Bloodshed

Chapter Five

"So where are we going first?" Shadepaw asked. His mentor glanced at Spottedfeather.

"I was thinking we'd walk along the border with GreenClan, up to the gathering tree, then make our way to the training cave, then tallrocks. Then, from there, we can go to the mooncave." Jaytail said, "If that's okay with you?"

Spottedfeather glanced at the more inexperienced warrior. "Yes, it is. The river is the border, as I hope you all know."

"How could we forget?" Shadepaw grumbled, remembering the time he had fallen in the river. Jaytail had completely failed to save him then; if he were to fall in now, would he be saved?

Of course I would. He recalled, I'm going to rule the island! He wondered if that meant MudClan, or both Clans? Would he really rule the entire island?

"See that tree sticking out of the water? That's the gathering tree. The leaders sit in the branches and the deputies on the small patch of land that it grows on." Spottedfeather said.

"The warriors gather on either side, and some on rocks in the river if they must. The water is shallow here, enough that even a kit could walk across. Be careful though... It does get much deeper in some parts." Jaytail paused to sniff the air. "GreenClan is nearby."

"We are." Came a voice from the other side of the river. Two cats appeared, one golden and one silver. Each had a bit of white on them, too.

"Oh! Hello." Spottedfeather purred. "Rainpaw, Shadepaw, these are the GreenClan medicine cats. The golden one is Honeydrop, the other Frostytail."

"Hello!" Rainpaw greeted. "Are you looking for herbs?"

"Yes, we're very busy." Frostytail said. "We can speak at the gathering in a quarter-moon."

Rainpaw nodded, "Where to next?"

"The training cave. It's closer to camp, and it's where we battle train." Jaytail said. He led them down a steep slope to a cave at the bottom of one of the mountains. Inside a small waterfall trickled down the back corner.

"It's good to have a source of water by the training cave." Spottedfeather pointed out. "We'll focus more on this place later, so let's move on to tallrocks. They're two rocks jutting out of the water right by the island. It's a good place to hunt, because fish often get stuck on them. We can catch the fish and the birds that eat the fish."

"Will we catch any fish today?" Shadepaw asked.

"You'd be lucky, on your first day." Jaytail said doubtfully.

Eventually they came to the tallrocks, which weren't all that exciting. Then they moved on to the mooncave, which every cat knew was the most exciting place on the island. It was where the medicine cats met to go to StarClan; but instead of a moonstone or a moonpool, they had a moon cat.

The moon cat was a living cat that also walked among the ranks of StarClan. Every kit dreamed of being one, but it was up to the moon cat who would be their apprentice. Only very special cats got to be one.

At first, the mooncave was dark. A tunnel led deeper and deeper into the ground, until Shadepaw finally saw an eerie green light up ahead. They came into a small cave, which was mostly empty apart from a cat with glowing blue eyes sitting in the center.

There was no way to tell where the light was coming from. It was simply there, giving the cave a ghostly look. Shadepaw's tail bristled in fear. To his surprise, the cat in the center of the cave began to speak.

"Welcome to the mooncave. I am a cat of the stars, the cat of the moon. My name is Thorncloud. When you speak to me, you speak to StarClan. What would you like to say?" He blinked his glowing blue eyes, sending chills down Shadepaw's spine.

"Hello, Thorncloud. These are the two newest apprentices of MudClan, Rainpaw and Shadepaw." Spottedfeather introduced the cats.

"Yes, I have heard a lot about you two." Thornclaw stood and padded forward to touch noses with Rainpaw. He did not do the same to Shadepaw. "They have great destinies ahead of them."

"Yeah.. So, uh, tell us a bit about what it's like to be in StarClan." Jaytail said awkwardly. Shadepaw could tell that he was as uncomfortable here as Shadepaw was.

For the rest of the day, the cats listened to Thorncloud's tales of StarClan. The first were not quite exciting; about his mentor, and how she had been alive when the clans were created, and about the great Muddy Feet and Green Eyes.

But Shadepaw only really listened when he started talking about a familiar name; Frozenwater. That was Frozenstar, who had visited him in his dreams twice now.

"So my mother gave birth to the three of us." Thorncloud was saying, "Honeydrop, the medicine cat, Frozenwater, and myself."

"Tell us about Frozenwater?" Shadepaw prompted. He noticed that Thorncloud gave him a suspicious look. Oops. He shivered. Would he go to StarClan if he kept meeting with Frozenwater?

"Well, she was quite disappointed that Honeydrop and I got to have powerful positions. We were important; I was moon cat, and Honeydrop was medicine cat. She felt that she should be leader, so that we all had great destinies. She didn't want to be the ordinary cat of the litter." He breathed a sigh, staring down at his paws. "She was too hungry for power. She mated with Foxclaw, who is now an elder, and had you, Jaytail." He dipped his head to the silver tom.

Shadepaw stared at his mentor in surprise. Jaytail was Frozenstar's son! Why was he in MudClan, then, if Frozenstar and her siblings were all in GreenClan?

Jaytail licked on paw, looking uneasy. "Are you sure you should share this story with them now?" He asked. Shadepaw guessed he didn't like talking about his mother.

"No, this apprentice must know what crimes Frozenwater committed."

"Why?" Jaytail hissed.

"You wouldn't understand. You can go, if you hate talking about your mother so much. You can't hide from the past, Jaytail." Thorncloud said. He didn't say another thing as Jaytail whipped around and dashed out of the tunnel, Spottedfeather following quickly behind. Rainpaw followed them more slowly, reluctant to leave.

Thorncloud sighed. "Anyway, as Frozenwater grew older, she became needier. She wanted to become leader.. Bad. She even forced her mate to kill an innocent cat, for no reason other than that she didn't like her."

Shadepaw had to hold back a gasp. That couldn't be true! She wasn't that evil.. Was she?

"You should go now, Shadepaw, but don't forget what she has done. She is not a cat to be trusted." Thorncloud said. Why would any cat say that about a dead cat? Then Shadepaw realised.

He must have seen her in my dreams. Shadepaw felt as if he had fallen into a bush of thorns. He knows.