Disclaimer: I do not own the Warriors series. This story was based on the books by Erin Hunter. Note: I apologize for the appearance of the text. I had trouble reformatting it when I loaded it to this website. Chapter 1
Moonlight filtered through the leaves, dappling the ground
with silvery light. It illuminated two grayish pelts, the cats they
belonged to sitting at the edge of a forest clearing. Neither of
them dared speak, but solemnly watched over the entrances to
the several dens within this clearing, and to the clearing itself.
The forest is beautiful tonight, thought Forestguard as he
watched the moonlight trickle into WoodClan camp. It's almost
enough to forget all of the troubles in WoodClan. And unfortuna-
tely, the troubles were numerous. Ever since Forestguard and
Rockstorm, his brother who was sitting vigil with him tonight,
were kits, RustClan had been openly hostile towards WoodClan
for taking in Swiftclaw, who back then was only six moons old,
an apprentice. He had once been a loner named Tabs, scraping out
a meager life in the alleyways. After being chased by a group of
rogues, he had sought refuge in a small copse of trees at the edge of
their territory. When he had met a passing patrol of warriors, he
became so captivated by the Clans' "strange" way of life, he begged
the WoodClan leader, Stonestar, to let him train as a WoodClan
warrior. Forestguard could remember when he was accepted,
and became apprenticed to Woodpelt, he was so excited that
he did a back-flip after the ceremony! Swiftpaw trained hard daily,
and soon was an excellent fighter. By the time he was a warrior,
he was a completely different cat than the eager Siamese he had
entered the Clan as. He was now a somber warrior, Swiftclaw, who
was worthy of respect from all the Clans.
If only RustClan could see that, Forestguard thought
bitterly. Another Clan that was causing worry -- among all three
other Clans -- was GrassClan. They seemed to grow stronger every
day, becoming plump off of the rabbits and mice that were abundant
on their moorland territory. Their Clan's population was starting
to grow, as well; almost every Gathering brought news of a
new queen, birth, apprenticeship, or warrior. Fortunately,
GrassClan had been completely unaggressive... so far.
And a trouble within WoodClan itself was causing anxiety:
Mousepelt, the medicine cat, was growing very old, and had
no apprentice to carry on her knowledge of StarClan and herbs
for WoodClan. Please let one of Dawnray's kits take an
interest in medicine, or we may be in serious trouble. Dawnray
was currently the only queen in WoodClan, and her three kits were
Sunkit, Flowerkit, and Soilkit.
Yes, times were hard in the woodlands. But Forestguard
and Rockstorm felt like they could take on the entire world
between the two of them... they were warriors now.
