Chapter 8

Maplepaw was walking back to camp in complete silence. For once in her life, she didn't want to talk, and she wasn't the only one. Many of the other warriors were walking in silence, and that was perfectly fine with her. They reached camp and she flopped herself onto her warm mossy bed. "I wish I could just forget about this," she thought, and then fell into a deep sleep. The next few days were a blur. Training, hunting, and patrolling. Sagestar had said that we would have to train extra hard, to protect our borders. Him and the leaders had started to meet regularly. We now doubled the size of our patrols, and apprentices could not leave the camp without 2 or more warriors. Plus, the camp was always heavily guarded, even at gatherings. But of course, somebody had to step out of line. I woke up to the sound of branches snapping outside. The memory of the attack from leaflcan flashed in her mind. I slowly crept to the edge of the apprentice's den. I saw two warriors, their fur night black, glowing eyes of white, staring at me. I yowled in fright. My scream woke the apprentices near me who jumped out of their nests. "Maple Paw! Maple Paw! What happened!?" Warriors started scrambling toward the apprentice's den, and I wasn't surprised. After the gathering, the warriors had become paranoid about the apprentices, and it was not fair. "I'm fine, I'm fine, I saw some cat looking at me through the thorn bushes," I said, uncomfortable about the seriousness the warriors were sent off in waves. "They gave me one last look, and Blackcloud signaled to leave. I did as he said, and we walked to the leader's den. Shellstar was lying on the floor, blood flowing down his neck. I was shocked. "Wha! Wha!?" I yelled. The warriors seemed to jump out of their fur. Blackcloud, grab the rest of the warriors and prepare the apprentices, this place is no longer safe. Soon, Crossmatch ran in fur bristling. "What has happened to Shellstar!" He bellowed. I ran outside, to see the warriors waking the apprentices. "What was happening?" her head was spinning, did Shellstar, the oldest leader just DIE? She walked back into the leader's den. "Crossmatch?" Crossmatch was kneeled over Shellstar's body. "There is no hope for the clans," he said, his sadness now anger. He looked up at me, "lead the Clans outside the territories to the mountains, past the mountains is a different forest. I-I will kill these cats" he said, his eyes turning blue. And then I realized. Crossmatch was glowing! Just like Shellstar would have! He opened his eyes to reveal blue eyes with a hint of fire. "I will bring Shellstar back, but for my own life, he will still lead our clans for generations and generations," Crossmatch said, suddenly closed in sadness. He raised his head, eyes glowing yellow! Crossmatch was the multi-power cat! He used the power of water, fire, earth, and finally life. Life was the most powerful power, only one cat had ever wielded the golden power, and now there were 2. He started to glow and his spirit started to float out of his body and into Shellstar. His body started to lose color, and he slumped to the ground, dead. I stood there. This night was just getting worse and worse, I could feel tears swelling out of my eyes. Suddenly Shellstar started to move. I jumped up from where I was sitting and used my tail to slowly help Shellstar up. "What just happened?" he asked, his voice hoarse. "All I remember was a black cat biting my throat, and everything going black. Where is my clan?" he demanded. "Everything is fine Shellstar, but CrossMatch sacrificed his life to save you, he is now the second cat to wield golden light. " I said trying to comfort Shellstar by slowly licking the blood on his fur. "Oh no, he should have been the next leader, I had foreseen my death, but I was so foolish that I thought it wouldn't happen," Shellstar confessed. Head now looking down at his paws. "It is fine Shellstar, you are alive and that's what matters. CrossMatch said you and the clan should leave the forest and make a home behind the mountains." "Ah... That is a great idea. We will leave right away to see if the other clans will join us. Gather the rest of my clan, and we will cross the borders to see FireClan. " He said and then started to limp towards the group of cats waiting near the entrance tunnel. "This was truly going to be the end of the clan," I thought, and then followed him down to the tunnel.