WolfClan 2: The Spirit Wolf

Chapter Four

A warm breeze was coming in through the trees. I was not in WolfClan territory, it was ShadowClan territory. I was practically frozen to the ground. A wolf's howl made me want to run. For some reason I couldn't move my legs. The howl grew louder, but I seemed to forget about the wolf when I saw my real enemy, Poppy-tail. Cinder-star and mom were being attacked by him.
I tried to leap at him and slash his throat. Something was holding me down. I turned my head and Finch-star was holding my scruff. I scratched his chest. For some reason I was weak and couldn't do anything. I felt myself get knocked down. I winced when he was about to bite my throat and kill me. I stayed like that for a while. His weight was lifted off me. I looked up to see a wolf. It had killed him in a single paw swipe.
The wolf had saved me. I looked for mom and Cinder-star. Cinder-star was leaning over mom. My mom was dead and Poppy-tail was gone. This was the part when he got a patrol to exile me and Cinder-star. I searched for the wolf. It was gone.
"Wolf-star wake up!" Cinder-star's voice woke me up,
"What!" I said worried that the dream had happened.
"I had a dream where Poppy-tail was about to kill me and when he was about to bite me I just stuffed some of the ashes from the forest fire that had just happened and he started coughing and ran away." She said.
"I was having a bad dream too, Finch-star was about to kill me and a wolf killed him." I said.
"Any chance I get, I will kill Finch-star." She grumbled.
"Anyways, I would have told you last night but you were sleeping, this cat came and asked for help, he is plotting to overthrow Finch-star and Poppy-tail as leader and deputy, and he needs an answer by sunset." I told her.
"I think we should if you are okay with it and I will tell him later." She said.
"Why you?" I said.
"You got kits in your belly, no way are you going to a battle." Cinder-star said.
"Okay, I will stay in, but you have to tell Skipp-tail and Ice-tail and if they agree it is settled." I said.
"If they say yes, for a battle patrol we are not taking Ice-tail in case you have your kits." She confirmed.
"That sounds good, and make sure you take Frost-feet, Flame-shower, Rain-feather, Brindle-cloud, Leopard-shadow, Lion-fall, Sparrow-leaf and Tear-fall." I said.
"That sounds perfect, but shouldn't Silver-willow go instead." She said.
"I trust Silver-willow with delivering my kits more, and Tear-fall is good at treating battle wounds too." I told her.
"Okay, I will ask them right now and then announce it if they say yes." Cinder-star planned. "Then I will catch a fish."
Cinder-star always loved to catch fish since she learned on our two and a half moon journey. Those days had seemed so distant, yet it felt like yesterday.
I waited for Ice-tail to come in the den. I hoped he had said yes and he would stay with me. He walked in with me after a few moments.
"Hi." He said.
"So what'd you say." I said hopefully.
"Something cool." He smiled.
"Really?" I said.
"Okay, I said yes." He mewed.
"Good."
"So you sitting out the big battle." He grinned.
"Well somebody mature should watch over the clan."
"So you don't trust me." He smiled.
"No, I need don't." I said sarcastically.
He looked out of the den. I heard Cinder-star call out the clan meeting. "You coming?" He asked. I got up and stretched. My belly felt sore and kept twitching. It must've been hard for Cinder-star to have been expecting kits on our journey.
I hopped on the stump with Cinder-star.
"Do you think the apprentices could go?" I asked.
"Not my kits." She said.
"They need their final assessment anyways." I said.
"But, I know Finch-star will know my kits, I just don't want them to go." She mewed.
"Just make sure they stay with one of my kits." I whispered before she spoke to the crowd of the clan.
I watched her as she told the clan who was going.
"I'd like Frost-feet, Flame-shower, Rain-feather, Brindle-cloud, Leopard-shadow, Lion-fall, Sparrow-leaf and Tear-fall." I watched Cinder-star's eyes fill with worry. "And the apprentices."
"Yeah! Our first battle patrol." The apprentices bounced up and down. Skipp-tail quieted them after a few seconds.
"Um, Cinder-star, I know you wanted me to go, but, I am sort of having a litter of kits with Lion-fall and I want him to be here for me." Leopard-shadow said.
"I think that is fine, right Wolf-star?" Cinder-star asked me.
