Poisoned Fangs, Scene 9: A Perplexing Gathering

## Gathering POV

**Summary:**

Kinkstar and chivetail left the leader den where they were snuggling together and went out into the camp clearing. Kinkstar padded into the meeting tent and called to Snakeclan.

“The gathering is tonight and the cats going will be Sagespark, Marshpaw, Weaselpaw, cypresswish, Mossfoot, Chivetail,”

Kinkstar glared at weaselpaw for a moment, “and there will be no rude comments coming from you OR Marshpaw.”

“MarshTOES!” Weaselpaw corrected harshly

Marshpaw looked at weaselpaw " I think you mean weaselface" they replied to kinkstar

Pigeonpaw looked up from her nest where the announcement was heard. She slumped her back in her nest, grateful that she didn't have to go to the gathering this time.

Kinkstar tried his best not to hiss at the foolish apprentices, he shook his head and left the tent, gradually everyone else did too. They would be on there way to the gathering soon.

Tumbleflight watched as all the cats going to the gathering started to group together " perfect" it thought " he's going to be there he has to be" Tumbleflight almost grew angry thinking about the white tom

Time passed and the sun was starting to sink behind the mountains, Kinkstar left the camp and started leading the selected cats to the gathering place.

Tumbleflight and the others made their way to the tent as they all arrived it noticed that fogclan isn't here yet "good" he thought walking and taking a seat where the other medicine cats sit "nice to see ya" cloverleaf said happily "Same back to you" Tumbleflight responed "is fogclan here yet?" "Nope not one they better be gettin' here soon" cloverleaf said "impatient as always" Tumbleflight thought afarid to say it to the ginger shecat they all waited and waited untill finally Tumbleflight saw him white tom with yellow eyes leading a group of cats into the tent

sparrowstar and his clan stood on the rear end of the tent, his intimidating look scaring some of his own clan to scoot away a bit.

The white tom walked up to the other leaders and sat down "Sparrowstar how are you doing tonight?" He questioned quietly

"prey is running well in echoclan, how are about you Kinkstar?" The brown tom tried to pull off a friendly smile, only to look like a serial killer ready to claw his throat.

Kinkstar dipped his head, although feeling wary of the scary looking tom “prey is running great for us too.”

Lavenderberry squeezed past Sparrowstar, and brushed her plumy tail onto his nose. "Excuse me Sparrowstar, sorry!" She rushed over to the other medicine cats and tripped over a leaf. "I'm sorry!" She plopped down beside the other medicine cats and shrunk down as the clan cats eyed her awkwardly.

"yes Lavenderberry? is there something wrong?" Even though the tom resented the cat, he gave her his warmest smile

Tumbleflight looked at lavenderberry with sympathy they knew Sparrowstar didn't care for the shecat

She shrunk down farther and mumbled. "I'm sorry, Sparrowstar I didn't mean to interrupt. I just got caught at the back of the clan and needed to get to my spot, I-I'm sorry for the interruption..."

“Ah that is alright, lavenderberry” “just don’t get lost next time” sparrowstar turned his gaze away from her, he couldn’t ruin his reputation

Lavenderberry nodded and meat-loafed on the ground, shame in her nervous violet eyes.

"awww lavenderberry don't mind that old tom" cloverleaf said trying to cheer her up "he don't know what he's say'n" "but we all better be gettin' quiet before he noticed us" Tumbleflight couldn't help but be amused by the she-cats language

Lavenderberry blinked at the orange she-cat gratefully and turned to see what the leaders had to say.

Sparrowstar came up to speak first making sure none of the other leaders have a chance to say anything “ prey is running well in echoclan.” He paused “although,.. there has been a few disappearances of a few of our cats”

Kinkstar looked at sparrowstar with worry "have you found bodies?" He asked before realized that was a mistake

Sparrowstar looked at him with curiously. “Why, that is strange of you to ask kinkstar?” Sparrowstar paused a bit as if he’s recalling back some memories “no. They all gone missing without a trace.” He said “I have found a small bits of fur lately but I can’t be sure”

“I’m sure these disappearances don’t have anything to do with you kinkstar?” Sparrowstar said suspicion rose in his throat ready to spit out accusing remarks but he held them back

The white tom looked away form the leaders before talking "our deputy Forestclaw went missing less then a moon ago" the other leaders turned

Kinkstar felt a stab of fear in his pelt, thinking of the same tragedies that had happened in his clan. is it the same cat doing all of this he thought, horrified. Shaking away his fear, kinkstar started speaking about his clan too.

“Snakeclan too has had mysterious disappearances of cats but they are after the cats have already been killed. A warrior died by a boulder falling on him and the next day, his body was gone, not a trace. I assure you, Sparrowstar, Snakeclan has not gone near your warriors.”

