Book 4: Sol's Revenge & Whisper's Path

Whisper

"You're only 26 moons? Really? How did you manage to become deputy so fast?" I said, unable to keep the surprise out of my voice. From what Sol had told me of the Warrior Code a deputy had to have trained at least one apprentice and was generally a senior warrior. Gingerfern seemed flushed beneath her orange fur.

"Rainpaw is my first apprentice. Hailstar appointed me deputy before I finished training him," she admitted.

"And that's against the warrior code?" I asked.

"Not really against it, but it is not a rule broken quickly. Some of the older warriors question my ability to lead after Hailstar. In fact they question Hailstar's ability to lead now."

"You'll be a good leader, I can tell," I reassured her. She smiled.

"Thanks Whisper."

I felt a shiver run through my pelt. I was telling Gingerfern she would make a great leader for Cedarclan. But wasn't my intention in coming here with Sol that we would be leaders? For the first time I realized I knew nothing about clan life other than what he'd told me or I'd picked up on. I was completely out of my element. I was not fit to lead. But Gingerfern was. And didn't we say we only wanted to lead Cedarclan in order to stabilize them? The clan would be plenty stable under Gingerfern.

Sol and I had no place here. No place as leaders that is. Perhaps we could find a place as warriors.

"How old are you?" she asked. "I mean, if you don't mind my asking."

"Approaching forty moons. But I'm not past the good years yet!" I laughed.

"So you and Sol were rogues before you found Cedarclan. But you met someone who taught you to read the stars? Tell me more about that."

"It's kind of a long story. And a pretty unbelievable one at that," I said, not elaborating any more. We sat in silence for a few moments.

"Say, do you want to go hunting?" Gingerfern asked.

"S-sure," I stammered before following her out of camp. We headed South towards the ocean, but we remained firmly in Cedarclan's territory. Thrushes flitted through the trees, occasionally swooping down to collect seeds. One oblivious bird was pecking at the moss at the base of a tree. Gingerfern was on him before he even had time to look up.

"Great catch!" I complimented. She said something but her mouth was full of dead bird so I had no idea what it was she said. We kept hunting. I manage to catch a vole but we didn't get lucky after that. We headed back to camp and set the prey on the fresh kill pile. It was nearing sundown so most of the cats were back at camp sharing tongues. I noticed with surprise a large group of warriors around my brother Sol.

"So my paw was completely broken, we were stuck on the side of a cliff, and what does Whisper do? He pushes me off the cliff," Sol said, recounting our escape from the mountains. I felt my stomach bubble at the bitter memory. Sol was making it sound like a great adventure. Not the truth of what really went down. The warriors around him roared with laughter.

Sol was making friends quite easily. I had only really befriended Gingerfern in the few days we'd been with Cedarclan.

"Did that really happen?" Gingerfern asked with a whisker twitch, referring to Sols story.

"Most of it," I said begrudgingly.

"Do you want to share a squirrel with me?" Gingerfern asked. I was still listening to Sols story. He was omitting many parts of our journey which I was thankful for. He was only telling the highlights. Not a mention of Echo either.

"Or not," Gingerfern sighed and began to walk away.

"Did you say something?" I asked, realizing I hadn't been listening to her.