Bluehawk and Emeraldshatter

A fair warning, this chapter's going to be pretty long. A lot is happening, and there just wasn't a good place to segway into the next chapter! Enjoy! 

Frost covered Hopewilt's pelt, masking the blood that had dried there into a shimmery sheen of silver. Her entire body ached like she'd been thrown off of a cliff, and her mouth felt as if it was filled with sand. The wound over her eye had scabbed, but when she blinked, stabs of dull pain shot through it.

With a groan, she sat up and peered outside the bush where she'd apparently spent the whole night. The world was tinged with frost, and the air tingled with cold—a little taste of Snowfall season. Dawn had spread its flaming eye over the forest, and Hopewilt guessed that the first patrols of the morning had already set out.

Panic lit in her heart, as she realized that she was supposed to still be standing guard; there would be questions as to where she'd gone during the night, and Hopewilt doubted she could answer them. The memories of the night before were a haze of tears, blood, hate-filled words, blinding pain, and a bond that could never and would never be repaired.

Shaking off the frost and lingering heartache, she trotted out of the bush and sat down to carefully preen her fur back to its usual golden shine, but quickly gave up, as her muscles screamed in protest. Hopewilt sighed- She didn't want to return to her Clan. Nobody, even the tiniest kit or the most feeble elder could miss the giant scar that now marred her face.

I could tell the Clan... Tell them their dear, loyal, brave Bluehawk brutally attacked his sister. Tell them that I was nearly blinded. Tell them he's a traitor. But something caught her in the middle of her twisted fantasy. If he didn't hesitate to hurt me once, he won't hesitate to hurt me again. Just to keep the truth from coming out. Hopewilt contemplated her options for a minute. There didn't seem to be a happy ending. Expose him, cause so much turmoil for the Clan, and put herself in danger, or stay silent and live with it?

I'll decide once I get back, She thought with a flick of her stubby tail. Excuses can suffice for now.
                                                              ~❆~

As she drew closer to camp, Hopewilt began to hear voices. Quietly, she crept up and peeked over the lip of the cliff in front of the entrance. There, the Clan was gathered in front of Adderstar, as he talked. The air was filled with tension, and when Hopewilt stepped out into the crowd of cats, heads turned to stare at her.

Adderstar paused. "Hopewilt- Where were you this morning? You were supposed to be standing guard. And what happened to your face?" Hopewilt took a deep breath, the excuse she'd made up standing at the tip of her tongue. "Well, I thought I'd go out hunting just before dawn, and bring back something for the prey pile. But an owl caught me on the way back to its nest and attacked me. I fought it off and hid until I was sure it was gone. Then I came back..." She trailed off as her gaze caught Bluehawk's. He looked so smug, so cruel, so evil. Emeraldshatter was glued to his side as always, her plumy tail twined with his.

She swallowed hard and stared at the ground, heart pounding frantically with nonsensical panic. "And... Now I'm here."

"Well, then. You're a warrior now, but that doesn't mean you can run off and do whatever you want, whenever you want. After the meeting, go and see Frostedmoss for that scratch." He raised a paw to disperse the murmuring of the Clan and continued.

"As I was saying, tonight is the Gathering. For moons, EmberClan has been harassing us, taking our prey, attacking patrols, and jeering at us from behind their borders. Tonight, if we are not able to come to an agreement and make peace, there will be war by dawn." Hopewilt's eyes widened. War? I didn't think this had gone that far.

"I will be bringing the majority of the Clan to the gathering tonight. We must show them we are strong in numbers, and not afraid to fight. Try not to engage with them or make them mad; to achieve peace, we must also be peaceful. The list of who will be coming, and the few warriors that will be staying, will be announced by the end of the day. Dismissed!"

As soon as the word 'dismissed' had been uttered, Frostedmoss came running to Hopewilt, concern written all over his aging, gray-and-white patched face. "Come to my den- I need to take a look at that." Wordlessly, Hopewilt followed, down into the dim, warm underground camp, glowing lichen brushing her back as she slipped into the cave that held the Medicine Den. She sat stiffly on the chilly stone, tense as he held glowing lichen up to the long, crimson furrow, parting her fur and picking away dried blood. 

Frostedmoss glanced at Hopewilt, his gaze intense. She shifted uncomfortably. "How did you say this happened again?"

"Uh- an owl. I was out early, and it caught me on the way back to its nest. It tried to grab me, but I fought it off, and escaped with just this." She motioned to the wound. Frostedmoss nodded, obviously skeptical. 

"Let me tell you something. When I was still an apprentice, seasons ago, a snowy owl terrorized BleakClan for a few moons. Three cats were attacked- Two warriors, and an apprentice. One got a wound across their shoulders, one got it near their flank, and one, the apprentice, was blinded, and later died of the resulting infection. He was the first cat I ever lost as a Medicine Cat." The old Medicine cat's gaze darkened momentarily.

