Rising Flames

This is a lovely story written once again by Star =^.^= Enjoy

Summary
Summary: Tanglepaw is a young NorthClan apprentice. But something in the shadows stirs... As TreeClan disappears and LightningClan grows ever restless, Tanglepaw is confronted by love, betrayal, disappointment, and judgment.

==Prologue: A Lost Kit A light gray she-cat slipped out of the nursery. The camp was silent. It was almost dawn. Nearby, three cats crept silently out of the warriors’ den. The first one was all black with eyes nearly the same color. He was a tom. The second one was a brownish gray tabby she-cat with light green eyes. The third one was a yellowish she-cat with black stripes and amber eyes.

“Good morning, Stormstar, Dawnfire, Emberheart,” she said. Stormstar looked up.

“Hello, Mistypool,” he said. “Go back to the nursery, your kits need you.” Mistypool shook her head. “With all respect, Stormstar, I would like to join you on your patrol,” she said. Dawnfire looked up now. “Mistypool, Moonshadow would kill me if he knew I let you go on patrol,” she said.

“Go back to the nursery. I doubt anything will happen.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure,” Emberheart said. “The forest may be quiet for now, but not for long. It’s dangerous.”

“Okay, Mistypool,” Stormstar said. “You can come. Emberheart, go take over for Shadowleaf. Mistypool, Dawnfire, and I will take dawn patrol.” Emberheart dipped her head and headed off to relieve Shadowleaf of his duty.

“Thank you, Stormstar,” Mistypool said. They headed out.

“Let’s go this way,” Stormstar said. “We should patrol the TreeClan border.” They headed over towards the border. Mistypool suddenly stopped.

“What’s that smell?” she asked. Stormstar turned around. “What smell?” he asked. Mistypool hurried over to a bush and disappeared into it. She came back out soon with a kit in her mouth. “Great SkyClan!” Stormstar exclaimed. “Is that a kit?” Mistypool nodded. She set the kit down. He was a dark brown tabby. He had a deep laceration in his back. Blood seeped from it and other cuts and scratches. “He’s hurt,” she whispered. “We need to take him back. Lillypelt will help him.” Stormstar nodded. Dawnfire looked at him. “You’re kidding!” she said. “We don’t know where this kit comes from! It could come from LightningClan for all we know!” Stormstar looked at her sharply. “It’s on the TreeClan border. At the Gathering we’ll just ask if any of the Clans have lost kits.” “Besides,” Mistypool said. “We have to help a kit in need, regardless of Clan.” “I still think it’s wrong,” Dawnfire muttered. Stormstar sighed. “Let’s get back to camp,” he said. When they got back, Stormstar pulled Mistypool aside and spoke to her.

“What do you think we should name it?” Mistypool asked. Stormstar looked at the kit for a long time. “Tanglekit.”

