Raven (A Warrior Cats based Story)

Chapter 4.

*Pic is Riverpaw

"Well then we better go and announce your arrival to the rest of the clan." Mudstar meowed whilst standing up. Following Mudstar out of the den, I couldn't help but feel excited. I'm about to join Stormclan and gain food, shelter, companionship and, most importantly, protection for the rest of my life! Once outside the den, Mudstar indicated that I should sit a few paces away from the branch, while he jumped up onto it yowling "Let all cats old enough to swim gather here, beneath the Highbranch for a clan meeting!" I watched nervously, as the cats who had been sending me hostile glares a while earlier gathered around me, albeit leaving a tail length between me and them. One cat, a sand coloured tabby with green eyes came and sat near me, giving me a reassuring nod of his head before sitting down and directing his attention toward Mudstar. Breezecloud also came and sat nearby after shooting a hostile glare at the sand coloured tom. "Stormclan! It has been decided that we will take a newcomer into our clan!" Yowls of outrage and pure anger sounded around the clearing at Mudstar's words. Flinching, as some of the turned their glares at me, it was all I could do not to crouch down. "Stormclan doesn't NEED any outsiders!" "You insult us by suggesting that Stormclan should take in outsiders!" "Why should we accept outsiders!" "We don't want outsiders in this clan!" Only a few cats didn't join in with throwing anger and hate at Mudstar's intention to include me into their clan. Breezecloud, Riverpaw, and the sand coloured tom. Surprise and encouraged by the sharp-tongued black she-cat's silence, allowed me to remain upright against the fresh onslaught of hostility. "That's enough!" Mudstar's mew cut through the yowls of anger, silencing them. "Raven, here, isn't as much of an outsider as you are all thinking." Mudstar's tail lashed with his words, that confused all the cats in the clearing, including myself. How can they be wrong about me being a complete outsider? "What do you mean, she's 'not as much of an outsider as we're thinking', Mudstar?" one of the cats questioned. "What I mean is, Raven is one of Featherheart's kits." Gasps of shock sounded around the hollow, which confused me even more. Suddenly all the cats were staring at me. "She does kind of look like Featherheart. But...if she's here, then where is Featherheart?" In the silence that followed, in which the cats turned their gazes toward Mudstar again, I found myself thinking; How do these cats know mother? In fact...why has her name changed their behavior toward me? Mudstar glanced at me then answered his clan "Featherheart...has joined Starclan..." Mews of grief arose from some of the cats and others just inclined their heads. After a moment Mudstar spoke again "We grieve for Featherheart and shall honour her memory by making her only surviving kit an apprentice of Stormclan." The cats around me now began to look excited, but their excitement was tempered by grief. "Raven, step forward." Mystified, I padded forward until I was in front of Mudstar who had jumped down from the branch which the clan called Highbranch. "From this day forward, until you have earned your warrior name, you will be known as Ravenpaw. Your mentor will be Swiftstream. I hope that Swiftstream will pass all she knows on to you." Looking around I spotted a silver tabby with white paws, chest, muzzle and tail tip pad towards me. Her eyes were filled with excitement and grief. Most of the cats around me called my new name out. "Welcome to Stormclan, Ravenpaw! I will do my best to make you the best warrior in the clan!"