In the midst of war, a young medicine cat apprentice is caught between warrior code and what he thinks is right. This choice will effect his and every Clan in the forest for worse or better.

The Dawn of Dusk

Book 1

Chapter 1

Part One: Dawn

Note: This Story is set a few generations after Erin Hunter's cannon books

The sun rose overhead, bathing the moor in early morning light. A rabbit sat peacefully, nibbling on a blade of tender grass, not a care in the world. All was perfect and serine.

A smile spread across a wiry grey she-cat's face when she sighted the prey. She moved to the other side of the rock and put all her weight on her back feet, preparing for the chase. With a sudden burst of speed, the cat was off. She allowed the rabbit to gain some distance in front of her to increase the joy of the chase.

"You see, I am the fastest cat in the moors." She proclaimed happily though the fat rabbit in her jaws. Another cat slinked from behind a rock, looking less then impressed.

"If I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times, Dovepaw. Don't play with your food."

"Relax, Badgerstripe, it's just a rabbit. Not like letting it run for a minute would make much difference." Dovepaw answered.

"That's not the point. We want prey to die with dignity, not as your plaything. Come, let's go." The flustered mentor turned back to camp, apparently not caring if his apprentice followed him or not.

"Wait!" she called after him. "You're still training me to fight this afternoon, right?"

"Right now, I would like to spend as little time possible with you. Now go back to camp and pick the ticks off the elders." With that, he turned in the opposite direction and left Dovepaw to curse under her breath. She hated de-ticking the elders. Despite her dislike of the task at hand, she had no choice. It she didn't, Silverstar would kill her. Than a thought stuck. 'It seems that old Badger is going that way, and camp is that way so...that gives me a while to slack off. Now, where to slack to...'

With her mind set, Dovepaw began to trot across the rolling moors. Her mind was forming a plan to occupy her minutes of freedom. It would be called 'Operation Bother the ThunderClan Medicine Cat.'

It was not too hard to execute. All you had to do is take all the poppy seeds from the very small patch and place them just inside the WindClan boarder. Soon, Cloverbreeze would appear and be forced to cross into Dovepaw's territory. Then Dovepaw would spring out and surprise Cloverbreeze, thereby scaring the living daylight out of her.

Already laughing at the prospect, she waited, and waited, and waited. Soon, she was deep within a dream about a large purple rabbit hopping about the moor and stepping on her stuck-on-the-rules mentor.

The dream was interrupted by the steady breathing of a cat looming over her. This cat smelled of herbs, but didn't look a thing like Cloverbreeze.

"Who are you?" He asked calmly as Dovepaw jumped to her feet and hissed violently at him. He had nothing to fear, for he was a medicine cat, and no one attacked a medicine cat.

"Dovepaw of WindClan." She proclaimed proudly. "You must be that apprentice that Clover told me about last time we met, Emberpaw I think."

"I've never heard of a Dovepaw before, but I have heard of a little WindClan cat who likes to make trouble."

"Got that right. And I'm not 'a little WindClan cat.' Actually, I'm only two moons younger then you." She said smugly. "You smell like you're been rolling in mouse bile."

"All part of the job. If you will kindly give me those herbs and let me be on my way, or I'll tell Fawnspots about this."

"You wouldn't."

"Oh, I would. So I would get going." Dovepaw hissed at him one final time before leaving for her own camp. 'Guess I just made a new enemy'

*******

What seemed like every set of eyes in WindClan was looking at her as she walked briskly over the hills and into the camp. Silverstar sat on Tallrock. "You're late, Dovepaw." She ignored his words as she made her way to the other side of the clearing and sat on the hard earth. The sun was all the way up, but still left the sky with a reddish cast. Silverstar always said that this meant bad weather, and he was almost always right. On the other side of the sky, dark, ominous clouds collected, threatening to pour down rain.

"Gather around the Tallrock for a Clan meeting!" Silverstar's voice rang out threw the camp. At once, all the Clan sat before him, two in particular looking rather pleased for some reason. "I would like to announce that Snowpaw and Rabbitpaw successfully fended off a RiverClan patrol this morning." Cheers erupted from all of WindClan, except for Dovepaw. She had no reason for cheer for them.

"For their brave deeds today, they shall become warriors!" Dovepaw's jaw hung opened with disbelief. "War...war...warriors...." she stammered. "This can't be right...this isn't fair..." Dovepaw looked around at the others, and upon realized that no one was watching her, slipped away.

"This isn't right....this isn't fair!" She cried into the air. She had been training for two moons longer than them and she was twice as skilled. She had fought off two patrols in her lifetime and she was still an apprentice.

Even sadder than this is that she knew exactly why they were made warriors before her. It was that prophecy, that horrible, unfair prophecy that had been given to her at birth. "Born of Thunder and Wind comes the cat with the White Heart that will destroy all that is known." Thunderstrike was her father and Windstorm her mother. She had a white patch on her chest near her heart, making her the perfect victim of the prophecy.

"I've had it." She finally hissed, marching back into camp with an incredible look of bloodlust in her eyes.