Tangletuft's Mistake; (complete)

Chapter forty

Tangletuft raced with her Clan as they rushed back to camp. The gathering had ended quickly due to the news of Sparkheart's death.

She was a popular cat in the Clans. Always nice to all the cats and would never put them down. All four Clans would be mourning her tonight.

The Clan began squeezing their way through the entrance to camp, one by one in a line they crawled through. Only the apprentices had a hard time, murmuring and most probably cursing under their breaths as their fur tangled into the thorns. Tangletuft felt a slight stab of pity for them.

As she made her way into camp, Sorrelfall tripped out of the warriors' den and rushed up to Rabbitfoot. He stared in confusion at his Clanmates as Sorrefall pulled Rabbitfoot into the medicine cat den, and silence edged over the Clan.

Tangletuft tilted her head as she stared at the stable den. A few warriors padded past her and plopped into the warriors' bedding. Weren't they the least bit curious as she was?

As she sat there for several heartbeats, Sorrefall gently left the den, a pleased look on her face. What was she so happy about?

Heatherfang met up with the she-cat. She gently whispered something in the tom's ear and he began to perk up. He began racing circles around her, giggling like an apprentice.

"We're having kits! We're having kits!" Heatherfang squealed, panting as he finished racing around the queen.

Tangletuft couldn't help letting out a small mrrow of laughter. The two cats were just so happy. Hopefully their kits would be brave warriors.

"Hey Tangletuft!" Rabbitfoot called from the medicine cat den, beckoning her over with his tail.

Tangletuft hesitated before joining him in front of the den. What could the medicine cat want? Was there something wrong with her?

As she crawled through the entrance and sat in a pile of moss, Rabbitfoot paced near his herb store, obviously thinking as he mumbled words to himself and looked down at his paws.

"Please don't tell me I'm pregnant." Tangletuft scoffed, letting out a weak laugh knowing that would be impossible. She wasn't even friends with any toms.

"No don't worry you aren't," Rabbitfoot meowed, not catching on to her joke he went on "Besides I wouldn't want to get pregnant at a time like this."

"Why not?" Tangletuft asked, drawing a paw forward. Surely Rabbitfoot was over-reacting.

Rabbitfoot drew in a deep breath as he closed his eyes. When he exhaled, his eyes opened and he stared at Tangletuft before he started talking "On the way to the gathering, I looked up at the glowing stars. StarClan gave me a sign. Words crashed into me like a huge wave of water. The voice so loud I could almost not even hear it. They said "One lightning strike is soon. Two more to come." Then suddenly, a shooting star passed my vision and I was stumbling back in the territory on my way to the gathering."

Tangletuft paused, trying to soak up all he'd just told her. She expected to just stay silent, but her anger suddenly took her over "You can possibly believe a shooting star gave you a sign from StarClan!"

"But it did! I saw it with my own two eyes!" Rabbitfoot shot, waving his tail in defiance.

"You're crazy! A shooting star can't give you a message. Maybe there wasn't even a shooting star in the sky and you hallucinated or something." Tangletuft struggled to say the words, seeing as Rabbitfoot was flinching at her tone.

"I know you'll have to believe me," Rabbitfoot carefully edged on, casting her an observant glance "You'll have to believe me because you want to stay safe. Because you want your Clanmates to be safe," he paused, taking in a short breath before continuing "And because you want Snowblaze to stay safe."

She jumped, now standing on all four paws "Do not bring Snowblaze into this discussion. We have no relations anymore."

"You don't?" Rabbitfoot changed the subject, his voice silky "Well then why is he always murmuring about you to Smallfoot? Why is he always looking at you?"

"He's probably saying how stupid I am." Tangletuft admitted, snorting in disgust "And plus even if it wasn't that I don't want to be with him. He didn't like me. He just liked what I'm part of." She paused, shaking her head "But that's not what we're talking about. We're talking about the sign you got."

"Well I suppose we could talk about it," Rabbitfoot mewed "But only if you believe me."

"Fine I believe you."

"Do you really?"

"Yes."

"Really?"

"Yes I believe you," Tangletuft groaned "Now can we please get on with this. It's already late and I have a dawn patrol to get on tomorrow."

"Okay just because you won't let it go," Rabbitfoot purred and Tangletuft opened her mouth to talk but thought otherwise "One lightning strike is soon. Two more to come. It must mean that one of the three troubles is coming. You'll have to defeat it."

"Me? Why me? What is it?" She asked before sitting back down and her shoulders slouched back into their relaxed position.

"I don't know," Rabbitfoot admitted "but we have to be ready for it."

"What about my cough? How am I going to defeat anything with a cough?" Tangletuft pondered. An image of her fighting shadows and her coughing popped into her mind before she pushed it away.

"Actually, it looks like you don't have a cough anymore. It's funny isn't it how StarClan works." He paused, observing and seeing as Tangletuft was confused before he continued "StarClan must've done this so you'd visit me more often and I would have more chances to tell you about the prophecy."

She began to think about her run back home from the gathering. Not once had she coughed. Now the battle against Mossyfoot drifted into her mind. She didn't cough in that either. Maybe just maybe Rabbitfoot might've been right.

"So what you're saying is I had a cough just so you could tell me something?"

"Yes that is what I'm saying." Rabbitfoot nodded over and over again. He slowly stopped and gazed at her, waiting for a response that wouldn't come.

Tangletuft just sat there confused for a few long moments. This prophecy sure was confusing.
Would she be able to understand it? Or would it be too complicated for her?

•••

Hey guys! I have decided this will be a series! in fact a trilogy! The next chapter will have more details.

But this book will have more chapters. Maybe around 50, 55..? I'm not so sure yet

but anyways, I hoped you enjoyed and yeah