The Omen of the Hawk, Bravefire of LeafClan [books to read in your 30s TXT] 📗

It was dark and cold; the only light Bravestar could see by came from the stars and the tiny sliver of moon struggling to touch the rotten leaves through the bare tree branches. The ginger leader shivered. She couldn’t believe that such a dark, ominous dream would com from StarClan, but if there was one thing she had learned throughout the many moons she had led LeafClan, it was that assuming was a dangerous thing to do. But what is this all about?

she wondered.

"Leafstar?" she whispered into the dark silence. In this strange forest, not even a cricket chirped. "Lionclaw? Hello? Anyone?!

" She began to panic, her voice rising with every syllable.

A fierce, loud bird call broke the silence and made Bravestar spin around and look to the trees. Her heart pounded as she saw a huge, dark shape perched on one of the branches. Two angry fire-orange bird-eyes shone in the moonlight and glared into Bravestar's. It’s a hawk!

For several heartbeats the two creatures stared at each other, the hawk slowly spreading its wings against the stars, but the fire-colored warrior frozen in fear. Her paws could not move and seemed as attached to the ground as the trees around her. Suddenly, with another cry, the giant bird lifted itself from the branch and swooped down towards Bravestar.

The older leader screeched in fear. Her paws suddenly came back to life and carried her through the strange forest before she could even think. But she could never outrun the giant hawk. It shrieked again, this time an angry shriek, and Bravestar turned to look at it.

The hawk's deadly talons glinted in the moonlight and tried to slash its claws across Bravestar's face. She ducked just in time and cried, "The hawk's talons! Hawktalon!

"

With another shriek that sounded almost like a cat's battle cry, the hawk took advantage of the Clan leader's shock of this revelation and cut a deep, painful wound down her spine. Its talons were stained crimson with cat-blood, and tufts of ginger fur littered the ground.

Bravestar screamed in agony and nearly fainted from the pain. Her knees buckled and she fell to the ground. The stench of blood and decaying leaves almost made her sneeze. She looked up to see that the hawk had landed beside her and was staring down at her. Bravestar looked into its eyes, eyes that had the same fiery hue as Hawktalon's, and shuddered.

"Wh-what do you want?" she hissed unsteadily.

The hawk gazed at her silently for several heartbeats, then said with the voice of Hawktalon the exiled deputy of LeafClan, "Did you have to make me leave, Bravestar? I committed no crime against the warrior code."

"Some things don’t need to be in the warrior code," Bravestar retorted angrily. "You hurt your former apprentice and my sister

for a tom

! You shattered Gladeshadow's heart into a million irreparable pieces, and left her with an unfaithful mate and her kits with an unfaithful father. And you left him

for that DeathClan pile of fox-dung..." She struggled to sit up. "You coquettish little...no. 'Coquettish' is too mild a term for you. You’re just a plain old seductress, luring toms into the romantic trap you weave, then leaving them alone and trapped when you see someone better. And it doesn’t matter if the tom you want is already taken." After this lecture, her voice became softer, more sad and wistful, as she continued: "What happened to you, Hawktalon? Ever since you laid eyes on Shadowstorm, you’ve…changed...so much..."

The hawk cawed angrily and took off, her immense wingspan covering the moon and stars and leaving Bravestar in total darkness. She opened her eyes, and the next thing she saw was the dark gray walls of the cave that was the LeafClan leader's den.

"Bravestar? You hungry?" The curious face of her mate, Swiftstripe, poked into the cave. "You've been asleep all morning."

"Oh...yeah, sure," Bravestar replied. She blinked sleepily as her eyes adjusted to the light.

"I'll go get you something, love." Swiftstripe stiffly walked forwards and touched his slightly-graying muzzle to her ear and whispered, "You look like you've been through a battle." His gentle words and his caress soothed Bravestar’s anxious nerves, and she purred lightly.

The lithe tabby tom suddenly froze, then hissed worriedly, "What happened to you?!" His ears were flattened against his head and his eyes were wide with confusion and severe concern.

Bravestar turned to see that her back was drenched in blood, and her bedding was scattered all across the den. "I-I must've had a...a huge thorn or...a sharp stick or something hidden in there..." she lied.

Swiftstripe peered down at her through anxious amber eyes. "I'll get Fawnwing while I'm out," he said, then began to walk slowly out of their den. "Great StarClan, I'm starting to feel like an elder! Let's hope that leaf-bare isn't this hard on my bones."

Bravestar purred, amused. "That's because you almost are

an elder," she commented.

Swiftstripe turned to give his mate an annoyed look, then continued out the cave entrance.

