Daylight

Chapter 4

Rusty's eyes widened, his heart quickening. Who's Ravenpaw? And how did he die? Is he like Sandpaw? Their names are the same, why— the blue-gray she-cat known as Bluestar interrupted his thoughts with a clearing of her throat.

"This meeting is over," she said sharply before quickly walking over to the short red-and-brown tom who had collapsed at the entrance of the den. Another she-cat—this one a fluffy golden color—darted to the entrance of her den, helping Bluestar to nose the tom up and bring him out into the suddenly dreary sunlight.

"Bluestar!" a thin-faced tom called, running into the camp and dipping his head respectfully. "Ravenpaw is gone and—" he stopped speaking on account of Bluestar's silencing tail wave.

"I'm aware. I'm calling a clan meeting about it—please, gather up the apprentices," her tone was softer and more comfortable with the tom, and Rusty couldn't help but wonder if they were somehow related. The light brown tabby dipped his head once more before racing over to a cluster of fronds and an old tree stump and disappearing into a small area beneath the branching root system. 

Bluestar elegantly padded forward, leaping up onto the High Rock and clearing her voice before expertly summoning all of ThunderClan to a meeting. "May all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather beneath the High Rock for a clan meeting!" she called, voice clear and strong.

Cats emerged from every which direction, and, as social as Rusty was... he couldn't help but feel a little intimidated by the sheer number of cats gathering. Tommy was front-and-center, only a few tail-lengths away from a large, brown, tabby who paced back and forth, a worried and grief-stricken look etched onto his face. The tom's thick tail swished from side-to-side as he walked, his large form only made larger by his prickled fur. 

Rusty was shoved playfully and knocked out of his otherwise concerned thoughts by Graypaw, who gave a grin. "Finally decided to join ThunderClan?" he asked, a leaf sticking out from his bushy gray fur. He doesn't know.

From the top of the High Rock, Bluestar spoke once more before the flame-colored tom had to break the news to Graypaw. "Tigerclaw," she spoke, addressing the pacing tom, her voice the perfect example of a controlled leader. "What happened?"

The tabby tom's gaze surveyed the crowd of cats, and Rusty thought he saw something flicker in his amber eyes—was it satisfaction?—as he looked about. Then his gaze caught on Tommy, and further back, Rusty, and he narrowed his eyes before giving an upset, yet respectful, nod to the lithe blue-gray she-cat. He opened his mouth to speak, before closing it, before repeating the action and finally forcing words out, raising his head to shakily address the clan.

"I was on the dawn patrol with Redtail, Runningwind, and Ravenpaw, and we were near ShadowClan's border, marking it. Redtail went ahead to mark further on, towards RiverClan, and Runningwind stayed to watch for cats... while Ravenpaw and I stayed back to mark where we were already. Ravenpaw... wanted to show me something he had learned how to do... and... and... then he tried to leap over the bank of the river onto RiverClan land, and was so close... but a RiverClan warrior jumped at him from nowhere, and both disappeared into the water." 

A gasp came from the clan, who had been listening intently to Tigerclaw's story, at the end of which the large tabby simply hung his head once more, as if he had run out of words to describe the situation. "They both disappeared under the water. He probably would've survived if not for the rains from several days ago... but now he's gone." 

A frosty silence followed, and Rusty tried to fluff his pelt up to store his heat. He shouldn't have been so cold, as it was the warmer part of the year, but the large brown tom's story had chilled him—and it seemed, most of the clan—to their cores.