Darksong's secret.

chapter 2

Darkpaw stood in a crowd of his clanmates, flanked by Nightpaw and Swanfeather. His long ears twitched with anticipation. He hated waiting around like this, it just made him more nearvous. Tonight would be his first gathering. Eventually, Shellstar flicked his tail for them to follow, and they flooded out of camp and into the rocky forest. They leaped over the stream running through their territory. Shellstar set a brisk pace, but he wasn't complaining. The icy breeze that whipped them in the face seemed to calm him, it just felt like he was running through the forest with Sandpaw and Nightpaw. They suddenly came to a halt outside of a wall of bushes and one by one, they filed through the gap. The sheer size of the four great oaks, and the rock below them that cast long shadows on the sandy clearing. He looked around in amazement at the amount of cats, he had never seen so many scents or cats in one place.

A large black and white Tom walked past him. The muscles on his shoulders rippled under his sleek pelt. Meeting that Tom in battle certainly wouldn't be fun. Darkpaw turned around to see nightpaw pushing her way in. Her fur was dripping wet as she trotted over to him with Sandpaw.

"What happened?" He asked, but the look on her and the ginger tom's face told him she wasn't hurt.

"I-i guess I was just a bit nearvous" She stuttered. Darkpaw let out a purr of amusement as they padded back into the clearing of cats.
"I'm going with Swiftstep to meet some warriors, anyone coming?" Sandpaw asked

"I will, Are you, Darkpaw?"

"No thanks, i'd rather talk to cats my own size"

"Most of the apprentices are smaller than you" Sandpaw teased and padded off with nightpaw. Swanfeather appeared behind him.

"Try and talk to some cats, it can be good to get to know them at gatherings" His mentor advised.

"Why would he be scared? Gatherings are fun" Magpiepaw chided and padded off towards a small group of cats before Darkpaw could reply. His denmate knew he was shy. A soft mew from behind him made him jump.

"Hi" A pretty light grey she cat greeted him. He still didn't trust Riverclan after the battle, but he wouldn't let that show now.

"Hello" As he said that, three more cats joined her.

"I'm Pebblepaw, this is rainpaw" She flicked her tail towards a small blue she cat. "And these are Cloudpaw and Owlpaw" She nodded to two toms, one white tom with grey patches and the other a dark brown tom with lighter flecks and bright orange eyes.

"I'm Darkpaw, nice to meet you"

"Were you at the battle?" Cloudpaw asked, but before he could answer pebblepaw slapped him with her tail and hissed something in his ear.

"Sorry" The white tom apologised.

"Do you have any littermates?" Pebblepaw asked.

"Yes, Nightpaw" Darkpaw replied, eager to change the subject as he scanned for his sister among the many pelts.

"Me and Pebblepaw are littermates" Cloudpaw announced. Before anyone could say anything else, a loud yowl came from great rock, and Darkpaw noticed a short brown tom standing at the front. Oakstar. He had heard of the ShadowClan leader before. Beside him was Shellstar, then a pure white she cat, a huge grey tabby tom and a black and white tom. Oakstar reported first, announcing they had a new deputy. A shiver rippled along Darkpaw's spine when the tom stood up. A ragged scar stretched along one side of his face.

By the last one, he had stopped listening. Where gatherings always this boring?

"no, they aren't always as boring as that, they just had no news" The grey she-cat purred as though she was reading his mind.

"Have you been to one before?" He asked

"I've been to two, but i've missed out on one, this is your first time I gather?" meowed Pebblepaw.

"Yeah" He nodded. By the sound of it, they were similar ages

"Pebblepaw, lets go" Rainpaw called.

"See you next gathering?" She asked hopefully.

"Yes, next gathering" He confirmed, trotting off to join the cluster of his clanmates.

"You seemed friendly with that RiverClan cat" Magpiepaw meowed when he reached the cluster of his clanmates.

"What?"

"You're a stormclan cat" He remembered him.

"I know that! Swanfeather told me to talk to other cats!" He hissed.

"I'm just reminding you, don't go running off with her"

"Shut up!" Darkpaw spat, stalking over to his sister.

"Who got under your fur?" She asked when he reached her.

"Magpiepaw"

"What did he say?"

"Do you think I was too close to the RiverClan apprentice?" He asked.

"Not really, we were all talking to other cats" She said sympathetically. Did anyone else think he was too close to pebblepaw?