Post by Ki on Mar 20, 2010 15:42:24 GMT -6
This is a story written by me and the always talented Spike! It follows the adventures of Stonespots and Leafstorm's three kits, now apprentices: Stonepaw, Bigpaw, and Creampaw. As Stonepaw tries to unravel the mystery of his father's sudden murder, he finds himself cast into a world of uncertainty, doubt, and betrayal. Meanwhile the Clan is turning on itself. Clanmates argue with their own Clanmates about beliefs over StarClan, and tensions are high. Stonepaw soon realizes that he needs the help of his family to solve this mystery, but will their differences drive them apart?
.......yes, that is my attempt at a summary. Mwuahahahaha. Ha.
“Stonepaw…Stonepaw, wake up you lazy lump of fur!”
Ah, that charming voice could only belong to his sister Creampaw. He raised his head slowly and blinked sleepily at her. She was much smaller than him and was completely dwarfed by their brother Bigpaw. Creampaw had moved on to their other brother and was shaking him awake. Of course, Bigpaw wasn’t cooperating. Stonepaw just smirked, shook his head, and padded out of the apprentice den. The Greenleaf sun heated his steely gray and white pelt. After a brief argument between Creampaw and Bigpaw, his two siblings joined him in the camp. SkyClan was as active as ever. Cats ran this way and that, organizing huge hunting patrols. Their Clan had grown vast. Too vast, almost. And they were scrambling for every bit of prey. Leafbare had been hard on them. Now they were making the most out of every single piece of prey they came upon. The three siblings padded towards the fresh-kill pile, which was few in number. But it looked like the queens, Pinewhisker and Rainsong, as well as their only elder Grasswhisker had eaten. So the three dug in.
“Good morning, sleepy heads!” Gingerpaw mewed as she and her brother, Sleetpaw, strutted over. Sleetpaw blinked at them with friendly green eyes.
“Good morning.” the three replied in unison. ‘Friendship’ wasn’t the exact word they’d use to describe their relationship with the two other apprentices. But they liked each other, and could relate. Sleetpaw and Gingerpaw had been born just two moons before them. They also knew what it was like to grow up without a father. Their father, Smallfoot, had died just days after his warrior ceremony. No one had known that his mate Lilyfur was expecting his kits.
Sleetpaw and Gingerpaw started to eat as well. Their mentors, Hailwhisker and Ravenfeather, fetched them for battle practice. It wasn’t long after did Lilyfur and Sageheart padded over. Stormpelt lingered behind them a bit, his eyes still clouded with the dreariness of sleep.
Sageheart nudged Bigpaw heartily. “Ready for a border patrol?”
“You bet!” Creampaw answered for her brother, her eyes lighting up. “Can we go near the old barn? Where the rats used to live?”
Lilyfur chuckled briefly. “Not today, Creampaw. Maybe tomorrow.”
“Awww!”
Stormpelt looked them over and yawned widely. His white teeth flashed in the new morning sun. “You’ve gotten taller, Stonepaw. You’re almost your father’s height now.”
A strange sort of tension filled the air. It always happened when he was mentioned. The mysterious tom that was their father. The one that Stonepaw mimicked in almost every way. The one that had been dead in the camp one day, his throat slashed open and bloody. No blame had ever been placed. No culprit had ever been caught.
“Well,” Lilyfur’s said, “we better be moving.”
Sageheart nodded gratefully. The apprentice just looked to the ground and followed their mentors out of camp.
“Bigpaw, what do you smell?” Sageheart looked towards the large gray and white apprentice.
Bigpaw lifted his nose to the air and scented the air briefly. “I smell…a dog and a Twoleg. That scent is old, though. And a loner passed through here…yesterday, maybe?” He shrugged his shoulders. Sageheart nodded once, apparently pleased for the moment. “That loner better not have hunted here.” His fur bristled in hostility at the long-gone cat. Bigpaw didn’t trust cats outside of his Clan. In fact, he didn’t trust some of the cats in his own Clan. A few of them in particular unnerved him to be around, or simply made him very angry to be near.
Lilyfur chuckled. “Easy now, Bigpaw. We’ll give them the benefit of the doubt.”
The patrol padded on. Stonepaw kept in step with Lilyfur. He knew that she and Leafstorm were good friends. They had been every since they’d been in the nursery with their kits. When their kits had been born, they’d been facing a similar dilemma. He’d never heard how Lilyfur’s mate had died though. Had he been murdered, like Stonespots and Bigclaw and the rest? “Lilyfur?”
“Yes?” Lilyfur blinked at him affectionately. The bond between mentor and apprentice was strong with them. Lilyfur often acted like a much older sister to the three of them, or even a second mother. “What is it?”
“How did Smallfoot die?” Stonepaw knew that this was a bad question the moment the words left his mouth. He clamped his jaw shut, but it was too late. His mentor’s eyes clouded with pain, and Sageheart took in a small gasp of surprise. They’d been apprentices around the same time, Stonepaw knew. It probably would have been better to ask about Smallfoot later. When Lilyfur and her kits weren’t around. Well, might as well continue. No taking the worlds back now. “Was he murdered?”
Lilyfur shook her head slowly. “He…he was sick all of his life. Illness took him eventually.”
“What was my father like?” Stonepaw swiftly changed the subject. Stonespots was who he really wanted to know about.
Sageheart frowned and nudged Stonepaw briefly. “This isn’t the time or place, Stonepaw. Ok?”
“I just want to know, that’s all.” Stonepaw mewed dejectedly. It wasn’t as if they’d ever had the chance to know him. Stonespots was killed before anyone even knew Leafstorm was having kits! Stonepaw suddenly realized with a jolt that his mother might not have even told his father. Had she? He tried to avoid questions about their father when Leafstorm was around. He’d learned back when he was a kit that he wouldn’t get any answers and would succeed only in making his mother upset.
Bigpaw let out a low growl. “The past is in the past. We can’t bring him back. We can’t do anything. So stop with the questions already!”
Creampaw flicked her tail so that its tip smacked Bigpaw in the nose. “What he’s trying to say is, Stonepaw…we’ll just have to wait till we’re in StarClan to see him.”
That didn’t sound very good to him. He didn’t want to wait until he was dead to know about his father! Stonepaw wasn’t sure he believed in StarClan at all. If there were these powerful cats living in the stars above them, shouldn’t they have had the power to save his father? Or the other cats that had been mysteriously killed? “Whatever.”
For a moment, each of the mentors looked at their apprentices with concern glinting in their eyes. Even Stormpelt. When the three younger cats continued to not speak, their mentors turned and began to lead them on.
Chapter Two
--------
Exhaustion was lapping at his paws. The burly tom collapsed happily in his nest and tried to close his eyes for sleep. “Don’t go to sleep yet,” a cheerful giggle erupted. “Sleetpaw and Gingerpaw invited us to eat with them.”
“Creampaw,” Bigpaw groaned. “I’m tired. In fact, I think sleeping is better than prey.”
“I’ve never heard you say that, Bigpaw,” Stonepaw’s emotionless voice muttered. After some prodding in his stomach, Bigpaw’s eyes flew open. It was strange looking at his siblings now. After today, they all felt a bit distant from each other. Leafstorm had, of course, met with them and tried to groom the kits. Stonepaw and Bigpaw made a mess of it while Creampaw had enjoyed the attention.
In the end, it was another day of being apprentices. The only one not part of the group was Riverpaw. But she was always a bit stuck-up. She liked bragging how she was Adderstar’s daughter. She felt a bit kicked away though when Emberkit and Tallkit were born.
“Do I have to get up?” the tom whined.
“Just get up,” Stonepaw snarled. His brother had become awfully tense as well. Was their father that big of a deal to him? Feeling his own temper rising, Bigpaw was up and holding his head above Stonepaw’s.
“Quit being so snappy,” he ordered. “We’re getting tired of it. You stupid-!”
“Hey, hey, hey!” a black and white tom exclaimed while hurtling in. “I thought you were going to join us. Bigpaw, settle down, settle down.” The large tom instantly stepped back and lowered his head like some sort of obedient creature. Sleetpaw patted his friend’s head with praise before facing the group that had gathered. Sleetpaw was handsome in his own way, a replica of his deceased father, Smallfoot. His brilliant green eyes seemed to glare around in disapproval.
“What’s going on?” the ginger she-cat inquired. She was a replica of Lilyfur, not Smallfoot. She seemed anxious to hear the problems only that never seemed quite ready to happen. Stonepaw was suddenly up and stomping out of the den.
“What’s sort of thorn is stuck in his paw?” Sleetpaw laughed. Creampaw shook her head and sighed heavily at the knowledge of her brother’s attitude.
“It’s our father again,” she grumbled. “Stonepaw is getting involved in that again.”
“Oh,” Gingerpaw and Sleetpaw said together. Both were quiet, the air awkwardly hanging there. Then Bigpaw cleared his throat.
“Leave him be,” he said. “He just needs to get things off his mind.” All nodded and returned to the camp.
The tom had managed to get out of camp with the excuse that he forgot prey. Lilyfur didn’t ask- she probably didn’t need to- and he had set out for a walk along the riverside. The flowing river crashed along the banks and it tickled the blades of grass that leaned over the edge daringly. In the distance, the warehouse loomed like an empty tree, dead of life and light. Stonepaw had always considered looking on the inside of the place, one that Adderstar told stories about his fight with rogues in that place. The river went on and on until it cut close to the warehouse and the young apprentice considered taking the chance today.
Lilyfur had tried to calm him earlier, when they returned. She allowed the willing Gingerpaw to take the elder’s den from him. Though the elder’s den only consisted of the blind, StarClan-loving Grasswhisker and the out-spoken yet aged Redbird, it was still a chore mo apprentice wanted. She had taken him aside in hopes of soothing his curiosity, stopping him from asking those rough questions. She was stern which was odd for Lilyfur. It was as if Leafstorm had taken a home in her body momentarily. But that never ended well either.
Now he was finally away from it all. Bigpaw, Gingerpaw, Sleetpaw, Creampaw, and Riverpaw were the enemies he had to share a den with. He despised all of them in some way or another. Lifting his head, the tom had to give a whimper of lost strength. “Father,” he whispered. “If… If you do exist, help me out here. Quit making me wait!”
Apparently, whatever force heard him was malicious because the next thing that happened was no coincidence. Stonepaw strode closer to the river, thirst driving him there, before feeling his forepaws slipping from under him. Head-first he went into the river and the chill rushed over him. When gasping for air, only water entered. His lungs filled with the liquid until he could no longer breathe. Then a sharp pair of fangs caught his neck and out of the water he flew.
Had it all happened that fast? The numbing cold raided his bones and Stonepaw sat in a shivering mass while trying to lick his fur clean. “You dumb, dumb tom!” a sharp voice scolded. “Walking near the river this time of year? The waters are high this time of year!”
“Shut up!” Stonepaw hollered. Then his eyes finally opened to see the pretty she-cat that was yelling at him. “Riverpaw! I-I-.”
“You low life, shut up!” she spat. “That’s no way to talk to the leader’s daughter! I ought to have my father give you a moon’s worth of cleaning the elder’s den for that!”
“Would you please, please be quiet?” he asked calmly. “My head is hurting from that little river ride.”
“As it should be,” she muttered. “You’re awfully lucky my mentor Cinderclaw sent me out here to find you. He thought you weren’t coming back. He seems sorta glad.I can see why now. Dumb toms like you ruin our Clan.”
