Finally, chapter 4! Sorry for the wait...
Party!
Chapter 4: Wind and River
The group only stopped when they came upon a river.
"How are we going to cross? The water is moving too fast for my liking," Littlecloud meowed, staring at the water.
"And some of us don't know how to swim," Lisa added, glancing at Jeremy, who glared back.
"You don't know how to swim?" Toby asked Jeremy, laughing.
Jeremy looked at Toby, unsheathing his claws, ready to attack.
"Idiot fight!" Ashley exclaimed.
Spottedleaf stepped between the two black cats. "Not now," she told them. She turned her head to look at Littlecloud. "There are rocks in the water up here, but we'd have to go single-file." She walked between Toby and Jeremy and up to a row of rocks that barely jutted out from the water.
"I'll cross first," Littlecloud mewed. He jumped to the closest rock and crossed the river, quickly jumping across the rocks gracefully. "The rocks are a little slippery, but I'm sure you can all manage it," he called back.
Ashley crossed next. She was slower, but she didn't fall. As Kelsey was crossing she almost lost her balance, but Alex jumped over to the rock Kelsey was on and pulled her up with her teeth. They both got across at the same time. LeChez made it across no problem. Toby then turned to Jeremy.
"Uh, your turn," Toby mewed to Jeremy.
"Now who can't swim?" Jeremy asked teasingly.
"Both of you will have to cross at some point," Spottedleaf pointed out. "Why don't you go first, Toby?"
"But-" Toby started to object.
"You shouldn't argue with a medicine cat, especially one from StarClan," Lisa interrupted.
"Fine…" Toby grumbled. He was the most cautious about getting across, but he only slipped once, surprisingly.
"Your turn, Jeremy," Spottedleaf meowed with forced excitement. Jeremy jumped to the first rock no problem, but hesitated before jumping to the second.
"It's not that hard," Littlecloud called from the opposite bank. Jeremy went to jump to the second rock, but came up a little short. He tried to keep a hold of the rock with his front paws while his rear paws hung in the river.
"Hang on, Jeremy," Spottedleaf called out. She jumped to the first rock, but before she could get to Jeremy, he slipped under water. Without thinking, Lisa ran out into the water up to her belly and reached out to catch Jeremy before he drifted too far downstream. She pulled him back to shore and laid him in the sun.
Jeremy coughed once, and then stood up shaking his fur. "Thanks, Lisa," he meowed.
"Anything for a friend," she replied. "Even idiots like you," she added. In response, Jeremy prodded her with one of his paws. Spottedleaf raced towards the two.
"Are both of you ok?" she asked.
Jeremy nodded as Lisa replied, "Yeah."
Lisa looked up across the river. She saw the whole group, except Ashley.
As if reading her mind, Littlecloud yelled "Ashley went to see if there's another way across the river upstream." That moment, Ashley ran over to Littlecloud, excitement gleaming in her eyes.
"I think I found a way around the river," she mewed, a hint of pride in her voice. "Follow me." She hurried back in the direction she came from, cats on both sides of the river running upstream.
They halted when they saw what Ashley had wanted to show them. Before the group stood a large cliff, with a beautiful waterfall cascading down the side. Behind the waterfall lay a narrow path, large enough for only one cat to cross at a time.
Lisa tuned to Jeremy, motioning for him to go through first. "Ladies first!" she explained. Jeremy glared at Lisa, but he still walked through without a word. Everyone except for Jeremy laughed. Because of this, he nearly slipped, but he caught himself. Lisa walked in after him and got through no problem. She turned around to see how Spottedleaf was doing. She hadn't realized that she was walking right behind her.
"Ok, the RiverClan camp is this way. Spottedleaf meowed, before diving under a fern. The rest of the group followed close behind, no one saying a word. They stopped walking when they came to the top of a large dip in the earth.
"I have taken you to the RiverClan camp," Littlecloud meowed to Spottedleaf with high respect. "I must go back to ShadowClan. May Sta- never mind." Lisa laughed as Littlecloud turned around and disappeared into the forest. He had almost forgotten that Spottedleaf is a StarClan cat. The term "May StarClan be with you" is the clan version of good luck.
Spottedleaf led the way down to the RiverClan camp.
"Do you think that RiverClan will be as hostile as ShadowClan?" LeChez asked Lisa.
"I doubt it," Lisa replied. "ShadowClan is known for being the coldest and least trustful of the clans. RiverClan isn't quite as bad, though they're known for siding with ShadowClan on many occasions."
"Good, I really don't want to get into a fight here," Alex added, falling into step with Lisa.
