Chapter 1

Darkspirit began to eat his fresh-kill. He had been silent all these moons, hardly saying a thing. In addition to Pheasantspirit's death, two new Clans, TreeClan and IceClan, had announced their presence at the next Gathering a few days after Darkspirit's brother died. Darkspirit had recognized Treestar and Icestar, and had not loathed them, unlike many of his Clanmates.

Darkspirit picked at the fresh-kill, ignoring Applefrost's gloating. Applefrost had received Whiskerpaw as his apprentice, and had been gloating about it for moons. It had been six moons since Pheasantspirit's death, and Finchkit and Bramblekit were almost ready to become apprentices.

Darkspirit stood when he was finished with his fresh-kill and disposed of the bones. Hissingshine began to order patrols in the dawn light, "Applefrost, you have sunhigh hunting patrol with Ferretpaw, Brackenwing, and Whiskerpaw. You're leading. Coinciding with that, Darkspirit, you'll lead a border patrol with the Gathering border. You can take Rosepaw, Lightheart, and Wingbreeze."

Darkspirit silently cursed StarClan. Lightheart was on his patrol! That cat never took orders from him. Darkspirit solemnly looked up at the disappearing stars, once again wondering which one was Pheasantspirit's.

Darkspirit stood, still looking up at the sky. Soon the stars would all disappear, and the sun would rise high in the sky. Darkspirit glanced from side-to-side and padded to the place where he had always gone as a kit. Darkspirit sat down and looked at the once-beautiful cobweb on the warriors den. It was ripped from the fire, for some of the warriors' den had crumbled then, and it was spindly without a single soul living upon it. Darkspirit closed his eyes and imagined himself as Darkkit, watching the spider create this very cobweb. But then it had been beautiful.

Darkspirit opened his eyes and stared at the cobweb. A dreadful thought came to his head; am I becoming a cobweb? No longer to be a beautiful spider web? Not even a living creature taking refuge on me? Am I no longer being called a spider web but a cobweb?

Darkspirit shook his head, trying to shake the thought away. Darkspirit let out a small sigh and padded out from his little place. Darkspirit padded up to the fresh-kill pile once more and basked in the short-lived sunlight.

By sunhigh, the sun was hidden by clouds heavy with rain. Darkspirit shivered as a cold, harsh wind whipped through his fur. Darkspirit felt much like the clouds, and the only place he could deposit his rain was with Hawkstorm. Darkspirit still met her every night, and he spilled everything over her, for he knew she could be trusted. Hawkstorm was Darkspirit's friend, maybe even closer.

Darkspirit led his patrol out of camp. Darkspirit ignored Lightheart's insolent muttering to Rosepaw. Darkspirit twitched his tail to signal the patrol that a bramble bush was ahead. Darkspirit swerved around the bramble bush and headed toward the Gathering border. Darkspirit nodded to the border and his patrol began to mark the border.

The scent of TreeClan wafted to Darkspirit's nostrils. Darkspirit wrinkled his nose and marked the border, spraying a tree. Darkspirit turned to the others and flicked his tail, signaling that they must leave.

Nodding, Wingbreeze trotted toward him, her apprentice Rosepaw following. Darkspirit purred and touched noses with his little sister warmly. Rosepaw let out a little purr of happiness in response. Lightheart muttered something mutinously.

"Coming?" Darkspirit snapped, more sharply than he had intended.

"Sure." Lightheart padded over, giving him a sharp glare.

Darkspirit led his patrol back through the trees, passing by a hunting patrol. Darkspirit gave Ferretpaw an approving nod as the apprentice was dragging a squirrel as big as he was. Darkspirit could hear rumbles of thunder. It was newleaf, after all, and Darkspirit wasn't surprised that the storms were coming yet again.

As rain began to patter through the trees, Darkspirit led his patrol into camp, Darkspirit flicked his tail dismissively and trotted into the warriors' den.