No wonder the Clan was beginning to get angry with Adderstar. She was the reason to it all probably. Standing shakily, he was shocked when she filled in the spot next to him, shoulder to shoulder. “Come on,” she grumbled. “It’s about time you got back. “ Stonepaw nodded dully and realized that for once the world wasn’t so bad. His questionings were set aside as Riverpaw helped him back to camp.
“Good night, Stonepaw.” Lilyfur touched her muzzle to the top of her apprentice’s head. His questions about Smallfoot had brought up many bad memories, but she still had great affection for her young apprentice. Stonepaw nudged her shoulder briefly and padded towards the apprentices’ den. His mentor looked after him worriedly, startled by his cold demeanor. But her two kits swiftly took his place, nuzzling their mother warmly before padding off together towards the apprentices’ den. Creampaw watched Sleetpaw and Gingerpaw disappear inside after her brother.
Why couldn’t things be like that with her family all the time? Her family had their ups and downs. Sometimes they were all the best of friends. That was usually when Stonepaw asked the least amount of questions and she didn’t pester her brothers too much. On their bad days, like today, they barely talked to each other. She sighed and looked up towards the starry night sky. Creampaw wondered which star was her father, Stonespots. Even if her mother and brothers did not fully believe in StarClan, Creampaw believed with her whole being. The stories of the starry-pelted cats had always touched her heart. “Good night, Father.”
One star in particular twinkled brightly, as if in answer. Was that him?
“Creampaw! Hurry up! It’s practically moonhigh!” Bigpaw shouted. He was poking his head out of then, scowling at her.
And your yelling is just going to wake everyone who is already asleep up. Creampaw thought angrily. She bit back her harsh words, however, and slipped into the den. Stonepaw had his back turned to all the other apprentices as he lay curled up in his nest. Sleetpaw and Gingerpaw were curled up in their nests, whispering to each other like best friends do. Riverpaw was glaring at them, her eyes glowing ominously in the moonlight. If they didn’t quiet down soon they were sure to be snapped at by Riverpaw. Eaglepaw and Littlepaw were both sound asleep, exhausted from the day’s training. Bigpaw was turning a few circles in his nest. Creampaw tried not to notice that he was scowling.
“Good night everyone.” Creampaw said as she stepped into her nest.
“Good night Creampaw.” Sleetpaw and Gingerpaw answered in unison.
“Shut up!” Riverpaw grumbled.
“Whatever.” Bigpaw growled.
Creampaw sighed and curled up tightly in her nest. She was happy to finally be able to sleep. At least she could get some rest and forget about the problems in her family and in her Clan. Another argument had broken out just before the sun set below the horizon. This one had been between Ravenfeather, Lilyfur, and Spottedsky against Firecloud. From what Creampaw could gather it started off as Lilyfur telling her friends about Stonepaw’s questions about Smallfoot. Firecloud had made a remark about how StarClan didn‘t exist…and the three she-cats, who had all loved Smallfoot in their own way and believed in StarClan, started to argue with her. Eventually Mothpelt and Brooksky were forced to break up the argument. Since then the three she-cats refused to so much as glance in Firecloud’s general direction.
With a sigh, Creampaw drifted off into sleep.
Creampaw was standing in the Cliff Forest. Sunlight dappled the forest floor and a gentle breeze rustled through the brush. But everything was strangely silent. No soft scuffling noises as mice hurried through the leaves or any bird songs. The quiet unnerved her, and she looked around quickly. Why couldn’t she scent anything either? Where were her brothers? Her Clanmates?
“Oh relax, would you?”
The voice startled her. She looked up towards a large, old tree with thick low branches. A gray and white tom was laying on one of the branches, one of his back legs and his tail hanging off it carelessly. His icy blue eyes stared down at her and glittered mischievously. Specks of light clung to his pelt, almost as if the stars themselves were clinging to his sleek pelt. Her first thought was that it was her brother Stonepaw. It looked just like him. But this tom looked like a senior warrior. Still, she backed away and said, “Stonepaw?”
“Oooh, so close!” the tom replied. He grinned. “Come now, Creampaw. Work with me here.” He rose to his feet and walked the length of the branch. Well, strutted would be a better word. “Who do I look like?”
“Stonepaw.” Creampaw said timidly.
“And who was he named after?” The cat looked down at her again, meeting her eyes.
“My father.” Creampaw replied automatically.
He grinned triumphantly. For a moment the two stared at each other. Creampaw looking dumbfounded, while he seemed to be waiting. Finally Creampaw’s eyes grew wide and her jaws parted in disbelief. The tom chuckled, “So you figured it out?”
“You’re Stonespots!” Creampaw cried. She was talking to a StarClan cat! Her eyes fell on his sleek, starry pelt. Yes, it had to be him! Excitement coursed through her. This was her father! The tom she’d never known, but always longed to meet! A grin split across her face. A grin not unlike his own. The grin faded, however, and she drooped her head. “But…why are you talking to me? I’m no medicine cat.”
Stonespots leapt from his perch in the tree and landed lightly on his feet. He padded towards his daughter and greeted her with a warm nuzzle. Instead of answering her question, he said, “You look so much like your mother! You got nothing from me! Well, my energy maybe. You act a lot like I did, back when I was your age.”
Creampaw smiled a little. “Really?” She’d never thought of herself like her father. She’d always considered herself wholly like her mother.
“Of course! I was in a litter a lot like yours. It was me and Bigclaw and Darktail.” Stonespots chuckled lightly at some unspoken memory. “Speaking of them, they told me to send you their love.” He flicked his tail briefly at the air and looked around the forest that surrounded them. “I used to love this place, when I was alive. I used to bring your mother here sometimes. It was our little hide away.” For a moment the tom bore striking resemblence to his own son. He smiled dreamily, as Stonepaw often did when he came to a realization or was just content with what was going on.
His daughter cleared her throat. “I thought StarClan cats were supposed to be…um…”
“Wise? Serious?” Stonespots prompted. “No, I’m not like them. I prefer to have fun, thank you very much!” His gaze turned towards the sky for a moment. Then he looked sharply back at his daughter. “In response to your question, you’re the only one I can talk to.”
“But Adderstar-”
“-discusses all of his dreams with Sandcloud.” Stonespots interrupted her. He began to circle his daughter. Inspecting her, almost. He said nothing more about the medicine cat, as if it should settle the matter right there. “Listen, Creampaw. You’re our only hope. You and your brothers.”
Her eyes widened. “What do you mean-”
“Just listen. The cat that murdered me and many others is still within the Clan. And he plans to strike again.” Stonespots voice was fatally serious. His blue eyes seemed to blaze with fury when he mentioned his murderer. “I’m not one for prophecies, Creampaw. So I’ll be straight: you and your brothers need to stick together. Don’t let anything tear you three apart. You all have your gifts. For you, it is your courage and ability to speak to me.”
Creampaw couldn’t help it. She beamed with pride. It was the first compliment she’d ever heard her father speak! Not that they’d had a chance to speak much in the first place.
“Stonepaw has his wit. And Bigpaw has his strength. Together you three are an unstoppable force.” Stonespots continued. “Keep your friends close to you, and don’t let Stonepaw ask too many questions when certain cats are around.”
“-certain cats? Who do you mean?” Creampaw asked, her eyes widening. Her father had said the killer was still in the Clan. That meant one of her Clanmates was a murderer. “Father, please warn Adderstar! We…we can’t do this!”
“You can!” Stonespots insisted. “And I told you…I can’t tell Adderstar. He will tell…the wrong cats. Lets leave it at that.” The tom finally stopped pacing around her. He sat down in front of his daughter. “If I told Adderstar, you, your brothers, and your mother could very well be in danger. I’m not going to risk that.” Suddenly his ears swiveled round, as if he could hear someone calling to him. He cursed quietly under his breath. “My time runs short…” Her father leaned forward and nuzzled her. “StarClan is with you three, remember that.”
Creampaw felt sadness claw at her heart. Already she felt some sort of bond between her and her father. “But, Father…”
He leaned forward and nuzzled her warmly, a happy purr rising in his throat. Stonespots had always longed to make contact with his children and their mother. But it wasn’t that simple. It never was in StarClan. “I will protect you.” With that he vanished, seeming the fade away into the very air it self. Without him there everything suddenly seemed huge, silent, and sad.
Creampaw was the last one awake. Her family was all gathered away from the fresh-kill pile. Leafstorm was talking to her brothers while they dug into their pieces of fresh-kill. Remembering her dream, she scurried over to the fresh-kill pile to get her piece. Then she bounded back over to her family, tail twitching in excitement.
“Look who finally woke up!” Rosepetal, her grandmother, teased.
Stonepaw grinned at his sister. “Bigpaw woke up before you! Now that’s just sad!”
His sister set her piece of fresh-kill down at her paws, her eyes sparkling brightly. “I had a dream last night!” Creampaw glanced around warily. All the families were clustered together. It was as if they were trying to stick to their kin instead of the Clan as a whole. With all the tension in the Clan no one could blame them. She saw Sleetpaw and Gingerpaw sitting with their mother, aunts, and great-aunt Spottedsky. Pinewhisker was with her two brothers Falconclaw and Volestripe. Frostwing and Sandcloud were the exception to the rule. The two were sitting near the medicine cat den and talking. But no one seemed to be listening in.
“What was it then?” Bigpaw asked gruffly.
“I was in the Cliff Forest.” Some of the details were a little fuzzy, but she could still remember the majority of the dream. “But I could hear or smell anything. Then suddenly there was this tom there.”
“Probably Sleetpaw!” Stonepaw teased.
She felt her ears burn as her family chuckled at the jest. “No,” she said, “it wasn’t him. At first I thought he was Stonepaw. But he looked older and he had stars in his pelt.”
Bigpaw narrowed his eyes at her. “Stars? You’ve been listening to too many of Sandcloud’s stories!”
“It was Stonespots!” Creampaw tried to ignore her brother. But this seemed to make things worse. He hissed at the mention at their father’s name, angry now. Leafstorm’s eyes grew wide. Rosepetal leaned over to reassure her. Stonepaw, meanwhile, just seemed to stare right through his sister. “He said his killer-”
“Shush!” Rosepetal snapped. “Don’t you see your upsetting your poor mother?!”
Creampaw knew that her father’s murder was extremely dangerous territory. It was bad enough to mention him at all. But to talk about how he was killed? How his throat was cut? And to remind her that the killer was never brought to justice? It was cruel. But she had to deliver this message, no matter how much it hurt! Stonespots had said so himself! “He said that Stonepaw and Bigpaw and I need to stick together. And that we’ll be able to catch his killer-”
Leafstorm let out a yowl of dismay, her eyes stinging with tears. Every time someone mentioned the killer it filled her with fear and pain. She’d been the first to see her mate like that; his blue eyes had been glassy and unfocused. His steel gray pelt splattered with blood…it still sent a shudder down her spine. And to think the murderer was still out there! “Please…Creampaw…”
“But-”
“Just shut up, you foxhearted mouse-brain!” Bigpaw yowled. The entire Clan was looking now.
Leafstorm was visibly upset and Rosepetal looked embarrassed for her kin. Stonepaw moved towards his mother and brushed his pelt against hers, trying to comfort her in some way. Creampaw’s ears and tail went up in defiance. Her eyes narrowed at the much larger tom. Slowly her tail began to flick from side to side in agitation.
“There is NO such thing as StarClan. So why bother telling some stupid story that only upsets her!” Bigpaw jerked his head gruffly to Leafstorm. “Leave the past in the past! Where it belongs!” With that he turned and stormed off. He caught Gingerpaw glancing at him warily as he passed. In response he hissed. She hissed right back and promptly went back to her piece of fresh-kill.
