Omen of the Sun Book Three: Dusk

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Fernpaw

Fernpaw watched in disbelief as Sunpool turned the entire crowd into a frenzy.

What had happened to the calm demeanor that had been present in the she-cat just the day before? And had Applestar really done everything Sunpool had said? Fernpaw didn't know what to think. Sunpool had turned what she had believed into a twisted disaster.

Fernpaw turned her scared eyes onto Rainpaw, who was watching Sunpool disappear. Cinderstorm and Lightningfeather were following them, along with the entirety of FlowerClan. Rainpaw was watching them with a strange expression.

"Rainpaw? What just happened?" Fernpaw murmured, sidling closer to her sister, whom she had always looked to for answers.

"I'm not sure," Rainpaw replied. She pulled her gaze away from Sunpool and turned to her sisters. "I don't know why anyone would go with them, though."

"Ugh," Emberpaw broke in. "That was so stupid. I just want to go back home, now."

Fernpaw felt a twinge of annoyance at her littermate, who never really wanted to do anything, and was lazy and usually bugged Fernpaw quite a lot. Fernpaw's temper had been bubbling for the past few moons, and if Emberpaw didn't quit whining, she was going to explode.

Rainpaw apparently saw it the same way, because she wheeled around to face Emberpaw. "Okay, listen up. I don't know what your problem is, but if you don't shut up with your whining, I swear to StarClan there will be something bad for both of us, okay?!"

Fernpaw stared at Rainpaw, dumbfounded at her outburst. She wasn't prone to shouting like that; usually, Rainpaw kept her anger bottled up inside. Emberpaw must have really thrown her over the edge.

"That's mean," Emberpaw said, stung.

"I don't care," Rainpaw growled. "You've been putting me in a bad mood for weeks and this was the last straw."

"That's still mean!" Emberpaw shrieked, and turned and disappeared. Rainpaw stared after her. "Urgh..." she muttered.

"I think the Gathering's over," Briarpaw murmured, pointing to the retreating figure of their mother. "We should go back to camp. No doubt she'll have an announcement."

"But- Emberpaw!" Fernpaw meowed, turning to try and see where her sister had disappeared to. She wasn't in the best mood at Emberpaw at the moment, but she was still her sister, and she had to bring her back to camp.

"Oh, leave her," Rainpaw snarled viciously. "If she cares enough, she'll find her way back. If she doesn't, well, it's not like anyone's going to miss her anyway." She turned and stalked away.

Fernpaw glanced over at Briarpaw, who shrugged. "It's probably best to leave her alone," she said. "She'll be over her mood soon."

Fernpaw could only hope that she was right as she and Briarpaw made their way home quietly behind their straggling Clan.

-=-

"All cats old enough to climb Sky Tree gather under the Rock Pile for a Clan meeting!"

Fernpaw had only just walked into camp with Briarpaw when Applestar made the announcement. Turning, she saw that her mother was atop the Rock Pile, her tail whipping from side to side furiously. She looked mad. The Clan came out of their dens, most of them groggy-eyed like they'd been asleep, as if the anger in Applestar's voice had alerted them to come. Fernpaw spotted Rainpaw, and went over with Briarpaw to sit with her.

"Most of you went to the Gathering, but for those who didn't, I'll give you a condensed version: Sunpool decided to make untrue claims about me, and has trained in the Dark Forest. She was exiled for working with them, and now has her own Clan and has made up stories to get the other Clans to be disloyal to me. She now has FlowerClan, Cinderstorm, and Lightningfeather on her side. I hope non of the rest of you will be foolish enough to join her and her ridiculousness, but if you are going to, I suggest you leave now."

Applestar stared down the Clan fiercely. The power of her gaze was so intense, Fernpaw felt herself looking away. She didn't know if she wanted to leave. This was her Clan, where she had been born, and where she was (being) raised. Her mother, her family, were all here. Well, except for Lightningfeather, but he had betrayed the Clan when he went to Sunpool.

Fernpaw knew her mother could get angry, that she could be full of anger and could take it out on any cat that got in her way, but it was taking it too far to believe that she was evil, to start a war over something. She didn't believe that her mother could be truly evil. She couldn't have trained in the Dark Forest! She just couldn't have!

"Nobody? Good," Applestar growled. "If Sunpool follows through with her threats, we may soon have a war on our paws. So, I want the battle training doubled, patrols doubled, hunting doubled. Apprentices may not leave the camp without a warrior, and if they do, they will be severely punished. Cloverfur and Pidgeonpaw have the full right to ask you to come with them to collect herbs. I want the boundaries of the camp doubled. Elders may have to hunt."

No cat spoke. Fernpaw felt like Applestar was taking this way too far.

"I want two cats to keep guard of the camp every night," Applestar continued. "If you aren't on guard duty or aren't needed, you will be asleep. Don't leave the camp after sundown. We will win this war.

"Clan dismissed," she finished, leaping off the Rock Pile and landing in the middle of the group of cats, who hastily moved to make room for her. Dramatically, she raised her head and proclaimed: "Sunpool should have never challenged me."

I'm on a bus and I'm tripled up with Swiftie and Ethan and well it's uncomfortable to say the most???

Happy reading :)

-Rainfeather