"We're in luck!" Spottedleaf called back. "We don't have to worry about patrols this time." She bounded over to a fairly large group of cats, most of them with the stars in their fur that mark them as StarClan cats. The two that didn't have the starshine were a bored-looking golden cat and a smaller gray cat that looked way more excited than her companion. The remaining cats included a tortoiseshell; a white cat with black specks, and a long-haired, brown cat. They all had the sweet smell of herbs on them, much like Spottedleaf.
"Do you think those are all the medicine cats? I think I recognize Mothwing, Mudfur, and Willowpaw, but I don't know the others," Ashley quietly mewed to Lisa.
"I think you're right. Notice how bored Mothwing looks?" At that, Mothwing stood up and followed Spottedleaf to the group. At closer glance, Lisa noticed a hint of confusion in her eyes.
"This is our escort into the RiverClan camp, Mothwing," Spottedleaf told the group. Mothwing dipped her head in greeting.
"We should go right away to Leopardstar if you want to meet with her and with Onestar before sunset," Mothwing meowed, with a bow of respect to Spottedleaf.
"Then lead the way." Spottedleaf flicked her tail in the direction of the RiverClan camp.
Spottedleaf walked beside Mothwing, just a step behind. Lisa, Ashley, and Kelsey followed right behind them. Alex and LeChez fell into step behind them, and last came the idiots, Jeremy and Toby.
As they walked through the camp, the group got a couple of weird looks, but no challenges other than the occasional playful kit.
Spottedleaf motioned for the group to halt. Everyone stopped in their tracks, except Toby, who walked right into Alex. She spun around hissing, "Pay attention," startling Toby into hiding behind Jeremy.
Mothwing continued to a thicket, which apparently was Leopardstar's den.
"Leopardstar, we have visitors," she called into the den. She stepped back as a cat with gold, spotted fur came out of her den.
"Spottedleaf? I've already heard the prophecy from one of my own medicine cats; I don't need you to re-tell it," Leopardstar hissed rather harshly.
"Actually, I was hoping you've been told of the prophecy. These seven cats I brought are part of the prophecy. We'll soon be back at the lake," Spottedleaf explained.
Leopardstar turned to Mothwing. "You may go back to the other medicine cats." In response, Mothwing dipped her head and hurried out of the camp. After watching the medicine cat disappear out of the camp, Leopardstar turned back to the visitors. "Well if that's all you came for, you might as well leave."
"Very well, then." Spottedleaf dipped her head in farewell and turned to lead the way towards WindClan. The rest of the group followed in the same formation as before.
After a little ways of walking, Jeremy picked up the pace to walk beside Lisa. "What's WindClan like?" he asked the three girls in step behind Spottedleaf.
"WindClan cats are probably the most cooperative of the clans," Kelsey started.
"Their leader is actually a personal friend of Firestar's, and they've sided with ThunderClan on multiple occasions," Ashley added.
"But lately they've been more hostile, so be careful," Lisa finished off the short history of the clan.
"Uh, oh. This looks like trouble," Ashley said, looking up past Spottedleaf.
Lisa looked over and saw what got her friend so worried. Not only did their group run into a patrol, but it was comprised of the very cats that they didn't want to run into.
"Wait, isn't it unusual for a family to be a patrol?" Ashley questioned.
"I believe so," came Lisa's answer.
"What are ThunderClan cats doing so close to the WindClan camp?" the older tom asked.
"Let me explain, Crowfeather." Spottedleaf motioned with her tail to try to get the trio of dark-furred cats to calm down. "I have to speak with Onestar. Once I do so, we'll be on our way."
Crowfeather nodded and lead the way down to the camp. The she-cat, Nightcloud, walked alongside the group and the smaller tom, Breezepaw, took up the rear.
"Hurry up" Breezepaw hissed at Toby who was starting to lag behind.
"Finally someone smaller than me, and you're bossing ME around?"
"Hey, I'm an apprentice, which gives me the right to boss kittypets like you around. Besides, my ancestors were some of the best WindClan leaders. I figure leadership runs in my blood," Breezepaw continued bragging while Toby just got more and more frustrated at the talkative cat.
When Toby had enough, he unsheathed his claws and stood, facing the annoyance. "Stop bragging! You're not an apprentice; you're just an annoying little kitten," Toby hissed at Breezepaw, obviously upsetting him.
"I'll show you who's the kit," Breezepaw spat back, unsheathing his claws. He sprang forward onto Toby's back, digging his claws into Toby's fur. "I'll make your fur match the color of your eyes!" Breezepaw yowled.