 "But that's not the point; All of their wounds had something in common. They were relatively shallow, smooth, and thin, and came in rows of three or four. This wound looks more like something dealt by a warrior's claw."

He paused for a second, waiting for a reaction. Hopewilt tried to remain deadpan, but inside, she was panicking. "This wound is jagged and deep. I've seen enough battle injuries to know the difference between blunt-force trauma, claw wounds, wounds from birds of prey, and wounds from animals like foxes, wolves, and coyotes. Hopewilt, who did this to you? Did you get in a border skirmish?" 

Hopewilt stepped back, tripping over her own paws slightly. "Like I said. It was just an owl. It must have been... a weird angle." Frostedmoss sighed at her response, easily picking out that she was most likely lying. 

"I woke up late last night because something had disturbed me. When I left my den and looked up into the tunnel, I could hear a very heated argument. Coincidentally, there were only two cats standing guard last night. You, and Bluehawk. I only caught the tail end of it, but I heard what sounded like a she-cat, in pain, scream, "You're a monster!" And flee. I crept up to the mouth of the tunnel, and only saw Bluehawk, pacing and muttering under his breath. Did Bluehawk do this to you?" 

Hopewilt's heart hammered frantically in her chest. She yearned to just tell Frostedmoss everything; she trusted him, and he already practically knew the truth. But something held her back. She was afraid, of what would happen to her, and to Frostedmoss if she let the truth out. Bluehawk obviously didn't care if she lived or died; he wouldn't hesitate to hurt Frostedmoss. After the elderly Medicine Cat had done so much for her- save her life, even- she couldn't risk him getting hurt.

"No, it was an owl." She stated stubbornly. Frostedmoss looked disappointed. "Okay. I can't push you any further. It doesn't matter what happened, all that matters is that it doesn't get infected, you don't lose your sight, and you're okay." Internally, Hopewilt breathed a massive sigh of relief. Thank the stars.

"Now," Frostedmoss meowed briskly, rummaging around in his herb stores. "Let's get a dressing on that." 

                                                          ~❆~

"Lynxfury, Wolfwhisper, Beartooth, Darkdaisy, Pinestalk, Witheredcry, Batwhistle, Flurryflank, Thawedsnow, Bluehawk, Tumblesoar, Gentlebreeze, Emeraldshatter, Brookspirit, and Hopewilt; all of you will be coming with me to the gathering tonight." 

A chorus of happy exclamations filled the camp, along with a few groans of disappointment. "Wailingwind, Coldcloud, and Frostedmoss, you three will be staying, along with the elders. If a patrol of sneaky warriors manages to get to our camp and invade while we're gone, you need to be able to run for help or fight them off. Frostedmoss, I need you to prepare herbs and emergency bundles. We could be fighting at dawn." Accepting their new responsibilities, the six cats that would remain in camp all nodded.

"Can I stay up top and keep a lookout, Adderstar?" Asked Coldcloud, her amber eyes shining like coals in the dim of the camp. "Sure. Just stay alert, and don't freeze." Adderstar responded, slightly distracted as he surveyed his Clan and camp.

"Now. I remind you again, that this is a very important gathering. All that matters is that we keep peace, and make a decision about where this tension will go. EmberClan has always been greedy, and their current leader is incredibly power-hungry. More than likely, there will be some sort of fight, be it at the gathering, tomorrow, or a few days from now. Be prepared. Let's go!" 

With that, he turned and began to lope up the tunnel, his Clan at his tail. Hopewilt followed along, the sticky concoction of herbs still plastered to her wound. The stinging had stopped, and the wound no longer felt like it was splitting her face open, but a dull ache presented itself any time she made too sudden a movement with her head. 

Hopewilt's stomach danced with tiny songbirds. She was nervous, and excited for where the gathering was doomed to go. She vaguely remembered back to her first gathering, and the other apprentices she'd met there. Fallenpaw, Swanpaw, Shiverpaw, and of course, the cursed Rubypaw and Obsidiansmoke. They'll all probably be warriors by now, and new apprentices will have replaced them. She thought, as the mountain stone melted into trees, and then into the open path to the Sacred Willow. 

As she was lost in thought, Tumblesoar ran up next to her. "Hey, Hopewilt. How is that wound feeling?" He asked, never having lost his enthusiastic tone. "Oh- Hi, Tumblesoar. It's feeling fine." She responded, watching as the oaks, birches, and larches at the sides of the path slowly transitioned into pine and burnt-out trunks. They were in EmberClan territory now. "An owl attack, huh? That must have been awful." The lanky tom sympathized. "I'd have been terrified." 

