In Times of Trial – Chapter One
A snow white she-cat padded silently through the dense underbrush of the forest, stopping every few minutes to scent the air around her prey. After about half an hour of this she caught the scent of a mouse scurrying around a gorse bush. The she-cat settled into a hunting crouch, and the moment the creature stepped out of the safety of the bush, the white cat struck. Quick as lightning, she shot out a paw, and ended the mouse's life before it knew what was happening. Feeling satisfied with the kill, the pale-furred cat trotted back to ThunderClan camp.
Once safely inside camp, she added her prey to the fresh kill pile, and headed towards her den in the Highrock. About halfway through the clearing, a kit squealed her name.
"Icestar! Icestar! Whitekit won't let me play with him! He's being really unfair!" A pale grey kit complained.
"Peace, Willowkit. Aren't you getting to old for nursery games anyway? It's nearly time for you to be an apprentice." Icestar responded, her tail tip flicking in amusement.
"Oh really, really?" The kit exclaimed. "When, when, when? Oh I can hardly wait now!"
"Let's just hope you're not as bad as your mother was. I remember when she was an apprentice. I was her mentor, you know." Sandfur, one of the elders commented. "Always getting into trouble, she was." The sand colored cat's ears flicked with amusement and padded past them, Icestar just ducked her head slightly with embarrassment and let out an mrrow of laughter. She kept walking and slipped through the lichen curtain that hung in front of her den.
Curling up in the moss bed in the corner, Icestar gently eased off to sleep.
Sunlight flooded a small Twoleg garden in which the center of, a small ginger she-cat lay, napping lazily and sunning herself on the warm grass. She seemed oddly ill-at-ease despite the napping.
The ginger cat woke up, and looked around as if she knew someone unseen was watching her. As she looked around her eyes focused on Icestar, and her eyes widened with surprise. Icestar recognized her has Flamepelt, her missing sister.
"Icestorm!" She meowed, her voice oozing with shock.
Quite suddenly the garden vanished, and Icestar was alone in her den, breathing heavily. She shook her head, as if to clear it. Could this have been a sign from StarClan? No, surely it wasn't. Flamepelt had been missing for many moons, the very night she had been made a Warrior. All they ever found was the stale scent of Twoleg and a clump of flame colored fur. She was said to be dead. The Clan mourned her, as did members of other Clans.
But, what if this was?
What if StarClan was trying to tell the Clan leader something? What if Flamepelt was still alive? It was possible that a Twoleg could have taken her, and she was a kittypet now. That would explain why she called her by her Warrior name, Icestorm.
Pushing these thoughts to the back of her mind, Icestar attempted to go back to sleep, but sleep was impossible, despite how exhausted she was. After laying there for who knows how long, she decided to talk to Blacktail, the medicine cat.
Blacktail didn't know what to think of the dream. StarClan had not spoken to him in nearly a moon. This worried the she-cat greatly. Surely StarClan hadn't abandoned them, with leaf-bare so close.
On her way out of camp, Icestar stopped to great a small blue-grey apprentice, Bluepaw. Icestar decided to start a conversation, to keep her mind off of more pressing matters.
"How is your training going? You are nearing the end of it, yes?" She questioned.
Bluepaw seemed surprised at the inquisition, but responded eagerly.
"Yes. Whitestorm says I'm doing exceedingly well. He's taught me all sorts of things! He was terrified he would be a horrible mentor, since I was his first apprentice, but he's been wonderful! He's been a Warrior a while, so he knows quite a lot." Bluepaw chattered on, and Icestar eventually stopped listening. After several minutes of this, Icestar excused herself and slipped off to the nursery to check in on Dappletail and her new litter of kits. Out of the three kits born, one had been lost to the cold air of leaf-fall, and the remaining two were weak and sickly looking.
All of ThunderClan pitied Dappletail because her kits would not survive leaf-bare. Not unless a miracle happened.
Must this season be so dreary? So foreboding and unfriendly? If StarClan willed it to be so, then yes.