Chapter Three
Sparrowflight flexed her claws, glad that Sunsky had called over Brightwave of OceanClan to fix her infected claw. It had been better ever since, and Sparrowflight would forever show gratitude towards the elderly medicine cat.
“Slash her muzzle!” Rainwind was ordering Bramblepaw, her apprentice. She was training with Windfur and Flowerpaw, while Sparrowflight and Monsterpaw were training with Ravenwing and Icepaw.
“Leap!” Ravenwing ordered her apprentice, and she soared over Monsterpaw’s head.
Sparrowflight didn’t direct Monsterpaw, just watched as he sprang onto his hind paws and raked Icepaw’s belly with a sheathed paw.
“Unfair!” Icepaw cried as she landed on the other side of Monsterpaw. “He knows OceanClan moves!”
“Well, then learn from him!” Ravenwing snapped. The young warrior had been harsh on her apprentice, but Icepaw seemed to not care.
The small gray molly dipped her head.
Sparrowflight padded over to Monsterpaw, and whispered in his ear, “if she starts learning your moves, switch to RiverClan moves!”
Sparrowflight had secretly taught him the RiverClan moves that either Reefflight had taught her, or that she had learned in her battle with Sharktail.
Monsterpaw gave a tiny dip of his head, then turned to face Icepaw. Sparrowflight sat next to Ravenwing, and together, they watched their apprentices train-fight.
“Roll!” Ravenwing called as Monsterpaw lunged at her. The gray molly side-stepped out of the way, just in time, and lightly slammed her paws down onto Monsterpaw’s spine. If this were a real battle, Icepaw would’ve smashed the black tom’s spine.
Monsterpaw rolled from under Icepaw’s paws, and turned.
Sparrowflight knew this move. She had made it up herself, and taught it to Lionblaze when she used to be an apprentice, and to Monsterpaw.
The black tom, in the middle of his spin, thrust out his back paws, only balancing on his front, and kicked at Icepaw, making sure to hit her lightly. Then, he spun the rest of the way, and slashed her face as she staggered and fell backwards.
“Wow!” she exclaimed, standing up and catching her breath. “Where’d you learn that move?”
“From Sparrowflight.” Monsterpaw flashed his mentor a thankful glance, and Sparrowflight purred in response.
“That’s enough for now,” Ravenwing mewed, getting stiffly to her paws. Sparrowflight followed her as she padded out of the Training Hollow. “You’ll have to rest if you want to go to your first Gathering.”
Monsterpaw’s eyes flashed happily. “Oh, right! My first Gathering!”
Sparrowflight stepped forward and smoothed a tuft of his fur sticking up on his head. “I’ll show you around,” she promised, and he purred.
“Wow!” Monsterpaw breathed. “So this is the Gathering Island!”
Sparrowflight nodded to the fern thicket. “That’s where most of the apprentices stay,” she whispered. “You should go over there an introduce yourself."
When Monsterpaw looked worried, Lionpaw padded up to Monsterpaw. The golden-yellow tabby apprentice was almost done with his training, and he nodded to Sparrowflight. “Here, Monsterpaw,” he mewed. “I’ll introduce you to the other apprentices.”
Sparrowflight breathed a sigh of relief, and padded over to where her old friends were sitting. Petalbeam nodded to her, and Ripplefall purred. Watersplash and Sandclaw exchanged a glance, then moved to make room for Sparrowflight, and Thrashpelt dipped his head.
Sparrowflight wriggled in beside the LakeClan warriors, then looked past their shoulders, to where the warriors from the other Clans were sitting, staring up at the Great Willow.
“The Gathering has begun!” Windystar called out, and the talking cats stopped talking. “I’ll go first. WaterfallClan has seven new apprentices, and three new warriors!” she called out.
Sparrowflight smirked, remembering the Gathering when LakeClan had three new warriors and seven new apprentices. We’re LakeClan all over again! she mused.
