Chapter 32: Attacked!

I looked back at my mate a bit sadly, as I had my head turned back to the camp. I felt a bit bad for her, even if she got the reason that I had made her stay back at camp when there was going to be a gathering.

I knew that she had been excited for quite some time to meet some new cats, and to find out what was going on with the rest of the clans. That was the reason that I felt so bad about making stay there. I also knew that I could not blame myself for it either.

It was in fact the correct decision to make her stay. At least 1 of the cats needed to stay to take care of Steve and the queens and the kits. Sure, you could say that it could be Limp that should be the one that stayed, as she was the one that was supposed to be the medicine cat.

Mint knew a lot about being a medicine cat though, so she would take care of them if there were something to go wrong. I trusted her, as any mate should to their spouse. I needed Limp at the gathering, she was going to take care of the cat in Shadowclan that was going to be a medicine cat.

I needed her here for that cat. I looked at her a bit sadly for a bit longer, as she nodded to me, and then she walked over to the nursery den to make sure that all of the others were doing okay in there. I shook my head, and then turned it back to all of the cats that were waiting for me to take the lead for the rest of them.

I spotted Owl, as he had his eyes squinted at me, but he then nodded to me as he saw that I was walking up to the front to head off for the rest of my clan mates. Me and him began to walk together, and we went a bit ahead of the rest of the clan, as it was clear that he had the intent that he wanted to speak to me privately.

Once we were far ahead of the rest of the clan, I then nodded to him for him to go ahead and speak whatever it was that was on his mind. He nodded back to me thankfully, and then he looked at the sky for just a few moments, before looking back at me and beginning to speak to me.

"Mint is not happy with not getting to come to the gathering, huh?" He grunted to me. I looked at him for a few moments, as I was not sure how to respond to it. I lowered my head to the ground for just a few moments, as I thought back on my mate.

He was for sure right with it, I could tell that she was a bit sad that she was not able to come with us. She had been looking forward to it, I knew that for a fact. I closed my eyes as we kept on walking, but then I looked back at him, as I saw that we were getting closer to the Riverclan border, and we did not have as much time as I had wanted to talk. I then finally decided to respond to him after those few moments of just silence.

"She was not upset, but she understood why... I know she was looking forward to this, but there's a lot more important stuff at hand at the moment, and it might stay that way for a while." I said back to him. He looked at me for a few moments, and then he nodded back on what I had just said.

He then looked far ahead of us, as I did the same as well. We looked at the small bridge that was ahead of us, as it looked like a pretty beaten down tree, and I hoped that my clan mates could get across it safely, without it breaking none the less.

I saw in the far distance though, that there was a group of cats walking across it at the moment. I could not tell which clan it was, as it was too far away for me to see. I watched as I saw a couple of them stumble, but thankfully none of them fell, as they all got across to the other side safely.

It took a lot of stress out of me, seeing that as well, as I looked over at Owl, as I saw him smile, and he nodded at me, as it was clear that he was thinking the same thing that I had been thinking of. After a bit longer, Owl finally responded to what I had said not too long ago, as I had nearly forgotten about it by now.

"That is good I suppose... I hope that the clans will get together and live in peace, I don't know how this gathering will go, if I am to be completely honest." He said to me. I looked at him for just a few moments, as I blinked a couple of times, taking in what he had just said to me.

I had not even thought about that now, as it was now beginning to put even more stress on me. I knew that it had not been his intent, but I was now starting to get a bit worried about how this would go, now that he had said that to me.

I gulped, as I wanted to tell myself that it was all going to be okay, but to be completely honest, I was not sure if that was going to be the case. Now that I was beginning to think about it, I had forgotten about the fact that Shadowclan had attacked Skyclan and taken over their land.

I hoped that Kevin would agree with me on the fact that we should give them their land back, though no matter what, I knew that Skyclan was not going to be friends with Shadowclan any time soon. I gulped, as I thought about asking Owl for advice on how to handle it, but it was a bit too late now as we were coming closer to the bridge. I did say one thing back to him however.

