Firepaw's heart pounded in his chest as he padded beside Runningwind towards the ShadowClan border. Orange flooded into purple as the sun slowly rose, and he could practically feel the frost of the quickly-coming leafbare settling on his pelt.
The Tunnlers had been friendly enough, and most were perfectly happy to talk and share tongues with cats from other clans... but when decisions had to be made, they got down to business almost immediately, without any small talk.
Two days after Graypaw and Firepaw had arrived—A better word, Firepaw mused, would've been cat-burglared—Mallowpaw had called a meeting of all the cats. She seemed to be a deputy of sorts, under Ravenpaw's hesitant lead, Mousefur there as a mentor.
She had smacked her paw down in a reddish dust that covered a bit of the cave floor, a plume of rust-colored dust rising like smoke, meeting every cat's gaze before finally speaking. "We attack here," she mewed, ear twitching as she observed the finality of the statement. She had drawn out a diagram, and in the process, had gotten her paws orange, but didn't seem to mind.
"If ShadowClan is really up to something like you say," she inclined her head to a couple of ShadowClan cats who sat, sharing tongues across from her.
A prolonged groan came from near Firepaw, and he edged forward to see who had spoken.
Upon seeing the raggedy gray she-cat sat, back permanently hunched, dandelion-colored eyes rolling. "I just told you ShadowClan is planning something—it's written all over that mange-fur Brokenstar's face!" she exploded, near-shredded ear flicking as she spoke. She glared around the ring of cats, eyes catching on Firepaw's for a moment. Too long, as far as I'm concerned, the flame-colored apprentice found himself thinking.
"Yellowfang, we know you were a medicine cat, but somebody has to make sure he's not folloing you all," Mousefur evenly said, rolling her own ice-lit yellow eyes.
Yellowfang hissed, indignance at her authority being questioned obvious. Her eyes narrowed as she stared the ThunderClan mentor down, but Mousefur held her ground. Neither said anything.
"... Right. ANYWAY," Mallowpaw continued, marking out another area. "we need spies. Thankfully, we've got you and Ash-heart." She gave a swift nod to a tortoiseshell called Fernshade, who Firepaw had worked with the day before to make nests for possible guests of the Tunnelers. The yellow-eyed she-cat made no move except to twitch her gray-and-brown striped tail in acknowledgment.
"We also need a patrol to see what ShadowClan says to outsiders. Anyone up for that?"
All eyes instantly went to the ThunderClan cats of the group. Mousefur narrowed her eyes, looking over from the white-patched tom beside her. "What? No. We barely have warriors as it is."
A grumble came from a RiverClan cat, who stood to the side, thin tail curled over his paws. Beside him, a she-cat looked to be trying not to laugh, tabby shoulders shaking despite how hard she tried.
"You never volunteer, Reedtail. And you too, Sedgecreek—you're laughing like a couple of apprentices."
Indignant now the brown tabby drew back a paw. "Hey now, that's just unfair! It's not as if RiverClan has a surplus of cats ready to betray Crookedstar at any minute."
Her statement hung in the air, the same way mice don't. A sheet of silence had descended on the cats, and no cat talked for a few moments.
Finally, Mallowpaw cleared her throat. "Could we do it? Any WindClan takers? Sorrelshine never lets me out of camp, so I'm out of the equation."
A large, brown-coated warrior shook his shaggy head, awkwardly fidgeting with a small rock near his paws. "I'll talk to your mentor, but Tallstar is suspicious enough of us. I don't think it's a good plan for WindClan to go."
YOU ARE READING
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FanfictionAn old story with a new spin. Once, there was a kittypet known as Rusty. Most know him as Fireheart, or even Firestar. But what if he got to the clans a little later? What if... he didn't manage to be a full clan cat at all? Would 'fire alone' still...