"Yeah. I was pretty scared." She mumbled, the small talk dwindling into silence as they drew nearer to the Sacred Willow. The night was clear, and unlike the night before, held not a breath of wind. It was almost eerily silent as the BleakClan warriors hurried through the night on their way to the gathering site, on edge and tense. 

Finally, the last trees died away into a large clearing, filled with dozens upon dozens of pelts and voices, all milling around and blending together. The scents of four very different Clans made her dizzy, and it was very loud. 

Luckily, EmberClan seemed to be late, and Hopewilt gave a sigh of relief. She was dreading sharing the same space as a cat that had nearly killed her brother, and a Clan who wanted to go to war. She knew the peace wouldn't last, and hurried to find a familiar face. 

Rather quickly, Hopewilt's gaze landed on a familiar tortoiseshell pelt and amber eyes. Fallenpaw. Smoothing down her ruffled fur, she padded over to him, where, to her delight, Swanpaw also sat. Beside Swanpaw, a tiny white she-cat was pressed close to the older feline's flank. A new apprentice, perhaps?

Along with the three cats she knew, and the new apprentice, there was a pale gray she-cat with blue eyes. Fallenpaw's sister. But looking closer, she couldn't see Shiverpaw.

"Hi, guys, remember me? Last gathering?" The Swanpaw and Fallenpaw's eyes lit up, and they gathered around her. "How are you, Hopepaw? It's been so long!" Crowed Fallenpaw, much taller and more full-formed than he had been the last time she'd seen him. "Oh, I'm fine- I'm a warrior now!"

"Fantastic! So are we!" Swanpaw cheered excitedly, gesturing to the gathered cats. "I'm Swanbubble now. Fallenpaw's called Fallenbird, and Morningpaw is Morningmist!"

"Those are great names. I'm Hopewilt!" Hopewilt smiled, glancing around one more time. "Where's Shiverpaw?" Swanbubble's face instantly dropped, and she looked at her paws. "Shiverpaw passed away- In an accident, last moon. There was a training exercise in a marsh, and she fell into some really deep mud and sank before we could grab her. We dug her out, but she'd drowned." Fallenbird placed a paw comfortingly on Swanbubble's. "A terrible tragedy."

A lump rose in Hopewilt's throat as she witnessed the grief written all across Swanbubble's angular face and the pain in her heather-blue eyes. She knew the hopeless feeling well. "I'm so sorry. My brother... He passed away too. In an avalanche accident. That's also how I lost my tail." She gestured to the stump and saw eyes widen all around her. "Oh, Hopewilt, I didn't even see it. It's so dark. We heard about the avalanche and saw the wreckage from our territory, but we didn't think anyone was hurt." Fallenbird whispered mournfully. 

Swanbubble gazed at Hopewilt, a silent understanding between the two, grief shared between cats of different Clans. 

Morningmist peered closer at the cream warrior, concerned. "What's with the leaves on your face, above your eye?" Hopewilt shrugged, trying to act nonchalant. "Just a bit of a scratch. An owl got me when I was hunting before dawn. Nothing major." Sympathetic murmurs came from all around, but no further questions were asked, much to her relief. 

"Oh, I'm so rude," Swanbubble meowed, slapping her muzzle with one paw. "This is Clearpaw; She's deaf, and doesn't talk much. She's only been an apprentice for a moon or two." (AUTHORS NOTE: Clearpaw existed as a character in Spottedsound's Survival as an insert to give more life to the Gatherings. However, this universe is her true home, and where her character and story are based.) Clearpaw, a small, fluffy she-cat with large, pale gray ears and a bushy gray-tipped tail, stepped shyly out from beside Swanbubble and waved her paw in greeting. She had a diamond marking on her forehead, and striking ice-blue eyes. An adorable, endearing cat, for sure.

 Hopewilt greeted the little she-cat kindly and turned back to Swanbubble. "Is she your apprentice? I've never seen a cat get one so young." Swanbubble laughed. "No, she's Ottersplash's. He just put me in charge of showing her around and guiding her; besides, she's good company." 

"EmberClan sure is late, huh?" Fallenbird meowed, peering around the clearing, and up to the stones at the foot of the Sacred Willow. The three leaders already perched there looked annoyed, and impatient. "Yeah. They'll show up soon." 

As she spoke, a rustling noise broke through the chatter. The majority of the cats fell silent as EmberClan stalked through the bushes. There were a lot of cats, all strong and battle-scarred. She was able to pick out a few cats that had been in the confrontation patrol on the day of her assessment- Including Obsidiansmoke.  Adderstar locked eyes with Flickerstar, who bared his fangs at the older tom. He quickly strutted up to his designated stone, and sat down, proud.

"Let the gathering begin." 

Fun Fact:  Further into the mountains, hours of travel away, there is said to be a Hot Springs/Thermal source that only BleakClan knows about. It used to be used quite regularly in the colder seasons but has since been more-or-less forgotten about.