Shocked gasps and murmurs traveled through the camp. Mothbrook herself looked as surprised as anyone.
"Me?" she gasped, "Surely there's someone else more…qualified to be deputy! Cats like Skyclaw and Icepad are much experienced than me!"
"Yes," Skyclaw agreed. His tail was lashing tensely, as if he had expected his name to be called out instead of the young silver ticked she-cat.
Echowing shook his head, letting his small ears flop around. "No," he growled, "I have made my decision. Mothbrook, you are to be deputy, and leader after me. No one is to question Mothbrook's orders. Is that clear?"
The cats surrounding the Pinebranch muttered their agreements. The camp fell into an awkward silence. Then, Echowing glanced at the sky. The sun was rapidly sinking into the horizon.
"This meeting is dismissed," he mewed, "All of the cats going to the Gathering will wait at the entrance until we are all ready to go."
The cats surrounding the Pinebranch began to break up; some of them heading towards the entrance of the camp, and some of them heading into their dens for the night.
Foresteye bounded toward Windfeather who was chatting with Toadclaw. But when the black tom saw Foresteye, he glared at her and backed away. Windfeather sighed.
"I'm sorry," he apologized, "Toadclaw is still angry about…you know, Umberpaw." He pressed his pelt close to Foresteye's. She felt a tingling sensation of happiness as he leaned his head onto her neck. "He'll come around eventually."
Foresteye blew out a breath. "I don't really think so," she admitted, "Toadclaw hasn't really liked me since we were kits." She flicked her tail.
"Well, it's not too late to change that," Windfeather purred. He glanced at the sky, where the sun was disappearing beneath the horizon very quickly. "Now come on; Echowing and the patrol will be leaving soon."
"Okay," Foresteye mewed. Her mate bounded away, and she followed him more slowly, replaying the memories of Toadclaw and Kestrelswoop teasing and messing with her.
As long as Kestrelswoop is around, Toadclaw will never come around like Windfeather says.
xxx
As the full moon began to rise, Echowing led the patrol to the tree-bridge and stepped onto it. The journey there had only been tight silence, and it wasn't about to break now. One by one, each ShadowClan cat crossed the tree-bridge until only Windfeather and Foresteye were left.
"Come on, you can do it!" Windfeather encouraged his mate. He nudged her toward the bridge. "I'll be right behind you."
Foresteye shuddered as she saw the dark water, but obliged and stepped onto the tree-bridge. Crossing wasn't as scary as it was on her first Gathering, but the young she-cat's legs still trembled as she made her way across. And, just as Windfeather had promised, he stayed right behind her the whole time, and before Foresteye knew it, they were leaping off of the tree-bridge and onto the Great Oak island.
"I'm going to go find Nightfang," Foresteye mewed. "See you later."
Windfeather nodded. "Okay, see you." Then he padded away toward Toadclaw's black outline. Foresteye closed her eyes and took a deep breath before heading over to her own brother.
"Hi," Nightfang meowed as she got closer. "I was about to go find you in case you had fallen into the lake somehow."
Foresteye sighed. "Well, I'm here, aren't I?" Her tone came out a little harsher than she had meant it to, and Nightfang looked a little taken aback. "Sorry," she muttered. "I'm just still a little shocked about Gorgestar's death."
Nightfang pressed himself against his sister's pelt. "We all are; and it's important for the warriors to stay strong so the elders and the kits know everything's fine," he reminded her.
"I know, I just—Toadclaw doesn't like me, and he's the brother of Windfeather, and that's a problem, given that we're mates now, and—" Foresteye blurted.
Nightfang purred. "If I were to find a mate, would I have to ask you for permission before I talked to them about it?" he asked.
Mystified, Foresteye shook her head. "No…"
"Well then, you don't have to ask Toadclaw for his consent before you talk to Windfeather or anything like that. And I'm sure that every other cat in the Clan will be happy for you when you decide to tell them," Nightfang explained.
"Oh," Foresteye mewed, clearly unsatisfied. "Thanks."
Before Nightfang could respond, one of the leaders on the Great Oak let out an ear-splitting caterwaul—the Gathering was about to begin.
