Autumn's Destiny

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

        I woke up to my mentor prodding my side "Wake up Cloudpaw, we're doing border patrol today." Waterfish meowed impatiently and padded out of den, letting in the sun's light and narrowed my eyes Why is it so bright in Leaf-fall? I stood up, wincing remembering the training he did last night, I saw fresh scratches across my flank and panicked What do I say if somebody see's them? I walked out into the clearing looking for my mentor who was standing at the entrance of camp, 

      I stretched and walked over to them and Greyhawk said to the patrol "Everybody ready?" everybody nodded and Thunderpaw asked "Where are we patrolling?" Greyhawk turned with a short reply "Darkclan, they have seemed a bit suspicious lately." Thunderpaw nodded and I bristled Foxdung....I don't want to encounter them again.. I flattened my fur as I got looks from the other cats in the patrol and Waterfish laid his tail on my back "Don't worry, nothing will happen." I nodded distantly and followed the patrol to the border.

    We walked to the Darkclan border in silence, breaking the silence Waterfish meowed to me "Where did you get those scratches, they look at least a day old." I looked up at him nervously "Oh I ran into a thorn bush yesterday hunting, I already got rid of the thorns." I lied and Waterfish twitched his nose "You should of seen Shellwing so she could of looked at them." He meowed blankly, I lowered my head and meowed trying to sound convincing,

   "I know, But I didn't want to bother her other some thorn scratches." he narrowed his eyes but stayed quiet I feel bad for lying to my mentor, but would it be so bad that I'm told him I'm training in Starclan? Mintstar would know and I would be praised and maybe even specially treated by the clan.... I decided to ask Violetsoul when I see her again But when will that be? My thoughts were broken by Greyhawk when he hissed, bristling "There's Darkclan cats, stay down and hide." 

     Waterfish whisked his tail and lead me behind a bush with Ripplewater "Why are we hiding?" I whispered, we crouched and Waterfish hissed "Because, we are going to see what they're going to do." I nodded and turned my head and looked through the bushes to see the Darkclan patrol nearing closer, I recognized Darkclaw with Slashclaw and his apprentice Nightpaw trailing behind him with two other cats I didn't recognized. I unsheathed my claws and Ripplewater shook her head whispering "Not yet Cloudpaw, we don't know if they are going to cross." I flattened my ears and didn't sheath them, watching carefully.

    "Shadowstar wants us to find that Oceanclan apprentice. Remember to be stealthy, they could be nearby." Darkclaw hissed quietly and the rest of the patrol crouched and followed Darkclaw into Oceanclan's territory, I was about to jump out when Waterfish hissed in a whisper "Not yet." I looked over to Greyhawk who was staring at the cats with anger, he flicked his tail and jumped out of the bush he was hiding behind and the rest of the patrol came out as well, claws unsheathed 

    "What are you doing on Oceanclan territory" Greyhawk hissed, his fluffy grey tail swishing angrily. Darkclaw was shocked to see the patrol jump out, so was the rest of them but took no time unsheathe his claws "We are looking for one of your apprentices that came into our camp." He paused and looked at the patrol until laying his eyes on me and narrowed his eyes,

  "That one, he is the one that came into our camp and took one of our cats away!" The dark tom's eyes blazed like fire and I bristled, hissing "Lies! That cat was taken captive by you and made him starve. The thing that makes thing worse that he was sick, he was foaming from the mouth but you let him slowly die there but now he's safe in the arms of his twoleg." 

    I saw the rest of Oceanclan's patrol stiffen and look at me, as well as Darkclan's "H-He deserved to stay down there, he invaded out territory and wouldn't leave!" Nightpaw said nervously looking up to her mentor who gave a small nod of approval, Thunderpaw straightened up and hissed "You would trap him down there just because he crossed your territory?" Darkclaw wrinkled his nose and yowled in frustration "The cat doesn't matter right now, hand over the apprentice!" Waterfish growled and Greyhawk stood up straight and growled in return "Never! Oceanclan, attack!" 

   "Snakeye, go for the grey cat, I call the apprentice!" Darkclaw hissed and jumped for me and landed on my shoulders hard and I felt the pain go from my neck down, I scratched his stomach with my backclaws He's going to kill me!  He landed a blow on my muzzle, I yowled in pain as I tried to push him off, he laughed menacingly and meowed "It's the end of the line fishface." Before I knew it he lounged for my neck and I closed my eyes, preparing for the worst but felt the weight come off of me and saw Waterfish on top of him, scratching his eyes and Darkclaw yowled in pain pushing Waterfish off "Darkclan retreat!" He yowled through the fighting cats and the cats scattered into the marshy woods, Darkclaw turned and looked at me with bloody eyes, hissing "I'll be back apprentice, don't forget that and when I when I do I'll be stronger than ever." and with that he ran into the woods blindly with Snakeye stabilizing him, Waterfish looked at me and examined my bloody white fur and turned his eyes to my face "Come on let's get Shellwing to check out that scratch, we will discuss the Darkclan deal later." I nodded blankly and walked with the patrol back to camp.

     We walked into camp and all the cats turned their eyes on us and Lightningpaw ran towards me and Thunderpaw "What happened? Was it Sunclan?" He asked with wide, anxious eyes and Waterfish walked up behind us and nudged me towards the medicine cat den "You can ask him later, he needs to see Shellwing." Lightningpaw looked dissapointed and a bit agitated but nodded and turned away to the other apprentices that were whispering quietly, 

     I turned to look at Wavepaw who looked at me with worried eyes and I turned my eyes away and walked into the den without saying anything. I walked in to see Shellwing had what looked like Poppy seeds, Marigold, Cobwebs, and two other herbs that I didn't recognize dangling from her jaws as she walked towards me "Sit still as I chew these, eat these while your sitting there." She pushed the poppy seeds towards me and I lapped them up slowly, the wound on my muzzle stung with pain badly but I made no complaints 

   "Why don't you go help the others, I'll be fine." I meowed looking back at the cats behind me, licking their wounds outside the den "Because yours can get infected and theirs isn't as serious, yours is quite deep and I want to stop the bleeding not to add you wrenched your shoulder. Now eat this." I sighed and ate the poultice mixed with the two other herbs

    I laid down feeling a bit drowsy from the poppy seeds watching her gather her cobwebs and beginning to put  marigold on my muzzle, I winced at the touch wanting to wail like a kit but just closed my eyes feeling her putting the cobweb on, drifting into sleep with Darkclaw's haunting eyes and his words echoing through my head "I'll be back apprentice, don't you forget that and when I do I'll be stronger than ever."

(WOWIE double update my dudes, I'm trying to figure out for what I should put in for fillers lol, hopefully that will be soon because I don't want to leave you guys hanging for another 4 months again, again. Sorry. )