Creampaw turned to Stonepaw now. Now she understood what the other cats meant when they said he looked like his father. Her brother was almost an exact copy of her father. “You…you believe me, don’t you?” she mewed weakly.
Her brother was too busy tending to her mother that he didn’t seem to hear her.
For a moment, that bird seemed to wait for the claws that were going to sink into it. Bigpaw knew nothing else beyond strength and so it was a feeling of pride when that poor finch went limp under his paws. “Great job,” Sageheart exclaimed while darting to his side to praise him with a bump of the shoulder. Even though Bigpaw was only eight moons of age, he seemed to almost be equal in size to his mentor. She was the same height and less in weight. Oh yes, he was the largest of the apprentices. His long-haired pelt was whipped around by the winds that had begun to pick up the last few days.
Maybe it wasn’t the wind he felt though. Everything was tense and extremely uneasy with the problems between his family and Creampaw. This wind might have been relief, freedom from the troubles of Clan life. “I know,” he snickered arrogantly. “Bet I can hunt as good as…. Uh….”
“Don’t bother finishing that,” Sageheart sighed. She knew how much Bigpaw was when it came to words. The tom just rolled his eyes and bumped his mentor’s shoulder as playfully as she had to him. His fangs latched onto the finch which filled his mouth with the taste of feathers.
“Sageheart, Bigpaw! Sageheart! Sageheart!” From the bushes Swiftpelt emerged. The tom was coated in sweat and a few cuts but it was mostly his eyes, filled with fear, which showed that something was wrong. Bigpaw just tilted his head as Sageheart went to his side.
“Swiftpelt, what’s going on?” she inquired with haste to her words. She brushed his blood streaked muzzle against her own while trying to stop his rushed breathing. Bigpaw dropped into a sitting position and leaned back, finch landing on his paws. His tongue brushed over his paws, claws coming clean of red. He was kinda out of it, not really interested in this problem. Whatever was Swiftpelt’s problem was Swiftpelt’s problem, even if he was his mentor’s crush.
“What?!” Sageheart exclaimed. “Bigpaw, leave the prey. There’s a fight at camp! Hurry, run!” She and Swiftpelt turned and disappeared into the brush while left a highly confused tom in the forest.
“Fight?’ he scoffed “Please. Let them deal with it.” The large cat laid down and decided to dig his teeth into the finch he was told to abandon. The prey tasted nice after a long hunt. Well, it hadn’t been that long. But he wasn’t in the mood to deal with fighting.
He couldn’t have been waiting long before another cat tumbled from the bushes. This one was smaller, about the same as Bigpaw. Stonepaw, of course! The larger of the two just rolled his eyes when Stonepaw approached.
“What are you doing?” he snapped. “There’s a fight going on right now! Cats could use your strength, you know.”
“I’m eatin’ right now,” Bigpaw sighed. “Please, just let me eat. You know me, Stonepaw. Fighting isn’t worth it.”
“It’s worth your tail, ain’t it?” Stonepaw questioned. “Now get moving before I take that tail off!” Bigpaw grumbled and moved slightly, his actions very sluggish and unwilling. When Stonepaw’s claws appeared, it was reinforced that he really would take off his brother’s tail. Bigpaw snorted and stood, his weight easily compressing the ground into a pawprint. Then he glared at Stonepaw, no words needed to translate its message, before taking off for camp.
Stonepaw only sighed and sat down to give himself a moment of rest. Yes, there was a fight in camp. Apparently Grasswhisker had gone on and on about StarClan to Mistfur and the two were okay at first. Until Lightstream overheard. She wasn’t very happy about it and tried to keep calm while explaining to the practically deranged elder into not talking so heartily on the subject. Mistfur tried to intervene but it was better off to let the fight go out. Okay, not so much. Lightstream and Grasswhisker- odd for the blind, usually calm tom- were suddenly clawing at each other and a mix of cats tried to help. They got the two separated but it was then that sides took place. Some sided with Grasswhisker. Try to uphold the belief in StarClan before it completely died. Some sided with Lightstream and believed StarClan beliefs should be optional, allowed to die with the elder’s tales. Well, that didn’t end up well.
The tom was exhausted from his run around the territory to gather the warriors for help. He was so exhausted these past few days. Ever since Leafstorm’s break-down, he had been busy trying to set things right. Bigpaw was growing distant, a sort of hatred boiling in him; Creampaw was still trying to tell the story of Stonespots talking to her; Rosepetal was all caught up in trying to cure her daughter’s pain. That left Stonepaw alone. He stared at the sky, the sun flaring white with heat. “So, what, I’m supposed to believe some cats are wandering those skies?” he spat. “Stonespots! You are dead! I should know better than to believe my sister’s crazy talk of you.”
“You sound as if you are doubting it,” a glacial sneer chuckled. Stonepaw leapt up and saw the familiar white tom appear. His pale blue eyes were as chilling as the river in Leaf-Bare.
“Frostwing,” he sighed. “What are you doing here? Came to gather poppy seeds or something? Is the fight done with?”
“More or less,” the medicine cat apprentice yawned. He was probably old enough to have his own apprentice but the former-warrior seemed content on following his mentor, Sandcloud. He strolled out from where he huddled in the darkness and wandered around a circle. Stonepaw was in the middle of that circle.
“How is the Clan?” Stonepaw questioned.
“Pained. Adderstar most of all. But in heart, may I say,” Frostwing admitted. “The Clan is at war with itself. These cuts are not to the flesh and so Sandcloud cannot cure them.”
“I know what you mean,” the warrior apprentice cautiously stated. “But why are you here? Is the physical damage bad?”
“Sandcloud can handle what there is,” Frostwing snapped. “Look, I overheard Lilyfur talking and I just wanted you to know that there is deep water you are getting into, Stonepaw.”
“Why would you care?” he snarled.
“Because death is a thing I know well,” the white tom moaned. “Oh, death is a terrible thing. I wish there was something I could’ve done for all those cats that have died in the past. Back when those murders started. I was so sad when Stonespots was found dead.” Stonepaw stiffened and his eyes went cloudy to remember that name.
“Stonespots?” he whispered.
“Yes, it was terrible. A moon later, Bigclaw. His brother.” Frostwing clicked his tongue and shook his head, ashamed by the outcome of the cats. “I cannot go on a day without thinking of all those cats dead. You know, Stonepaw, I fear that this murderer is still out there among our Clan. He or she has not changed. It is not easy to change an angry heart.”
“Why would you know that?” Stonepaw accused irrationally.
“Because I am a medicine cat,” he replied calmly. “I have seen the insane alongside the sick, youngster. I had to watch many die and from that I have seen them go mad. Your mother among them.”
“Do not speak of my mother that way!” Stonepaw cried.
“But you cannot deny it either,” the medicine cat apprentice pointed out. “I don’t wish to be dishonest, Stonepaw. I only tell you this because I don’t want your poor pelt buried beneath this dirt.” His white paw scraped across the ground, a tiny gravel of ground following his paw pad.
“Why so sudden with all of this information?” he quietly asked.
“I’ve heard talk of another plan for a kill,” Frostwing whispered. ‘That is why I have personally come out here to warn you. The Clan whispers under their breath. I’ve even heard some from apprentices. Not sure which but voices cannot be denied. Stonepaw, you’re making out to be a fine warrior. The Clan would hate to see death among the apprentices. Do not trust those around you, Stonepaw. I fear for all the cats today. Nobody is safe. StarClan does not exist. I can predict as much as they say they can. It’s an obvious sight. I warn you, Stonepaw.”
“Frostwing, Stonepaw!” a voice rang. It sounded like Sageheart. “Frostwing! Stonepaw!”
“Stonepaw?” was his mother’s voice calling.
“I depart for now, youngster,” Frostwing murmured. “Do not trust those among you, apprentice. Another kill is of the talk. I hope it is not you or your siblings that are destined for death.” Stonepaw opened his mouth but Frostwing turned and took off for some part deeper into the forest.
“Oh, there you are, Stonepaw,” Leafstorm cried as she emerged from the bushes. She practically tackled him to groom her kit. But she stopped when she found the half-eaten finch. “Look what you’ve done! The Clan needs you and you’ve only gone and eaten prey. Leaf-Bare will be rolling around soon and we can’t risk this loss of prey. You’ll have to repay that.”
“But-.”
“No buts,” Sageheart ordered as she appeared alongside Leafstorm. “I thought you knew better, Stonepaw. A quarter moon’s worth of the cleaning. Nursery, elder’s den, and medicine cat den if needed by Sandcloud. Understand?”
There was no point fighting it, was there? Stonepaw sighed and gazed at the sun that dared to shine through. “Yes, Sageheart,” he growled unwillingly. “As you say.” But on his mind was only one thing and that was Frostwing’s warning.
Frostwing’s warning was still ringing in Stonepaw’s ears. He looked around. The tension in the air hung like a thick fog over the entire camp. Friends and kin clumped together once more. Some were licking wounds obtained in the fight. None had been too serious. But that didn’t matter. Stonepaw tried to pick out a single cat that he wouldn’t trust with his life. His eyes fell on Kestrelwing, Leopardfoot, Rockclaw, Paleface…all the warriors he’d grown up with. He looked over and Sleetpaw and Gingerpaw and their kin. They seemed to be joking with each other, despite the thin scratches each of them had obtained in the fight. Occasionally Lilyfur would lean over and lick her kits’ mild wounds worriedly. Littlepaw and Eaglepaw were sitting side-by-side, eating fresh-kill together. Riverpaw was sitting with Adderstar. She appeared to be trying to talk to him, but he seemed distracted. Even Riverpaw he trusted!
“What’s on your mind?” Rosepetal was suddenly beside him. She smiled at him kindly. Her anger at him for upsetting his mother had long since faded. They were still kin, after all. In these uncertain times it seemed as if kin was all one could count on. Her grandson gave her a confused look, which made her laugh. “I know you well, Stonepaw. I can tell when you’re thinking about something.” The elder she-cat nudged his shoulder. “You can tell me.”
Stonepaw looked around swiftly. He flicked his tail to tell her that they should move away. The two of them padded to a distant corner of the camp and sat down side-by-side. “I’ve been hearing…rumors. That the killer is going to strike again.” He glanced at his grandmother warily. Some part of him expected her to stiffen and chastise him for thinking such things. But she just listen in silence.
Steely blue eyes flicked towards the sky. He continued, “I want to know about the murders Rosepetal. There is something missing. Something we’ve overlooked.”
For a few moments they sat in silence. Stonepaw became afraid that she’d refuse to tell him about the murders. Instead, she said, “Alright. What do you want to know?”
“Names. Names and how they were killed.” Stonepaw’s answers was swift.
“Alright…just let me think. My memory isn’t what it used to be.” Rosepetal’s brow furrowed as she fought to remember how the murders began. Who had died first? “I think it was Stonespots first. He’d sat night guard by himself. I think someone had bitten into the back of his neck.” No one had been more shocked than she and her daughter. Rosepetal could clearly remember the tom teasing Leafstorm and cuddling with her before the sun had set. Stonespots had also been there by the time Rosepetal had gone to the Clan. He and his brother had seemed like a permanent entity. And how upset his brother was! “Then was your uncle Bigclaw a moon later. It was the same thing. I guess it was the only way anyone could get to him…he was so jumpy and paranoid after your father died.”
