Stonestars threat



Ambereye sat with Dawnsky and Moonleaf beside the fresh-kill pile. “You heard about Cloverpelt? She’s moving to the nursery!” Ambereye asked, smiling. Dawnsky saw her chance. She chewed on her words, not sure what to say. “Well, we know you have something on the tip of your tongue, spit it out!” Ambereye said, growing impatient with her sister. Moonleaf just wore a growing smile. Dawnsky guessed she could already tell. “I’m going to be joining her!” she exclaimed “I’m going to have kits!” Ambereye squealed. Moonleaf just grinned and laughed. “You already knew?” Dawnsky asked her sister. She nodded. “You’re getting pretty round, though. When will you tell Ashclaw?” the entrance to camp rustled. Ashclaw, Bluetail, and BIrdtail had been on border patrol. “Right now!” She bounded over towards him, leaving her littermates sitting by the pool.



   Dawnsky lay against Ashclaw. She hadn’t gotten the chance to tell him with the rest of the clan around. She didn’t want the secret to be out yet, although if Poppystipe and Cloverpelt knew, all the cats knew it already. “Ashclaw, I have some knews to tell you.” She said sleepily, nudging him in the side. “What, my sweet?” he asked her, his voice heavy with sleep. “I’m going to have our kits” she spoke quietly, but she couldn’t keep the excitement out of her voice. Ashclaw snapped awake “Really!” he exclaimed far to loudly for the quiet den. She nodded. “I’ll be joining Cloverpelt in the nursery tommorow, I think.” “That’s great!” he exclaimed, quieter now. “Does the whole clan know?” he asked “Poppystripe and Cloverpelt recognized it first, so I suppose so.” She told him. “Our kits will be wonderful, you know, ginger like you, or grey, or both.” He yawned, then fell back to sleep. Dawnsky did the same, tired from the crazy events of the day.



   “May all cats old enough to climb a tree gather here beneath the fallen tree for a clan meeting” Snowstars yowl brought the warriors and apprentices into the clearing.

“It’s time for Fawnclouds kits to become apprentices.” He said. “come on up here, all of you” he called to the kits “Patchkit, from this day forward, until you receive your warrior name, you will be called Patchpaw. Ambereye, Poppystripe trained you well, I expect you to pass all your fighting and hunting skill on to Patchpaw” Ambereye rested her muzzle on the new apprentices head. “Icekit, from this moment on, you will be known as Icepaw. Gingerblaze rested his muzzle on the white toms head, Icepaw licked his shoulder respectfully. “Rainkit, you will be known as Rainpaw. Featherpelt, you will be his mentor.” The mentor and apprentice repeated the steps, then backed away. “My next task, one of my favourites, making new warriors. Poplarpaw and Willowpaw did an excellent assement yesterday. I bring these apprentices before you today, they have trained hard to learn your noble code and I present them to you as warriors in their turn. Poplarpaw, Willowpaw, do you promise to uphold and protect the warrior code?” the two apprentices agreed squeakily. “Then by the powers of starclan, I give you your warrior names. Poplarpaw, from this moment you will be Poplarfall. Starclan honors your courage and obedience, and we welcome you as a warrior. Willowpaw, you will be known as Willowheart. Starclan honors you intelligence and your energy, and we welcome you as full warriors of Skyclan.” He finished. As the clan cheered for Willowheart and Poplarfall, Snowstar leapt down and came to speak with Dawnsky. “So I here you’ll be moving to the nursery soon. She turned and nodded. “I wanted to ask you what happened to Smoketail. I’ve heard wild rumors, some of which are that windclan captured him! I have to know if that’s true. If it is, I’ll launch an attack on them. But I figured you might know what really happened.” Dawnsky faltered. No one had asked about for moons, ever since Ambereye thought up the eaten by a dog pack story. Apparently, not every cat had beilved that. “He’s dead.” She said, doing her best not togive herself away. “He was killed by a twoleg dog. The dog ate him. We never found his body. I thought Ambereye told you all this.” Snowstar nodded. “I guess I knew that” Dawnsky huffed out a sigh of relief. “I need some cats to go to the gathering tonight. I was hoping you and your sister would come. This will be an important one. I’m going to confront Stonestar about his attempts to take over the forest.” Dawnsky grinned. Finally they were fighting back! “Sure I’ll go, Snowstar. And you should know, I’m going to be sleeping in the nursery tonight” She added, walking away.



   Moonleaf walked near Silverwing on the way to the gathering. She was nervous. Snowstar was planning to confront Stonestar tonight, calling him to a fight. “I hope there isn’t a fight.” She told her mentor. Silverwing shook her head. “Under the full moon, clear as it is? They wouldn’t dare risk it.” Moonleaf nodded.



   The skyclan cats dropped into the trees and ran into the clearing. All the cats from Windclan, Riverclan, Shadowclan, and Thunderclan were there. Skyclan were the last. The leaders started the meeting as soon as Snowstar scrabbled onto the great rock. Stonestar stepped forward to speak first. Moonleaf noticed all the other leaders except for Snowstar stood a pawstep back from Stonestar, giving him the right of way. “ As you all no doubt have noticed, Windclan have taken over Thunderclan! Shadowclan have submitted themselves to us. Windclan are now three times its size! We, as one clan, will rule the forest. Nothing, cat or otherwise, will be able to challenge us. But we need the support from all five clans for this. Briarstar, will you submit yourself to Windclan?!” He yowled, challenging. “I-I don’t know. Give me time to deicide.” She said, unsure. “Snowstar? What about you? Will you submit to Windclans power?” “Never! Skyclan will never submit to you crowfood!” Snowstar snarled at Stonestar. He shrugged. “You have one moon to deicide. Meet me here the day before the next full moon. You can give me your answers then. This gathering is over!” he yowled, then jumped from the rock, Branchstar and Rosestar followed him. Thunderclan, Shadowclan, and Windclan left the clearing. Snowstar and Briarstar leapt down from the rock. Moonleaf caught a snatch of their conversation. “You can’t seriously be thinking of fighting them!” Briarstar said. Snowstar nodded. “I’m going to. We need your help, though, Briarstar. Please? We would never win without you.” She looked unsure. “I don’t know. the only thing I want is for my clan to surrvive. I think the best hope is with Windclan. Riverclan, to me!” she yowled, leading her clan out of the hollow.



   Smoke stared into the sky. The moon was full tonight, there would be a gathering. Stonestar would surely have made more demands. He wished he regretted leaving his clan at a time like this. The truth was, he didn’t miss it. He was a proud father of two healthy kits. He went inside. Mist was curled up asleep next to Cloud and Moon. He smiled. No. He didn’t miss it at all.