Chapter 11
"I'm going to be the best warrior in the history of ThunderClan!"
Starrypaw lay in the shade and watched Ferncloud's three kits tussle and play in front of the nursery three days later. They were only a moon old and could barely run without stumbling over their own paws, yet they were already pretending to hunt and fight. Starrypaw couldn't blame them.
The midday patrol had been sent out each day, and still twoleg place had remained silent. Starrypaw was grateful. The size of the three cats that had attacked Hattie were way too much to imagine in a whole group. She shuddered at the thought.
The Clan was in a peaceful time. Water was plentiful, and temperatures were perfect for not only them, but for the prey as well. Many cats were lounging now, and the midday patrol had just left camp. Distant clouds and damp air promised rain.
"Pretend this is a mouse!" Birchkit said, flicking a small nut towards his sisters.
Larchkit pounced on it, sending it careening towards Starrypaw and bouncing off of her paw.
"Sorry!" she called out.
Starrypaw rose and pushed the nut all the way back to them. "I can show you guys the real way to stalk a mouse," she offered kindly.
Hollykit's eyes widened. "Really?"
"You'd do that?" Birchkit asked.
Starrypaw nodded. "You need to be down really low." She swiftly dropped into a hunting crouch, pretending a mouse was up ahead. "And you have to slide your paws to make sure the mouse doesn't feel your steps."
"Feel your steps?" Larchkit asked. "How can that happen?"
"Mice are so small that they can feel the vibrations and movements through the ground," Starrypaw explained.
"Ohhh!" Larchkit said. "I get it now. I can feel Birchkit's big clumsy paws all the time!" She threw her brother a mischievous smirk, and Birchkit swatted playfully at her.
"Now you guys try," Starrypaw said, whiskers twitching.
"Me first!" Birchkit crouched down onto the ground, scraping his claws along the dirt to keep his balance.
"Keep your claws sheathed!" Starrypaw directed, stifling an amused purr. "And drop your tail! It's as obvious as a tree!"
Birchkit corrected himself, wobbling and stumbling up to the nut, pouncing on it quickly. "Did I do good?"
"Yes! That was great!"
Birchkit glowed with pride, and after his sisters had had their turns, they all pranced about happily.
"I can wait to be a warrior!" Hollykit exclaimed.
"Is it really awesome to be an apprentice?" Larchkit asked Starrypaw.
"Yeah, pretty much." Starrypaw felt the memory of her apprentice ceremony burning in her mind. It was now about two and a half moons ago, and she couldn't wait until she could be a warrior and a mentor herself. Unfortunatley, she'd probably be too young of a warrior to mentor any of Ferncloud's kits.
Paws pounding on the forest floor interrupted her thoughts. All of the cats whirled around to face the gorse tunnel as the midday patrol, consisting of Brambleclaw, Sorreltail, Mousefur, and Spiderpaw, burst into camp. Firestar shot up from where he was sitting with Cinderpelt in front of his den.
"What's wrong?!" he asked, fur bristling.
ThunderClan stood tense as Brambleclaw struggled to catch his breath. "There's killed prey with WindClan scent. Someone's been hunting in ThunderClan territory!"
"Nasty prey stealers!" Birchkit called out as the Clan hissed in defiance.
Firestar raised his tail for silence. "There's no need to make a big deal out of it, Brambleclaw, but thank you. I don't really understand though. We don't share a border with WindClan."
Brambleclaw shrugged. "It smells like WindClan to me."
Firestar nodded. "Graystripe, Sootfur, Starrypaw, with me. We'll go and speak with Tallstar to see what's going on."
Starrypaw rose excitedly to her paws. Finally something interesting was happening that didn't have to do with the rogues!
"You're so lucky! I wish I could be an apprentice right now!" Larchkit exclaimed.
Starrypaw chuckled. "You three have quite a few moons to go! But don't worry, it'll pass quickly."
"Starrypaw!" Firestar called from the gorse tunnel.
"Bye!" the three kits called out as Starrypaw leapt away to the patrol.
They all took up a quick pace through the forest heading towards fourtrees. The dark clouds drew closer and thunder rumbled in the distance, bringing Starrypaw back to her second day as an apprentice when Squirrelpaw had fallen into the Swallow Hole.
