Destiny of the Stars - Secret Omen

Chapter 2

I stretched and circled once in my new mossbed in the apprentices den. But I couldn’t be truly happy, Gingerpaw wasn’t there. Junipertail said Gingerpaw wouldn’t be able to train with me for a moon or two. The twist of emotions stabbed at my stomach. It had been a long day of training and I had learnt so much. I slowly closed my eyes but it took me a while to fall into a sleep.

I re-opened my eyes. It was the middle of the night and I wasn’t in SpringClan camp anymore. I was sure this was the FourTrees where The Gathering was held every moon. It was empty of course the Gathering wasn’t for another four days! In the middle was a huge rock. On top of it sat a white she-cat, her pelt glittered in the moonlight. She was almost completely white, she had light grey paws that looked almost white themselves. Other than that she was completely white this made her piercing, icy blue eyes stand out like fire on bracken. But the strangest, most striking feature was this cat had now pupils but she seemed to see me just fine.

“Hello little Redpaw!” the she-cat mewed, her voice was soothing like ripples on water. Her eyes glittered with pride?!

“Who are you?” I stammered.

“I am Cloudwillow, your mother’s sister!” Cloudwillow mewed. “And this…” A ginger and white she-cat stepped out of the mist to stand beside Cloudwillow “….is Skyfire!” Skyfire dipped her head. She was light ginger cat and on her back with darker, ginger tabby stripes running along her back. She had a white chest, muzzle, tail tip and socks. She had jade green eyes like Suntail.

“Redpaw we are here to tell you something very important!” Skyfire said.

“But you will understand in due time.” Cloudwillow mewed.

“Yes!” Cloudwillow admitted. They paused. Looked at each other. Nodded.

“We will visit you soon!” Cloudwillow.

“Good luck young warrior!” Skyfire finished. Before she and Cloudwillow began to disappear.

“Wait! What does that mean?” I yowled. “Cloudwillow? Skyfire?”

Suddenly someone prodded my shoulder. My eyes snapped open. It was Rainpaw.

“Redpaw!” he growled. “Get up your on dawn patrol with me aren’t you?!”

“Oh yeah!” I mewed, getting up and stretching. I padded out of the apprentice den and looked at the Medicine Cat’s den. Before heading to the gorse tunnel.

“Finally!” Fernspirit growled.

“Let’s get going!” Suntail mewed.

“Okay!” I agreed. Rainpaw lead the way through the gorse tunnel.

“So where are we patrolling to?” I asked.

“We are patrolling up SummerClan border until we get to the FourTrees.” Suntail replied.

“Okay!” I said. But I wasn’t listening. We were heading up to the FourTrees where I met Cloudwillow and Skyfire.

“Erm… Suntail? What happened to erm… to Cloudwillow and Skyfire?” I muttered. I guessed that took my mentor by surprise because she stopped dead. Suntail was also my Moonfur’s sister. I was curious about what happened to them because when I met they looked quite young.

“What?!” Suntail gasped.

“What happened to Cloudwillow and Skyfire?” I mewed guiltily.

“Why do you want know?” Suntail asked not bothering to hide her surprise.

“Just asking?” I lied.

“Well…. Err….. I’ll tell you when we get back to camp.” Suntail stuttered, hurrying to catch up to Fernspirit.

Suddenly Rainpaw stopped and tasted the air.

“I smell cats.” He mewed.

“Well we are near SummerClan territory!” I pointed out.

“No there not from SummerClan! Smell this bush!” Rainpaw growled. I padded up beside my fellow apprentice and sniffed the air. He was right!

“Does that mean intruders?” I asked.

“Duh!” Rainpaw said. I sniffed the bush again.

“I think they went that way!” I mewed pointing my tail in the direction of the Dawn Valley. I sprang forward and ran to the top of Dawn Valley. I leapt into a bush at the top. Moments later Rainpaw appeared beside me.

“Where are Suntail and Fernspirit?” I whispered. Rainpaw pointed his tail to another bush. I peered down into the valley. I saw a group of rogues! I strained my ears to hear.

“Okay so here’s the plan” said a huge tom. He must have not been worried that someone might hear him.

“So does everyone know the plan?” a huge tabby tom growled to a large crowd of cats. “We attack those puny Forest Cats at Moon Rise!”

I heard a growl rise in Rainpaw throat, his eyes narrowed. He sprang out of the bush and charged down the hill. I hesitated before running after him. Rainpaw was fighting the tabby I ran towards him to help him, but was pinned to the ground by a sand-coloured she-cat. I used my back claws to rake her belly. She yowled in pain and dug her claws into my shoulders and shifted her weight into her back legs and pushed down on my stomach. I could feel my strength abandoning me rapidly. Suddenly the rogue lunged sideways. I saw an AutumnClan apprentice, Tigerpaw, pinning her to the ground. He bit down on her neck and quickly killed her. I stared in awe, how could an apprentice be so strong?

A yowl from Rainpaw shook me out of my daze. I spun to see the tabby pinning Rainpaw down. He was badly wounded; he had a series of scratches running down his belly and plenty more wounds. The tom looked like he was preparing to take the death blow. I crouched to the ground to bowl him over. As I did I suddenly felt sick and dizzy, I took a deep breath to keep my balance and sprang. The tom had completely let down his guard, he was so focused on killing Rainpaw. I bit into his shoulders, he stumbled sideways and fell to the ground. I sheathed my claws and let him get up. He drew back his lips in a growl but my stare was firm.

“Take your rogues and get out of SpringClan territory!” I ordered.

“And what happens if I don’t?” he challanged. I lunged forward and slashed his nose.

“I’ll tell you one more time. Take your rogues and get OUT of our territory!” I shouted. He glared and began to back away.

“RETREAT!” he yowled, rushing down the valley, the rogues immediately running after their leader. I turned to Rainpaw who was struggling to stand. My sick feeling was growing but I ignored it and used my shoulder to support Rainpaw. He was shaking.

“Thank you Skyfeather!” Suntail panted.

“No problem!” Skyfeather mewed proudly.

“We’d better get back to camp. See you at the Gathering!” Fernspirit mewed, beginning to climb the hill.

“Bye!” Acorntail called.

“Thank you for the rescue Tigerpaw!” I gasped.

 

 

I could sense the camp now. It had been a long trek back. We were all tired, I was looking for a nice rest in the apprentice’s den. Rainpaw was still very shaken up, luckily Rainpaw was regaining his strength and was able to walk now. My shoulders ached from when the sand-coloured rogue attacked me.

As the bramble wall came into sight, a terrible pain like no other I’d felt, stabbed at my chest. My legs were suddenly too weak to walk and I collapsed.

The last thing I heard was the startled cry of Rainpaw.

“REDPAW!!!”