Revolution

### Summary

Goldenpaw lives in DreamClan, but it is far from his home. That changes when an encounter with a loner sparks hope in Goldenpaw, but hostility in others.

### Sequence

Next: A New Clan

***Revolution*** is the first book in Independence or Death. It features Goldenpaw as the POV.

## Allegiances

### DreamClan

Leader: Dreamstar - pale ginger tom with green eyes

Deputy: Sandclaw - pale ginger tom with blue-gray eyes

Warriors: Firestorm - gray and white tom with fiery orange eyes

              Quietbreeze - brown tom with blue and yellow eyes

              Creeperclaw - green tom with green eyes

              Antfrost - siamese tom with blue eyes

              Darkheart - tortoiseshell tom with green eyes

              Diamondpelt - blue-gray tom with blue eyes

              Purpleclaw - pale ginger tom with purple eyes

Apprentices: Goldenpaw - yellow tom with icy blue eyes

                    Beepaw -  small fluffy brown tom with dark blue eyes

### Cats outside the Clans

Wilbur - dark brown tabby tom with amber eyes

Fundy - orange tom with black paws, a white tipped tail and amber eyes, son of Wilbur

## Revolution

### Chapter 1

“Wake up!” a hiss awoke Goldenpaw. He looked up, it was Firestorm. “Sandclaw wants you two for the hunting patrol,” the tom informed them before swiftly leaving. Goldenpaw yawned and prodded Beepaw with one paw. The fluffy brown tom woke up and stretched. After a moment the two went outside the den and headed towards the patrol.

“About time,” Sandclaw muttered. Creeperclaw was also on the patrol. The green tom dipped his head as the two apprentices neared. Sandclaw led them out of the camp and into the forest. After a while the scent of rabbit reached Goldenpaw. He could tell that the others had scented it too. Soon they spotted the creature and Sandclaw dropped into the hunter’s crouch and began making his way around the rabbit while Creeperclaw stayed behind, his back to the apprentices. Then Goldenpaw caught another scent. Squirrel.

“Hey, Beepaw,” he whispered to the small tom, “We should go catch some more prey.”

“Without the others?” Beepaw sounded nervous.

“Surely they can manage without us.” Beepaw still looked uncertain, but he nodded. So Goldenpaw led the two towards the scent until they saw the squirrel high up in a tree. *I can make it*, he thought. So the apprentice slowly climbed up the tree, careful not to make a sound. Eventually he reached a branch. The squirrel was only a leap away. And so Goldenpaw jumped and bit the squirrel’s neck, swiftly killing it.

“There you two are!” a yowl sounded from below. Sandclaw stormed into the clearing, his fur bristling, “We catch the rabbit and you two are nowhere to be seen!”

“We were just hunting,” Goldenpaw mewed. Why was Sandclaw so upset? This was a *hunting* patrol after all.

Sandclaw had immediately taken the apprentices back to camp. He marched furiously into the DreamClan camp. Dreamstar, the Clan leader, looked up from the mouse he was sharing with Quietbreeze. He must have seen Sandclaw’s expression because he asked, “What happened?”

“These two snuck away from the patrol!” Sandclaw growled

“To go hunt!” Goldenpaw burst in.

“What if a fox had found you while we weren’t there?”

“Then we would have handled ourselves!”

“Enough!” Dreamstar interrupted, “Goldenpaw, the Clan thanks you for your prey, but you shouldn’t have gone off by yourselves. Starting tomorrow, you and Beepaw will make sure that every cat has fresh bedding for the next half moon.” *What?!* Goldenpaw wanted to yowl at Dreamstar, but even he knew better than to argue with the pale ginger tom. Still Goldenpaw stormed off towards the apprentice den.

After a moment, Beepaw padded into the den with a mouse in his jaws. He set it down and after a few seconds, Goldenpaw took a bite.

“This is so unfair!” he growled in between bites.

“I know, but Dreamstar’s our leader. We have to listen to him,” Beepaw added more calmly.

*Even when he’s unfair?* Goldenpaw thought, but all he said out loud was, “I guess.”

### Chapter 2

Goldenpaw gathered the bundle of moss together in his jaws and headed for the camp. He walked through the tunnel and into the clearing towards the warriors den. *I hate doing this. We won’t have to do this for much longer though*, he thought as he reflected on how their half moon was almost up.

Goldenpaw walked into the den and saw Beepaw smoothing out the bedding with his paw. Goldenpaw set down his moss and mewed, “You don’t have to act like a queen fussing over a kit, just get the job done.” Beepaw looked a little embarrassed and stopped messing with the bedding. Looking around the den, Goldenpaw saw that all of the nests were clean. They were done for right now.

The two toms walked into the clearing only to be stopped by a yowl, “Goldenpaw! Beepaw!” It was Dreamstar. Beepaw looked nervous to be called out by his leader, but Goldenpaw was just annoyed. He was still upset that Dreamstar had punished him for feeding the Clan. The apprentices padded over the pale ginger tom.

“We’re going to patrol the border,” Dreamstar mewed when they arrived. Goldenpaw sighed in frustration and reluctantly followed the patrol.

As they walked through the forest, Goldenpaw could smell the sweet scent of prey, but stuck to the patrol. If he snuck away again, Dreamstar would surely claw his ears off. Goldenpaw was so lost in his thoughts that he didn’t notice that the others had stopped and almost ran into Quietbreeze. Then he picked up another scent. Cat.

The patrol moved slower now as they followed the scent, alert for any sign of the intruders. Then the patrol stopped, and Goldenpaw pushed his way to the front. Dreamstar stood in front of two toms, one brown and one orange. Goldenpaw immediately recognized the brown tabby.

“Wilbur!” he and Beepaw ran towards the tom, nuzzling him affectionately. Wilbur purred.

