The Empty Star - Book 1 - Curse

  “Clan meeting!” Ravenpaw had known that Foxstar would call another. All of the warriors who had left to chase down Voleclaw had returned, and Dazzlepaw needed a new mentor. It had been hard for her to comprehend what happened, or why it even happened in the first place. It made sense to Ravenpaw though.
  Ravenpaw, once again, sat next to Winterpaw and Hornetclaw. He was waiting impatiently to see what the warriors had to say. But for now, he waited. He couldn’t do anything besides that anyway.
  “Now then, we have some news, and some new things to attend to. FInchfeather, Berrytail, what happened to Voleclaw?” Foxstar asked loudly, making his voice heard throughout the crowd.
  “She escaped onto the DeathClan border. We had waited for a patrol, but the patrol had refused to give us permission to chase her. They ordered that they would deal with her and to leave her alone.” Answered Finchfeather, a bit nervously. Foxstar, with a frown, huffed and growled slightly at his own thoughts.
  “If they don’t kill her, and I see her again, I’ll kill her myself. If so, I must visit DeathClan tonight to ensure her death.”
  Ravenpaw wasn’t as shocked this time. He knew Foxstar was a ruthless killer, and Voleclaw disobeying him so many times had broken the final branch. She had always been on his last nerve, and yet, she broke it.
  “And now, Dazzlepaw, once Voleclaw’s apprentice, needs a new mentor.”
  Ravenpaw and everyone else was eagerly thinking about who exactly it would be. It might be obvious, but they’d have to find out.
  “Finchfeather.” Foxstar meowed, looking at the she-cat. She was a bit surprised but understood her mission. “You will be Dazzlepaw’s new mentor.”
  Dazzlepaw and FInchfeather approached each other and touched noses, with Dazzlepaw just rolling her eyes a bit. She had most likely hoped to be the deputy’s new apprentice, just as she originally was. Although, being Voleclaw’s apprentice most likely was not as fun as it had seemed.
  Ravenpaw was starting to wonder how such a fat cat could run all the way into DeathClan camp and escape their grasp. She was so fat, she almost looked pregnant. But it was very unlikely that she actually was pregnant, since nobody actually liked her as much as they liked some of the other she-cats.
  But then again, it could’ve been some sort of loner or kittypet, knowing her. There were so many possibilities it could be if she was actually pregnant. She could even be pregnant with DeathClan kits!
  But for now, the meeting was over. Foxstar had called it while Ravenpaw had zoned out, and now the camp was going back to their normal routines, as if they seemingly forgot all about the meeting already.
  Ravenpaw followed Winterpaw into the apprentices’ den, before hearing Hornetclaw call him from behind. “Ravenpaw! Where are you going? We have to hunt, remember?”
  Ravenpaw groaned. Of course they had to hunt. It was getting closer to moonrise, and he was not in the mood to hunt right now. Even if it’s basically in the Code that he had to hunt once a day, it was still tiring. Maybe he could ask to just not, since they already did so much that day. He had to stick up for himself.
  Ravenpaw turned around and walked up to Hornetclaw, trying to look calm. “I was actually going to ask if we could skip that today, since we’ve already reviewed the Warrior Code, and had to sit through two meetings.”
  Foxstar, who had been standing around nearby, heard him say that and wasn’t very happy about that. He approached them both with a slight disapproving frown. “That’s against my rules, Ravenpaw. You know that’s not allowed.”
  Ravenpaw rolled his eyes at his leader’s words. It was so dumb to have to follow these stupid rules. Why did the leaders’ word have to be law? It made life even worse than it actually was. He’d have to edit that when he was older, or maybe protest it. Ottercloud, if ever becoming Otterstar, would probably agree.
  But Ravenpaw protested against Foxstar anyway. “But I’ve already had a lesson today, and done so much. It’s just one day.”
  Foxstar thought about it for a moment, contemplating those words. After a few heartbeats, he just nodded in understanding, to Ravenpaw’s surprise. “Fine. But only today, don’t expect this to happen very often.”
  Ravenpaw nodded his respect to Foxstar, and also slightly to Hornetclaw, before trotting back to his den. He had finally gotten what he wanted! A good night’s rest instead of hunting until moonhigh. He had never done such things before. Maybe Foxstar was lightening up on him, but he doubted that. But hope was sparking him just a tiny bit.
  When he entered his nest, he saw Winterpaw and Flamepaw arguing about something dumb. Again. They always argued over basically nothing, and Flamepaw usually started it, so it was nothing new for him.
  “Ravenpaw is weak! Why would you be friends with such a sad, small, cursed apprentice? Why don’t you DISlike him?”
  “Because he is nice and smart and actually strong, unlike YOU!” Winterpaw snapped a retort, which made Flamepaw flinch a bit. Ravenpaw watched at the entrance. This was hopefully not going to get violent, like last time.
  “EXCUSE ME!?” Flamepaw was outraged by her statement, and he arched his back with unsheathed claws angrily. “I will be telling Foxstar about you! You deserve nothing, like Voleclaw!”
  Winterpaw huffed in disbelief, while Ravenpaw stepped in and spoke up before Flamepaw could get so violent. “What do you think Voleclaw thinks of Foxstar?”
  Flamepaw did not hesitate to answer, not knowing that  Foxstar heard the wrong parts of what he said. “That Foxstar is a stupid, fox-hearted, mouse-brain, careless, wretched, useless, ripoff fox who thinks he’s better than everyone else. That’s what she-”
  “Repeat yourself, Flamepaw. I'm what?” Growled Foxstar from the entrance. Flamepaw quickly turned to look at Foxstar, shocked he had heard him wrong.
  “I didn’t mean I thought that, I was saying that Voleclaw-” He started to speak but was cut off by Foxstar grabbing the scrawny small tom by the scruff and dragging him away.
  “I’ve heard enough. Come with me.”
  Without permission to protest, Flamepaw only squeaked like a kit as a defiance mechanism. Ravenpaw watched, trying not to laugh at him. And with that, Flamepaw was taken into Foxstar’s den, not to be seen that night.
  It was really peaceful that night, not having to deal with Flamepaw’s bickering. But it felt… off. Like something was seriously wrong.