Warrior Cats: Shadows into Light (book 1)

Chapter 20

Nightpaw walked with her clan-mates to the great oak, quickening their paces when they went pass the cliff that Hollypaw died on. They arrived first and sat down to begin chatting with their own clan-mates. Cloud Clan soon arrived second and went to go chat with the other cats. Nightpaw looked over to see Lynxpaw arguing with Spottedrain over something he said. "Don't talk to a warrior like that," Spottedrain hissed. " You aren't my mentor, Spottedrain," he grunted back. Spottedrain snarled in his face and stalked of towards a group of Cloud Clan warriors. Frogfur walked towards Lynxpaw and sat next to him. "You really shouldn't disrespect her," Toadfur mumbled. "Oh, shut up. You were honestly only made deputy because you are Foxstar's son," Lynxpaw hissed. Toadfur cuffed him over the ear hard making him yowl quietly enough for the group they were in to hear. The small group of Cloud Clan cats began to mrrow laughter, and Lynxpaw had the look of hot embarrassment. Duskpaw snapped her out of the trance of looking at Lynxpaw. "So I heard you would be an warrior from Heatherheart," Duskpaw meowed with a hint of envy. "She only said that to not make me jealous. Smokepaw is older and more experienced so she was hinting it towards him," Nightpaw mumbled. Dusk paw nodded and went to sit by his brother. Nightpaw climbed on to a large root from the great oak and searched through the two clans to see her black and brown tabby father sitting by Whitetail and Sharptail. Nightpaw sprung up and ran to her father and the two warriors. "F-father," she stuttered when she saw him. Moonclaw looked at her and his eyes widened. "I finally get to see my kit," Moonclaw meowed. "We will leave you two alone," Sharptail meowed and flicked his tail for Whitetail to follow. "You mean kits," Nightpaw responded when her heart finally stopped racing. Moonclaw tilted his head and she meowed out to get Dawnpaw and Duskpaw's attention. As Dawnpaw walked over to them he was looking at a Cloud Clan she-cat named, Birdrunner. Birdrunner was nuzzling Foxstar, her mate, while talking to their only son, Toadfur. Nightpaw snapped him in to attention with a flick of her tail. "These are my brothers, Dawnpaw and Duskpaw," Nightpaw meowed slowly. "Who is he," Dawnpaw mewed. "Our father, Moonclaw," Nightpaw meowed. Moonclaw's children touched noses with him and shared stories. Soon Fern Clan and Storm Clan arrived and each leader stepped up on the largest roots of the tree. Foxstar began to speak first while Foreststar flicked his tail for the clans to be quiet. "A few sunrises ago, a dog attacked our clan. I helped a patrol fight it but in doing so I lost a life in the battle but I wasn't the only one. One of our apprentices, Birchpaw died," Foxstar meowed out in to the crowed sadly. Nightpaw didn't pay attention to Honeystar's report, instead she noticed Smokepaw was curling his tail around her and was purring softly. That wasn't the only thing she noticed, Dawnpaw was leaning next to a Storm Clan apprentice. Nightpaw immediately recognized the white pelt it was, Breezepaw. That Storm Clan she-cat is nuzzling Dawnpaw as if he was her mate! Doesn't that beetle-brained brother of mine know what he is doing. She then snapped away from her thoughts and saw she missed Redstar's report too. "We have also lost a cat, Hollypaw. She tried hunting a falcon but fell in doing so," Foreststar meowed grimly.