Warriors: FlowerClan's War #1 - A Clan's Choice

Chapter 19 - Lightningstar

Lightningstar looked up from her mouse as Rosepaw refused another border patrol. She was growing quite worried about the black she-cat and her brother. They hadn't been out on border patrol since their mother's death.

The foxes hadn't been seen for half a moon, so Lightningstar thought that now was as good time as any to try and get them more involved with Clan life again.

After finishing her meal, Lightningstar padded over to the siblings, who were also eating.

"Wanna go on a walk?" The apprentices looked at each other with wide eyes, but they nodded. They finished their prey and joined Lightningstar for their walk.

Rosepaw and Bramblepaw gazed at the colorful leaves in wonder, and Lightningstar remembered that it was their first leaf-fall.

"Wow! This is so beautiful!" Rosepaw's mew was filled with delight. Her brother nodded in agreement.

"Just wait until you see it in leaf-bare! The trees glitter like Silverpelt!" Lightningstar stopped suddenly and shushed her companions. A mouse was a few fox lengths away, scanning the ground for food.

She fell into a hunting crouch, slowly making her way towards the mouse. She was careful to place her paws delicately back on the ground after each step, since the mouse could feel the vibrations of her paws before even smelling her scent.

She reached the point where she could easily pounce on the small creature and prepared herself for the jump. Lightningstar leaped, and landed right on the mouse. She bit its spine quickly, and was delighted to find that it had been a clean kill.

Lightningstar picked up the mouse and dropped it at Rosepaw and Bramblepaw's feet. Together, they scrapped earth over the prey so that they could come back to collect it later.

They walked through the forest for a while, talking and hunting what prey crossed their path.

"Lightningstar, is there any way to visit StarClan without going to the Moonstone?" Bramblepaw asked quietly. Lightningstar opened her mouth to ask why, but she stopped herself. Their mother had just died, it made sense that they would want to visit StarClan.

"Well, sometimes they choose to enter cat's dreams." Bramblepaw and Rosepaw seemed unsatisfied with her answer, so Lightningstar continued talking. "When I was an apprentice and a young warrior I would wish myself into StarClan sometimes...a lot, actually. "

"Wow! How did you figure out you could do that?" Rosepaw and Bramblepaw were now listening carefully to Lightningstar.

"I think any cat can do it, if their need to be in StarClan is strong enough." Her adventures through StarClan had put Lightningstar's life in danger, so she was hesitant to tell the apprentices how exactly how to wish themselves into StarClan.

"Why did you need to be in StarClan, Lightningstar?"

"My mother and brother had just died from red cough, and I wanted to see them." Images floated through Lightningstar's mind as she remembered what had happened after those deaths. Her claws slashing through Marigoldtail's golden pelt as they fought, the StarClan version of her mother screaming at her, her paw dissolving into stars as she watched.

She shook off those thoughts and turned her attention to the apprentices in front of her.

Rosepaw was just starting to say something when her eyes widened and she looked behind her fearfully. Lightningstar smelled fox scent, but she could tell that it was a few hours old.

Bramplepaw was now trying desperately to calm Rosepaw down. The black she-cat was looking around wildly, her ears flattened and her eyes wide.

Bramplepaw looked up at Lightningstar and whispered that they should take his sister back to camp. Lightningstar nodded and she padded up to Rosepaw's side to help support the trembling she-cat.

They made it back to camp safely, taking extra care to make sure Rosepaw didn't trip on anything as they walked. Bramblepaw led his sister to the medicine den, attracting very little attention given that he was pretty much dragging his sobbing sister through the center of camp. The other cats were used to Rosepaw acting like this by now.

Lightningstar gazed at the siblings sadly, wishing she could do something to ease their grief. She was still thinking about her failed plan to help them when Pebblelight walked up to her.

"What's wrong?" Lightningstar must have had a sad look on her face. She tried to look happier.

"Oh, nothing. I'm just worried about Rosepaw and Bramblepaw..." Pebblelight nodded.

"Yeah, they do seem to be having a hard time. They probably just need some more time to get over Blossomfern's death."

"Wanna go on a walk?" Lightningstar figured that if she couldn't use her free time to help the siblings, she could use it to spend time with her mate.

Pebblelight agreed and they headed out into the pine forest, in the opposite direction of Lightningstar's earlier walk.

They didn't talk much, just appreciated each other's company and their beautiful surroundings. Lightningstar let her paws lead her through the familiar paths of her territory.

They were just walking over the hill that leads to Highstones when Pebblelight nudged Lightningstar with his shoulder. He was pointing with his tail towards the Fox Cave, which had been named by the Clan after the fox attack.

The two cats walked cautiously up to the cave, checking to make sure that the foxes were not going to sneak up on him. When Lightningstar got a few tail lengths from the cave, her mouth dropped open.

The cave was now blocked with huge logs, and when Lightningstar glanced behind her she knew that the logs had been rolled down the hill. She sniffed the logs, trying to figure out what cats had done this.

A fox muzzle snapped at her nose, and Lightningstar jumped back. The foxes were all trapped in the cave! She didn't want to put her muzzle near the logs again, but as she walked along the hill she scented StoneClan and PondClan.

Lightningstar and Pebblelight walked happily back to camp, eager to tell the Clan the good news.