Clan Meeting *_*

[Cinderpaw]

Cinderthorn wondered how much she should tell the shecat, and quickly decided not to confide her. "I don't know, perhaps they lost a kittypet, or their dog ran away. Or maybe one of their kits decided to go exploring and got lost. I just thought it sounded like they were callng someone while they were here, don't you think?"

***

Bramblenose slipped through the undergrowth with ease, folling the trail the blundering twolegs had left. Their stench was overpowering and he could hear them up ahead. He finally caught up to them by the river. The female was still shrieking, though it had subsided some, and one of the others was croutched in the soft bank, tracing one paw across the soft mud. He looked deep into the water for a moment, then nodded his huge head and, slowly, stood up and spun around. He growled something to the other twolegs, and all at once the female's shrieks resumed, louder than ever. Bramblenose watched in dismay as a group of starlings took flight, and a couple of rabbits darted across the border to hide in their burrows on the RiverClan side. Angrily he spun around and raced back to camp. They had to do something to get rid of those twolegs before they scared off all the prey. This close to leaf-fall, the clan needed all the prey they could get.

[Brightstar & Company]

"Yeah, I guess." Scarlettclaw mewed, concious of the she-cat's uncomfort.

~~~

Eaglefrost padded back into the medicine den, tail drooping. Scarlettclaw had just blown him off. She had never seemed so cold before and he hoped she had not found out about he and Cinderthorn. That would be the worst thing that could happen to him, because then, she would nore than likely feel uncomfortable around him and stop hanging around with him. Then he would've lost two loves.

~~

Flowercloud stood in the dimness of the den, her eyes easily adjusting to her surroundings. The medicine den was about as bright, anyways.
"I don't understand." She mewed, " The twolegs have never entered our camp like this before. Why would they start now?"
Brightstar sighed. "I don't know. Maybe they were looking for something. Maybe one of their own."
"One of their own?" Flowercloud asked.
"Yes," Brightstar mewed, " maybe they lost another twoleg."
Flowercloud shook her head. "No."
Brightstar glared at her. "And why not?"
"Well," she mewed, "how could they lose another twoleg? This forest is so dense. It was probably just a whole bunch of immature twolegs, looking for some lame excitement."
"Really?" Brightstar questioned. "Then why was the little one wailing?"
Flowercloud was silent and glanced at Brightstar; that was a question she couldn't answer.

[Cinderpaw]

Cinderthorn nodded to Scareletclaw. "Come on to the medicine den and I'll dress those wounds. Did you eat the poppy seeds?" Without witing for an answer, she led the way into the clearing, dismayed to find Eaglefrost already there. Unwilling to show discomfort in front of Scarletclaw, Cinderthron cooly ignored the tom, turning instead back to the she-cat. "WHere did you put those herbs, Scarletclaw?" The shecat flicked her tail to the corner in which Eaglefrost was sitting, already sorting the leaves. Cinderthorn growled in her throat and stalked up to Eaglefrost. "Is there any particular reason," she hissed. "That you seem so fond of doing my job lately? Instead of hanging around in here, why don't you go do something worthy of a great warrior like yourself-" she could feel the sarcasm heavy in her voice. "-and go talk to Bramblenose about what you can do to help."

~~~*~~~

Bramblenose pushed his way throught the ravine and into the main clearing. He padded up to Darkmoon outside the warriors' den and mewed, "Grab Sparrowheart, Eaglefrost, and Lightningpaw. I want you to patch up the holes those twolegs made. We can't afford drafts with leafbare coming up." Darkmoon nodded respectfully and slinked off. Bramblenose flicked his tail and headed off for Brightstar's den. He arrived to find her still in conversatyion with Flowercloud. He announced himself and padded in. "Brightstar, the twolegs are down by the river. Something's gone up and that female is louder than ever. I already saw a patrols worth of prey scared across the RiverClan border. We need them out of our territory.

[Brightstar & Company]

