Chapter 1:
Stealthpaw yawned as morning light shown through the brambles of the den. She stood and shook out her pelt before padding outside.
A bundle of fur toppled her over and she purred playfully and gently pushed the kit off of her.
"Streakkit, get back over here," MorningPelt scolded him. "I'm sorry Stealthpaw, he got away from me."
"Don't worry about it," she purred. "It's a good wake up call." She felt cheery despite the assesment that day. Maybe something was just blocking her nerves. The idea of soon becoming a Windclan Warrior just made her feel warm inside.
"I'm gonna be able to topple any Shadowclan fleabags that come into camp," Streakkit mewled while swatting at the air even as MorningPelt picked him up by the scruff.
"I'm sure you will in time," Stealthpaw touched her nose to the top of his head as a goodbye and made her way out of the camp.
Her paws slid on the slope and she settled down underneath the old maple tree where they trained.
Soon she heard Darkpelt padding up the slope and she stood up wondering if her own mentor was with him. He was alone.
"Stealthpaw," he greeted her. "Ready for your assesment today?" he asked.
She dipped her head respectfully at the battle scarred warrior. "I think so."
"Duskclaw will be here soon, and hopefully Featherpaw too."
The sun barely moved when the two of them came. Her and Featherpaw were taking an assessment together.
"Ready?" Duskclaw's husky voice asked. She stood and flexed her claws. "Alright, you two need to go and check for scents along the borders. Go hunting while you're at it."
Featherpaw nodded with her and they set off in different directions towards the borders.
Stealthpaw padded over the stones at the creek that flowed through the windy planes of the windclan territory. She could see all the way from one side of the border to the other from there. It was a bit of a down fall since the camp was stationed in between a few trees and some thick bushes which stuck up awkwardly against the v shaped dry river bed that caused the only change from the flat grassland.
There was no need to look for cats crossing the border and during the day they stationed warriors in the tree that could see just about all the borders so no clan would dare attack during the day but it was important to check for scents from the night before.
Her nose found a rabbit's scent trail and she carefully stalked it. When it was in view and just two tail lengths away from her, she circled around behind it. It was her skill. Where her name came from. Her claws hooked into it's side before it realized she was their and she sank her teeth into it's throat.
"Thank you," she breathed to it's spirit. It had given up it's life to sustain her clan.
A scuffling sound caught her. She hadn't seen or smelled anything until then except the distant twoleg place scent. She tilted her nose and wiffed it but found that it was just slightly stronger than normal which didn't show anything strange since the breeze was blowing from that direction. Still she put her nose to the ground and found a trail. It smelled like twoleg place but underneath that, she closed her eyes and focused. It definitely smelled like another cat.
An old story weasled into her head about the vicious Bloodclan that had warred the old forest. That was moons and moons ago though. Even before the lake. They were legends of warriors of old so there was no reason to apply that to the present.
Unsheathing her claws, she followed the scent and it got fresher until she stumbled upon an old fox den. She yowled a warning to her mentor that she knew had been watching her.
The pounding pawsteps told her he had heard.
"What is it?" Duskclaw asked her.
"There's rogues here." She flicked her tail to the fox den.
Duskclaw sniffed and concentrated on the scent. "There definitely are. That's a big den and I can smell at least ten different scents." He thought for a second. "Watch it and yowl if there's trouble. Stay hidden, I know you can and I'll round up some warriors to get rid of them."
She nodded and padded to above the entrance where she'd be able to see anyone who came out but they wouldn't be able to see her. She used her claws to comb the tall grass to cover her dark grey pelt. Her ears strained to listen to absolutely anything. After a while they had adjusted to the wind's howl around the den and could hear the steady breathing of resting cats.
She waited for Duskclaw and the other warriors but everyone was out on patrols or hunting so finding enough of them could take time...