Betrayal

Chapter 20

It had been days since she had seen the Springclan and Swampclan patrols fighting. Today was also the gathering and as she thought about it most likely Robinkit and Foxkit's ceremony. Dawnpaw padded over to Badgerclaw who was talking with Beeflight and Leopardclaw. She stopped and waited before Badgerclaw glanced up at her. "Go clean the elders den you can just go straight there" he told her. She nodded and felt a tingle of relief that after the gathering the punishment would finally be over. Hazelpaw was cleaning Mossberry's nest when she arrived. The three elders sat in a corner and talked. As she started cleaning Lillyfoot's nest the she-cat turned to her with a warm smile.
"How are you doing" she asked kindly.
"Alright" she responded.
"I bet you are going to be happy when this punishment is over" Lillyfoot said teasingly. She nodded and Lillyfoot seemed to be looking for something else to say but couldn't find anything. She turned back to talk with the other elders and she continued cleaning the nest. She looked over at Hazelpaw and then asked how she was doing.
"Fine" she replied.
"Do you know if you are coming to the gathering" she asked curiously.
"Probably but I don't know" she admitted.
She nodded and they worked until the nests were cleaned. As she gathered everything she heard Mossberry say,
"Let's hope Greenstar doesn't do anything" Mossberry said ominously. What does he mean she thought in bewilderment. She didn't have time to worry about it though as Lillyfoot said goodbye and that she would miss them. As they were walking away she heard Mossberry say,
"At least I won't have apprentices tramping through the den everyday" he snorted. She felt a flash of irritation and thought angrily try cleaning your own nest then she thought. She padded over to Badgerclaw who was talking with Beeflight, she wondered briefly why Leopardclaw left but she probably had to leave for patrol. Badgerclaw wrapped up how conversation and then flicked his tail for her to follow him as he padded out of camp.
****
Dawnpaw padded back into camp, prey clutched in her jaws. They had done fighting first and then some hunting before they had gone back to camp. She set her prey down and saw Amberleaf looking at her.
"How are you" she asked.
"I am good" she replied.
"I just wanted to see how you are doing" Amberleaf told her. She noddd and Amberleaf said a goodbye before padding over to a cluster of warriors. She started walking forward when she felt something run into her. She looked down and saw Foxkit.
"Sorry" she squeaked.
"That's fine" she replied.
"Me and Robinkit are going to be the best apprentices" Foxkit boasted.
"Yeah" Robinkit agreed.
"I am sure you are" she purred, trying to hide her amusement.
Robinkit and Foxkit bounced off and Dawnpaw was about to go over to her sister when she saw Marshstar pad out of her den. Dawnpaw started to pad over as Marshstar went over a tree and leaped onto it, which was usually where she did ceremonies. Dawnpaw sat down near the tree and waited for the other cats to gather. Hazelpaw sat next to her while Icepool emerged from the nursery. The elders went out of their den and Mudwhisker padded over with Dewfall behind him. Marshstar cleared her threat when all the cats gathered and started speaking,
"Today we are here to make two new apprentices" she began. "Robinkit and Foxkit come here" she ordered. Foxkit and Robinkit padded up their tails twitching with excititment while Marshstar leaped down from her tree. When both the apprentices came up Marshstar turned to Robinkit. "Robinkit from this moment on you will be known as Robinpaw and your mentor will be Frogleap" she declared. Frogleap came up and touched noses with the tom, her eyes shining and she thought that this might be the she-cats first apprentice. Robinpaw and Frogleap walked back to the gathered cats and sat down. Marshstar turned to Foxkit and started speaking , "Foxkit from this moment on you will be known as Foxpaw and your mentor will be Blackstripe" Marshstar said. She watched as the apprentice and mentor touched noses and walked back to the gathered cats. Flowerstem started chanting Foxpaw and Robinpaw and Dawnpaw joined in and soon enough the whole clan joined in. When the chanting was done she looked up and saw the sun starting to set. "I am going to start gathering the cats for the gathering" she called. She padded over to Hazelpaw and asked her if she was going to the gathering. Hazelpaw nodded,
"We should get something to eat" she suggested.
"Good idea" Hazelpaw agreed. Dawnpaw and Hazelpaw went over to the prey pile and she was just starting to eat her mouse when she heard Windpaw call,
