Hostile

2

      Frostcloud pressed herself into Mosspool's heavy coat, absorbing the heat her friend radiated. The two had just shoveled away snow, creating a patch of grass they could lay in without being touched by the blistering ice. Dead grass crinkled under the smaller cats weight, but she didn't mind. Instead, she closed her eyes, enjoying the sunlight that spilled onto her this cloudless day.

  Crowfur, PineClan's deputy, had returned from a hunting patrol with scrawny prey in their jaws not long ago, and half a mouse filled Frostcloud's belly. The other half had been Mosspool's.

  Nearby, Frostcloud could hear kits pestering warriors as they made their way through camp. "Duskfur!" She could hear Badgerkit say, "Is it true you traveled to Red Barn?"

  "Er, yes. But I didn't go alone." He answered, "I went with Buckheart and-"

  "With Buckheart!" Foxkit exclaimed, "He's huge!"

  "Well, yes." Duskfur purred, "He was my mentor back then."

  Entertained by the excitement, Frostcloud peeked open one eye and discreetly watched the cats. Three energetic kits, just a moon away from becoming apprentices themselves, surrounded the lean blue-furred tom. He seemed uncomfortable under all of their glowing eyes. "I want Buckheart to be my mentor!" Foxkit informed him, "I bet he's the strongest cat in all the four Clan's! He can teach me the best battle moves!"

  Ferretkit shook clumps of watery snow from her sleek pelt, "You can't have him as your mentor, he'll be my mentor." She told her sister.

  "Whitestar will decide your mentors." Duskfur reminded them, "But Buckheart is a very good one- any of you would be lucky to be his apprentice."

  Or Cricketleg's. Frostcloud thought. Too bad for you three he already has an apprentice.

  It was then Shaleshimmer approached the two lounging friends, "Hi, Mosspool." She greeted, her gorgeous amber eyes falling on the white and grey-speckled she-cat, "Have you seen Slatethorn?"

  Mosspool yawned, her white teeth glinting off the suns light. She snapped her jaws shut, then tiredly, "I went hunting with him at sun-high."

  It was almost dusk now, Frostcloud noticed with a glance to the sun. "He'll miss Whitestar's Gathering announcement if he's not back soon." She murmured.

  "I'm sure he's out with Dustclaw." Mosspool shrugged, "He'll be back soon."

  Frostcloud twitched her ears, acutely aware of how much time Slatethorn and Mosspool had been spending together. It started with Littlefern's death. Feathertail- 'paw at the time- would check on Mosspool periodically as Dawnheart instructed. Often times, his brother tagged along.

  She would never admit it out loud, not in a hundred seasons, but sometimes Frostcloud felt jealous of the attention the tom received from Mosspool. More than once, Frostcloud's asked Mosspool to go hunting or on patrol with her, only to find out she had already made plans with Slatethorn. Several other times, Mosspool had forgotten her plans with Frostcloud while she was out with Slatethorn.

  "See? I told you." Mosspool chirped, pulling Frostcloud's focus into the present. At the camps entrance, Slatethorn and Dustclaw strolled through the bramble. Their legs were damp and somewhat muddy, like they had been running in the snow-melt.

  "Great! Thank you, Mosspool." Shaleshimmer said, waving her tail goodbye before bounding towards her littermates.

  "Leafear!" Badgerkit called excitedly when his mother pulled herself from the nursery.

  Leafear purred, nuzzling her kits as they bounded towards her. "I've been practicing!" The grey and white-spotted tom went on before dropping into a hunters crouch.

  "I can't wait to have my own kits." Mosspool sighed to herself.

  Frostcloud flicked her ears at the thought. Mosspool was old enough but... kits seem so stressful. Blind and deaf; just little balls of vital organs. What if a queen rolled over one in her sleep?

  "Well done!" Leafear praised.

  "Let all cats old enough to leave camp gather around for a Clan meeting!"

  Frostcloud swiveled her ears. Atop Clanrock, Whitestar was perched waiting for his Clanmates.

  Frostcloud rose, padding towards Clanrock with Mosspool at her side. Bramblepaw and Rosepaw were already at the base of the oversized boulder by the time most of the cats had only just reached the cluster. Dawnheart sat near Whitestar, cleaning her pad, and Feathertail yawned next to her.

  "Can we watch?" Ferretkit asked Leafear.

  "Just be quiet." The queen allowed, taking a seat at the back of the group.

  "Needlepelt, Slatethorn, Doeface, Dustclaw, Mosspool, Bramblepaw, Sunfur, and Frostcloud will all be coming to the Gathering tonight. We will be leaving briefly, so be prepared."

  As quickly as the meeting had started, Whitestar was hoping off Clanrock. Frostcloud watched him approach his mate, Warmheart, before the two nuzzled eachother.

  The leader had only five lives left, that Frostcloud knew of anyway. He'd lost one from illness last leafbare, and two from trying to save Littlefern just a short time before. More recently, he lost a life fighting a raccoon that wandered too close to camp. When he dies, Crowfur would take his place as leader. Frostcloud's green eyes scanned camp in search of the deputy, only to find the black tom washing his whiskers near the camps entrance. It was obvious he and the medicine cat would come to the Gathering, so the leader never bothered to call their names.

  "Stay here with Cricketlegs today." Dawnheart said to her apprentice, who responded with a reluctant nod. Dawnheart cuffed him lightly- a rambunctious gesture Frostcloud never imagined the gentle medicine cat was capable of. "Don't drop your whiskers, Feathertail. Gatherings are always dull, and you'll go to plenty in the future."

  "She's right." Frostcloud purred, "And we get back late and can't sleep in, too."

  Feathertail gave a mighty stretch, "I know," He yawned, "I've been to plenty of Gatherings. It's just a shame I won't see any of my other friends this moon."

  Frostcloud shrugged. She knew other Clancats, but never had befriended any. Mousefur, Whitemuzzle, Chicktalon, Softfur, Redstripe- previously Smallpaw, but his name was changed on account of his giant frame... she got along with the variety, but she was closer friends to Leafear and Rosepaw than she was to any one of them.

  Before long, the sun dipped below the horizon. "I want to go with!" Foxkit all but demanded when the group of selected cats began to idle near the camps exit.

  "You will next moon." Leafear murmured, "Dustclaw will tell you all about it at dawn. Now go to the nursery, you're already up past curfew."

  "I'm not a kit anymore, Leafear." The tortoiseshell said indignantly.

  "Until the end of your name is 'paw, you're a kit." Riverpelt said as she passed Leafear and her brood and dipped into the warriors den.

  "And you'll always be my kits." Leafear added, nudging the trio into the direction of the bramble nursery.