Icestar's Rise

Chapter 4

It was a moon after Darkpaw and Icepaw confessed their love to eachother. Tonight something big was suppose to happen. Oakstripe had told her to meet him by the Sky Oak. Icepaw slowly made her way towards the Sky Oak. When she arrived there she saw Oakstripe sitting with Darkpaw, Wildpaw, and Lilyleaf. "So what exactly are we all doing?" Icepaw asked as she sat between Darkpaw and Wildpaw.

Oakstripe looked over at Icepaw and gestured for Lilyleaf to explain. Lilyleaf nodded and turned to look at the three apprentices. "Every few nights a small group of cats goes and raids the other clans. We are the only ones who do it anymore because the others thought it was too dangerous. Since it is the night before the gathering no cat will suspect anything. Oakstripe will be taking Darkpaw and Wildpaw to raid Riverclan while me and Icepaw go raid Shadowclan."

"Who's idea was it to break the warrior code like this?" Wildpaw demanded. Oakstripe raised an undheathed claw and Icepaw rolled her eyes.

"If you're done it is time we start," Lilyleaf mewed curtly. Wildpaw and Darkpaw followed Oakstripe towards the Windclan border and Icepaw got up to follow Lilyleaf. When Icepaw arrived at the Shadowclan border there was a small Shadowclan patrol of Tigerheart, Pinenose and Tawnypelt. Lilyleaf walked straight up to the border patrol and sat watching them. "Why are you so close to the border?" she snarled.

Tigerheart rolled his eyes, Pinenose raised her hackles, and Tawnypelt looked calmly at Lilyleaf. "We could ask you the same question," Tawnypelt replied. "We are the moonhigh patrol."

Icepaw looked over and saw Tigerheart staring at her. "What do you want?" Icepaw growled.

Tigerheart blinked then replied with, "You're Dovewing's kit, right?" Tigerheart seemed to be zoned out and he had a faraway look in his eyes.

"Yes she is," Lilyleaf growled moving inbetween Tigerheart and Icepaw. "We will be going now." Lilyleaf took Icepaw farther down the border in the opposite direction the Shadowclan cats were headed and turned to look at Icepaw when they came to a pile of foul smelling stuff. "Roll in this. It will disguise your scent."

Lilyleaf went first and then Icepaw did. As they walked into Shadowclan territory Lilyleaf split away from Icepaw and signalled for her to continue without her. Icepaw shrugged and went towards the lake. Icepaw spotted a squirrel and got into the hunter's crouch. She slowly pulled herself forward and pounced on the squirrel just as it spotted her. Icepaw buried her catch and went to look for something else. There was a rustle in the bushes and Icepaw smelt a lone Shadowclan cat. She quickly climbed up a tree and hid there. A small black tabby tom came through the bush. He was a new apprentice by the looks of him and seemed nervous. He looked up at where Icepaw was hiding and Icepaw was shocked to see he had one red eye and one amber eye. The Shadowclan apprentice didn't see her luckily and continued on his way. Icepaw listened for any other cats and heard none. She slowly climbed down the tree and looked around. She saw some borage plants and walked over. She carefully picked them and went back and set them near her squirrel. Icepaw looked up and saw it was a little before dawn. Icepaw decided to catch something else before heading back to camp. Icepaw looked around and smelt a mouse nest. Icepaw went over and killed all the mice in the nest. Icepw picked up all her prey by their tails and tucked the borage leaves under her chin. By the time she got back to camp Darkpaw and Wildpaw were arriving. Darkpaw had three voles and Wildpaw had a sparrow and a rabbit. They all headed in and dropped off their prey and Icepaw set the borage leaves outside Jayfeather's den. Bramblestar came out of his den and saw the amount of prey the apprentices caught and walked up to them. "Would you three like to come to the gathering later?" he asked. The three apprentices nodded their heads and went to their den to sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Icepaw woke at sunhigh and went out of her den. Spottedpaw was eating with Fleetpaw and Molepaw, Oakstripe was talking with Sneezetail and Seedshine, and Crowfeather was sharing tongues with Leafpool, Brambleclaw, and Squirrelflight. Darkpaw was still asleep but Wildpaw was wrestling with Rainpaw and Larchpaw. Spiderkit, Bluekit, and Eclipsekit were outside the nursery trying to copy them. Spiderkit was staring at Larchpaw with adoration and Icepaw almost threw up at the sight. Volekit came tumbling out of the nursery with Scorchkit, Hawkkit, and Mosskit. Volekit ran over to Molepaw and said something to him, then the two went to the elder's den. Scorchkit tackled Bluekit while Hawkkit tackled Eclipsekit. Mosskit walked over and sat beside Icepaw. "Hi, I'm Mosskit," It was her first time out of the nursery since she had been a little sickly. 