“Please welcome Puddlepaw, Flowerpaw, Bramblepaw, Lionpaw, Rainpaw, Icepaw, Muddypaw, Ravenwing, Robinwing, and Seagullfur!” Windystar called out, and the Clans cheered.
As Windystar opened her mouth to continue, Sparrowflight’s heart lurched. Sealion would probably be at the Gathering, since her kits, Streampaw, Mudpaw, Lakepaw, and Oceanpaw were already apprentices. Once Windystar would call out Monsterpaw’s name, the gathered cats would turn to look at him, and Sealion would recognize him, surely?
Her fears came true when Windystar called out, “and everyone, please give a special welcome to Monsterpaw!”
All the cats turned to look at the black tom, and just as Sparrowflight predicted, Sealion cried out, “that’s Nightkit!”
Monsterpaw winced, and Sparrowflight raced over to her apprentice.
“Get your paws off him!” she growled as Sealion started covering her kit in a shower of licks. She knew that it was kind of cruel, but it was what Windystar had ordered her to do if this did in fact happen.
“But he’s my kit!” Sealion replied, her amber eyes wide. “You agree, right Nightkit?”
“His name’s Monsterpaw,” Sparrowflight hissed.
“That’s cruel!” Sealion hissed. “His name should be Nightpaw.”
“The word of the Clan leader is the Warrior Code,” Sparrowflight reminded her, narrowing her eyes.
“Yes, but he’s a OceanClan cat!” the brown tabby hissed.
“Stop them!” Petalbeam cried. “They’re going to break the Warrior Code!”
Sparrowflight flicked her ears in annoyance. She’d never attack a cat at a Gathering! If Sealion attacked her, she’d just stand still, and hope that it’d be over soon.
“He was apprenticed in WaterfallClan,” Sparrowflight replied. “It was Windystar’s choice, and I’m a loyal Clan cat.” Unlike you, she wanted to add, but she snapped her mouth shut before the insult flew into territory that it didn’t belong in.
Seastar and Windystar padded up to them.
Seastar glared at Windystar and Sparrowflight. “You broke your promise,” she growled, unsheathing her claws.
Fury rose inside of Sparrowflight, and she struggled to push it back down. Were all OceanClan cats Codebreakers?
“And you’re about to break the Code, mouse-brain!” The insult flew out of Sparrowflight’s mouth before she could choke it down.
Seastar turned her burning green eyes on her, and she winced.
“You take that back!” the OceanClan leader hissed, advancing toward Sparrowflight.
Monsterpaw watched this all through wide, frightened eyes. “Please!” he wailed. “Don’t fight! I’ll go back to OceanClan. Just don’t break the Code!”
Sparrowflight had to admire her apprentice's courage, but she still wanted him to live in WaterfallClan.
“No!” Windystar hissed. “He’s a WaterfallClan apprentice, and he’ll stay a WaterfallClan apprentice!”
Monsterpaw’s eyes shrinked in relief.
“Never!” Seastar hissed, and she threw herself at Windystar. The WaterfallClan leader winced, and tried to stay on her paws, but it clearly wasn’t working.
“Someone! Quick!” That was Rainwind. Sparrowflight looked at where the WaterfallClan deputy was standing next to Petalbeam. “Dismiss the Gathering!”
Flowerstar quickly dismissed the Gathering, and the Clans left. The only cats left on the Gathering island were Monsterpaw, Sealion, Windystar, Seastar, and Sparrowflight.
“Quick!” she hissed to her apprentice. “Run while you have the chance!”
“No.” Monsterpaw’s firm mew took Sparrowflight by surprise. “I’m not leaving. I’ll stay and fight.”
Sparrowflight purred at her apprentice. “If that’s what you wish.”
Sparrowflight stared at Windystar and Seastar.
“Use that move I taught you on Seastar,” Sparrowflight advised.
“What about you?” Monsterpaw asked, stepping toward his former Clan leader.
