CHAPTER FOUR
The sun shone in the sky as Raven sluggishly opened her eyes. She shakily got up on her paws and wandered over to the fish pile. It towered above her, like she had gone to the end of a rainbow. The different colours of the fish stacked up like a game of tetris. Raven carefully removed a fish that appeared to be a salmon. She dragged it back to the apprentice hollow, stomach grumbling. Raven set down the fish and began munching on it. Storm's body rolled over, the deep gy wolf suddenly waking. She rose up and looked around. Spotting Raven wide awake, Storm went over to her friend.
"Good morning," greeted Storm. "You gonna eat that huge fish all by yourself." Raven smiled back.
"I don't think I'll be able to fit it all in my stomach," admitted Raven, she flicked her tail. "Want some?" Storm nodded happily as Raven moved a piece of torn salmon toward Storm. She gulped it down in two swift bites. Raven noticed the other apprentice's noses were starting to sniff out the food in their sleep. One by one, they all awoke. And a few seconds afterwards, they asked if they could have some. Raven nodded and left the hollow. Feeling bad for eating Raven's food, Crescent followed her out.
"What are you doing?" Questioned Crescent.
"Getting more fish." Crescent's eyes lit up.
"I'll get one as well!" She replied, merely. The pair went over to the towering pile. They both selected a fish and pulled it out. After they arrived back at the apprentice hollow, the other apprentice's eyes sparked with gratitude.
"More food!" Exclaimed Vixen. Raven, Crescent, Storm, Thunder, Vixen and Dagger all munched away all three fish. Thunder licked his lips.
"That was delicious!" All of the apprentices smiled, revealing sharp pointed teeth.Raven's ears pricked up. A meeting yowl filled the ears of the living. Dagger tilted his head towards the meeting rock, signalling the apprentices to follow him. They all stood up and trailed behind the eldest apprentice. Sylvia was perched upon the boulder, yowling for the clan to group at the foot of the rock. Kits and elders alike stood beneath the rock, some sitting. Sylvia finally spoke up after a few heartbeats of silence.
"I have gathered you all here today to announce who will be going to the gathering tonight at Silver Trees," she began. Raven was listening closely now. "We will obviously be taking our deputy, Hunter, as well as our medicine wolf, Misty. We shall also bring Pandora and Atlas to represent our fighters." The two wolves that were chosen to go, gazed at each other. It seemed like Atlas was blushing...
"To represent our elders, we will take Bark and Ragged," announced Sylvia. "Queens will be Fluffy and Dove. Do not worry, I will set Amber and Phoenix to take care of your pups when you are not present tonight." The two wolves had white fur, Fluffy just had a very light grey tint to her fur though. Amber shrank at the thought of taking care of pups. Raven could see in her mentor's eyes that Amber desperately wanted to lead a border patrol when the group was out at the gathering, but those plans had been crushed in a second.
"And, the two apprentices that will be representing NeptuneClan tonight at the gathering will be Thunder and our brand new apprentice, who has also made exceptional progress," added in Sylvia. "Will be Raven." Thunder snuck up to the side of Raven, he whispered to her.
"Are you excited?" Raven looked at him and replied with a nod in agreement. Raven also felt a pang of sadness that Patch and her mentor, Amber, weren't going to the gathering, but was bouncing with joy that she was going.
"We shall commence our travel to the centre of the forest at sunset," announced Sylvia. "Any wolf that is late will be replaced."
The sun died down as the blue sky slowly turned orange. Raven looked around in the apprentice hollow for Thunder. She spotted him sharing tongues with his sister, Storm.
"Hey, Thunder," called Raven. "It's almost sunset, let's wait by the entrance." Thunder nodded. Before getting up, he gave his sister one last lick before his journey to the centre of the forest. Raven sat with Thunder underneath a tree. The chosen wolves slowly started to trickle in.
"Are you excited?" Asked Thunder. Raven set her gaze on his. Thunder felt a shiver travel down his spine.
"You asked me that earlier," she replied, coldly. "But to answer your question for the second time, yes. I am excited." Thunder swiftly nodded and then turned away. Large silver paws thundered in front of Raven. She stared up at her alpha. Sylvia's fur had just been perfectly groomed for the journey.
"Alright," she howled to summon the medicine wolf of NeptuneClan. "Everyone here?" The wolves stayed in silence. Raven could tell they were ready to jolt off into the forest. Without any signal, Sylvia raced off, her deputy, Hunter, right behind her. Misty took the back, she made sure no wolf got lost on their travels. Raven didn't keep her eyes in front, she gazed around at the surroundings. Great oaks towered over every wolf. The roof of the forest seemed to be spiralling around Raven's field of vision. Energy surged through the apprentice. She looked behind her, Thunder was speeding up to meet her pace. His tongue lolled.
"Aren't you a little-" Thunder paused to take a breath. "A little... Tired?" He questioned. Raven stared at him playfully.
"Haha, nope!" Raven sped up. After a few paw steps, Raven was running beside her alpha. Sylvia looked down at her.
"You're a quick little one, aren't you?" Huffed Sylvia, her tongue lolling just like Thunder's.
"Running is my specialty, I did a lot of it before I was brought in by you," Sylvia nodded, Raven could detect that she was thinking about questions. "If you need to know anything about my past, don't be afraid to ask." Sylvia paused to think for a second. She suddenly blurted out, "I smell like that? I'm sorry, I should've shaken that scent out of my system by now." Raven nodded. She was about to speak but was cut off by her alpha.
