BOOK 1: The Rise of OasisClan

Chapter 20

Littlestar sat in the clearing watching over her clan, Boulderspring had Coldpaw and his apprentice Lilypaw cleaning the elders' den after they were caught in an argument earlier. Coldpaw grumbled and cleaned the nests, even though they had no elders, they still got dirty.

She yawned and wiped her face with her paw, Daffodiltail was still asleep in the warriors' den. Everyone else was out working. Littlestar had gathered patrols earlier since Daffodiltail was working hard, so she let the she-cat sleep in.

As the calico laid down to rest a bit, Koifish the other calico padded over and spoke, "We've done all the patrols, all we have to do is work on the brambles to the dens-"

"DAFFODILTAIL!" someone screamed, Littlestar jumped up and rushed over. The warriors' den had collapsed, and Littlestar's heart stopped for a second after seeing the debris cover her best friend.

Boulderspring raced over panting heavily, "Daffodil!" He called rushing to the fallen den and began to pull off all the brambles. Littlestar went to help him, and when they found Daffodiltail's body she was slowly turning cold. Boulderspring stared at his mate's body with tears forming.

Littlestar observed her now-dead friend before breaking down. She wailed at Daffodil, placing her nose to her torso. "Daffodil..." She muttered, tears rolling down her face as she nuzzled Daffodiltail's cooling body. Boulderspring silently cried, his heart broken. Blazeclaw padded over and sat beside the she-cat. His scent reeked with sadness, and Wolfpaw watched. His eyes were colder than usual, for some reason he had no grief for the beloved deputy.

Coldpaw glared at Wolfpaw, for some reason Coldpaw had a weird feeling about Wolfpaw. He could never shake it off, so he naturally kept his eye on Wolfpaw.

Boulderspring grabbed Daffodiltail and dragged her to the clearing, Owlwing padded out and gasped after seeing her friend's body. She wailed and rushed over, towering over Daffodiltail. Owlwing, Daffodiltail, and Littlestar had grown up as littermates. Littlestar watched the medicine cat cry over her friend. Littlestar was deep in her thoughts reminiscing over the memories she and Daffodiltail shared.

The time she and Daffodil had pranked her father while still in the barn, putting horse dung onto his nest. The two of them giggled and raced away after Coldeye had found out it was them and chased them. And the other time she and Daffodil were admiring the tom barn cats. She had pushed Daffodil toward one of them and embarrassed her, after that had happened Daffodil stopped talking to her for a few days.

Littlestar cried by herself, Snowpaw padded up to her mother and leaned her head on her shoulder. Littlestar placed her head on Snowpaw's head, Lilypaw padded over and helped comfort her mother, and Kestrelpaw also padded over. They were staying with their grieving mother.

Wolfpaw of course stayed away from it, Coldpaw wanted to comfort his mother but chose to watch his littermate. Wolfpaw got up and padded out of the camp since no one was watching. Coldpaw stood up and rushed to follow him, keeping downwind.

Littlestar stood up and kept beside her deputy and best friend, she wouldn't leave her side until her burial.

The moon rose and Littlestar had no choice but to pick a new cat to be deputy. Littlestar cleared her throat and took a deep breath. "Boulderspring will take over as deputy-"

"Hell no, I won't." He spat, his eyes filled with hatred, "She died because you failed in leading this clan properly, if you put your mind into keeping the dens up maybe Daffodil wouldn't be dead." Littlestar flinched but nodded. "Foxshadow?" Foxshadow stared at Littlestar.

Foxshadow shook her head, "I'm still too young for that big job." Littlestar frowned but nodded. "Russetclaw?" Russetclaw flinched but stared at his leader. "I'm... No, thank you.." Littlestar stared at her clan, "You've lost your loyalty, right? You all hate me now right?" She mumbled, her lip quivering. The cats winced at Littlestar's tone which was filled with hurt. She got up and raced off. Lilypaw growled, "She's trying her best!" She yowled. "Boulderspring, I don't know why you are crying and taking your anger out on Littlestar! You've neglected Daffodiltail since I was born! Even before, she was practically putting all the time into your relationship!" She hissed. Boulderspring stood up, "Watch your mouth!" He snarled, and Kestrelpaw jumped in between them. "Enough, Boulderspring you neglected Daffodiltail a whole lot more than Littlestar had done. Everyone knew you never put anything into your relationship, she would practically be talking to a wall." Kestrelpaw huffed, "If you want to be angry at someone, you should be mad at yourself. C'mon Lilypaw." Lilypaw snarled at Boulderspring before padding away with her brother.

Ashpelt padded over to Owlwing and licked her head, calming her.