Froststar's Destiny

Chapter Thirteen

So, due to unlucky chances, Frostheart was going to the gathering with her nincompoop leader proclaiming her to be his bodyguard, when of course she was doing no such thing, and was merely falling further and further behind the group, keeping them within sight but not really following much. Should she really be acting as a bodyguard, she was being a horrible one at that, not to mention Stonestar hardly seemed to care that his bodyguard was being woefully absent from everything. Stonestar was even chatting animatedly with Duskcloud, the cat whom he'd forced to go to the gathering even though his mate, Shimmerpelt, had just kitted. Heartkit, Leafkit and Mynakit were absolute cuties, although Mynakit, poor thing, was the only tom among his two sisters Heartkit and Leafkit.

They arrived at the gathering place with their unusually tiny group, and they did attract quite some attention for their strangely small size - AutumnClan was having a laugh at how it was peculiarly small, while most of their group was made up of some wiry rogue or another, many of which could used a good wash, they reeked of Twolegplace. When Twolegplace was concerned, Frostheart had to wonder how many of them were kittypets in disguise, pretending to be fiersome rogues in order to get into the Clan at all. She guessed they had no idea what a grave mistake they were making.

"Nothing much has happened in my Clan," Springstar, who was going first, announced, her silky voice clear and smooth. She sounded perfectly calm and not stressed at all, whereas Mousestar was hopping slightly from one paw to another, like he had anxiety issues. "But perhaps Mousestar would like to speak? I can see he is most eager, and I daresay I wouldn't want to hold you up," Springstar meowed in her usual polite way. "Just a moment, though, I also wanted to congratulate one of my warriors, Streamlight, for helping out SummerClan to gather herbs and hunt a few weeks ago. Wouldn't you say so, Stonestar?" she added even more politely, tilting her head in confusion at him when he didn't say so.

"Oh, yes, that was very kind of her indeed," Stonestar was flushing, but he didn't dare disagree, and he was looking, on the contrary, quite annoyed, as if Streamlight helping his Clan had annoyed him instead of, well, helping him. "Most kind and polite, she was only dropping by on the border. But, ah, SummerClan can handle their own problems, thank you," he finished, impatience mingling with the attempted politeness he had tried to put in. "We have no need for the meddling of other Clans, so we won't be needing her help again. We didn't need it in the first place either."

Springstar looked quite affronted, but all she had to say was, "I wonder if some of your warriors would agree on that, Stonestar, I daresay they were grateful for the herbs and their dinner. But I mustn't keep anyone, so, Mousestar, you were wanting to speak?" She turned her gaze to the AutumnClan leader, her green eyes fixing on him.

"Ah, yes. We have a lot of new warriors. They didn't take up Warrior names, not all of them, no. Former rogues, you see! I lost a lot of my old Clanborn warriors to a battle with SummerClan"

"Clanborn," one of his new warriors hissed scornfully. "Didn't say so much about that mattering when he came wailing to us! Fraud, he is, but I'm not complaining about the new prey supply. Might keep him round for that, but a "Clanborn" cat is still his deputy! Think that's highly unfair... He said what his rules are, must have an apprentice, he said! What's her apprentice, did Turtleleaf ever have an apprentice?" the warrior asked crossly.

Turtleleaf is his new deputy? Frostheart wondered with a shock. She knew Turtleleaf was one of the few survivors, but those warriors were right, Turtleleaf probably hadn't had an apprentice! Up there Mousestar was yammering away, and Frostheart really did see Turtleleaf sitting with the deputies on the tree roots. She was talking in low tones with Amberfrost, who was looking rather disgruntled, and was constantly shushing Turtleleaf. Stonestar hadn't named Amberfrost as one of the cats to come, but she had followed him anyway and he had given no objection. She had a lot more power than he'd like to admit.