblossom's green eyes. He nodded in greeting and gave her a weary smile.
Suddenly, a white pelt flashed in the gloom, springing up onto the hillock in the middle of the clearing. The moon broke over the horizon at that moment, illuminating Froststar's fur with its fine glow as he prepared to call the meeting.
"Father does love to be dramatic, doesn't he?" Swanblossom muttered to Rainpaw. He snorted.
"Let every cat old enough to catch their own prey gather beneath the hillock for a Clan meeting!" The ceremonial call rang out from Froststar's lips. Moonstream padded up to her sister's side, and the other cats filled in around them. The leader of OneClan shimmered in the moonlight.
"OneClan! I believe congratulations are in order!" Froststar called, smiling as cheers went up from the assembled crowd of cats. "You fought admirably for our cause, and I thank each of you for your dedication. Thanks to you, GrassClan will soon be another part of our great empire!" More cheering rose from the crowd.
Froststar flicked his tail and a cat broke off from the crowd and darted away. "Now, as always, we offer the defeated a choice." The cat returned, leading a line of bedraggled GrassClan cats. The crowd of OneClan parted as Blackflash and Crowthorn led them to the leader. Rainpaw heard nothing but a faint hiss as they padded past.
"Cats of GrassClan," Froststar began in a deep rumble. "The choice is simple: agree to join OneClan and fight with us, and we shall forgive your resistance."
"And if we don't?" A burly brown and black tom shouldered his way to the front of the crowd. "What then, Froststar?"
Froststar's blue gaze burned into the tom. Finally he asked, "What is your name, GrassClan cat?"
The mottled tom lifted his head defiantly. "I am Boulderfur, deputy of GrassClan."
"Well, Boulderfur, you are deputy no longer. Your feeble declarations will not protect you from the treason you committed against OneClan by fighting against us."
The mottled tom hissed. He whirled around to face his brethren. "GrassClan! See how he twists words? This is no leader, just a coward and a murderer trying to take our way of life from us! We must resist!"
Froststar stood, his face expressionless. A dingy furred tom crept forward. "I will join you, Froststar," he mewed, fear on his face. Boulderfur spat angrily.
"Burrowfoot, you coward," he hissed.
Froststar's impassive gaze flicked back to the former deputy. "He has made his choice, and we will welcome him. Now is the time for you to do the same, or face the consequences."
Boulderfur stalked forward, flicking his tail. Rainpaw glanced anxiously at the GrassClan cats bristling in the center of the clearing. He saw fire in some of the cats' eyes, fear in others'. But the deputy kept on.
"Froststar, if you thought killing Rustlestar would silence us all, you were wrong. GrassClan will never bow to you, not now and not ever. We will die fighting before we agree to join you, that coward notwithstanding." He swept feverish eyes over the remains of his Clan for a moment. "GrassClan, attack!" He sprang for the hillock.
Before Rainpaw's wide eyes, Froststar batted the former deputy out of the air and leaped on him. Yowls sliced through the air as many of the GrassClan cats jumped towards a battle they could not win. As Blackflash and Crowthorn took down a pair of cats, all Rainpaw could hope was that Heatherclaw did not join in. It took barely moments for the rebellion to be quelled.
Rainpaw felt frozen in place as he watched his father pin Boulderfur in place. His icy blue eyes swept the crowd of OneClan and GrassClan assembled before him.
"I offer kindness again and again, but you do not seem to understand. Rebellions cannot be tolerated. However, my offer still extends to any cat who yields."
Even to the last, Boulderfur spit and struggled. "Never, Froststar!" Disdainful blue eyes bored into the former GrassClan deputy's.
"Then you earn your fate," Rainpaw's father proclaimed. Then his blinding white paw darted out, quick as a snake. Rainpaw could see the surprise on the fallen cat's face even from across the clearing as massive white claws bit into his throat and ripped. The other GrassClan cats murmured fearfully.
Heatherclaw padded forward from a group of queens, her yellow eyes horrified. "We yield, Froststar."
Rainpaw hardly felt when Swanblossom brushed her pelt against his own, hardly listened as his father proclaimed their wonderful cause to them again. Looking at the terrified GrassClan cats —no, they were OneClan now— Rainpaw shivered.
It was hard to feel good about their victory with blood staining his father's claws. The moon continued to shine down upon the leader's pure white coat as Boulderfur's blood soaked into the grass.
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