Flamepaw's Destination

Chapter 13

            Flamepaw froze as she and Mothwing locked eyes, and in a moment, her heart was bursting with excitement. Never had she been so excited to see the calico she-cat in her life!

            "Flamepaw?" Mothwing gasped, her eyes widened with the same excitement and confusion. "What are you doing way out here?"

            "Oh, it was terrible, Mothwing!" Flamepaw exclaimed. "Barkpaw and I accidentally fell asleep on the forest while...um, hunting, and when we returned, the entire clan had disappeared! So we joined Tigerstripe, Dusty, and Kr—" She paused, the cold reality of Krait's death hitting her. "Tigerstripe and Dusty. Tigerstripe was looking for a black cat named Jetfur, and Dusty was on the search for his kits. And just recently we were attacked by hunters, but this wolf saved us," she said, gesturing to Lupin.

            Mothwing glanced at the injured wolf, bewildered for a moment, before turning back to Flamepaw. She let out a long sigh and sat back down, her eyes fixed on Flamepaw's.

            "Is that so?" she wondered quietly.

            Both Flamepaw and Barkpaw nodded slowly.

            "Well," she continued, "it just so happens that I know where the clan is."

            Both Flamepaw and Barkpaw exchanged looks of excitement, and Flamepaw's face spread into a wide smile. Her heart beat rapidly, and she leapt up and down.

            "YOU DO?! WHERE ARE THEY?!" she exclaimed, desperately wanting to see all her clanmates again. Oh, it would be so great to have Dusktail mentor her again and to have her mother greet her each morning and to curl up in the apprentice den with Barkpaw at night.

            The medicine cat sighed, and Flamepaw immediately knew the news could not be good.

            "It all happened so suddenly," she began. "The same night you and Barkpaw were in the woods, this mucky colored tom who called himself 'Swampstar,' I believe." She paused, then nodded. "Yes, yes, it was Swampstar. He came with many of his clanmates to our clan. At first, we believed it to be the whole clan because there were so many, but apparently this was only a portion of his clan.

            "Swampstar had begun a new clan named SwampClan, and though he seemed to have many members with him, he desired more. We were easily outnumbered, and he demanded that Goldstar and the rest of RiverClan join his clan. Goldstar, StarClan praise her, obviously refused. But then he mentioned how his clan was going to be killed because of...some other clan. I forgot the name. Of course, Goldstar still refused, claiming that it was none of RiverClan's business and that he should deal with his own problems.

            "But then Swampstar really hit her hard. He said he would kill each and every cat, including her, if she did not come. And he was serious, Flamepaw. I could see the wild look in his eyes. Goldstar had no choice but to accept, and we were whisked away by SwampClan," Mothwing explained.

            Both Flamepaw and Barkpaw sat for a moment, dumbfounded, when Flamepaw suddenly cried out, exasperated.

            "NO!" she gasped, seeing how unfair it all was. "SHE JOINED AN EVIL CLAN?!" Flamepaw shook her head vigorously, furious at Goldstar, even though she knew the she-cat had made the right choice.

            "I AM NOT JOINING AN EVIL CLAN!" she declared.

            She felt Barkpaw lightly touch his tail to her shoulder, and slowly she settled down.