By this point, the rest of the group knew something was going on. Everyone looked at least somewhat worried, except Ashley, who was just sitting there enjoying the show.
"Separate them!" Lisa yowled to Breezepaw's parents, hoping that they could hear over the screeching cats. Instead, it was Spottedleaf who acted. She managed to pull the hissing Breezepaw off Toby. Both cats were okay; though Toby had gotten scratched and they were both dirty from when Toby rolled over to try to get Breezepaw off.
She set Breezepaw down in front of Crowfeather. "The fight was as much Breezepaw's fault as it was Toby's," Spottedleaf meowed before any of the WindClan cats could start throwing blame and insults. "I'll keep my group in check, but please keep your son in check, too. Lisa, Ashley, could you two keep an eye on Toby?"
"All right," Lisa replied as Ashley glared at Toby with a bit of a smirk.
"Why those two?" Toby whined.
"They have shown to me that they can be responsible," Spottedleaf pointed out. "We need to get to the camp. I'm sure Barkface has some herbs we could use on Toby's scratches."
The group once again started to the WindClan camp. Breezepaw led while Crowfeather took up the rear.
Lisa and Ashley walked on either side of Toby, keeping an eye on him.
"You know, you really should stop trying to argue with Spottedleaf," Lisa mewed.
"You're never going to win," Ashley added. Toby, surprisingly, didn't say anything. He just tried to get away from the two girls by walking faster. That plan failed when he caught up with Alex, and Lisa and Ashley were still walking alongside him, now giggling.
The rest of the trip went by without a word. When they came up to the dip in the earth that held the WindClan camp, Spottedleaf ran ahead to a brown tom sunning himself on the ridge above the camp.
"Barkface, there was a bit of a fight," Spottedleaf started. Barkface glared up, apparently wondering who was interrupting his rest.
"Spottedleaf?" His eyes widened as he sat up. "Why couldn't you deal with the injuries back at the ThunderClan camp?"
"The fight happened when I was on my way here to share some news with Onestar," she explained. "It was just Breezepaw and one of The Seven."
"'The Seven'? You mean part of the Six of Seven?" Spottedleaf nodded. She motioned for Toby to come over. He obeyed, wincing as the dried blood pulled at his fur.
"I think Breezepaw just needs a bit of washing, and a simple poultice to stop infection should be enough for Toby's scratches."
"I'll work on fixing Toby up while you talk with Onestar. Come on, Toby." Barkface lead the way down to camp, Toby following somewhat reluctantly. The rest of the cats made their way down, going to the other end of the dip. Half of the cats were just sunning themselves, the other half were restless, going in and out of the dens and meowing among themselves. They're being much more calm about this than the other clans, Lisa thought, looking around.
Spottedleaf walked up to one of the cats that was sunning himself, although he was already sitting. He was a brown tabby with one whisker.
"Onestar," Spottedleaf started before she was cut off.
"Can't ThunderClan see that WindClan doesn't need your help?" Onestar spat.
"Harsh," Jeremy commented in Lisa's ear.
"Can't you see that all the clans need to cooperate to get us out of this problem?" Spottedleaf countered. "The Seven," Spottedleaf motioned to the six of "The Seven" that still stood behind her, "might be the key, but they can't get us home by themselves," she finished.
Toby and Barkface made their way towards the group, his fur was now clean.
"Toby took the poultice quite well, but he refused to let me apply the cobweb."
"Cobweb?" Jeremy asked Lisa.
"Medicine cats use it as a bandage," she explained.
"He should be fine as long as he's careful," Spottedleaf meowed, with a look that showed she meant it more as a warning than a reassurance. "Anyways, we need to get you back out of the forest." She led the way up and out of the camp.
"Straight that way is the bridge," she said, motioning in a seemingly random direction. "I need to go back to ThunderClan. Good luck!" and with that, she disappeared off in the direction of the river.
Lisa led the way back to the bridge. The group was now on the side of the river with the cabin, which was expected considering they had crossed the river on their way to RiverClan. Everyone prepared to ride once again, except for Toby.
"Anyone want to trade horses?" he asked, holding out the reins.
"Heck, no," Jeremy replied, getting up on Komiko.
Everyone else just laughed as they got up on their horses.
"Oh, fine," Toby accepted defeat as he got up on Jingle, wincing from the scratches he had received in the fight.
They continued on their way towards the cabin in the same formation as before, with the exception of Alex and Lisa switching spots.
After just a couple minutes of riding, a kid rushed past in front of Umaneroku, spooking him into rearing up.