The leaves rusted as cats slipped silently but quickly through the undergrowth, emerging out into the view of a lake, with an island in the middle. A fallen tree made a bridge across to it, and the cats streamed out onto the tree, crossing it carefully, aware of the swamping blackness that was just underneath their paws.
"Skypaw, you're holding up everybody else."
"Sorry, I'm just nervous about meeting so many cats. What is it like, the gathering?"
Silverfog sighed. "Just hurry up already, we don't want to be standing here all night."
Skypaw headed out onto the fallen tree, placing each paw step down carefully so that he wouldn't fall. True, he was a RiverClan cat, but he hadn't learned how to swim properly quite yet. Reaching the end of the trunk, he leaped down onto the island and brushed his way past a clump of ferns and into a clearing.
The sound of cats talking filled the air, and Skypaw stretched his eyes wide at all the assembled cats, who mingled with the other clans. "Wow," he breathed, unable to say any more.
"It's a bit of a surprise at first, but you'll get used to it." Silverfog's mew startled the blue-ish gray apprentice, and he jumped up at the sound of his voice. Silverfog gave an amused mrroow of laughter. Then he walked forward, and beckoned with his tail for Skypaw to join him.
Flicking his tail to a group of cats, he said, "That's ThunderClan right there. Their leader, Honeystar, seems to have a thing for accepting loners and kittypets into his clan." Nodding toward another group of cats, Silverfog continued, "That's WindClan right there. They're slender and skinny, but they can run faster than rabbits. And over there is ShadowClan- a lot of cats don't trust them, but I personally think that they're misunderstood."
Skypaw stood still, and incredulous look in his eyes as he looked at Silverfog. "How can so many cats fit in the territory beside the lake?"
"Well, there's a lot of land. Take our camp, for example. All of our clan's cats fit in there, with a lot of room to spare. It's the same for every clan," Silverfog explained. Skypaw continued to look around.
"I'm going to go explore," he meowed, wanting to see more of the serene island.
"Okay," his mentor replied. "I'll be right here."
YOU ARE READING
Skyleaf's Tale (DISCONTINUED)
FantasySkykit is daunted by the big world outside of the camp, but when this excited kit becomes an apprentice, he has to face bigger things than he would have imagined, as well as having to learn what it means to be a loyal warrior of his clan; and which...