As they neared the border, the strong smell of killed prey flooded their senses. Starrypaw noticed her Clanmate's fur bristling, though Firestar's remained flat. Upon arrival, they found a half-eaten sparrow badly hidden under the bushes.
"Those horrible cats! They think the warrior code don't apply to them!" Sootfur said angrily.
"Let's not jump to conclusions," Firestar said calmly. He bent down and sniffed the prey. "It does have WindClan scent."
"Let's storm their camp! Those prey thieves won't have an idea what's coming!" Sootfur lashed his tail.
"No!" Firestar glared at Sootfur. "We'll wait respectively for a patrol, and you'll all be sure to maintain yourselves."
They padded through fourtrees and settled beside the WindClan border. Starrypaw pricked her ears to the forest and storm sounds. It was strange to be here again so soon without any other Clan cats, but Starrypaw could still pick up mingled Clan scents.
After quite a while, pawsteps could be heard on the moorland. Starrypaw could see a mottled dark brown tom streaking after a rabbit. He brought it down swiftly, and three other cats racing behind him, one apprentice and two warriors, lifted their heads in pride.
As soon as they spotted the ThunderClan cats, they all streaked over. Starrypaw recognized one of them and realized that it was Crowpaw from the gathering.
"What are you all doing here?" the tom who had hunted the rabbit asked accusingly.
Sootfur shot up. "We're here because you guys hunted in our territory!" he spat.
"No we did not! You're liars! We don't even share a border with you!"
"Then why is there proof right behind us!?"
Firestar flicked his tail for silence. "Excuse Sootfur. We'd like to speak to Tallstar, Mudclaw."
"Why should you? How do I know you aren't going to attack us?" Mudclaw slid his claws out and bared his teeth.
One of the other warriors, a dark gray tabby tom, glared at them with his yellow eyes. Crowpaw and the other gray tom with blue eyes sat boldly, watching them closely.
"There aren't a lot of them, Mudclaw," the blue-eyed warrior said. "I think it'll be okay."
Mudclaw stared for a while longer, and finally, he sheathed his claws. "Very well then," he said through gritted teeth. "But if you try anything.."
Firestar dipped his head respectively, and they stepped over the border. Starrypaw felt a shiver of excitement and uncertainty course through her. Besides her journey to the moonstone, this was her only other time so far crossing into another Clan's territory.
"Tornear," Mudclaw said to the blue-eyed tom, "take our prey back. I'll send Crowpaw out to help later if you need it."
Tornear nodded and scampered away over the tall grass. The dark clouds were now completely scattered across the sky, and a strong wind blew across the moor. A large lighting bolt split the air and thunder clapped as the WindClan hunting patrol lead them towards their camp, causing all of the cats to flinch slightly. The other tom, who Starrypaw didn't yet know the name of, fell in behind them, and when Starrypaw turned back to look at him, he bared his teeth menacingly. Graystripe pulled Starrypaw beside him with his tail as they continued on, and through it all, Sootfur remained hostile. Starrypaw worried he'd start a fight they'd never win.
They finally entered the camp as heavy rain drops began to splatter down. The strong smell of WindClan was strange, and Starrypaw found herself wishing she was back under the shelter of the trees as a cold drop splashed onto her nose.
The camp was practically empty except for a queen ushering two kits inside what must've been the nursery.
"Quickly Weaslekit. Owlkit stop it, inside now," she scolded softly. When she saw the ThunderClan patrol, she gasped and ducked in after her kits.
They stopped at the entrance to Tallstar's den, and after giving them a hard glare, Mudclaw slipped inside. Crowpaw sat beside the den and stared hard at Starrypaw for a moment before turning away. She knew he recognized her.
"Firestar!"
Starrypaw whirled around to see a small, pale brown tabby tom rushing up to them.
"Hello, Onewhisker," Firestar replied kindly. He touched his nose to the WindClan warrior's ear.
"Who's that?" Starrypaw whispered in her mentor's ear.
"Onewhisker is a good friend of Firestar," Graystripe explained.
Suddenly, Mudclaw slipped out of the leader's den, which was a gorse bush. "You may go in," he said much more harshly than he needed to.
The ThunderClan cats slipped inside and bunched up together. Tallstar sat at the back, watching with an unreadable expression. Starrypaw noticed grimly how frail he looked. Every cat knew he was on his last life.
