"Can all cats that are old enough come to the Highledge."
Smokekit peered at the tall ledge, where Froststar stood at the top. He looked at each and every cat with his cold, blue eyes.
He had only been made leader recently, since the previous leader, Volestar, died from wounds. This had only happened a few sunrises after Smokekit and Pinekit opened their eyes for the first time.
It was a terrible death; he was fatally injured by a dog and Smokekit remembered his shrieking as he died, slowly and painfully
The new leader Froststar, was Willowheart's brother. He had the same white pelt, but was named Frostheart because of his heartless attitude towards other cats, even other creatures.
Smokekit was afraid that he would be too rough a leader, but he was quite kind for the most part. Pinekit leaned closer.
"Foxpaw and Dustpaw have been training for two seasons now, and their respective mentors, Weaselheart and Blackbird, have agreed that they should now become warriors. Foxpaw and Dustpaw, come."
The two apprentices came forward.
"I, Froststar, leader of ThunderClan, call upon my warrior ancestors to look down on this apprentice. He has trained hard to understand the ways of your noble code, and I commend him to you as a warrior in his turn. Dustpaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect and defend your Clan, even at the cost of your life?"
Dustpaw put his head up proudly. "I do.
"Then by the powers of StarClan, I give you your warrior name. Dustpaw, from this moment, you will be known as Duststorm. StarClan honors your bravery and intelligence, and we welcome you as a full warrior of ThunderClan."
The white tom rested his muzzle on Dustpaw's head, and Dustpaw, in turn, licked his soldier.
"And now, Foxpaw. I, Froststar, leader of ThunderClan, call upon my warrior ancestors to look down on this apprentice. She has trained hard to understand the ways of your noble code, and I commend her to you as a warrior in his turn. Foxpaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect and defend your Clan, even at the cost of your life?"
Foxpaw shifted her paws nervously, but Smokekit could sense her pride.
"I do," she said strongly.
"Then by the powers of StarClan, I give you your warrior name. Foxpaw, from this moment, you will be known as Foxstripe. StarClan honors your kindness and optimism, and we welcome you as a full warrior of ThunderClan."
"Duststorm! Foxstripe!" the Clan cheered.
Instantly, Smokekit was immersed with excitement. When I become a warrior, everyone will be chanting my name, he thought. "That is if you become one, rabbit-brain," insulted a voice behind him.
Sparrowkit. "Hey! I'll become an apprentice before you, badger-breath," Smokekit retorted.
"I'm as big as you, rabbit-chaser-brain!"
"In your dreams. The ones that will never come true. That also includes becoming a warrior."
"I'll rip your fur off!"
"Not if I do it first."
Sparrowkit lost it. She charged at Smokekit. The older kit dodged and shot a paw out at her. Sparrowkit was pushed back by the blow. She charged furiously at him. He shot another paw out, but this time she dodged it and lunged her paw at him.
She pounced on him, and Smokekit pushed with all his might, sending her flying upside down. But she also managed to pull him too.
They both fell onto the ground. Smokekit instantly felt pain in his paw. Sparrowkit lunged at him again, and Smokekit copied, with pain. They were about to hit each other's heads when a brown flash came into the middle of them.
Neither Smokekit nor Sparrowkit could move. A dark brown warrior with milky yellow eyes appeared between them. "You two are acting like newborn kits!" scolded Duststorm. "If you do this again, I shall report you both to Featherflame!"
"But he-" started Sparrowkit.
"None of that!"
Sparrowkit stared at Smokekit with indignation. "Great going." Instantly, Duststorm bounded off. Smokekit sprinted after him, but he was far too fast. He decided to give up and tour the camp.
The camp was a stone hollow, surrounded by tall ledges. The ledges protected them from wind. He bounded towards the warriors den. It was a dip in the ground under the branches of a fallen tree.
Around it was Grayclaw, Littlewhisker, a senior warrior with small whiskers, Mallowbreeze, another senior warrior with golden fur and green eyes, and Brackenfoot, the deputy, a brown tabby.
"Are you sure it wasn't them?" he heard Mallowbreeze inquire. "Yes," replied Brackenfoot. "Then what could it be? A Twoleg?" asked Grayclaw sarcastically.
"It is them! Those fish-brains can't tell what their prey is and what's ours any more than they can tell who their Clanmates are!" Littlewhisker raised his voice.
"Let us not forget what happened to Wolffang," reminded Brackenfoot.
"That was back when we were 'paws! Things have changed now that he is gone!"
He's gone? Who in StarClan was he, thought Smokekit.
"Interested, are we?" a voice whispered behind Smokekit.
Smokekit spun around to see Froststar sitting close behind him. Any closer and he would've been right on him.
"Who-who's Wolffang?" stuttered Smokekit.
Froststar blinked and when his eyes opened, Smokekit noticed a ray of sadness in his otherwise cold eyes.
"You don't need to know that."
The leader bounded to the group of warriors. Froststar looked at Smokekit, and the group moved somewhere. Smokekit decided not to follow.
Smokekit returned to the nursery where no other kit was. "Hello dear," greeted Featherflame. "Do you need anything?"
"I just wanted to know who Wolffang was?" he asked.
All the other queens stared at him as if he just announced he was going to join ShadowClan.
Featherflame sighed. Smokekit walked towards her. "It's a long story, back to when I was a kit. He was a deputy of ThunderClan. He was the strongest, fiercest warrior the Clans had ever seen. No cat dared to attack ThunderClan when he was deputy.
"We were hoping that he would become leader so that our Clan would be respected and feared. But then, ShadowClan started stealing prey.
Prey became scarcer and scarcer and elders started to die. So he went to ShadowClan and killed their leader."
"K-killed their leader?" stuttered Smokekit.
"That's right. The greatest warrior the Clans had ever seen had killed Thistlestar, the old leader of ShadowClan in cold blood."
"What happened to him?"
"A war between ShadowClan and ThunderClan had started. It went on for two seasons. And during the war, Wolffang disappeared mysteriously. Just vanished."
"Can you guess where he could be?"
"Froststar was his apprentice. If any cat knew where he would be, he would."
Smokekit blinked and remembered the sadness in Froststars eyes when he mentioned the name.
"We've come to better times. But you want to know something?"
"What is it?"
"I believe he's alive somewhere, and wants to come back to ThunderClan."