Prophecy

Chapter 10: Eclipsepaw's POV

DISCLAMER: this is a one time POV, but if you want more Eclipsepaw POVs let me know in the comments.     

Eclipsepaw ran as fast as she could, Moorwind by her side instructing her. "Don't let your tail drag on the ground!" She called, "You could hurt it!" Eclipsepaw ducked her head and lifted her tail slightly, and she felt as if she were running towards a tornado. The wind wiped around her, making her fur fly in all sorts of directions.

     Moorwind leaped over a rock and called for her to stop. Eclipsepaw jumped and turned towards her mentor. Panting, she asked, "What's wrong?" Then she felt it. It was a large group of loners, with a hint of blood smell. "Moorwind?" Eclipsepaw felt her tail twitch with worry. "BorderClan," hissed the deputy.

     Eclipsepaw turned and saw a large, brown tom with yellow eyes that reflected the sun. "Moorwind, what might you be doing on OUR territory?" Asked the tom. "You trespassed onto LIGHTCLAN territory, Bush," Moorwind growled. She turned to Eclipsepaw and whispered, "Go get reinforcements."

     With that, Eclipsepaw ran as fast as she could, hearing yowling behind her. 'I have to get back before it's too late,' She thought. The thought made her run faster, and she crashed into camp, Proudstar glaring down at her from the MeetingLedge.

     "Is something wrong, Eclipsepaw?" The leader asked, grumpy as always. "BorderClan is on our territory, and Moorwind wanted me to get help!" Eclipsepaw yowled, panting. Proudstar nodded and called out, "Ivydusk, Snakestalk, Winterfang, and Mooneye, go with Eclipsepaw to the BorderClan cats!"

     The cats nodded and followed Eclipsepaw as they ran out of camp. When they reached the deputy, she had a few scratches and was shrinking beneath Bush. Winterfang leaped onto a red tom, and Eclipsepaw saw Feather. He glared at her, then charged and pinned her down, knocking the breath out of her. 

     "Eclipsepaw?" He asked, keeping the look on his face to make cats believe he was fighting. "Yeah," Eclipsepaw answered in between attempted breaths. "Why is BorderClan trespassing on our territory?"                                                                                                              

     "Bush was looking for someone, I don't really know," Feather growled as Eclipsepaw kicked him off and bit him hard enough to make it look like they were fighting. "Apprentices aren't told anything." 

Just as Eclipsepaw was about to leap, another apprentice knocked her over and the two cats tussled, Feather standing in shock. Bush yowled, interrupting the fighting, "Retreat! We'll take OUR territory back!"

As the cats fled, Moorwind looked to Winterfang, the scratch above her eye bleeding violently. "What was that about?" Mooneye growled. "Do those mouse-brained idiots think they can just take our territory now?" Eclipsepaw hissed under her breath, "They never should have come just before the gathering."

*     *     *

     At the MeetingTrees, the moon shined bright and warmly down on the logs the leaders announced, well, everything. Eclipsepaw looked around, and saw at the corner of her eye a stump where Feather and Darkpaw were sitting with another apprentice.

Eclipsepaw padded over to greet them and jumped up on the stump. "Hey guys," Eclipsepaw purred. Darkpaw nodded in greetings and said, "Eclipsepaw, this is my friend and the medicine cat apprentice, Shadepaw."

Shadepaw smiled at Eclipsepaw and said, "Darkpaw told me about your meetings." Eclipsepaw looked to Darkpaw, and the she-cat was completely calm. "You can trust her," She said, "I told her everything about your prophecy."

Feather nodded and said, "Also Eclipsepaw, I got more information on why we were trespassing. Bush wasn't looking for someone, he was looking for something."  Eclipsepaw growled softly. 'What could he be looking for that was so worth crossing LightClan's borders?' Her inner voice hissed. 

     "Now that all the Clans are here, it is time to start off our Gathering!" Coldstar, leader of DarkClan, called out from the LogPile. "DarkClan is well. We have four new apprentices, Darkpaw, Shadepaw, Icypaw, and Graypaw." The cats called out the apprentices names, as if they were all one Clan.

Coldstar continued, "One of our patrols has scented badger on our territory, heading towards BorderClan, but the scent is stale and is probably long gone by now." DarkClan's leader finished up, and Bush began to talk.

     "BorderClan is also well. We have plenty of prey, and also have new apprentices, Feather and Fern. We have scented this badger and drove it towards the Thunderpath, and it crossed. It is no where near the forest by now," Bush finished, and Proudstar stood and announced her part of the Gathering.

     "LightClan is well, but sadly our deputy couldn't come because of a few wounds that BorderClan made," She glared over at Bush, then continued, "We have plenty of prey, and we have sighted Twolegs on our territory. The Twolegs have left, however, so LightClan is safe."

Proudstar finished, tension raised with cats talking about what the LightClan and BorderClan battle could have meant for them. "We had a good reason to 'Trespass', Proudstar," Bush objected, rolling his eyes. Fish, BorderClan's deputy, nodded silently. From her experiences with Fish at Gatherings, he never talked. 

     "If there is nothing else to discuss, the Gathering is dismissed," Coldstar grumbled, looking at both leaders. The leaders leaped down from the LogPile and lead their Clanmates away from the MeetingTrees. Eclipsepaw said her goodbyes and followed Proudstar back to camp.