Warriors AU: Skyclan's Destiny

Chapter 4

Poppystar padded up the gorge toward the new caves, enjoying the sensation of sunlight on her fur. A few days had passed since the snowfall, and the weather had turned unexpectedly warm so early in newleaf.

As she approached the new dens, a twig sailed out into the air from the cliff face and clattered onto the ground by Poppystar's paws; she had to jump aside to avoid it.

"It's a snake!" a voice yowled from above her head. "I killed it!"

Gazing upward, Poppystar spotted two of the daylight warriors, Harleymoon and Amber, on a ledge outside the fourth of the new caves, which so far no cat had cleared out. As she watched, Amber scooped up a pawful of dry moss and threw it at Harleymoon; it hit the white she-cat in the chest and spattered all over her fur.

"I'll get you for that!" Harleymoon meowed, leaping on top of Amber.

For Starclan's sake! Poppystar thought, annoyed, as she began to scramble up to the ledge. Waspwhisker's kits have more sense!

The she-cats sprang apart as Poppystar bounded up the last couple of tail-lengths and joined them on the ledge.

"What d'you think you're doing?" she growled. "I thought you were here to help, not behave like a couple of kits."

Before either of them could reply, Cherrytail emerged from the cave. His tortoiseshell and white pelt was clumped and streaked with dust and his green eyes sparked with irritation. "I've had to put up with this all morning," he told Poppystar, turning a furious glare on Harleymoon and Amber. "You're being disloyal to your Clan when you behave so stupidly. Don't you care about the honor of being a warrior? You haven't done a stroke of work, and you're making it harder for every other cat."

"It's not like we'll have to sleep in these caves," Harleymoon pointed out. "So why should we have to clear them out?"

Cherrytail let out a long hiss of anger, and even Amber's eyes widened in shock. Harleymoon glanced uneasily from one to the other; Poppystar could tell that she hadn't realized how insolent the words sounded until they were out of her mouth.

Cobaltclaw and his apprentice, Frecklepaw, had appeared at the mouth of the cave, peering around Cherrytail, and Poppystar spotted Rockshade and Tinycloud in the shadows behind them. She realized that every cat was waiting for her to do something; behavior like this couldn't be ignored. The fact that it was warriors from Twolegplace causing the trouble somehow made it much worse.

"Clan cats don't fool around when their Clanmates are working," she told Amber and Harleymoon. "And they certainly don't talk like that to the Clan deputy—or any other cat. Warriors treat one another with respect." She felt as if a stone were lodged in her belly as she added, "It's not as if this is the first time. You couldn't be bothered to turn up for the warrior ceremony, and on your last two hunting patrols you never caught a thing." She took a deep breath and went on, "You're both banished from the camp until the next full moon. Perhaps by then you'll have decided whether you really want to be part of Skyclan."

Amber and Harleymoon crouched down as their leader scolded them, their ears flattened. As she pronounced their sentence they exchanged a shocked glance.

"We're sorry, Poppystar," Amber meowed. "We didn't think. Please let us stay."

"We'll work really hard," Harleymoon promised. "Cherrytail, I'm sorry I said what I did. I didn't mean it."

"'Sorry' catches no prey," Poppystar responded. "It's too late for that."

"But I promised to join Fallowfern and Nettlepaw on a hunting patrol after sunhigh," the white she-cat protested.