StarClan isn't real..

Chapter 7

The full moon glinted in the night sky, casting silver light over Yellowpaw's fur. She squinted against the glow, then turned her head and looked towards the hollow in front of her. Applestar was blocking her view, so Yellowpaw edged away from Fallenthroat's side to see. Cats filled the fourtrees hollow, muttering and purring together. Yellowpaw wrinkled her nose at a fishy stench. Is that RiverClan? Her tail flicked as she waited for Applestar to signal the WindClan cats to come down.

After a moment, the white-furred leader spoke. "WindClan, come."

She led the way down the dusty slope of the hollow. Yellowpaw followed, her paws skidding on the slope. Luckily, Fallenthroat lunged forward and sank her teeth into Yellowpaw's scruff. Yellowpaw stuck out her short tail to regain balance, muttered a small, "Thanks," then headed back down the slope. She leapt down onto the floor of the hollow, following her leader and the warriors to edge of the large clearing. Applestar veered away towards the Great Rock, that Yellowpaw wished she could climb. She wasn't a fan of heights, though, and privatly thought she would never want to be a leader.

Yellowpaw sat down beside Fallenthroat, watching Logpaw and Finchpaw head over to the cats at the other side of the clearing. She wished Fallowpaw was here, but he had told Yellowpaw that Grassleg didn't think he had earned it.

In the moon that had passed, Yellowpaw had grown stronger and bigger. She had caught a vole, two mice, and another rabbit, participated in two border patrols and four hunting parties, and had kept up on her training. She had grown closer to Larchpaw, the kind tortoiseshell apprentice who was the daughter of Specklebird, the deputy. Larkpaw, his other daughter and Larchpaw's sister, was also pretty sweet to Yellowpaw, and she had grown to like them.

Looking towards the Great Rock, Yellowpaw saw Specklebird, sitting down beside a large, pale ginger tom. A black tom opened his mouth and spoke to Specklebird, and the WindClan deputy flattened his ears in response.

"The deputies are Briarfire and Flintwhisker," Fallenthroat whispered. "SkyClan and ThunderClan aren't here yet."

Almost as soon as she finished speaking, the bushes rustled and a group of cats, led by black and gray tom. "That's Echostar of SkyClan," Fallenthroat whispered. She looked towards the Great Rock. "That's Crouchstar of RiverClan," The torbie added, looking at a handsome, smoky black she-cat. "And that's Smokestar, the ShadowClan leader." She looked towards a dark gray she-cat. "That's Applemask," Fallenthroat added as a ginger she-cat with a lovely dappled coat joined the deputies. Specklebird exchanged a greeting with her, and Applemask dipped her head.

"Where is ThunderClan?" A small light brown she-cat spoke up.

A battle-scarred light she-cat chimed in. "Yes, shouldn't they be here by now?"

Just as they finished speaking, a thin, dark brown tom limped into the clearing, followed by a large group of warriors. Yellowpaw's eyes widened as she saw that he had a twisted front paw, and grunted in pain as he hopped closer to the Great Rock. As he struggled over to the top of the giant rock, the Clans erupted into confused and concerned whispers.

"Bouncestar, what in StarClan happened to your paw?" Reedtail spoke up from where he was sharing tongues with two ShadowClan elders, Yellowpaw thought, from the harsh scent.

Bouncestar, the dark brown tom, lifted his chin. "Let's just start the gathering," He growled. The leaders all looked at him; clearly, they wanted him to speak first. "Alright. My Clan had a slight problem, but keep in mind that we resolved this." The tom spoke slowly, as if choosing his words carefully. Yellowpaw's pelt prickled. "You all know how hot greenleaf has been. Recently, a tree branch sparked fire, and we were terrified about it spreading. Since I had lives to spare, I climbed the tree and managed to dislodge the branch, but I fell and broke my paw."

The Clans erupted into sorrowful and suspicious murmers.

"I'll have a limp for the rest of my life, but warriors have lived with that before," Bouncestar went on. "But for other Clan news, I must inform you that we have three new apprentices- Hollypaw, Willowpaw, and Scorchpaw!"

The Clans erupted into cheers.

Echostar spoke first. "All is well in SkyClan," He mewed. "The greenleaf heat is problematic, but we have resorted to changing our patrol schedule, so now we have no problem with the heat." His gaze landed on a light brown tom. "We also have a new warrior- Darksong. Despite us thinking he couldn't be a warrior, with his disability, he has found ways and now we ask you to welcome him."

The Clans let out cheers, and a few even stepped forward to congratulate Darksong personally. Yellowpaw thought she could see a limp front paw, and figured that was his disibility. She blinked and cheered along with the rest of the Clans. "Darksong! Darksong!"

Applestar stepped forward, her eyes bright. "WindClan has been doing well. Prey is running quite well, and the rabbits have never been plumper." He searched the clearing, then his gaze landed on Yellowpaw. Her heart quickened. "We have a new apprentice, Yellowpaw, being mentored by Fallenthroat. Our older apprentices have been making great progress in their training, too." The Clans cheered Yellowpaw's name, and she flattened her ears, embarrassed and uncomfortable. "Our elders and queens are well-fed and safe. That is all."

Smokestar, the ShadowClan leader, stepped forward. "We have two new litters of kits from Acorndapple and Maplespot. They will soon be apprentices, and then ShadowClan will have more than enough warriors. Prey is running extremely well," She added, "And our apprentices our doing quite well in their assessments. That is all." She looked towards Crouchstar, the RiverClan leader.

The handsome smoky black she-cat looked impatient and angry. She stepped forward. "The Clans have been stealing our prey!"

The warriors of different Clans erupted into outraged gasps. Beside Yellowpaw, Fallenthroat tensed. Yellowpaw shifted her paws, though she too was angry. What right did this leader have to accuse all four Clans of theft? "We've found ThunderClan and WindClan scent on our borders," Crouchstar hissed. "And we've found scraps of prey, espically rabbit, which only WindClan eats." She glared accusingly at all the Clans. Specklebird looked outraged, his fur bristling and his ears flattening. Logpaw arched his back and hissed, and Finchpaw, beside him, snarled up at the RiverClan leader. The elders seemed uncomfortable, and moved away from each other. Aspenwing turned and snarled at a RiverClan warrior, who snapped his teeth back.

"Crouchstar, you have no reason to accuse the Clans of-" Applestar began, but was cut off by shrieks of fear from the cats. Yellowpaw groaned in annoyance. A cloud had drifted over the moon, and now she could hardly see!

Applestar finally spoke. "StarClan is angry!" She gasped.

Yellowpaw's jaw dropped. What? It was only bad luck that a cloud had blocked the moonlight!

"We must end this gathering," Bouncestar hissed.

Yellowpaw nearly yowled at the leaders, that it was bad luck, not "StarClan" that had ended the gathering. But the cats were already leaving, disappearing through different sides of the hollow. "Come on," Fallenthroat hissed. Yellowpaw rose to her paws and followed her mentor as she headed after the WindClan cats. Yellowpaw's tail dragged, annoyed, in the earth.

She hardly listened to the annoyed mews of the other WindClan warriors; she was too agitated. StarClan can't do anything to us, She thought. I hardly know what that is, but it seems stupid. And now RiverClan's going to cause trouble because of it... great.