For a moment his mind wandered to the story that Creampaw kept trying to tell him. How their father had visited her in her dreams. Could it possibly…? No! Of course it wasn’t true! While he couldn’t think of why his sister would lie about something as serious as that, he still refused to be believe it. “And the others?”
“Flameclaw. Sandcloud said something about a deathberry being forced down his throat.” Rosepetal winced at that one. What terror must he had felt when he was being murdered? Stonespots and Bigclaw both met swift ends. Flameclaw… “And then there was Mossfrost. No one was sure how she died, but there were a lot of herbs around her body.” It was tough recounting these deaths of her Clanmates. All it did for her was bring back memories of fear and anguish. But she would do anything to get her grandson to stop is infernal questioning. Perhaps this would appease his curiosity and stop this nonsense! “And you were alive when Smudgeclaw died. Do you remember it?”
“Barely.” Stonepaw asked quietly. His eyes were on Sleetpaw and Gingerpaw again. Smudgeclaw was their cousin. All he could remember was Spottedsky and Mothpelt yowling mournfully. Sleetpaw and Gingerpaw, Sleetkit and Gingerkit at the time, had been kept close to their mother. Stonekit had stuck his head outside the nursery to listen. Someone had, apparently, dragged his body back into camp. But he didn’t know how he’d died. “Do you remember how he was killed?”
Rosepetal thought for a moment. “Adder bite.”
“Rosepetal! We need you for the hunting patrol!” Ravenfeather yelled. She was standing with Hawkfoot and Sleetpaw. Rosepetal answered with a curt nod. After bidding her grandson farewell she padded off to join them. For a moment it seemed like Ravenfeather might invite Stonepaw to come along. But then she seemed to remember Sageheart’s punishment for him and turned away.
Before Sageheart left for the morning border patrol, she told Stonepaw that the nursery was in need of his help. With a sigh he trudged towards the cool cave. Rainsong was nursing her young kits, Emberkit and Tallkit. Pinewhisker was laying in her nest, her belly round and swollen with new life.
“Sageheart said you needed me.” Stonepaw said dejectedly. This was so unfair!
Pinewhisker nodded. Stonepaw spent up until sunhigh cleaning out the nursery. It wouldn’t have taken so long if they hadn’t insisted he be as silent as a mouse. They feared he would wake Emberkit and Tallkit. It just made the work all the more slow-going. But he did get a chance to think about what his grandmother had told him. The queens didn’t speak much to him, but rather cooed over the two kits and imagined what the new litter would be like.
My father and uncle were killed by bites from behind. Stonepaw thought as he dragged the old moss from the nests. That’s a quick kill. Less fuss with no fighting involved. Stonepaw knew he was getting to be around his father’s height. His father had been an average-sized cat, but hadn’t been the best when it came to raw strength. From what Stonepaw could discern, his father relied on his wit. So why would someone not be able to face him head-on? Bigclaw was understandable, however. Flameclaw and Mossfrost both seemed to be poisoned…and Smudgeclaw was killed by an adder bite. All forms of killing avoided violence and direct confrontation. The killer isn’t very strong. Or they aren’t fond of fighting. Stormpelt suddenly came to mind. Stonepaw quickly shook that thought away. Stormpelt was just lazy. Not a cold-blooded killer! But there isn’t any connection. Other than the fact Stonespots and Bigclaw were brothers… Could that have had something to do with it? If so, what?
A low growl arose from within his throat. Whoever this killer was, he would pay for taking his father and uncle away from him. When the killer’s fangs had sunk into his father’s neck, the killer eradicated all possibilities of Stonepaw and his littermates ever having a father in their lives.
“Whether you’re there or not, Stonespots, you will be avenged. All of you will.” Stonepaw said quietly as he dropped the old moss outside the nursery.
“Hey Creampaw!”
“ACK!” The cream-colored apprentice darted across the hollow, sand flying up behind her. She looked back at the apprentice that had just come into the Sandy Hollow. The black and white tom tilted his head in confusion. Slowly Sleetpaw padded towards her.
“Did I frighten you?” he asked. “I didn’t mean to startle you.” Sleetpaw blinked at her with sharp green eyes and smiled sweetly. Why did the sight of that smile and those eyes always make her heart beat a little faster?
Creampaw felt her ears burn in embarrassment. Stormpelt was looking at her with glazed eyes. But she thought she saw a flicker of concern in his eyes. She had been uncharacteristically jumpy all morning. Ravenfeather slid into the hollow. She began to talk to Stormpelt, explaining how they’d let Hawkfoot take back all the prey they’d caught. When he’d questioned about how they’d gotten done so early, she merely said that they could barely find a single mouse. The she-cat apprentice tried to shove their troubling conversation aside for the moment. Creampaw said, “Uh, yeah. A little. I’ve been so paranoid all day.”
Her friend plopped down in front of her. “Paranoid? Why?”
She glanced around warily. “You promise you won’t tell anyone?”
A grin broke out across Sleetpaw’s face. “Cross my heart and hope to die.” He flicked his tail eagerly. “Well, come on! Out with it!”
Creampaw couldn’t help but smile a little bit. Something about Sleetpaw always made her want to smile. Maybe it was the way he was always so cheery. Or maybe it was because of that cute little smile or that nice sparkle in his eyes. “Well…I heard that the killer might strike again.”
“The killer?” For a moment it seemed as if Sleetpaw didn’t know what she was talking about. Then his expression darkened. Dark green eyes narrowed at the sandy ground under their paws. “Oh. Right.”
“Do you miss Smudgeclaw?” Creampaw asked quietly.
The tom shrugged his shoulders. Suddenly he was very quiet.
“Sleetpaw! Creampaw! You’re having battle training together! Come here!” Ravenfeather called. Both apprentices swiftly rose to their paws. On that note, the conversation between the two ended.
Later that day the sunhigh patrols had been sent out. Bigpaw had been forced to stay behind and watch after the camp, along with a few warriors and one other apprentice. It wouldn’t have been so bad if that one other apprentice hadn’t been Riverpaw. She kept watching him with her piercing eyes as he paced up and down. It wouldn’t have been as bad if Stonepaw had been there to suffer with him. But he’d been temporarily freed from his punishment to help scour the territory for prey.
Finally, Riverpaw said, “You seem tense.”
“Cause I am.” Bigpaw growled his response.
Riverpaw rolled her eyes. “Family issues?”
His ears pricked towards her. The bulky gray and white tom looked at her suspiciously. “How’d you know?”
“I have my share. I can sympathize.” Riverpaw replied simply. It was a known fact that she felt a little put-out by her father Adderstar. Ever since her younger siblings had been born, she had been shoved aside like a piece of fresh-kill gone bad. Now Emberkit and Tallkit were the center of his attention. Everyone could see how Riverpaw resented them for it, too.
Bigpaw blinked at her in confusion. “Sympa…” His tongue couldn’t form the long word, and he furrowed his brow in frustration. “Sympat…”
The she-cat rolled her eyes. “Don’t hurt yourself, dear. It means I can relate.” She rolled on to her side to soak up some of the sun. Soon leafbare would roll in, and with it the dreaded snows. She was going to take advantage of what warmth was left. “Care to share?”
Bigpaw hesitated. But he was going crazy with this pent-up anger. If he wasn’t careful he would end up clawing at someone in his family. And no matter how cold he acted towards them, Bigpaw truly loved his kin. “Well…Creampaw has this stupid story.”
“Stupid story?” Riverpaw asked.
“She says that our father visited her in a dream last night. From…you know.” Bigpaw jerked his head towards the sky. The ‘S word’ wasn’t being used by him anymore. To him they were just stories for kits and mouse-brained cats. “According to her he said that the three of us can catch the killer, and he’s planning to get someone else or something…”
Riverpaw’s eyes widened. “Really?”
Bigpaw nodded. “Yeah. And she said it right in front of Mother, which just got her tail all in a twist. And she won’t shut up about it! And Stonepaw keeps asking stupid pointless questions about things that happened moons before we were born...” The words were coming out quickly now. Each one laden with his anger and frustration at his family. Each word was scorched with his own pain. Deep down he hated all of this. The questions, the arguments…couldn’t they just live peacefully in the present?! Was that really too much to ask?!
Riverpaw sat through the his rant. Finally, when the apprentice finished, he heaved a great sigh and grunted something about wanting some fresh-kill. He walked off to the alarmingly small pile. Without a second thought about the lack of prey, Bigpaw grabbed a squirrel and padded off to eat alone.
The sun was setting when the apprentices slipped into their den. Sleetpaw and Creampaw entered side-by-side, laughing and teasing each other. Both of them were sore from the day’s battle training. It had been a far more intense than both of them were used to. Creampaw wondered if it had anything to do with the recent fight that broke out among the Clan. Her eyes fell on three thin scratches on Sleetpaw’s shoulder. They weren’t anything major, but they were a constant reminder of his beliefs and how adamantly he would defend them.
“I’m exhausted.” Stonepaw grunted. He curled up in his nest with a low purr. It was good to be able to rest a bit. The queens and elders had him running back and forth all day. Then some of the warriors had him running across the territory and back in search of prey. With the combined efforts of the patrols they managed to scrounge up a decent amount of prey. But it still wasn’t enough to feed the whole Clan. Some cats were going to sleep tonight with empty bellies.
“I think we all are. They ran us up and down the territory today.” Gingerpaw replied as she stretched.
Creampaw nodded in agreement and stepped into her nest. Suddenly an irritated hiss split through the den. All the apprentice’s fell silent. Creampaw’s eyes grew wide as she peered into her nest. Next to her paw was an adder. It was staring at her lightly colored paw intently. It was coiled up, ready to strike. The apprentice didn’t dare move. If she retracted her paw it would strike. And if she attacked it, it would strike.
“Don’t move!” Bigpaw hissed, stating the obvious.
Suddenly there was a flash of calico fur. They saw the snake thrash wildly as Gingerpaw bit it behind its head. Its mouth was wide, fangs exposed and trying to turn and snap at its attacker. But it was to no avail. The adder became limp and lifeless. The apprentices in shock. Creampaw was trembling. She fell back on to her bottom. Her eyes were still as round as the full moon. Finally, she stammered, “Th-Thank you.”
Gingerpaw nodded and dragged the adder out towards the fresh-kill pile. Fresh-kill was still fresh-kill. When she returned, she found Stonepaw and Bigpaw fussing over their sister. Sleetpaw looked concerned, but he didn’t seem to want to intrude. Littlepaw and Eaglepaw were discussing telling a warrior about the incident. Would they all one day wake up with adders in their nests? Finally, the hype died down. Each apprentice curled up in their nests (Each of them made a point to check theirs before setting a paw in them.) and began to go to sleep.
One certain gray apprentice could not sleep, however. Stonepaw’s eyes were on his sister. It wasn’t a coincidence that the adder had appeared in her nest. Never had he heard of adders coming into the camp and making their homes in the nests of cats. It had to have been planted. But who would want to hurt Creampaw? She was a bundle of energy, but always relatively civil to everyone she met. Had someone heard about her dream? Was the killer trying to silence her? Eventually, though, the day’s work took its toll on him. Stonepaw slipped into a reluctant, dreamless sleep.
“SWEET STARCLAN!”
A horrified yowl ripped through the morning. All the apprentices’ eyes shot open. They raised their heads and blinked sleepily at each other. What was happening? More yowling ensued. Voices of warriors mingled. Someone yelled for Sandcloud and Frostwing. As Littlepaw rose from his nest to go peak out to see what had happened, Dawnfeather raced to the entrance of their den. The young warrior’s eyes were wide and brimming with terrified tears.
