Beast of the Sea - WARRIOR CATS

Chapter 9

"Coming!" Littlepaw yowled.

The two of us padded towards the mass of cats. I stared down at the rough ground below my paws, wondering how scraped they would get over the course of the journey. I wondered how far away the Starlight Caverns were from camp; Bubbleburst had never mentioned them to me on our patrols of the territory.

"Alright," Aquastar sighed as soon as all the cats had gathered together.

I was squeezed tightly between a bright-eyed Streamfeather and a cantankerous Goldspike. Streamfeather blinked back at me with huge eyes, the young, naive she-cat clearly very eager to start the journey to go to the gathering.

Dewocean spoke up from the front of the ground. "This gathering is very important," she announced in a calm voice. She never had to yowl; all the cats leaned in to hear what she was going to say.

"Yeah?" Goldspike muttered to her sister. "It's just gonna be a gross time where we have to deal with the sneaky CaveClan worm-cats and the uppity GladeClan cats. No big deal or anything."

"I've had signs from StarClan that warn me of tonight!" Silvershine, the nervous, small Medicine Cat pipped up from the back of the crowd. "Warnings of sharks and darkness. I know not what it means!"

Gasps sounded from several of the ShoreClan cats. I noticed that Streamfeather looked confused, while Drizzlemist flexed his claws in and out. Only Dewocean remained calm, tail wrapped neatly around her paws.

Dewocean leaped to her paws, and instantly the clamour died away. She smiled, flicking her tail from side to side, making it seem almost like a serpent, poised to strike.

"Everything will be revealed in time, ShoreClan," she purred. "Although sharks are a good omen for us, after all, we are the ones that live by the sea where sharks abide, not the tunnelling CaveClan or the nature-loving GladeClan. Now come on."

I had a feeling that Dewocean knew more, or had more planned for the night than she was letting on. She told me it was going to be a...blast? But all my attention was focussed on Aquastar. In my head, I was beginning to wonder if he was the shadowed cat.

During the trek to the gathering, we travelled mostly in silence. I had a feeling that every cat's mind was whirling, though. Every cat seemed to want to keep their thoughts hidden. Nothing new there, I thought as I cleared a fallen oak with one giant leap. They certainly took their time telling me I was the daughter of a tyrant.

"Hey, watch it!"

I had to rear back to avoid colliding with Flowerpaw. It seemed that the entire patrol had stopped. I tried to look around, but cats, far bigger than me, kept me from seeing at any angle. Flowerpaw glowered down at me, his cream tail flicking to and fro.

"Stay out of my fur, you weasel," he snapped before turning to pad beside his mother. Goldspike nuzzled him on the ear.

"Looks like ShoreClan finally made it." A cat's voice called from somewhere up ahead. I twitched my ears; I had never heard that cat before.

I had to leap out of the way as Drizzlemist bounded to the front of the crowd. I scrambled up a boulder, looking around. Then, my heart stopped in my chest as I found myself surrounded with a sea of cats.

There were dark pelted cats with rough fur, and heavy set bodies. Their eyes were all heavily diluted and glowed even in the dusk light, and their tails were very furry. Their claws also seemed to be permanently unsheathed. In spite of their intimidating muscles, they seemed shorter than the other cats.

"That's CaveClan!" Streamfeather glanced up at me. "They're a strange bunch. Did you know that they get powers from the underground instead of the sea?!"