Waging War Book 4: Empty Peace {COMPLETE}

Chapter 3

“Great catch, Mountainstar!” A cheerful voice called from the trees as Mountainstar killed the plump squirrel she had caught racing through the trees. She lifted her head and looked over her shoulder at Sorrelfern who had been her hunting partner. 

“Thank you.” Mountainstar’s mouth watered as the taste of squirrel blood touched her tongue, causing her stomach to growl but she resisted any urge to eat the prey. This will be for Riverstep. She reminded herself, feeding the expecting queen was much more important that feeding herself. She would share something with Nettleheart before the gathering, but this squirrel would be perfect for Riverstep.

She was glad to see Sorrelfern full of life and back out hunting and patrolling. Sorrelfern had suffered a pretty bad injury after getting wounded by a piece of two leg rubbish, but with the help of the MoonClan medicine cat Oneflight and their new medicine cat, Owlbreeze. Mountainstar painfully remembered their first medicine cat, Mothflower, who had started as a kittypet but struggled in her role and left the Clan along with Antwhisker, Gingersky and Yewtail. 

The amount of disappointment and failure she felt in herself, as well as anger she felt towards her former Clanmates had haunted Mountainstar for a long time. The arrival of Owlbreeze helped a ton, she had felt a lot of fear regarding the future of her new Clan, but Owlbreeze seemed to be keeping them together. 

Mountainstar picked up her squirrel and helped Sorrelfern to gather her own prey before meeting up with the other half of the hunting patrol, Fireclaw and Mossypaw. Sorrelfern had managed to catch two mice and she noticed Fireclaw and Mossypaw had a squirrel and two more mice. Not bad. Mountainstar thought proudly. 

They had the benefit of MountainClan being incredibly small compared to the other Clans so they had less mouths to feed, but there was still a heavy lack of prey in their territory, but MountainClan was surviving. 

“Good work everyone.” Mountainstar said to her patrol mates. She looked to Mossypaw, who was nearing the end of her apprenticeship. She had changed a lot since her kittypet days. When she joined she had been a soft, plump, young kittypet. Now she was a lean, albeit skinny from the cold season, refined apprentice and Mountainstar would be happy to name her as a warrior. She felt the same way about the other former kittypet apprentice, Petalpaw, and the other kittypets who had joined the Clan including Fireclaw and Sorrelfern. Looking at them, it was impossible to tell they had ever lived under a twoleg’s roof. 

“Let’s head back,” Mountainstar told her Clanmates. “We should all get something to eat and warm up before the gathering.” She glanced briefly towards the sky, it was nearing sunset and she wanted to be prepared for the gathering. With Sorrelfern, Fireclaw and Mossypaw behind her, Mountainstar led them back to camp. 

Upon reaching the camp, Mountainstar nudged the squirrel to Mossypaw. “Will you take this to Riverstep?” She asked the apprentice. 

“Of course!” Despite how much she had grown physically, Mossypaw remained a chipper and energetic young she-cat. She hoped that she would always have that personality as it always lightened Mountainstar’s day. Mossypaw picked up the squirrel and trotted happily over to the nursery where Riverstep was resting. 

According to Owlbreeze, Rainstep should be giving birth sometime this moon and Mountainstar was overjoyed. She was so incredibly excited to welcome the first kits born into MountainClan. It was sad that they would never know their father as Antwhisker had left and Riverstep refused to join, Mountainstar knew that all of MountainClan would support the new kits as they already had been while she had been expecting the kits. 

After Mossypaw ran off, Mountainstar picked up a decent sized mouse and headed towards her den. She climbed up the small, steep path that led to her den. As she expected, Nettleheart, the Clan deputy and Mountainstar’s mate, was waiting inside for her.