Meadowlight's Tale

Chapter 7

"The night of Frogclaw's death he came to Otterpaw and me in a dream." I started. Everyone gasped, and Fogstar began to speak.
"Why did you not tell me about this?"
"I... I wasn't even sure if it was real at the time. He told me Three will become four. At first I had no clue what it meant, but after talking with Berryface and Deerblaze we think it means our three clans will become four clans." I explained to them.
"Why would StarClan ever want that to happen?" Nectarfur yelled out.
Mintheart stood up. "Because SunClan is too strong." He stated. "Our clan is far too huge and the territories aren't even."
"That's not our fault!" Yelloweyes called out.
Mintheart kept talking. "But as a clan we have a duty to do certain things, and taking half a clans territory is not right. We are not starving, but StreamClan and VineClan are and it's not right. Too much power is dangerous, and it easy to get carried away with so much strength. We have to balance things out wether you like it or not."
Many cats did not seem very happy about this, especially Fogstar.
"You do not have the right to tell my clan what to do." The silver leader said. "And Meadowlight is barely a warrior."
I stopped her. "But this is still a prophecy, no matter who it comes from. Since it was told to me, a SunClan sat, I believe our clan must split to make the clans even."
Howls of outrage filled the air, and I felt my pelt get hot with embarrassment. Why did StarClan have to pick me?
"This is crazy!" Someone yelled.
"Kin would fight kin, that can't happen." Treetail said.
"Where would you even go?" Mistyleaf questioned.
"We would go to the old badger territory." I said.
"Half of the clan can not just leave." Fogstar declared. "Stop this right now." She told me.
"It's true! You're own son told me Fogstar. Frogclaw showed me the lines where the new clan should be. He also confirmed that three will become four means our clan will split."
"My son would never say that!" She exclaimed. "You don't even have any proof that this is real."
"It is though. Half of the clan must leave for the well being of all the clans or else there will be a huge battle. Many cats will die and blood will be shed." I told her.
"You are acting like a mousebrain Meadowlight." She said.
I looked at my brother for help, but he just stood there watching us.
"If you do not face the fact that this isn't true, then you will be exiled." She warned me.
"It is true though!" I begged for them to believe me. "Frogclaw told me."
"Do not dishonor my son. If you do not stop then you will be exiled from SunClan." She repeated.
"But I can't stop. I made a promise to StarClan that I would follow their will no matter what, and I simply can't let the clans fall apart. I will do whatever they tell me even if it means I will be exiled." I answered her.
"I will not have my clan torn apart by anyone. Meadowlight, from this moment on you are sentenced to exile. You will leave today before sunhigh, and if you are found inside SunClan territory you will be attacked." She announced. My head hung low and I filled with despair.
"But it's almost leaf bare!" Deerblaze shouted.
"She chose her own fate." Was all Fogstar said.
I looked at my brother, Ottertuft. "Will you come with me?" I couldn't stand the thought of being alone without anyone.
Ottertuft glanced nervously at me. "I'm sorry Meadowlight, but I can't leave my clan."
I recalled what Frogclaw said about my brother not having the heart for it. I sighed and nodded.
"I will go with you." Mintheart said.
Everyone looked at him and gasped.
"You can't leave Mintheart." Fogstar almost stuttered, and I remembered that they were mates.
"Fogstar, you're not the same cat I once loved. You've turned into a power hungry leader, too blind to see the truth." His words made Fogstar bristle and snarled.
"I sentence you to exile as well you traitor!" She hissed.
"I was already going." He mumbled and stood by me.
"Leave now, both of you! I never want to see you're faces again." She growled.
Hazetooth glanced at us, and followed us as we walked out.
I took one last look at my clan because I'd probably never see them again. My brother mouthed the word,"Sorry," and my parents' eyes were filled with sorrow. Was this really was I got for trying to save the clans? My plan hadn't even worked.
"Come on." Mintheart nudged me, and I followed him and Hazetooth out of the clan. Not really sure where we were going, we made our way towards the border.
"Wait, we are headed towards VineClan, we have to turn around." Hazetooth said.
But it was too late, we were spotted. "Hey!" A familiar cat yelled.
We stopped dead in our tracks, and the black tom ran up to us. "What are you doing so close to the border?" Blackwing growled.
"Don't worry, we're not going to trespass onto VineClan territory. We already have enough trouble with one clan." Mintheart told him.
"What do you mean?" The VineClan cat questioned.
"We've been exiled." My former mentor sighed.
Surprised, Blackwing asked,"What happened?"
"We tried to spilt our clan up." I explained. "I got a prophecy that said Three will become four, and it means that there will be a fourth clan. To make all the clans even the largest, which is SunClan, needed to be split."
