Lost In The Stars (Book Two)

Chapter Seven- Stoneclaw

Stoneclaw stared in horror at Snowstorm. Seriously? He thought as Stripedstar began to give out orders. We're going to believe that ShadeClan is attacking? They could kill us all!

But Stripedstar didn't worry about that. Instead, she was focused on saving GreenClan. She led her warriors out of the mooncave, leaving only the apprentices behind, apart from Firepaw.

Stoneclaw walked beside Silverwing. When they reached the GreenClan camp, he heard Owlflight cry out in horror.

In the center of the camp, Bloodshed had a white she-cat pinned down, his teeth in her neck. Stoneclaw realised with a jolt of panic that she was Owlflight's mother, Skywing. She let out a wail and died with a massive shudder, falling limp.

Stoneclaw bounded towards a warrior who had a GreenClan cat pinned to the ground. The cat was so covered in blood that Stoneclaw didn't recognize him, but he still felt obligated to save him. Leaping onto the ShadeClan cat's back, his hissed and dug his teeth into the cat's shoulders.

The cat shook himself and flung Stoneclaw off easily. Stoneclaw recognized Eagletail, who used to be a MudClan warrior. "Traitor!" He spat, jumping to protect Eagletail's victim.

The bloody cat struggled to his feet. Stoneclaw realised with shock that the cat was actually Hawkstar, GreenClan's leader. The brown tom could barely stand, let alone fight.

Stoneclaw attacked Eagletail, managing to send the cat fleeing out of the cave with a bite to the throat. Then he turned to Hawkstar, spitting out blood. "Follow me, please." He asked the leader. Hawkstar nodded and the two made their way out of the cave.

Stoneclaw walked slowly beside Hawkstar. "This is my last life, you know." The leader wheezed. "I never appointed a new deputy after Coldstream. I can't die yet!"

"Shh.." Stoneclaw calmed him. "You won't. Rainstorm will help you."

He led the leader to the mooncave, where Rainstorm quickly rushed him into his den. That was where he performed his healing, as no cat was allowed to know what went on.

Soon, more and more cats began trickling into the cave. Stripedstar was the last to arrive, injured so badly that she had to lean on Owlflight for balance. She wheezed with each step, her eyes wide with fear. "Where is Rainstorm?" Owlflight asked.

"Healing Hawkstar." Rosepaw replied.
"Stripedstar has only two lives remaining." Owlflight flopped down beside Robinwing, who was licking a wound on his flank. "Hawkstar only has one, correct?"

"Yes." Stoneclaw confirmed.

"We have no deputies." Stripedstar murmured. "What can we do?"

"All will be made clear to you soon." Rainstorm appeared from his den. "For now, you focus on the apprentices. They need to be trained as soon as possible." He looked over the only surviving GreenClan cats. There were only five, including Hawkstar, who had escaped ShadeClan's deadly attack. Three warriors and Frostytail, the medicine cat. "Frostytail will mentor Rosepaw now that the two clans will be living together."

Stripedstar stood up suddenly. "What has happened to Snowstorm? He warned us of the attack. If it wasn't for him, we'd all be dead."

"I saw him." Flamefur spoke up. "He was killed by some rogue that I didn't recognize. She said that it was for betraying Bloodshed."

Stripedstar looked thoughtful. "Firepaw.. You have been an apprentice for far too long." She said. "You will be named in honor of Snowstorm. I call upon my warrior ancestors to look down on this apprentice.. She uh, she'll be called.. Firestorm."

"Those aren't the right words for a warrior ceremony." Silverwing muttered from beside Stoneclaw.

Stripedstar collapsed, suddenly, and Rainstorm jumped forward to help her. As he began to drag her into his den, he looked up at Firepaw. "StarClan accepts that you be made a warrior without the proper ceremony. We welcome you as a full warrior of MudClan, Firestorm.."