Into The Forest

Chapter 5

~Complete~

"Leopardstar!" Dewstar snarled. "What are you doing?"

"Taking revenge, and my kits!" Leopardstar hissed back.

Dewstar quivered his lip. "What kits?"

"Those five!" Leopardstar flicked her tail to Amberpaw and her littermates.

Dewstar looked at Tigerflame. Tigerflame lowered his eyes.

Sunsetshimmer came out from behind the Gathering group. "I had to help my sister,"

"Sister?" Dewstar snarled. "How could you?"

"I needed to," Sunsetshimmer meowed. "And I will let Leopardstar take her kits away from me."

Leopardstar nudged the four apprentices out of the camp, Amberpaw desperately tried to find Sunsetshimmer's gaze but she was staring away, her eyes glazed.

Coldbreeze's eyes brimmed with sadness.

"Let's go dears," Leopardstar meowed. "Come home to your real mother."

Redpaw stared at the ground as they walked through the forest, NightClan followed their leader, making a circle around her kits.

At camp, Leopardstar jumped onto a fallen tree and yowled. "Cats, come meet in the clearing."

Cats emerged from their dens, eyes wide with confusion and tiredness. "We are gathered here today, because I have gotten my kits back." Leopardstar meowed.

"But we don't look anything like you!" Gorsepaw protested.

"Yes, you look like Sunsetshimmer and I's mother." Leopardstar meowed, flicking her tail towards a pale ginger she-cat. "Her name is Orangestripe."

Orangestripe reached for her kits, kits, purring. Amberpaw backed up along with her littermates, Redpaw flattened her ears.

"Now, that is no way to treat your kin!" Leopardstar meowed, leaping down from where she stood.

"Sorry," Amberpaw mumbled. "We just got taken away from our Clanmates and friends! You attacked our camp!"

Leopardstar raised her brows. "Now, you will be assigned new mentors, and I expect you to treat them nicely and fairly. And don't even think about trying to run away!"

Redpaw quivered her lip, looking like she was about to lash back but Gorsepaw put his tail on her shoulders.

"Cinderjump, you will be Redpaw's mentor. Blueleaf, you will be Finchpaw's new mentor. Grayscale you will be Gorsepaw's new mentor, Stonehenge, you will be Amberpaw's new mentor and Thunderstorm, you will be Sandpaw's mentor." Leopardstar flicked her tail, dismissively.

A large gray tom stood in front of Amberpaw, his gaze as unsettling as Coldbreeze's. She frowned, they looked alike and they had the same type of blue eyes and gray body. "Do you know Coldbreeze?" She asked, in a quiet voice.

"What do you know about him?" Stonehenge asked, his voice just like Coldbreeze's.

"He was my mentor, and I knew that his family kicked him out and his brother is in one of these four Clans," Amberpaw retorted. "And I think it's you."

Stonehenge looked down at the small she-cat. "Maybe, maybe not. Now, let's go tour your new territory, because you being a kit, you will get lost."

Amberpaw was about to protest but Stonehenge was already out of camp, she scampered after him and tried to keep pace.

"This is the Stormpath, and I find it stupid that StormClan named it after themselves, why not the NightPath?" Stonehenge meowed, bitterness in his mew. "Across that is StormClan territory. And I think you know that, right?"

Amberpaw nodded, not wanting to get on the wrong paw with this one.

He led her to a place with large walls and square shelters. "This is called the Highwalkerplace. Highwalkers live in those shelters, and they ride in Rumbles."

Amberpaw nodded and stared at the shadows of the shelters. A cat lurked and jumped away as it noticed that a cat was staring at it.

"Let's get back to camp." Stonehenge meowed, glancing up at the moon.

Amberpaw was barely able to see her own paws, this was probably why this Clan was called NightClan.

Amberpaw padded into camp, and a little white tom greeted her. "Hi, I was at the Gathering as well! I'm Smallpaw." The white tom mewed. "And this is Longpaw, he doesn't really talk."

Amberpaw studied them quickly and quietly. Longpaw looked long in the limbs, so it would probably be easier for him to run, while Smallpaw looked sturdy and he would probably become a skilled and small fighter.

"Want some prey?" Smallpaw asked, his white tail flicking to a pile of fresh prey.

Amberpaw's belly grumbled and she nodded. The two toms led her to the fresh-kill pile and she took a mouse, while they both took their own sparrow.

Amberpaw wolfed down her mouse and stood up, she stretched each limb, one by one. "Do I have to make my own nest, or is there a nest waiting?"

"There are nests in there for you, feel free to take anyone." Smallpaw meowed.

Amberpaw nodded and headed inside the apprentices den. She chose a nest weaved out of bracken, it wasn't as comfortable as the ones back in StormClan but it will do.

She closed her eyes and drifted to sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Sorry for the short chapter, it is 10:56 and my brain isn't working so I'll try to post more tomorrow or the day after that.

~Terra