“What’s going on?” Littlepaw demanded.
“There’s been another murder!” Dawnfeather cried.
.......yes, that is my attempt at a summary. Mwuahahahaha. Ha.
Chapter One
“Stonepaw…Stonepaw, wake up you lazy lump of fur!”
Ah, that charming voice could only belong to his sister Creampaw. He raised his head slowly and blinked sleepily at her. She was much smaller than him and was completely dwarfed by their brother Bigpaw. Creampaw had moved on to their other brother and was shaking him awake. Of course, Bigpaw wasn’t cooperating. Stonepaw just smirked, shook his head, and padded out of the apprentice den. The Greenleaf sun heated his steely gray and white pelt. After a brief argument between Creampaw and Bigpaw, his two siblings joined him in the camp. SkyClan was as active as ever. Cats ran this way and that, organizing huge hunting patrols. Their Clan had grown vast. Too vast, almost. And they were scrambling for every bit of prey. Leafbare had been hard on them. Now they were making the most out of every single piece of prey they came upon. The three siblings padded towards the fresh-kill pile, which was few in number. But it looked like the queens, Pinewhisker and Rainsong, as well as their only elder Grasswhisker had eaten. So the three dug in.
“Good morning, sleepy heads!” Gingerpaw mewed as she and her brother, Sleetpaw, strutted over. Sleetpaw blinked at them with friendly green eyes.
“Good morning.” the three replied in unison. ‘Friendship’ wasn’t the exact word they’d use to describe their relationship with the two other apprentices. But they liked each other, and could relate. Sleetpaw and Gingerpaw had been born just two moons before them. They also knew what it was like to grow up without a father. Their father, Smallfoot, had died just days after his warrior ceremony. No one had known that his mate Lilyfur was expecting his kits.
Sleetpaw and Gingerpaw started to eat as well. Their mentors, Hailwhisker and Ravenfeather, fetched them for battle practice. It wasn’t long after did Lilyfur and Sageheart padded over. Stormpelt lingered behind them a bit, his eyes still clouded with the dreariness of sleep.
Sageheart nudged Bigpaw heartily. “Ready for a border patrol?”
“You bet!” Creampaw answered for her brother, her eyes lighting up. “Can we go near the old barn? Where the rats used to live?”
Lilyfur chuckled briefly. “Not today, Creampaw. Maybe tomorrow.”
“Awww!”
Stormpelt looked them over and yawned widely. His white teeth flashed in the new morning sun. “You’ve gotten taller, Stonepaw. You’re almost your father’s height now.”
A strange sort of tension filled the air. It always happened when he was mentioned. The mysterious tom that was their father. The one that Stonepaw mimicked in almost every way. The one that had been dead in the camp one day, his throat slashed open and bloody. No blame had ever been placed. No culprit had ever been caught.
“Well,” Lilyfur’s said, “we better be moving.”
Sageheart nodded gratefully. The apprentice just looked to the ground and followed their mentors out of camp.
xxxx
“Bigpaw, what do you smell?” Sageheart looked towards the large gray and white apprentice.
Bigpaw lifted his nose to the air and scented the air briefly. “I smell…a dog and a Twoleg. That scent is old, though. And a loner passed through here…yesterday, maybe?” He shrugged his shoulders. Sageheart nodded once, apparently pleased for the moment. “That loner better not have hunted here.” His fur bristled in hostility at the long-gone cat. Bigpaw didn’t trust cats outside of his Clan. In fact, he didn’t trust some of the cats in his own Clan. A few of them in particular unnerved him to be around, or simply made him very angry to be near.
Lilyfur chuckled. “Easy now, Bigpaw. We’ll give them the benefit of the doubt.”
The patrol padded on. Stonepaw kept in step with Lilyfur. He knew that she and Leafstorm were good friends. They had been every since they’d been in the nursery with their kits. When their kits had been born, they’d been facing a similar dilemma. He’d never heard how Lilyfur’s mate had died though. Had he been murdered, like Stonespots and Bigclaw and the rest? “Lilyfur?”
“Yes?” Lilyfur blinked at him affectionately. The bond between mentor and apprentice was strong with them. Lilyfur often acted like a much older sister to the three of them, or even a second mother. “What is it?”
“How did Smallfoot die?” Stonepaw knew that this was a bad question the moment the words left his mouth. He clamped his jaw shut, but it was too late. His mentor’s eyes clouded with pain, and Sageheart took in a small gasp of surprise. They’d been apprentices around the same time, Stonepaw knew. It probably would have been better to ask about Smallfoot later. When Lilyfur and her kits weren’t around. Well, might as well continue. No taking the worlds back now. “Was he murdered?”
Lilyfur shook her head slowly. “He…he was sick all of his life. Illness took him eventually.”
“What was my father like?” Stonepaw swiftly changed the subject. Stonespots was who he really wanted to know about.
Sageheart frowned and nudged Stonepaw briefly. “This isn’t the time or place, Stonepaw. Ok?”
“I just want to know, that’s all.” Stonepaw mewed dejectedly. It wasn’t as if they’d ever had the chance to know him. Stonespots was killed before anyone even knew Leafstorm was having kits! Stonepaw suddenly realized with a jolt that his mother might not have even told his father. Had she? He tried to avoid questions about their father when Leafstorm was around. He’d learned back when he was a kit that he wouldn’t get any answers and would succeed only in making his mother upset.
Bigpaw let out a low growl. “The past is in the past. We can’t bring him back. We can’t do anything. So stop with the questions already!”
Creampaw flicked her tail so that its tip smacked Bigpaw in the nose. “What he’s trying to say is, Stonepaw…we’ll just have to wait till we’re in StarClan to see him.”
That didn’t sound very good to him. He didn’t want to wait until he was dead to know about his father! Stonepaw wasn’t sure he believed in StarClan at all. If there were these powerful cats living in the stars above them, shouldn’t they have had the power to save his father? Or the other cats that had been mysteriously killed? “Whatever.”
For a moment, each of the mentors looked at their apprentices with concern glinting in their eyes. Even Stormpelt. When the three younger cats continued to not speak, their mentors turned and began to lead them on.
Chapter Two
--------
Exhaustion was lapping at his paws. The burly tom collapsed happily in his nest and tried to close his eyes for sleep. “Don’t go to sleep yet,” a cheerful giggle erupted. “Sleetpaw and Gingerpaw invited us to eat with them.”
“Creampaw,” Bigpaw groaned. “I’m tired. In fact, I think sleeping is better than prey.”
“I’ve never heard you say that, Bigpaw,” Stonepaw’s emotionless voice muttered. After some prodding in his stomach, Bigpaw’s eyes flew open. It was strange looking at his siblings now. After today, they all felt a bit distant from each other. Leafstorm had, of course, met with them and tried to groom the kits. Stonepaw and Bigpaw made a mess of it while Creampaw had enjoyed the attention.
In the end, it was another day of being apprentices. The only one not part of the group was Riverpaw. But she was always a bit stuck-up. She liked bragging how she was Adderstar’s daughter. She felt a bit kicked away though when Emberkit and Tallkit were born.
“Do I have to get up?” the tom whined.
“Just get up,” Stonepaw snarled. His brother had become awfully tense as well. Was their father that big of a deal to him? Feeling his own temper rising, Bigpaw was up and holding his head above Stonepaw’s.
“Quit being so snappy,” he ordered. “We’re getting tired of it. You stupid-!”
“Hey, hey, hey!” a black and white tom exclaimed while hurtling in. “I thought you were going to join us. Bigpaw, settle down, settle down.” The large tom instantly stepped back and lowered his head like some sort of obedient creature. Sleetpaw patted his friend’s head with praise before facing the group that had gathered. Sleetpaw was handsome in his own way, a replica of his deceased father, Smallfoot. His brilliant green eyes seemed to glare around in disapproval.
“What’s going on?” the ginger she-cat inquired. She was a replica of Lilyfur, not Smallfoot. She seemed anxious to hear the problems only that never seemed quite ready to happen. Stonepaw was suddenly up and stomping out of the den.
“What’s sort of thorn is stuck in his paw?” Sleetpaw laughed. Creampaw shook her head and sighed heavily at the knowledge of her brother’s attitude.
“It’s our father again,” she grumbled. “Stonepaw is getting involved in that again.”
“Oh,” Gingerpaw and Sleetpaw said together. Both were quiet, the air awkwardly hanging there. Then Bigpaw cleared his throat.
“Leave him be,” he said. “He just needs to get things off his mind.” All nodded and returned to the camp.
--
The tom had managed to get out of camp with the excuse that he forgot prey. Lilyfur didn’t ask- she probably didn’t need to- and he had set out for a walk along the riverside. The flowing river crashed along the banks and it tickled the blades of grass that leaned over the edge daringly. In the distance, the warehouse loomed like an empty tree, dead of life and light. Stonepaw had always considered looking on the inside of the place, one that Adderstar told stories about his fight with rogues in that place. The river went on and on until it cut close to the warehouse and the young apprentice considered taking the chance today.
Lilyfur had tried to calm him earlier, when they returned. She allowed the willing Gingerpaw to take the elder’s den from him. Though the elder’s den only consisted of the blind, StarClan-loving Grasswhisker and the out-spoken yet aged Redbird, it was still a chore mo apprentice wanted. She had taken him aside in hopes of soothing his curiosity, stopping him from asking those rough questions. She was stern which was odd for Lilyfur. It was as if Leafstorm had taken a home in her body momentarily. But that never ended well either.
Now he was finally away from it all. Bigpaw, Gingerpaw, Sleetpaw, Creampaw, and Riverpaw were the enemies he had to share a den with. He despised all of them in some way or another. Lifting his head, the tom had to give a whimper of lost strength. “Father,” he whispered. “If… If you do exist, help me out here. Quit making me wait!”
Apparently, whatever force heard him was malicious because the next thing that happened was no coincidence. Stonepaw strode closer to the river, thirst driving him there, before feeling his forepaws slipping from under him. Head-first he went into the river and the chill rushed over him. When gasping for air, only water entered. His lungs filled with the liquid until he could no longer breathe. Then a sharp pair of fangs caught his neck and out of the water he flew.
Had it all happened that fast? The numbing cold raided his bones and Stonepaw sat in a shivering mass while trying to lick his fur clean. “You dumb, dumb tom!” a sharp voice scolded. “Walking near the river this time of year? The waters are high this time of year!”
“Shut up!” Stonepaw hollered. Then his eyes finally opened to see the pretty she-cat that was yelling at him. “Riverpaw! I-I-.”
“You low life, shut up!” she spat. “That’s no way to talk to the leader’s daughter! I ought to have my father give you a moon’s worth of cleaning the elder’s den for that!”
“Would you please, please be quiet?” he asked calmly. “My head is hurting from that little river ride.”
“As it should be,” she muttered. “You’re awfully lucky my mentor Cinderclaw sent me out here to find you. He thought you weren’t coming back. He seems sorta glad.I can see why now. Dumb toms like you ruin our Clan.”
No wonder the Clan was beginning to get angry with Adderstar. She was the reason to it all probably. Standing shakily, he was shocked when she filled in the spot next to him, shoulder to shoulder. “Come on,” she grumbled. “It’s about time you got back. “ Stonepaw nodded dully and realized that for once the world wasn’t so bad. His questionings were set aside as Riverpaw helped him back to camp.