The white tom continued "my littermate Loudstrike has stepped in as a temporary deputy till we find him"

"That's quite suspicious that a body would just dissapear! Maybe Snakeclan's lying to try to empathize with us and trick us! To cover up the fact they're killing our warriors!" A cat yowled from the crowd

The white tom looked panicked after hearing that snakeclan and echoclan also has lost warriors

“Silence!” Yowled sparrowstar

Weaselpaw let out a throaty growl at the thought of Echoclan blaming her clan for murder.

Kinkstar didn’t know what to say, he opened his mouth to speak but his words were caught in his throat. He turned to sparrowstar

"weaselpaw calm down" Marshpaw said trying to calm her

Weaselpaw turned to the cat who was yelling and hissed at him. "Maybe you should listen to the leader's before jumping to conclusions!" The tom glared at her. Weaselpaw smirked. "But I'd expect no less from Echoclan scum like yourself!"

"Weaselpaw!" Marshpaw said sounding shocked "don't say stuff like that!"

Sparrowstar meet his gaze, then turned to the crowd of cats. “It seems we have all have lost to mourn for, but if kinkstar is telling the truth, then how can we accuse another clan of disappearances we have no evidence on!”

“I think we should keep an eye out for any suspicious activity though” “not quarreling with one another like kits!” His glare meet weaselpaw

“I will not tolerate this any longer” sparrowstar turned around “echoclan will be heading home”

Weaselpaw let out a snort. "Aww, did the apprentice upset you, Sparrowkit? I knew you were past your naptime!"

Tumbleflight stared at white tom once again but instead of love and kindness it felt pain and anger

Kinkstar stared in surprise at Sparrowstar, turning to the other leaders to see if they too wanted to go home

“If I catch any of you on echoclan’s borders, I will not hesitate to claw your throat” snarled sparrowstar

Weaselpaw hissed back. "Same for you, rot-breath! You'll watch your back if you know what's good for you!"

“Okay, Okay.” Kinkstar muttered, looking away from the angered tom as he stormed out of the clearing.

“I hope you can tame your clan better, Kinkstar” growled sparrowstar

Sparrowstar spat towards weaselpaw’s direction then the rest of the clan was gone

The white tom stared and over the crowd of cats for a second wanting to catch the eye of a certain black tom but he saw nothing

Weaselpaw puffed out her chest, looking cocky. "He ran away faster than a squirrel up a tree!"

"weaselpaw that's not funny" Marshpaw said "you shouldn't upset a leader let alone Sparrowstar!"

Kinkstar gazed down at the rest of the cats, hoping they weren’t too riled up to continue.

“Well.” He mewed, looking at his paws, “who will speak next?”

Weaselpaw laughed to Marshpaw. "What's he gonna do, tell his mommy?"

"Fogclan brings some good news" the white tom continued "my son Bravekit is now an apprentice he is Bravepaw and loudstrike is his mentor" no cats cheered or said anything

Lavenderberry mewed softly. "Bravepaw! Bravepaw!" Hoping someone would join in

Kinkstar glanced at the white tom awkwardly, not wanting to be the only one cheering so he didn’t

"Oh no I've been left!" She scampered onto her paws and ran after her clan

Tumbleflight stared at the tom "son?" What about-" he didn't continue somethings should be forgotten

The tom continued "prey has been well in fogclan and we have a new litter of kits to introduce poppythorn and littlebush's kits their names are bearkit, birdkit and greenkit" still no cat said anything the tom looked at kinkstar

Chivetail looked at Kinkstar encouragingly though he knew how bad things were

“I’m glad your clan is doing well, Milkstar.” Kinkstar mewed, dipping his head to the white tom, “as stated before, Snakeclan has had a few deaths and disappearances recently but we are trying to figure out the cause. And we too have had plentiful prey and new kits and apprentices in training.”

He took a step back and looked expectantly at the next leader

Chivetail brushed his tail against his leader's back a shy smile on his face.

Tumbleflight thought "how could he be so happy now?" "Last time we talked he was miserable"

Milkstar waited to see if kinkstar would speak again he did not "well it's been nice seeing you again fogclan had better be going now"

Milkstar spends time with cloverleaf so he picks up on her language

Kinkstar nodded, leading his clan out of the clearing after fogclan. Tumbleflight, however, stayed behind.

"milkstar" Tumbleflight said looking at it's paws "could we speak?" Milkstar looked confused for a second "of course  he replied "loudstrike lead the clan back to camp I'll be there in a bit" the brown and white she-cat nodded. Both toms waited what felt like moons for ever cat to leave "What is it?' milkstar asked "is something wrong with cin- "What happened to us?" Tumbleflight cut the tom off?" He sounded desperate "milkstar sat back and looked at the black tom "you choose your clan remember? And so did I" milkstar said sadness in his voice "I know what I said but that doesnt mean you had to leave me alone with two young kits!" Tumbleflight hissed before milkstar could reply Tumbleflight turned and ran off "I still love you" milkstar called he got no response.