"I'm Icepaw. It's nice to see you outside of the nursery." Icepaw said. "Would you like me to show you around the camp?" Mosskit jumped up and nodded excitedly. Icepaw pointed with her tail to the apprentices' den. "This is the apprentice den where you go when you start your warrior training," Icepaw went over to the fallen tree and where the first warriors den was. "This is the warriors den. You go here when you finish your training," Mosskit nodded and looked over at the honeysuckle bush. Icepaw followed her gaze and looked down at Mosskit. "That is the elders' den. You go there when you retire from your warrior duties," Mosskit nodded and Icepaw took her to Jayfeather's den. "This is the medicine cat den. Jayfeather is our medicine cat and Dewcloud is his apprentice. The leader's den is up on that ledge. Bramblestar is our leader and his deputy is Squirrelflight. Squirrelflight will be leader when Bramblestar loses his last life and goes to Starclan.

"What's Starclan?" Mosskit asked.

Icepaw looked up at the sky as she explained. "Starclan are our good warrior ancestors. You see them each night in Silverpelt as stars. They guide us in everything. They gave us the Warrior Code that we live by and they watch over us. One day you may end up in Starclan with your ancestors like Firestar."

Mosskit still seemed confused. "What about our other ancestors like the ones from the stories Icecloud tells me?"

Icepaw's eyes darkened as she gazed at the sky. "Those are the cats of the Dark Forest. Those cats broke the Warrior Code and have no respect for our ancestors in Starclan. They did what they wanted for their own selfish reasons and they now walk in a place where there is no light and shunned by those they once loved if they ever had feeling. Hawkkit is named after Bramblestar's brother, Hawkfrost."

Mosskit's eyes got wide as she looked over at Hawkkit. "Who was Hawkfrost exactly?"

Icepaw sighed as she remembered what she had been told by her aunt Ivypool who seemed to have once loved the dark tom. "Hawkfrost was a dark brown tabby like Bramblestar, but he had ice blue eyes and a white spot on his chest. Hawkfrost was the son of Tigerstar and a rogue named Sasha. He was raised as a Riverclan cat with his sister, Mothwing. Hawkfrost and Bramblestar were visited by their father in their dreams and trained in the Dark Forest with their shared father. Hawkfrost shared his father's ambitions, but Bramblestar didn't. One day Hawkfrost lured Firestar into a fox trap and the fox trap closed around Firestar's neck. Bramblestar had already been made deputy and if he killed Firestar he would become leader. Tigerstar's plan was to have Bramblestar rule Windclan and Thunderclan and have Hawkfrost rule Riverclan and Shadowclan. When Hawkfrost tried getting Bramblestar to tighten the noose around Firestar's neck to kill him for good. Bramblestar ended up digging up the stake that attached the fox trap to the ground. Hawkfrost called Bramblestar a traitor and the two fought. It ended with Bramblestar stabbing Hawkfrost in the neck with the stake. Hawkfrost bled so much that the lake turned entirely red."

Mosskit looked shocked and a little scared. "He won't come for me, right?"

Icepaw purred in amusement. "Of course not. Bramblestar killed Hawkfrost's spirit in the final battle. The Dark Forest won't be able to harm anyone ever again thanks to Firestar." Mosskit nodded and yawned. Icepaw picked up Mosskit and brought her to the nursery and set her down next to Icecloud. Icecloud nodded her appreciation and Icepaw left the nursery.