(Book 1) Warriors: Separations - Six Stars

Chapter 3

Speckledstones padded back into camp. It hurt that his brother was being so cold to him, but he understood. Even if it was painful, he knew that it was what he needed to do to stay in Windclan. Speckledstones' mother died recently, and his father disappeared before he was born, so his only choice was to look for his brother, Danny–now Skystar–.

As he walked into camp, he spotted a beautiful she-cat walking into a den. She had a tabby pelt and vines around her legs, he thought it looked really nice. Speckledstones followed her. "Hello!"

She turned around to look at him, her pretty mint green eyes gazing into him. Speckledstones stammered. "I-I, you're, uh... I uh... like your eyes!" The she-cat smiled. "Thank you, and congratulations on being a newly made warrior. I'm sure you're very excited."

He nodded. "Yes, I am. Me and Skystar were actually–" he stopped himself. The she-cat looked at him, confused. "Were actually what?" Speckledstones chuckled. "Uh, I was just gonna say he um... looked like a friend I knew that passed away recently. And the clans are so interesting, plus, Skystar is quite a friendly cat."

The she-cat nodded. "He's a wonderful leader, Rainbowpaw would certainly agree. She adores him. Oh, by the way, my name is Emberheart! Pleasure to meet you!"

What a beautiful name for such a beautiful cat. Speckledstones thought.

"Well, Emberheart, do you have any... specific job in this clan?"

Emberheart nodded. "I'm the medicine cat. It's quite the job, I take care of the clan, and heal our cats. Did you already know that?" Speckledstones shook his head. "I don't actually know that much about the clans, just the basics. I didn't know they had a medicine cat, though. It must be pretty cool being a medicine cat, huh? You've gotta be so happy with what you're doing for your clan." Emberheart nodded again, sadness clouding her gaze. "Yes, being a medicine cat is quite rewarding, getting to see all your clanmates and friends get better after you yourself nursed them back to health, however..." she trailed off. "What?" Speckledstones queried. "...we're not allowed to have mates. It's sad, you know? Me and Rainbowpaw, and every other medicine cat that will ever exist has to watch all their littermates grow up, and get warrior names before we get our medicine cat names, and most of all... make families."

SpeckledStones' heart dropped. "So, you're not allowed to... have a mate?"

Emberheart shook her head, but her gaze lightened as the two locked eyes once more.

"I love being a medicine cat though, and I wouldn't trade this job for the world."

Speckledstones nodded. "I'm sure you're an amazing medicine cat, Emberheart. Tell Rainbowpaw I said hi!"

Emberheart nodded. "I will!"

Speckledstones padded back out of the medicine den, and came upon one of the elders, she had a pale coat with darker dapples on her pelt, and a dark pale stripe running down her body and tail. "Oh, hello! What's your name?"

The old she-cat scoffed. "Dawnpelt. I didn't think that a rogue would join our clan anytime soon, next thing you know, we'll have another Tigerstar incident on our hands."

Speckledstones tipped his head to the side in confusion. "Who's Tigerstar?" Dawnpelt's eyes widened with surprise, but she sighed. "An old tyrant who attempted to rule the forest, failed miserably but killed many cats while trying to achieve his dream. He was a blood-thirsty murderer, and he deserved the fate he got."

Dawnpelt flicked her tail. "I don't want to interact with a rogue anymore than I have to." She walked away in annoyance.

Speckledstones stood there, dazed but understanding. He didn't want to be compared to such an awful sounding cat, but he knew that most clan cats weren't very open to cats outside the clans.

His mind went back to Emberheart, her beautiful tabby pelt dappled with light brown spots, and her shining, glittery, minty green eyes. He was in a trance thinking about her, so much so that he didn't notice one of the kits sneaking up on him.

He was surprised when he felt tiny paws batting his tail. Wincing, he spun around to face them. His tail was a little stubby, and he was surprised the kits could reach it.

"You smell weird!" one of the kits said. He was a light orange kit, with white fur on his paws and nose. He had bright blue eyes and his pelt was decorated with pale-orange stripes.

"Well, I come from outside the clans, and that's not very nice of you to say."

The kit's eyes widened. "Oh, what's your name?"

"My name is Speckedstones."

"Hi there, Speckledstones, I'm Sunkit!"

"I see where you got your name." Speckledstones mentioned. Sunkit smiled. "My mom says that my fur and energy shine as bright as the sun!"

Speckledstones' gaze flitted towards a smaller, brown tom. He had the same bright blue eyes, but he seemed more reserved, with the same white spots on his paws and nose. A dark brown stripe ran down his spine and tail, and dark brown spots dappled his fur.

"And who's that? Are you brothers?"

"Yup! That's my brother, Badgerkit."

Speckledstones looked at Badgerkit, and waved his tail in a greeting. Badgerkit smiled back as a tiny greeting, but quickly went back inside the nursery.

"My mom's name is Nightwing. She looks like Badgerkit, but with pretty golden eyes instead of our blue eyes. And my dad is Hawkfire. Skystar said I just looked like a replica of him."

Sunkit continued rolling around the camp, barreling into the nursery. Speckledstones heard a squeak from another kit, and a minute later, Badgerkit and Sunkit were play-fighting in front of the nursery.

Speckledstones left them to play with each other, and continued wandering around the camp. He decided that he was going to leave the camp and get some fresh air, perhaps even catch some prey for the freshkill pile.

Skystar blocked him.

"Are you leaving camp?" he asked.

Speckledstones nodded, confused.

"You know of clan boundaries, yes?"

Speckledstones sighed. He wasn't completely aware of what the warrior code asked of clan cats, but he wasn't so mouse-brained that he didn't know about clan boundaries. "Yes, Skystar."

Skystar nodded. "Just stay away from the Thunderpath, the barn, Fourtrees, and the bridge leading to Riverclan.

Speckledstones hated being treated like he knew nothing, but decided he better get used to it. He knew that Skystar would baby him like a newly made apprentice until Speckledstones could recite the warrior code from memory.

He strolled out of the entrance to Windclan's camp, relishing the fresh scents of the wild. It still smelled of Windclan, but the scent was less pungent.

Then, Speckledstones caught a new scent. It was familiar. Awfully familiar...

He sniffed around a bit more, and recognized the scent of his two former loner friends, Cinder and Cherry.

He called out. "Hey, come out! I know you're here."

Just then, Cherry leaped out of a nearby bush and pounced on him.

"If you touch my friend, I'll–!"