"Hurry up you guys we are going to leave" she gulped and quickly gobbled up the rest of her mouse before bounding over with Hazelpaw beside her. The cats started off and she saw Foxpaw and Robinpaw with them, along with her mother and her mother's sisiter. She saw Windpaw double back to walk with them and she felt a glimmer of gratitude.
""Are you guys nervous about the gathering" Windpaw asked.
"No, why?" She asked in confusion.
"Springclan" she stated simply sounding a little surprised. Suddenly she saw what Windpaw was saying and nervousness started to creep in, what if Greenstar accused them again of killing the kits again in front of the whole gathering. Is that would Mossberry she wondered. She could see Windpaw and Hazelpaw shared her suspicions but they eventually moved onto a different topic. She leaped over a small stream as they neared Springclan's territory and the swamp started to thin out. A green plain dotted with bushes and trees started to take over and she wondered how they could hunt and fight in the open with such little cover. As they neared the gathering place and the scents of Mistclan and Springclan started to drift through her nervousness returned. After a few more heartbeats they emerged into the gathering spot.
"I am going to go hang out with them" Windpaw told them, flicking her tail at a group of Mistclan apprentices. She nodded and looked around for Ivypaw.
"Who are you looking for" Hazelpaw asked.
"Ivypaw" she answered.
"But she is Springclan" Hazelpaw protested.
"She is still our friend though" she objected. Hazelpaw fell silent after that and she finally spotted Ivypaw sitting with a different Springclan apprentice. She felt a little nervous to approach her with another apprentice but just because their clans were at war didn't mean they couldn't still be friends. She thought about what she had said with the patrol when they had last seen her but she pushed the remaining doubt away and strode forward. She heard Hazelpaw whisper her name but followed her nevertheless. When they arrived Ivypaw and the other apprentice peered at her with suspicion.
"What are you doing here" Ivypaw asked.
"I came over to say hi" she said, bewildered.
"Okay" Ivypaw messed, clearly confused too. She saw the other apprentice lean over to say something in her ear and Ivypaw looked up." You should go" Ivypaw meowed. A flash of hurt went across her and she felt Hazelpaw nudging her to go. She was turning to go when a familiar snide voice said,
"Why are you hanging out with Swampclan cats escpecially the ones who killed your sister and brother" she spun around and saw Poppypaw and Tigerpaw.
"I was just telling them to leave" Ivypaw defended herself. Poppypaw opened her mouth to say something else but the leaders called for the meeting to start. She padded away and as they padded over to Swampclan Maberpeaf bounded over.
"Why were you talking to Springclan cats" she hissed.
"We talked to her at the last gathering and she is my friend" she explianed.
"We are at war now you can't be talking to Springclan cats" Amberleaf reprimanded her sternly. She nodded and ducked her head in shame but part of her couldn't understand what had been wrong with talking to Ivypaw, it wasn't like she was spilling clan secrets or anything. When she sat down she gazed up. Sootstar padded forward and started speaking,
"Our clan has done well this moon our prey has been plentiful" he reported. After a few heartbeats he said "there is nothing else to report" he finished. She saw Greenstar pad up and braced herself for what might come. At first Greenstar reported how his clan had flourished this moonbyt then what she dreaded came. "We also lost two of our kits this moon due to Swampclan" Greenstar accused. Dawnpaw bristled and she could see some of her other clanmates yowling defiance.
"This was all just a big misunderstanding" Marshstar assured him.
"There was- Marshstar came forward and abruptly cut him offa d she could see Greenstar looking at her with indignation. What does Sootstar think she wondered. She was snapped back to the present when Marshtpstar announced Foxpaw and Robinpaw as new apprentices. She joined in with her clan but she realized none of the Springclan cats were cheering and few of the Mistclan cats were. When the cheering died down they shared tongues but she thought that the atmosphere was re tense then before and was relieved when they left.

Hi I hope you like this chapter and if you want you can comment why you think Dawnpaw went over to Ivypaw if you want I encourage comments because I like hearing what other people think but if you don't want to that's also fine and if you want to you can vote too