Longshadow's curse

Chapter Six

Rippledpool padded quietly through the forest. She was nearing the MountainClan border, the one shared with MarshClan. Opening her mouth to sniff, she smelled the distinct and disgusting scent of swamp-water. A MarshClan patrol! Ducking down, Rippledpool flattened her ears and listened.
        “Ugh. My fur is all wet.” A male voice complained.
        “Well, get used to it. You’re acting like a kittypet! Afraid of a little water?” A different male voice teased.
        “No! I’m just not used to it! My fur feels all heavy. Stop being so mean!”
        Rippledpool peeked her head up and was surprised to see the medicine cat of MarshClan, Scalefur, traveling with the SandClan medicine cat Lizardfoot. She leaped over the bush in front of her and padded towards the medicine cats.
        “Hey!” Rippledpool meowed. Scalefur glared at her.
        “What are you doing here, Rippledpool?” Scalefur asked, his voice oozing. It hurt Rippledpool’s ears to listen to his annoying voice.
        “Going to the Moonstone, like all of you.” Rippledpool retorted. Scalefur looked down, and Lizardfoot was strangely quiet. He was usually very very cheerful. Too cheerful.
        After walking together for a while, the cats reached the Moonstone. Lizardfoot had regained his cheerfulness and had been bragging about how he had caught a snake the the entire way to the Moonstone! He began to sashay around, singing a song about fresh-kill. Scalefur went to the back of the cave and laid down in the shadows. Rippledpool, being the most experienced medicine cat, perched on the rocks surrounding the sacred stone.
        “Has anyone seen Mapletail? It is almost time.” Rippledpool meowed, looking up at the moon. A bit after she had said that, a white she-cat with ginger splotches on her ears and tail darted into the cave.
        “Hello, Mapletail…” Scalefur oozed.
        “HOLA!” Scalefur yowled, prancing around the cave. Mapletail rolled her eyes at that.
        Rippledpool flicked her tail to gather their attention. “Cats, it is time to see our StarClan sent dreams. Everyone press your nose to the Moonstone.” The other obeyed and Rippledpool purred as she felt the welcome coolness of the stone. Her eyes fluttered and she fell asleep…
        Rippledpool was perched at the highest limb of the StarTree. The breeze blowed her fur softly and the air smelled clear and fresh.
        “Rippledpool…” A familiar voice called out. Rippledpool’s eared perked up as she saw the lovely ivory pelt of Birchpaw appear.
        “Birchpaw!” Rippledpool exclaimed. She jumped towards him, slightly surprised that she could now float. She nuzzled her apprentice, but then realized what that meant. “Birchpaw… You, you died?” Rippledpool choked out. Birchpaw nodded. “Birchpaw, I’m so sorry. You would have been a great medicine cat.”
        “I know Rippledpool. And I’m sorry that I never got to say goodbye.” Birchpaw mewed. He turned his head side-to-side. “Rippledpool, I only have a short amount of time to speak to you.” His voice was clear and was already fading. “My death was because of one kit. A cursed kit. When I had ran out of the camp I had ended up falling off of a ravine. But I’m with StarClan now. But be wary of the cursed kit!” Birchpaw yowled the last sentence and faded away.
        “Birchpaw! No!” Rippledpool called, her eyes filled with tears. A cold wind blew and Rippledpool felt more alone than she had ever been. Suddenly, a pelt brushed hers, and she spun to see the past medicine cat who had died in a battle with MarshClan.
        “Spindlefeather!” Rippledpool mewed. “It’s nice to see you.” Spindlefeather looked at her with sadness in her eyes.
        “There’s something I need to tell you. I just want to say that I’m so proud of you. You have quite a fate ahead of you. I wish I could help you more, but all that I can do is give you this prophecy.” Spindlefeather closed her eyes and began to speak
        “A long shadow has been cast, no one knows how long MountainClan will last, you must find her by newleaf’s end, find her at the Twoleg bend, her eyes are sightless yet she knows what is right, only she can shine the light, find her or the end will be in sight, and newleaf’s end will be the clan’s final night...” Spindlefeather’s voice faded and she opened her eyes to give Rippledpool one final glance. Her tawnypelt and green eyes disappeared, but a final message echoed, “ Rocks will fall, grass will burn, and water will dry. The clan of heat will take over, beware!”
Rippledpool opened her eyes to see the Moonstone in front of her. She blinked and her face contorted into a look of shock. When she saw the other medicine cats were awake and that Mapletail was just waking up, she hid her surprise quickly and followed Mapletail out of the cave, her tail swishing violently.
“Mapletail…” Rippledpool mewed tentatively. “I have to speak with you, in private!”
“What is it? I’m kinda busy!” Mapletail snarled in her usual grumpy tone. Rippledpool almost spat back a retort, but took a deep breath to calm down and continued.
“I know I am not supposed to tell my Starclan sent dreams to another clan, but I have to make an exception for this one time. Starclan has told me that, erm…” Rippledpool grappled for the right words. “Let’s just say that a large battle is going to be fought, and that we need to clear the air and make an allegiance.” Rippledpool looked up at Mapletail with eyes that she hoped looked convincing.
“You have to be kidding me! We just had a major battle and here you are asking about an alliance with GrassClan!” Mapletail spat. “One of our warriors almost got killed because of you!” Mapletail glared at Rippledpool, clearly not wanting to make an alliance.
“It was your dumb apprentice that caused all this! Don’t blame me!” Rippledpool hissed. She knew it was all GrassClan’s fault. And as much as she hated annoying Mapletail, she knew that she had to make this alliance work.
“It wasn’t a major battle. Just a small skirmish!”
“One of our warriors was severely injured from your, ‘small skirmish’!” Mapletail retorted. By now, her tail was fluffed up and her claws were unsceathed. “We’ll continue this at the gathering. I have to go, my clan needs me.” She spat, and turned tail and dashed towards the GrassClan territory. Rippledpool hissed and looked up to the sky. StarClan, how do you expect me to have an alliance with GrassClan when their medicine cat is so unagreeable! She thought forlornly. She turned her head and began to run back to the camp. As she was running to the forest, she saw a large shape in front of her and smacked right into it! Rippledpool fell onto her back, and when she got up, she narrowed her eyes to see the thing better.
“B, Barkface?”