Chapter 7, Broken Love

Shadows flickered across the age old gathering place. The four oaks stood against the velvety sky and low murmurs swept across the gathered cats like wind across a lake. Icepaw sat near a bramble bush with Snowpaw and Nightrose. She scuffed her paws in the dirt. Her tail was cramped against the thorn bush but Nightrose insisted they stay here for the best view of the gathering. Icepaw wanted to move, but Snowpaw portrayed no such emotion, lapping gently at her tail with her tongue. Icepaw supposed she should groom herself, but Nightrose had already thoroughly done it before they left in the dark ThunderClan camp. She halfheartedly licked her shoulder. Forestpaw was sitting nearby, on the other side of Snowpaw - as far away from Icepaw as possible. They had not spoken since their fight, although Snowpaw tried her best to make peace between them. Icepaw glanced at Snowpaw's glowing long white fur, and felt a twinge of jealousy. It was well known Snowpaw was the best looking apprentice in the den - after all, the only other options were Icepaw and Forestpaw. Who would choose Icepaw over Snowpaw? Who would choose Icepaw's prickly demeanor over Snowpaw's sweet and gentle one? Icepaw blinked in surprise. Why am I thinking like this? she asked herself. I'm just an apprentice, and Snowpaw is my sister! Icepaw shook herself out of her jealous thoughts. Then she felt a surge of excitement. Lavenderstar was leaping up onto the Great Rock!
"Sweetstar, would you like to start?" Lavenderstar asked courteously to the leader of RiverClan. Sweetstar nodded. "RiverClan has had much prey this moon, and one of our apprentices has become a warrior."
Sweetstar went on for quite some while about RiverClan thriving, while Icepaw looked at the Great Rock in disappointment. She had thought it would be more interesting than this! Snowpaw yawned in boredom next to Icepaw. Icepaw couldn't help but agree with her. Finally, Sweetstar let the leader of WindClan - Pebblestar - speak. Pebblestar reported a fox that they had driven into ThunderClan territory. Lavenderstar stepped up in front of Pebblestar on the gray rock immediately. She stood for a moment with all four oaks behind her. "Thank you, Pebblestar," she said drily. "A fox is just what we need. I'll tell the patrols to keep a look out for it," she said.
"ThunderClan has three new apprentices, Forestpaw, Snowpaw, and Icepaw." she announced proudly. Icepaw gulped as everyone turned to stare at her for a moment. Then all gazes returned to Lavenderstar. For a moment, Icepaw felt a strange feeling as all the Clans looked up to the Clan Leaders on the high rock. What was it? She combed through her mind, searching for the feeling. Was it jealousy? Then the cold feeling of want gripped her again.

The feeling she felt was ambition. Icepaw shuddered at it as Lavenderstar went on. "Apart from that, ThunderClan has very little to report. Our Clan has been thriving, and there is plenty of prey," she finished. As soon as the gray she-cat stepped back, Petalstar of ShadowClan stepped forward. Her amber eyes flashed. "ShadowClan has three new apprentices, Silverpaw, Moonpaw, and Snakepaw."
Icepaw looked at the crowd. Moonpaw looked around coolly while Silverpaw looked around proudly, head held high. I didn't do that well when Lavenderstar mentioned me, Icepaw thought regretfully. The third cat mentioned, Snakepaw, was nowhere to be seen. Finally, Nightrose stiffened as she saw the third apprentice. He was sitting near them, glancing nervously around. Icepaw mewed a soft friendly greeting. He jumped, then just nodded. Nightrose gently nudged Icepaw away from the ShadowClan cat. What's wrong with saying hello? Icepaw wondered. I know he's a cat from another Clan, but that doesn't mean that I can't say hello, does it?
Now Petalstar continued in a dark voice. "Our medicine cat, Sleetflash, has been exiled." her words rang like a bell through the clearing.
"Why?" Some cat cried out.
"That is ShadowClan business, but she tried to turn us against one of our warriors." Petalstar said, her words cautious.
Snowpaw frowned and murmured to Icepaw, "That doesn't seem like a good reason to exile someone!"
Icepaw nodded. "There's more to the story," she mewed softly into Snowpaw's ear.
Snowpaw sat back. "I never thought of that. Maybe it's just ShadowClan cats, you know, being all hostile even to their own Clanmates."
Icepaw shook her head. "I don't think they're like that-" she began.
A ShadowClan cat rose up from a patch of grassy ground in front of the tall rock where Petalstar stood, amber eyes flicking around. "Petalstar!" the mysterious warrior called out.
Nightrose stiffened next to Icepaw. Icepaw wondered why but didn't ask. This was exciting, a warrior speaking at a gathering.
"You have been lied to! And it was not by Sleetflash." The warrior seemed reluctant to say whatever he had been going to say, but bravely and proudly continued. "Sleetflash was innocent, at least of lying about me." Maskface's amber eyes raked the clearing until they found Nightrose. "I have broken the warrior code, it is true. I fell in love with Nightrose of ThunderClan, and she bore my kits! I will stay silent no longer, I will not live a lie anymore! I am not ashamed of what I did. For if the warrior code ends love so, I see no reason why it is the code of warriors! I will take the consequences of my actions, Petalstar." Maskface ended.

