Warriors #3: Moonrise ✓

Chapter 7

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Ow, ow, ow, Starspeckle thought as he rose to his paws. His blue eyes soon flickered open, and he saw his friends gathered around him. Squirrelpaw was just beside him, while Brambleclaw and Crowpaw were further away. Feathertail was helping Tawnypelt onto a rock.

Stormfur was just in front of Starspeckle, starting to wake up. Their eyes met, and Stormfur leaned forward to touch noses with the ThunderClan cat. Starspeckle smiled and returned the gesture.

"Is everyone okay?" he asked, turning his head to and fro to see everyone starting to wake up. "No..." Squirrelpaw moaned as she rose to her paws, shaking out some dust from the stones. "It feels like a tree has hit me, then rolled over into an ice lake."

Stormfur let out a merry purr of laughter and licked the fiery she-cat behind her ear. "You'll be fine," he mewed and stood up, helping Starspeckle to his paws. "Thank you," Starspeckle whispered and smiled softly at his friend, who nudged him before padding off to assist the others.

Soon, everyone was as okay as they could have been after being swept away by water. Only now did Starspeckle start to realize that they had washed up on a shore right next to a scrubby forest. The scent of cats filled his nose, but it wasn't the scent of his friends. These cats smelled more like... mud? His eyes widened, and his mouth fell open as he took in the new scents.

And soon, he spotted a flicker of movement. His body tensed, and his white-orange fur stood straight up. His friends felt his tension and came up beside him, their fur fluffed and claws unsheathed. "Whoever goes there, come forth! We know you're there!" Starspeckle growled out. Soon, a group of cats covered in mud padded out from the bushes and shadows.

More camouflaged cats moved away from the rocks and sat on the pool's edge. Starspeckle held his tail up in case his friends would attack. The first cat he had seen stepped forward. The gray-brown cat examined the group, then approached Starspeckle, meeting his eyes and staring at him longer than the others.

, a she-cat stepped forward, mewing, "Is he the one we've been waiting for?" Her leader, the tom before Starspeckle, snapped, "Quiet, Brook!" Brook stayed silent, dipping her head.

Starspeckle felt his pelt bristle slightly. That's not how one speaks to a she-cat. But he kept his mouth shut.

"Who are you?" the gray-brown tom asked, and Starspeckle flicked his tail. "These are my friends Brambleclaw, Squirrelpaw, Stormfur, Feathertail, and Crowfeather. And I'm Starspeckle. We're just traveling through and don't want any trouble," he said.

The tom smiled and shook his head. "We're the Tribe of Rushing Water, and traveling cats are welcome in our territory. Come, come, you must be tired," he mewed. Starspeckle felt a smile spread over his muzzle. Perhaps these cats weren't the worst.

He looked at his friends, checking if they had something else in mind. But Brambleclaw met his gaze warmly and walked over, touching noses with the powerful tom. "You're our leader, Starspeckle. It's your decision," he mewed. Starspeckle felt something strange swell within him—love for Brambleclaw? But he didn't delve into it and nodded, turning to face the tom. "You lead the way," he mewed.

The mud-covered cat nodded, flicking his tail as his tribe followed him, and the eight traveling cats did the same.

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Near the pool by the waterfall, Crag leaped up the rocks nearby and disappeared behind the cascading water. The Clan cats followed Crag, venturing behind the waterfall where they saw him waiting at the mouth of a cave. Starspeckle shivered, looking inside and seeing rocky walls reaching the height of the waterfall. The scent of other cats filled the cave. Despite their apprehension, the group of cats agreed to enter the cave with Crag for the sake of their mission.

Soon, they padded inside, and Starspeckle found himself drawing back slightly as numerous pairs of cat eyes flickered to life in the darkness, staring at him and whispering. Stormfur walked over to him, pressing his side against Starspeckle for comfort. Starspeckle smiled and twined his tail with his friend as they walked closer to the cave. There, a gray tomcat sat, staring down into a shallow pool.

"Stoneteller, there are guests," mewed Crag, and the gray tom looked up, his eyes lighting up as he spotted Starspeckle. "Come forward, young one," he said. Starspeckle shared a glance with Stormfur but let go of his tail and padded over to the leader.

"You must be wondering who I am," Stoneteller mewed, and Starspeckle nodded. "I'm Teller of the Pointed Stones, and I welcome you to the Tribe of Rushing Water. You may call me Stoneteller." Starspeckle tilted his head. So this is the leader? He thought and kneaded the ground. Seems a bit surprising, but he seems nice enough.

Starspeckle then introduced his friends first and then himself. It seemed to make Stoneteller happy to hear the name that Starspeckle had been bestowed as his blue eyes glowed more and more.

"Tell me, Starspeckle, how did you get your name?" he asked after a while when Starspeckle and the rest of his traveling companions had settled down. "I... I don't know. I think my mother, who we call Mistyheart, gave it to me because of my fur," he guessed, glancing at his white-orange coat, then at his eyes. "They look like stars if you see them close enough." That's when Stoneteller looked closely at Stormfur and Feathertail, the only gray cats present.

He sighed but nodded, as deep down, he believed that Starspeckle was the real cat of their prophecy. But the Tribe of Elders' hunting had promised them a silver cat, and there were two. He had no idea for the first time in his life.

Let fate play us however she wants, he thought and looked over at Starspeckle again, who was now gazing at two she-cats—one the color of fire and the other the color of snow. Perhaps it was the one, after all.