CHAPTER TWELVE

The Island was calm yet loud with noise. The RiverClan cats stayed away from the ShadowClan cats but other than that everyone was talking and mingling. Cloudsong was sticking beside Cometmoon and Slateleaf I noticed. She had only been a warrior two sunrises but she the only patrols she had been on was with the two tomcats and myself. She still felt uncomfortable with Rowanstar as our leader.

Unfortunately, Rowanstar had grown sick and couldn't come to the Gathering so I was filling in for him. I stood up on his spot on the Great Oak, looking down at the Clans and feeling the other leader's eyes burning into me. They had many questions.

"The Gathering will begin now!" Bramblestar yowled and instantly the noise died away. "We have a new queen: Leafmoon! Other than that I have nothing to report besides the strength of my Clan and the abundance of prey we have." He dipped his head and sat down.

Onestar stood, glancing at me. "WindClan's medicine cat, Kestrelflight has taken on an apprentice: Windpaw! We also have another new apprentice: Molepaw! WindClan is thriving; the prey is running and we are feasting while Greenleaf is upon us." He sat back down.

I rose to my paws, balancing on the branch easily. "Rowanstar is sickly and could not attend the Gathering tonight. He sends his apologies. I have been made ShadowClan's new deputy due to a problem with Crowfrost." I heard a cat snicker from the RiverClan cats but ignored it. "ShadowClan has five new warriors: Slateleaf, Cometmoon, Birchwing, Lionfur, and Cloudsong!" My eyes flashed as I glanced over at Mistystar who had a snarl on her face. "Prey is running well and we are strong! Our borders are being marked and checked daily even though we've had some… Problems with our camp." I looked at Mistystar with a smirk and I could see her tense up.

Mistystar stood up while I sat down. "Problems with your camp, Beestripe?" she growled lowly, eyes narrowing. "What kind of problems?" Her eyes flashed at me, as if a challenge to blame the RiverClan cats for destroying our camp.

My hesitation was longer than I intended. My paws itched on what to say. "It was destroyed yesterday." I looked at her from the corner of my eye. She tensed up. "By what, we're not sure yet…" I looked down at the group of cats Rowanstar ordered me to take: Puddleheart, Slateleaf, Cometmoon, Cloudsong, Sleekfeather, Junipernose, and Grassheart. They looked pleased with my response.

The RiverClan leader gazed at me with narrowed eyes. "It was brought to my attention Cometmoon was a rogue and he's now a part of your Clan. That's another rogue, other than Cloudsong, Whiteeyes, and Flowerstem, that ShadowClan has accepted." Her tail twitched in amusement. "What? Next are you going to let Crowfrost back in?"

She caught me. I was stuck in a trap and my eyes widened, looking down at the she-cat and tom who were sitting side by side, looking uncomfortable. Crowfrost flashed through my head. I hadn't thought of him since the day he was exiled from ShadowClan. "Crowfrost is not a Clan cat anymore. He has proved himself disloyal to StarClan and the Clans and he is no longer welcome in ShadowClan. However, the others had no reason to be denied. They are loyal Clan cats." My tail flicked in annoyance. I had covered for her and she was trying to cause a disturbance at the Gathering. "There is no problem here, Mistystar." I looked at her with fierceness, irritation creeping through me.

Her eyes flashed at me. More amusement. "Well you might as well let Crowfrost in right?" She looked down at the gather cats. "He may have broken the warrior code but isn't ShadowClan breaking it as well?"

There was a murmur of agreement throughout the cats gathered below except for the ShadowClan and ThunderClan cats. The ThunderClan cats glanced at each other in unsureness.

How dare she challenge ShadowClan's loyalty! "What ShadowClan does is none of RiverClan's business," I growled to her. "Get out of our business or we'll force you to do so. Gathering over." I jumped down from the tree and gathered my cats with a flick of my tail. I could feel the shocked stares of the other cats but I walked proudly. We had to prove we were strong.

Rowanstar nodded at me as I finished giving him the report from the Gathering. It was the morning after the Gathering. I could Rowanstar was impressed by the way I handled Mistystar. I knew he wished he could've been there.

His muzzle was gray and he was skinny. "Very nice work, Beestripe. Thank you." He dipped his head to me. "I need you to be prepared to take over as leader. I have two lives left and I need you to be able to lead this Clan the way you led it a the Gathering," he told me in a weak, shaky voice.

My head bobbed up and down without me telling it to do. I knew what I had to do but fear was climbing up my throat. "How much longer has Puddleheart given you?"

"A moon. He says I may live long enough to apprentice your kits." He gave a weak smile but I could tell he'd prepared himself. "Don't fret, Tawnypelt knows already. Keep it from my kits though."

I dipped my head to my leader, my thoughts racing as I backed out of the den. Dawn had just came over the camp and I could see cats emerging from their dens.

Cloudsong padded over toward the entrance, waving her tail at me, Cometmoon and Slateleaf behind her. "We're going on the dawn patrol! ThunderClan border!" she called and they slipped out of camp.

I'd need to make a hunting patrol and I sat in the middle of the clearing, feeling fidgety. I wanted to run all the way to the other camp. Stretch my legs, be free.

Movement from the warriors den caught my eyes and Strikefang slid out, his amber eyes glazing right over me as he looked around the clearing. He padded over to me hesitantly. "Heard about the Gathering last night," he commented. "Very nice." His eyes shone in amusement now.

