To guest Dapplecloud:
Yeah, pretty tragic for Applefoot. And I do read Wings of Fire every since I picked up the first book from the library last year. I really didn't expect to fall in love with it as quickly as I did. It was somewhat familiar to Warriors but with dragons. Which is fitting since the author is one of the Erins. I even have an OC based story about Wings of Fire. :)
iDragonSpyro: Yes, Talons of Power is awesome. Just for the record, with as little spoilers as possible, Turtle is on my imaginary list of favorite dragonets.
~ Kyubi
Chapter 14
"Ripples."
3/22/17 - 3/23/17
RiverClan's camp is riddled with hostility. Beechpaw became uncomfortable with the tension in his Clan. Applefoot became so grief stricken by Heavystorm's death that she moved into the nursery early. Bearpaw was given to Silversnow as her new apprentice.
Everyone is talking about ambushing ShadowClan, but they knew that it's remotely impossible due to ShadowClan's bramble enforced camp that protects it. Olivestar still hasn't decided on what's the best course of action.
Despite what he knew about Owlpaw, Beechpaw is prepared to make ShadowClan pay for Heavystorm's death.
"All cats old enough to fish, meet me for a Clan meeting!"
Beechpaw looks up from his trout as the RiverClan cats sit in front of Olivestar, Bearpaw sits next to Beechpaw. The brown tabby she-cat looks at her cats in the late afternoon.
"I've come to a decision. We will fight ShadowClan for what they did to Heavystorm, and bring his murderer to justice!"
Cats yowl in agreement, Beechpaw forces himself to eat the pieces of the trout to keep himself from having to speak.
"Silversnow," she addresses her deputy. "I want you to go to ShadowClan and demand for the cat who killed Heavystorm and bring him here."
Silversnow nods. "Very well, Olivestar." Silversnow looks at the crowd. "I want Dewcloud, Fawnstep and Bouldertooth to come with me."
Beechpaw slowly chews and watches his mother leave the camp with her cats.
Patchflower poke her head into the medicine cat den for what Kestrelwing counts as the seventh time.
"Is Owlpaw feeling better? I need to practice mock fights with him."
Owlpaw is lying in a nest not too far from behind Kestrelwing. Kestrelwing flicks his ear. "He's still a bit sick, Patchflower."
"He's been sick since this morning!" She hissed. "I know he's faking it! Tell him if he doesn't straighten up, Dewpaw will be a warrior before him!"
The dark tortoiseshell left, and Kestrelwing looks at Owlpaw's form.
"You know you can't hide in here forever."
"I don't care…"
Kestrelwing feels pity for the ShadowClan apprentice. Owlpaw never got used to the warrior training, and with Patchflower being unreasonable and harsh he won't ever become a confident warrior.
"RiverClan is here!"
"What do you prey thieves want?!"
Kestrelwing perks up and pads out of his den halfway; Silversnow stands and waits for Rabbitstep to pad toward her from Heatherstar's den.
"What are you doing here?"
"I have a message for Heatherstar."
Kestrelwing tenses up. Heatherstar is still relatively weak following her sickness, and if RiverClan found out they would surely use this chance to attack.
Rabbitstep flicks his tail. "She's busy."
"Then tell her it's important." Silversnow says.
"Or maybe she's scared." One of the RiverClan toms sneers. The ShadowClan cats snarl and began to circle the small RiverClan patrol.
Rabbitstep flattens his ears. "I'll relay the message to her. Whatever you want to say, say it in front of everyone."
Silversnow narrows her eyes. "One of our warriors has died yesterday, Heavystorm."
Owlpaw caught his breath and looks at Kestrelwing watching the exchange. He steps out of his nest and pokes his head out, slightly.
"Heavystorm was said to be killed by one of your cats. A light brown tom. Olivestar wants him, or her, taken to RiverClan to be punished for their crime."
"Hey, that's-!" Dewpaw's muzzle is immediately closed shut by Frostpool stuffing her tail in his mouth. Owlpaw becomes terrified.
"I'm sorry for your loss." Rabbitstep said, solemnly. "But this is very unorthodox. We will deal with our cats and hand out punishments ourselves."
