Meadowlight's Tale

Chapter 10

Yelloweyes' kitting went by pretty quick because she only had one kit, a mainly white she-cat with three orange spots on her back and orange ears. She named her Spotkit, and she was strong and healthy.
The event had put the whole clan in a relatively good mood, but I didn't think it would last long because the gathering was tonight. Fogstar would inevitably wage war on VineClan to avenge her son. I got the feeling that was the last thing Frogclaw would want.
The whole day I kept thinking of Meadowlight and if she was okay. I hoped those rogues had learned their lesson and would stay far away from the barn. Thoughts of her kept distracting me from my work. I had gone out to look for any herbs that had survived the cold of leaf fall, but I somehow found myself wandering to the corn field and the old badger territory. I couldn't wait to see if she was okay tomorrow night. Could I wait that long until the secret meeting? I wasn't sure, but I knew I had too.
"It's time for the gathering." Berryface nudged me.
"The day passed by pretty fast." I commented as we lined up to go.
"I guess it really does when you are busy." He replied.
It was a cold night for a gathering, and the strong wind buffeted my fur. It felt so ominous, and I didn't have a good feeling tonight would go well at all.
SunClan was the first to arrive at the High Branch. Fogstar immediately jumped onto the massive branch where every leader sat, leaving us to chat amongst ourselves.
"It's such a spooky night for a gathering." Firepaw whispered to his sisters, Spottedpaw and Redpaw.
"Are you scared?" Redpaw mocked.
"No, I was just..." he stopped when VineClan entered the gathering.
For a moment there was an awkward silence, but SunClan quickly filled that with loud grows and hisses. As a medicine cat, I didn't arch my back or hiss like the others. My whole clan took a big step away, and only the medicine cats went to talk to each other. Nettlecloud and Skypaw walked towards us, and my clanmates parted for them.
"We found your cats, Meadowlight, Mintheart, and Hazetooth on our border. They had been exiled." Nettlecloud whispered so quietly I almost couldn't hear her.
Before I could respond Fogstar said,"All the clans are here. The gathering will begin."
I looked up and saw that StreamClan had just barely arrived and Fogstar began her announcements as Riverstar leapt onto the High Branch.
"Yelloweyes just gave birth to a healthy litter." She didn't mention that there was only one kit. "And we have four new warriors, Badgernose, Leapbite, Jumpfur, and Ottertuft, along with six new apprentices." Her fur seemed to gleam with pride, it it was actually gloating.
"We also declare war on VineClan." She added casually.
All the cats gasped, including SunClan, and VineClan hissed T us.
"Very well Fogstar. A war you shall have." Foreststar replied calmly.
The whole clearing was silent, as if they had no clue what to do. No one expected a peaceful gathering, but we didn't expect declaring war to go so... smoothly. It was strange how Fogstar glared at Foreststar the whole time, while the orange tom reminded a normal expression.
Riverstar wasn't quite sure what to do, so she began to tell about what was happening in her clan.
"StreamClan has been doing well. Last moon I gave birth to two kits, Petalkit and Shinekit."
StreamClan cheered. I remembered last gathering, where the black queen's belly was huge, making it hard for her to jump onto the High Branch.
"We have one new warrior, Carpscale."
I heard that his brother Scalepaw had died fighting a fox, and I guess Carpscale took his brother's name to honor him.
"If that is all then the gathering is over." Fogstar declared.
"Wait, I never got to say anything at all." Foreststar stopped her.
She growled lowly and stayed put.
"We have two new apprentices, Barkpaw and Moonpaw, and Cherryheart had a healthy kit not long ago." He said.
"Is that all?" Fogstar sighed impatiently.
"Yes, that's it." He nodded. Before Fogstar could say anything he said,"Gathering dismissed."
Fogstar hissed in annoyance and leapt down. "Let's go SunClan."
I looked back at NettleCloud and Skypaw and mouthed the word "Sorry," to them. Nettlecloud nodded in understanding.
I reluctantly followed my clan back through the forest, the whole time I kept thinking about this secret meeting and what would happen. What would they think after the gathering? Would they be mire likely to leave or stay with SunClan now that we're about to fight a war with VineClan?

