Prologue
Beekit!" the black apprentice screeched. She looked at him, eyes wide in terror. A large eagle shot down, it's talons racing in the sun light. She looked at him, then she looked at her sister, eyes pleading for help. The eagle sunk its mighty talons into her spine. Pain seared through her as the eagle began to fly away. The black apprentice leapt up and clutched her paw. ¨Don't let go!" she cried. The black apprentice glanced at the kit's sister. ¨Help!" He yelled at her. She stood there, frozen in terror. She just simply shook her head, and ran into the brush. He turned to the kit, pulling with all his strength. His paws began to slip. She gave a last glimpse at the other apprentice, then she was gone. He fell to the ground. The eagle began to slowly fade into the sun's horizon. Up, up, the eagle soared, until just a faint speck of the eagle's feathers were seen through glaring sun. The apprentice heard a rustle in the brush, and turned around. Goldstar, the kit's father, and a patrol of warriors had just arrived, the kit's sister with them. Goldstar looked at him, his crystal blue eyes bearing into his, and he exploded in tears. ¨I'm sorry" he whispered, glaring into the sky.
He jolted awake. ¨Beekit!" he yelled. He soon realized though that it was just a nightmare, coming back to haunt him. He shook it off. He stretched out, and carefully stepped over the row of warriors, and padded outside. The sun beamed down into his black pelt, as he padded to the fresh kill pile. Dawnshadow was sitting in front of the pile, licking her fur down. ¨Morning, Jaystrike" She meowed between licks. "Mornin' " He replied, picking up a small sparrow with his jaws. He sat down and began to bite the sparrow. ¨How's Leopardpaw's training coming along?" She asked, still licking her paws. He thought for a moment, unsure of what to say. "It's coming along just fine." He mewed simply. Dawnshadow nodded. She stopped licking herself as she rose gracefully to her paws. ¨I'm going to go look for herbs, would you like to come?" she asked. He looked at his half eaten sparrow. ¨Sure, why not?" He shrugged, padding to the exit of the den.
Jaystrike shook out his fur briskly and slowed down to a lazy trot out of the camp. Dawnshadow raised her muzzle into the air and inhaled deeply. The broad shouldered tom glanced about, his gaze flickering randomly. "Is that something?," he meowed with no actual discerning excitement or curiosity. He pointed his tail at a small green bush with light blue colored berries hanging delicately on a branch. "Oh! Those are juniper berries, they help with bellyache and breathing.! I have plenty, but thank you anyway!," Dawnshadow mewed formally. She twitched her ear and stretched her neck around. "ah!" The medicine cat quickly glided toward small bluish purple flowers growing out of the ground. "Perfect, borage! My supplies are low on borage, I need a few leaves of it." "Right, right. Ok look for those purple flowers," Jaystrike thought as he gandered around. Spotting a hint of purple, the tom followed it toward another type of flower. It had lovely looking buds of bright purple that grew off a straight stem. It didn't look the exact same as the borage leaves earlier, but he told himself that it was close enough. "I found some borage leaves!" "Wonderful!," Dawnshadow meowed, pleased. She gracefully leapt over, but then froze dead with a small horrified look on her face. "What's wrong?," Jaystrike asked, getting kind of aggravated he couldn't do things right. "They are not perfect enough for you?," the tom thought. "T-T-That isn't b-b-borage… it's Wolf's Bane!," the medicine cat shuddered. "Wolf's Bane?"Jaystrike questioned, no hint of knowledge of the herb showing at all. "Yes, Wolf's Bane is a very poisonous plant that can easily kill you if eaten, or in some cases brush against it with open wounds. I thought there wasn't anymore after the storm…" Jaystrike elapsed to silence. "You found it anyway! Heh that's good… Even though is technically means that anyone who finds the Wolf's Bane plant usually has bad luck… " Jaystrike wasn't completely sure if she actually said that, but he just assumed that it was his imagination. "We'll get the clan to help us move the plant out later."