Silversnow lashes her tail. "Heavystorm is dead and will never watch his kits grow up, while the cat you are holding will eventually have a mate and kits and watch his kits grow! Olivestar isn't going to let this go unless you give us-."
"Him!" Owlpaw sees a pale grey tom glaring in his direction. "That's the one! I left Heavystorm with him, Olivestar said his description!"
Silversnow gazes at Owlpaw smoothly and looks at Rabbitstep. "Hand him over."
"No." Rabbitstep replies with swiftness of a WindClan cat. Swiftpaw snarls at the RiverClan patrol, Mosspaw glares at them. Splashpelt looks mortified with the outcome.
Silversnow glares at the ShadowClan deputy. "You've been warned. RiverClan will get justice for Heavystorm."
Silversnow turns around and leads her patrol back to their territory, while the ShadowClan cats jeer and hiss at them. Owlpaw feels his lungs scream for air and takes a deep breath, not realizing that he held his breath for so long.
"Owlpaw killed someone?" Poolpaw gasps.
"Wow, your brother is messed up in the head." Dewpaw sneers at Swiftpaw.
"Shut up!" Swiftpaw spat.
Kestrelwing moves Owlpaw backwards. "Owlpaw. Listen to me, breath."
Owlpaw whimpers and shakes his head. "He was a father… It's all my fault!"
"No, Owlpaw, this was a terrible accident…"
"Owlpaw."
The light brown tom looks and sees Rabbitstep looking in the den.
"I want to assure you that RiverClan won't get you. I will speak to Heatherstar and she will agree to it, RiverClan is going to get what they deserve."
Rabbitstep dips his head and pads out. Owlpaw should be thrilled with being spoken to by the deputy, but he isn't.
I didn't want any of this to happen. What if Beechpaw thinks I killed his Clanmate in cold blood?
Owlpaw stays in the medicine cat den, unable to face his denmates or Clanmates m and sleeps with the No-Moon outside. He feels a paw poke on his flank.
"No, Mosspaw, go to sleep."
"Owlpaw, get up."
Owlpaw's ears prick to the familiar voice. He looks and sees pure white fur standing out in the shadows.
Snowpaw!
"What are you doing here?" He asks quietly, seeing Kestrelwing sleeping, undisturbed.
"Tonight's our meeting! Spiderpaw and Nightpaw are already there by now."
Owlpaw jolts when he realizes he forgot Snowpaw's secret visit behind the medicine cat den.
"O-Okay, let's go."
Beechpaw shakes the water from his fur and steps onto the island. Nightpaw and Spiderpaw look in his direction as he pads toward them.
"You look terrible." Spiderpaw comments. Beechpaw snorts. "Nice observation. I just buried my Clanmate, thanks for asking."
Spiderpaw blinks in shock, and Nightpaw gives Beechpaw a sympathetic nudge. Snowpaw appears with Owlpaw close behind her. Owlpaw freezes when he locks eyes with Beechpaw.
The RiverClan apprentice couldn't hold back his anger and grief.
"Did you kill him? Please tell me it wasn't intentional!"
The three apprentices look at Beechpaw then turn to Owlpaw. The ShadowClan apprentice is shivering.
Beechpaw stalks toward Owlpaw with an angry glint in his eyes, "Come on! At least have the guts to admit it!"
"It was an accident!" Owlpaw squeaks.
"Accident?!" Beechpaw exclaims. "He had claw marks on his face!"
"And he tried to drown me!" Owlpaw's fear is replaced with anger, reminded of Heavystorm's attempt to kill him.
"Guys, calm down." Nightpaw says, approaching the two, bristling toms.
"I can't! Everyone in RiverClan is out for my blood and I can't fix it!"
Beechpaw frowns at Owlpaw's panicking state. "Then meet me by the Greenleaf Twolegplace and I'll tell Olivestar that you didn't intend on killing Heavystorm."
"Have you seen your leader?" Owlpaw hissed. "She'd kill me before I could open my mouth!"
Beechpaw feels conflicted with his loyalty to the prophecy and his Clan.
RiverClan won't let this go until Owlpaw dies, but I don't want to hurt him in battle.