The rest of the day we slept and got our strength back. Deerblaze said he would tell everyone back at camp that the reason he had been gone was because he decided to go to the moon stone to talk to StarClan about the prophecy. I wanted to sneak to the gathering and hear what the other clans had to say, but Hazetooth and Mintheart decided against it.
"Meadowlight, it's almost time." Hazetooth nudged me awake.
Of course! It would be impossible to forget. I jumped down the ladder and groomed myself to waste time.
The sun was slowly setting by the time we set off, saying goodbye to Rosie and her kin, and swerving through the corn. This time our trek through the corn was shorter because by now we had the route memorized.
We broke out of the field and I was glad to finally see trees. We didn't have to walk far before we heard cats.
"I really think... wait, do you smell that?" A voice said. I recognized it as Badgernose.
Hazetooth peaked through some bushes. "It's just us."
I heard someone gasp, but Hazetooth padded forward and I followed with Mintheart.
I was surprised by the number of cats really. Brightnose and Hickorytuft were even there, but not Ottertuft. I began to count the cats, but Deerblaze already had the number.
"Twelve cats, fifteen including you three." He breathed excitedly. "Do you think this would be enough for a clan?" He questioned.
"Fifteen?" Mintheart wondered out loud. "I think so."
"First tell us what happened at the gathering." I asked.
"Fogstar declared war on VineClan." Badgernose sighed.
"What did we expect?" Hazetooth muttered.
"Do you really think we can do this? Break away I mean." Creampaw meowed.
"Yes." Mintheart said confidently.
"But it's almost leaf bare?" Firepaw questioned.
"I know, but we have to do this. It is StarClan's will and it just makes sense." I said.
"Who will be our leader?" Spottedpaw said.
"Perhaps it should be Meadowlight. StarClan gave her the prophecy after all." Badgernose pointed out.
"No, she's too inexperienced." Lightgaze replied.
I agreed with her. I became a warrior a few days ago, and I was not ready to lead a clan.
"If Deerblaze is our medicine cat then maybe he should decide." Oakfoot said.
They all looked at him expectantly.
"I can't decide the leader in a few moments!" He exclaimed.
The group shied away, a few muttering sorry.
"How will we leave?" Lightgaze asked. "Will we just walk away or announce it?"
"Good question." Mintheart replied. "I know you will all want to say good bye to your loved ones, but simply leaving without telling would be the easiest solution."
"Maybe we should wait until Fogstar leaves camp on a patrol or something." Oakfoot suggested.
"Good idea. I'll ask her to hunt with me early in the morning." Hickorytuft said.
"Why would she go with you?" Hazetooth asked.
"Rushkit and Littlekit are both our kin. Maybe I could make an excuse and want to talk to her about them or something." He said.
"True," Mintheart spoke. "Should we do it tomorrow?"
"We'll have to. Fogstar plans to launch an attack tomorrow night right away." Deerblaze added.
The meeting dispersed and we decided to sleep on the edge of the territory tonight because at dawn we had to go to the SunClan camp. It didn't take long for me to fall asleep, even though it was cold tonight.
I woke up first and nudged the others to wake them up for the day we had ahead. Part of me dreaded it whole the other grew more excited with every passing moment. It was a strange feeling to have.
We walked along familiar paths to camp, always being careful and cautious. If someone saw us then the whole plan would be ruined.
We snuck up to the wall of camp and crawled around to the secret entrance away from the main one. I stopped when I scented Fogstar.
"Why so early though?" She asked someone.
My father replied,"I just want to talk about their mentors and an omen that I think I received."
"Really?" She gasped probably at the thought of her kin being chosen by StarClan to fulfil an important prophecy. I knew Hickorytuft was making this all up, and wow he was good.
They padded away, and I could sense my former leader's excitement. When they were gone we crept into camp, being quieter than mice. Most of the cats from the meeting last night were already up and sitting in camp waiting.
"You're here!" Badgernose exclaimed loudly.
"Hold it down." Mintheart whispered.
"There's no need. We were just about to wake them up anyway since Fogstar left." He explained.
"What's going on?" Treetail emerged from the warrior den. He stopped when he saw us and said,"You're not supposed to be here. Fogstar!"
There was a silence and Fogstar didn't come out of her den, only a few more cats got up. Treetail ran to the leader's den quickly to awake his leader.
"Why are you three here?" Nectarfur growled. "Fogstar exiled you."
"We have another important message." Hazetooth said.
"Your last 'important message' got you exiled." Mistyleaf said.
"You have a lot of nerve coming back here." Jumpfur added.
"Fogstar isn't here!" Treetail yowled.
"What'd you do to her?" Voices all around hissed and growled.
"Nothing!" Mintheart silenced them. "Now please, just let us tell you why we've come and then we'll be gone."
They glared at him, but stopped talking. Mintheart began to speak.