Darkfire raced through the pine forest, Blackberryclaw at her heels.
"Ha!" her apprentice mewed as she pinned her to the ground. Darkfire growled playfully as she batted her apprentice off of her.
The bushes began to rustle.
Blackberrypaw's ears pricked. "What was that?"
Darkfire bristled.
Suddenly, the ShadowClan warrior was bowled over by a hissing mass of claws and fur. A RiverClan cat!
"Go and tell Shadowstar!" Darkfire demanded in gasps of breath.
Blackberrypaw hurried to camp. The battle continued to rage.
Lightwave gasped. I'm falling! She thought, slipping closer and closer to the lake. Her claws scrabbled desperately to hold on, but it was just a futile attempt for her life.
Suddenly, she plunged into the never-ending pool of water. A pair of red-amber eyes flared back at her.
And then she woke to a paw digging into her side.
Troublestripe was glaring at her.
"You'll wake the whole of RiverClan like that," he hissed.
Lightwave mumbled an apology and padded off to hunt. But she couldn't shake the image of those eyes, frozen in her mind.
Tangletalon woke to the sound of kits tumbling around outside her den. A tiny, storm-gray kit toddled inside.
"Good morning, young kit," she purred.
"Hey," he replied. He stared up at her with an inquisitive gaze. "Have you ever wanted to be leader?"
She thought.
"I'm sure I did, Eaglekit," she replied. "But you don't have to be leader to be happy. Ravenstar is just one of a few."
Eaglekit shrugged and padded off.
What a kit, Tangletalon thought joyfully. What a kit.