Part One: As Night Falls
Chapter One
Lazy branches high above the ground swayed and turned in time to the gentle breezes rolling in from the western sky, each leaf moving against one another filling the entire forest with chatter. Lone paw steps silently traced their way through the foliage that intertwined through the trees, making the traveler nearly invisible in the shafts of afternoon light. Nothing more than an ear twitch was given to the noise coming from above, you live in one place long enough and any sound becomes nothing other than usual. Left. Right. Paw over paw with their tail swinging gently behind them. Lush scents filled their lungs as they inhaled deeply, scanning the area as they made their way around on a well-trodden path.
A few tall sprigs of grass dipped and quivered causing them to stop with one foot still raised over the ground. They slowly turned their head, eyes becoming wide as full moons. The grass became still. They stood with infinite patience, waiting to see if some intruder was so bold as to leap at them-hissing and screaming with fury, but nothing happened. Everything was quiet.
Whiskers twitching they took a step forward, not a sound to be heard from their footfalls. They could almost smell something now; they reached their neck out, out, out…nothing. No, no, that can't be right, surely there was something there-
A piercing yowl sounded from behind as claws heavily met their shoulder and teeth sank into their scruff, the impact knocking them both flat sideways into the bushes, the sharp pain and darkness sending the startled inquisitor off into a dizzying spell of confusion.
After tussling for a while they managed to twist and catch the offender in their hind claws, wrestling free by brute force, and loosing more than a bit of fur in the process. Jumping to their feet they could see the grayish shape of the attacker stumbling to gain balance. Pressing their hind paws hard enough into the ground that their toes splayed, they launched themselves into the small frame in front of them, sending both back into the sunlight. They stood over the smaller creature below them, their muzzle close above, snarling.
"Ow-! Gingerroot what the hell that hurt!" A pair of earthy green eyes stared up at the muzzle, almost mewling in surprise at its ferocity. Gingerroot stopped, and sighed in frustration.
"Typically I'm on the lookout for enemy warriors, not my own Clanmates." He got up and let the small gray she-cat stand, only to twist around and smooth her fur as opposed to apologizing. He twitched his tail irritably.
Gingerroot, a large, marbled orange tom, had been patrolling all morning since dawn and had no disturbances whatsoever, and was planning a rather proud report once he got back to camp. But StarClan forbid he have a peaceful time in the woods, Aspenpaw just had to make sure of that. She looked up at him, the curious white spot on her mouth almost looking like a mock smile.
"Does your mentor even know you're out here-"
"Sent me himself." She curled her long, lightly stripped tail over her paws and sat in front of Gingerroot expectantly, as if waiting for him to say something. He stared back at her.
"What were you sent to do then-" Aspenpaw sighed obnoxiously loud and slumped forward. "What, what is it?"
"Didn't I do splendidly?"
"Didn't you do what?"
"Oh come on, I cleverly moved the grass to get your attention, and when you were so focused on that one spot the trees were so loud you didn't hear me slide around behind you until I sprang out and got you. It was genius really, I learned it from when Frostfang got distracted by a mouse and Coarsepaw pounced on her, but of course I added the teeth and claws because you can handle it though I was quite annoyed at how roughly you shoved me, I thought you'd recognize me at some point I'll be sure to calculate that next time-"
"Ok alright Aspenpaw, slow down." She took a deep breath and opened her mouth to say more but Gingerroot stopped her. "Look, Aspenpaw, I'm in the middle of a patrol. I don't care if you were sent to hunt or scout or collect herbs even. You cannot just attack me from out of nowhere when I'm on guard." He looked at her with auburn eyes, hoping that his tone was getting through to her. "I might really hurt you next time." She seemed rather bored now that she wasn't talking, and took to watching the tip of his tail flicker about, her eyes darting around to follow it.
"Aspenpaw!" he said, with force this time. Her head snapped up.
"Don't you even wish to know why I'm out here?" She asked, and looked up at him with a slight tip of her head. When he said nothing, she took it as an invitation to continue. "Bramblebush sent me with a message for you of course, I would never be out here to hunt on my own, I assure you he's not that daft-that means not smart just so you kn-"
"Yes, yes get on with it."
"…So anyway this message came from Viperstar himself, so you'd better listen." She sat up a little straighter and pointed her head directly at him. His face showed no signs of amusement. "Ahem. Make sure that Gingerroot is found from his patrol and taken right back to camp; we've decided to move Waspkit and Nightkit's ceremony to before sunhigh today, so he needs to-"
"What?! Today? Before sunhigh?" Gingerroot's eyes widened. The shadows were already starting to grow a little longer, his little encounter with Aspenpaw plus their little conversation had drawn out the time that they were sitting out on the trail. He turned back to the little she-cat but she was bouncing all around him.
"See I found you about half way back the trail that way," she threw her nose back in the direction that Gingerroot had come from, "and you were ever so distracted that I was able to stalk you here and trick you and remember the entire message! Which Cricketpaw was so sure I'd forget but oh I proved her wrong I did!"
"Y-you found me but waited for that long to tell me all of this?" he was just about ready to pounce on her when a very distinct scent struck the roof of his mouth. He paused and turned to look out over the empty moor that flanked his right, the very territory that he was told to patrol today. Aspenpaw paused as well, the bounce in her step gone, and cast a worried look at him. Gingerroot shifted on his paws nervously, as if trying to make a decision. She waited. Finally he seemed to make up his mind.
"Alright. I'll have time to get mad at you later." He turned away from the trail and started tearing through the trees back towards the heart of the forest. Dumbstruck, she skittered after him, catching up on his left side.
"What in the world are you doing?" she panted, "Shouldn't you be checking-"
"I really have had just about enough of you, somehow you just manage to screw over everything." He went out of his way to kick up some dirt behind him, despite her easily dodging it. "I don't have time to," he continued, "maybe I would have if you hadn't messed that up too. Now if you'll excuse me I have an apprentice to accept."
His tabby orange form leapt into some briars ignoring the snagging induced in his fur and skidded down a sloped ravine, haphazardly making his way to the bottom only to disappear into a tunnel lined with thorns. Aspenpaw could only stutter a few words to herself in protest as she bewilderedly slid down the rocky slope and dove into the tunnel close behind.