"I hope so too, I will do my best to try and keep it as calm as possible." I said back to him. He looked at me for a few moments, right into my eyes, and I wondered if he was reading into my thoughts for just a few moments. He eventually just nodded to me however as he then went back with the rest of the clan.

I looked back at him for just a few moments, as I wondered why he had done that. Had he not wanted to speak to me any longer? Was he upset at me for some reason or another? I then heard footsteps of a cat walking up from the other side of me, and I then realized why he had done so.

It was Limp, and it was clear that she too had wanted to say one last quick thing to me, before we walked across the bridge, to meet up with the other clans. I looked at her for just a few moments, and then I nodded for her to go ahead and speak. She nodded back to me, and then she went ahead and did so as well.

"I hope that Shadowclan will let me in to teach that cat how to be a medicine cat..." She said to me. I looked at her for just a few moments, as I then realized that once again, I had not thought about that either. I was beginning to get even more stressed out, as every moment passed by me.

I gulped a bit, as I did not want to think about it, but at the same time, I also knew that I needed to take that in to account. I looked back at her, as I regained myself, and then I nodded to her, as I saw her squinting her eyes at me, as I then began to speak.

"I will tell Kevin about it when we get there, but I think we are going to have a lot worse problems than that." I said back to her. She looked at me for a few moments, and then she blinked a few times, taking in what I had just said to her.

It was clear that she was too confused as to what I was getting at. I wanted to explain it to her, and try to get her advice, but it was just far too late, as we were now coming up on the bridge that was ahead of us. She tried to say one last thing to me before we began to walk across the bridge, as I listened to what it was that she had to say.

"What do you mean by that? Has there been something that has happened between the clans?" She said to me. I looked at her for just a few moments, as I did not really have enough time to explain it to her, without stopping the clan completely.

Which would not be a very good idea either, as I knew that the clan would not be happy, and neither would the other ones, as I was quite sure that we were going to be the last clan to show up for the gathering. I just managed to say a quick couple of words to her, as we began to cross over the bridge.

"You will see..." I said to her. She looked at me, still a bit confused, but I knew that she understood what I was getting at, now that we were standing right in front of the bridge. She just nodded to me, as she then turned her head back to the clan that were all standing still behind us, all looking at the bridge with grim looks on their faces.

Limp seemed to notice it as well, as she turned her head over to the bridge that was in front of us. She looked at it for just a few moments, before she then looked back at the clan. She then began to speak to all of them, to calm all of them down.

"Everyone! The bridge is okay to walk on, we will just do it one at a time just to be safe... We do need to hurry up however, as we are running a bit late." She said to all of them. Each of them nodded, all looking at each other, still not too sure if it was in fact that good of an idea.

I shook my head though, as I then decided that I was going to be the first one that was going to go ahead and walk across the bridge, just to show the rest of the clan that it was okay. I heard a bit of creaking, but I did in fact make it to the other side safely.

I then turned my head to my clan mates to let them know that it was safe to go across. They all sat there for a bit of time, still not too sure if it was really that great of an idea to head to the other side. Limp nodded to me, and then she began to walk across the bridge just as I had.

Once they saw her reach the other side safely, the rest of them then began to walk across the bridge just as we had. I watched as each of them slowly made it to the other side, as I also made sure that none of them tripped, and fell into the cold lake.

Once Shrivel, the last cat had made it to the other side, I then looked at each of my clan mates with a smile on my face. I could see that all of them were excited to go meet the cats of the other clans, as I was too, as I wanted to meet all of the new cats. I then began to speak to my clan mates before we walked into the loud clearing that was behind us.

"Everyone just stay calm, these gatherings are meant to be peaceful... You all go ahead now, and go meet some new friends, but don't get too attached to them." I said, adding in that last part, because I also had heard stories about other cats falling in love with cats in other clans.

Each of them nodded, and I then nodded back to them, as I took the first steps into the clearing. I saw so many cats all over the place, as it was even more crazy than I had first thought... Had all of the other clans already gotten so many more cats than us?

I then shook my head, as I saw elders all across the clearing, along with there being some new faces as well, as it calmed me down a bit, once I had seen them. As far as I could tell, it was all in fact quite peaceful, and I saw that the cats were talking to each other happily.