The island becomes tense with silence as Owlpaw tries shift the attention of himself.
"So, uh, why are we here?"
Nightpaw said, "Spiderpaw wanted us here."
"Did you learn something new?" Snowpaw asks the WindClan apprentice. Spiderpaw grunts.
"No. It's...what I learned about my kin."
Beechpaw looks at him, and Owlpaw pushes past him and sits in a small circle with Snowpaw and Nightpaw.
"What are you talking about?" Snowpaw asks.
"... You know how there's only me, my mother and my sister, and no father in my Clan?"
Beechpaw's eyes widen. "Are you saying he's from a different Clan?"
"He is." Spiderpaw growls. "When Creekstar attacked ThunderClan's patrol, I was fighting Pricklefrost and Duskcloud stopped me...and told me he was my father.
"Says she met him by the stream to tell him about me and my sister, and that's how the fight started, over Duskcloud's secret."
"Oh, Spiderpaw…" Snowpaw whispers. Spiderpaw shook his head. "I never wanted to know… Duskcloud allowed the fight to happen, and now everybody in WindClan knows who's kit I am! They stare at me, whisper behind my back, and now Cheetahpaw is throwing cheap shots at me every second of the day!
"Even Creekstar doesn't reprimand her behavior anymore! Nobody trusts me except for Softpaw and Brackenfall! I hate it! I wish I could just run away!"
"What good would that do?" Beechpaw asks him. "If you get second thoughts and return, they'll use that as an excuse to distrust you even more."
"It doesn't mean anything if we're going to the mountains, so who cares?"
"That's different." Nightpaw said. "You're talking about abandoning WindClan all together, your sister and mother will be heartbroken if you go through with it."
Spiderpaw snorts. "I wouldn't care if Duskcloud died the next day, but Softpaw…"
"Even if you don't forgive your mother, Softpaw is your kin, too.,
Spiderpaw nods slowly and remains silent. Snowpaw looks at Beechpaw and Owlpaw.
"What will you do? It'll be a serious problem if your Clans go to war."
"Why don't you look at Heavystorm's claws?" Spiderpaw suggests.
"His...claws?" Beechpaw whispers. Spiderpaw rolls his eyes.
"Our claws get fur caught in them whenever we hit something hard enough. For instance." Spiderpaw becomes smug. "I practically ripped the fur off of Cheetahpaw's flank when we were kits, and Hazelheart found her fur tucked in between them."
"You think he has them?"
"If Heavystorm hasn't been buried yet, it's possible."
Beechpaw feels a flare of hope. "Sootdust said she's examining his body before burying him. I gotta go!"
Beechpaw halts and dips his head to Owlpaw before disappearing into the night.
"... Spiderpaw. You're lucky you know who your father is. Splashpelt refuses to tell me mine."
The black WindClan apprentice narrows his eyes. "That doesn't mean I have to put it with him."
"You never have to." Owlpaw says quietly. "All I'm saying is be thankful that you can at least see him, and try to get to know him one day."
"Sootdust! Sootdust!"
Beechpaw rushes into the medicine cat den where Sootdust is looking at Heavystorm's body.
"Beechpaw...what are you doing up?"
"I couldn't sleep. Have you looked at Heavystorm's claws?"
Sootdust shook her head. Beechpaw looks at Heavystorm's claws and finds tufts of pale brown fur, and black fur.
"Look at this. Heavystorm has two different fur tufts in his claws."
Sootdust gently pushes Beechpaw and looks at the claws. "You're right… If Heavystorm was attacked first, he shouldn't have cats fur in his claws."
"Will you tell Olivestar?"
"In the morning, yes." Sootdust promises. "It'll be difficult for RiverClan to hear, but at least this won't be used to fight. We don't need anymore bloodshed."
Thanks to Spiderpaw's suggestion, Beechpaw found a way to keep his Clan from fighting, or at least buy him some time.
Listen, what names would you like to give Applefoot and Violetbloom's kits?
Question!:
This tom's mother died at the paws of rogues when he was a kit, and his father used it to make him resent outsiders. Who is he? ~ Kyubi