A Stream of Ice

Chapter 5

Aldertail crept out of his nest and into the clearing. Although it was only sunhigh, most of the cats were already gathered in the clearing. He stretched and strolled other to his other littermate, Sparrowtail.
“Hey. Whats going on?” he yawned, inquisitively.
“Specklestar has called a Clan meeting. Apparently, Cricketfur has some news” The rest of the Clan had appeared and Specklestar, with Cricketfur by her side, jumped on to the Moss Stump.

“Cats of StormClan! We are having a meeting to adress two things! First of all, Cricketfur would like to say something.” Specklestar began, and stepped backwards to let Cricketfur speak.
“Thank you Specklestar,” he nodded gratefully, “Soon, StormClan will be even stronger! Mothstrike will be moving into the nursery as she is expecting my kits.”

  The crowd of cats purred at the news, however, Specklestar and Minnowpond seemed to exchange a quick and worried glance. Cricketfur stepped politely back and leapt of the stump.
  “That is pleasing news Cricketfur. The second thing we need to adre-”

   The bushes rustled and Leopardheart crept into the clearing. Clenched in his jaws was a lifeless vole. He looked at the clearing, realising that he had disturbed the meeting and that everyone was  staring at him and sat quietly on the floor.

  “Leopardheart. I see you have been doing some early hunting, we are lucky to have such kind and generous cats in our clan. You may put it on the fresh-kill pile.” Leopardheart swiftly nodded and ran over to the pile, dropping the vole and sat back down on the left of Aldertail. As he breathed in, he thought he could smell a faint scent of FlameClan cats, but, he ignored it and concentrated on Specklestar.
   
    “Carrying on, we have decided which of our warriors and apprentices are coming to the gathering at moonhigh. They are Mistpelt, Aldertail, Leopardheart,  Cloudfall, Hailnose, Silverwhisker, Blazepaw, Sandypaw and our Medicine cat along with her new apprentices, Whitepaw and Icepaw.”

  With a nod, Specklestar dismissed the Clan and summoned Luckyclaw. 
“Aldertail!” Luckyclaw yowled “Snowflurry! Creekwater! You are going on Dawn patrol, Specklestar is leading!” Aldertail dipped his head and stood beside the chosen cats, raring to go.

    The patrol raced out of the bramble barrier of camp and towards the FrostClan border. The two territories were divided by a line where the thick deciduous forest thinned out into pines and conifers. Aldertail wondered how different it would be to live in the darker territory of FrostClan, the open moorland owned by FlameClan or even the wet land where StreamClan had settled many moons ago. He wondered what it would be like to hunt and eat slimy fish or fat rabbits or lumpy toads and frogs. However, he was a StormClan cat  and was very glad! He couldn't imagine being in a different clan: the hunting techniques, prey and clanmates would be completely different!

    The four cats reached the few conifer trees that marked the border line and sniffed carefully around, smelling for any sign of enemy cats on StormClan land. Aldertail scented the area and picked up the same scent of FlameClan that he picked up earlier when Leopardheart sat beside him. Intrigued, he stalked the edge of the border that split the edge of StormClan land and land that no territory claimed. The scent of FlameClan grew stronger. He stopped at the border and trotted back over to his Clanmates who were remarking the scent line.

     As he swiftly joined Specklestar, Creekwater and Snowflurry a FrostClan patrol emerged from out of the pines to remark their own border. The patrol, which contained Coppersun, Emberpaw, Blackglow and Shadowheart, awkwardly nodded at the StormClan cats and started marking the border and eyeing the patrol to make sure they didn't step over.

    After exchanging glanced at the patrol that Coppersun seemed to be leading and making sure the scents were fresh and new, Aldertail and the rest of the patrol headed back towards camp. Aldertail wondered if he should question Leopardheart about the scent, but decided against it, incase the spotted tom had nothing to do with the mysterious scents. The cats entered the familiar camp and were greeted with very little mews: Lots of their Clanmates had gone hunting or training their apprentices.
 
    As the handsome tabby tom had just been on patrol, he would be allowed a break. Aldertail ran off to the nursery to speak to Birchleaf and check up on the kits, when a terrified yowl screeched through the forest and into the clearing. A cat was in trouble.