"So, Firestar, you believe that we have hunted and eaten on your territory?" he asked.
Starrypaw could hear rustling behind her as Mudclaw, Crowpaw, and the yellow-eyed cat slipped in after them, making the den more cramped than ever. She pressed into Graystripe's side, half from being so squished, and half from being slightly afraid. Their patrol was in quite a vulnerable position.
"No offense Tallstar," Firestar began, dipping his head respectfully, "but it's the only conclusion we can draw to. Right by fourtrees we found a half-eaten sparrow that smelled strongly of WindClan."
Tallstar's tail twitched, and still it was impossible to tell if he was upset or not.
"Unless I have a warrior who snuck over there without telling me, we have no need to hunt on another Clan's territory," he replied. "Especially since we share no border with you."
Firestar nodded. "I understand."
There was a moment of silence when the only sound was the drumming of the rain on the leaves over the den. Starrypaw shifted uncomfortably.
"Mudclaw," Tallstar finally said, "go and make sure that everyone is back from hunting."
Mudclaw nodded and slipped out into the rain. It now pounded down as if a whole river were gushing out of StarClan.
After a moment, Mudclaw returned. His pelt was flattened against his body with water. "Every WindClan cat is in camp, Tallstar," he said.
Tallstar stood and pushed through the group of cats to reach the entrance. "Follow me," he said calmly.
The patrol allowed Firestar to get in the front, and Sootfur took up the back behind Graystripe and Starrypaw. She glanced back a few times to make sure Sootfur wasn't attacking a WindClan cat.
As they slipped out, the rain soaked through to their skin. Of course it has to rain while we're in WindClan territory! How do they deal with this much water? Starrypaw thought.
"You'd think they were RiverClan with how wet it gets here!" she said aloud to her mentor, having to yell above the sound. Graystripe chuckled.
Tallstar padded to a rock and leapt on, gripping onto the slippery surface with his claws. Starrypaw was surprised at how easily he climbed seeing how fragile he looked.
"All cats old enough to catch their own prey join here beneath the tallrock!"
Many cats began creeping from their dens, grumbling because of the rain, but when they saw the ThunderClan patrol standing behind their leader, curiousity overtook many of them. Soon the camp was filled with wet cats sitting alertly.
"ThunderClan claims WindClan has been hunting on their territory!" Tallstar called out.
A fury of protests broke amongst the clearing. The sound of the rain was nearly overpowered. Tallstar raised his head for silence.
"If there is any warrior here who has done this themselves or knows anything, speak up now!"
The pounding rain was victor once again as every cat remained silent. Starrypaw shivered due to the chill and the forboding that had suddenly seemed to settle in the air. She couldn't figure out the feeling that seemed to weigh down heavier than the water streaming through her fur.
"Like I said before! They're liars! We don't share a border with them! ThunderClan wants trouble for no reason!" Mudclaw hissed.
"You're the ones who want trouble!" Sootfur shot back.
"Fine then! I'll show you why you shouldn't make trouble with WindClan!"
Mudclaw jumped onto Sootfur and they both began writhing on the ground. Starrypaw stepped forward to help and suddenly she was thrown to the muddy ground and rolled. When she stopped, she saw Crowpaw standing over her.
"Stay back!" he hissed.
"Get off!" she growled back, pushing her paws into his stomach. She didn't want to hurt anyone, but it angered her that he acted as if she were a kit.
He let her up, and she stood and shook, sending a torrent of water and dirt to go flying. Graystripe turned to her as she padded back to her Clanmates.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
She nodded. Tallstar yowled for the fight to stop and Sootfur and Mudclaw jumped back, panting heavily.
"We're not to start anything, Mudclaw! You are not the leader here!" Tallstar demanded. "Go to my den, and I will speak with you in a moment!"
Mudclaw stalked away, limping slightly. He gave the ThunderClan cats one last glare before disappearing into the leader's den.
Tallstar leapt down from the tallrock to land beside Firestar. Starrypaw had to strain her ears to hear him. "Sorry for my deputy. None of my warriors know anything, Firestar," he said.
"Are you sure it isn't one of your warriors? ShadowClan had the same complaints at the gathering!" Sootfur growled.