Eaglefrost's black tail lashed. "Why don't you do your job first so I don't have to do it for you?"
Eaglefrost saw Cinderthorn oped her mouth to lash back, but he silenced her with a flick of his tail.
"What's in your pelt lately, anyways?" He licked his light ginger pelt and turned back to her. "Plus, Scarlettclaw's wounds are all healed and she's back in the warrior's den. So, to be honest, you need to lay off."
Scarlettclaw cleared her throat in protest of his rudeness but he ignored it.
"You think your the best there is, all because you are a medicine cat apprentice. Note the apprentice part." He hissed and waited for the fuming cat to reply.

~~~

Brightstar tilted her head and asked, "How do you expect to do that, Bramblenose?"

[Cinderpaw]

Cinderthorn opened her mouth to shout, but knew that was exactly what the tom wanted. Instead, she spoke in the icily calm voice her mentor used when she was really mad. "I had to speak with FLowercloud and Brightstar first, so forgive me for doing what I was told. And I think deciding if Scarletclaw's wounds are healed or not is for Flowercloud to decide, and I seem to recall her telling me to dress the wounds again. Do you question your medicine cat's decisions? Or do you think you know more about treating injuries than her?" She didn't wait for him to answer, instead, she calmly grabbed a mouthful of marigold leaves and led Scarletclaw over to a mossy bed, instructing her to lay on her side. When the leaves had been chewed to a pulp, she gently layed them on the worst wounds and patted them down. Then she shook a few poppy seeds out of a head and pawed them over to Scarletclaw, who had no choice but to lick them up.

~~~*~~~

"I don't know," Bramblenose growled, frustrated. "We have big warriors. Maybe we could scare them off." EVen as he said it he knew there wasn't much hope, but he wasn't giving up his clan's prey without a fight.

[Brightstar & Company]

Scarlettclaw must have dozed off while waiting for he pulp to soak in, because when she woke up, the sky was a hazy gray. She yawned and padded out of the den and into the Warrior's Den. Her stomach felt odd from the poppyseeds. They must not have been completely dry, she thought. Oh well.
Her head ached from the stresses of the day as she settled into her warm nest. A few tail-lengths away, Eaglefrost was snoring in his nest, by Sparrowheart and Darkmoon. Soon, Snowshadow's kits would be apprenticed and she would move back in with them, but until then, Scarlettclaw was pretty lonely in the corner of the den.

~~~

Eaglefrost sulked our of the medicine den. Stupid Cinderthorn! Why does she always have to be like that? He padded through the camp, until Darkmoon stopped him.
"Bramblenose wants us to patch up the holes in the camp wall."
"What?" Eaglefrost asked in disbeleif, "But that's an apprentice's duty."
"Well, we need all the paws we can get. And at the point, Lightningpaw and Twopaw are our only apprentices."
Eaglefrost paused. "Then why aren't they doing it?"
"Lightningpaw is." Darkmoon growled in frustration.
"But what about Twopaw?"
Darkmoon sighed. "She is on a hunting patrol with Sparrowheart and Darkmoon."
"Okay," Eaglefrost mewed, "I'm confused. So, Lightningpaw has to help, but twopaw doesn't. That doesn't make sense."
"For the love of StarClan!" Darkmoon growled. "Just help me out!"

~~~

Twopaw padded thorugh the forest, the dappled, fading sunlight warm on her dark pelt. Their hunting patrol was on their way back to the camp with their catch. The only thing they managed to catch was two sparrows, a vole, and a scrawny mouse.
I guess this is what leaf-fall is like..., she thought.
But when they padded into camp, something was wrong. Eaglefrost and Darkmoon were fixing big holes in the walls and as she approached, the rest of the patrol went over, but not her.

~~~

Brightstar contemplated the thought and interjected, "Yes, we could do that, but we are only a portion of their size. They could hurt one of our strongest warriors. And we need them for leaf-fall, when we will be at our weakest."

[Cinderpaw]

Cinderthorn left Scarletclaw alone to sleep. Behind her, she heard Eaglefrost stalking out of the clearing. Well, good riddance, she thought. For lack of anything better to do, she curled up in her nest exhausted, and fell asleep in moments.

~~~*~~~

"I know, I know," Bramblenose mewed. "But there must be something we can do." He shook his head desperately. "I'm going to go see how the clean-up patrol is doing." He turned and padded out of the den, deep in thought, to see the small group of cats working diligently. "Eaglefrost," he called. The young warrior padded over and dipped his head respectfully. "Take your apprentice, and Twopaw if you like, and gather some materials for those walls. WHen you have anough, I'd like the apprentices, and any willing warriors, to reinforce the nursery as well. SNowshadow was complaining of a draft yesterday."

[Brightstar & Company]

"Yes, Bramblenose. We'll get right on that." Eaglefrost padded over two the two conversing apprentices and they set off to find more materials.

~~~

Scarlettclaw woke up the next morning to find a warm robin by her nest. She sniffed it and found it wreathed in Eaglefrost's scent. Immediately, she felt sick and stood up to shake the moss out of her pelt. She then grabbed the bird and deposited it in the fresh-kill pile before heading off to the long grasses by the elder's den to lick the dew off of them and quench her dry throat.

Only moments after licking most of the dew she could find, she padded into the clearing and spotted Cinderthorn warming her pelt in the early morning light.
"Good morning." She mewed and settled down next to her.

[Cinderpaw]

Bramblenose watched the young warrior pad over to the two apprentices, and called after him, "Oh, and stay away from the river. The twolegs are there." Eaglefrost flicked his tail to show he'd heard. Turning his head, Bramblenose saw that the fresh-kill pile was woefully low. May as well go hunting, he thought, and bounded up the ravine and into the forest.

