Spottedleaf peered over the edge of the bush-littered slope. The five chosen apprentices crouched beside her. Next to them a group of ThunderClan cats waited for Bluestar's signal in the undergrowth.
The greenness of the steep-sided glade had been bleached by the full moon's cold light, and the leaves glowed silver. The large oaks that marked where the four Clans' territories met stood at the bottom.
Warm scents of cats from the other Clans thickened the air. In the moonlight, Spottedleaf could clearly see them moving about below in the grassy clearing between the four oaks. A large, jagged rock stood in the center of the clearing.
"There are so many cats down there!" Graypaw hissed under his breath.
"There's RiverClan's leader." Spottedleaf hissed back. "Crookedstar."
Firepaw craned his neck. "Where?"
"That light brown tabby with the twisted jaw, beside the Great Rock." Spottedleaf nodded to the huge tom who sat in the center of the clearing. His striped pelt shone pale in the moon's light. Despite the distance, the signs of harsh life on the leader's aged face showed, and his lower jaw looked twisted as if it had been badly broken and improperly healed.
"He's bigger than Lionheart!" Firepaw gasped.
"And there is ShadowClan's leader-Brokenstar." Spottedleaf hissed. Her fur pricked uncomfortably at the sight of the dark brown tabby. His fur was long, face broad and flattened, and tail bent. The tom's amber eyes were calm as he stared around him.
"He looks nasty." Muttered Dustpaw.
"Sure does." Sandpaw agreed.
"He has not been leader long-four moons, ever since the death of his father, Raggedstar." Spottedleaf put in. "Yet he already has quite the reputation among all the Clans for not suffering fools lightly."
Firepaw blinked at Spottedleaf with that all too familiar look of interest. "Do all leaders have the 'star' suffix?"
"Indeed they do." Answered the warrior. "It represents their bond with the warriors of StarClan."
"I thought Bluestar and Tallstar were just special..." Firepaw admitted quietly.
Spottedleaf affectionately nudged her apprentice. "There's no shame in not knowing every aspect of our ways, youngster." She purred. "Did your father mention what Tallstar looked like?"
"Father told me he's black-and-white with a long tail." Firepaw mewed. His look of interest hardened. "I still find it unfair."
"Pardon?"
"Naming a cat after their disability, I mean. Halftail, One-eye, Crookedstar, Brokenstar. Leaders have the power to change a cat's name, right?"
Spottedleaf nodded.
Firepaw continued. "Why have Crookedstar and Brokenstar kept such...distasteful names then?"
Spottedleaf honestly hadn't given it too much thought until now. The bond between leaders and their ancestors was special and secretive. The tortoiseshell knew very little about receiving a name from the stars. Were leaders allowed to rename themselves or could such a change only be done by the deceased?
Spottedleaf's thoughts were interrupted by Graypaw. "WindClan has yet to turn up."
"WindClan may just be late." Lionheart's soft mew sounded beside them.
"What if they don't show up at all?" Graypaw mewed.
"Don't suggest such nonsense! We must be patient, for these are difficult times. Bluestar will give the signal soon." Lionheart quietly meowed.
Bluestar stood as he spoke, holding her tail high and flicking it from side to side. Spottedleaf didn't miss a beat as she rose to her paws and bounded through the shrubbery, down to the meeting place. She raced alongside her clanmates, feeling the wind rush by her ears and tug at her fur.
The ThunderClan cats instinctively paused at the clearing's edge, outside the boundary of the four grand trees. Bluestar tasted the air, then she nodded and the group moved into the clearing.
The other cats were milling around the Great Rock.
A large white tom strode by, Firepaw and Ravenpaw staring at him in awe.
"Look at those paws!" Murmured Ravenpaw.
Spottedleaf noticed the huge, jet black paws of the great tom. Recognition rippled along her spine. "That's Blackfoot." She mewed. "He's ShadowClan's new deputy."
Blackfoot padded over to Brokenstar and settled down beside him. The leader of ShadowClan twitched an ear in acknowledgement, but said nothing.
"When will the meeting start?" Ravenpaw asked Lionheart.
"Patience, Ravenpaw." He answered. "We have plenty of time tonight. The sky is clear."
Whitestorm leaned over to add, "Warriors like to spend some time boasting about victories, while elders swap tales about ancient times before the arrival of twolegs." Spottedleaf looked to the tom and saw his whiskers mischievously twitching.
Dappletail, Smallear, and Speckletail headed off, straight for a group of elderly cats who were sitting below one of the oak trees. Lionheart and Whitestorm stalked over to another pair of warriors whom Spottedleaf did not recognize. Their scent told her they were from RiverClan.
Bluestar's voice sounded behind the six cats. "This is a good opportunity for you five," she was addressing the apprentices. "to meet your enemies. Learn everything you can about them from these meetings."
