Book Two, Chosen

Chapter Two

There Batheart was, on a dusk patrol in the start of leaf-bare with Hawkflight, Sweetwish and Frogleap. She was pretty tired, she was battered from the encounter with Skywing. I'll talk to him at the next Gathering. She looked up at the moon. Almost full.

They were patrolling the ShadowClan border, she knew that if there was another ShadowClan scent, we were going to have to say something at the Gathering.

"What's this?" asked Hawkflight, he was sniffing something that looked like bones.

Batheart came up behind him. She sniffed it. "ShadowClan. Definetly ShadowClan." ahe grunted.

"We should report it back to Riverstar immediately." Sweetwish sniffed the bones. "And what idiot leaves bones at the edge of our territory? Did they think we wouldn't find them?"

Hawkflight went up to Batheart. "Go back to camp and inform Riverstar of this." he ordered. Who knew her brother could be so bossy when leading a patrol!

Batheart nodded but in her head she really didn't want to confront Riverstar again. She went along back the way they came all the way back to camp. Guarding outside was Swiftbreeze, she nodded to her. Batheart stepped into the very quiet camp, and up to the Highrock.

"Riverstar?" Batheart called. There was a slight movement in her den. "Yes, Batheart?" Riverstar responded.

"On the patrol we spotted what looked like bones." Batheart sniffed her paw where there was a little blood.

"I will say something at the Gathering. If this continues, we will attack. This is ShadowClan, right?" asked Riverstar.

Batheart nodded. "ShadowClan certainly has been active on out territory lately."

Riverstar nodded. "You can go now, get to your den." Batheart exited the den but she really didn't want to go to her den.

She walked all the way down to Sunningrocks. Here, she can mourn her mother as she was buried here.

Batheart hopped onto a smooth rock and bent her head down. She could almost feel Goldenwing comforting her, then she looked up. Goldenwing!

"Goldenwing!" Batheart exclaimed, burying her head into her starry fur. "Hello, Batheart." it was so good to hear her voice again.

"My dear, I have something for you." Goldenwing's soft gaze turned hard. "Listen carefully," Batheart sat up. "A connection between Thunder, River, Shadow and Wind will bring forth Storm and save the Clans from utter destruction."

Batheart just sat there with her jaws parted. "Wow." she breathed. "Each StarClan cat of each Clan has sent this prophecy to a chosen cat." Goldenwing continued.

"But why me? Why was I chosen?" asked Batheart. There was nothing special about Batheart, she was just an ordinary warrior!

"I chose you because I know you will lead the three others to save the Clans. I knew from the moment you opened your eyes that you were a natural born leader." Goldenwing touched her nose to Batheart's.

"I'll be with you forever along the way." Goldenwing mewed. Batheart started to cry. "Shh.." Goldenwing comforted her.

"I wish you were alive!" Batheart exclaimed. "Don't worry my love, alive or not I still am here for you." Goldenwing licked away her tears.

"How will I know which cats are the chosen ones?" Batheart sobbed. "That is for you to find out. The only thing I can tell you is that in the end everyone will know who is who." Goldenwing rested her head on Batheart's.

"Okay.." Batheart got lost in her thoughts, then noticed Goldenwing was fading.

"Goodbye, Batheart.. I'm very proud of you.." Goldenwing faded completely.

Batheart felt amazing that her mother had visited her. It felt like ages since she had seen her.

Now, more confident, Batheart thought hard about the prophecy delivered to her. Who were the three other cats?

A connection between Thunder, River, Shadow and Wind will bring forth Storm and save the Clans from utter destruction. Goldenwing's words echoed in her mind.

What was Storm? Batheart thought hard but it couldn't get through her. Frustrated, she padded back to camp and down to her nest where she slept.

***

The next morning, Batheart woke up to an empty den. She got up and stretched. It was another cold, damp day. Leaf-bare was here, although there were no clouds in the sky, Batheart could easily tell that there would be snow coming soon.

She padded out of the den to see that the whole Clan was up. Embarrased, she walked over to the fresh-kill pile.

"Tuftkit! Don't bash into me!" squealed Pinekit, she looked behind her, Tuftkit, Pinekit and Cloudkit were all walking with Ambermoon and Swiftbreeze to the fresh-kill pile.

"You're no fun, Pinekit!" Tuftkit cuffed Pinekit over the ear. "I am fun! I just don't like it when you do that!" Pinekit glared at him.

"Tuftkit, Pinekit, cut it out, now." Swiftbreeze interfered. Tuftkit rolled his eyes, Pinekit apologized.

They reached the fresh-kill pile. Cloudkit bounded up to it excitedly. "Which one do we get to try?" she asked, looking at Ambermoon.

"Whichever you want, just not a bird, they're harder to eat." Ambermoon explained.

Batheart chuckled at the kits and went back to choosing her prey. The fresh-kill pile was looking awfully pitiful, it was definetly leaf-bare.

She chose a scrawny wood mouse and ate it in a few swift bites and stood back up.

She decided that she would hunt for the rest of the day, despite her tiredness, she owed it to her Clan for sleeping in.

Batheart headed for the bramble entrance then realized. I have an apprentice who doesn't know how to hunt!

She quickly ran to the apprentices den to fetch Moonpaw. She entered the den to see her sleeping soundly. I guess that's on me for not waking her.

Batheart prodded Moonpaw with a paw. "Wake up, Moonpaw," she said gently, Moonpaw begun to stir.

"I'm up." she yawned after a while. "We're hunting for most of the day today but later on in the evening we can do battle training." Batheart explained as Moonpaw stretched.

"Come on then!" Moonpaw burst past Batheart out of the den. Batheart laughed. She wished she had that kind of energy in the mornings. They padded out of camp and into the cold forest.