Harekit's Prophecy

Chapter 3

Harepaw paced around the apprentice's den, trying not to think of what had happened, yet the memory always came back to him. The bloody, battered body of Reedbelly in the meeting hollow, her fur filled with sand. There was no vigil, and no ceremony other than Buzzardfur mumbling the words that would send her to StarClan to him. Echostar had ordered the body be dragged out and thrown into the river, thunderpath, or into Carrion Place in ShadowClan territory. Harepaw wanted to object, but Buzzardfur had put his tail on Harepaw's mouth. "Don't make it any worse, Harepaw." Although it was a week after the she-cat had been aggressively slaughtered, Harepaw kept seeing the corpse in his thoughts. He couldn't concentrate on his training, and Sparkcloud was still determined to get revenge for their fight. Harepaw had no one to turn to. Since his injuries were healed, Buzzardfur never visited him, and Sandberry was nowhere to be seen. He was also the only apprentice. Not many kits were born, nor did many beat the opponents successfully. His pacing stopped abruptly as he heard a voice. "Harepaw, are you ready for your training?" Harepaw swallowed as he stepped outside. He met gazes with his mentor's icy blue gaze. He nodded briefly and followed the pale she-cat outside the camp. "We're going to do some more fighting training today." Sparkcloud stepped closer to him and she unsheathed her claws. "When you're in a fight, you need to be able to fight with all four paws at the same time. Then you can defend and attack at the same time." Without saying another word, she kicked with her front paws, aiming for Harepaw's chest. Harepaw panted, but he had no time to recover as Sparkcloud already attacked. After some more unprepared blows, Sparkcloud smirked, clearly satisfied. Harepaw met her gaze anxiously. "Are you ready for more, kit?"

The cold air tugged at Harepaw's pelt. This was going to be his first gathering, and he was excited to see what the other cats looked like. Were they also tall and lanky as most of the WindClan cats? Did they smell of the heather and the cool breeze? Harepaw was just about able to hold his excitement as he saw four giant oak trees on the horizon. "This is it," he breathed. Echostar halted the group of cats before they ran down. They were in a clearing, the four trees around them with bushes in between. In the middle was a giant boulder, two other cats already sitting on there. He noticed Orangestar, the ThunderClan leader, and saw another tom sitting next to him, but with a darker pelt. They didn't have to wait long for the fourth leader to arrive. Harepaw gagged at the fish scent that now hung in the clearing, mixing with the scent of dank trees and pine sap. A pale grey she-cat leaped on the rock, next to the other leaders. Meanwhile, WindClan warriors started to talk to other Clans. Harepaw hoped that Sparkcloud would introduce him to other Clan's apprentices, but he already knew that that wasn't going to happen. He saw a ginger cat with tiny spots on her back, and she was visibly smaller than the cats around her.

"Hey," he mewed, trying hard to ignore the fish stench around her. The she-cat turned around. "Hi! Who are you?" "Harepaw," Harepaw answered. "I am Leafpaw. You're WindClan?" she mewed. "Yes. And you're RiverClan." She nodded. Harepaw saw her amber gaze staring at his cream-colored pelt, covered in scars. Her own ginger pelt was sleek, one battle scar visible on her back. "Where did you get those?" she asked. "Battle," Harepaw replied. He didn't want to get into details with someone he barely knows. "And where are the other apprentices?" she continued. Harepaw opened his mouth to explain the situation briefly, but Orangestar's yowl interrupted them: "The full moon is shining bright, and there are no clouds. Let the gathering begin!" Yowls encouraged ThunderClan's leader and the orange tom rose his tail asking for silence.

"ThunderClan's doing great. There is a lot of prey, and we have two new warriors! Whiteberry and Snowbreeze!" Two white cats puffed out their chest and their eyes shone brightly. "You can go next, Echostar." The pale grey leader rose and gazed around. "WindClan is also doing well, there's a lot of prey on the moor. We have a new apprentice, Harepaw!" A lot of eyes stared at Harepaw, cats calling his name; he shifted awkwardly on his paws. Echostar continued. "We also lost a warrior. Reedbelly was killed by a fox but, we have driven it out of our territory." Harepaw held back a growl as cats from the other Clans shared murmurs of grief.That liar! Harepaw thought as he stared up at his leader.