Warriors: Beetlestar's Past (Mini Story)

Chapter 3

"The cats that will be traveling with my to the Gathering are Morninclaw, Feathercloud, Brokenheart, Lakewatcher, Coldduck, Beetlepaw, and Mothpaw." The tom looked at his brother, frowning. 

"Maybe next time we can go together!" Branchpaw exclaimed, his tail raising in the air. Be "Besides, I can ask Heronscratch if he'd like to take me hunting later." The two brothers said their goodbyes and Beetlepaw followed his mother outside of camp. The deputy glanced at him and smiled. He returned the smile.

"Aren't you excited?" Mothpaw exclaimed, bouncing up to Beetlepaw. "This is our first Gathering. Although, I'm sorry your brother couldn't come." 

"It's fine. Maybe next time," Beetlepaw reassured himself, laughing. 

"The reason why he stayed is because we need cats back at camp to guard and protect it. Branchpaw has a little training with battling and you two don't, so he stays with the others to protect camp in case of an attack," Morningclaw explained. The two apprentices nodded as they took in the information to show Morningclaw they understood.

As the group continued to walk, Beetlepaw noticed a heavily forested area. As they entered it, there was a huge gap at the top where none on the trees touched. The stars shined brightly in the dim sky. 

"Until the Gathering starts, you may hang out with the apprentices from other Clans." Beetlepaw noticed a group of smaller cats hanging around a tree and decided to walk up to them with Mothpaw. Their conversation died down and they all turned to Beetlepaw and Mothpaw.

"Hi! I'm Beetlepaw, and this is Mothpaw," he introduced them. The apprentices smiled and started to introduce themselves as well. 

"I'm Nightpaw from Marshclan!" a black, fluffy she-cat meowed. 

"Northpaw," mumbled the white tom. "I'm from Rockclan."

"The names Ivypaw, from Rippleclan. Nice to meet ya!" A light brown tabby tom with a white chest, belly, and paws smiled at Beetlepaw, who smiled back. "This your first Gathering too?" The Forestclan apprentices nodded. 

"Yeah, she just became an apprentice yesterday," his tail pointed to Mothpaw. "I notice there's not many apprentices here. Is that normal?" Nightpaw shook her head.

"No. Lots of Clans are short of apprentices. Sunclan has no apprentices or just decided not to bring any. Marshclan only brings one apprentice to Gatherings now. I suppose the others do too." Northpaw and Ivypaw both nodded. 

"Dang, everyone's suffering with a small Clan. Me, Mothpaw, and my brother, Branchpaw, were the only apprentices in Forestclan for a couple moons."

As a yowl rang from Fernstar's lungs, all the cats gathered around Tall Stone. Beetlepaw sat next to his mother and Mothpaw and waited for the gathering to begin. Fernstar started.

"Forestclan is doing very well this Newleaf. Our prey is flourishing. We also have three new apprentices, Branchpaw, Mothpaw, and Beetlepaw. Beetlepaw and Mothpaw are here today."

                                                                                          ***

"Maybe we can see each other again. Hopefully, Fernstar will bring Branchpaw to the next Gathering and you can introduce me to him!" He held out his paw and smiled. "Friends?" Beetlepaw nodded his head and touched the tom's paw with his. Ivypaw meowed goodbye and rushed to the Rippleclan group. Beetlepaw turned to face Morningclaw and walked beside her.

Coldduck approached Morningclaw and whispered in her ear, making her giggle. Beetlepaw hadn't seen his mother happy in a long time. Morningclaw and Coldduck's tail entwined. The brown tabby caught a glance of his father, who scowled at the sight of his mother and Coldduck.

To get the thought of Brokenheart out of his mind, he decided to walk with Mothpaw, who chatted the entire way back to camp.  But he put up with it. Her yellow eyes sparked every time he looked at her, not knowing what this feeling was.

                                                                                          ***

Branchpaw was the first cat to greet the group first, aside from Gorsefur who was guarding camp. Beetlepaw walked off from Morningclaw and trotted next to his brother to the apprentice den. 

"So, how was it?" the tan tabby asked eagerly. 

"Well, it was really cool. I got to meet other apprentices from other Clans. Their names were Nightpaw, Northpaw, and Ivypaw. Then the leaders talked about how things were going in the Clans and any cats who became apprentices or warriors. It was cool!" The two brothers chatted with each other before drifting off the sleep. Before Beetlepaw fell asleep, he Mothpaw twitching.

He investigated her without trying to wake the she-cat. When she winced, a wound appeared on her left eye and blood dripped from it. She awoke and panicked. 

"Woah, Mothpaw. Are you okay? You're bleeding." Beetlepaw crouched down and comforted her.

"I-I don't know. I don't know what happened. One minute, I was sleeping. The next, I was attacked by a blurry figure." She lifted her paw to her eye and looked down at the blood. "Great Starclan! I really am bleeding."

"Why don't we take you to Feathercloud? She can heal you." Beetlepaw helped Mothpaw get up, but she probably didn't need it, and the two apprentices made their way quickly over to the Medicine den, sliding down the tunnel. 

"Feathercloud?" Beetlepaw called out. The fluffy blue ticked she-cat appeared out of the shadows and approached Mothpaw 

"What happened?" she asked, studying Mothpaw's wound.

"She doesn't remember. But it happened when she was sleeping. I was looking at her because she looked like she was having a nightmare then the wound just appeared out of nowhere." Beetlepaw wrapped his around Mothpaw and comforted her. She smiled at him. 

"Probably the work of the mouse brained Dark Forest cats," Feathercloud mumbled then walked off to find herbs. Beetlepaw walked Mothpaw to an open moss bed. The blue she-cat came back with moss and cobwebs. She applied the moss to Mothpaw's eye to stop the bleeding then attached the cobwebs. 

"Come back to me at Sunhigh to check up. If it's still bleeding, we'll have to put on new cobwebs and wait another day, but we shouldn't have to. Any constant and heavy bleeding, come back here. Understand?"

"Yes, Feathercloud. Thank you." Beetlepaw dipped his head in thanks and exited Feathercloud's den, along with Mothpaw. 

"Thanks for taking me to Feathercloud. I appreciate it," Mothpaw purred. 

"Oh, uh-no problem!" Beetlepaw choked on his words. As he watched Mothpaw disappear into the apprentice's den, he noticed Morningclaw and Coldduck sleeping next to each other in the warrior's den. By the looks of it, Coldduck might become his step-father.