"And don't run your mouths too freely." Tigerclaw warned. "Don't say anything that may aid the other Clans once the moon has waned."
"They won't." Spottedleaf promised, looking Tigerclaw in the eyes.
Bluestar and Tigerclaw nodded and moved on, Spottedleaf taking another route into the crowd.
Spottedleaf found Willowpelt and Tinyice in the presence of some ShadowClan warriors. She settled herself beside her family.
"No scent of WindClan yet." She mewed to Willowpelt.
"The meeting has yet to begin; they may be on their way." Replied her sister. "Look, Runningnose. I hear he's ShadowClan's new medicine cat." She nodded to a small gray-and-white tom at the center of the group.
"His name has always been on the nose." Spottedleaf remarked. The medicine cat's pink nose was wet at the tip and encrusted around the nostrils.
Tinyice purred with an amused twitch of his whiskers. "Yep. I don't see why he was appointed. He can't cure his own cold!"
Runningnose was in the midst of sharing a story about a herb that had been used by medicine cats to cure kitten-cough in the old days. "The herb has disappeared since twolegs filled in the place with hard earth and odd plants. Now kits needlessly die in leaf-bare." He complained.
The cats around him growled their disapproval.
"That never would've happened in the times of the great Clans." Hissed a black RiverClan she-cat.
"Agreed." A silver tabby she-cat mewled. She too smelled of fish. "The cats of the great Clans would've killed any twoleg who dare enter their land. Twolegs would never have built this far into our territory if TigerClan still roamed the forest."
Vixenleap and Silverstream. Spottedleaf recognized the two RiverClan she-cats, twitching her nose at their stench. Silverstream had been named a warrior not too long ago, though the tortoiseshell wouldn't be surprised if it was revealed that her ceremony had come early. She was Crookedstar's only remaining daughter.
Spottedleaf then heard Mossfall's quiet mew as she approached. "We would've never made our territory here either if TigerClan still roamed the forest."
"TigerClan? What's that?" A small voice from beside them mewed. Spottedleaf noticed a little brown tabby apprentice from ShadowClan sitting next to her.
"TigerClan is one of the three great Clans that used to roam these woods." Willowpelt quietly explained. "TigerClan cats belong to the night. They're bigger than the largest warrior of our modern Clans, and have jet-black stripes. There's also LionClan-"
The tabby cut her off. "I've heard of LionClan! They were just as big as the cats of TigerClan, and had golden manes like rays of the sun."
Willowpelt nodded. "And there's the last one. LeopardClan. LeopardClan were the swiftest out of the three great Clans. They were huge and golden, spotted with black pawprints. You have LeopardClan to thank for the speed you possess now."
"Why do we need to thank them?" The tabby asked.
Willowpelt answered, gazing down at the little apprentice. "Every cat today has traces of the great Clans in their blood. We would not have excellent night-sight without our TigerClan ancestors, and our love for the warmth of the sun comes from LionClan."
"You are an apprentice of ShadowClan, are you not? How old are you?" Spottedleaf questioned, her curiosity getting the better of her.
The tabby awkwardly stared at the ground, not meeting Spottedleaf's eye. "S-six moons."
"You are rather small for six moons." Spottedleaf noted, her tone gentle, but eyes serious.
"My m-mother was small." The tabby nervously answered.
"Littlepaw!"
The ShadowClan tabby bowed his head and backed up at the sound of the cry, disappearing into the crowd with a flick of his light brown tail.
"Another fitting name." Spottedleaf mused.
"Spottedleaf." A voice growled from behind her.
"Tigerclaw." Spottedleaf greeted as she stood. She then dipped her head to the golden warrior beside the dark tabby. "Lionheart."
"Come on." Grunted Tigerclaw, padding off with a toss of his head.
Confused, Spottedleaf joined the two toms. "Is something the matter?" She whispered to Lionheart.
Lionheart shook his head. "Tigerclaw wants to see where our apprentices have scampered off to."
Ravenpaw was in the center of a group of apprentices who were pleading for him to tell the story regarding the battle with RiverClan, Firepaw and Graypaw amongst the crowd.
"Tell us what happened; go on, Ravenpaw!" Called a pretty tortoiseshell she-cat, her fur a mess of gray, white, and brown.
Ravenpaw shook his head and shuffled his paws shyly.
"Ravenpaw, come on!" Insisted a silver-gray tom.
Ravenpaw glanced around and spotted Firepaw and Graypaw in the group, receiving a nod of encouragement from the ginger tabby. Ravenpaw acknowledged him with a flick of his tail and began the story. He stumbled a bit in the beginning, but the tremor in his voice disappeared as he continued. The audience leaned in with round eyes.
