Warriors: A Silver Moon Rises

Chapter 6

           Time seemed to slow down as I waited for Firestar to arrive, I honestly had no idea how I would tell him. The moment he sees Shadowtail in our territory.....I have to try and make him understand," I thought to myself. Shadowtail suddenly spoke wich pulled me out of thought.

" How do you think your clan will react when they find out I am shadowclan," he asked with a worried look on his face.

" They probably wont take it to well, I'm more hoping Firestar understands," I explained.

Moments later we heard the rustling of leaves as Firestar and Silvermoon stepped into the clearing. In that moment my heart started pounding hard.

" Angelwing, what's the trouble...Silvermoon said you were....," he stopped as he noticed Shadowtail. " What is Starclans name is he doing in Thunderclan territory," he hissed and lunged to attack Shadowtail. Without thinking I lunged and knocked Firestar onto the ground.

" Angelheart..........you love him," he said in a surprised tone. I nodded as I looked hard into Firestars eyes to see if I could get a reaction, but his face was neautral. The whole forest went quiet as if waiting for his response.

"Angelheart........," he began, but I interupted.

" Firestar, I know you are probably going to tell me we can't do this, that it's against the warrior code, but I....," he didn't let me finish.

" Angelheart, I was going to say it was okay, this is clearly what starclan wants or they would have done something against it," he finished. All I could do was stand and stare into his eyes, was he being seriouse.

" Firestar..if it is okay, I would like to join your clan," Shadowtail asked. Firestar dipped his head, turned, and headed back to camp. How does he expect to explain this to the clan. The entire walk back to the camp was silent, I think we all were wondering how we would explain this to the clan.

My heart began pounding as we entered the camp, cats padded out of their dens and began hissing. Firestar raced to the highledge.

" Cats of thunderclan, I know you are questioning the fact that there is a Shadowclan cat in our camp, the issue is one of our own has fallen in love. I will not stop this, as if it wasn't wanted Starclan would have done something already. We now have a new member to our clan, and I want him to be welcomed as one of our own. Welcome Shadowtail..for you are now a member of Thunderclan," Firestar finished. The camp was silent for a moment as the clan took in the news, then they began shouting his name in welcome

" Shadowtail, Shadowtail"

" I have more news for the clan," Firestar spoke.

" We have two kits that are ready to be apprenticed, Poppykit and Stripekit, come forward," he smiled as he watched the kits bound to the highledge.

" Poppykit, from this day on until you earn your warrior name, you will be known as Poppypaw," Firestar spoke. " Stripekit, from this day on until you have earned your warrior name, you will be known as Stripepaw, your mentor will be Angelheart," he said. I slowly padded up to highledge and stood next to Stripepaw.

" Angelheart, you are ready to become a mentor, you recieved excellent training from Sandstorm, and I hope you will pass on all your strength and cunning to Stripepaw," he said as he gazed deep into my eyes. I turned to look down at Stripepaw and licked his forehead. Silvermoon padded up to highledge.

"As you know I wont be around for long, I have chosen Poppypaw to follow in my paw prints, for she has shown great interest in the medicinal ways," she explained.

" Poppypaw, do you accept the post of apprentice to Silvermoon," Firestar said. The young she looked at Silvermoon and smiled.

" I do," she said.

" Then at the halfmoon you must travel to the moonpool to be accepted by Starclan with the other medicine cats," Firestar finished and jumped off of highledge. Poppypaw greeted Silvermoon with a nuzzle to her flank, and Silvermoon returned the greeting with a lick on the forehead.

" Poppypaw, Stripepaw, Poppypaw, Stripepaw," The clan chanted as they welcomed the new apprentices into the clan. The clan dispersed and got back to their regular duties.

" When can we go out to train, Stripepaw said eagerly. I turned and laughed at his bountiful energy and high spirit.

" We can go now if you like," I said as I motioned the young apprentice into the forest.

We began to slowly make our way through the forest as I showed him our entire territory. Seeing the young cats expression to the world outside the camp made me smile. It reminded me of the first time Sandstorm took me out after Firestar let me into the clan as one of his own. It was like I was seeing the forest through a whole new view. Then I began to wonder why my parents had abandoned me in the forest as a kit. Did I do something wrong? are my parents even still alive? Why was i thinking about this now? I had a new life, and an apprentice of my own. The past was in the past. After Stripepaw had seen the entire territory I led us back to camp. I needed to sleep so I would be ready to teach Stripepaw everything I knew.

As we entered the camp, I watched the young apprentice bound to his mother, excited to tell her everything he had seen. I padded into Silvermoons den.

" Hey, you want to go get us something to eat so we can turn in and be ready to train," she asked. I nodded my head as I turned and headed to the fresh kill pile. We had finished sharing a mouse when Silvermoon asked if I was thinking about our childhood. We both laughed as we remembered all the mouse-brained stuff we had done as kits.

" Do you remember the time we snuck out of camp and ran into the forest, just so we could see how the clan would react to it," she said

" yea, i remember we had the whole clan out to find us, and when our mothers found us...I don't think I have ever seen Sandstorm so angry before," I explained. We turned to eachother and laughed.

" we had better go to sleep, busy day tommorow," Silvermoon said as she curled up in her nest and closed her eyes. I left the den and headed for my own nest. I curled up into a tight ball and closed my eyes and had dreams about Silvermoon and I as kits, a time I will never forget.