Back To The Start (Book 3) (S1 Finale) (A Warriors Cat Story)

Chapter 12: Great Leader

I looked at Shadow for a few moments, and I could not blame him for wondering what another leader was doing here on their land. I also was confused as well though too. This was not their land in the first place... This was Skyclans land, and it suddenly began to make sense as to why I smelt blood in the air.
They must have had a skirmish over territory! This soon though? The clans had barely started in the first place, and it was not even the cold season yet. I began to fear what might happen when the cold season did come as well.
I looked at Shadow and then nodded to him my apology. He had every right to be concerned if there was a cat on their land in the first place. Whether or not this was their land, I still had questions about that, but I would ask the leader about all of that when I got there.
"I am not here to fight, I am just here to talk to your leader, and ask for something, we may need-" I began to say to him. I was cut off mid sentence as I heard a loud cat scream something at me from not too far away from here.
I turned my head over to where it had come from in the first place, wondering what it might be. The cat sounded angry, and he had been yelling at me clearly. I saw a large cat running towards me, and I stood up realizing that it was about to attack me.
"Intruder on Shadowclan territory! Attack my crew!" The cat yelled. I looked at the cat a bit surprised and confused as to what was going on. I noticed the cat to be Dust, the deputy of Shadowclan. It was clearly running right after me as well.
I dodged to the side as the cat jumped towards me to try to attack me. It missed me by a hair length, and I turned my head over to it as it landed on the ground a bit uncomfortably. The cat got back up right away, and it hissed at me. I was not fazed.
It began to size me up, and I could tell that it was about to run at me once again. I then heard another cat speak right behind me, that happened to not be Shadow. I turned my head over to the cat to listen to the cat speak.
"What is going on! Dust! Calm down, this is Moon, he is the leader of Windclan!" She, Dimple, said to Dust. She said it as if Dust did not know who I was in the first place. I knew that Dust knew who I was, and I also did realize that he wanted to start a fight against me in the first place.
He had sized me up the on time that I had talked to Kevin. I did not like this cat at all, I think it was a poor choice for deputy made by Kevin. I did like Kevin, but I did not like some of the decisions that he made. This was one of them that I did not like as well.
Dust looked over at his clan mate, and he hissed at her a bit annoyed as well. He did not size her up however, as I could tell from the beginning that he had fallen madly in love with her when he had first met her. I could tell with the look on her face as well, that it had managed to calm him down.
He still did not have a good look on his face however, like I was the one that could not be trusted at the moment. I suppose I was on "their territory" but I had to talk to Kevin. It was to save the life of another cat, and all the cats knew at this point that it did not matter, and you had to set aside your differences when it came to the life of another cat.
He did stand still and he did his best to keep his calm. He looked at me, and squinted his eyes at me, as he then began to talk back to me, nodding to his clan mate Dimple as well.
"My apologizes Moon, we just fought so hard to get this land, I am worried that Skyclan might want to take it back from us, it was simply just a natural instinct." He said to me. I squinted my eyes at him, it did not seem as if he was telling the truth with a part of that.
I was pretty sure he had smelt me from far away, and he knew that I was the leader of Windclan. It seemed to calm Shadow and Dimple down however, and I was not going to complain about it. It did make sense as why Youngtail had said that he had gotten scratches more than once walking on their land to talk with them.
I looked at him for a few moments, and I could tell he was lying about what he said to me. I did not think too deep on it though, as I was here to talk to the leader, and not the deputy. Clearly all of them were waiting for me to respond however, and I nodded my apology to all of them for being so slow.
"It is alright... I am just here to talk to Kevin about something... We may need some help." I said to all of them. He looked at me for a few moments, and then suddenly his face began to glow up, and I could tell that he was excited about something for some odd reason or another.
I sat there for a few moments, looking at the others, and wondering if this cat was crazy or something. All I could tell was that something was all out of whack with him. The looks on the other cats faces seemed as if this was perfectly normal to them.
I shook my head a little bit, and then I pointed my eyes back over to Dust. Dust looked at me a bit surprised, and I could tell that he was not sure how to respond to what I had just said to him. Eventually however, he finally looked at me and he then nodded back to me as he then began to speak.
"What's going on?! Are there rogues that are planning attack you! We can easily tear them apart, our clan is strong!" He said to me. I did my best to hide a giggle as to the way he had said that. I looked at him for a little bit longer, just waiting for him to calm his nerves.
I then shook my head at him, I could tell he was hoping that was so, he looked like he wanted a fight, and I could tell that he was prepared for one when he had ran up on me the way that he had done at first. He actually looked a bit disappointed when he had seen me shake my head.
I did not think too deep about it quite yet, I would ask questions about it when we had our next meeting, I doubt that Piper would be very happy to just have their territory stolen away from them like that. I had very little doubt as to who had planned it as well.
I looked at Dust as I kept my eyes squinted at him, I waited for all of the cats around me to all calm their nerves before I finally responded to Dust, as open as I could, and trying to keep my calm like a good leader for the other cats around me.
"No... We have cats in trouble, one is very sick, and Limp told me to come here for the herb to help him." I said to him. He once again began to look a bit upset with what I had just said to him, and I rolled my eyes at him, which he did not seem to notice at all.
Either that or he was not smart enough to notice me roll my eyes at him and think too deep on it. I could tell that Dimple and Shadow noticed the look that he had on his face as well, as Shadow came closer to me, in the chance that he might ran at me and attack me again. He then began to respond to me.