"Fur flew everywhere. Blood hit the leaves of bramble bushes, bright red against green. I had just sent a huge warrior squealing into the bushes when the ground shook, and I heard a warrior howl. It was Oakheart! A RiverClan warrior raced by me, bloody and battered. 'Oakheart's dead!' he cried. Then the rest of his Clan retreated."
"Ravenpaw is such a good storyteller. Who would've thought?" Murmured Spottedleaf to Lionheart, impressed.
"He better be telling the correct story." Tigerclaw grumbled.
Spottedleaf looked at her nephew. "Is there another way to tell the story aside from how it happened?"
Tigerclaw stared back, burning amber locked with warm amber. "You would know if you hadn't fled." He meowed simply.
"Excuse me?" Spottedleaf sharply meowed, flattening her ears.
"Great StarClan!" Lionheart shoved himself between the pair. "You two are worse than my kits! Would it kill you to spend one moment together without attempting murder?"
Spottedleaf exhaled heavily through her nose, and returned her attention to the crowd of apprentices while Lionheart muttered something about being too old to break up arguments amongst grown warriors.
Ravenpaw was wrapping up his story. "With all the RiverClan warriors fleeing, Redtail howled our victory from the top of Sunningrocks. We had won!" The black tom proceeded to answer the questions he was bombarded with from his enthusiastic audience.
"What did Oakheart say before he died?"
"Is it true that Oakheart had been undefeated before that battle?"
Ravenpaw promptly replied with his voice high and clear, eyes shining.
A loud yowl signaled silence from all cats.
Spottedleaf looked up to see three cats silhouetted against the moonlit sky atop the Great Rock; Bluestar, Crookedstar, and Brokenstar. The gathering was about to begin. But where was Tallstar?
"They won't start the meeting without WindClan's leader, will they?" Spottedleaf heard Firepaw hiss.
Apprentices were always poor at whispering.
"Dunno." Muttered Graypaw in response.
"There's not so much as a hair off a WindClan cat's pelt here." A dark brown RiverClan apprentice on the other side of Firepaw mewed.
An unsettled murmuring rumbled through the cats as they gathered beneath the Great Rock. Spottedleaf guessed that similar conversations were taking place across the clearing.
"We cannot start!" A voice yowled above the clamor. "Where is WindClan? We must not proceed until all four Clans have arrived."
Bluestar stepped forward atop the rock, her blue-gray fur glowing almost white in the moonlight. "Welcome, cats of all Clans," she meowed, voice clear. "It is true that no WindClan cats are present tonight, but Brokenstar wishes to speak regardless."
Brokenstar silently padded up to stand beside Bluestar. He took a few moments to survey the crowd, amber eyes cold. He then took a deep breath and began. "I come before you tonight to share the needs of ShadowClan-"
Loud and impatient voices from below interrupted him.
"Why has Tallstar not come?" One cried.
"Where is the rest of WindClan?" Another yowled.
Brokenstar stretched to his full height, his tail lashing from side to side. Thin clouds began to drift across the moon. "As a leader, I have full right to address you here!" He growled menacingly. An uneasy silence settled over the crowd, and the acrid tang of fear was thick in the air all around.
Brokenstar yowled again as the clouds grew thicker and the hollow dimmer. "Every cat knows that this past leaf-bare has been exceptionally hard thanks to the late arrival of newleaf. It has left our hunting grounds with little prey. ShadowClan is aware that WindClan, RiverClan, and ThunderClan have lost several kits to the freezing weather that came so late this season. We, however, did not lose kits. Our kits are stronger than others from the first breath they take, and so we find ourselves with too little prey to feed our many hungry mouths."
The crowd anxiously listened, still silent.
"In order for ShadowClan to survive, we need to increase our hunting grounds. That is why I insist you open your borders to ShadowClan and allow our warriors to hunt in your territories."
A growl of shock ripple through the cats.
"Let enemy warriors hunt on our territory?" Tigerclaw called, outraged.
"Unprecedented!" Cried a tortoiseshell warrior from RiverClan. "The Clans have survived this long without sharing hunting rights!"
"ShadowClan shouldn't suffer because our kits thrive!" Brokenstar yowled from the Great Rock. "Do you want our young to starve? You must share your prey with us."
"Must?!" Smallear furiously spat from the back of the crowd.
"Must." Brokenstar repeated. "WindClan failed to understand and we were forced to drive them from their territory."
Outraged snarls erupted from the cats gathered in the darkness, but Brokenstar's caterwaul rang loud. "ShadowClan will drive you all from your respective territories to feed our kits if we must."
Silence instantly fell.
Spottedleaf heard a RiverClan apprentice start to murmur something regarding the clouded moon on the other side of the clearing, but he was hushed quickly by an elder.