"You have a good nose, Raven," she said. "Can you smell that?" Raven looked forward and tasted the air. She took in deep breaths of the air.
"It smells quite fresh." Replied Raven. Sylvia quickly replied.
"Good," she huffed. "That's the smell of Silver Trees, isn't it magnificent?" Sylvia suddenly skidded to a halt. Raven and the other wolves stopped behind her.
"We've arrived." She announced. Sylvia pushed through the trees, her deputy trotting behind.
Once Raven entered, her field of vision was immediately clouded with the tallest trees in the forest. Birch trees soared up into the clouds. There were eight. Each one representing a clan. The rest of NeptuneClan pushed through the leaves. Sylvia ran off to a giant boulder that was in the centre of the clearing. Hunter took the lead. The deputy led the wolf pack down to the foot of the rock. Every wolf that was invited sat down in rows. Apprentices at front, fighters in the middle, queens behind the fighters and the elders in the back. Misty and Hunter sat beside the apprentices. The pack waited patiently as the other seven clans burst into the clearing. They all did the same as NeptuneClan. After every clan had arrived at Silver Trees, the eight leaders all howled in sync to get everyone's attention. Raven's ears pricked up.
"Greetings, every clan," spoke the EarthClan leader. "We welcome you all to this gathering." The EarthClan alpha had slick, blue-grey fur. He also had glistening green eyes. The MercuryClan alpha stepped forward. His amber fur looked just like Raven's mentor.
"We shall begin by addressing you all with some clan news," he began. "I am Lupus, MercuryClan's leader. My clan has been striving forward. We are all prepared for the winter season. HemeraClan has spoken to me recently and told me there will be no snow this winter in our territory. We do not expect any wolf to send themselves out to our territory to hunt there, if you do, you will be taken in as a prisoner." Lupus stepped back and signalled with a flick of his tail to the VenusClan alpha. They stepped forward.
"I am Flora, alpha of VenusClan. My clan has had many new pups born into our clan. So much that it's becoming hard to find mentors for apprentices. What's even worse is our prey balance, but we are still fighting hard to collect as much prey before the winter frost creeps up onto our grassland." The strawberry coloured wolf stepped back. The EarthClan leader stood up.
"I am Artemis, leader of EarthClan," Artemis' white coat appeared glossy in the moonlight. "EarthClan has no major news. We have scented humans in our territory though. We've investigated further and scented many humans scavenging across the Solar Timberland." The short announcement from the alpha made Raven a bit suspicious of the EarthClan alpha. One reason was him seeming uneasy when addressing the clans. Maybe he was nervous? The MarsClan leader stepped forward. The large, muscular wolf quickly glanced at the JupiterClan alpha before speaking.
"I am Phoenix, I lead MarsClan with pride. Today, we have scented some JupiterClan wolves attempting to steal prey from our territory. Not exactly sure why, but, you know, we must deal with it." A flare in the orange wolf's eyes blazed across to the JupiterClan alpha. The leader padded forward.
"Greetings, I am Mira, alpha of-" Mira was cut off by Phoenix.
"Cut to the chase." He glared at her.
"Alpha of JupiterClan. I would like to debunk those accusations. We have never hunted in MarsClan's territory, and we never will." The alpha calmly stepped back. Phoenix bared his teeth at her. The SaturnClan leader walked up to the head of the boulder.
"Hello to all, I'm Ringlet, alpha of SaturnClan. I have been sending out many hunting parties to collect prey for this winter. We can all tell it's going to be deathly cold, so we must preserve the food as much as possible." Ringlet sat back down in her respected area as the alpha of UranusClan marched to the front.
"I am Omega, leader of UranusClan," the wolf's slick, glossy black fur lightly blowed in the breeze. "UranusClan has been marching on towards a great point. We are slowly, but surely, obtaining a lot of prey for the winter season. We send much luck onto the other clans." Omega stepped back. Raven understood the reason why he was named 'Omega'. The reason being his muscular, intimidating appearance. Raven directed her eyes towards her alpha, Sylvia.
Sylvia sat there, waiting patiently for Omega to be seated. The gracious wolf arose and looked below on her clan and the other seven. She then stopped dead in her tracks. She began to whimper all of a sudden. Raven's eyes flashed red. Raven had just realised a dark figure stood before Sylvia. His blood red fur stayed dark, even underneath the moonlight.
"Who-who is that...?" Stammered Raven. Thunder stared at his friend, confused at what she was talking about. Sylvia whimpered.
"What a-are you doing h-h-here...?" Her voice was quiet. The wolf chuckled."Oh, Tenshi... Whenever will you understand that I'm trying to ruin your life?" The wolf was Akuma. Sylvia's muscles tensed.
"Silence, you fool!" Her voice seemed thundered. Every other wolf was so confused. Who was she talking to? Raven's ears flattened against her head. Rain slowly began to patter down onto the ground. Thunder roared. A fork of lightning struck. And that mysterious wolf disappeared. Sylvia's eyes glowed white before fading back into grey. Raven's eyes faded back to her blue tinted colour. Lupus stood up.
"This is a sign from HemeraClan. We must depart immediately." All of the alphas, Flora, Artemis, Phoenix, Mira, Ringlet and Omega all nodded in agreement. One by one, the clans left the clearing. Sylvia, however, stood in shock. Tears of fear rolling down her cheeks.