Scartail crept out of the warriors den into the BraveClan camp. He was a warrior of BraveClan, and his father was the leader, Bravestar. It was a hot day, the sun just rising over the horizon, there didn't appear to be anything wrong.
The camp was large compared to the other clan camps he had visited, with dirt on the ground and dens made of rock. His father, Bravestar's den was underground, there was also rocks surrounding the clearing for protection..
He padded to the fresh kill pile and picked out a small mouse, he wasn't very hungry. A warrior and an elder, Softpelt, and Sunfoot, her father, where sharing fresh kill by a bare spot in the ground that had no grass. Scartail couldn't tell them apart because they were almost identical gray and white tabbies.
Only until he heard the one on the left mutter in a scratchy voice, "This mouse is scrawny, can't our warrior catch decent prey?", he knew it was the grouchy elder, Sunfoot.
He picked out a vole and sat down next to his friend, the deputy of BraveClan, Hawkfur. Hawkfur was talking to his apprentice, Leafpaw about becoming a warrior. Both Scartail's and Hawkfur's apprentices were close to their warrior ceremony.
"Good morning Scartail, " Hawkfur mewed, "Would you like to join a hunting patrol with Blackspots and Ravenpelt?"
"Of course!" replied Scartail through a mouthful of vole. Just then, he heard the Bravestar call the familiar summons for a clan meeting and he stood up and made his way to sit in front of the highrock, a tall stone that Bravestar stood on top of to address the clan. He caught a glimpse of Hawkfur taking his place on the Deputy's rock, a smaller rock, a little shorter than the highrock, where the deputy would stand next to the leader.
Bravestar silenced the murmuring cats with a flick of his tail and began, "The dawn patrol has scented MossClan on our territory, and they found remains of prey.
Almost at once the clan broke out into angry yowling. Once again, Bravestar silenced them and started again, "For those of you on patrol, make sure to keep watch for any more signs of MossClan hunting on our territory."
MossClan was one of the surrounding clans neighboring BraveClan. Out of all of them, CloudClan, MossClan, and SunClan, MossClan was by far the worst, with their terrible leader, Sharpstar. Nobody could really say that they were good friends with SunClan either.
That was all that Bravestar had to say, and the cats disbanded, going back to their dens or back to a nice sunny spot to share tounges with their friends.
It was time for his hunting patrol, so Scartail met Blackspots and Ravenpelt at the entrance to the camp, which was a tunnel through various plants and undergrowth.
They left the camp, and headed towards the river, where there would be lots of prey on such a warm day of Greenleaf. As he walked through the forest, Scartail kept his senses alert for MossClan.
When they reached the riverbank, he scented mouse, and dropped into the hunter's crouch as he targeted the location of the small creature. He pounced, trapped it under his paw, and finished it off with the other.
Scartail and the rest of the patrol returned to camp with their jaws full of fresh-kill, and they deposited it onto the pile. Since he had some time left, he decided he would take out his apprentice, Hiddenpaw to practice some fighting moves.
He padded to the apprentice's den and she wasn't there, so he asked the brown and black apprentice Wolfpaw where she was, and he had no idea. Later, he went to see the medicine cat, Sparkflight too see if she knew anything. "Have you seen Hiddenpaw anywhere?" he mewed as he slipped into the den. "No, I haven't, sorry, but I'll keep my eye out for her Scartail." She replied, and he began to worry.
Scartail made his way to the warriors den to find that the only one there was Brindlefeather, a small calico.
"Hey Brindlefeather, Hiddenpaw's gone missing, could you help me find her?" he asked, as she quickly jerked up and turned in his direction, he had obviously startled her.
"Oh, sorry Scartail, I didn't see you there, and of course I'll help you."
Scartail shot her a grateful glance, Brindlefeather was always ready to help. The two of them padded out of the tunnel of undergrowth and into the forest. Scartail quickly picked up Hiddenpaw's scent, and followed it as far as Badgerplace, a small clearing full of badger sets, where badgers often lived.
Their search was no good, and they had to go back to camp when it got dark. What will I tell Mistfur? He thought, the apprentices mother would absolutely be mad if she found out. He had to find Hiddenpaw as soon as he could.
Scartail awoke to the sound of rain pattering on the roof of the warrior's den. He immediately felt a pang of worry, the rain would wash away Hiddenpaw's scent! He suddenly decided that he had to go and search.
He became more worried as he ventured farther into Twolgplace, following what was left of Hiddenpaw's scent trail.
The rain was still falling heavily when he found her, very far away in Twolegplace hiding from the rain in a clump of bushes. As soon as she saw him, relief flooded into her eyes, "Oh, thank StarClan, you found me Scartail!" she meowed. Scartail was glad to see her, but wondered what she was doing so far into Twolegplace.
By the time he had brought her back to camp, the rain had eased up, and many cats were standing in the clearing, meowing in confusion. They had apparently noticed Hiddenpaw's absence, thought Scartail.
When the two of them walked into the clearing, everyone quieted down, and seemed calm again. He wanted to ask her why she had been in Twolegplace, but he decided not to. He would discuss it with Bravestar first.
"Keep watch for MossClan." Hawkfur mewed as he left the camp with three other cats trailing behind him. Scartail was on the dawn patrol with Hawkfur, Ravenpelt, and Flameclaw. The sun had not risen, and there was only just enough remaining moonlight to see.
They made their way around the camp, to the clearing where they took the apprentices to train. The ground was still damp from the the past day's rainfall. Scartail renewed the scent marker near the river, and the border with MossClan, keeping an eye out for enemy warriors.
They eventually reached the river and crossed on the stepping stones. When he made his leap to the first rock, his front paw slipped into the cold water. Shivering, he scrabbled to his feet and lept the rest of the way across the river.
More towards Badgerplace, a clearing with holes that badgers often lived in. Suddenly, Scartail pricked his ears at a rustling sound in the bushes behind him. Slowly turning around, he saw two pairs of eyes just at the strange cats attacked the dawn patrol.
They hadn't scented them because the warriors were downwind, but he now knew that they were MossClan warriors, hunting in their territory, judging by the prey scent that hung around them like a storm cloud.
"MossClan," yowled Hawkfur, who was the only one who hadn't been attacked,
"Why do you take our prey? You have plenty in your own territory!" He then launched himself at the MossClan tom who had Ravenpelt pinned to the ground.
Scartail clawed viciously at his attacker, and could just make out Flameclaw's light orange pelt in the dim morning light. He flipped over his opponent and gave him a bite to the shoulder that sent him howling back to his own territory. The three cats then chased off the remaining warrior.
He smelled a familiar scent, and his father, Bravestar appeared from the undergrowth with Softpelt trailing behind him. They had obviously heard the noise of the battle and come to see what was the matter.
"It was MossClan, hunting in our territory" mewed Ravenpelt, his eyes still angry. Bravestar shared the anger in Ravenpelt's eyes.
"But they have plenty on their hunting grounds.", he meowed in confusion.
Hawkfur stepped forward, "That's exactly what I was thinking, should we ask Sharpstar at the gathering in a few nights.
"Do you really think that flea bag would give an honest answer?" asked Bravestar, as he turned around on his way back to camp.