Chapter One

Silverpaw raced through the trees, the breeze ruffling her silvery fur. Her blue eyes shone in the dim light of the setting sun as she zigzagged through the trees. The rich prey-scent of mouse floated up her nose, but she didn't stop to hunt. This was too important.

Finally she had reached camp. She hurtled inside, stopping so suddenly that a large cloud of dust arose from the ground. All her Clan-mates lounging around camp looked at her in surprise.

Ignoring their piercing gazes, she drew in a big breath of fresh forest air and yelped, "Attack at Sunningrocks!"

Immediately all cats went into action. The current leader of ThunderClan, Bluestar, came out from his den and gave orders. Numerous patrols were sorted out and one by one they caterwauled battle cries as they disappeared into the forest. Only a few cats were left, including Silverpaw.

"Now we can relax," one of the elders, Onewhisker, told her companions as he laid down in the sun.

Being a relatively new apprentice, Silverpaw hadn't much trained in battle yet, but she felt an itch to run to Sunningrocks and join the fighting cats. ThunderClan would need all the help they could get if RiverClan was planning to take over Sunningrocks like they had tried to for seasons. Each attack RiverClan planned used more and more cats, and each attack was harder to drive away.

As if reading her thoughts, Bluestar called to the remaining cats, "I fear that we will not have enough support. But we must keep at least three warriors in camp, in case they come here. Elders, keep to your dens. All apprentices go to battle right away!" he added. Silverpaw snapped out of her thoughts and nodded to the only other apprentice left in camp: her friend Mousepaw. She was a relatively old apprentice and should've been made an apprentice quite soon.

"Let's go!" called Mousepaw, and the two apprentices set off again through the trees, ignoring the lingering prey-scent and following the snarls in the distance and the scent of the mingling, fighting cats. Soon they had reached Sunningrocks. Silverpaw looked in surprise at the cats rolling about on the ground. Soon she recognized Crookedstar, the leader of RiverClan, tussling with Tigerclaw, a brave ThunderClan warrior known throughout the Clan for his fighting and hunting skills. The deputy of ThunderClan, Redtail, fought with all his might against a new RiverClan warrior by the name of Heavystep.

As Silverpaw surveyed the battle, Mousepaw sprung into action. Suddenly from behind, a RiverClan warrior bowled into Silverpaw, knocking her off his paws. Silverpaw hissed angrily and circled the warrior (whom was two times larger than her!). Finally, the warrior jumped on her and she quickly went limp—a trick that her mentor, Whitestorm, had taught her recently in her first battle practice. 'Tricking your opponent into thinking they have won is the first thing that every apprentice learns. Remember it,' Whitestorm had told her.

"You're dead, apprentice," hissed the warrior. Silverpaw flinched at the contact between his hot breath and her muzzle. She sprung up, knocking him down, and pinned him down. Now it was her turn to taunt him.

"No," she whispered to him, placing her head a mouse-length away from his face. "You are."

He yowled as she slashed his exposed stomach and he raced away. Silverpaw easily batted away a young, scared apprentice and raced to the bushes to watch the battle slowly. But a young RiverClan warrior saw her escape and he came up to her and meowed, "Scared, scumbag?"

"No, but you will be!" she spat at him and he spat as well. She walked backwards, getting ready to strike, but slipped on a puddle of spilt blood and fell to the ground, the red liquid soaking her already blood-stained fur. She gulped as he slashed her nose. He came in closer, so there was no escape. He edged in closer to her throat, as if to kill her.

"We'll kill you all for Sunningrocks…" he growled, but suddenly an unexpected voice yowled, "NO, Windkestrel, NO!"

It was Crookedstar! He stood in front of Silverpaw and growled, "This cat is not to be harmed," to his warriors. "You understand?"

They all nodded in alarm. This was an unexpected twist added to the battle.

Silverpaw stared at the RiverClan leader. Her icy gaze was met by his, but his eyes were gentle and loving. Crookedstar carefully batted away the warrior that had tried to attack Silverpaw, and she watched in silence as he reentered the battle. Her eyes narrowed and as she sprung back into the mass of writhing cats she watched Crookedstar snarl at Whitestorm. When she had looked into his eyes she had felt an unexpected guilt that rose in her stomach until she felt nauseous. Why had he said that?

Shaking her furry head, she rammed into the nearest RiverClan warrior and took out her guilt by scratching him over and over again until his dark blood stained the grass before her.