Firestar cast him a glare before turning back to the WindClan leader with a respectful nod. "Thankyou, Tallstar. I'll be sure to let my Clan know that WindClan has been respectful to us despite the situation."
"Webfoot, please escort them to the border," Tallstar said. With a gentle wave of his tail, he padded away to his den.
They followed the yellow-eyed tom across the the moorland through the pounding rain. Sootfur limped pretty heavily, and despite the fact that he had acted like an ambitious mouse-brain, Starrypaw felt bad for him.
"Are you alright?" she asked him.
"I'm fine. Mudclaw didn't walk away uninjured either, and that's all I care about."
Starrypaw rolled her eyes, but she had to admit to herself that Sootfur was right. Even though they hadn't wanted a fight with WindClan, Mudclaw had showed the first set of claws. It was good for him to learn a lesson.
"Thankyou, Webfoot," Firestar said as they finally stepped back over the WindClan scent markers. "I'm sorry if we've caused you any trouble."
Webfoot simply grunted and scampered away towards WindClan camp until he couldn't be seen through the rain. It still hadn't let up, and Starrypaw was grateful they were returning to the trees.
"Let's go," Firestar said to his patrol.
They padded through the wet forest at a slow pace so that Sootfur could keep up. A large thunderclap seemed to shake everything around them, and Starrypaw wished desperately that they could hurry.
When they finally reached camp, Brightheart, who was guarding, greeted them with a thankful purr, though she looked on Sootfur anxiously.
"What happened? Was there a battle?" she asked.
Firestar shook his head. "I'll give an update once the rain clears up. Everyone can rest and get cleaned up right now. Brightheart, bring Sootfur to Cinderpelt."
Sootfur limped away, leaning against Brightheart's shoulder for support while Starrypaw padded gratefully to the apprentice's den. She made sure to shake the water off of her pelt before entering the den.
"What did WindClan say?" Spiderpaw asked as soon as Starrypaw had entered.
"Let her get settled first," Shrewpaw said. "I'll help you dry off," he added to her.
As Shrewpaw licked her fur in the opposite direction to speed up the drying process, Starrypaw told the story in as much detail as she could. The other three apprentice's leaned forward, ears pricked, with interest.
"That's it?" Squirrelpaw said when the story was finished. "WindClan just gets away with it and no one cares?"
"What does Firestar think he's doing? He's gonna look like the weakest leader in the forest!" Spiderpaw exclaimed.
"Hey! That's my father you're talking about!" Squirrelpaw snapped.
"Sorry."
"It's weird, but I almost feel like they're telling the truth," Starrypaw broke in.
"How could they be? Their scent was around the prey, you said it yourself!" Squirrelpaw countered.
"What do you mean by, 'almost feel'?" Whitepaw asked suddenly.
Starrypaw carefully considered how to answer the question. "Something just felt strange whenever they claimed to have nothing to do with it. It wasn't really like what they were doing felt wrong, I just had a strange feeling that something else was wrong. It just made me think that it wasn't WindClan's doing."
"Suit yourself," Squirrelpaw replied. "I don't see how it isn't WindClan's doing."
Spiderpaw nodded. "There's no other explanation."
"Yeah honestly, Starrypaw, I feel like WindClan was just lying to avoid any fighting," Shrewpaw broke in.
Starrypaw felt a pang of sadness at the fact that even Shrewpaw didn't believe her assumptions, but she simply shrugged. The den fell silent as everyone curled up and listened to the sound of the rain drumming and the thunder crashing above. Starrypaw rested her head on her paws and felt as if she could fall asleep.
A rustle at the entrance made everyone alert. Brackenfur stuck his head in, fur plastered to his body.
"Whitepaw, we're on a hunting patrol," he said.
Whitepaw sighed as she slipped out after her mentor, and Starrypaw felt a pang of sympathy for her. She hoped she wouldn't be chosen to go back out in the pouring rain.
Eventually, Starrypaw did fall asleep. She did not dream because she hadn't even known she had fallen asleep until she'd woken up.
When she had blinked her sleepiness away, she noticed that only Spiderpaw remained in the den. The sound of the rain had stopped to be replaced by drops splattering off of the trees above.
