Warriors: The Prophecy of Fire

Chapter Twenty

It was a claw-moon and the sky was nearly pitch black. The light chirping of crickets and the howling of the wind filling the air. He crouched down, bunching up his legs and sailing over a fence, landing lightly on the grass on the other side. He purred as he saw more cats gathering and leaped on top of a rock. A dusty brown she-cat leaped on the shorter rock next to him and dipped her head to him.

"Quiet!" he yowled and the group of chattering cats beneath him shut up instantly. "Thank you for coming here tonight. Our plan is in motion, it is only a matter of time." The cats beneath him yowled their approval. "Soon those mouse-brained forest cats will be shown who's boss around here."

"Ares! Ares! Ares!" they chanted and his chest swelled with pride at the sound of his name. He stayed up there, gazing down at the cats. A white she-cat with a torn ear and a scar across her flank walked towards the front of the clan. 

"How do you know he's going to do good? I mean, he's just a kit."

"He's my son- of course he's going to do good," he hissed at her, leaping down and cuffing at her good ear with his claws unsheathed and his teeth bared. "Does anyone else have any doubts?" They didn't move, sitting in complete silence. "Good. You are free to go." They left without any sound and he leaped down off the rock, heading back to the fence and leaping over it. Padding over, he drank water out of a bowl that his housefolk had left out and then curled up, unsheathing his claws as he fell into a deep sleep.

Hawthorneclaw blinked as golden sunlight streamed into the medicine cat den, sighing as the warmth hit her pelt. It had been many moons since she had become a full medicine cat and nothing from the prophecy had gotten any clearer. Brushbranch's kits had been born about three moons ago, Honeykit, a golden tabby she-kit, Cloudkit, a cream she-kit, and Lionkit, a yellow tom, who were as rowdy as kits could be. By now they had to have sneaked out of camp at least twice. How in StarClan three kits could sneak out of a camp packed with warriors, experienced ones at that, she had no idea. Stretching and letting out a wide yawn, she got onto her paws and trotted out of the den and into the camp.

"But Doveleaf," Lionkit whined, "I'm so hungry my stomach thinks my throat's been ripped out!"

"Oh hush now, Lionkit. You ate last night and it's barely past sun-up, the hunting patrol will be back soon. In the meantime go play with your littermates, and don't get into too much trouble," she added as the golden tom raced off to the other kits, his green eyes glinting in mischief.

"You got your paws full with those three," Hawthorneclaw purred as she stepped beside the young queen.

The cream she-cat let out a mrow of laughter, her eyes glistening with amusement. "They definitely are a couple of minnow-brains," she agrees with a purr, her amber eyes glinting with amusement.

"Ok, well good luck with them," Hawthornepaw meows and swishes her tail goodbye to the queen, and pads off to the edge of the territory where she sees the three apprentices training intently.

"Good, Stormpaw. Now this time, I want you to bunch up your legs and leap after going limp, Skypaw." The blue/ grey apprentice nods and braces herself as the bigger grey tom leaps onto her. She goes limp beneath his paws, waiting for a little, before bunching up her legs and quickly leaping out from beneath him, yowling in delight as she pounces on him. He rolls over in an attempt to get away but Skypaw quickly leaps on his now exposed belly, pinning his shoulders down with her front paws and his tail with her back. No matter how much he keeps struggling she stays strong, even after he goes limp.

"Alright, that's enough," Nightsky yowls. "Good job both of you. Oakpaw, I want you to do the same except..." he continues but Hawthorneclaw walks away, her green eyes still longing.

No matter how long she has been a medicine cat, or how good she was at it, she still wished that she could be a warrior. She wished Nightsky could be her mate and they could hunt and fight, side by side. With a heavy sigh, she continued deeper into the woods, crouching down at the sight of some purple comfrey. Digging beneath the plant she rips it out of the moist soil, dirt still clinging to the roots. The smell of fresh earth rushed over her, the familiar scent causing her to close her eyes and take a deep breath. When she regains herself she keeps digging up more of the roots until she gets a mouthful, then she carries it with her to the edge of the lake where she sets it down and heads over to the edge of the lake where she finds a familiar bush covered in yellow, orange, and red flowers. She starts clipping off the flowers at the stem with her teeth and placing them with the pile of roots next to her. When she feels she has enough, she leaves the pile and wades into the shallows of the lake. The cool water rushes over her and she sighs in satisfaction, how could any cat not like the water? She dips her head and laps up some of the water, feeling it travel down her throat and into her belly. She hears the sound of the water sloshing against her jaws as she drinks. Lifting up her head she gazes out at the clear water, turning slightly pink as the sun sinks lower down the horizon, a golden sun against the pink and purple sky. With one last drink of water, she pads back out of the lake and grabs the herbs in her jaws. She starts heading to the medicine cat den where she sorts the two herbs into their places in the stocks.

"Nice job, Hawthorneclaw," a black tom purrs. She turns around and flicks her tail happily at the sight of her former mentor. "Sorry I didn't join you, I had to show Skypaw and Oakpaw how to find mousebile. Then Twigheart cut himself on some brambles and I had to help him and..."

"It's ok, I get it," she interrupts, her green eyes amused. "Remember, I was your apprentice not the other way around," she purrs.

He lets out a purr of laughter, "You want to go get some fresh-kill?"

"Sound good." They pad out of the den and grab a fish each and she dips her head to Mosstail before moving to the edge of camp and crouching down to eat her prey.

"Can I join you?" a voice mews behind her. She turns around to see Nightsky standing behind her, his blue eyes shining against the now dark sky.

She stares at him for one more moment before taking a deep breath, "Sure." He crouches down beside her and starts eating her fish. They eat together in comfortable silence, the stars shining down on them. Hawthorneclaw feels an odd tingle in her pelt as she looks at him but quickly shakes it out, going back to her fish. When they finish they quickly bury the bones and lick their jaws.

"Good night, Nightsky. Sleep well."

"You too, Hawthorneclaw." She lets out a low purr and heads back to her den, curling up in her nest and tucking her tail over her nose. Could the prophecy possibly be talking about her and Nightsky? She's a medicine cat, is StarClan seriously telling her to break their own code? With the thoughts still whirling around her mind as she falls into a restless sleep.