“You know this cat?” Dreamstar’s voice interrupted their reunion. Goldenpaw looked back at him. His eyes were narrowed with suspicion.

“W-We were raised together as kits,” the apprentice's pelt burned with shame.

“I see,” Dreamstar didn’t look any more relaxed. He turned his gaze toward Wilbur, “What are you doing so close to our territory?”

“I promise you I mean no harm,” the tom responded, “You see, my father used to tell me stories about the Clans when I was a kit. And I want to make my own. Would you two want to join me?” He looked at Goldenpaw and Beepaw. Beepaw looked shocked and glanced at Goldenpaw as if telling him to make the decision.

“No, we’re happy here,” Goldenpaw answered. The patrol and Wilbur then proceeded to discuss things like where the latter’s camp was, but Goldenpaw hardly heard them.

Goldenpaw sat near the entrance to the apprentice den. The moon was high and all of the warriors were asleep. Now was his chance. He prodded Beepaw in the side. The brown tom looked at him with sleep in his eyes, “What?”

“Shhhh!” Goldenpaw hissed, “We’re going to go find Wilbur.”

### Chapter 3

Beepaw’s eyes widened, “But you said-”

“If I had said yes, then who knows what Dreamstar might have done to us,” Goldenpaw explained. Beepaw nodded. The two peered out of the den to find the clearing empty. “Purpleclaw is on guard duty. We need to go through the dirtplace,” Goldenpaw whispered. Beepaw scrunched up his face in disgust. “Hey, it’s not like I want to do it either,” Goldenpaw hissed.

The two crept quietly out of the dirtplace. Goldenpaw wanted to vomit from the smell. When they made it out, Goldenpaw took a breath of fresh air. “Let’s go to the border where we found him,” Goldenpaw whispered to Beepaw, the latter nodding in response. They crept through the forest when Goldenpaw smelled fresh cat scent.

“Hide!” he hissed to Beepaw. The apprentices dove into a bush just before Darkheart and Diamondpelt came into view with prey in their jaws. Diamondpelt set his catch down and murmured, “I swear I heard something." Goldenpaw tensed.

“It was probably some prey,” Darkheart mewed. Diamondpelt was still looking around. “Come on, let's get back to camp,” Darkheart persisted.

“Alright,” Diamondpelt muttered as the two toms walked away. Goldenpaw sighed, waiting a moment before stepping out into the open again.

“That was so close,” Beepaw breathed.

“Let’s just get to the border,” Goldenpaw meowed. He hated how scared he had felt.

The apprentices eventually found the spot where Wilbur had been. Surely enough, his scent trail was still fresh enough to follow. So the two followed the trail, making sure to stay quiet. Soon it led them to a hollow next to a stream.

“Wilbur said he had made camp in a hollow,” Beepaw spoke up. They were here. The toms went down the slope and into the hollow. Wilbur’s scent was stronger here than ever. But before they had time to determine which of the many shrubs Wilbur had made his nest in, Goldenpaw heard a yowl followed by claws digging into his back.

### Chapter 4

Goldenpaw yowled in pain and twisted around to see his attacker. It was the same orange tom that Wilbur had been with. Suddenly the weight was lifted off of Goldenpaw’s back as Beepaw hauled the tom off and threw him across the hollow. The tom quickly scrambled to his feet, fur fluffed up, and hissed.

“Stop!” Wilbur’s voice filled the air. He glared at the orange tom, “You can trust them.”

“Even though they claimed loyalty to those other cats?” the tom spat back, “For all we know they could have been sent to chase us off!

“You can trust them.”

The tom backed down, letting his fur lay flat, and stalked away. Wilbur turned his gaze toward the apprentices, “I’m sorry about him. But what are you doing here?”

“We came to join your Clan,” Goldenpaw responded simply. Wilbur looked surprised. “We couldn’t agree while the others were there, or else they would have used our pelts to line their nests,” Goldenpaw continued.

“I see,” Wilbur responded, “Well it’s good to see you and Tubbo again.”

“Actually,” Goldenpaw meowed, “We’re Goldenpaw and Beepaw now.”

“It suits you,” Wilbur remarked. “Where are my manners?” Wilbur meowed, “Make your nests anywhere you’d like. Fundy’s on watch as you’ve already seen.” Goldenpaw noticed that the orange cat, presumably Fundy, had not gone to a nest, but rather the edge of the hollow, alert for any movement.

Goldenpaw sniffed around until he found a good spot to spend the night. He scrambled together anything soft he could find and made it into a nest. It was far from perfect, but it would do for the night. Goldenpaw settled down into his newly made nest and felt Beepaw lay down next to him. He sat there letting the day's events sink in, until sleep finally claimed him.

### Epilogue

Dreamstar awoke to the sound of chatter outside of his den. He went outside and found every cat muttering to one another with concerned looks on their faces. Dreamstar walked up to Sandclaw and asked, “What happened?”

“Goldenpaw and Beepaw are missing and their nests are cold,” the deputy reported.

While there might have been discussion about what had happened to the young toms, Dreamstar was certain that he knew. “That loner,” he muttered.

“You think he took them?”

“No. I know they went of their own accord,” Dreamstar had seen how the three had acted together. It might have been tempting to betray their Clan for a friend. Dreamstar had never really liked the two apprentices, but this was too far. “Take Firestorm and check the border. He’ll know where to look.”

“Yes, Dreamstar,” Sandclaw dipped his head and ran off to find his Clanmate.

Dreamstar didn’t really know why he was sending them on that mission, when he knew what they would find. He dug his claws into the earth. He had tried to be patient with those mouse-brains, but they had betrayed the Clan for some loners. He knew there was only one way to get rid of these pests. He knew that this meant war.