The Rogue Traitor #1 - Beginning of the Curse

Chapter Nine

The sky was slowly beginning to sink below the horizon when the three travelling cats reached the AutumnClan border, which was marked by a small stream about only two fox-lengths long. Birdpaw had been pestering Whiskerstar and Flowerstem for countless hours about what the Moonpool was, what is looked like, if would StarClan actually visit them, what it felt like to receive lives, would other Clans let them pass the border and a bunch of other questions. Whiskerstar was trying to block out his apprentice's constant chatter but it was difficult and in the end, he just gave up.

Whiskerstar drew ahead and stood on the river bank, lifting his head and sniffing the air. Flowerstem stood next to him and looked around the other side of the river, her tail tip twitching. Birdpaw walked up beside her mentor and looked up at him, puzzled.

"What are we waiting for?" she asked, taking another step forward, "Can't we just cross and get on with it?"

"This is AutumnClan territory," explained the grey tabby tom, not looking down at his apprentice as he still looked around, "we have to wait for a patrol so we have their permission to cross." He pricked his ears as a vole hopped out of a group of water weeds and into bushes in AutumnClan territory.

"Why do we need their permission?" asked Birdpaw, her eyes watching the bush where the vole had run into, "Can't we just cross and get on with the journey?"

"If we crossed without their permission, they would think we would be trespassing and stealing their prey. If that happened, it would end up resulting in war. War is something we don't want to go into, too many lives are lost when they should not be." He looked up at the blue sky and his eyes turned misty, as if he was reflecting on something that had happened in the past. The apprentice didn't push it any further and she sat down on the grass, grooming her paws and removed pieces of grit between her claws. Paw steps sounded from the other side of the river bank and all three cats looked up to see a patrol approaching them. Whiskerstar stood up and took a step to the river bank, dipping his head as the patrol stopped in front of the river. A very pale grey tom stepped forward and dipped his head as well, flicking his tail to tell the rest of his patrol to stop.

"Greetings Gorsetail," said Whiskerstar, "I hope you and your Clan are well." The pale grey tom, Gorsetail, whispered something to his patrol in a stern voice before he turned back around to face the grey tabby tom's patrol.

"Greetings Whiskerheart," replied the AutumnClan tom, his green eyes wary, "our Clan is well. What brings you to the bor-?"

"He is not Whiskerheart anymore," interrupted Birdpaw, standing up and walking over to her mentor, "he is Whiskerstar now." The leader swung his head around to his apprentice and narrowed his eyes at her.

"Don't interrupt," he whispered dangerously, "just stay quiet and let me handle this. I am not Whiskerstar yet because StarClan has not granted me my nine lives. The whole Clan just started to call me by a leader's name." The grey tabby tom looked back around at the AutumnClan patrol and spoke to Gorsetail.

"Sorry," he apologized, "my apprentice is a little over excited. I am travelling to the Moonpool to receive my nine lives as Maplestar has ... left our Clan. As his deputy, I will be taking over the leader responsibilities." The AutumnClan patrol stayed still for a couple of heartbeats before Gorsetail dipped his head again.

"I am sorry to hear that Maplestar has left your Clan but I trust you will be a great leader. I know that you need to cross our territory to get to the Moonpool and I will allow for you to travel across our land just this once with us escorting you. But remember you are not allowed to take anything from our territory, herbs or prey. If we find that you have..." The pale grey tom let his words trail off but it was clear that he was saying it as a threat.

"We will make sure not to take anything," promised Whiskerstar, "thank you for your permission." He swished his tail and Flowerstem and Birdpaw moved up to his side, the three cats carefully watching the AutumnClan patrol as they crossed the river. Birdpaw held in a gasp as the water lapped against her paws, it was freezing! She quickly leapt out of the water and shook her paws out, trying to dry them as quickly as possible. Whiskerstar and Flowerstem crossed calmly and the AutumnClan patrol surrounded them, their eyes looking straight ahead. The tortoiseshell and white apprentice walked behind her mentor and found herself next to a black AutumnClan apprentice.

"Hey," he said, turning to her. He was fully black with a small white star between his ears and dark blue eyes.

"Hi," she replied, smiling at him, "I am Birdpaw." She looked back ahead and saw Whiskerstar's ears twitch but she was not entirely sure if he approved her talking to the apprentice.

"I am Thunderpaw," he said, "and my mentor is Gorsetail. I have been an apprentice for half a moon and I already loving it."

"My mentor is Whiskerstar, though it was originally Maplestar before he left the Clan."

"What did he do?"

"He went missing in the forest and Whiskerstar sent me to look for him. I picked up his scent trail and followed it to a clearing but I couldn't see him there. I called out his name a few times but then rouges started to come out of the bushes and surrounded me. Maplestar then came out and snarled at me before he started to attack me. I could barely defend myself since it was my first day being an apprentice. Luckily, Whiskerstar was on a patrol nearby and he came and saved me. Maplestar is now roaming the forest and is a real threat to us." Birdpaw looked down at her paws, not sure if she should have told the apprentice so much. But as thought about what happened, she found that she just really wanted to know why Maplestar wanted to kill her! Thunderpaw didn't press it anymore and the patrol continued to move on in silence.