Chapter 21: Gathering at the Gathering

It was the night of the full moon, the night of the Gathering. Bluestar had already informed us which cats were going. Among the apprentices were Graypaw, Firepaw, Ravenpaw, and I. Graypaw and Firepaw were bragging to Dustpaw and Sandpaw, but I had another mission before the Gathering began. Specifically, I had to ensure Ravenpaw wouldn't accidentally blab about what he saw at Sunning Rocks. As usual, he was in a slight panic, especially with the fact that Tigerclaw was coming too. It was time for a pep talk.

"Ravenpaw. Look at me." I stated clearly, forcing my calmness onto him. The hyperventilating Ravenpaw slowly began to relax as he stared into my eyes. When he was calm enough, I continued. "You are going to be fine. Tigerclaw doesn't suspect a thing. Tonight, just forget he is there. I just have one thing for you to keep in mind. Don't talk about Sunning Rocks. I know you are a storyteller, but you are also a good hunter. Keep your stories on hunting, and you'll be good."

Ravenpaw nodded slowly at my statement. "Yeah. I'll be good. Thanks, Smudgepaw. You are a good friend."

"We aren't friends. You are just an important asset to me." I replied somewhat indignantly.

"You keep telling yourself that." Ravenpaw replied with an amused chirp before joining Firepaw and Graypaw.

What Ravenpaw said somewhat disturbed me, but I shook that thought out. Tonight was too important for pondering our relationship. Tonight was about gaining information. I planned to wring every bit of useful information out of this Gathering as possible. What secrets could I find? What could I learn? I licked my lips in anticipation, and that infamous grin of mine began to touch my face.

We followed Bluestar out to Fourtrees where a large mass of cats waited. I instantly recognized the scents of Shadowclan and Riverclan. The not so big surprise was the lack of Windclan cats. If Shadowclan really drove them out, I doubted they'd send some cat to represent them. Bluestar waved us off to go mingle with the other clans. It was time to do some investigating.

Shadowclan was my first priority. I needed their tactic that allowed them to drive out a clan. I weaved my way through the crowd listening for interesting key words. What stopped me was the word rogues. I stopped by a Thunderclan warrior to eavesdrop.

"…rogues were brought in, things have been different. Some of them are outright nasty, but Boulder is pretty nice. He's mentoring one of the kits."

Rogues. Shadowclan was using rogues. It was a slightly interesting tactic, if not one that could shoot him in the foot. Mercenaries were always an iffy idea for wartime. They were usually powerful, but they were also flighty since their only worth was their lives. The last word of the Shadowclan cat also set me on edge. They said kit, not apprentice. I inspected the crowd of Shadowclan cats closer and recognized a familiar pelt. It was one I saved a few days ago, the kit on the Thunderpath. I just thought he was a kit out of camp, but here he was like a proper apprentice, no a child soldier.

The revelation both made me sick and disappointed. I'd been hoping to face off against a strategic genius who bested a clan, but instead their leader seemed to be on a path of self-destruction. There is a reason child soldiers are a bad idea. Not only are they more frail, but any wound or death is a major hit to morale. Unless they contented themselves with what they had now, Shadowclan was likely to have a civil war.

I moved away from Shadowclan disappointed that the answer was so simple. They just padded their numbers and shot themselves in the foot for the long run. Maybe Riverclan would be more interesting.

My thought turned out to be right. Riverclan was appearing very tight lipped, but their pelts and scent told a story. I've been told that Riverclan has the glossiest pelts of all the clans, but it didn't look that way right now. Their pelts were similar to Thunderclan in glossiness. There was also a missing scent. The smell of river water was strong, but the scent of fish was not. I instead smelled critters like water vole. It took me a minute to piece together, but given their pelts, their skinniness, and the lack of fish scent, I could deduce one thing. Something was wrong with the fish in the river. Likely they were inaccessible or poisonous right now. How fascinating that both our neighboring clans were in a state of crisis at the same time.

With a yowl, the meeting began. Brokenstar, the Shadowclan leader, continued to disappoint. He called for additional territory and laid out a not so threatening threat. While other cats howled with rage at Brokenstar's statements, I could only pity the rest of Shadowclan. Brokenstar would be a grievous wound for moons to come. The sooner his infection was removed, the better for them, not that it was one of my priorities. It was when he asked Riverclan for food that I recognized another brilliant manipulator. Crookedstar told him he could fish in the river, the one that was currently empty or poisoned, the one he wasn't using because of the danger. In his action, he did something I hadn't expected. He changed Brokenstar's target. It was clear Brokenstar was fishing for justification to fight Riverclan since they had a naturally strong matchup against them given builds and skillsets, but now he couldn't He'd have to fight Thunderclan. I almost laughed at the realization. What a clever cat.

Of course Brokenstar had to finish the meeting with a warning about a cat who could not possibly be a threat. Firepaw took Brokenstar's line seriously and darted off back to camp. I on the other paw, decided to deal with the issue more subtly. I approached Bluestar.

"So, what have you found out?" She asked me.

"Shadowclan is currently on a path of self-destruction or civil war. Brokenstar is deploying kits into battle and using rogues. He won by padding the numbers. Their morale is low and any failure will cripple them. At the same time, Riverclan is in a famine. Something is wrong with the fish in the river. Shadowclan will get nothing out of Crookedstar's concession. Rather clever that Crookedstar. He moved his clan out of the sights of Brokenstar's delusions and painted us a target instead. Brokenstar is definitely going to attack us. It's just a question of when."

Bluestar considered my analysis for a moment before nodding in agreement. "And what of Yellowfang?"

"An obvious lie. The timing is wrong for it to be true. Yellowfang had been a rogue well before the last Gathering, so why not warn us then? He somehow got wind that we had her and wanted to remove the threat she posed. She's the witness to his crimes, and not an easy one to hide away at that. His only option is to frame her."

Bluestar lightly smiled at me in return. "I'm impressed. You gathered so much at the Gathering. I may ask you things from time to time in the future."

I hissed a bit kittishly as I replied. "Come on. I've been honest with you. Can you give me something about this phase two?"

Bluestar suppressed a giggle as she responded. "I guess that is fair. The first hint is that they are apprentices."

Apprentices? Which apprentices could possibly be prepared to become deputy?