With a nostalgic sigh, the aging leader began licking her wounds the best she could. Sure enough, several long, deep scratches along her spine suggested the talons of a bird of prey. Bravestar stared sadly at the wall. Where has the time gone?

Her mind took her back to the time when her and Swiftstripe were young warriors, how youthful and naïve they were. And now she was a leader with just a couple of lives left, and they had two litters of kits together. It goes by too fast...

Her sentimental thoughts were interrupted when a breathless ginger tabby she-cat limped into the den and dropped a bunch of herbs next to her leader. One of her forepaws was raised and covered in cobwebs. "Swiftstripe told me to come," she panted. "What happened to you, Bravestar?"

The fiery-ginger leader shook her head. "It's a long story, Fawnwing. I'll just say that I never knew StarClan's dreams could seem so real."

"A dream from StarClan? Tell me everything!"

"Well, I was-" Bravestar began to tell the story, but her tabby mate had reappeared at the entrance to the leader's den. He dropped a large hawk in front of the two she-cats and explained, "Rubyfur caught this on the dawn patrol out on the moor. You taught her well, love. I figured that the three of us could share it..."

But Bravestar barely heard him. She stiffened, the blood-stained fur on her spine rising from terror. Horrified, she stared at the hawk. She began to tremble, and her mouth was opened in a silent, agonized scream.

She flinched as another cat's pelt brushed the side of her own. "Shhh, it's fine," Swiftstripe murmured in her ear. "Calm down. It's dead, it's just a dead hawk..."

"It's an omen! A sign from StarClan!" Bravestar gasped, ignoring her mate. "First the dream, now this... Hawktalon..." She whispered the ex-Clan cat's name so quietly that no cat but herself could hear.

"Bravestar! Come quickly!" Her deputy, Angelflight's, urgent mew made Bravestar snap back to the present. "Nightwhisper--you better just come see for yourself!" she panted, then dashed out of the leader's den.

Bravestar slowly rose to her paws, every bone in her body aching. She limped out into the LeafClan camp and squinted against the brightness of sunhigh. The cool leaf-fall breeze that shook the dying leaves above made her shudder. After her eyes adjusted, she saw the young warrior Nightwhisper dragging a small, blood-covered brown tabby cat into camp.

"Hawk...Hawktalon..." Bravestar whispered. Her green eyes were wide with shock. She stumbled over to where Nightwhisper had dropped the she-cat’s body. "How...what happened?"

Nightwhisper crouched, in fear of her leader. "I-I...she was messing with Sunstrike...she wouldn't leave him alone...I kinda overreacted, I'm sorry, Bravestar!" she stammered.

"How was she messing with him?" Bravestar's voice had become cold and emotionless as she stared down at Hawktalon's body.

"She...she wouldn't stop talking to him with that smile, and that irritating purr that let you know exactly

what she was thinking." The young warrior looked down at her paws, and her tail lashed back and forth angrily. "I-this anger overtook and consumed me, this anger I've never known before, and then…next thing I knew, she was dead, and my paws covered in her blood!"

Bravestar continued to stare at the body silently as she listened to Nightwhisper.

"Please...I know I broke the warrior code, Bravestar, but please let me stay in the Clan! I couldn't bear to leave!"

The old leader sighed. She sat down and wrapped her tail across her snow-white paws. "Don't worry, Nightwhisper, I'm not angry at you; I don't mourn for her anymore." But despite her words, Bravestar's green eyes were dark and dull with grief. "The Hawktalon I knew didn't die today. Oh, StarClan knows that this body that lies before us has not had my deputy and friend inside that heart for many, many moons. The Hawktalon I knew died that newleaf so long ago, when lust and jealousy first poisoned her heart, ripping out her spirit with deadly claws of envy, sharp as a bird's talon. Where is Hawkpaw, the talented apprentice I looked up to and admired, and trusted

, as a kit in the nursery? Where is Hawktalon, the loyal friend who stood beside me when I learned about the prophecy and my responsibility to this Clan? Where is Hawktalon, the dedicated deputy that supported and encouraged me when I doubted myself and my leadership, and held LeafClan together through its greenleafs and leaf-bares? No, Nightwhisper, I'm not angry at you; you actually did this Clan a favor. I have no reason to punish you. On the contrary, I envy you the chance to drive from this lithe tabby body the she-cat that took over my old, dear friend. The chance to...to kill the she-cat that has been in control of my deputy since the moment she first saw that rogue Shadowstorm who broke my sister's heart."

Text: LeafClan is based on the Warriors books by Erin Hunter
Publication Date: 11-18-2010

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