Froststar's Destiny

Chapter Thirty

"Hey, Amberfrost, can I talk to you?" Frostwind asked the next morning. She'd been too tired that night and had almost forgotten to ask Pebblepaw how she'd found the gathering. She wasn't a very good parent, she knew, but she was more of the killing-enemies type, not the parenting type, and Pebblepaw sort of understood.

"Sure?" the deputy flicked her tail and sent out the dawn patrol before glancing at Frostwind, a question in her eyes.

"Do you... Know about the prophecy?" Frostwind asked slowly.

Amberfrost tilted her head, looked around at the vicinity, and nodded. There weren't any cats around.

"Okay, I'm the snow white cat," she began. Amberfrost smiled.

"I figured as much," the deputy responded lightly.

"Yeah, um. We need to save the Clans by uniting them, and... Well, the ideal would be a SummerClan leader and a SpringClan deputy, because we're going to end up dominating Mousestar and WinterClan."

"You want me to lead?" Amberfrost's eyes widened.

"What? Um, well... Do you... Want to?" Frostwind practically squeaked. Why couldn't this have been fighting? She was so much better at fighting. She watched Amberfrost apprehensively while the deputy considered for a moment.

"You're meant to lead, aren't you?" Amberfrost asked, and she sounded amused more than anything.

"Well, yes," Frostwind mumbled, looking at her paws, "but you're deputy, so I thought, I needed your cooperation, and if that means you leading, that's fine."

"No, I don't want to lead," Amberfrost said unexpectedly. Frostwind frowned. She had always found Amberfrost as a strong-willed cat, and she was one of the senior warriors, older than Stonestar by a few moons.

"You don't?" Frostwind asked, shocked.

"Why do you think they haven't rebelled yet?" Amberfrost looked up at the sky, sighing. "I'm not meant to be leader, Frostwind. You are. You just need to mature a little more. Stop killing mindlessly."

"I was getting there," Frostwind muttered despondently, "until somebody killed my mate."

"I understand you have a grudge against AutumnClan, against Mousestar," Amberfrost stated calmly. "But in the final battle, we are not going to kill all the WinterClan cats, you hear me? We are not going to-"

"FIRE! FIRE!"

"Fire?" Frostwind jumped to her paws. "Where's Pebblepaw?"

"Medicine den," Amberfrost barked, "and evacuate everyone, not just your daughter, please!"

"Sorry!" Frostwind shouted in response and took off like the wind.

She shook Pebblepaw awake and explained there was a fire. "Evacuate to the river," she told her daughter.

"What about you?" Pebblepaw asked, concerned.

"I'll be evacuating the others."

"I want to help!"

"No, I can't put you in danger, hurry up and go to the river before I make you!" Frostwind unsheathed her claws and, terrified, Pebblepaw pelted towards the river.

Frostwind sheathed her claws again and moved on to the elders. Some warriors were trying to help. She recognized Shimmerpelt, Twilightmoon and Talonflame, but they weren't going to be much good there. Shimmerpelt was impatient and Talonflame was quite small for a cat. They were struggling with the weights of the elders.

"Out of the way!" Frostwind snarled at them and the three of them jumped back. "Talonflame, I want you to go to the river. You can't help here. Twilightmoon..."