Chereads / Warriors: The Prophecy Begins / Chapter 8 - A New Mentor

Chapter 8 - A New Mentor

"Silence! I know quite well who this cat is!" hissed Firestar. "We shall bring the wise medicine cat of ShadowClan back to camp with us."

Then, Firestar turned to Ravenclaw and meowed, "We might get some secrets of ShadowClan that could be of use to us. Then, I will find a suitable punishment for Starpaw."

As Firestar meowed that, Starpaw gulped as she knew it wouldn't be an easy punishment.

"Do you need help, or can you get back to our camp on your own?" asked Firestar.

GoldenDust immediately shocked. He put on a mean face and hissed, "I'm not that old. I have legs!"

As the 4 cats walked back to camp, Starpaw and Bluepaw trailed behind the others a bit.

"Don't worry, Starpaw, Firestar isn't going to blame you for feeding that poor fleabag out of pity," meowed Bluepaw.

Her friend's words seemed to calm her, but Starpaw knew that the rest of the clan isn't as fair as Firestar.

Once they all got back to camp, faces started to stare. It wasn't everyday you see the medical cat of ShadowClan in your clan.

"May all cats old enough to catch their own prey meet here!" announced Firestar. Although the statement acted as a question, it was more of a demand.

Once all the cats gathered around, Starpaw felt terrible for not feeding the clan first. However, before her thoughts wondered far, Firestar began the meeting.

"I'm sure you all have heard about the prisoner that we brought back with us to camp," meowed Firestar. "But, I'm afraid I've got worse news. On my patrol near WindClan, I've scented ShadowClan on nearly every single tree."

An immediate abruption of meows rung, a looming thought of if the ShadowClan really drove WindClan out of their territory hung in the air.

Firestar did not clarify more about the topic, silencing as if he were waiting for something. Eventually, the cats took Firestar's silence as waiting-for-everyone-to-calm-down type of thing. As the talks eventually began to quiet down a bit, Firestar then meowed, "However, no bodies of either clan was found."

Immediately, the talking of the clan cats rose again, most cats just meoweing about how ShadowClan is strong, but WindClan has many more cats. No clans have ever been driven out of the forest before, why should it happen now?

Firestar glatef at the crowd, signaling all cats to quiet down. He then meowed, "This is a surprise as Brokentail showed nothing of this at the last gathering."

Suddenly, a tom-cat jumped up and hissed, "Maybe Goldendust knows about this. After all, she is a part of ShadowClan!"

Starpaw curiously gazed at the speaker, deeming the cat familiar. She then recognized him - he was the cat that actually encouraged the she-cat that attacked her the day she arrived here.

"That's Longtail," Bluepaw meowed to Starpaw. "He just became a warrior two moons ago. That lucky furball!"

Goldendust was certainly not happy of the tom-cat's response.

"I may have left the clan, but I am not a traitor! And I certainly would not reveal any secrets to you brute!" hissed Goldendust.

Firestar interrupted that tension by meowing, "Anyways, ThunderClan must be prepare for a fight if it happens. We are desperate for more warriors. Thus, we have to speed up the training of our apprentices. Actually, not "have to," we "must." We must speed up this process as soon as possible. Therefore, I will take the responsibility of mentoring Starpaw instead of Rednose and Ravenclaw so that they could focus on the more experienced cats."

Not surprisingly, Longtail jumped up again and hissed, "What! So instead of a punishment for feeding this old fleabag instead of her own clan, she gets to be mentored by you!"

After the shout of Longtail, the elders started to mumble, following with the other warriors agreeing which made Starpaw feel very uncomfortable.

However, to her surprise, a cat came up to her and put her head on top of Starpaw's as a sign of comfort.

It was Spottedleaf, the medical cat of ThunderClan. Spottedleaf then meowed, "Stop it. Starpaw is now MY apprentice, Longtail. We should stop bickering amongst ourselves - we are only dividing our clan. Instead, we should focus on remaining a strong clan, a strong unit, during all this chaos," Firestar strongly meowed, her gaze locked on Longtail.

"I will take care of her myself. Goldendust is to stay in our camp until she heals. And, she may even stay longer," Firestar meowed softly.

This time Ravenclaw meowed, "But we already have many mouths to feed! This is leaf-bare we are talking about, we are shorter at prey than ever!"

Then Goldendust jumped into the middle of the crowd, making the clan of cats distance themselves about her.

Goldendust started to hiss in every direction, showing a ferocious face that no cat would like to see on a day like this.