Chapter 23

Icepool stiffly stretched and yawned loudly. Surprisingly, her back no longer ached from the scratches; the night spent sitting vigil in the fresh air must have helped close and soothe the wounds. Icepool was grateful her injuries had healed: she was glad her first day as a warrior wouldn't be hampered by battle scars.

The sun had just risen and its brilliant and hazy rays were making the dewdrops on the blades of grass sparkle innocently. There were no clouds in the light blue sky and the remaining whispers of dawn was still floating around in the air. Icepool inhaled the brisk scent of the forest awakening. She could hear a mouse scrambling to find nuts. A squirrel chattered in the trees above her, gathering food, preparing for leaf-fall.

I'm going to catch so much prey for Riverclan, we won't need to worry about leafbare, Icepool thought positively, remembering her one weakness in training.

"Icepool? Your vigil is over, you can get some rest now," a voice came from behind the grey warrior.

Icepool was pleased and surprised to see Pinetail standing before her, his brown head tilted towards the sky. The Riverclan deputy looked solemn and forlorn. His tail was dragging on the ground and his normally luminous green eyes were half-shut. Icepool remembered with a pang that Pinetail had been Miststorm's mate.

"Pinetail, I'm sorry about what happened to Miststorm. If only I had checked on her I could have prevented her death. I'm so sorry," Icepool said quietly, looking at her paws, hoping Pinetail wasn't too mad at her.

"What? No, no, Icepool," Pinetail looked alarmed. "It wasn't your fault. The camp was next to empty, there was no way anyone could be expected to sit back and babysit Miststorm," he said urgently. "You all had to fight. It wasn't your fault at all."

Icepool glanced up into Pinetail's eyes.

"Is there anything I can do for you?" Icepool asked the deputy.

"There is one thing," Pinetail sighed.

"Anything."

"I'm not going to be around forever. I'm growing old already. If I die before I get to see my kits become warriors, will you tell Silverstar I want one of them to take Miststorm's name, in her honor?" Pinetail requested, gazing down at Icepool.

Icepool's heart filled with pity for the deputy. "Of course," she reassured him.

Pinetail looked satisfied. "Thank you Icepool," he murmured. "Why don't you go get some sleep now."

Icepool bowed her head to the brown tom respectfully and the trotted off across the camp, glanced behind her shoulder at Pinetail.

"Hey Icepool, where do you think you're going?" asked a familiar voice.

Icepool inclined her head to the side to watch Seapaw run up to her, grinning. "You don't belong in the apprentice's den anymore," Seapaw continued.

Icepool looked around. She had been a fox-tail away from the abandoned badger set that made up the apprentice's den. She had gone there automatically, forgetting that she was a warrior now.

"Oops," she giggled, turning to face Seapaw. "I just can't believe I'm finally a warrior."

Seapaw beamed up at her friend. "I can't believe I'm an apprentice."

"Me neither," Icepool said jokingly, batting Seapaw's head with her tail.

"Have you seen Pinetail? He promised he'd take me on a tour of Riverclan," Seapaw said, swiping playfully at Icepool's tail.

"Yeah, he's over there, by the entrance. Have fun," Icepool replied, giving the apprentice an affectionate lick on the head. Seapaw bounded off to where Pinetail was standing, watching them. The black apprentice's white tail bobbed along in the sunlight as she and her mentor walked out of camp.

Icepool turned and began to trod towards the warrior's den, excitement building within her. The branches covering the den were dry but thick and they seemed to protect the sleeping cats from rain and snow. Icepool ducked under the low twigs and sticks and crept into the warrior's den. Inside it was warm and filled with the comforting sound of sleeping cats breathing. Piles of furry bodies lay around the den. The senior warriors, Coldsnow and Birdsong slept in the middle of the cluster of cats. Feathers and pieces of down from ducklings lined the walls of the den, giving it a homey feel. The sunlight trickled in through the branches of the bush, making the pelts of the cats look dappled and bright. A few cats were stirring, getting ready to wake up.

Icepool spotted Rainwhisker's mottled coat in the corner, next to Crabclaw and Tinystripe. Carefully picking her way through the sleeping cats, Icepool settled herself down next to her friend, curled up against him and fell fast asleep.

xxx

When Icepool awoke it was past sunhigh and two patrols were out, guarding Riverclan against another repeat Windclan attack. Rainwhisker had invited Icepool and Tinystripe to go hunting and Icepool, determined to improve her hunting skills, agreed.