~~~*~~~

Cinderthorn stretched, reveling in the feeling of the warm sun on her fur. She heard a sudden rstling by the tunnel and looked up, surprisingly pleased to see Scarletclaw padding towards her. "Morning. How do your wounds feel? Flowercloud thinks you may be able to go hunting today."

[Brightstar & Company]

"Oh," Scarletclaw was surprised to see the she-cat being so friendly. "Much better. I would like to get out of camp for a while."
Scarlettclaw thought about the many walks around with Eaglefrost and her heart ached. Why did he have to be so cold to Cinderthron? She really was a nice cat and she was becoming Scarletclaw's friend. Her only friend actually. But her paws were itching to run through the forest and she could wait to sink her claws into a big, fat juicy mouse.
But just then a single snowflake fell on her nose and melted, making her feel tingly and chilly.
"Pretty cold isn't it?" she mewed, more to herself than Cinderthorn.

***

Eaglefrost padded back into the camp with a jaw full of materials for the nursery. Stupid, bossy furball, Bramblenose, had sent him on an apprentice's duty. Somethimes he wished he could be trated as a warrior instead of a kit.
"Here you go." he mewed after setting the materials by the nursery and instucted with a flick of the tail that the apprentices should do the same.
After all of the materials were tossed into a pile Eaglefrost padded toward the tunnel, but was stopped when Brightstar crossed his path.
"Eaglefrost?" she mewed curiously, "I thought you were supposed to be helping Twopaw and Lighningpaw with the nursery."
"Oh," Eaglefrost shudffled his paws, "I thought I would restock the fresh-kill pile. Maybe bring someone else with me."
Brightstar sighed. "Fine. You can take..." She paused for a momnet and survayed the camp,"Scarletclaw. You're friends right?"
Eaglefrost sighed. "I guess."

***

Scarletclaw settled next to Cinderthorn in the shelter of the medicine den, where they had both retreated to after the cold wind had begun to swirl around them. She tucked her head inbetween her paws and closed her eyes, hoping to catch a little sleep.
After a few moments of contented warmth, Scarletclaw heard pawsteps. She looked up and saw a ginger cat standing infront of her. She blinked a few times to clear her blury vision and was disappointed to see Eaglefrost standing there, his ginger and black calico pelt fluffed up against the cold.
"Um...hey." His mew quivered a bit.
"Eaglefrost." At that, Cinderthorn's head shot up and she narrowed her eyes, a growl rising in her throat. But Scarletclaw laid her tail across her back and wispered, "It's okay. I'll talk to him."
Cinderthorn shook her head, but didn't rise.
Scarletclaw stood and padded out of the den. "What do you want, Eaglefrost?"
The tom seemed taken aback but mewed calmly. "Brightstar wants us to go on a hunting patrol."
"Yeah, right." Scarletclaw mewed. "Why don't I ask her then?"
Eaglefrost's fur fluffed up even more and hissed, "Why don't you?"
Scarletclaw stalked to the Brightstar who was conversing with Wetfoot about what life was like befaore this and that. "Brightstar?"
The she-cat turned to her with a puzzled expression. "Yes?"
"Am I supposed to go on a hunting mission with him?" She mewed not able to hide her disgust.
Brightstar sighed. "Yes."

[Cinderpaw]

Bramblenose felt a growl rising in his throat; Eaglefrost was coming back to the camp laden with supplies for the nursery, and disgust was etched clearly on his face. That young warrior needed to leanr some respect and realize that being the Clan's youngest warrior didn't make him exempt from helping around the camp. To add to Bramblenose's anger, he young tom threw his supplies on the ground, gave orders to the two apprentices, then stalked off towards the warrior's den. Before he could reach Eaglefrost though, Brightstar intercepted him. Trustying his leader to take care of things, Bramblenose changed his route to the ravine, figuring he would go on a short hunting trip.