Chapter Three
xxxx
xxxx
“Good night, Stonepaw.” Lilyfur touched her muzzle to the top of her apprentice’s head. His questions about Smallfoot had brought up many bad memories, but she still had great affection for her young apprentice. Stonepaw nudged her shoulder briefly and padded towards the apprentices’ den. His mentor looked after him worriedly, startled by his cold demeanor. But her two kits swiftly took his place, nuzzling their mother warmly before padding off together towards the apprentices’ den. Creampaw watched Sleetpaw and Gingerpaw disappear inside after her brother.
Why couldn’t things be like that with her family all the time? Her family had their ups and downs. Sometimes they were all the best of friends. That was usually when Stonepaw asked the least amount of questions and she didn’t pester her brothers too much. On their bad days, like today, they barely talked to each other. She sighed and looked up towards the starry night sky. Creampaw wondered which star was her father, Stonespots. Even if her mother and brothers did not fully believe in StarClan, Creampaw believed with her whole being. The stories of the starry-pelted cats had always touched her heart. “Good night, Father.”
One star in particular twinkled brightly, as if in answer. Was that him?
“Creampaw! Hurry up! It’s practically moonhigh!” Bigpaw shouted. He was poking his head out of then, scowling at her.
And your yelling is just going to wake everyone who is already asleep up. Creampaw thought angrily. She bit back her harsh words, however, and slipped into the den. Stonepaw had his back turned to all the other apprentices as he lay curled up in his nest. Sleetpaw and Gingerpaw were curled up in their nests, whispering to each other like best friends do. Riverpaw was glaring at them, her eyes glowing ominously in the moonlight. If they didn’t quiet down soon they were sure to be snapped at by Riverpaw. Eaglepaw and Littlepaw were both sound asleep, exhausted from the day’s training. Bigpaw was turning a few circles in his nest. Creampaw tried not to notice that he was scowling.
“Good night everyone.” Creampaw said as she stepped into her nest.
“Good night Creampaw.” Sleetpaw and Gingerpaw answered in unison.
“Shut up!” Riverpaw grumbled.
“Whatever.” Bigpaw growled.
Creampaw sighed and curled up tightly in her nest. She was happy to finally be able to sleep. At least she could get some rest and forget about the problems in her family and in her Clan. Another argument had broken out just before the sun set below the horizon. This one had been between Ravenfeather, Lilyfur, and Spottedsky against Firecloud. From what Creampaw could gather it started off as Lilyfur telling her friends about Stonepaw’s questions about Smallfoot. Firecloud had made a remark about how StarClan didn‘t exist…and the three she-cats, who had all loved Smallfoot in their own way and believed in StarClan, started to argue with her. Eventually Mothpelt and Brooksky were forced to break up the argument. Since then the three she-cats refused to so much as glance in Firecloud’s general direction.
With a sigh, Creampaw drifted off into sleep.
xxxx
Creampaw was standing in the Cliff Forest. Sunlight dappled the forest floor and a gentle breeze rustled through the brush. But everything was strangely silent. No soft scuffling noises as mice hurried through the leaves or any bird songs. The quiet unnerved her, and she looked around quickly. Why couldn’t she scent anything either? Where were her brothers? Her Clanmates?
“Oh relax, would you?”
The voice startled her. She looked up towards a large, old tree with thick low branches. A gray and white tom was laying on one of the branches, one of his back legs and his tail hanging off it carelessly. His icy blue eyes stared down at her and glittered mischievously. Specks of light clung to his pelt, almost as if the stars themselves were clinging to his sleek pelt. Her first thought was that it was her brother Stonepaw. It looked just like him. But this tom looked like a senior warrior. Still, she backed away and said, “Stonepaw?”
“Oooh, so close!” the tom replied. He grinned. “Come now, Creampaw. Work with me here.” He rose to his feet and walked the length of the branch. Well, strutted would be a better word. “Who do I look like?”
“Stonepaw.” Creampaw said timidly.
“And who was he named after?” The cat looked down at her again, meeting her eyes.
“My father.” Creampaw replied automatically.
He grinned triumphantly. For a moment the two stared at each other. Creampaw looking dumbfounded, while he seemed to be waiting. Finally Creampaw’s eyes grew wide and her jaws parted in disbelief. The tom chuckled, “So you figured it out?”
“You’re Stonespots!” Creampaw cried. She was talking to a StarClan cat! Her eyes fell on his sleek, starry pelt. Yes, it had to be him! Excitement coursed through her. This was her father! The tom she’d never known, but always longed to meet! A grin split across her face. A grin not unlike his own. The grin faded, however, and she drooped her head. “But…why are you talking to me? I’m no medicine cat.”
Stonespots leapt from his perch in the tree and landed lightly on his feet. He padded towards his daughter and greeted her with a warm nuzzle. Instead of answering her question, he said, “You look so much like your mother! You got nothing from me! Well, my energy maybe. You act a lot like I did, back when I was your age.”
Creampaw smiled a little. “Really?” She’d never thought of herself like her father. She’d always considered herself wholly like her mother.
“Of course! I was in a litter a lot like yours. It was me and Bigclaw and Darktail.” Stonespots chuckled lightly at some unspoken memory. “Speaking of them, they told me to send you their love.” He flicked his tail briefly at the air and looked around the forest that surrounded them. “I used to love this place, when I was alive. I used to bring your mother here sometimes. It was our little hide away.” For a moment the tom bore striking resemblence to his own son. He smiled dreamily, as Stonepaw often did when he came to a realization or was just content with what was going on.
His daughter cleared her throat. “I thought StarClan cats were supposed to be…um…”
“Wise? Serious?” Stonespots prompted. “No, I’m not like them. I prefer to have fun, thank you very much!” His gaze turned towards the sky for a moment. Then he looked sharply back at his daughter. “In response to your question, you’re the only one I can talk to.”
“But Adderstar-”
“-discusses all of his dreams with Sandcloud.” Stonespots interrupted her. He began to circle his daughter. Inspecting her, almost. He said nothing more about the medicine cat, as if it should settle the matter right there. “Listen, Creampaw. You’re our only hope. You and your brothers.”
Her eyes widened. “What do you mean-”
“Just listen. The cat that murdered me and many others is still within the Clan. And he plans to strike again.” Stonespots voice was fatally serious. His blue eyes seemed to blaze with fury when he mentioned his murderer. “I’m not one for prophecies, Creampaw. So I’ll be straight: you and your brothers need to stick together. Don’t let anything tear you three apart. You all have your gifts. For you, it is your courage and ability to speak to me.”
Creampaw couldn’t help it. She beamed with pride. It was the first compliment she’d ever heard her father speak! Not that they’d had a chance to speak much in the first place.
“Stonepaw has his wit. And Bigpaw has his strength. Together you three are an unstoppable force.” Stonespots continued. “Keep your friends close to you, and don’t let Stonepaw ask too many questions when certain cats are around.”
“-certain cats? Who do you mean?” Creampaw asked, her eyes widening. Her father had said the killer was still in the Clan. That meant one of her Clanmates was a murderer. “Father, please warn Adderstar! We…we can’t do this!”
“You can!” Stonespots insisted. “And I told you…I can’t tell Adderstar. He will tell…the wrong cats. Lets leave it at that.” The tom finally stopped pacing around her. He sat down in front of his daughter. “If I told Adderstar, you, your brothers, and your mother could very well be in danger. I’m not going to risk that.” Suddenly his ears swiveled round, as if he could hear someone calling to him. He cursed quietly under his breath. “My time runs short…” Her father leaned forward and nuzzled her. “StarClan is with you three, remember that.”
Creampaw felt sadness claw at her heart. Already she felt some sort of bond between her and her father. “But, Father…”
He leaned forward and nuzzled her warmly, a happy purr rising in his throat. Stonespots had always longed to make contact with his children and their mother. But it wasn’t that simple. It never was in StarClan. “I will protect you.” With that he vanished, seeming the fade away into the very air it self. Without him there everything suddenly seemed huge, silent, and sad.
xxxx
Creampaw was the last one awake. Her family was all gathered away from the fresh-kill pile. Leafstorm was talking to her brothers while they dug into their pieces of fresh-kill. Remembering her dream, she scurried over to the fresh-kill pile to get her piece. Then she bounded back over to her family, tail twitching in excitement.
“Look who finally woke up!” Rosepetal, her grandmother, teased.
Stonepaw grinned at his sister. “Bigpaw woke up before you! Now that’s just sad!”
His sister set her piece of fresh-kill down at her paws, her eyes sparkling brightly. “I had a dream last night!” Creampaw glanced around warily. All the families were clustered together. It was as if they were trying to stick to their kin instead of the Clan as a whole. With all the tension in the Clan no one could blame them. She saw Sleetpaw and Gingerpaw sitting with their mother, aunts, and great-aunt Spottedsky. Pinewhisker was with her two brothers Falconclaw and Volestripe. Frostwing and Sandcloud were the exception to the rule. The two were sitting near the medicine cat den and talking. But no one seemed to be listening in.
“What was it then?” Bigpaw asked gruffly.
“I was in the Cliff Forest.” Some of the details were a little fuzzy, but she could still remember the majority of the dream. “But I could hear or smell anything. Then suddenly there was this tom there.”
“Probably Sleetpaw!” Stonepaw teased.
She felt her ears burn as her family chuckled at the jest. “No,” she said, “it wasn’t him. At first I thought he was Stonepaw. But he looked older and he had stars in his pelt.”
Bigpaw narrowed his eyes at her. “Stars? You’ve been listening to too many of Sandcloud’s stories!”
“It was Stonespots!” Creampaw tried to ignore her brother. But this seemed to make things worse. He hissed at the mention at their father’s name, angry now. Leafstorm’s eyes grew wide. Rosepetal leaned over to reassure her. Stonepaw, meanwhile, just seemed to stare right through his sister. “He said his killer-”
“Shush!” Rosepetal snapped. “Don’t you see your upsetting your poor mother?!”
Creampaw knew that her father’s murder was extremely dangerous territory. It was bad enough to mention him at all. But to talk about how he was killed? How his throat was cut? And to remind her that the killer was never brought to justice? It was cruel. But she had to deliver this message, no matter how much it hurt! Stonespots had said so himself! “He said that Stonepaw and Bigpaw and I need to stick together. And that we’ll be able to catch his killer-”
Leafstorm let out a yowl of dismay, her eyes stinging with tears. Every time someone mentioned the killer it filled her with fear and pain. She’d been the first to see her mate like that; his blue eyes had been glassy and unfocused. His steel gray pelt splattered with blood…it still sent a shudder down her spine. And to think the murderer was still out there! “Please…Creampaw…”
“But-”
“Just shut up, you foxhearted mouse-brain!” Bigpaw yowled. The entire Clan was looking now.
Leafstorm was visibly upset and Rosepetal looked embarrassed for her kin. Stonepaw moved towards his mother and brushed his pelt against hers, trying to comfort her in some way. Creampaw’s ears and tail went up in defiance. Her eyes narrowed at the much larger tom. Slowly her tail began to flick from side to side in agitation.
“There is NO such thing as StarClan. So why bother telling some stupid story that only upsets her!” Bigpaw jerked his head gruffly to Leafstorm. “Leave the past in the past! Where it belongs!” With that he turned and stormed off. He caught Gingerpaw glancing at him warily as he passed. In response he hissed. She hissed right back and promptly went back to her piece of fresh-kill.
Creampaw turned to Stonepaw now. Now she understood what the other cats meant when they said he looked like his father. Her brother was almost an exact copy of her father. “You…you believe me, don’t you?” she mewed weakly.
