"Starkit, are you ready to delve into the mysteries of StarClan and fight along your ancestors as a medicine cat?"
"I am." she says triumphantly. A smile bright as her namesake star graced her face. Phoenixwing felt herself swelling up with pride as her kit stepped forwards and Raindrop touched noses with her.
"Starpaw! Starpaw! Starpaw!" The apprentices were the first to take up the cheer, but it spread through the clan like wildfire. Sunpaw was up against Nightsky's chest, purring happily. She looked bewildered but said nothing. The dreamy smile on Sunpaw's face was a staple for him at this point.
"Sunpaw, we need to get going." Sandclaw told the young apprentice.
"Same with us." Clawpelt told Scarletpaw, who already bore scars from the older warrior's tough love.
Scarletpaw said insistently, "I want to train with my brother."
Clawpelt nodded. "Of course. I will attend to the border patrols."
"I wanna come too!" Ripplepaw bounced after them.
The entire camp was alive with newleaf fling. Young mice lined the the preypile, and downy feathers lined the dens. Phoenixwing smiled, knowing that once again she had freedom to roam the camp and the world beyond.
"Phoenixwing. Petaldust.Silverleaf."
The three she-cats swiveled around to face Clawpelt. "All three of you are on border patrol."
They all headed out of camp, padding through the new undergrowth. Phoenixwing felt something watching her.
Something she hadn't thought about in a long time.
Maws wide open, right behind her stood the black fox. With a hissing screech, she threw herself towards it, and it disappeared into nothing. "Are you okay, Phoenixwing?" asked Petaldust.
Phoenixwing nodded, inhaling and exhaling.
They reached the boundary swiftly, Silverleaf in the lead.
Another patrol passed by them, so close that it seemed for a second they might brush pelts. One of the cats was a grey one with striking green eyes, another the silver she-cat Ripplepaw liked. At their head was Silentpelt.
Silentpelt turned to the patrol, his eyes full of delight, like a kit playing with a new mouse. "DragonClan cats on our territory. And they think we're nosy."
Petaldust said calmly, "This part of the forest belongs to DragonClan."
"Check your scent markers. Or are you too busy sitting in fox dung to smell another clan's scent? She-fox."
Petaldust snarled at the language. "Not in front of the apprentices!"
Silentpelt grinned. "Oh, of course not. They're so DELICATE." He muttered to his comrades, "Let's show them just how delicate you are."
The two cats flew at the warriors, clumsy but determined. Bloodshot eyes, yellowed teeth and battle scars given by their own mentors, they looked more like rogues than clan cats.
The silver one flew at Silverwing, and the other one attacked Phoenixwing, going straight for the chest. Phoenixwing blocked him and tried to throw him off, but he clung to her fur and dug in.
"Leafpaw!" Silentpelt yelled, "Show her your new move!"
Leafpaw smiled in devilish delight, and went for her neck. He was going for a killing bite. Petaldust smacked him away, sending the apprentice to the ground. She lay shaking for a bit, breathing in and out with wide, terrified eyes, when out of nowhere Silentpelt struck like a cobra, straight for the throat. For one second, Petaldust's eyes were wide as she slashed out, striking Silentpelt across the back, and then she was silent. She collapsed to the side, her blood pooling into the shade, a bit of sunlight resting peacefully on her back.
"NO!" Silverleaf and Phoenixwing yowled in unison. They ran to Petaldust's side, bending over her. She was still alive, her breaths coming out raspily and short.
"Go get help. Please." Petaldust begged.
Silentpelt, with a victorious smirk, faded back into the undergrowth.
Silverleaf whispered, "I'll stay here. You go on ahead, you're a lot faster than me."
No, I'm really not... Phoenixwing thought, but she ran past her anyways and into the woods. Sticks and leaves flew behind her, and into the camp she raced. "Starpaw! Raindrop!" She gasped for air.
"What do we need?" asked Raindrop.
"Cobwebs. Lots and lots of cobwebs."
"RainClan." snarled Raindrop. She grabbed some herbs, wrapped carefully in a leaf, in her mouth.
"Let's go." she told Starpaw.
As Phoenixwing ran through the forest, sniffing for her mentor, she wondered if it was too late. Silverleaf could probably hold them off now that they were wounded... couldn't she? It was unlikely they'd be back at all. Her mentor was fine.
Following the scent, Phoenixwing reached the clearing.
Starpaw's eyes were wide as a full moon. Raindrop slapped a paw over them.
The RainClan cats hadn't come back, but something worse had.
Silverwing jumped down from a tree, covered in sprayed blood. "I had to run! I'm sorry!"
"Did you KILL her?!" Starpaw asked, knowing the voice even if she couldn't see Silverleaf.
"The scent's not on her body, and I only know one creature who could kill a cat like that." Raindrop told the apprentice.
The rib cage jutted out of the body, blood strewn around the clearing in a mystical, almost perfect spiral. Silentpelt himself would never have killed a cat like that.
Silverleaf stuttered, "It's my fault that the f-f-fox..."
Phoenixwing shook her head.
That night, yowls of sorrow drowned the clearing, Stormmind's louder than the rest.
Moonstar jumped to the top of the High Tree. "I have an announcement to make."
Everyone was silent, glowing eyes fixed on their leader.
"Stormmind, is it your wish to leave your position as a warrior and become an elder?"
"It is." Stormmind said.
"Then, from now on you will be an elder. We wish you good luck with the rest of your days."
Stormmind bowed to Moonstar and followed Trunkthorn to the other side of the camp where the elder's den laid in wait.
Raindrop pulled Phoenixwing to the medicine cat den while the cats drearily called Stormmind's name.
"What is it?" whispered Phoenixwing.
"StarClan is restless."
"What?! What does that have to do with..."
"Icy winter pierces hearts,
powerful as frozen darts,
Two strong cats shall brave the storm,
born to keep their clanmates warm.
Fire and water against the snow,
when the world turns ten below,
end the winter, end the fight,
shatter the moon to make things right."
"Those words... that was our..."
"Yes, it was! StarClan repeats it in my head everytime I fall asleep."
"And..."
"Phoenixwing. Something big is coming."
"...You want something from me, don't you."
"Yes, I do."
"What is it?" Phoenixwing sighs, exasperated.
"We have to go find the cat who gave you the feather. Sun. Fortunately, she happens to live near the Moonstones, I've seen her on the way there. Meet me here after everyone goes to sleep tomorrow."
