Chapter One - Amberpaw
Amberpaw bounced up and down, even though she was nearing twelve moons old, she never got tired of going to a gathering.
"Be patient," her mentor, Dewclaw mewed to her, though she could see laughter twinkling in his eyes.
Amberpaw bounded over to where her sister, Tawnypaw, was sitting with her mentor, Finchwing.
"Sometimes I don't know how the youngins' do it," rasped Burrtail, the oldest cat in the Clan, "even when I was their age, I don't remember being like them."
Sunflash, the other elder, gave him a nudge, "Come on, you know you were worse," the she-cat joked, "Now, let's go get some fresh-kill before we have to tramp all the way to the gathering." The ginger she-cat gave Burrtail a gentle push, and started padding with him over to the fresh-kill pile.
"I can't wait to see how Orangesky is getting along," Amberpaw heard Sunflash remark before carefully picking a frog off of the fresh-kill pile for her and Burrtail to share.
Amberpaw snorted, "Sometimes the elders seem to forget that there are four Clans in the forest," she remarked to no cat in particular.
"Remember, Amberpaw," Dewclaw told her, hearing her remark, "the elders of all of the Clans have known each other and have served their Clans for seasons upon seasons, I'll soon be moving to the elder's den, and I remember how Sunflash and Burrtail were when they were warriors, they were just like you, proud, and defensive of their Clans. But now they are old, and they see with new eyes, sometimes it seems."
Amberpaw nodded, for the first time, she noticed that Dewclaw was growing old, he had gray flecks on his muzzle, and he couldn't keep up with patrols as much as he used to be able to. He'll join the elders soon, she mused to herself with sadness. The sadness was short lived, however, as Graystar bounded across the clearing, Newtdapple, and Fennelfur, hard on his paws, as they assembled the gathering patrol.
"Amberpaw, Dewclaw, Fennelfur, Lizardtail, Newtdapple, Darkfrost, Burrtail, Sunflash and Wrensong will come," the gray leader called, looking at the cats assembled in the clearing.
Amberpaw padded over and touched noses with her brother, "Maybe you'll come next time," she mewed to Tawnypaw, but Tawnypaw just gave a nod, not looking Amberpaw in the eye.
Amberpaw raced through the forest, with Dewclaw on one side and Wrensong on the other, "Why does Graystar have to run so fast?" Wrensong panted, and Amberpaw noticed that Wrensong's belly was swelling up.
More kits means more warriors, Amberpaw thought, proud of her Clan. As the patrol approached the marshes that bordered the lake, Amberpaw couldn't bet but notice that there was more water then there should have been in the marshes. She looked around, and noticed that more cats than just her had notices, Newtspeckle and Darkfrost had worried expressions on their faces, and Amberpaw noticed that Sunflash was whispering something into Burrtail's ear, while casting nervous glances to the pools of water that stood around.
The water was forgotten, by the time they reached the tree-bridge. Amberpaw couldn't wait to see some of her friends from other Clans, Lakepaw and Waterpaw, from RiverClan, Rabbitpaw, from ThunderClan, and Duskpaw and Mistpaw, from WindClan. She crossed the tree-bridge behind Burrtail, and it seemed like he would never get across it, but when he finally did Amberpaw got nervous. She entered the clearing, and saw Waterpaw, Lakepaw, Duskpaw, Rabbitpaw, Cloudfur, Mistpaw, and a cat that she didn't know huddled together.
She bounded up, "Hi," she mewed, happy to see her friends again.
"Hey Amberpaw," Rabbitpaw mewed, "this is Milkpaw, he was just made an apprentice."
"Hi Milkpaw," Amberpaw mewed.
"H-hi," the tom stuttered.
"Waterpaw, is a warrior now," Lakepaw boasted, "he has the coolest name, Watersplash."
Amberpaw congratulated him, but she felt a pang of jealousy, she and Tawnypaw were almost old enough to become apprentices, and Watersplash was younger than them. When was Graypaw going to make them warriors?