Chapter One: A lost Apprentice
Four balls of fur lay in the nursery. One was a small silver tabby, another a smoky gray tom, and the third a white she-cat. The fourth is the one we are concerned with. He was a brown tabby tom with amber eyes. He had a stripe running down his spine, and near it was a scar from a former injury. This was Tanglekit, the lost kit. Tanglekit looked around the nursery. Near him lay his brother and sisters, Silverkit, Smokekit, and Featherkit. Nearby, his mother Mistypool lay sleeping. In the far corner was Dawnfire. The deputy had moved into the nursery the night previous, when her sister, Lillypelt had told her she was going to have kits. Amazingly, the father was Stormstar. Tanglekit sighed. He didn’t know how his littermates could stay asleep. Today they were to be made apprentices. Featherkit wanted nothing more than to be a medicine cat, and was hopefully to become Lillypelt’s apprentice. Tanglekit sighed again. His sigh woke Smokekit. He jumped, and then looked over at Tanglekit. “Morning, Tanglekit,” he said, yawning. He seemed to remember then. “We’re going to be apprentices today!” he exclaimed. “I hope I get Sunstripe. Who do you want?” Tanglekit thought about it. “I really don’t care,” he said. “I just don’t want someone no one likes, like Duskflame.” “That’s not nice,” Smokekit said. “Duskflame is our kin. She’s our father’s sister.” Tanglekit shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. Nobody likes her. How would it feel to be the apprentice of a warrior no one likes?” Silverkit appeared to have just woken up. “Morning,” she said. “What are you talking about?” “We were talking about who we want our mentors to be,” Smokekit said. “Tanglekit doesn’t think that Duskflame would be a good mentor.” “Well, nobody really likes her,” Silverkit said. “Tanglekit’s probably right. She probably wouldn’t be a good mentor.” Smokekit shook his head. “You guys are so mean to her. She didn’t do anything to hurt you. I mean look how nice she is to Tanglekit. Is that a bad thing?” Silverkit shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s just…” Smokekit sighed. “Whatever. I’m bored. Pile on Featherkit!” He jumped on her, laughing. Silverkit joined in. The instance that they landed on her, Featherkit’s eyes opened. “Get off me!” she said. Tanglekit laughed and joined in. “Oof!” Featherkit said. “Get off me, you great lumps of fur!” “Why?” Smokekit asked, his smoky gray pelt glistening in the morning sun. “We’re having fun.” “Well have fun outside,” she said. “Not on me.” She got up, arching her back so that her white fur sparkled. Silverkit and Smokekit stood next to her as they walked out of the nursery, and once again Tanglekit was appalled at how different he looked compared to his brother and sisters. He knew where the three of them got their coloring. Mistypool was light gray and Moonshadow, their father, was a light gray tabby. So where did he get his dark brown pelt? Mistypool said it came from Moonshadow’s mother, Dogfur. But she had been mostly black with brown paws and a brown face. Disgruntled, Tanglekit got up and left the nursery, following his siblings. Outside, Stormstar was speaking in hushed tones with Emberheart, Shadowleaf, and Rosetail, who had taken the dawn patrol. “What?!” Stormstar exclaimed suddenly. “Could you tell why?” Emberheart, who had led the patrol, shook her head. “It was impossible to tell. For all we know, TreeClan could have just disappeared into thin air.” Tanglekit looked over at Smokekit, Featherkit, and Silverkit, who were also listening. “What do you think is going on?” he asked. Smokekit shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. We would probably be better off not asking, though. We don’t want to get in trouble for something on the day of our apprentice ceremony.” “Smokekit’s right,” Silverkit said. “If we get in trouble we might get our ceremony postponed.” Tanglekit looked over at them. “You don’t want to know at all?” he asked. Normally the two of them were always curious to know about what was going on. “I do,” Silverkit said. “I just don’t want to get in trouble.” “Me neither,” Smokekit said. Tanglekit rolled his eyes. Suddenly, Stormstar called out, “All cats old enough to catch their own prey, please gather here by the Widestream for a Clan meeting!” Was it time already? The dawn patrol had just gotten back. Tanglekit felt excitement surge through him. “Cats of NorthClan, I have an announcement to make. TreeClan has not marked its borders for three sunrises.” There were devastated gasps that came up from the Clan. Topazfur even exclaimed, “What?! Why?!” “I don’t know why,” Stormstar said. “But it’s true. After this next announcement, Topazfur, Moonshadow, and I will go down to TreeClan camp to find out what happened. First, though, I will have to do something I have always loved doing.” He smiled. “Silverkit, please come here.” Silverkit walked up, her eyes gleaming with excitement. “Silverkit, you will now be known as Silverpaw. Your mentor will be Stripefur.” Stripefur?! Tanglekit was amazed. Of course, it was typical that Silverpaw got the good mentor. “Smokekit,” Stormstar said. “From this day forward, you will be known as Smokepaw. Sunstripe,” Sunstripe looked up. “You proved yourself once again when you mentored Twilightsky. You will mentor Smokepaw. Tanglekit, please come here.” Tanglekit felt his tail fluff up. He was going to be an apprentice!

“No!” Jewelfoot cried. “He can’t be an apprentice!” Topazfur and Lightstripe, an elder, nodded in agreement. Other cries rose up from the Clan. Protesting cries. Cries protesting his becoming an apprentice.

“Silence, all of you!” It was Rainshadow, the former leader. Despite the fact that he had stepped down from his position, he was still respected, as was his advise.

“Is he any different from the rest of you?” Rainshadow questioned.

“Ye-“ Topazfur started, but he was cut off by Jewelfoot.

“When you were kits, all you wanted was to be an apprentice. Now give Tanglekit a chance. He is no different than any other cat in this Clan. Or any other.” Rainshadow sat down. “You may continue, Stormstar.”

“Thank you Rainshadow,” Stormstar said, dipping his head in respect to the old tom. “Tanglekit, from this day forward you will be known as Tanglepaw, and your mentor will be Duskflame.”