Flamepaw's Destination

Chapter 26

lamepaw froze and spun around to find a group of cats staring at them intimidatingly. The cat who had spoken was a white tom, larger than both Flamepaw and Barkpaw. Flamepaw and Barkpaw both froze in their tracks, not wanting to cause any trouble.

For a moment though, Flamepaw wanted to shout in joy. It turned out they had found SnowClan after all! And the journey hadn't been to terrible. Now she'd have a home for her kits. She had to remind herself, however, that they might not necessarily be allowed to join.

"We don't mean any harm," Barkpaw spoke quickly.

Flamepaw rolled her eyes. Way to screw it up early, she thought, knowing the SnowClan cats had to be suspicious now.

"Who are you?" a white and gray she-cat asked.

"How about they answer my first question," the white tom suggested.

"Like my mate said, we don't mean any harm. We've been traveling long and far with the hope of being able to join SnowClan," Flamepaw explained.

"We came from RiverClan," Barkpaw explained. "Our clan was taken hostage under SwampClan, which we know you have recently dealt with. With our clan destroyed, we had nowhere else left to go."

"What's to say you aren't SwampClan cats?" a ginger tom growled.

"The battle was nearly a moon ago, Blazeheart," the white and gray she-cat reminded him.

"You're from RiverClan?" the white tom interrupted. He seemed to be leading the patrol, and all the cats fell silent once he spoke.

Flamepaw nodded.

"I'm Flamepaw," she explained. "And this is my mate, Barkpaw."

"They don't look like apprentices," a young calico she-cat squeaked. She looked like a new apprentice herself. "Flamepaw looks as if she's going to explode with kits."

"Hush, Leafpaw," her mentor snapped.

"Our clan disappeared near the end of our apprenticehood," Barkpaw explained. "We are of warrior age, and we're hoping you'll allow us to join. Flamepaw's kits will be due shortly, and we want to raise them in a clan. In addition, we haven't been able to experience clan life in moons, and we want to devote our loyalty to a clan again."

The white tom raised his eyebrow slightly.

"You two do seem as if you have been through a lot, and I believe you. Unfortunately, the decision isn't up to me. My name's Cloudfur, and I'm the deputy of SnowClan. But we'll happily take you to our camp. Maybe Smokestar will let you join."

"Oh, thank you!" Flamepaw exclaimed.

"This way," Cloudfur said, leading the two farther into the forest.

Flamepaw awkwardly padded by Barkpaw's side, trying to ignore the curious glances from the cats around them. She hadn't meant to cause such a huge commotion with her arrival. She secretly wished they had been found by just the deputy instead of a whole patrol.

They didn't have to walk too long until Flamepaw was led into a large camp. Immediately, she was filled with old memories of the RiverClan camp. She felt a pang of sorrow as she watched young kits tumble around while other cats chatted with each other or laid out in the sun to warm their pelts.

"I didn't realize I missed this so much," Barkpaw muttered.

Flamepaw nodded, glad he felt the same.