Warriors AU: The Darkest Hour

Chapter 12

Sandstar paused at the top of the hollow before leading his cats down to the Gathering. The night was still. Clouds were building up on the horizon, so that Sandstar had begun to wonder if Starclan was going to hide the moon to show that it was not their will for the Gathering to take place.

But for now the moon rose high above the clouds, and the scent of cats drifted up to Sandstar from the hollow below.

"Only Windclan so far," murmured Silverstream, who was crouched at Sandstar's shoulder. "What's keeping the others?"

Sandstar shrugged. "Starclan knows. Personally, I wouldn't care if Goldenstar never showed up."

He signaled with his tail and led his warriors as they raced down through the bushes and into the clearing at the center of the hollow. As Silverstream had said, only Windclan cats were there. Sandstar spotted their leader, Tallstar, seated with her deputy, Ashfoot, near the base of the Great Rock.

"Greetings, Sandstar," Tallstar mewed, dipping her head courteously as Sandstar approached. "Tornear told me she met you on your way to Highstones. We grieve for Oakstar."

"So does her own Clan," Sandstar responded, bowing his head in turn. "She was a noble leader."

"But you will be a worthy successor," meowed the black and white she-cat, surprising Sandstar by the warmth of her tone. "You've served your Clan well."

"I-I hope to serve it even better in future," Sandstar stammered.

Tallstar nodded once more in response, and sprang up to the top of the rock. Before following her, Sandstar glanced around at his own cats. They were already circling among the Windclan warriors and beginning to exchange their news. Sandstar was pleased to see that the two Clans seemed friendly toward each other, in spite of the recent clash over missing prey. Worried as he was about Shadowclan and Riverclan, it was good to think that he might find allies in Windclan.

Waving with his tail toward Smokefur and his apprentice, Gorsepaw, who were settling down to talk with Fireheart, Sandstar jumped up to stand beside Tallstar on the top of the Great Rock.

He had stood here once before, when he took Oakstar's place while she was ill after the fire, but he was still not used to looking down on his cats from such a great height, nor seeing their eyes gleam pale from reflected moonlight as they stared up at him. Sandstar's tension increased as he thought about what was to come, and the confrontation with Goldenstar that would surely happen before moonset.

"Shadowclan and Riverclan are late," he remarked.

Tallstar twitched her ears in agreement. "Clouds threaten the moon," she pointed out. A trace of anxiety crossed her face. "Perhaps Starclan is angry."

Looking up, Sandstar saw that the clouds he had noticed earlier were spreading farther across the sky.

The air tasted damp, and his fur prickled with expectation. What would it mean, Sandstar wondered, if Starclan veiled the moon and Goldenstar was left to plot in secret until the next Gathering?

"Tallstar," he began, deciding that the time had come to confide in the Windclan leader and ask for her advice. "I'm worried about what Goldenstar might be planning—"

He never finished. A triumphant yowling from the tip of the hollow interrupted him, and a heartbeat later more cats raced into the clearing as Shadowclan and Riverclan arrived together, their cats fanning out below him. Goldenstar reached the top of the Great Rock in a single bound, and Leopardstar scrambled up beside him.

"Cats of all Clans!" Goldenstar declared, not waiting to greet Tallstar and Sandstar or discuss which of the leaders should speak first. "I have news for you. Listen well, for great change is coming to the forest."