Chivestar's gaze slid over to Echowing, her eyes narrow. "Why don't you go first, Echowing? Tell us why Gorgestar isn't here."
Echowing glared at the RiverClan leader. "Gorgestar is no longer here with us," he growled. "I will be going to the Moonpool to get my nine lives right after the Gathering." He waited a few heartbeats for the Clans to take in the information, then continued. "Other than that, ShadowClan is prospering. ThunderClan decided to attack us, but we were ready and fought them off quickly." A few ThunderClan cats scoffed at that, but Echowing still had more to say. "Stormstar, why were your warriors attacking ShadowClan, when we had done nothing wrong, especially when you weren't ever there?"
Stormstar didn't respond. She was staring at the ThunderClan warriors in disbelief. "Swiftfern told me that all of the injuries were from a fox that had caught a patrol!" she meowed. Her voice sounded faint and weak. But then, her voice hardened. "Leafclaw, you were on that patrol. Why didn't you tell me that there was a battle between ShadowClan?"
Leafclaw looked just as shocked. "I wasn't with the patrol! I had gone to check the WindClan border! I had only been gone for a few heartbeats—"
"Oh, please!" Toadclaw yowled. He pushed himself to a standing position. "The patrol that brought Umberpaw in all saw you order a warrior to attack and kill her!"
Foresteye bristled as Leafclaw's gaze shot to Toadclaw. He bared his teeth. Foresteye expected the Gathering to fall silent, but a ThunderClan warrior stood up.
"I was out hunting when I heard Leafclaw talking," the ThunderClan she-cat mewed quietly. "He sounded angry, so I followed his voice just in time to see Sagebreeze barrel into a ShadowClan apprentice. She was caught off guard, so Sagebreeze tore a huge gash in her side. One of the ShadowClan warriors yowled something at Sagebreeze and retreated back to their camp with that white apprentice." The she-cat hesitated here, looking down at her paws. "I got scared, so I ran back to camp. I wanted to tell you something, Stormstar, but I was so afraid Leafclaw would do something to me if I did. I'm sorry."
Stormstar hissed, but didn't say anything. She didn't regard the ThunderClan she-cat at all. Instead she was staring right at Leafclaw. The ThunderClan deputy didn't notice Stormstar. He was snarling at the ThunderClan she-cat.
"Swanflight, how could you spit that horrible lie off of your tongue?" Leafclaw yowled.
Swanflight drew herself up, looking more confident. "Because it's true!" she responded. "Stormstar, you have to listen to me! Leafclaw led the patrol to attack ShadowClan! And they all knew it before they even went on the patrol, because Silverpaw told me she overhead Leafclaw talking to the exact cats that were at the battle about ShadowClan!"
Leafclaw hissed. "Stormstar, who do you trust more?" he growled. "Your faithful deputy, or a little kit that's hardly a warrior at all?"
Stormstar glared at her Clan. "Can anyone vouch for Swanflight?" No ThunderClan cat stood up for a few heartbeats. Foresteye's own heart was slamming in her chest so hard that she thought Nightfang could hear it.
Suddenly, a small silver apprentice stood up beside the medicine cat Swiftfern. "Me!" she declared. "I was herb gathering with Swanflight while she hunted, and we both came across that patrol; so we both ran back and decided not to tell anyone in case Leafclaw did something."
"Swiftfern, is this true?" Stormstar asked her medicine cat.
Swiftfern nodded. "I sent Silverpaw and Swanflight to gather herbs. Swanflight asked if she could hunt, and I agreed. They both had rushed into camp, and I could smell their fear-scent. I didn't ask them anything, but I overheard them talking about what they just said at this Gathering."
Stormstar blew out a breath. "Then, Leafclaw," she hissed in an undertone, "I believe this warrior over you. Go back to our camp right now and we will deal with you later."
"But Stormstar," Leafclaw growled, "you need me! You need me to support your decisions and—"
"What part of 'go back to our camp right now' don't you understand?" Stormstar snarled, lashing her tail. "Go back to camp!"