Jaystrike nodded as Dawnshadow continued to look for herbs. Throughout the entire time, it seemed like he couldn't do anything right. He found the wrong plant, he accidently squashed some important herbs under his paw, and much more, but Dawnshadow always dismissed it with," Oh, that's alright!" Finally, she sighed and meowed," You know, maybe you should go back to camp. You probably aren't the best herb-finder." Already frustrated by just plainly seeking the herbs. His anger started to flare at the insulting statement. "Your father was just like this. Big and strong, but wasn't good at medicine at all. He 'helped' me with my job, by messing stuff up. He destroyed the medicine supply by accident, almost fed a cat deathberries, and even brought a poisonous beetle into camp. I just kept regretting letting him live….¨ He muttered finally under his breath, ¨ I-it doesn't matter what my father did wrong, but I really think you should be heading back to camp…" She turned away from him, and left him alone.
His fur was ruffled at her sudden stuck up attitude, but he shook it off. He sighed, and headed back to camp. Hawkpaw, Dawnshadow's jumpy apprentice, was running through the forest. He stopped in front of Jaystrike. "Hey Jaystrike, have you seen Dawnshadow? Bluewing is asking for her!" he squeaked, eyes filled with admiration for the higher ranked warrior. A devilish thought came to his mind. ¨I think she went over there" he meowed with a slight lisp of mischief, he pointed to a cliff-side with his tail. "Ok thanks!" the apprentice said, practically skipping to the cliff-side. "To easy. . ." he thought, snickering. The apprentice reached the edge. Jaystrike sneaked up behind him. "Hey Jaystrike, I don't think she's here!" he called back, his words blowing with the wind. Jaystrike raised a unsheathed paw menacingly, then with a quick flick, he pushed the apprentice off the cliff. Hawkpaw looked up in terror as he careened down the rocky cliff. His small body slammed into a rock and a sickening crunch rang through the canyon, Hawkpaw letting out a pained, earsplitting screech. "Help!," he shrieked in alarm, voice echoing up the bottom of the cliff, a deep thud, then complete silence. Jaystrike cringed at the deafening sound. In horror, the tom realized that cats were coming. His whiskers twitched as he sensed paws thundering on the hard, forest ground. Voices suddenly came out of the tree and a patrol of cats stepped out of the undergrowth. "What happened?," a silver tom named "Sharpwind" asked worriedly. Jaystrike fidgeted his paws, but then an idea came to his mind. "I was looking for herbs for Dawnshadow, and I saw Hawkpaw standing next to the cliffside. I yelled to him to be careful. He looked at me, then I saw the rock crumble beneath his paws. He slipped down the cliff, mewling for help. What a pity..." Jaystrike dipped his head "obviously" showing his sorrow for the loss of the innocent, jumpy apprentice. Sharpwind gave Jaystrike a small glance of distrust, knowing his mischievous actions back when he was an apprentice, but shrugged it off. "We should bring Hawkpaw's death to Goldstar's attention, before the rest of the clan notices that Hawkpaw is missing." Sharpwind mewed, regarding Hawkpaw's happy-go-lucky personality, and remembering how he always managed to make even the loneliest, depressed clan members cheer up. Jaystrike was about to reject, but then closed his mouth. A silver she-cat stepped forward, her eyes wide. It was Waterwave, Hawkpaw's mother. Tears glistened in her eyes as she blinked in sorrow. "Hawkpaw… he was such a well-behaved kit…," Waterwave trailed off. She gasped a bit and shifted her head to look at the dusty ground. "Can we at least bring back his body?" Waterwave asked between tears. "Of course," Sharpwind meowed, dipping his head. He turned to stare at two other cats, a golden colored she-cat with mismatched eyes called "Rosethorn" and a tom with red fur called "Foxtail." "We can start heading to the bottom of the cliff from there," Rosethorn suggested while pointing her paw at a steep trail heading down. "It won't take long. We will probably come back in ten minutes…," Foxtail calculated. Waterwave nodded," Bless you three. Thank you."
Jaystrike saw Rosethorn, Foxtail, and Sharpwind heading down the steep pass. He let a low growl rumble in his throat in annoyance. Turning around, the tom strutted away back through the woods, the taste of misconduct still lingering in his jaws. The Era of The Dark Tides has begun.
