The moon hung in the sky like a spider web, casting a barely visible glow across the earth below. Within the dark canopy of the forest, this glow was even harder to see, and so, he had to stumble across the dense forest like a lost kit. There was no prey, no life within these still woods and yet, it called out to him.
"Come to me," the trees cried, "stay with us, it's safe here."
This was wrong, he shouldn't be here.
Tigerstripe had warned him not to go here alone.
Yes, this was terribly wrong, he needed to leave.
But he couldn't, he couldn't escape.
The eyes ahead, glowing in the darkness, they were calling for him.
And he had to obey.
Ahead, the eyes widened and, the twisted grin of a set of shiny teeth appeared, glistening in the nearly non-existent moonlight. They opened wide and-"Rookpaw! Pay attention to your leader!"
Suddenly, the world snapped to life. The dark trees vanished into the TimberClan camp, the soft marsh beneath his paws twisted and gave way to soft dirt, the stillness was replaced with life and, the moon shone so bright that he had no trouble seeing at all.
He was not in the forest anymore, running.
He wasn't the frightened golden tom anymore.
He was Rookpaw and, if glares from queens gave any indication, he was in trouble, too.
Frowning, the little tom glanced around the gathered cats, all sitting beneath High Rock as Wildstar spoke. He shifted his gaze back to Firefall, who was giving him a look and, his frown increased. "Sorry." Turning away, he set his sights on Wildstar, trying to concentrate on what she had said previously.
No such luck, when he had zoned out he was apparently left unable to hear anything other then the going ons in his horrible daydream. Sighing, Rookpaw sat back, instead shifting his attention onto what she was currently saying.
"So, stay away from the river for now." Nodding her head, the white cat casted her mis-matched gaze across the gathered cats, taking in each and every one with a well trained eye. Her tail curled neatly around her paws and, she drew her gaze up from the gathered cats and to the sky before finally speaking. "Tonight," She started, choosing each word carefully and deliberately. "is the gathering." Her gaze never wavered from the sky, perhaps her silent plea for StarClan to bless her choices.
"The following cats shall come to the gathering alongside Hawkfire, Jadeclaw, Moonpaw, and myself." She paused, drawing in a deep breath of fresh air. "Mistpelt," Out of the corner of his eye, Rookpaw could see the scarred she-cat stir, her blue eyes shifting from the floor and onto her leader. "Snowstream," This seemed to pick up the young warrior considerably, for his grin grew and he puffed his chest out proudly, murmuring what Rookpaw could only guess was self praise to himself, or, perhaps, thanks to StarClan? Who knew. "Roseheart, Pinefang," Rookpaw couldn't see these two cats, they were in the back, well hidden from the gaze of his eye.
"Whisperwind, Splashspots," the latter of the two was right below High Rock and, grinned and laughed like a proud fox. Rookpaw had never liked Splashspots, not since she was an apprentice and had tricked him into sneaking out once. No, Rookpaw didn't like her at all. "Willowpaw," The older apprentice smiled at these words, sitting up just a bit straighter.
"Rookpaw, and Ashpaw." From beside him, Ashpaw let out a happy squeal, leaping to her feet in happy exuberance. Rookpaw settled a tail on her paws, turning to smile at his sister. Even if he did become snappish to her sometimes, they still were siblings.
From above, Wildstar shot her gaze over the clan one last time before standing to her paws and leaping off the rock. "This is all. Those who I've called for, let's go."
The gathered cats rose to their paws, and, bidding adieu to the cats left at the camp, they followed behind Wildstar in a clump, cats bunching together with friends and companions.
Rookpaw should have only guessed that Willowpaw would migrate over towards Ashpaw and himself.
"So, what was that about?" Smiling, she directed her question towards Ashpaw but, Rookpaw was no fool, he knew it was meant for him. "Huh?" "Rookpaw zoned off and was looking scared again, did you threaten to skin him?" Giving a light laugh, the older she-cat smiled. Rookpaw shifted his gaze to her for a moment, before shifting back to the cats head. "Oh I didn-" "It was nothing, I just zoned out." He never once let his sight waver, because he was sure the older cat would be able to tell if he was lying.
"Just a daydream."
A horrible, horrible daydream.
Still suspicious, Willowpaw turned from him and, for the rest of the walk, spoke quietly to Ashpaw.
And, for most of the walk, it was peaceful.
Then, however, they arrived to the bridge.
The bridge, in it's rotting glory, was the only way to cross the river and, to get to the Gathering Gorge, you had to cross the river. It was no longer usable by twolegs, the ones who had built it many years ago but, it was still fine for cats.
But, with the river rushing and raving like a lunatic, it was still rather unsafe to cross.
Wildstar and Hawkfire crossed first, followed by Jadeclaw and Moonpaw, and it continued this way, in pairs of twos, until it was Ashpaw and Willowpaw's turn.
And then, Rookpaw was left to cross it by himself.
"Come on Rookpaw you can do it!" Ashpaw was being her usual self, "cheering" him on from the other side. And she was right, Rookpaw knew he could cross it, he had done so earlier today with Falconclaw. He would be fine, there was no need to worry.
And so, he took a tender step out onto the bridge and, began to move across slowly and cautiosuly.
"Rookpaw."
The voice crawled into his mind like a snake, slithering in and staying there for several seconds. It caused Rookpaw to slip, nearly making him stumble onto the the wood of the bridge.
"Rookpaw, where are you going?"