I saw my clan mates then begin to walk up to all of the other cats in the clearing, as they chose a group of cats more their age when they walked over to them. I nodded happily, seeing that the cats took them in happily and gently.

I began to walk over to the high rocks where the clan leaders were at. I turned my head to make sure that my clan mates were okay, but they were all already in groups by the time I had done so. I shook my head and just went over to the high rocks, and then I hopped on top of them.

I nodded to each of them, once I was at the top with the rest of them, and then I looked at the clearing that was in front of me. It was even bigger than I had first thought that it was going to be. I took it all it for just a few moments, as I saw that the other leaders were thinking the same thing as me from the corner of my eyes.

I saw that Summer had an excited look on her face, as she was smiling at Kevin for some reason. I then realized why, as I had forgotten that they had been friends before they had become clan leaders. I saw Kettle as he stood still, as he was more relaxed than the rest of it, as he had a calm look on his face.

I then looked over at Piper however, as I could see that he was not happy at all for some reason. I turned my head over to him a bit confused as to why that could be so. I sat there for a bit longer, as it then hit me as to why that could be the case.

I had forgotten once again, that Shadowclan had attacked Skyclan, and I saw just who he was looking at, as well. No... It was not the leader of Shadowclan, Kevin in fact. He was looking at Dust, and it was just as I had expected as well.

He was more than likely the one that had planned the attack, arranged it, and had gone through with it. I even wondered in fact, if he had even told Kevin about it, before he had went ahead and attacked Skyclan. I closed my eyes, and then shook my head.

I heard one of the cats right next to me then begin to speak to me. I opened my eyes, and then looked over at the cat, as I then listened to him speak to me. I nodded to the cat, as I saw that it was in fact Kevin.

"Dimple said that you had told her to bring Heart to the gathering... She said that there was something that you needed to tell me as well." He said to me. I looked at him for just a few moments, as I was a bit lost in thought at the moment.

There was much going on right now, and the voices all around me were starting to get a bit chaotic. I turned my head over to the gathering, as I saw that there was a large group of cats that were just dead silent, and they did not look happy.

I realized that they were Skyclan cats as well, I knew why they were not happy unlike the other cats that were in the clearing as well, as I had then forgotten what Kevin had just said to me, as I then began to get a bit upset at the fact that Dust had led an attack on Skyclan.

I turned my head back to Kevin, a bit upset at first, til I spotted a cat that was alone on the other side of the clearing, and I realized that it was Heart. I remembered what it was that I was going to say to Kevin once again, and the reason that I had told Dimple to tell Kevin to bring that cat.

I then relaxed myself, as I turned my head back over to Kevin. It was clear that he had noticed the look on my face for just a few moments, as he looked at me a bit confused. I shook my head though, and then I began to speak to him, as to the main reason that he had spoken to me in the first place.

"Yes... Heart, I want him to be a medicine cat of your clan, but I will need you guys to not attack Limp, when she comes into your territory, as I want her to be the one to train him. A medicine cat is one of the most important cat in your clan... Do not take that role lightly." I said to him. He looked at me a bit surprised, as he then looked over to Heart.

Heart noticed it as well, as he was alone, and there was not much else to look at besides the main cats that were at the top of the clearing. He lowered his head to the ground, a bit embarrassed that there were 2 leaders that had their eyes locked on him.

I wondered where Heart's sister Silver was as well, as I then realized that there were not all that many Shadowclan cats in the clearing that I could see. I suppose that Dust had a lot to do with what cat was allowed to come to the gathering, and which cat must stay back at camp.

I shook my head though, as I should not have my thoughts on him, as this was a more important gathering in the first place, that I did not want to be ruined by him. I then turned my head over to Kevin, as he nodded his head to me thankfully.

He looked as though he was about to say something to me at the same time as well, but there was a cat that stepped up in front of me and Kevin, as he then spoke loudly for all of the cats in all of the clans to hear him. It was Piper that had done it too.

"Cats of the clans! Skyclan has been attacked!"