Prophecy

Chapter 7: Darkpaw's POV

Shadepaw was off to the Medicine cat gathering tonight, and Darkpaw felt proud for her. After all, in a few days there was going to be a gathering with all the clans. Until the all clan gathering, Darkpaw was going on a patrol to the LightClan border with Wetfur and Emberclaw in the morning. It was probably the middle of the night by now, but she couldn't sleep. Darkpaw just lay awake her nest, feeling a sort of warm presence beside her. 

"Get up," the presence whispered. Darkpaw wasn't sure if the presence was talking to her, so she didn't move. "I said get up," The  presence whispered again. Darkpaw rolled over on her paws. 

"What do you want from me?" Darkpaw asked the presence, which was a cat. A gray, patch-furred, blue-eyed glowing cat. 'This has to be a dream,' Darkpaw's mind chimed. "Follow me," The starry cat said. Darkpaw followed the cat. The cat lead her out of camp, into the forest and close to the LightClan border. "Who are you?" Darkpaw asked. "And you didn't answer my question before, what do you want from me?"

"I am Patchstar," Patchstar began, "And I want you to meet an apprentice from LightClan, and an apprentice from BorderClan."

"Why? Is there a specific reason?"

"The LightClan cat can explain. I, however, cannot."

Darkpaw felt her neck fur bristle with annoyance. Why couldn't she explain  what the LightClan apprentice wanted to talk about. Darkpaw didn't say anything, and Patchstar kept walking. They walked silently through the trees and bushes. 

They entered a small clearing that smelled like rain in the morning. There were two cats waiting there: A she-cat with half golden pelt and half silver pelt. She had one amber eye and one blue eye.

 The other cat was a black tom with dark gray paws, underbelly, and muzzle and red eyes that seemed to glow like red moons. "Is this the DarkClan representative?" The half-split cat asked. 

"Yes, this is Darkpaw. Darkpaw, this is Eclipsepaw. The black and ginger cat is Feather," Patchstar mewed. Darkpaw dipped her head to Patchstar, then to Eclipsepaw and Feather.

She guessed Feather was from BorderClan and Eclipsepaw was from LightClan. Eclipsepaw gestured for Darkpaw to sit down, and Darkpaw obeyed. Feather must have seen Darkpaw's torn ear, because she asked, "Where did you get that rip in your ear? A battle?"

"Oh, this?" Darkpaw drew her paw over the ear with the tear. "No, just got it caught on a thorn."

"Well, now that both of you are here, I have gotten a sign from StarClan," Eclipsepaw started. "I have been told that we need one cat from each Clan, DarkClan, LightClan, and BorderClan."

"Are you going to tell us what the sign is?" Feather tilted his head slightly. "I will," Eclipsepaw twitched her tail in embarrassment. "I just think--"

"I think we should know what the sign is, so we can figure out what it means," Darkpaw suggested. Eclipsepaw sighed, then muttered something she couldn't hear. "The sign I got was of a raven, a rabbit, and a fox meeting together at the Meeting Trees, discussing peace between each other. The raven meant DarkClan, the rabbit meant LightClan, and the fox meant BorderClan," Eclipsepaw explained, her tail twitching. 'If she could have a warrior name, it would be Eclipsetwitch,' Darkpaw's mind joked. 

"Then I saw the sun and the moon, both rising at once, meaning me. Then, they both faded into darkness, you, Darkpaw. Then, a feather the color of a thousand stars, meaning you, Feather," Eclipsepaw's eyes closed, her voice quieting. "I think we need to meet here at night every three days to discuss the peace between the clans."

"What if the rest of the Clan finds out?" Feather asked, tucking one of his paws behind her other leg. "They won't, if your quiet enough," Darkpaw smiled. The moon was at it's highest, then Eclipsepaw continued, "The cat that guided you here will wake you and bring you here, so you don't have to worry about staying awake until the time we do our peace discussion."

Feather and Darkpaw nodded, then Feather said, "We should get back to camp and get some rest. The Gathering is in, what, three days? We need to rest." 

"Your right," Darkpaw agreed, "And my mentor would make up ANY excuse to get me to stay at camp instead of going to the Gathering."

"What?" Eclipsepaw tilted her head. "Uh," Darkpaw stuttered. "Nothing."

"Well, if that's it," Eclipsepaw continued, "You may all go back to camp now."

Darkpaw was the first to turn away, then she looked back at the two cats and dipped her head. Then she ran, silently but swiftly, back to camp before the night patrol got back. 'I hope no cat noticed I was gone,' Darkpaw prayed. She entered the camp, all cats asleep. Darkpaw breathed in relief and hoped the cats on night patrol weren't back yet. Icypaw was on night patrol, and he would definitely tell if a cat was missing. 

Darkpaw crouched, making herself look as flat as possible against the dusty ground. She stalked into the apprentice's den and was relieved to see Icypaw wasn't back yet. She curled up in her nest and, almost as fast as she ran to camp, she had fallen asleep.