"Thanks," I mewed back in surprise. He was talking to me! Pride bursted in my chest. "Have you visited the kits lately? They're big."

Now he shifted uncomfortably. "I have, yes." He looked down at the ground and his ear twitched as Whiteeyes, Flowerstem, Birchwing, and Tigerheart emerged from the warriors den. "Flowerstem, Tigerheart, hunting patrol?"

They nodded and together exited camp. My tail flicked in disappointment. Nightfur didn't come see me anymore except for at Gatherings and Strikefang hated me for lying. All I had left was my kits.

"Mom!" I heard a high pitched voice mew and then I saw all five of my kits running over to me.

"Hello," I purred and met them with licked on the head. "How did you sleep? You're all getting so big!" I smiled widely. Nothing will ever take them away from me. They were my happiness, including Cloudsong.

Shadowkit jumped up and down. "Tell Stonekit that we're going to be apprentices in a moon! He doesn't believe me!"

I laughed at him. "Shadowkit and Lightkit will be apprentices. You three still have two more moons." My mind flickered to their mentors. I definitely wanted Whiteeyes and Cloudsong to mentor one of my kits. As for Needleflower's kits, I was still debating. Puddleheart had already asked for Featherkit since she was poking around his den a lot, Clumsykit would be good with Flowerstem since she was sweet and kind, plus I didn't want him tripping into dangerous things in the unknown, as for Stonekit's mentor, I was stuck between Slateleaf and his siblings. He would definitely be better as a pine hunter.

Lightkit jumped up and down in excitement. "I can't wait to hunt and defend my Clan!" Her eyes were lit up and Shadowkit was looking at her calmly, he already seemed like a trained apprentice.

Featherkit's eyes flickered away from us as Puddleheart exited his den. She parted her jaws to speak, tilted her head and silently slipped away from the other kits, going straight to my brother. I trusted him with her, she'd be safe so I said nothing.

Whiteeyes was padding over to me, sniffing at the kits. "Beestripe, would you like to go on patrol?" he asked, his blind eyes landing on me.

I went to say no but the itch to run came back and I nodded. "Of course." I turned to my kits. "Go hang around Puddleheart," I ordered them and let Whiteeyes lead me out of camp. My itch grew as we walked in silence through the pines.

"They aren't his, are they?" Whiteeyes mewed quietly, his blind blue eyes flickering over to me.

My heart skipped a beat and I froze. "W-what are you talking about?"

"The kits, Beestripe."

He knows. He knows. My chest tightened up and my claws slid out. "They may not be…" I mewed, my claw sinking into the ground. If you threaten me or my kits, I'll kill you.

Whiteeyes turned around to face me, totally calm. "Put away your claws, Beestripe," he ordered, sitting down. "I'm not going to tell anyone. Apparently I'm the only one around here that can see." His tail twitched in annoyance.

At his reassurance I put my claws away, taking a deep breath. "When did you notice?" I ignored his irony, being as he couldn't actually see.

The warrior looked up at the sky, thinking. "Little less than a moon. I can't see them but I can tell," he explained and twitched his whiskers. "Cloudsong knows too. I can tell. She gets uncomfortable when I talk about Strikefang and the kits. You two don't hang out anymore."

My eyes flickered to the ground. I felt ashamed and judged. Even though he couldn't see me I was uncomfortable. "It was only a matter of time before cats started to notice," I muttered and looked up at him. He was gazing at me still.

"Who is their father, Beestripe?"

I froze, my fur prickling in unease. I shuffled my paws. He already knew. "Nightfur, of RiverClan."

He was nodding, as if in agreement. Yet he was blind and he had no idea how similar they were. "Nightfur of RiverClan…" Whiteeyes stood up, stretching his legs. "I'm going hunting. You should return back to camp," he told and and then raced into the trees.

My fear shrunk down. Whiteeyes wouldn't say anything. He was a trusted, loyal cat of ShadowClan and he knew we needed the warriors. I turned away and padded back towards camp, the itch to run was gone now.

"Beestripe! Beestripe!" a yowl shot through my thoughts and I turned around, seeing Cometmoon racing towards me with panic in his eyes. "It's Cloudsong! She needs you at ThunderClan border! I'll get a patrol!" he ordered and shot past me as I raced forward.

Please StarClan don't let anything happen to her! I thought, racing through the pines blinding. My paws knew where to go though. I'd been running through these pines for many moons. ThunderClan wasn't too far away. I'd make it in time. Things were flying through my head. ThunderClan cats were on our side.

"Beestripe!" Slateleaf called, sitting alone at the border as I bursted through the pines, seeing Brackenfur, Thornclaw, and Lionblaze. They were watching me with wide eyes. "It's Cloudsong! Larkwing from WindClan came to visit us and they got into a fight. Cloudsong chased her off into ThunderClan territory!" His eyes were wide with fear.

My panic rose. "What? Why would she do that?" I was eager to race over the border to get her but I stayed where I was.

Brackenfur's tail lashed. "Larkwing wanted trouble. Cloudsong gave her it. It's perfectly okay she's on our territory," he mewed to me, hardness in his voice. "Bramblestar might not see it that way, however."

I paced behind Slateleaf, pricking my ears for any noise from Cloudsong. I can't lose her. I can't. I couldn't handle it.

Suddenly, there was an earsplitting yowl echoed from ThunderClan's forest. My panic grew and then everything fell silent.