"Yeah, maybe one other cat could go, any volunteers?" I looked around.
"I could go." I heard Flash-trail's voice call out.
"Fine." Cinder-star said.
"This meeting is at an end now." I yowled.
The crowd cleared a little while after I said that. Cinder-star went to meet Pebble-foot since it was almost sunset. I went to get a drink and eat some prey. The last border patrol went out. It was so boring being a queen with no kits yet. I had no hunting patrols to lead or apprentices to watch.
Our clan needed new warriors. With Pip-foot gone we were down a warrior, we had three queens, a very small paw-full of warriors, the elders and the kits. We needed them just to protect the borders. Maybe Pebble-foot would want to join in WolfClan. We had to go to two-leg place. Maybe Goose-feather's barn had gotten some more cats. It had been a while since we had went to two leg place.
Before the clan would go to bed then I could ask. Dog-kit and Fray-kit came running out of the den.
"We get to play outside!" Dog-kit mewed.
I noticed Flint-fangs glance quickly at them then turn his back towards them. He seemed to look at his kits in pain and regret. They were all he had left of his mate, why does he not go see them? I gave him a glare when he looked at me. He stared at me in bewilderment. I tilted my head towards his kits. He turned and walked down by the river as if he didn't seem to notice me.
Anger boiled inside me. I would give anything to have Brave-kit be here and he seems to just avoid his kits at all costs. I flicked my tail irritably at how he didn't care about them. I winced in pain. My tail slashed into a thorn bush.
I sat down in an attempt to pick out the thorns.
"You know we have a medicine cat for a reason." Silver-willow's voice surprised me.
"You know I have some experience as a medicine cat right?" I said.
"How did you ever learn them anyways?" She asked sitting down expecting a story.
"When I was apprenticed Mole-star apprenticed me as a medicine cat." I said.
"Why?" Silver-willow asked, leaning forward like an excited kit.
"Because the medicine cat needed an apprentice." I said recalling the embarrassment I felt in front of Night-paw. "Anyways I reluctantly learned some of herbs. It wasn't that bad, but I still hated it. Being forced to pluck herbs while my friends did battle training." I said.
"How did you ever get to train as a warrior?" She asked.
"When there was a badger attack on camp Poppy-tail was being attacked, I hated him so much but I wanted to show the leader that I was meant to be a warrior." I paused to catch my breath. "I leaped on the badger and ripped his throat right out."
I saw horror fill Silver-willow's face.
"Anyways, I got carried away and fought, I still have a scar from that battle on my leg." I showed her my paw.
"Was the leader mad?" She asked.
"No, but the deputy was furious, we got in a big fight. That was when Poppy-tail attacked me. I did my best to defend myself, they were so tough that they knocked me out cold." I said. "They almost killed me but your parents and Night-paw saved me, I was in the medicine den for half a moon."
"Why didn't the leader stop them?"
"We were on a patrol, they took me on my first patrol as a warrior apprentice." I said. "That was when the leader sent them to exile for a few years."
"Did you ever catch up with the other apprentices?" I saw that Silver-willow was expecting a no or barely.
"In one moon I did all the patrols I could and scraped the forest of the prey. But I never caught a small animal, I only caught big lizards and hawks." I said. "That made me be apprenticed one moon before Night-paw and Skipp-paw. Your mom and I were constantly making challenges for ourselves, like who could catch the most prey or who was the strongest."
"Wow!" She said. "That is some story."
"Anyways I need a little prey." I got up and stretched. "You want anything?"
"Nah, I ate earlier, I am going to see Tear-fall." She raced over to her mate who was grooming his pelt.
I went to the log and met Ice-tail and Skipp-tail. They were talking about some funny story that they had as kits.
"Anyways, we snuck away from mom and Leopard and I er.., I meant Leopard-shadow and I ran to what would be my future fox den and I saw the biggest, meanest fox I ever saw, it growled and we were so scared that Leopard-shadow peed herself. So we started running home and the fox slashed me with his claws. I fell down and when I thought we were going to die my mom came and killed the fox." Ice-tail paused to take a breath. "When we got home, boy I thought the beating I got from the fox was scary."
Skipp-tail and I were too busy laughing to focus on exactly what his mom said. She said some things I shouldn't repeat myself.