Brokenstar continued, satisfied that he had every cat's attention. "One Clan must remain strong, if we want all to survive. While you all struggle, ShadowClan thrives. There may come a time when you need our protection."
"Do you doubt ThunderClan's strength?" Tigerclaw hissed. His amber eyes threateningly glared at the ShadowClan leader, and his strong muscles tightened with tension.
"I do not need your answer tonight." Brokenstar ignored the challenge. "You must each take my words into careful consideration. Bear this in mind while you decide: would you rather share your food, or be driven to homelessness and starvation?"
Crookedstar stepped forward in the anxious pause that followed. It was hard to make him out in the darkness, but his green eyes were clear. "On the behalf of RiverClan, I have allowed ShadowClan hunting rights to the river that runs through our lands." He quietly mewed, looking down at his Clan.
Humiliation and horror washed from the RiverClan cats in waves at their leader's words.
"You did not consult us!" A grizzled silver tabby cried.
"This is what's best for RiverClan. For all four Clans, I feel." Explained Crookedstar, voice heavy with resignation. "The river is full of fish. It is better to share our prey than to fall into a cycle of needless bloodshed over it."
"Leave it to killers to side with killers!" It took Spottedleaf a heartbeat too long to realize that the words had come from Tinyice's jaws. Spottedleaf could feel shock ripple through the cats, radiating from every pelt. Even Tigerclaw seemed stunned.
"RiverClan are not killers." Crookedstar growled lowly.
Tinyice was on his paws to hold his gaze steady with the RiverClan leader's. "Tell that to Redtail, who was murdered by one of your warriors after the battle had been won!"
Crookedstar's eyes narrowed, ablaze with fresh fury. "I understand ThunderClan is grieving, Tinyice, but you cannot accuse innocent cats of something as heinous as cold-blooded murder. I assure you, and the rest of ThunderClan, Redtail was alive when RiverClan left Sunningrocks."
"Tinyice, that is enough." Bluestar's tone was even with cold annoyance, and the black tom couldn't help but shrink under her leader's sharp glare. The leader then turned to Crookedstar. "I apologize for my warrior's outburst. He is still grieving for Redtail as he was the brother of his mate, and ThunderClan has no solid evidence to prove your Clan is guilty of our deputy's death."
Bluestar addressed her Clan next. "I nor ThunderClan have agreed to Brokenstar's proposal. I shall discuss it with my Clan after the Gathering."
Brokenstar's raspy voice sounded strong after Crookedstar's surrender as he spoke up again. "I also bring forth news that is important to your kits' safety. A ShadowClan cat has turned rogue and abandoned all respect for the warrior code. She was chased from our camp, but her location as of now is unknown. She looks like a mangy old creature, but she bites like TigerClan."
ThunderClan's cats bristled and pricked up their ears, curious to hear more.
"She is extremely dangerous. I warn you all-do not shelter her. And-" Brokenstar paused for suspense. "-until she is killed, I urge you to carefully guard your kits."
Spottedleaf could tell, from the nervous growls rumbling in the throats of her clanmates, that they were thinking of the same cat as her. Yellowfang. The ill-tempered she-cat had done nothing to endear herself to her reluctant caretakers, and Spottedleaf knew it wouldn't take much to encourage ThunderClan to turn against her-even the word of a despised enemy such as Brokenstar was enough.
The warriors of ShadowClan began to push through the throng of cats. Brokenstar leapt down from the stone, and his warriors surrounded him immediately to escort him from Fourtrees and back to ShadowClan territory. The remaining ShadowClan cats quickly followed behind, amongst them was the undersized tabby, Littlepaw, who Spottedleaf had questioned earlier. Beside the other ShadowClan apprentices, however, he no longer looked unusually small-they all looked tiny, and more like three or four moon old kits than full-fledged apprentices.
Ravenpaw bounded over to Firepaw and Graypaw, fur fluffed up in alarm and eyes wider than ever.
Spottedleaf paid the nervous apprentice no mind, straining to hear what the elders of ThunderClan, who were gathered nearby, were saying.
"He must have been talking about Yellowfang." Smallear growled.
"She did snap at Swiftkit the other day." Speckletail murmured darkly. As a permanent nursery queen, she was fiercely protective of all kits.
"And we've left her at camp, virtually unguarded!" One-eye wailed, seeming to have no trouble hearing everything for once.
"I tried to tell Bluestar that she was a danger to ThunderClan." Darkstripe hissed. "She has to listen to reason and kill her now before she harms any of our kits!"
Tigerclaw stalked up to the group. "We must return to camp and deal with this rogue at once!" He yowled,
A flash of ginger caught Spottedleaf's eye as Firepaw raced away from Graypaw and Ravenpaw, charging up the hillside. Just where was the young apprentice off to in such a hurry?