Warriors: The Fading Light ~Series 1 Book 5~

Chapter 11

Silverstar's POV:

It seemed that only a few minutes passed when Silverstar tried to sleep and she jolted awake to see that Stormflame wasn't in his nest. She rose from her nest and trotted out of the den to see Stormflame standing at the edge of camp, talking with Slowsky and Bigstep.

Silverstar growled and trotted towards Stormflame, "Get back in the medicine den!"

"Oh Silverstar! Didn't you say you were going to make Shinepaw medicine cat apprentice today? It's already past dawn and the battle patrol is about to go out!" Slowsky meowed and stared at Silverstar pointedly.

Silverstar sighed, "I guess I did..." she glanced around and saw Shinepaw sulking by the apprentices den. Silverstar felt a flash of sadness and padded towards the golden she cat. "Shinepaw? Are you okay?"

"I guess so..." Shinepaw shrugged and looked up at Silverstar. The apprentice narrowed her eyes, "Are you really going to make me medicine cat apprentice?"

"Yes, it's just that Nutwhisker wouldn't let me out of the medicine den. Until now." It was partially the truth..

Shinepaw nodded, "So are you still sick?"

"Yes, but as long as you don't come too close you shouldn't get the sickness." Silverstar reassured with a smile and then turned to the Hightree. "Are you ready for your ceremony?"

"Oh yes!!" Shinepaw bounced to her feet and pranced to the Hightree. Silverstar felt her heart swell with warmth as she followed the eager apprentice.

With a little more difficultly than usual, Silverstar climbed up the Hightree. Her claws dug into the soft bark and her tail waved to balance herself on the thick branch where she sat during clan meetings. "Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather beneath the Hightree for a clan meeting!" Silverstar yowled and watched the cats turn from sorting out the battle patrol to Silverstar. A few shocked and confused faces filled the cats as they gathered beneath the Hightree.

Once everyone was seated and stared up at Silverstar expectantly, Silverstar began the meeting. "As most of you know, I have Whitecough. So from now on I will be confined to the medicine den with Stormflame. Because both deputy and leader will be unable to lead the clan, I appoint Dawnheart as the temporary leader of Lightclan. Clearlight shall remain as the temporary deputy. Any questions?"

Fluffystream raised his tail in response, "How long with you be sick?"

"It could be a few days to a few moons." Silverstar meowed with a small frown, "If anyone would know for sure, Nutwhisker would. But even our medicine cat does not know."

A few mumbles rippled through the clan and Rainleaf rose her voice to be heard over the buzz of meows. "Will Dawnheart be named Dawnstar?"

"No," Silverstar shook her head immediately, "She is not a full leader, only temporary."

Dawnheart smiled softly up at Silverstar. The she cat stood at the edge of the clan, her shy gaze darting around the cats.

Then Icepaw's bitter voice sounded from the cluster of apprentices beside the apprentices den. "When will Clearlight be an elder? He's too old to be deputy."

Silverstar sighed, "Clearlight is only being temporary deputy. For that type of job, Clearlight is the best cat. He is wise and experienced."

Ashleg nudged Foxclaw forwards with his paw, "Foxclaw would be a better choice for deputy, he's allergic to nonsense so he'd be able to sort out the cats easily!" The young grey tom joked and flashed a sly grin at Foxclaw.

The ginger tom scowled and muttered, "I'm not allergic, I just don't like things not organised."

Ashleg laughed, "Keep believing that."

Silverstar sighed as Cloudsun approached the two toms and started arguing with them. The clan was losing it; clan mates were going against one another, there had been whitecough outbreak, there wasn't any prey in the forest.. And Magiclan was probably going to attack again.

Finally, Clearlight noticed Silverstar's stressed expression and yowled at the cats. "Be quiet all of you! Silverstar is speaking."

Silverstar flashed Clearlight a thankful smile and began her ceremony for Shinepaw. "Shinepaw, you have chosen to leave your path as a warrior and continue on as a medicine cat. From now on, your mentor will be Nutwhisker. I hope he passes down everything he knows to you."

The clan quickly erupted into cheers for Shinepaw and Silverstar smiled and silently climbed down the Hightree. She passed Stormflame, who was still with Slowsky and Bigstep, and dragged him back to the medicine den with a burst of wind by using her powers.

"Hey!" Stormflame snapped and nearly crashed into Silverstar as he fought to keep his balance, "I was in the middle of a conversation!"

"Well too bad because you have Whitecough and you need to stay in the medicine den." Silverstar replied with stony face.

Stormflame growled and pushed past Silverstar and back into his nest. "Stupid sickness." He muttered before turning his back from Silverstar.

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Clearlight's POV:

"Is everyone ready?" Clearlight meowed with a glance at the battle patrol.

Six heads bobbed up and down and a few, 'Yes's sounded from the cats. Clearlight nodded and flicked his tail towards the camp entrance, "Let's go then!" He took off at a fast trott through the entrance and out into the forest. The patrol streamed after him.

The excited voices of Goldpaw and Rosepaw echoed around the quiet forest as they made their way towards the Magiclan side of Lightclan's territory.

"This is going to be my first battle!" Rosepaw mewed and bounced on her paws just behind Clearlight.

Goldpaw didn't respond but Clearlight turned around to see the quiet she cat flashing a happy smile at Rosepaw. The apprentice's short golden fur was groomed and shiny, her eyes shone in the sunlight. Rosepaw grinned, "Now we can boast about the battle to Blackpaw and Blizzardpaw! They always get to boast, but now it's our turn."

"It's too bad Icepaw couldn't come." Goldpaw whispered and glanced down at the ground.

Rosepaw snorted, "But Icepaw would have been so mean to us. She always thinks she is better than everyone."

Goldpaw shrugged and lengthened her stride to match Clearlight's. "Are we nearly there?" She asked softly.

Clearlight blinked down at her, "I'm not sure where the lynx could be, we are just going to the area where should be. Once we get there..." Clearlight slowed to a stop when he saw a pool of dried blood on the ground. "We'll follow the lynx's scent and chase it out."

Rosepaw rushed to the blood pool and bent down to smell it. "This is Silverstar's blood right?"

"Yes." Clearlight nodded his head stiffly and eyed the dried blood on the ground. There was so much...

Demonpelt growled, "Let's find it's scent trail and stop staring at our leader's blood." The dark she cat stalked forwards and sniffed the air. Whitetail and Sunpatch followed her lead and flanked Demonpelt as she sniffed around the bushes.

Clearlight made sure he stayed close to Rosepaw and Goldpaw. The lynx could be a very good stalker and might even be stalking them at that moment. He needed to make sure the apprentices were safe. If it were Clearlight's choice, he wouldn't have let the young she cats accompany the patrol but Fluffystream had insisted that it was experience for them. Clearlight hoped they didn't get hurt...

"Found it!" Demonpelt exclaimed and pricked her ears. "Smells weird, kinda like a cat but also like a fox... A hint of twoleg scent is here too. Perhaps twolegs have brought this lynx here."

"Maybe the twolegs are planning on attacking us and the lynxs are their warriors!" Rosepaw grinned and pounced on a leaf. "If I were a lynx, I would rip a twoleg up into little pieces and then feed it to a badger!"

Clearlight was taken aback from Rosepaw's... vivid imagination.. but he shrugged off the thought and followed at the rear of the patrol as Demonpelt lead the way.

Just as they came across a fallen tree, a fierce growl sounded behind Clearlight...

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