The blades of the sun

Chapter 13

Littlepaw felt blades of grass tickle his paws but he ignored it. The sunlight spilled onto the floor creating a purple field.  This was his first hunting patrol and there was no way that he would mess up like he had when he had met Fox. Littlepaw followed a rich scent of squirrel, making sure he wasn't too loud in the process. He saw it munching on a nut while sitting on a rock. He licked his jaw and crouched, slowly stalking the squirrel. When it was a few tail-lengths away he sprang into the air and bit into its neck. A wave of satisfaction washed over him like a stream as it fell limp in his jaws.

" Nice catch!" A familiar voice complimented him. He turned around, it was Fox! What was she doing here, he thought she lived in a group? Not wanting anyone to catch him talking to a loner, he snarled.

" What are you doing here?!" He hissed, glaring at the ginger-she cat. He felt bad as he saw hurt flash in the fox-colored she-cats eyes. But he kept his glare, he didn't want to be caught being friendly with a loner.

" Don't you remember me? The cat that saved you from drowning?!"  Fox angrily meowed. Littlepaw looked around to see if anyone was watching, but it seemed as if the area was clear.

" Sorry, if my clan sees me talking to a loner they could punish me." He whispered. She nodded in understanding and Littlepaw felt a bit calmer knowing that they were alone. " So do you have a group or are you living alone?" Littlepaw asked, trying to make a conversation. 

" I don't really want to talk about my past, but yes I am living alone." She meowed, her gaze flashing with sorrow. Littlepaw felt a surge of pity for the loner, had she been abandoned as a kit?

" Littlepaw! We need to head back to camp and get ready for the gathering!" He heard Colliesoul call from the other side of a bush. Littlepaw felt his pelt grow hot with alarm.

" You need to go now! If Colliesoul catches you, we are crow-food." He warned Fox, she seemed to get the message and was already bounding away.

" Meet me here tomorrow night!" She called before disappearing behind a fern bush. Littlepaw felt his heart beat slower. Meeting with a loner went against everything he had been taught! But he couldn't help feeling excited to meet with the pretty she-cat. He turned away and bounded over to Colliesoul who was waiting by a tree.

" There you are, Stormwing found the patrol and told us the gathering was soon, come back to camp and get ready," Colliesoul instructed. Littlepaw felt his whiskers twitch with excitement, this would be his first gathering! He quickly followed his mentor and saw cats already crowding around Ashstar.

" I will take Addertail, Lakepelt, Acornleaf, Lionsnarl, Yellowstripe, all the apprentices except Spiderpaw, Cloudpaw, and Beepaw, Hawkeye, Colliesoul, and Webfoot to the gathering," Ashstar announced.

" Why can't me and my brothers come to the gathering? The other apprentices are less experienced than us!" Spiderpaw complained. Littlepaw narrowed his eyes at the short-tempered apprentice. But at the same time he agreed with him, why were they going and he wasn't?

" Exactly. We need you at camp in case we get invaded while at the gathering." Stormwing answered the apprentice. Spiderpaw puffed out his chest importantly and walked away from the crowd. 

"Let's go then." Ashstar meowed and made his way out of camp. Littlepaw followed, he stayed close to his mentor so he knew what to do, beside him Honeypaw and Moonpaw were busy chatting about the warrior code. Littlepaw gulped, would Starclan be angry that he was going to meet a loner? Did they even know about it? Ashstar flicked his tail and Littlepaw raced with his clan down a slope. When they stopped running he could already smell Moonclan, he saw them sitting down waiting, a silver she-cat looked at Ashstar wisely and nodded at him.

" All clans gather!" Ashstar yowled while leaping onto one of the branches of the pine tree. Littlepaw looked at the she-cat, he guessed she was Silverstar, leader of Moonclan. Silverstar nodded at Ashstar, allowing him to report first. " Rippleclan has been doing great, newleaf has brought much prey into our clan and we hope to continue like this for a while. We also have four new apprentices Moonpaw, Littlepaw, Oakpaw and are new medicine cat apprentice, Honeypaw!" Ashstar announced. Littlepaw heard the two clans yowl their names and he shuffled his paws nervously.

" Moonclan is also doing well, we have all recovered from the invasion led by Thistlestar and Sparrowstar. We did see a fox on our territory but it turned out to just be a loner who looked like a fox." Silverstar reported, her voice had an edge of humor and some of the cats giggled. Littlepaw felt his eyes widen with surprise, they must have meant Fox!

" Help!" A voice yowled and Littlepaw turned around. Beepaw was rushing to the gathering, his shoulder had a scratch on it. " Rippleclan is being invaded!"