Chapter one
"Moonpaw," someone was whispering my name. I opened my eyes and looked around, I could see my brother, Mosspaw calling to me.
"What do you want?" I meowed.
"It's time for training." Mosspaw answered, hastily licking his sticking up fur.
"Ohhhh," I replied. We were well into our training and me; Mosspaw and Stormpaw were all longing to be big, brave warriors. Me and my brother padded out of the den and I blinked in the morning sunlight. Whirlfur, my mentor, was waiting near 'Old Oakey' as we like to call the oak tree near the pond. Mosspaw and Stormpaw's mentors were there as well. They're called Stripefoot (Stormpaw's mentor) and Iceheart (Mosspaw's mentor).
"Today we are practising how to hunt water voles as you all know how to get fish out of the river really well." Stripefoot announced.
We all padded to the river and Iceheart demonstrated how to catch a water vole. Then they sent us off by ourselves to catch some more. At first I didn't have much luck, but because it's Burning time, a whole FAMILY of water voles came out to play. I crouched down and stalked them lightly on my feet. I got nearer and nearer until I was close enough to pounce. I stopped and then claws out I struck. I didn't quite expect to catch two of them. Both of them were small but I was still immensely pleased. I walked back to Whirlfur and showed him my catch.
"Well done," he said. "Go back to camp now and take them to the Elders,"
I obeyed and trotted back to camp. When I got there the place was in chaos. Fur was splattered all over the place and two motionless bodies lying in the middle of the camp.
"What happened?" I asked a warrior, Brightfur.
"Dark clan attacked, they killed Redkit and…" here she stopped and paused. "And they killed Lighttail, well they didn't SHE did,"
Brightfur walked on and I was left shocked in the middle of the camp. Who did Brightfur mean by 'she' I thought.
"Stop dilly-dallying and give that food to the elders," Berryfoot snapped at me.
I raced away and got to the hollow bush just in time to hear Lightningear say to Patcheye:
"I can't believe Fangpaw killed Lighttail, it's shocking,"
I padded in:
"Fangpaw killed Lighttail?" It looked like I was going to find out who She was.
"Yes, Berryfoot said he saw her turn on Lighttail and run her claws through his throat." Lightningear said.
I put down the food and ran out. When I came out of the den the camp had calmed down a bit and Stripefoot, Iceheart, Mosspaw, Stormpaw and Whirlfur were back.
"Let all cat's over Kit hood gather under Hot ledge for a Clan meeting." Paddlestar yowled.
I walked over and sat down behind Darkmoon.
"Cats of Wave clan," Paddlestar meowed. "Today Dark clan attacked and killed Redkit, this is awful but more horrific still is a Wave clan member killed Lighttail, my deputy. Fangpaw was the one that killed him,"
Yowls and screeches filled the air and heads turned towards Fangpaw who was, strangely, lying down.
Snowwhisker who was sitting guard next to her, gasped and called: "Her kits, her kits are coming!"
Paddlestar effortlessly leaped down from Hot Ledge and called to Creekheart, our Medicine cat. I stayed back. 10 minutes had gone before Creekheart and Paddlestar came to speak to the clan.
"Fangpaw is dead, but we saved six kits," Paddlestar announced.
"Six!!!" Stormpaw yowled.
"Yes six," Paddlestar announced calmly. "I need to appoint a deputy before Moonrise, so we can grieve for Redkit and Lighttail."
We all fell silent as Paddlestar opened her mouth again to speak:
"I say this before our ancestors and before the spirit of Lighttail, Whirlfur will be our new deputy."
"Whirlfur, Whirlfur!" we all yowled, and we were about to turn away when Paddlestar called us back.
"We need to discuss the kits, they shall be called Tigerkit, Stepkit, Pebblekit, Holekit, Boulderkit and Rainkit, Ghostclaw will you take, Pebblekit, Rainkit and Stepkit, while Darkmoon, please will you take Holekit, Tigerkit and Boulderkit."
The queens said yes and so the long meeting ended and I got myself a fish from the pile, ate it then went to the Apprentice's den and settled down to sleep.Chapter Two
Morning sunlight streamed through the branches of the Apprentice's den and I woke with a start. Something had been haunting my dreams for two days now, the two days after Redkit and Lighttail's deaths. I stretched pushing away the creepy feeling crawling up my spine. "Moonpaw," Whirlfur was shouting my name."Yes?" I meowed back. "I can't train you today so you'll be on patrol with Maliceheart and Stripefoot, okay?" Whirlfur said. "Okay," I replied. I padded over to where Maliceheart and Stripefoot were standing and we started to walk to the entrance when Paddlestar meowed to us: "Please can I borrow Maliceheart for a bit, find another cat to go on patrol." "Yeah, fine," Maliceheart said and walked over to Paddlestar. Stripefoot and me looked around wondering whom to take. "Let's take Berryfoot," Stripefoot said and called Berryfoot over. We made our way out of the gap of the gorse bushes that circled our camp.
"Right, let's go to the Dark Clan border and see whether there's any Dark Clan cats lurking around," Berryfoot commanded.
So we came to the dreaded Sticky lane where Murderers come roaring at you with glaring eyes, this was the borderline from Dark Clan to Wave clan. We all had a sniff and opened our mouths to taste the air but there was nothing here. We continued on our way and patrolled the Cloud Clan borders as well as the Rock clan border. We made our way back when a big lumbering creature barged into us, it was a badger! It started coming towards us but Stripefoot raced at it and scraped his claws down the animals flank. Berryfoot leaped in and scratched it's eyes and then I jumped and tried to claw at its legs, unfortunately Stripefoot got caught under one of it's front legs so I had to change position. I then saw Stripefoot struggling under the badger's weight and I scratched its eyes. The badger kicked backwards and hit me square on my leg. I could dimly see Stripefoot getting free and chasing the creature off, with Berryfoot helping, before it all went dark.
"She's waking up," someone said. I blearily opened my eyes then closed them as an excruciating pain knifed through my leg.
"What happened?" I asked.
"Your leg was trampled on by the badger," I knew who it was now it was Creekheart. I opened my eyes again and saw that I was in Creekheart's den with Creekheart, Paddlestar and Whirlfur who were all looking worried.
"I'm fine," I said, trying to stand.
"No!" Creekheart meowed. " You have to keep resting, your leg is badly damaged."
I laid down again and said:
"Will I still be able to continue with my training?"
Paddlestar and Whirlfur looked at each other.
"We'll see you may not, but if your leg heals, it should be fine." Paddlestar said.
I sighed and got into a comfy position.
"I'm STARVING," I exclaimed, yawning.
"Have this rabbit," someone was speaking to me; I looked up to see Stormpaw nudging a rabbit towards me.
"Er… thanks." I said, looking at the grey tom.
I ate the rabbit and curled up to sleep, not knowing what tomorrow would bring.