Her brother was too busy tending to her mother that he didn’t seem to hear her.
Chapter Four
----
----
For a moment, that bird seemed to wait for the claws that were going to sink into it. Bigpaw knew nothing else beyond strength and so it was a feeling of pride when that poor finch went limp under his paws. “Great job,” Sageheart exclaimed while darting to his side to praise him with a bump of the shoulder. Even though Bigpaw was only eight moons of age, he seemed to almost be equal in size to his mentor. She was the same height and less in weight. Oh yes, he was the largest of the apprentices. His long-haired pelt was whipped around by the winds that had begun to pick up the last few days.
Maybe it wasn’t the wind he felt though. Everything was tense and extremely uneasy with the problems between his family and Creampaw. This wind might have been relief, freedom from the troubles of Clan life. “I know,” he snickered arrogantly. “Bet I can hunt as good as…. Uh….”
“Don’t bother finishing that,” Sageheart sighed. She knew how much Bigpaw was when it came to words. The tom just rolled his eyes and bumped his mentor’s shoulder as playfully as she had to him. His fangs latched onto the finch which filled his mouth with the taste of feathers.
“Sageheart, Bigpaw! Sageheart! Sageheart!” From the bushes Swiftpelt emerged. The tom was coated in sweat and a few cuts but it was mostly his eyes, filled with fear, which showed that something was wrong. Bigpaw just tilted his head as Sageheart went to his side.
“Swiftpelt, what’s going on?” she inquired with haste to her words. She brushed his blood streaked muzzle against her own while trying to stop his rushed breathing. Bigpaw dropped into a sitting position and leaned back, finch landing on his paws. His tongue brushed over his paws, claws coming clean of red. He was kinda out of it, not really interested in this problem. Whatever was Swiftpelt’s problem was Swiftpelt’s problem, even if he was his mentor’s crush.
“What?!” Sageheart exclaimed. “Bigpaw, leave the prey. There’s a fight at camp! Hurry, run!” She and Swiftpelt turned and disappeared into the brush while left a highly confused tom in the forest.
“Fight?’ he scoffed “Please. Let them deal with it.” The large cat laid down and decided to dig his teeth into the finch he was told to abandon. The prey tasted nice after a long hunt. Well, it hadn’t been that long. But he wasn’t in the mood to deal with fighting.
He couldn’t have been waiting long before another cat tumbled from the bushes. This one was smaller, about the same as Bigpaw. Stonepaw, of course! The larger of the two just rolled his eyes when Stonepaw approached.
“What are you doing?” he snapped. “There’s a fight going on right now! Cats could use your strength, you know.”
“I’m eatin’ right now,” Bigpaw sighed. “Please, just let me eat. You know me, Stonepaw. Fighting isn’t worth it.”
“It’s worth your tail, ain’t it?” Stonepaw questioned. “Now get moving before I take that tail off!” Bigpaw grumbled and moved slightly, his actions very sluggish and unwilling. When Stonepaw’s claws appeared, it was reinforced that he really would take off his brother’s tail. Bigpaw snorted and stood, his weight easily compressing the ground into a pawprint. Then he glared at Stonepaw, no words needed to translate its message, before taking off for camp.
Stonepaw only sighed and sat down to give himself a moment of rest. Yes, there was a fight in camp. Apparently Grasswhisker had gone on and on about StarClan to Mistfur and the two were okay at first. Until Lightstream overheard. She wasn’t very happy about it and tried to keep calm while explaining to the practically deranged elder into not talking so heartily on the subject. Mistfur tried to intervene but it was better off to let the fight go out. Okay, not so much. Lightstream and Grasswhisker- odd for the blind, usually calm tom- were suddenly clawing at each other and a mix of cats tried to help. They got the two separated but it was then that sides took place. Some sided with Grasswhisker. Try to uphold the belief in StarClan before it completely died. Some sided with Lightstream and believed StarClan beliefs should be optional, allowed to die with the elder’s tales. Well, that didn’t end up well.
The tom was exhausted from his run around the territory to gather the warriors for help. He was so exhausted these past few days. Ever since Leafstorm’s break-down, he had been busy trying to set things right. Bigpaw was growing distant, a sort of hatred boiling in him; Creampaw was still trying to tell the story of Stonespots talking to her; Rosepetal was all caught up in trying to cure her daughter’s pain. That left Stonepaw alone. He stared at the sky, the sun flaring white with heat. “So, what, I’m supposed to believe some cats are wandering those skies?” he spat. “Stonespots! You are dead! I should know better than to believe my sister’s crazy talk of you.”
“You sound as if you are doubting it,” a glacial sneer chuckled. Stonepaw leapt up and saw the familiar white tom appear. His pale blue eyes were as chilling as the river in Leaf-Bare.
“Frostwing,” he sighed. “What are you doing here? Came to gather poppy seeds or something? Is the fight done with?”
“More or less,” the medicine cat apprentice yawned. He was probably old enough to have his own apprentice but the former-warrior seemed content on following his mentor, Sandcloud. He strolled out from where he huddled in the darkness and wandered around a circle. Stonepaw was in the middle of that circle.
“How is the Clan?” Stonepaw questioned.
“Pained. Adderstar most of all. But in heart, may I say,” Frostwing admitted. “The Clan is at war with itself. These cuts are not to the flesh and so Sandcloud cannot cure them.”
“I know what you mean,” the warrior apprentice cautiously stated. “But why are you here? Is the physical damage bad?”
“Sandcloud can handle what there is,” Frostwing snapped. “Look, I overheard Lilyfur talking and I just wanted you to know that there is deep water you are getting into, Stonepaw.”
“Why would you care?” he snarled.
“Because death is a thing I know well,” the white tom moaned. “Oh, death is a terrible thing. I wish there was something I could’ve done for all those cats that have died in the past. Back when those murders started. I was so sad when Stonespots was found dead.” Stonepaw stiffened and his eyes went cloudy to remember that name.
“Stonespots?” he whispered.
“Yes, it was terrible. A moon later, Bigclaw. His brother.” Frostwing clicked his tongue and shook his head, ashamed by the outcome of the cats. “I cannot go on a day without thinking of all those cats dead. You know, Stonepaw, I fear that this murderer is still out there among our Clan. He or she has not changed. It is not easy to change an angry heart.”
“Why would you know that?” Stonepaw accused irrationally.
“Because I am a medicine cat,” he replied calmly. “I have seen the insane alongside the sick, youngster. I had to watch many die and from that I have seen them go mad. Your mother among them.”
“Do not speak of my mother that way!” Stonepaw cried.
“But you cannot deny it either,” the medicine cat apprentice pointed out. “I don’t wish to be dishonest, Stonepaw. I only tell you this because I don’t want your poor pelt buried beneath this dirt.” His white paw scraped across the ground, a tiny gravel of ground following his paw pad.
“Why so sudden with all of this information?” he quietly asked.
“I’ve heard talk of another plan for a kill,” Frostwing whispered. ‘That is why I have personally come out here to warn you. The Clan whispers under their breath. I’ve even heard some from apprentices. Not sure which but voices cannot be denied. Stonepaw, you’re making out to be a fine warrior. The Clan would hate to see death among the apprentices. Do not trust those around you, Stonepaw. I fear for all the cats today. Nobody is safe. StarClan does not exist. I can predict as much as they say they can. It’s an obvious sight. I warn you, Stonepaw.”
“Frostwing, Stonepaw!” a voice rang. It sounded like Sageheart. “Frostwing! Stonepaw!”
“Stonepaw?” was his mother’s voice calling.
“I depart for now, youngster,” Frostwing murmured. “Do not trust those among you, apprentice. Another kill is of the talk. I hope it is not you or your siblings that are destined for death.” Stonepaw opened his mouth but Frostwing turned and took off for some part deeper into the forest.
“Oh, there you are, Stonepaw,” Leafstorm cried as she emerged from the bushes. She practically tackled him to groom her kit. But she stopped when she found the half-eaten finch. “Look what you’ve done! The Clan needs you and you’ve only gone and eaten prey. Leaf-Bare will be rolling around soon and we can’t risk this loss of prey. You’ll have to repay that.”
“But-.”
“No buts,” Sageheart ordered as she appeared alongside Leafstorm. “I thought you knew better, Stonepaw. A quarter moon’s worth of the cleaning. Nursery, elder’s den, and medicine cat den if needed by Sandcloud. Understand?”
There was no point fighting it, was there? Stonepaw sighed and gazed at the sun that dared to shine through. “Yes, Sageheart,” he growled unwillingly. “As you say.” But on his mind was only one thing and that was Frostwing’s warning.
Chapter Five
xxxx
xxxx
Frostwing’s warning was still ringing in Stonepaw’s ears. He looked around. The tension in the air hung like a thick fog over the entire camp. Friends and kin clumped together once more. Some were licking wounds obtained in the fight. None had been too serious. But that didn’t matter. Stonepaw tried to pick out a single cat that he wouldn’t trust with his life. His eyes fell on Kestrelwing, Leopardfoot, Rockclaw, Paleface…all the warriors he’d grown up with. He looked over and Sleetpaw and Gingerpaw and their kin. They seemed to be joking with each other, despite the thin scratches each of them had obtained in the fight. Occasionally Lilyfur would lean over and lick her kits’ mild wounds worriedly. Littlepaw and Eaglepaw were sitting side-by-side, eating fresh-kill together. Riverpaw was sitting with Adderstar. She appeared to be trying to talk to him, but he seemed distracted. Even Riverpaw he trusted!
“What’s on your mind?” Rosepetal was suddenly beside him. She smiled at him kindly. Her anger at him for upsetting his mother had long since faded. They were still kin, after all. In these uncertain times it seemed as if kin was all one could count on. Her grandson gave her a confused look, which made her laugh. “I know you well, Stonepaw. I can tell when you’re thinking about something.” The elder she-cat nudged his shoulder. “You can tell me.”
Stonepaw looked around swiftly. He flicked his tail to tell her that they should move away. The two of them padded to a distant corner of the camp and sat down side-by-side. “I’ve been hearing…rumors. That the killer is going to strike again.” He glanced at his grandmother warily. Some part of him expected her to stiffen and chastise him for thinking such things. But she just listen in silence.
Steely blue eyes flicked towards the sky. He continued, “I want to know about the murders Rosepetal. There is something missing. Something we’ve overlooked.”
For a few moments they sat in silence. Stonepaw became afraid that she’d refuse to tell him about the murders. Instead, she said, “Alright. What do you want to know?”
“Names. Names and how they were killed.” Stonepaw’s answers was swift.
“Alright…just let me think. My memory isn’t what it used to be.” Rosepetal’s brow furrowed as she fought to remember how the murders began. Who had died first? “I think it was Stonespots first. He’d sat night guard by himself. I think someone had bitten into the back of his neck.” No one had been more shocked than she and her daughter. Rosepetal could clearly remember the tom teasing Leafstorm and cuddling with her before the sun had set. Stonespots had also been there by the time Rosepetal had gone to the Clan. He and his brother had seemed like a permanent entity. And how upset his brother was! “Then was your uncle Bigclaw a moon later. It was the same thing. I guess it was the only way anyone could get to him…he was so jumpy and paranoid after your father died.”
For a moment his mind wandered to the story that Creampaw kept trying to tell him. How their father had visited her in her dreams. Could it possibly…? No! Of course it wasn’t true! While he couldn’t think of why his sister would lie about something as serious as that, he still refused to be believe it. “And the others?”
