The Clash of Stars Book 1: The Key

Chapter 6: Thornpaw

"So her name's Wildpaw," Ashrunner meowed, "but she's not from a Clan?" She shook her head in exasperation. "We can take her to Emberstar, she'll know what to do."

Thornpaw frowned, hesitant. EchoClan had just had an attack from FlashClan; it would be hard to get the Clan used to having a winged cat among them. "We can't just walk her through camp," they responded. "I'm not even sure about — "

They heard a voice hiss, "Mouse-brain!"

They paused in bafflement. What in StarClan was that?

"Thornpaw?" Ashrunner prompted. "Sure about what?"

Thornpaw blinked. I must be imagining it. They opened their mouth to speak, eyes widening as they saw the pale form of Cinderstrike, standing behind Ashrunner. The former cleric was fixing Thornpaw with a glare of disapproval and shaking his head.

"Thornpaw?" Ashrunner repeated.

Thornpaw shook their head. "Sorry, Ashrunner, I need to check on something — just don't take Wildpaw to Emberstar yet!"

They trotted around the side of the cleric's den, offering a hasty wave to Clanmates who spotted them and mewed greetings. They found a private enough place in the cave that would let them blend in with their dark pelt and came to a stop, glaring at the pair of yellow eyes floating in front of them.

"What are you doing here?!" Thornpaw hissed.

Cinderstrike's eyes blinked, and his head began to fill in, floating in front of Thornpaw from the infinite nothingness of space. "Helping you, you ungrateful furball," Cinderstrike snapped. "Don't jeopardize Wildpaw's place in the Clan."

"What?" Thornpaw retorted. "But I don't know where she came from! I've never heard of a cat with bat wings!"

Cinderstrike swiped at Thornpaw with what they assumed would have been a cuff around the ear if he weren't a ghastly figure in front of them.

"Of course you haven't!" the old cleric hissed. "She's special. Bring her with you to the Hearth during the new moon."

"What for?" Thornpaw meowed incredulously. "You told me just to meet that other cat!"

Cinderstrike sighed. "I told them we should have waited longer," he groaned under his breath, only just audible. Aloud, he meowed. "Just — just do as I say! I'm helping you!"

"But — " Thornpaw started.

Before they could finish, Cinderstrike stalked off, walking right into the cave wall and disappearing.

Thornpaw sat there for a few moments, feeling a bit put out. Finally, they returned to the cleric's den, where Ashrunner fixed them with an impatient look.

"We can take her to Emberstar," Thornpaw said.

Ashrunner's expression changed to concern. "Is everything okay?"

Thornpaw longed to tell her everything, about how pressured they felt about StarClan's mission, but knew if they told her, she'd stop them from going. They let out a long breath. "She came here to join EchoClan. She just got lost in the caves, I think."

Ashrunner turned to Wildpaw. "Is that true?"

Wildpaw looked at Thornpaw.

Thornpaw nodded at her with vigor.

Wildpaw turned back to Ashrunner. "Yes!" she mewed with too much enthusiasm.

Ashrunner sighed. She flicked her tail to Wildpaw, and the small molly stood up, wincing as she stretched out her wings.