Mistystar’s Omen

She looked at the rocks that guarded the medicine cats’ den. Willowshine and Mothwing seemed to be avoiding Mistystar as much as they could. Was Willowshine even watching out for omens? Or was StarClan ignoring them after all?

Chapter 7

A run of stormy days kept the RiverClan cats confined to their camp; none of them minded getting their fur wet by choice when it came to swimming, but they hated torrential rain as much as any Clan. At last the wind eased and the rain lightened to a fur-flattening drizzle. Mistystar and Reedwhisker stood on the rocks at the edge of the lake and stared into the water. It was slightly clearer than before, and one or two tiny silver shapes darted about in the shadows, but there were still no large fish such as trout or carp.

“Is it worth fishing today?” Pebblefoot called, crunching over the stones toward them.

Reedwhisker shook his head. “Not unless you want to chase minnows again. Oh, I meant to tell you that Hollowpaw and Rushpaw asked if they could do some battle training on their own today. They know their assessments are coming up and they wanted to practice the crouch-and-leap technique we taught them.”

Pebblefoot looked surprised. “I didn’t realize they were taking the assessments so seriously. I sometimes wonder if Rushpaw wants to go straight to the elders’ den when he reaches twelve moons. I’ve never met an apprentice who is so good at finding shortcuts to getting things done!”

Mistystar snorted. “Perhaps he’ll just be a very efficient warrior.” She headed back up the shore, and the two warriors fell in beside her. “We can’t keep waiting for the big fish to return,” she mewed quietly before they reached the camp. “And our territory isn’t big enough to provide enough land prey to support us all. We’ll have to think about expanding upstream.”

“It does seem like the only option,” Pebblefoot agreed. “Hunting patrols have already caught a few birds in the reeds just beyond the border. Do you think we should go even farther?”

Mistystar nodded. “I’ll take a patrol that way myself today. I don’t want to announce the expansion to the whole Clan yet, but every cat knows we are running out of food.”

“Would you like me to come too?” Reedwhisker offered.

“No, thank you. I want you to lead a patrol along the border with WindClan and renew those scent markers, just in case they’re still waiting for us to cross over again. And Pebblefoot, will you take a hunting patrol onto the marshes?” The senior warriors nodded.

Back in the clearing, Reedwhisker started selecting cats for his and Pebblefoot’s patrol while Mistystar looked around for warriors to accompany her upstream. She was just about to call out to Grasspelt when Mothwing approached. Mistystar felt her fur bristle. Why am I so hostile? Mothwing used to be my friend!

Mothwing’s blue eyes looked troubled. “Do you know where Hollowpaw and Rushpaw are?” she asked.

“They’re practicing for their assessment,” Mistystar told her.

“Are you sure? I heard them telling Mossypaw and Troutpaw that they had found something none of the warriors knew about, but they couldn’t say what it was because it was a big secret. Do you think they’re up to something?”

For a moment Mistystar longed to be able to talk openly to Mothwing, like they had done so many times before. I always thought we would lead our Clan together! But Mothwing had kept a bigger secret than anything the apprentices might be hiding, and Mistystar couldn’t see how they could find a way back to how things used to be. “They were probably just showing off,” she told Mothwing. “Don’t worry about them.” She sounded more dismissive than she had intended, and Mothwing shrank back as if she had been hit.

“I just thought I should let you know,” she mewed. She turned and walked away before Mistystar could say anything else.

Mistystar forced herself to concentrate on the upstream patrol. “Grasspelt! Could you come over here? Bring Icewing and Mintfur!”

The three warriors trotted over. They bristled with excitement when Mistystar told them that they would be exploring beyond the border.

“It makes sense, if we don’t have enough prey around the camp,” Grasspelt meowed.

“Do you want us to set border marks?” asked Icewing.

“Not yet,” mewed Mistystar. “I don’t know how far we’ll get today. We’re just looking for hunting possibilities at the moment.”