Chapter Eighteen: Intruder

As the jungle around them swayed and whispered, a slippery pack of lions pounded through the shadows, their golden pelts turned silver by the moonshine, and their rustling manes shaking with every powerful bound. The lionesses ran effortlessly, gracefully along with their Clanmates, ears pricked, eyes burning.

Lionpaw felt excitement pulse in his blood. He had to forget about his sudden troubles with Frostpaw, and even the problem of Firerunner. Tonight, he was going to shed all his issues, and be a true warrior, enjoying a simple Gathering for the first time in his life.

"I can't believe we're almost to Four Trees!" Lionpaw whispered in Brightpaw's ear as the pair raced alongside their larger Clanmates, slipping between shadows and stray darts of moonlight. Above the dark green canopy of the jungle, a dark, inky purple sky stretched above them, sprinkled with beautiful chips of light. Was Firerunner up there?

Lionpaw angrily shook his head. He'd promised himself to try and forget about those problems tonight.

"Me, either," Brightpaw murmured.

Lionpaw blinked and glanced quickly at his friend as he pounced across the cool surface of a large rock. He looked excited, but concern burned like stars in his eyes. Lionpaw knew exactly what his best friend was worried about.

WaterClan.

"Come on," Lionpaw breathed, knowing it was his turn to comfort a friend. "If I can forget about my lioness problems, you can forget about your WaterClan problems. Just for one night."

Brightpaw chuckled darkly. "If only I could forget them," he replied, glancing at his chest, striped faintly with black claws that looked somehow out of place on his golden-brown fur that belonged to a lion.

Lionpaw cast a look at the head of the pack, where Snowstar leapt powerfully between tree and bush; Longfang matched each stride easily, his long tail lashing. "Snowstar wouldn't let them hurt you. Not tonight. Anyways, there's a peace on Gatherings, remember?"

Brightpaw shrugged.

Finally, they had whipped through all the leaves and bushes until they came to a rocky slope. Lionpaw and Brightpaw froze, eyes wide, mouths dropping. "Whoa."

There, the ground sloped sharply, with tall grass and rocks and bushes dotting the bit of land. In the center, there were four huge trees- exotic and curling towards the heavens, their green leaves lush and wild as they whispered in the wind. In the middle of the four trees was a huge rock, smooth like ancient, starry paws had been gathering upon it for ages. They had a clear view of the silver moon, looking even brighter now as the clouds moved on, and it glowed down at the four trees powerfully, like all the eyes of StarClan were focused upon it just now.

But by far the most shocking thing about the sight of Four Trees was the animals gathered there. Lionpaw couldn't possibly begin to count all of them: tall and short, old and young, slender and bulky, there were tons of weaving, flicking bodies there, brushing against old friends and meeting new ones. There were three Clans gathered: Lionpaw already knew the tigers of WaterClan, their coats of gold and red flames ripped by night-black stripes marking their lean bodies. And he remembered what the DarkClan apprentice looked like: panthers, muscled and powerful, with burning yellow eyes and pelts that looked like they'd stolen the very color of the night sky and splashed it upon their shadowy bodies.

And finally, cheetahs of SwiftClan, the one Clan he'd not met: tall and skinny, they had strange pale gold pelts, dotted with patterns of unique black pawprints scattered across their bodies like stars in the night sky. They had small, somber faces, and black-tipped ears, and long tails with the ends dipped in the color of a dark stormy sky. But the strangest thing about the SwiftClan warriors were the marks on their faces: long, black tear-marks slipped from their eyes down their muzzle, and made them look like they were crying tears of the cold night sky.

"Great StarClan," Brightpaw breathed. "Look at all of them!"

Lionpaw suddenly was aware of his dropped jaw, and quickly snapped it shut, shaking himself, eyes wide. "I can't believe it. So many warriors at once..." His voice trailed off as he shook his head.

The whole of LightningClan had paused at the top of the slope, and all eyes trained on Snowstar, waiting for a signal. Finally, the great leader lashed his tail once, and as one, the warriors dove down the slope, making the ground shudder as they galloped into the heart of Four Trees.

"Come on," came a friendly voice. Lionpaw glanced up to see Rainheart blinking at them with amusement. "I was shocked at my first Gathering, too. I couldn't believe there were so many warriors!"

Lionpaw flicked an ear. She could say that again. "Oh- right," he rasped, shaking himself again.

"Let's go size up your future enemies, shall we?" the pretty lioness inquired, chuckling to herself, as she picked her way down the slope and after the Clan.

Brightpaw and Lionpaw tumbled after her, and they finally trotted to her heels, ears pricked and tails waving.

"You're LightningClan apprentices," Rainheart hissed at them, whiskers twitching. "Be proud!"

Lionpaw glanced at Brightpaw, and grinned; at once the two lifted their heads high and puffed out their chests.

"That's better," Rainheart remarked as they calmly trotted towards the thick knot of talking warriors. Lionpaw's head slowly returned to its normal place as he focused on all the activity around him; a loud buzz flew past him as words bubbled and simmered. He saw elders, apprentices of all sizes, pregnant queens and muscled warriors.

"So who do you want to meet first?" Rainheart purred, glancing down at the two apprentices. "Pick a Clan, any Clan."