***

Cinderthorn watched a few more snowflakes drift lazily to the ground before heaving herself up and leading the way to the shelter of he medicine den. She was very tired and content to lay there next to Scarletclaw, but after only a few moments she felt the pretty she-cat stand up beside her and looked up to see Eaglefrost standing over her. A growl rose in her throat but before she could say anything Scarletclaw ladi her tail warningly on her back, mutered simething she didn't quite catch, then padded off with Eaglefrost. Their conversation was lost inthe wind, but soon but had their fur ruffled up and Cinderthorn could hear the snarl in their voices. Scarletcalaw stalked off towards Brightstar and mewed something to her. As she was walking back to Eagleforst Cinderthorn could see the dislike in her eyes, and how grudgingly she trailed hinm up the ravine. Cinderthron couldn't help feeling bad; it was more he fault than anyone else that the two were having problems, all because she had broken the rules and gotten Scarletclaw drawn into the problem.

She had been so caught up with the problems in her personal life that she had completely forgotten those haunting dreams she had had in Greenleaf, and they were the last thing on her mind when she settled down for a short nap.

Cinderthorn opened her eyes and knew at once that she was dreaming. She was in the middle of the forest in late newleaf, and though the Great River was nearby, that was the only landmark she recognized; all the trees that had once crowded up to the water's edge had gone, trunks and all had been ripped from the ground. The effest was a small clearing in the shape of a semicircle. The only exception was a tree trunk rising about three tail lengths out of the ground. Flowers like the ones found in two-leg gardens were grouped in great bunches surrounding the trunk, and what looked like two flat, smooth, branches had been criss-crossed together and were poking out of the ground. Evev more flowers had been laid on the ground in front of the crossed wood, and a group of at least seven two-legs were standing in a clustered group, several if whom were howling softly and unpleasantly.

It was suprisingly cold given that it was new-leaf. It was more than cold though; it was freezing. SNow was falling thickly in the clearing, muffling the two-legs and their awful noise, blocking off the great bunches of flowers. And she was so wet, too; she could feel icy waves caressing her belly fur and rushing aaround her legs. Cinderthorn opened her eyes again to find the snow in her dream was real, as was the water. She was up to her belly in a freezing river, and the snow was falling thick and the wind was swirling it so that Cinderthorn couldn't tell exactly where she was. She splashed out of the water, realizing with a jolt of fear that she had been sleep-walking again. As she padded through the strengthening blizzard in what she hoped was the direction to the camp, she began to fear she was going the wrong way and would never make it back.

Cinderthorn whirled around, trying to see through the wall of snow, but she couldn't make out anything more than a rabbit hop away from her in any direction. She would surely freeze to death if she didn't find the camp soon. Desperately trying not to let her mounting fear get the best of her, she begin running, plowing through the deepening snow, but before long she realized she wasn't cold anymore. At first when she ran into the tree trunk, she didn't feel anything. She only knew that there was something in front of her blocking her way. Peering through the whiteness she made out the huge oak tree hat marked the edge of their border. Hissing from fear and disbelief, she started to spin around and keep going when she saw from the corner of her eye the small cave created by the tree's great roots. She wormed into it, sighing as semi-warm air flowed over her. Knowing she wouldn't make it back to camp before the storm made up, but scared to fall asleep in case she should begin walking again, she began to lick the dampness from her pelt.

Cinderthorn fought her hardest, but her eyes were growing too heavy and she couldn't think clearly. Sighing resignedly, she settled her head on her front paws and was asleep in moments.

She slept dreamlessly.

[Brightstar & Company]

Ooc:// This is a sort of “flash-ahead.” It’s about a season in the future from the present time.

“Ivypaw! Don’t do that!”
Ivypaw lashed her paws out, aiming for her brother’s face. “Crowpaw, don’t be a bee-brain!”
Crowpaw dodged the blow and rolled onto his back, and batted his sheathed paws onto her belly. “That’s what you get you dirty traitor!”
The apprentices continued their play, rolling around in the plush green grass. Small green bugs crawled from blade to blade, but the apprentices paid them no mind as they crushed the grass beneath them. This kind of play was like pure bliss to Ivypaw! She loved the feeling of fur in her claws and the warm flesh of her opponent waiting to be torn open by her thorn-sharp claws. She cuckled to herself at the thought. Only when a shadow passed over them did the two pause and look up into the glaring sunshine.
Eaglefrost stared down at them, his amber eyes flickering like fire. “What are you doing?”
Ivypaw glanced at Crowpaw and saw the same terror mirrored in his eyes. She had heard stories about the kind of things that Eaglefrost had gone through, since she was too young to understand the camp drama. Apparently, Eaglefrost had fallen in love with the medicine cat apprentice Cinderthorn, who was then Cinderpaw. It didn’t work out that well and soon, through lonelyness and desperation, Eaglefrost had forced himself to fall in love with a young she-cat named Scarletclaw. He could have been attatched to her side – which would have been much more convient – but soon, to his wild surprise, he started to fall in real love with her.
But little did her know that after a near-fatal dog attack which sent Scarletclaw to the medicine den for a couple of moons, she had discovered his feelings for the medicine cat apprentice. It seemed as though she thought that he was still in love with Cinderthorn – which Ivypaw believed herself – and had become colder and colder to him.
Then, one day, Scarletclaw was sent on a hunting mission with Eaglefrost. The two cats separated and by nightfall, Scarletclaw hadn’t returned to camp. The Clan searched everywhere for her – for she was a well-liked member of the Clan – but she was never found. After she disappeared, Eaglefrost became a cold, heartless cat. Or a cat that seemed cold and heartless, but deep down inside, Ivypaw believed that he still had a soft edge to him. But the rest of the Clan would doubt that, considering the fact that he only hissed and spat at everyone, never a single purr or a show of happiness. And maybe, if he softened up a little, he could have a mate. After all, he was only about 20 moons old.
Ivypaw was snapped back to reality as Eaglefrost cleared his throat and heated his stare even more. “We’re sorry Eaglefrost. I promise we’ll get right to work.”
Eaglefrost narrowed his eyes and spat, “See that you do!”


Present time:

Scarletclaw padded throught the forest. She had separated from Eaglefrost near the ravine and was headed toward the twoleg nests to look for prey. But she had to admit that the light flurry of snow wasn’t promising. She paddded slowly by the fences, shielding herself from the cold snowflakes.
“What am I going to do?” She wailed to herself, knowing, or rather hoping, that no one could hear her.
She heard something coming from the garden nearest to her. It sounded like cat’s meows. So the slipped under a loose board and crouched in the surrounding bushes, searching for some sign of feline life. Within moments, two cats slid from the protection of a thorn bush and Scarletclaw struggled to see them clearly – the snow had created a white fuzz in her vision.
“Gah!” she gasped as she recognized the cats. But no sooner could she quiet herself, did one of the cats launch himself in her direction.

[Cinderpaw]

Cinderthorn woke with a start, and for a moment she couldn't figure out why she was sleeping on the hard ground in a small cave, but slowly the memories came back to her. She crawled out from under the root and looked around at the snowy forest, trying to gather her bearings, only when she was sure she was going in the right direction did she set out for the camp. Her stomach growled fiercely, but all she could think of was how worried the clan must be, and she pushed herself faster, runnign as fast as she could through the deep snow. It seemed to take moons, but finally she pushed through the ravine into the camp.

There was a flurry of activity in the clearing, with warriors and apprentices running around everywhere and even the elders shuffling around the perimeter looking worried. Before she could take more than three steps Flowercloud raced up to her, followed by Eagleforst, of all cats. "Where have you been?" Flowercloud gasped, looking cross.

"And where's Scarletclaw?" Eaglefrost added.

"I couldn't find my was back in the snowstorm, so I spent the night in a little cave, and I haven't seen Scarletclaw since yesterday. Is she missing?"

Flowercloud seemed to accept her answer; she nodded and ran over to Brightstar. Cinderthorn turned reluctantly to Eaglefrost. "What happened?"

[Brightstar & Company]

Eaglefrost's jaw quivered as he thought about Scarletclaw. All alone. All alone in the forest. All alone in the forest in a snow storm! Oh for StarClan's sake!
"Well?" Cinderthorn's mew brought him back to reality.
"Um," Eaglefrost ran over the scene in his head again. "When we went on the hunting patrol, Scarletclaw insisted on hunting near the twoleg place and since she seemed really angry, I let her. She hasn't been seen since."
Eaglefrost turned to see Twopaw padding up to him. "Well, don't you think that she could just be stuck somewhere out there? You know, 'cause of the snow storm."
He shook his head. "I don't think so. She wouldn've been back at camp by now."
"Well," Twopaw began, but trailed off.
"What?" Eaglefrost asked, irritated by her reluctance to continue.
"It's nothing."
"For StarClan's sake, Twopaw!" he growled.
"Um, well maybe she ran away." Twopaw looked down at her paws, shuffling them a little.
"That's rediculous!" he proclaimed.
Twopaw looked at Cinderthorn. "What do you think?"

[Cinderpaw]

Cinderthorn thought about that for a moment. Scarletclaw had always been loyal, and never the type to shirk responsibilities. "I don't know. Maybe she needed some time to think and cool off alone. I can't imagine her leaving for good, but isn't it possible she just wanted to find a quiet place to be alone for a while?"