Warriors: Divided Loyalty

Chapter Twelve

"Remember, behave and don't pick any fights, there's a truce for a reason." Nightpaw nodded, padding beside Halfthroat. "Trust no one and don't share our secrets."

"And remember," Halfthroat looked at her, his eyes intense. "Never show any weakness, it gives them power that you don't want." He paused, looking forward as they neared the Gathering hollow was in the back of the hollow, stood a large, tall tree.

Nightpaw stared at the tree in awe, wanting to climb every branch to get to the top just to see the territories all at once. "What's that?" She whispered to Reedpaw once Halfthroat had gone.

She had never gone to a Gathering, unlike her siblings. Dawnpaw, Songpaw, Reedpaw, Littlepaw, Honeypaw, and Aspenpaw had already gone to one Gathering without Nightpaw.

With a sigh, Nightpaw followed behind Halfthroat and Ivyheart as they led the way behind Applestar and Spiderstem. The Gathering hollow was bigger than the camp, Nightpaw noticed. Cats were all over the place, much like her visit to StarClan a couple of days ago.

Pushing away her memory of the dream where Stripedkit told her Whitekit was deaf and that was how he died, Nightpaw bounded down the slope and skidded to a stop near a group of DawnClan warriors.

There was one cat who met her eyes all of a sudden. "OakClan is here!" He declared to his Clanmates and the other cats sitting with him. "Come here and introduce yourself," he invited.

Nightpaw gulped. Reedpaw had bounced away towards a few NightClan apprentices and was chatting with them. After considering her options for a moment, she took a deep breath and padded towards the warriors.

"About time OakClan got here," commented a red tabby she-cat, looking at a golden-brown tabby she-cat. "I thought we'd have to wait until Leafbare for them to arrive."

The tom, a golden tabby, fixed her with a stern look, making her fall silent. "Thornbite," he meowed, tail flicking around his paws. "OakClan lives further away from here than any other Clan does, you know that."

Thornbite? Nightpaw was horrified at the name the she-cat had. Who names their warrior Thornbite? She kept quiet, shifting her paws uncomfortably.

Thornbite sniffed her nose in the air indignantly. "Whatever," she snorted, sending a nasty look over at Nightpaw. "What's your name?"

Nightpaw flinched, looking down at her paws nervously. "N-Nightpaw," she muttered, wishing a hole devoured her right then and there.

"Hello, Nightpaw," purred the red tabby she-cat kindly. "My name is Robinfire." She looked at the tom, who was smiling at Nightpaw. "That's Thorntail, Thornbite's father."

Nightpaw looked up, surprised. "Y-you named your daughter after yourself?" She meowed, in shock.

Thorntail let out a noise that made Nightpaw flinch. Then she realized he was laughing! She tilted her head, frowning.

"You're funny, Nightpaw," he bellowed, eyes dancing with amusement. "I didn't name this grouch, her mother did when she got a thorn in her paw pad when she was a few days old."

Robinfire let out a mrrow of laughter. "She was so snappy at Tanglewatcher, Halfsnow requested during her warrior ceremony that she be named Thornbite."

The golden-brown tabby she-cat glared at her Clanmates, cheeks red in embarrassment. "Shut up!" She hissed, curling her lip.

Thorntail chuckled and looked at Nightpaw, but not in the eyes. Instead, he was looking at her hind legs that were tucked underneath her. "How'd you get that scar?" He asked, pointing with a paw to the scar on her hind leg from Halfthroat.