Brightpaw nervously glanced at two WaterClan queens that trotted past him, shooting him weird looks and whispering to each other. "Not WaterClan," he blurted.

Something flickered in Rainheart's eyes, but she nodded. "Alright. How about SwiftClan?" She led them up to a throng of spotted cheetahs, dotted with one or two dark-pelted panthers, visiting from DarkClan. "Hello,"
Rainheart purred, sitting down and motioning for Lionpaw and Brightpaw to do the same.

Lionpaw blinked, shrugged, and sat next to the lioness. Brightpaw's fur brushed against him as he sat down as well.

"Hello there," the tallest SwiftClan warrior replied, chuckling, ears pricked curiously. "Isn't this interesting... a striped LightningClan apprentice?"

"I've heard of you," one of the DarkClan panthers suddenly said. "You're Brightpaw, aren't you? And your mother's Littlecloud of WaterClan?"

Lionpaw felt sympathetic for his friend as Brightpaw shifted uneasily under their sharp gazes. "Erm, yeah. That's me."

"How interesting," said the other cheetah, her dark eyes curious but gentle. "The rumors are true."

"Meadowstar is still sore about that," the second panther meowed in a deep, dark voice. "I remember that Gathering moons back... when Snowstar revealed Blackscar's, ah, affair..."

"Hold on," the tall SwiftClan warrior spoke up, glaring at the panthers. "We didn't even introduce ourselves and we're gossiping already. I'm Tallgrass and this is my friend, Runningwillow." he nodded at the cheetah with the
gentle eyes.

"Right- well that's Bluesky and I'm Blackthorn. Pleasure," the second panther meowed, nodding at them.

"Well, I'm Rainheart, and that's Lionpaw- and, as you already know, Brightpaw," Rainheart flicked her tail at each apprentice as she told their names.

"Lionpaw?" Tallgrass echoed, eyes narrowing. Suddenly Lionpaw was under their scrutiny, and he felt like cowering as their eyes flashed over him.

"You're the only son of Snowstar, aren't you?" Blackthorn meowed, looking interested.

Bluesky and Runningwillow's eyes widened, and leaned in towards Lionpaw.

"Oh, um, yeah, hi."

Tallgrass laughed, and meowed in a deep voice, "You two are pretty famous. Word of how you stumbled into WaterClan territory spread to us before the Gathering you missed; just another thing old Meadowstar was mad about."

"Hothead," Bluesky muttered. Runningwillow chuckled.

Lionpaw was amazed at how well these three Clans were getting along. Here he'd thought the Gathering would be tense and scary almost, with leering, opposing warriors of dangerous Clans, but no; it was more fun than he'd thought.

There was a sudden roar, and all the buzz of talk quieted as everyone turned to the huge rock sitting easily in the center of the four large trees. Lionpaw's eyes widened when he saw Snowstar sitting up there, looking remarkably powerful and calm, next to a tall, spotted cheetah- probably the leader of SwiftClan- and with the two other leaders, the panther of DarkClan and a powerful-looking tigress- the infamous Meadowstar, leader of WaterClan- all joined him.

"The Gathering's started," Blackthorn murmured, lashing his tail.

"Here we go," Brightpaw murmured. Lionpaw touched his tail to his friend's flank, and glanced to his other side, feeling a pang of sadness wash over him; Frostpaw should have been there sitting beside him. Sighing, he glanced up, and narrowed his eyes when he saw the pale-furred apprentice sitting with Rowanpaw and Cricketpaw, ears pricked towards the leaders. What was her problem, he wondered, feeling a flash of annoyance.

Up on the moon-washed boulder in the center of the four huge, rippling trees, stood Coldstar, Meadowstar, Vinestar, and finally, Snowstar. Lionpaw struggled to look away from Meadowstar, but he couldn't fight the anger bubbling in his throat; this was the leader who had unfairly attacked LightningClan and nearly killed both Brightpaw and Blackscar. How dare she.

"Warriors!" Colds tar rumbled, his tail flicking as the DarkClan leader stepped up to speak. There was an obvious tenseness to the air; it was bitter, and chilly. Lionpaw felt an involuntary shiver ripple through his back.
"DarkClan is not well. None of the Clans are."

Everyone seemed to grow dead silent, and their ears pricked, eyes trained on only him. He'd grabbed their attention. But what did he mean?

"There are rogue cats around our borders. They are stealing food, and destroying our land. It's a disgrace, and we've tried hunting them down; but these cats are like smoke. We have not gotten a glimpse of them."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Vinestar interrupted, eyes mild. "But what's this got to do with us?"

Coldstar's eyes glittered. "I am not finished," he snapped, as he turned to Snowstar, flattening his ears. Snowstar took a step back, expression puzzled, as Lionpaw felt his heart knot anxiously. The DarkClan leader looked angry at them, but why? It wasn't their fault the rogue cats were taking their food.

"Snowstar," he growled. "My warriors have found more scents than just rogues on our territory. We have scented LightingClan."

That was a lot to write! Well, thanks for reviewing, it's very self-esteem-growing to see you guys are interested in what's going on. Check back soon. I'll probably update at least once before Friday... since I'm going to be gone a week. Vacation. What can I say? Authors need a break sometimes (: