Chapter 6 - The Meeting
Silentstar gracefully jumped up onto the Hightree’s thickest branch, the one with bark worn pale from so many leaders over the years standing on it. Countless cats have been up there. Will I ever be one of them? A respected leader? Fallenwings wondered. I want to… But I don’t want Silentstar to die, or Moonflame for that matter. He sighed, and angled his head upwards, his gaze directed on Silentstar’s sleek, mottled fur, and her piercing gray eyes. The cats of FallenClan streamed around him, gathering in the space under the tree’s large branches. Silentstars eyes scanned the cats, as if she was wondering if she should even call, the whole clan was already here, even the kits, milling about and saying greeting each other.
“Cats of Fallenclan!” Silentstar yowled.
The cats below stopped talking and their heads snapped up towards Silentstar. For a brief second, Fallenwings wondered how she felt up there, dozens of cats watching her, depending on her.
“Fallenwings and Bramblepaw have found a rogue on our territory!” Silentstar announced.
The cats who hadn’t heard all about this, mainly the kits, were loudly whispering.
“We should shred those rogues to bits!” Hiddenkit hollered to the clan.
“Shush,” Willowmoon murmured, stroking her tail over Hiddenkit’s back “I’m sorry!” She apologized to the clan.
A couple cats chuckled.
Silentstar quieted them, and then announced,
“I’m glad to have such an eager young warrior in the clan” She stared down at Hiddenkit, who had puffed her chest out proudly.
“But. Can I finish what I wanted to say?” Silentstar said with a flicker of annoyance in her face.
“Ok!” Blossomkit hollered cheerfully.
Silentstar sighed, murmuring something about how no one was supposed to answer, and continued talking.
“The rogue caught a thrush, on OUR territory, and dropped it on them in the trees,” Silentstar reported. “Bramblepaw has a theory. Come over Bramblepaw.”
“Ok…” Bramblepaw murmured while padding toward the high-tree, looking back and forth. When she passed Fallenwings, who was sitting rather close to the tree, he whispered,
“Don't worry, it's ok”.
She glanced at him but kept walking nervously. When she got to the base of the tree, she began addressing the clan nervously, first quietly, but as she gained confidence, louder.
“I think that the thrush he dropped before me and Fallenwings was one he had killed to scare us.This rouge is different from the others. He jumped through the trees with skill, and only killed the bird with a single, deep claw mark on its neck. I think that this rogue is threatening us, but I don't know why.”
“Ok. Do you know anything else about this rogue?”
“I do!” Fallenwings called out, knowing what the rogue looked like.
“Then why don’t you tell us?”
“Well I think the rogue was a tom, and he had pure black fur. He smelled rather young, maybe Crowbreezes age.” Fallenwings informed the cats.
“Then we must find out more about the rogue, and why he is threatening us. In the meantime, we will double patrols on the left side of FallenClan territory.”
“CAN I PATROL?” Honeykit chirped.
“Me too!” Blossomkit hollered
“And ME” Mintkit added shyly, but loud enough for the cats nearby to hear .
“Don’t Forget us!” Berrykit, Rosekit, Hiddenkit, Lemonkit, and Palekit added.
“I don’t want to go…” Canarykit meowed, pressing closer to Hivestorm.
“Me neither, I can’t” Cranekit grumbled. His blind eyes seemed to stare at Darkvalley. “But I can gather herbs for when you get back!” He added.
The symphony of mewling kit voices seemed to get on Silentstars nerves.
“None of you will be going anywhere! You are just kits! Some of you are barely a moon old!” She glanced at Willowmoon’s kits. “Stop causing trouble. For the last time.” Silentstar flicked her tail, dismissed the clan, and jumped down, grumbling about kits these days.
All of the kits had gone to their mothers and started asking them if they were in trouble, (except for Mintkit, who just asked Echonight) which none of them were. Fallenwings supposed everyone was just annoyed and anxious about the rogue. He was pulled out of his thoughts on what to do about the rogue when Mintkit came over. She attached herself to his paw just like the first day he met her. Fallenwings purred happily.
“Fallenwings?” She asked innocently. “Will Cranekit become a warrior?”
Her question surprised him. “No” He murmured. “Cranekit is blind and can't see. He is going to be a medicine cat and take care of sick and injured cats, like Darkvalley, my daughter.”
“Oh.” Mintkit said. “Am I your daughter too?” She looked up at him, with wide eyes.
“Yes, of course.” Fallenwings purred, feeling a surge of affection for the kit. “Always.”