Blackwing's jaw dropped. "Seriously?"
"Yes." I sighed.
"Where are you going now?" He asked.
"Out of the territories. I'm not sure what we'll do now, but I know we can't just leave the clans to face a horrible battle." Mintheart told him.
Blackwing was silent for a moment. "Oh no."
"What?" We all asked at the same time.
"I probably shouldn't tell you this..." He trailed off. "But VineClan is teamed up with StreamClan and we plan to fight SunClan the day after the gathering. That must be the battle you were talking about." He said.
"That fight can't happen!" I exclaimed.
"Well I can't stop it." Blackwing replied.
"There is nothing we can do either." I groaned. I felt so helpless and lost like a kit. My clan would die if I couldn't stop this fight, and right now there was nothing I could do.
"Blackwing," A cat called out. "What are you doing?" A white and gray stripped cat appeared with more behind.
"SunClan cats!" A brown tabby exclaimed.
They ran up to us and growled threateningly.
"Stop Sootpool, they have an interesting story you need to hear. They were exiled." Blackwing told her.
"What?" Sootpool was shocked along with the other three VineClan cats.
Mintheart told them our story and explained what had happened.
Her response was,"I don't know what to say, but one things for sure: SunClan deserves it."
"StreamClan and VineClan will suffer too." Hazetooth reminded them.
They were silent for a bit, but then Sootpool said,"We have to tell Foreststar, but I'm not sure he or Riverstar will want to call off the fight. We'll need to get back to camp. Should we take them with us Blackwing?"
I was shocked at her question, but I was eager to hear Blackwing's answer. If we would have a safe place to sleep for the night.
"I guess we should. After all, we can always make them leave, and Foreststar might want to talk with them. Let's get going." He answered.
We followed them through unfamiliar territory, which was dense with undergrowth and trees of all sizes. How could any one live in a territory like this? It seemed so dark because the trees didn't let any light in at all. In SunClan we had trees, but there certainly weren't this many.
"We're here." Blackwing told us.
Their camp was surrounded by thick bushes, ferns, and various growth.
"What are they doing here?" A small brown tortoiseshell she-cat practically hissed. "Are they prisoners?" She piped up, looking at us excitedly.
"No Blossompaw. They're here to see Foreststar, is he in camp?" Sootpool explained to her.
"Yes, he just got back from a hunting patrol. It didn't go well from the looks of it." She said.
"Thank you." Blackwing said, and we followed him in the camp.
For a moment no one looked at us, but soon cats realized who we were. Hisses ran through the clan, and I took a step closed to Mintheart.
"What are they doing here?" A brown and white she-cat growled.
"Yes, why are they here?" Foreststar questioned, silencing everyone else.
"We were exiled." Hazetooth spoke up.
"So you came to VineClan?" He replied.
"No, they have an interesting story and we decided to bring them to you." Blackwing explained.
"Well what is it?" The orange leader asked.
Mintheart was the one who told the story. Many cats gasped and their eyes all widened at the story.
"You believe there will be a fourth clan?" Blossompaw asked.
"Yes, StarClan themselves told Meadowlight. They even went as far to show her were the boundaries were." Mintheart responded.
"But we can't call off the fight. Riverstar and I have been planning for moons, and if we don't fight nothing will change, SunClan will still be too big." Foreststar said.
I thought for a moment about that, and it seemed like fighting was inevitable.
I said,"But you can't fight. Please, give us more time, and we'll try to balance the clans."
"I guess we can wait a quarter moon..." he trailed off. "That's it though."
"Will they spend the quarter moon here?" Blackwing asked.
Foreststar shook his head. "We can't spare any food. I'm sorry."
"We understand." Mintheart nodded.
"Where will we go?" I whispered to him. He only shrugged.
Blackwing led us to the edge of our territory, which was all the way to the corn field.
"May StarClan guide your path." He told us.
"Thank you." Mintheart dipped his head.
We watched as the black tom slipped away back to the dense territory.
"Should we go beyond the territories? Maybe see if there's anything in the corn field?" Hazetooth asked.
"When I was an apprentice cats visited us from the corn field. They said they lived in a barn." Mintheart said.
"What's that?" I questioned. "Were they kittypets?"
"A barn is a huge twoleg den, but they don't use it as a den. These cats weren't kittypets, but they weren't really loners or rogues. They were like a mix in between, just barn cats really." He told me.
"So we'll go to the barn for shelter tonight?" I asked. At least we could sleep there.
"Yea, let's get moving." My former mentor led me into the corn field with Hazetooth and me following.