"Why did your medicine cat not just come then? We don't have a medicine cat, so we don't know what you are looking for!" He said to me. I looked at him, and I understood why he was acting like that I suppose. It still was not okay, but it made a slight bit of sense, so I did not blame him.
I could understand how it was a bit more scary to have a leader come in on your territory rather than a medicine cat. I then began to wonder why Limp had not thought about that in the first place as well. I shook my head though, it made sense why she had not thought about that.
She was too worried about the cats that were sick, and I did not blame her for it. I would rather have her there making sure that they were okay, rather than have me there not knowing how to sooth him in the case that he had another seizure.
I did my best to keep Dust calm, and not plan on attacking me once again. As I nodded to him, and I began to respond to the question that he had just asked me.
"Limp needed to stay back, in the case that he had another seizure. I need to talk to Kevin about it, he might have some sort of answer." I said back to him. He still did not look as if he fully believed what I had just said to him, but I could tell it calmed his nerves a bit for the moment.
He looked like he was about to say something about it to me as well, but I saw Dimple shake her head at him from the corner of my eyes. He did not say anything to me about that. He just nodded to me, and I nodded back to him, thanking him for understanding me.
After a few short moments, I then heard Shadow speak up from right beside me. He seemed to be a lot more calm and collect than the rest of us, and it came as a bit of a surprise to me as well, because he had most certainly not been like that when I had first met him.
He had grown up a lot in the last couple of moons for sure, and I was quite proud of him. I would have much rather have had Shadow as my deputy than Dust for sure. I did not blame Kevin for his decision though, I knew that him and Dust had grown up as long time friends.
He did not know Shadow very well at the time, and he probably had a lot more trust in Dust than Shadow. I felt a bit bad for Shadow, I knew he had been a bit sad as well when I had chosen Kevin as the leader as well. Shadow was just still a bit young for being a leader in my eyes though.
I shook my head as my mind came back into the presence as I realized that Shadow was speaking to me, and I was not paying a single bit of attention to what it was that he had to say to me. I made sure to focus in on it however.
"Moon... We are going to take you back to camp, you can talk to Kevin privately there." He said to me. I looked at him, realizing what he had just said to me, and I then slowly nodded my head to him. I let him know that I understood what he had just said to me.
Dust looked like he was about to say something rhetorical to Shadow, but he closed his lips, deciding that it was best not to say anything about it. I looked down at the ground, before I finally then lifted my head up to Shadow, and then began to speak back to him.
"Thank you my old friend! Dust, you take the lead for us back to camp." I said to him, realizing that I was the one on their territory, so I should not be acting like I was the leader of their clan. Luckily none of them said anything about it however.
Shadow looked at me a bit surprised at the fact that I had called him an old friend. I had mainly done it to see if it got on the nerves of Dust though. I suppose that I could call Shadow a friend though. I did not blame him for being surprised either.
I had been a bit rude to Shadow, because he acted like a kit when he said stuff to the other cats that were around us most of the time. I looked at Shadow as he then nodded to me, and he cracked a bit of a smile at the same time as well.
Dust nodded to me as well, as he took the lead back to camp for us. I was happy that he did as well, I did not trust him to not attack me from my back side while we were walking back. I shook my head though, I should not think too deep on it right now.
It was still early in the morning, and I was very tired from not getting any sleep at all last night. I thought about asking Kevin if I could get some sleep in their camp. But I shook those thoughts off, as I knew I needed to get back to Limp as soon as I possibly could.
I looked at the sky above me, and I shook my head. As I kept on walking, noticing that Dimple was looking back on me from time to time, clearly not trusting that I might just run off on their territory for some odd reason.
I looked at the tree sap as well, the smell was a bit nice, but I would not give up living in Windclan any day for a small smell of tree sap. I loved living in Windclan, the smell of the flowers and the fresh air was much nicer to me for sure.
I kept on walking, as Shadow moved back to me as he felt like he must say something to me. Either that or he wanted to talk to me, and catch up on something. I looked at him, and then nodded to him, letting him know that he could speak.
He looked at me, still not so sure, but he then nodded to me thankfully. As if he was the one that was in my territory. I hid a giggle from him, as I then waited for him to start talking. After a few more moments, he finally stepped up and began speaking to me.
"Do you really view me as a friend? I can tell you did not like me a few moons ago. I was still in a bit of a stage of being a kit at the time... I think you are a great leader Moon." He said to me.  I looked at him for a few moments, and then I nodded to him.
I was grateful for the complement that he had given me. He had sure grown up as a cat in the last few moons, he most definitely was not lying when he had said that. I was quite proud of him, and I was for sure happy to call him as a friend with the way he was acting right now.
"Of course Shadow... I thought that you should have been chosen as deputy over Dust... I do not trust Dust very well as deputy, I am not going to lie. I would have much rather had it been you." I said to him. He looked at me a bit surprised, but then he shook his head at me.
Now I was the one that was surprised a bit. He did not look as if he believed that he should be the deputy of Shadowclan. Maybe he did not want to be deputy, I had heard that some cats had told the leader that they did not want to be deputy when they had been given the chance.
I did not blame them either, it was a lot of stress on a cat to be given that role as well. If he did not want to be deputy, I did not blame him for it. There was also a lot of cats that did want it, in a bad way as well... They wanted that power, and that was what I feared from Dust. I focused my thoughts on Shadow as he was speaking to me.
"I will admit that I do not trust Dust at times... If Kevin does, than I will trust his decision... He is a great leader..."