Cloverpaw's Shadow

Chapter 8

Protests rose up from Thunderclan. Cloverpaw was baffled.

"How do you even know it was her?" Finchstar demanded. "You don't know her scent."

Emberstar smirked. "It was pretty easy, considering she has been crossing over in Riverclan territory often enough."

Gasps echoed around the clearing. "Is this true?" Finchstar asked Cloverpaw.

Cloverpaw shook her head, not trusting her voice. She hadn't been anywhere near Riverclan. With her broken leg and limp, it was hard for her to even get out of her own territory!

Emberstar snorted. "Like she would tell the truth."

Finchstar gritted his teeth. "She's been confined to camp for over a moon due to her leg injury. You have no right to accuse her of these things."

Emberstar glared at Finchstar. "Well then, can you explain the scents of Thunderclan?"

Finchstar mumbled something inaudible. Cloverpaw watched as cats fur began to bristle. Glancing up at the moon, she let out a sigh of relief as clouds began to drift past it. Within a matter of seconds darkness had fallen over the clearing.

"Look!" Hawkblaze, the medicine cat of Shadowclan, cried. "Starclan is angry! They have sent clouds to cover the moon."

Jaystar cleared his throat. "This gathering is over." He leaped down from his position on the tree branch, and padded through the midst of cats. Cloverpaw got up and followed her clan across the island to the tree-bridge.

She looked back and found two cats gazes trained on her. Emberstar, with a look of hostility in her golden-brown gaze, and a bright ginger tom with an unreadable expression. Shuddering, she leaped up on to the log and nearly ran all the way across, swerving to hide in between her clanmates.

She needed to find out who killed that Riverclan cat. Hopefully before the next gathering. She knew she wasn't to blame, but that would be hard to explain to a cat that thought she was lying.

Sighing, she trudged after her clan, certain hard times were just around the corner.

***

"Cloverpaw!" A deep voice said. "You've missed over a moon of training!"

Cloverpaw blinked open her eyes. Twistedbrook was leaning over her, with a displeased expression on his face.

She shrank back. "I got attacked by a badger," She explained. "I would have died, but Junipercloud-"

"Don't speak of that name here!" Twistedbrook nearly shouted. Lowering his voice, he added, "Starclan did nothing to help you. You're a strong young cat, and you healed on your own."

Cloverpaw bit her tongue. Twistedbrook flicked his ears towards the clearing. "Deathshade is waiting."

Padding over to Deathshade, she listened to his reminders, and then launched straight into a mock battle. Cloverpaw focused on her moves, striking Deathshade when he least expected it.

"Nice work," Deathshade complimented. "Lets see how you fare in a real fight."

Cloverpaw started. "Wait, what?" She asked.

Deathshade grinned. "I want you to practice your moves with Twistedbrook's apprentice. Claws and teeth are allowed. Pretend this is a real battle."

He led her over to the giant oak and instructed her to wait there. She mentally ran over her moons of training, watching as Snakepaw came out into the clearing.

Twistedbrook and Deathshade sat a ways off, and Twistedbrook gave the command to start. Snakepaw didn't hesitate and leaped at her. Cloverpaw dodged to the side and managed to nip his ankle. He whirled around and rolled to the left, swiping a claw over her muzzle.

Cloverpaw felt thrilled. She hadn't done anything like this with Firefang. Mostly he just sat and watched her practice moves with the other apprentices. She jumped over Snakepaw and turned around, taking a bite to his ear.

He shrank back and hissed. She took this chance and leaped on him, pinning him to the ground. She slashed her claws over his face, and glanced up at Twistedbrook.

"Well done," He said, coming over to her. "You're turning out to be quite the warrior."

Cloverpaw felt proud. She watched as Snakepaw limped out of the clearing, blood streaming off his face. She felt a pang of guilt, but she quickly shook it away. Warriors didn't feel sorry for their enemies!

The darkness is coming

She yawned and blinked open her eyes to the waking world. Disappointed, she sat up and started grooming her ruffled fur.

A sharp pain stabbed through her. She hissed and glanced down at her leg. She had forgotten that it was broken, and in the fight she didn't feel any pain from it. Now it was hurting, and Cloverpaw flinched.

She hadn't felt pain like this before. There was a deep gash in the broken part, and blood was still trickling down. She sat up and tried running through the strengthening exercises Needlenose had come up with. It didn't help. In fact, it just made it hurt worse.

Needlenose stirred in his nest and Cloverpaw froze. She whipped around, regretting it when another bolt of pain shot through her. Needlenose yawned and looked up at his patient, letting out a yowl of surprise at the sight of her leg. He hurried into his herb store, calling for Poolpaw before disappearing into the slit.

Poolpaw poked her head into the medicine cat den and gasped. "What happened?" She asked horridly. Needlenose appeared out of the shadows and dropped a bundle of herbs. Cloverpaw stared ahead, ignoring Poolpaw's cries of dismay. She had trained hard. So what if she had a little injury?

"I'm fine," She said absentmindedly. She fixed her stare at Needlenose. "How much longer until I get out of here?" She asked him.

He grumbled. "This set you back a couple weeks, so probably another moon. Even after that you'll still need to take it easy."

Cloverpaw shook her head. "Okay," She laid down again and closed her eyes. "Twistedbrook will be waiting."