For one moment, every cat was silent. Icepaw heard Snowpaw ask Nightrose, "What's he talking about, Mamma? Shadefrost is our father, not him!" Yet Snowpaw's voice was muffled in Icepaw's ears. It felt as if she was caught in the middle of a snow storm, and no one and wind was streaming past her ears, making everything sound far away, and look far away in the snow. Somehow, it all made sense. Somehow, she had always known it was true. Before she could confront Nightrose with lying, however, a furious yowl broke out from near Maskface. It was Owlsong, his second mate. "You lied! I loved you Maskface, did you know that? You lied to me, you lied to Petalstar, you lied to everyone!" she choked on her rage. "You are a worthless, selfish, pig! You lied, then you couldn't live with it, so you ruined it for everyone else. You're a spineless coward, Maskface! I will never love you again!" she swore. She leapt on top on Maskface's tabby pelt and started clawing at him. He laid limply beneath her as she tore at him, blood pouring onto the ground beneath the two. Petalstar leapt down from the Great Rock, with anger blazing in her eyes. She shoved Owlsong away, and looked up at the other Clan Leaders. "This is ShadowClan business, and ShadowClan will deal with it." she hissed at them. Then she looked down coldly at Maskface. "The damage is done, Maskface, the damage is done. When we return, you will search for Sleetflash and bring her back. After that, your punishment will be decided. If you don't find her, don't come back. Search until you are no longer capable of searching. This gathering is closed," she declared.

Icepaw sat still for a moment, then leapt up to Nightrose. "You lied!" she choked out, blue eyes blazing. Snowpaw was leaning against Forestpaw, eyes far away.
"You betrayed me!" she sobbed. "You don't deserve anything! But because you have what you don't deserve, you're safe. You're safe! You turned your back, so you're safe! Now I'm the unpredictable one. Now everyone will blame me for what you did!"
Nightrose said, "No, Icepaw, they won't, everyone knows it was me and not you!"
"Don't lie to me!" Icepaw flashed back at her. "You think I'm so unpredictable? You think I'm the wild one in the den? You think I'm going freak out because of this? You think I'm going to hate you because you told me a lie? I will hate you, and I do hate you! I'll hate you forever! Do you understand what you've done? You've destroyed everything! Everyone looks at me, thinking, look it's Icepaw, she's such a weirdo! Look, there she is. Poor her. Her mother betrayed her! Look, Icepaw's done everything wrong again! Icepaw's attacked a Clan mate! She's so evil. That's what they think when they look at me. Now they'll think I'll betray them in battle. You think I'm so unpredictable? Maybe I am! I don't want any part in your stupid Clan anymore. I'll give you unpredictable, Nightrose! Live with what you got!"

I stalked away from her, leaving my sister behind me. Leaving my Clan. Leaving my mother. I never said goodbye to my sister.

I am on my own, forever.

I was always on my own.

Whewh, that took an hour! In response to reviews:
Tabbycat47: I know! Honestly, I really hate Maskface. He's so darn annoying, and this chapter just made me hate him more.
Moonblaze13: Yayz, a new reviewer! I'm trying to put their feelings more into what they say, so I hope it will work better in the future.
Hawkpath of RiverClan: Thank you!
Amber342: Thank you! I hoped that chapter would be better. Hopefully this chapter will be up to the same standard. O.o Wow, a lot happened in this chapter. Anyways, thank you all for reviewing!
Until Next Time,

~Iceshadow