Danny was standing on all fours in a forest. On each side of him, cats were lined up next to him, their eyes shining in the crescent moonlight that shone down from the starry sky, dappled by the leafy green trees.
He could feel tension radiating from their bodies like black waves. He saw anger in their eyes, and a bit of fear. The wind blew toward them, and he picked up a scent of cats, enemies. They were coming toward them, although they were invisible in the dark forest, he could sense them near.
His heart started to pound rapidly. Then he dug his claws into the ground. If ShadowClan wanted to fight, then it would be a fight they would get. His mind wandered back a few days ago...
"ShadowClan wants our land! We've scented them far into our territory. We've got to do something, Honeystar!" Danny meowed quickly to his leader and older sister, Honeystar.
Danny was a ThunderClan warrior, he had just recieved his warrior name a half moon ago. He had just arrived back with a ThunderClan patrol, telling the ThunderClan leader the news.
The light ginger leader's eyes looked troubled. "Thank you, Blackpelt. We'll have to watch ShadowClan borders more often from now on. And if we see them, we'll fight them off."
Danny bowed his head, and turned to the deputy, Lightfoot. "I'll take every patrol!". He was determined not to let any stinking ShadowClan cat take over ThunderClan territory.
Lightfoot smiled a cat smile and rested his light tabby tail on Danny's shoulder. "I admire your courage, Blackpelt. But you're not a StarClan cat. You need rest, and some other cats would like to dig their claws into ShadowClan fur."...
"ShadowClan has been pushing further into our territory. They're hard to catch. The scent is strong each time we lead a new patrol, but they seem to go back into their territory." Lightfoot reported to Honeystar a few days later, and Danny overheard from from the fresh-kill pile. He hissed between gulping down a morsel of a vole. ShadowClan had to be stopped soon...
Danny padded out of the warrior's den. The cool, crisp breeze meant that leaf-fall was coming soon, which meant leaf-bare was also soon to come, along with scarce prey. He stretched as he felt his powerful muscles ripple under his thick black pelt.
He padded over to the fresh-kill pile when we heard the soundof breaking twigs. He whipped around, alarmed. He caught the scent of ThunderClan and relaxed. The apprentice, Redpaw, was pushing his way through the bramble entrance. He was out of breath and his dark ginger fur was standing on end. His amber eyes had a wild light in them.
"We caught two ShadowClan warriors!" he gasped as more cats began to appear out of their dens.
"What?" Danny mewed, then blinked. More than a moon has passed, and ShadowClan were still pushing into their territory. But miraculously, the early morning patrol had caught them in the act...
"Honeystar, why are my warriors being held prisoner in your camp?" Ivystar, the ShadowClan leader meowed. Danny, Honeystar, Lightfoot, and a few other warriors were facing Ivystar and his Clan across the Clan bornders.
"You know perfectly well why!" Lightfoot snarled, but Honeystar silenced him with a look, then turned her attention back to Ivystar.
"Your warriors are trying to make new boundries inside our territory. Did you know of this, Ivystar?" Honeystar had not emotion in her voice. Just flat.
"Yes, I did. But you have to understand, Honeystar. ShadowClan is thriving. We've had five litters of kits born this greenleaf, and we do not have enough prey." Ivystar meowed, "And ThunderClan has always been weak over boundries."
The ShadowClan cats snickered behind their leader.
Anger flared up in Danny's chest. He had to resist the tempting urge to rake his claws down the ShadowClan leader's broad face. He unsheathed his claws and dug them into the soft earth.
"It goes completely against the warrior code!" Honeystar snarled. The hair on the back of her neck bristled and she bared her teeth.
"Is it against the warrior code to help other cats?" Ivystar kept calm, his cold, blue eyes burning into Honeystar's green ones..
"Since when does ShadowClan ever need help?" Lightfoot spat.
"You're right. Lightfoot. We don't need help, we just simply need land." Ivystar turned his icy blue gaze to the deputy. Lightfoot glared at him.
"We will continue this until prey is plentiful in our territory again. Now release my warriors." Ivystar turned back to the ThunderClan leader.
She snarled furiously. "You think I'm going to let ShadowClan push my Clan around? Think again! Your warriors are held prisoner. And you might as well go back to your camp. ThunderClan is ready and willing to fight any ShadowClan cat who comes even a fox-length near our borders!"
Ivystar looked taken aback. Then he purred. Not in a pleasureable way, but in an evil way. "Fine. If it's a fight you want, then it's a fight you get. If ShadowClan wins, we take half of your territory. If Thunderclan wins, we'll leave you alone...for now."
Honeystar nodded curtly. "Prepare to lose, Ivystar"...
His sister was foolish, to pick a fight with ShadowClan. But it also meant that if ThunderClan won, ShadowClan wouldn't bother them. For a while at least.
Thr ShadowClan cats were lined up a few fox-lengths away now, Danny could see their eyes glittering brightly. He waited, they waited. Paused, ready for the call to attack. His heart was hammering against his ribs, ready to burst out any moment.
"THUNDERCLAN, GO!" Honeystar yowled. And Danny lurched foward as the ShadowClan warriors ran toward them. He felt adreniline pumping through his veins, making him go faster. He barreled headlong into a large ShadowClan warriors, knocking him off balance.
Soon the forest was alive with the screeching and yowling of cats. The green plants her dyed crimson from shed blood. Danny fought with all his strength and skill, and had sent quite a few warriors yelping back into their territory. It wasn't long until four warriors were left, and ThunderClan was advancing on them.
"We'll fight you all if we have to!" yowled one of them, a tabby she-cat.
Danny sniffed. They were brave, but they could never win. He wanted to honor of chasing her off. So he crouched, ready to sprinfgon her, when something heavy hit him in the side, knocking him over. He looked up and saw Ivystar staring down at him with narrowed eyes.
"Let's see how strong Honeystar is when she loses her kin!" he snarled. Danny tried to fight back, he scratched his claws on Ivystar's underbelly. But Ivystar didn't even flinch. Ivystar was much bigger and heavier than Danny.
"Blackpelt. NO!" Honeystar yowled. She raced toward them, but Ivystar bit down hard onto Danny's neck-
"HONEYST-" Danny sat up quickly in bed, his blue eyes wide. It was only a dream. Just a dream. But it felt so real. Beads of sweat rolled down his face. His whole body ached like he had been fighting for days. His neck stung, like he was bitten.
He felt is neck, and felt bitemarks. Fangs like a cat's. He flinched. It was only a dream, there was no way a real cat had bitten him.
"Calm down Danny. Maybe I got injured in a previous ghost fight..." Danny told himself, but deeply he knew that wasn't possible. None of the ghosts he had fought had bitten him, nor were they cats.
"That was an odd dream though..." he whispered. Images flashed in his mind. Honeystar, ThunderClan, Ivystar and his mistrusting warriors. Why was he dreaming of this?
Danny glanced at his alarm click. It read 3:45 AM.
He yawned widely. "I hope I don't get that dream again..." he turned over and fell asleep quickly.