| abstract | - The bushes rustled as the Thunderclan cats crunched through the tall grass, heading for the gathering. John’s first gathering, to be exact. Oh, boy. I can’t wait! John’s mind buzzed with ferventness. What do the leaders of the other clans look like? What interesting cats will I see? Suddenly, John’s mind homed in on more serious subjects. How will the other clans take Skyclan’s return? Or more importantly, how will I be treated as a Twoleg? John felt his stomach churn undesirably. He now dreaded going, and he swallowed a quick breath. You’ve lived through worse, John murmured, but even those words of intentional comfort for himself nagged heartstrings. Hollyleaf looked at him with a gaze of concern. “Is something wrong, John? You’re making some nasty faces!” she meowed quietly. “I’m fine, my dear.” John tried to make her believe him, but all he got was a look of even deeper concern. “You actually looked excited to go before. Now you don’t seem so taken to the idea, by the looks of it.” She meowed, looking confused. “Starclan knows if Skyclan will be ever accepted at all! And the fact that I’m a Twoleg. What happens if Firestar decides on telling them that?” John fretted. Hollyleaf purred, mewing, “John, I haven’t seen you transform for awhile now, ever since you met your brother! You’ve become a cat at heart now. Who cares if you’re a Twoleg? And I’m sure Skyclan will be just fine settling in.” John nodded. In the past few days, Skyclan had returned after John had brought them back, and since a part of the forest that had very thin underbrush, tall and wide pine trees, and hard, unusable ground, no clan had dared touch it. But it suited Skyclan. John knew the story about that unusual territory. Some Twolegs had started to cut the trees down with no permission, and started to sell large portions for money. The local authorities caught on quickly, and made them use the money they had made to build another forest in the old one’s place. When the clans arrived, he reasoned, the place must’ve stunk like Twolegs, so nobody claimed it. Thank Starclan. John sighed. John looked up and saw the Thunderpath before him. The gathering was held on Riverclan territory, so they had to cross the territory to get there. John watched as the Warriors, one by one, crossed the silent Thunderpath, followed by the apprentices and the two elders, Mousefur and Longtail. Soon it was his turn, and Firestar and Sandstorm were on John’s heels, trying to cross safely. They made it across as soon as a monster flew by, ruffling their fur. At last they were at the gathering. Many cats were there, chattering as fast as their jaws would let them. John padded into the clearing, and noticed a smoky black tom sitting across the clearing with his head low. John padded over, looking at the older tom with curiosity. “Hello, how are you, today?” John waved his tail in a warm greeting. “Not good,” The tom murmured, apparently crestfallen. “Do you need to talk about it?” John asked. The tom looked at John as if he were a psycho, then, “Do you expect me to betray my clan?” He yowled, the pain gone from his face. John noticed his eye had been scratched over in battle, and he slowly padded away to the rocks the leaders were standing on, sitting near them. Hollyleaf padded over and sat next to him. “That Windclan cat looked as if he was going to claw your eyes out! What did you say to him?” She asked. “He was acting sad, so I went to see what was wrong. What did I say that offended him?” he asked, bewildered. It wasn’t Hollyleaf who answered his question. “His name is Crowfeather. He just lost his mate to Greencough.” Leafpool told him. She looked at the cat distractedly for a moment, and then looked back at the five leaders on the rocks as a dark gray-blue she-cat spoke up. “This gathering shall commence with Riverclan news! We have been attacked by Doomclan recently.” A shocked murmur rippled amongst the clans, and she continued. “We are not afraid of a show of weakness. We acknowledge that every single clan has been attacked by the fox-hearted scoundrels, and we need at least one idle medicine cat to treat our wounded, if one would be so kind.” She yowled, and at once the clans murmured in agreement. Each leader reported being attacked, and John was grateful that no one asked why Skyclan had come back, obviously distracted by Doomclan. The gathering was dismissed soon after, and before she could leave, John needed to ask Leafpool how she had known Crowfeather. He found her padding away with the rest of the clan, and managed to catch up with her. “How did you know about Crowfeather, Leafpool?” he asked calmly, and to his surprise, she winced, but answered his question still, but very hesitantly, as if the words were opening old wounds. “I went to Windclan after their medicine cat, Gustfoot, told me to come at the medicine cat gathering, and ended up staying there for a while. I found they were also infected with Greencough. Crowfeather’s mate…” She stopped half wistfully and half sorrowfully, and looked as if she couldn’t continue, but she went on. “…Had been infected too greatly. She died soon after I got there. His son was injured too. He didn’t die, but tonight Gustfoot told me he wouldn’t be able to be much of use to his clan now.” She almost looked impatient about something, but calmed down as she ran past the Thunderpath. As John reached the other side, he smelled something funny. The other cats didn’t seem to notice, but John went to investigate, uninterested in talking to Leafpool about anything now. He sniffed along a short stream that trailed through the forest, and he heard a shocked gasp as he padded into a clearing. He smelled something that didn’t register at first, but then it hit him. Excitedly he turned around and saw a loner trying to tip toe away. The brownish-black tom noticed he had been spotted and dashed away. “Hey, Wait! It’s John!” John yowled, careening after the familiar tom. The tom stopped in the middle of the clearing, hearing John’s greeting. John crashed into him, pinning the tom down with his strong paws. “Is that you, John?” The tom threw John off, his eyes gleaming with excitement. “Yes it is, Logan!” John meowed, excitement pounding in his chest. But can this be the same Logan from the orphanage? John thought. He had run away, so it must be him! Amidst all the excitement, suddenly John realized something. If Logan had found the clans as well, wouldn’t he be part of my prophecy too? John realized with shock that Logan was part of it if he had been turned into a cat! Now John knew without a doubt he was definitely not alone.
|