It was like a snake and, wouldn't leave him be. Shaking his head, the tom took another step forward, reminding himself to not look down. He was approaching the area with a hole now, he needed to be extra careful.
"Why don't you come visit me, Rookpaw? I'm just right down there, it would be so easy..."
At these words, the tom's eyes drifted downwards, to where the rushing water was. It lapped at the bottom of the bridge, like an angry snake and, through the hole, he could see everything. The swimming fish, the rushing water...
The glowing eyes.
What?
Eyes, no there couldn't be any ey- "Rookpaw, come on!" Glancing up, the black tom shook his head, nodding to Wildstar. He sped up, easily stepping over the hole and shot off behind them. Ahead, he could see the Rubbleclan territory, so much more frightening at night.
And, had he listened carefully, he would have heard the screams, the screams that always plagued him in his dreams, coming from the forest.
Coming from the darkness within.
They had finally reached their intended destination:
The Gathering Gorge.
It was just as exciting as Rookpaw assumed it would be and, was just as everyone had described to him. It was truly as if someone had taken a pawful of dirt right out of the earth. And, in the center, sat the the fabled Leader's Rock, a large, smooth slab on rock with scratches across the top. They had been the second clan to arrive, StreamClan arriving just before them.
But, then again, this was to be expected.
StreamClan, as everyone said, always managed to make it to the gatherings first.
Eying the gathered cats, Rookpaw decided that it would be best to stay towards the top of the gorge, for, that seemed to be where all the other apprentices were. Ashpaw had already wandered off and was talking adamantly to a slender brown and white apprentice. Willowpaw was talking to another cat, herself, even Mistpelt was talking to another cat.
He seemed to be the only one by himself.
"Maybe you should try being friendly, for once."
His eyes widened for just a moment upon the arrival of the kit, but, he shook it off after a moment. He had lived with this his whole life, he was finally starting to get use to it.
"You again? Go away! You don't exist!" The little kit tilted his head at these words, golden eyes twinkling with a hidden thought. "Why are you talking to me, then?" "Argh! Just leave-" "Hi."
He nearly jumped out his fur.
Swiveling around, the black tom stared wide eyed and fearfully towards a tiny, odd golden she-cat. Still shell-shocked from her sudden appearance, he could only nod his head, his mouth forming the words "hello" before he finally realized he was speaking.
The she-cat blinked, peering around oddly.
"You were talking to someone?" "No!" "Oh- I just thought..."
"Falconpaw." A tom suddenly appeared at her side, a ginger tabby with a body built for the marshes. So MarshClan had finally arrived. "R-rainpaw, hello..."
The tom looked Rookpaw over for a moment, before turning away. "Did Duskpaw come with?" "Ah... uhm..n-no..." "Oh." The tom turned to stalk away but, stopped short as the she-cat (Falconpaw, Rookpaw guessed) called out for him. "R-rainpaw! Where's G-goldenpaw?" The tom frowned, turning around.
"Oh, you haven't heard yet? He's-"
"Cats of the clans! The gathering is starting now!"
The silver tom shook his head and drifted off to sit with other MarshClan apprentices. Only two had come, it seemed. The silver tom and, a ginger speckled tabby.
The strange golden she-cat shrunk back as the call for the gathering was heard and, she darted off to her fellow clanmates just as Ashpaw returned.
Three she-cats all sat upon the Leder's Stone, the first time in many moons that all leaders were female. Songstar was the youngest of the leaders and, the newest. She had taken over after Darkstar had been killed. She had only been ruling for a moon or two so far but, Wildstar said she was a good cat, so Rookpaw was inclined to agree. Cloudstar had been the leader of StreamClan however, since Rookpaw had been a moon old. He couldn't recall any other cat ruling StreamClan and, everyone said she was doing a fine job. TimberClan and StreamClan's treaty was still going, after all.
"Cloudstar, you may go first." The ginger and white she-cat dipped her head to the other two leaders before speaking. "StreamClan welcomed two new kits to our clan yesterday, Scorchkit and Swankit were born to Nightshade and Smokemist." Her eyes glistened, shifting out across the clans. "We also welcomed Finchflight into the nursery, she is heavily pregnant with Jayeye's kits." She stepped back on the stone, puffing up proudly. "StreamClan has no more news."
Wildstar stepped forward next, her eyes scanning the gathered cats with a sense of pride. "TimberClanv is thriving, we welcomed two more kits the day after the last gathering, Rainkit and Mosskit. Their parents, Redfur and Blue-eyes are very proud." Her chest was puffed out, and, the cat clearly showed pride for her clan. "Silverlight has moved into the nursery, she is expecting." She paused. "We have two new warriors, Heatherclaw and Splashspots. Splashspots is with us tonight." The cats called out Splashspots's name happily and, even from way up at the top, Rookpaw could see how she puffed up.
"We also welcomed seven new apprentices." A gasp settled across the clans, clearly surprised.
Seven new apprentices?
"Frostpaw, Moonpaw, Sunpaw, Icepaw, Snowpaw, Rookpaw, and Ashpaw. Only Rookpaw and Ashpaw are with us tonight." Loud cheering called out from across the gathered cats and, Rookpaw smiled softly at the calls. Ashpaw was cheering along with all the others, which made Rookpaw's tiny smile just grow a bit bigger.
"Then I shall go now." Songstar seemed to be shaking as she stood up, her eyes glazing across al the cats gathered.
"There is a murderer on MarshClan territory!"