Cats of the Clan - Six

I jumped up and quickly forgot about my dream. We ran into the main part of camp and Lakefur yelled out to us. “Guard the nursery!” We quickly rerouted our bath and busted in to were the two kits were huddling behind their mother.1

“What’s going on?” Snowfur yelped.2

Smokepaw motioned for me to guard the entrance as he explained. I could hear our warriors crying out in the night. “You’re going to be fine.” Smokepaw reassured her as he came to stand next to me.3

“It’s not right for us to just be standing here while our warriors are being torn apart.” I growled.4

Smokepaw looked at Snowfur and the kits then back to me. “Go, I’ll keep them safe.” I nodded and raced out of the camp.5

I saw that the number of ShadowClan and WindClan almost double that of our warriors. Even Tanglepath and Pebblepaw were out fighting. I saw that Rainbreath was fighting against two ShadowClan warriors and Lightstep from WindClan. I jumped in between Lightstep and Rainbreath with a growl. The young brown warrior and I circled each other. We locked eyes and we both gasped at once. She had the same eyes as me. The dream was real!6

“Tell them that if they do not stop their fighting, their lives as they know it will be over….” She mumbled before running off.7

I looked to see if Pantherpaw was here, but it seemed as if the young medicine cat apprentice didn’t come to the battle. I looked around for Tanglepath, and I found her with her teeth digging into a ShadowClan apprentice. I ran over to her as she pushed the small cat away from herself.8

“We have to stop fighting,” I pleaded with her. “I had a dream from StarClan.” 9

“And what did that dream say exactly?” She grunted as a large WindClan warrior flung himself at her. “That we let our elders and kits wide open for an attack.” With a kick she send the warrior flying into a tree.10

“No, I mean we ALL have to stop fighting.” I ducked as a cat hurled himself at me. “If not, they said we will all die.”11

All of a sudden the WindClan cats began running back to their territory. I looked over at the mass of retreating cats and Lightstep was looking at me. She smiled before following her clan back home.12

A few moments later, since we now outnumbered the ShadowClan cats, Nightstar called for his clan to retreat, and the cats ran away, still hissing and spitting at our warriors.13

“How bad is the damage?” Swiftstar padded up to Tanglepath, and his shoulder was bleeding profusely.14

“You’ll be fine. Get yourself back into camp and tell Pebblepaw to go find some cobwebs.” Swiftstar nodded and limbed his way inside the camp.15

“Flowerpaw, search around to make sure none of the cats from the other clans decided to stick around.” I nodded and began walking around the camp, carefully sniffing for any remains of the ShadowClan or WindClan scent. I saw the other ThunderClan cats licking their wounds and stumbling back into camp. Hawkfire and Turtlerock stood outside the entrance, no doubt guarding against another possible attack. 16

I went farther from the camp and was making one last circle went I smelt a cat hiding behind a bush. I braced myself and pounced.17

“Take it easy!” I looked down and saw that it was Lightstep. I got off of her but I still kept myself between her and the camp.18

“What are you still doing here?” I meowed in a harsh whisper. “If it was someone else who caught you here you would be crow food.”19

“I had to talk to you, about… the dream…” The small brown warrior drifted off.20

“So you really were there?” I asked, keeping alert incase Turtlerock or Hawkfire decided to come look for me.21

“Yes, and so was Pantherpaw and Icetalon.” I heard the two ThunderClan warriors talking at the entrance of the camp and I knew we didn’t have much time.22

“How can we all meet?” I asked. “We have to figure out what to do! Our clans are at war!”23

“Tell Tanglepath that the StarClan cats instructed you to go to the moon pool. The half moon is tomorrow and they will all be traveling there.”24

“You mean lie? To the medicine cat?” I heard Hawkfire and Turtlerock asking each other where I went.25

“Yes, Pantherpaw will already be going and I will get the message to Icetalon.” One of the warriors started walking into the bushes that were only a few tail lengths from us. “I have to go!” The WindClan warrior burst out of the bushes and ran for her border.26

“What was that?” Turtlerock exclaimed.27

“Just a rabbit.” I hurried towards the camp so that I could talk to Tanglepath before she went to sleep.28

“It smells like WindClan.” Turtlerock replied.29

“They probably just lost some fur on the thorns.” I approached the entrance and nodded to Hawkfire. “I have to go talk to Tanglepath.” I ran into camp before he could say anything else.30

“Tanglepath!” I called out as I saw Swiftstar padding away from her den. “I have to talk to you.”31

“Yes, I assumed that you did.” She smiled a tired smile and led me into her den where Pebblepaw was slowly drifting off to sleep.32

“I have to go to the moon pool with you tomorrow.” I meowed convincingly.33

“Why? Only medicine cats are supposed to go there.” She sat down in a bed of moss and rested her head on her paws.34

“I told you, I had a dream with StarClan, and they told me to go with you and Pebblepaw.” I jumped slightly as Pebblepaw let out a loud snore at the mention of his name.35

“I guess that is okay then.” The brown she-cat was too tired to argue. “We will leave a little after sun high tomorrow.” Tanglepath yawned.36

“Okay, thank-you.” By the time I got out of the den she was already asleep. I padded into the center of camp and no one was there. I could here the faint murmur of Hawkfire and Turtlerock talking at the entrance of camp, but other then that everything was silent.37

“Flowerpaw.” I whipped around to see Princess standing behind me. “It is not good to lie to Tanglepath.”38

“I know.” I thought for a moment. “StarClan isn’t going to tell her that I’m lying, are they?”39

“No, I have asked them not to tell any of the medicine cats.” The brown and white cat stepped a little closer to me. “A great burden has been put on your shoulders. You will soon have to face something that is harder than anything you have ever done in your short life. I wish you luck.” The cat disappeared from sight, but I could still feel a hint of her presence in the air.