The Shadow Glare

Chapter 9

It was Emberpaw's  first Gathering tonight and she was excited.
Around her, cats were gathering at Pebblestar's call.
She had called them together to announce who would be going to the Gathering.
Her cough was gone now so she talked loud and clear.
"To the Gathering tonight I will be taking Brownwhisker, Weaselgrowl, Greenstem, Wildflame, Cloudpaw, Emberpaw, Ashpaw and Blackwave. Riverpaw has asked to stay behind to take care of her sister, Shadowpaw, who is still injured." She flicked her tail to dismiss the meeting.
The cats murmured in agreement at the cats to be chosen. Emberpaw spotted her mother's fiery pelt blazing in the sun-high light and raced over towards her.

"Are you excited for your first gathering?" Her mother asked calmly.

"Yes, I'm looking forward to meeting some other cats." Emberpaw told her.

"Yes, that's good. Just be sure not to give away to much information; you won't always be friends."

"I'll be sure to be careful. If you want I can pass the message on to Ashpaw. You know how he is. Always boasting about things that he's done."

Her mother purred in amusement. "Yes, he'd probably tell them all exactly how to get to camp in one of his detailed stories about how he got lost as a kit."

Emberpaw mewed in agreement. "Yeah, even though we both know that didn't happen."
Emberpaw gave her mother a parting lick and then drew away to tell Ashpaw.
Brownwhisker was sitting by the fresh-kill pile and as Ashpaw and Emberpaw trotted over to grab some prey, he said, "Make sure you get some rest today before the gathering. We don't want tired apprentices tomorrow!"

Ashpaw nodded in agreement as they grabbed a small bird and went to sit outside the den to eat.
Emberpaw purred. "I'm so excited. I want to meet al the cats in all the Clans!"

"I know," Ashpaw agreed. "but we won't be able to. It's too bad really, but I'm sure we'll meet a lot of cats."

As Emberpaw gulped down her last mouthfuls of bird and picked the feathers from her teeth, Weaselgrowl came running over.
"Don't tell anycat anything important about us. Go with the other apprentices because the Warriors will try to manipulate you. The apprentices will want to be friends."

"Yes, we've been over this, Weaselgrowl. We'll be fine." Emberpaw assured, before closing her eyes to rest.

It seemed like only heartbeats later when Ashpaw prodded her awake and hissed in her ear. "Come on, we've got to go to the Gathering! The cats are leaving!"
Blinking the sleep from her eyes, Emberpaw stood up and padded quickly to where Pebblestar and the rest of the cats stood.
Pebblestar beckoned with her tail for them to follow.

When they reached the cliff where gatherings were held, IvyClan and Shadeclan was already there.
Cats were murmuring and talking amongst themselves.
Emberpaw caught a grumpy looking IvyClan cat talking to a ShadeClan cat.
"StormClan is always late. It's astonishing they won't hurry up even after we've told them so many times already!"

The ShadeClan cat nodded. "I agree. They really need to hurry up so we can start the Gathering."
Emberpaw let her gaze wander to the High Cliff where the leaders sat.
Pebblestar sat with her tail wrapped neatly around her paws and looked like she was talking hastily to Pondstar.
The black she-cat was glancing around nervously as they spoke.
Then, a creamy orange cat jumped onto the High Cliff and then spoke.
"The Gathering had started!"

Murmurs of disapproval rippled across the clearing.
"Surely not! StormClan isn't here yet!" Redfoot yowled.

Just as tension began to break out across the clearing a large brown tom arrived, a group of cats trailing behind him.
"Finally." A cat in the crowd sighed.
The big brown tomcat climbed up to where the other three leaders were.
"Sorry that I'm late, we were held up by dogs."

"Yeah, and hedgehogs fly," Cloudpaw grunted. "StormClan is always late and making up excuses for it. I don't see any scratches on them, do you?"

"Shh!" Wildflame ordered. "Pondstar is speaking now!"

As the cats turned to the pretty black she-cat she began to speak. "ShadeClan is doing good. We are finding good hunting this green-leaf and we have three new apprentices; Silverpaw, Sunpaw, and Shrewpaw."
All the gazes flicked to the three young cats tearing nervously at the ground.
"They are brilliant hunters already and will be a valuable tribute to our Clan."
The three young cats perked up at this.

"I'll go next." The large brown tomcat mewed.

"Mudstar." Wildflame told her.

"Our Clan has as well been doing good. Next!"

There's something he's hiding . . . I'm not sure what, but he doesn't want to tell anyone. I wonder what it could be?

Next Pebblestar spoke. "We have good hunting and are proud to welcome four new apprentices. Shadowpaw, Emberpaw and Ashpaw will train to be Warriors, whereas Riverpaw is training to be a Medicine Cat. Shadowpaw and Riverpaw could not make it today because Shadowpaw popped her leg out of place and Riverpaw, her sister stayed behind to help her."

A few cats mewed sadly about Shadowpaw. Then Vinestar sprang up. "You have all been stealing from my terrirory!" She yowled towards the StormClan cats. "StormClan is getting out of paw, Mudstar, and you need to take care of it!" With that she spun around, her Clan foreign her.

"Come on, let's all go. We shouldn't stay when Vinestat has left!" Pebblestar yowled.
Cats mewed in agreement and then they left.
Pebblestar bounded off the High Cliff and flicked her tail for them to follow.