Now the three cats were striding through the thinly placed trees by the river, keeping their eyes open for prey.

"It's funny though isn't it," Rainwhisker said, narrowing his eyes at a rustling bush by the river. "Windclan is always looked at as the weakest clan. I mean everyone knows they're so fast because they always run away from fights."

Tinystripe and Icepool headed over to the swiftly moving waters of the river and crouched by the shore, their paws hanging ominously over the sparkling water, waiting for fish.

"It's not fair for Windclan to try and take our land," Tinystripe agreed, flexing her paws. "Their territory seems the biggest to me."

A silvery fish darted underneath the two cat's paws. Icepool's claws flashed and the fish flew out from the water, flopping on the dirt. Icepool bit into the fish's flesh and tossed it aside, turning back to the water.

"Watch that fish, Rainwhisker. Make sure some raccoon doesn't get it," Icepool said, nodding her head towards the lifeless fresh-kill.

Rainwhisker dutifully walked over to the fish and sat by, but continued talking.

"Well if Windclan tries that stunt again, I'll be sure to rip their fur off with no mercy," he said, licking his paw.

Icepool's tail twitched and her eyes flickered over to Rainwhisker.

"Got one!" Tinystripe cried, flipped a large grey fish from the river and on to the bank. It took both she-cats to kill the squirming fish, it was so big.

"Nice catch," panted Icepool.

"Those cats don't know when to quit. I mean they knew we were attacked by the Twolegs and that's why they chose us," Rainwhisker said, staring at the dead fish with interest.

"Hey, you're right," Tinystripe said with wonder, looking up from her prize. "Cowards."

Icepool's blue eyes narrowed dangerously, her ears began to lay back on her head.

"Cats like that have no respect for others," Rainwhisker proclaimed, rolling his eyes.

"Enough!" hissed Icepool vehemently.

Rainwhisker and Tinystripe looked around, surprised.

"Just because two idiot toms in Windclan are jerks doesn't mean the whole clan is!" spat Icepool. "Volefur and Strongstar ARE cowards and they ARE cruel but the rest of the clan isn't! They're just doing what their leader tells them to. They're trying to follow the warrior code."

Unbidden, an image of Cloudspot arose to Icepool's mind. Her heart softened a little at the white tom's concerned face, his black dappled tail waving. Cloudspot's words swam into Icepool's mind.

"I have to go. I can't fight you,"

Cloudspot's words swam into Icepool's mind.

"Alright fine. No need to freak out on us," Tinystripe said hurtfully.

Rainwhisker was staring at Icepool suspiciously, his ears twitching.

"Why are you defending them?" he asked.

"I'm not defending what they did: that was wrong and stupid. I'm defending the cats in that clan who maybe don't want to fight us," Icepool replied, noticing Rainwhisker's mistrust.

The grey and black tom nodded slowly but the skeptical look didn't fade from his eyes.

"Come on," Tinystripe mumbled. "Let's get this fresh-kill back to camp."

Icepool bent her head down and picked up her light fish and followed Tinystripe through the heather and grass back to Riverclan. All the way there, Icepool couldn't get the image of Cloudspot- letting her up, staring at her with surprise and consideration- out of her head.

Rainwhisker bumped into Icepool from behind, making her stumble out of her thoughts.

"Sorry," he grunted, weaving around her.

Icepool shot him a look. What was up with him? she wondered.

"Toms," she grumbled under her breath, watching Rainwhisker stalk alongside Tinystripe.

Icepool glanced back at the flowing river rushing behind them. A lot of things were changing in her life at the moment but there was one thing that would always stay the same: the constant ebb and roll of the river that gave her clan its name.

Icepool took one last look at the receding river and then trotted to catch up with her clanmates, the sun gleaming on her snowy grey fur.

Icepool, her mouth full of fish, glanced around as they entered the Riverclan camp.

She was home.

xxx

Well that's it: the end of book 1! Hooray! I will immediately start writing book 2 in The Following series HOWEVER I am going away on vacation for all of August and I leave saturday. I will write while I am away but there is no internet so I won't be able to update until I get back.

When I do get back I expect lots and lots of reviews! Then I'll have lots more chappies of The Following, Book 2: The Flood. Thanks for reading.