“Flameclaw. Sandcloud said something about a deathberry being forced down his throat.” Rosepetal winced at that one. What terror must he had felt when he was being murdered? Stonespots and Bigclaw both met swift ends. Flameclaw… “And then there was Mossfrost. No one was sure how she died, but there were a lot of herbs around her body.” It was tough recounting these deaths of her Clanmates. All it did for her was bring back memories of fear and anguish. But she would do anything to get her grandson to stop is infernal questioning. Perhaps this would appease his curiosity and stop this nonsense! “And you were alive when Smudgeclaw died. Do you remember it?”
“Barely.” Stonepaw asked quietly. His eyes were on Sleetpaw and Gingerpaw again. Smudgeclaw was their cousin. All he could remember was Spottedsky and Mothpelt yowling mournfully. Sleetpaw and Gingerpaw, Sleetkit and Gingerkit at the time, had been kept close to their mother. Stonekit had stuck his head outside the nursery to listen. Someone had, apparently, dragged his body back into camp. But he didn’t know how he’d died. “Do you remember how he was killed?”
Rosepetal thought for a moment. “Adder bite.”
“Rosepetal! We need you for the hunting patrol!” Ravenfeather yelled. She was standing with Hawkfoot and Sleetpaw. Rosepetal answered with a curt nod. After bidding her grandson farewell she padded off to join them. For a moment it seemed like Ravenfeather might invite Stonepaw to come along. But then she seemed to remember Sageheart’s punishment for him and turned away.
Before Sageheart left for the morning border patrol, she told Stonepaw that the nursery was in need of his help. With a sigh he trudged towards the cool cave. Rainsong was nursing her young kits, Emberkit and Tallkit. Pinewhisker was laying in her nest, her belly round and swollen with new life.
“Sageheart said you needed me.” Stonepaw said dejectedly. This was so unfair!
Pinewhisker nodded. Stonepaw spent up until sunhigh cleaning out the nursery. It wouldn’t have taken so long if they hadn’t insisted he be as silent as a mouse. They feared he would wake Emberkit and Tallkit. It just made the work all the more slow-going. But he did get a chance to think about what his grandmother had told him. The queens didn’t speak much to him, but rather cooed over the two kits and imagined what the new litter would be like.
My father and uncle were killed by bites from behind. Stonepaw thought as he dragged the old moss from the nests. That’s a quick kill. Less fuss with no fighting involved. Stonepaw knew he was getting to be around his father’s height. His father had been an average-sized cat, but hadn’t been the best when it came to raw strength. From what Stonepaw could discern, his father relied on his wit. So why would someone not be able to face him head-on? Bigclaw was understandable, however. Flameclaw and Mossfrost both seemed to be poisoned…and Smudgeclaw was killed by an adder bite. All forms of killing avoided violence and direct confrontation. The killer isn’t very strong. Or they aren’t fond of fighting. Stormpelt suddenly came to mind. Stonepaw quickly shook that thought away. Stormpelt was just lazy. Not a cold-blooded killer! But there isn’t any connection. Other than the fact Stonespots and Bigclaw were brothers… Could that have had something to do with it? If so, what?
A low growl arose from within his throat. Whoever this killer was, he would pay for taking his father and uncle away from him. When the killer’s fangs had sunk into his father’s neck, the killer eradicated all possibilities of Stonepaw and his littermates ever having a father in their lives.
“Whether you’re there or not, Stonespots, you will be avenged. All of you will.” Stonepaw said quietly as he dropped the old moss outside the nursery.
xxxx
“Hey Creampaw!”
“ACK!” The cream-colored apprentice darted across the hollow, sand flying up behind her. She looked back at the apprentice that had just come into the Sandy Hollow. The black and white tom tilted his head in confusion. Slowly Sleetpaw padded towards her.
“Did I frighten you?” he asked. “I didn’t mean to startle you.” Sleetpaw blinked at her with sharp green eyes and smiled sweetly. Why did the sight of that smile and those eyes always make her heart beat a little faster?
Creampaw felt her ears burn in embarrassment. Stormpelt was looking at her with glazed eyes. But she thought she saw a flicker of concern in his eyes. She had been uncharacteristically jumpy all morning. Ravenfeather slid into the hollow. She began to talk to Stormpelt, explaining how they’d let Hawkfoot take back all the prey they’d caught. When he’d questioned about how they’d gotten done so early, she merely said that they could barely find a single mouse. The she-cat apprentice tried to shove their troubling conversation aside for the moment. Creampaw said, “Uh, yeah. A little. I’ve been so paranoid all day.”
Her friend plopped down in front of her. “Paranoid? Why?”
She glanced around warily. “You promise you won’t tell anyone?”
A grin broke out across Sleetpaw’s face. “Cross my heart and hope to die.” He flicked his tail eagerly. “Well, come on! Out with it!”
Creampaw couldn’t help but smile a little bit. Something about Sleetpaw always made her want to smile. Maybe it was the way he was always so cheery. Or maybe it was because of that cute little smile or that nice sparkle in his eyes. “Well…I heard that the killer might strike again.”
“The killer?” For a moment it seemed as if Sleetpaw didn’t know what she was talking about. Then his expression darkened. Dark green eyes narrowed at the sandy ground under their paws. “Oh. Right.”
“Do you miss Smudgeclaw?” Creampaw asked quietly.
The tom shrugged his shoulders. Suddenly he was very quiet.
“Sleetpaw! Creampaw! You’re having battle training together! Come here!” Ravenfeather called. Both apprentices swiftly rose to their paws. On that note, the conversation between the two ended.
xxxx
Later that day the sunhigh patrols had been sent out. Bigpaw had been forced to stay behind and watch after the camp, along with a few warriors and one other apprentice. It wouldn’t have been so bad if that one other apprentice hadn’t been Riverpaw. She kept watching him with her piercing eyes as he paced up and down. It wouldn’t have been as bad if Stonepaw had been there to suffer with him. But he’d been temporarily freed from his punishment to help scour the territory for prey.
Finally, Riverpaw said, “You seem tense.”
“Cause I am.” Bigpaw growled his response.
Riverpaw rolled her eyes. “Family issues?”
His ears pricked towards her. The bulky gray and white tom looked at her suspiciously. “How’d you know?”
“I have my share. I can sympathize.” Riverpaw replied simply. It was a known fact that she felt a little put-out by her father Adderstar. Ever since her younger siblings had been born, she had been shoved aside like a piece of fresh-kill gone bad. Now Emberkit and Tallkit were the center of his attention. Everyone could see how Riverpaw resented them for it, too.
Bigpaw blinked at her in confusion. “Sympa…” His tongue couldn’t form the long word, and he furrowed his brow in frustration. “Sympat…”
The she-cat rolled her eyes. “Don’t hurt yourself, dear. It means I can relate.” She rolled on to her side to soak up some of the sun. Soon leafbare would roll in, and with it the dreaded snows. She was going to take advantage of what warmth was left. “Care to share?”
Bigpaw hesitated. But he was going crazy with this pent-up anger. If he wasn’t careful he would end up clawing at someone in his family. And no matter how cold he acted towards them, Bigpaw truly loved his kin. “Well…Creampaw has this stupid story.”
“Stupid story?” Riverpaw asked.
“She says that our father visited her in a dream last night. From…you know.” Bigpaw jerked his head towards the sky. The ‘S word’ wasn’t being used by him anymore. To him they were just stories for kits and mouse-brained cats. “According to her he said that the three of us can catch the killer, and he’s planning to get someone else or something…”
Riverpaw’s eyes widened. “Really?”
Bigpaw nodded. “Yeah. And she said it right in front of Mother, which just got her tail all in a twist. And she won’t shut up about it! And Stonepaw keeps asking stupid pointless questions about things that happened moons before we were born...” The words were coming out quickly now. Each one laden with his anger and frustration at his family. Each word was scorched with his own pain. Deep down he hated all of this. The questions, the arguments…couldn’t they just live peacefully in the present?! Was that really too much to ask?!
Riverpaw sat through the his rant. Finally, when the apprentice finished, he heaved a great sigh and grunted something about wanting some fresh-kill. He walked off to the alarmingly small pile. Without a second thought about the lack of prey, Bigpaw grabbed a squirrel and padded off to eat alone.
xxxx
The sun was setting when the apprentices slipped into their den. Sleetpaw and Creampaw entered side-by-side, laughing and teasing each other. Both of them were sore from the day’s battle training. It had been a far more intense than both of them were used to. Creampaw wondered if it had anything to do with the recent fight that broke out among the Clan. Her eyes fell on three thin scratches on Sleetpaw’s shoulder. They weren’t anything major, but they were a constant reminder of his beliefs and how adamantly he would defend them.
“I’m exhausted.” Stonepaw grunted. He curled up in his nest with a low purr. It was good to be able to rest a bit. The queens and elders had him running back and forth all day. Then some of the warriors had him running across the territory and back in search of prey. With the combined efforts of the patrols they managed to scrounge up a decent amount of prey. But it still wasn’t enough to feed the whole Clan. Some cats were going to sleep tonight with empty bellies.
“I think we all are. They ran us up and down the territory today.” Gingerpaw replied as she stretched.
Creampaw nodded in agreement and stepped into her nest. Suddenly an irritated hiss split through the den. All the apprentice’s fell silent. Creampaw’s eyes grew wide as she peered into her nest. Next to her paw was an adder. It was staring at her lightly colored paw intently. It was coiled up, ready to strike. The apprentice didn’t dare move. If she retracted her paw it would strike. And if she attacked it, it would strike.
“Don’t move!” Bigpaw hissed, stating the obvious.
Suddenly there was a flash of calico fur. They saw the snake thrash wildly as Gingerpaw bit it behind its head. Its mouth was wide, fangs exposed and trying to turn and snap at its attacker. But it was to no avail. The adder became limp and lifeless. The apprentices in shock. Creampaw was trembling. She fell back on to her bottom. Her eyes were still as round as the full moon. Finally, she stammered, “Th-Thank you.”
Gingerpaw nodded and dragged the adder out towards the fresh-kill pile. Fresh-kill was still fresh-kill. When she returned, she found Stonepaw and Bigpaw fussing over their sister. Sleetpaw looked concerned, but he didn’t seem to want to intrude. Littlepaw and Eaglepaw were discussing telling a warrior about the incident. Would they all one day wake up with adders in their nests? Finally, the hype died down. Each apprentice curled up in their nests (Each of them made a point to check theirs before setting a paw in them.) and began to go to sleep.
One certain gray apprentice could not sleep, however. Stonepaw’s eyes were on his sister. It wasn’t a coincidence that the adder had appeared in her nest. Never had he heard of adders coming into the camp and making their homes in the nests of cats. It had to have been planted. But who would want to hurt Creampaw? She was a bundle of energy, but always relatively civil to everyone she met. Had someone heard about her dream? Was the killer trying to silence her? Eventually, though, the day’s work took its toll on him. Stonepaw slipped into a reluctant, dreamless sleep.
xxxx
“SWEET STARCLAN!”
A horrified yowl ripped through the morning. All the apprentices’ eyes shot open. They raised their heads and blinked sleepily at each other. What was happening? More yowling ensued. Voices of warriors mingled. Someone yelled for Sandcloud and Frostwing. As Littlepaw rose from his nest to go peak out to see what had happened, Dawnfeather raced to the entrance of their den. The young warrior’s eyes were wide and brimming with terrified tears.
“What’s going on?” Littlepaw demanded.
“There’s been another murder!” Dawnfeather cried.
Hailwhisker has an apprentice!