Starrypaw slipped out into the thick air and shook to rid herself of the water droplets that had gathered on her pelt. She noticed the camp bustling as usual though the darkness of the clouds indicated that dusk was setting in. Squirrelpaw and Whitepaw were eating together while Ferncloud's kits played in the puddles of water. Many warriors were eating as well, and Starrypaw noted that Graystripe was organizing the evening patrol by the gorse tunnel.
Shrewpaw stood beside his mentor, ready to leave. He turned and noticed Starrypaw, waving his tail in hello and goodbye as their patrol leapt out into the forest.
Once they were gone, Starrypaw realized how hungry she was. She padded to the fresh kill pile, happy to find it brimming, and picked out a plump vole, finally settling in beside Whitepaw and Squirrelpaw as she devoured her meal.
"What happened after I fell asleep?" Starrypaw asked, swallowing a chunk of her meal.
"Nothing really," Squirrelpaw mumbled through a mouthful of mouse. "I was sent on a hunting patrol as well."
Whitepaw plucked a feather off of her wren. "After we all came back, we settled down to eat. The evening patrol has just been sent out."
Starrypaw nodded, and they all continued eating. After sitting together silently and listening to the sounds of the freshly watered forest, the evening patrol returned, and Shrewpaw ate beside Starrypaw while she groomed his wet pelt.
Everyone's ears perked up as Firestar leapt onto the highrock. "Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather beneath the highrock for a Clan meeting!"
Starrypaw padded up to the crowd of gathering cats and sat beside Shrewpaw. Spiderpaw joined them, his belly rumbling and his eyes narrowed from sleepiness.
"Why didn't anyone wake me up before!?" he hissed at his brother.
Shrewpaw shrugged. "Just wait. I'm sure the news won't take that long. Besides, Starrypaw just explained it all to us."
Spiderpaw growled and lowered his head, staring up at the high rock with an angry gaze.
"I'm sure many of you wait to hear the news we've brought back with us from WindClan," Firestar began. "Sootfur is fine by the way, he simply got into a tussle with the deputy Mudclaw."
Starrypaw lowered her ears as she remembered how Mudclaw had been the one to provoke the tussle. He would definitely be a headstrong leader, and though she hated to think it, it wouldn't be very long before Tallstar was gone.
"As of now, WindClan has denied any knowlegde of any warrior trespassing into our territory."
Many cats yowled in anger and Firestar thrashed his tail to silence it.
"We are going to keep a good watch over the WindClan side of fourtrees as well as twoleg place, but..."
"Why don't we raid WindClan?" Cloudtail burst out, interrupting Firestar. "That'll teach them to hunt where they like outside of their own territory!"
Firestar glared angrily at Cloudtail before continuing. "As I was about to say, we will not fight another Clan for a reason that is not urgent. Especially when we have such a huge threat looming by twoleg place that is so unpredictable. Besides, WindClan has remained respectful and calm, and so will we."
Cloudtail opened his mouth again, but Firestar silenced him with another glare. "This meeting is over," he finished as he leapt down and slipped into his den.
The whole clearing broke into groups of cats voicing their opinions to eachother. "I can't believe Firestar thinks that a Clan hunting on another's territory is not an urgent matter!" Spiderpaw said, whipping around to face Starrypaw and Shrewpaw.
"His point is that the twoleg place rogues are a more important matter than WindClan right now," Shrewpaw shot back.
"Like I said! I really don't think WindClan was lying!" Starrypaw broke in.
Spiderpaw shook his head before trotting off to the fresh kill pile and settling down with his meal.
Starrypaw sighed and shook, attempting to clear her mind of all troubles. "I'm going to try and go back to sleep," Starrypaw said to Shrewpaw.
"Okay," he replied. "I'll join you in a moment."
The night was much darker as Starrypaw padded to the apprentice's den and curled up inside. The sun had now set, and the overcast sky prevented the splash of dusk from painting overhead. Starrypaw curled up into a tight ball and thought deeply about the events that had lasped in the past few days. She thought back to the fact that ShadowClan seemed to have the same problem with WindClan that they did. The only difference was that Blackstar had never claimed to have smelled WindClan scent on any of the killed prey by their border.
Is there even more to this than I thought? Starrypaw thought as her eyelids began to feel heavier. She sure hoped it was just a simple misunderstanding because she was way too tired of getting mixed up in complicated, frustrating things.