SkyClan's Prophecy | Book 1 (COMPLETED)

2. Suspicion

[Minimum time read: 3 minutes]

Recap:

They burst into camp but instead of seeing the bloody corpses of her Clanmates, they instead smelled fear-scent from the first patrol Pricklebush had sent out.

"Lithestar," Pricklebush turned to his leader, narrowing his eyes. "There's some things we need to talk about."

CHAPTER 2

Lithestar gracefully leaped down from the rocks, narrowing her eyes at Pricklebush. "What is it?" She asked.

"Not here," the brown tabby tom replied. "In your den. Bring the patrol."

Is he trying to control me? Her suspicion rose and she opened her jaws to say something, but no words came out.

Pricklebush fluffed out his spiky fur and gathered Littledawn, Nightwind, Gorgerock, and Shadowstalk.

"But what about me?" Mothpaw inquired as she wasn't called by the deputy. "I was on the patrol too."

"You aren't coming, this is for warriors," Pricklebush growled back, unsheathing his claws. The rest of the patrol hadn't noticed, and even Littledawn hadn't noticed the deputy throwing insults basically at her apprentice.

"That's enough," Lithestar growled to the deputy. "She won't come, but it's unacceptable to make her feel bad for not being a warrior."

Pricklebush's eyes widened at his leader's words. He didn't reply and stalked away into her den.

Lithestar turned to the golden apprentice. "I'm sorry Mothpaw, I know you were on the patrol, but I need to figure out what's going on." Mothpaw bowed her head as she was addressed by her own leader.

"Okay," Mothpaw replied. "Thank you." She looked hurt, but Lithestar guessed that was probably because of Pricklebush.

I need to talk to him later, she thought. He can't treat cats like that.

When Nightwind called her, she remembered she needed to meet in her den. With a heaved sigh, she leaped up to SkyRock, entering her den. She sat down away from her deputy, not wanting to even look at him right now, and instead sat by Nightwind, Foxtail's brother.

"So, what happened?" She asked the patrol.

Littledawn began. "It... It was normal at first. We were marking the border and then the smell of rogues hit us. I decided to take Mothpaw with me so we could go check it out–"

"You took Mothpaw?!" Lithestar yowled, outraged. If this had been rogues, no mentor needed to put their own apprentice in danger of being hurt.

Littledawn cowered under the golden tabby leader's enraged gaze. "I-I..." She didn't have words, and Lithestar turned to Shadowstalk. "Continue," she hissed to the black tom.

He dipped his head and the warrior continued. "We smelled strong scents of rogue, so Littledawn and Mothpaw went to check it out. When they came back, Littledawn reported seeing a large camp nearby."

Lithestar's blood ran cold. A rogue group? She thought.

"–and after we heard chanting, we ran," he finished.

"What kind of chanting?" Lithestar asked.

"It sounded like they were calling some sort of name. I'm not sure," Nightwind admitted as he but in, looking at his leader.

"Don't worry about this," Lithestar meowed. "I'm sure it's nothing. And if they keep threatening our borders, we'll drive them out. We did it with the rats, we can do it with some cats."

"Keep threatening our borders?" Littledawn spoke up, still shaking a bit.

Lithestar realized she had said too much. "If they threaten our borders," she corrected herself, flicking her tail. She noticed Pricklebush hadn't said one word during the whole talk, and she narrowed her eyes.

As the patrol exited her den, Pricklebush attempted to leave, but the golden tabby she-cat called him back.

Pricklebush turned to her and leaped back into her den, sitting down. "Yes?" He asked.

It seemed like he thought he'd done nothing wrong. "Pricklebush, you cannot treat cats like you treated Mothpaw."

"But Lithestar, I was only–"

She lifted her tail for silence, closing her eyes. She was irritated, and her deputy wasn't helping.

"And don't try to control me anymore." She hissed the words through clenched teeth. "You aren't leader of this Clan yet, I am."

Pricklebush, in arrogance, turned and padded out if the den. He sat down beside Frostleaf, a silver tabby she-cat.

This Clan is falling apart... She thought. Pricklebush is acting odd. Littledawn isn't handling her apprentice well. Mothpaw is hurt, and doesn't seem to really ever be happy. Rogues are living right next to us. We're running out of prey. Cats are trying to take over my leadership... She sighed, bowing her head.

"Lithestar."

She whipped her head around to see Stormfoot, the medicine cat. He blinked gratefully at his leader. This was one of the only cats she trusted, besides maybe Nightwind.

She smiled at him, dipping her head.

The dark gray tom came and sat beside her, also looking over the Clan like she was. He rested his tail on her shoulder in an affectionate way.

He suddenly turned to her, and she took a step back at his swiftness. "The moon will fall. The sun will disappear. Clouds will cover the sky. The damned, the angered, and the forgotten will rise higher than the sky."

Lithestar let a gasp slip from her jaws. Stormfoot stared at her for another few heartbeats before turning and entering the medicine cat den.

Lithestar was taken aback. A prophecy? Oh no... She thought, reciting the words in her head. Destruction is coming to my Clan!

I know it's boring now, but I'm in school and thought I should write. Hope ya enjoyed! ^~^ next chapter will be posted sometime tomorrow :P