“Oh, you’ll see,” she purred, and didn’t wait for her apprentice’s reply.
She flung herself at Sealion, who gasped in shock.
“Fox-heart!” Sealion hissed. “You took my son away with you!”
“He doesn't like you anymore,” Sparrowflight retorted. “When this battle is over, ask Seastar to change your name from Sealion to Foxheart!” Not waiting for an answer, she spun around, thrust out her hind paws mid-spin, and raked Sealion’s flanks when she spun all the way.
The molly was thrown to the ground, and it took her a few moments to recover. After she scrambled onto her paws, Sparrowflight started swiping at her as hard as possible. She gave the brown tabby a blow that sent her reeling, and started directing the queen toward the WaterfallClan border.
The river was in Sparrowflight’s sight, and she smirked.
“Not the river!” Sealion gasped.
“Can you swim?” Sparrowflight asked, and immediately pushed her into the water. Then, she turned away.
OceanClan cats couldn’t swim in fast, rushing water, like the river currently was. Instead, they could only swim in shallow, calm water.
Eh, she’ll figure it out.
A scream came from behind Sparrowflight, and she immediately spun around, and raced to the water’s edge.
WaterfallClan cats could swim in the most dangerous of water, or the most safe. After all, they had to swim in waterfall foam to hunt!
Sparrowflight dove into the water, calmed by the soothing roar that sounded so familiar to a waterfall. She gave herself a boost in the water by slapping her hind legs together. Brown fur flashed at the edge of her vision, and she swam forward, moving her paws in rhythmic movements.
She grasped Sealion’s scruff in her jaws, and hauled her back to the bank. she struggled onto the sandy shore, and dropped Sealion’s body on it.
Great WaterClan, I’m so foolish! Sharktail was right. I’ll go to the Darkforest, for sure!
For a moment, Sparrowflight thought that the OceanClan queen was dead, until she struggled onto her front paws, and coughed up a stream of water. Sparrowflight lept out of the way.
“You mouse-brain!” Sealion exclaimed, once she had stopped coughing up water. “I would’ve drowned, for sure!”
“Well sorry, I wasn’t thinking straight!” Sparrowflight snapped.
Sealion lunged again, claws splayed out in front of her like a display. Sparrowflight side-stepped a fraction of a second too late and felt white-hot pain on her ear just as she heard the telltale tearing of flesh.
My ear! Oh, Sealion is dead.
Sparrowflight lurched a paw forward and tore off a chunk of Sealion’s fur. She hissed in agony.
“Don’t you dare take my Nightkit away from me!” she yowled, and sprinted past Sparrowflight to where Monsterpaw was clawing Seastar’s tail. She plucked him off the leader as if he was a dead leaf on the ground. “C’mon, Nightkit. Let’s go back to OceanClan now and meet your Clanmates.”
“No, Sealion, I’m a WaterfallClan cat now. Sparrowflight is my mentor now. And the name’s Monsterpaw,” Monsterpaw retorted.
Sparrowflight’s chest swelled with pride. “That’s right. He’s in the best Clan in all the world.”
“WaterfallClan is a Clan full of fox-hearts,” Sealion scoffed. “My little Nightkit deserves better.”
“Says you,” Windystar muttered from her perch on top of the defeated Seastar.
Sealion let out a glare so strong it could slice even the strongest warrior in two.
“We’ve won,” Sparrowflight cooed. “You can’t argue. Look, Seastar is helpless, and you yourself are drenched to your bones. And Windystar, Monsterpaw, and I are feeling better than great.”
Sealion huffed. “C’mon, Seastar. We’ll get Nightkit back later.” Then she stalked off the Gathering Island.
“Love you too, Mom,” Monsterpaw called after Sealion. “Oh, and it’s Monsterpaw, by the way.”
Sparrowflight purred at her apprentice.
“Let’s go home,” Windystar huffed as she watched Seastar scurry off the island.