"Darkspirit!" a yowl from Pinestar jolted Darkspirit awake. Darkspirit raised his head, blinking open his eyes. Darkspirit let out an enormous yawn and stood.

Darkspirit padded out from the warriors' den and padded over to Pinestar where the black tom was standing just outside of his den.

"Darkspirit," Pinestar began, "come in here."

Darkspirit followed Pinestar into the leader's den. Pinestar meowed, "I know you're still upset about Pheasantspirit's death." Pinestar sat down in his nest and looked at Darkspirit with piercing icy shards of eyes. Darkspirit flinched at the mention of his brother. "However, I think you are ready to have an apprentice." Darkspirit's ears pricked with surprise. "You have gone through many things, and I think you are mature enough now. I know it will be difficult at first because of your brother, but I think you can. It is up to you."

Darkspirit was silent for a long moment. He didn't know what to say. Pinestar was right; Darkspirit was having trouble managing his brother's death, but at the same time….. "I'll take an apprentice," Darkspirit responded softly.

Pinestar nodded, "Very well. I'll give you an apprentice. Just give me some time to decide."

Darkspirit dipped his head and padded from the leader's den. Darkspirit's excitement slowly grew as he realized; he was getting an apprentice for sure! Darkspirit padded over to Sloeberry, who was talking with Rosepaw about hunting techniques.

Darkspirit padded to his Clanmate's side and Sloeberry looked up at him. "Are you okay?" the black she-cat asked, looking concerned. Darkspirit nodded.

"I'm getting an apprentice," Darkspirit told her.

Sloeberry's jaws fell open, "Lucky!"

Darkspirit smiled at her. Sloeberry seemed genuinely jealous that she wasn't going to have an apprentice, too. Darkspirit sat down and Rosepaw purred, "Hi, big brother!"

Darkspirit purred in response, "Hello, little sister. How's the prey running?"

"Well!" Rosepaw mewed excitedly. "I caught two shrews today on hunting patrol while you were dozing off!"

Darkspirit rolled his eyes. "It wasn't that long ago!"

"Then how come it's sunset?" Rosepaw challenged. Darkspirit glanced up at the sky, surprised that she was right.

Darkspirit meowed, "Mouse dung!"

Sloeberry purred, "You lazy furball! I was wondering where you were!"

Rosepaw laughed, "Yeah, you looked like you would never wake up in a million moons!"

Darkspirit gave his chest fur a few embarrassed licks, "I wasn't that deeply asleep!"

Rosepaw rolled her eyes, meowing, "That's what you said last time, but you were wrong!"

Darkspirit licked Rosepaw between the ears with a throaty purr. Sloeberry smiled and began to groom her pelt with long, rhythmic licks.

After a while of talking and sharing tongues, Rosepaw, Darkspirit, and Sloeberry departed. Darkspirit followed Sloeberry into the warriors' den. He waited until he knew for certain every warrior was asleep in their nest before slipping out. Darkspirit glanced from side to side and padded into the dirtplace.

Darkspirit squeezed through the tiny hole in the dirtplace tunnel. Darkspirit hauled himself out and then raced for the MistClan border.

Darkspirit skidded to a halt at the border as Hawkstorm bounded toward him. Hawkstorm purred greeting and Darkspirit did the same. Hawkstorm nuzzled Darkspirit warmly. Darkspirit murmured, "Pinestar promised me an apprentice."

Hawkstorm pulled back and purred, "That's amazing! Oh, Darkspirit, won't that be wonderful? I can't wait until you receive yours. I'm not going to get an apprentice for a while. The kits in the Clan are all my sister's. You know that."

Darkspirit nodded, "Yeah. You can't have one of Skyfall's kits. She, after all, is your sister, so that can't happen."

Hawkstorm sat back on her haunches. "Oh, Darkspirit. I'm so happy. MistClan is well-fed again!"

Darkspirit nodded, glancing at her belly, which was back to its normal state. Suddenly, a thought hit Darkspirit. What if MistClan attacks ShadeClan for the territory we took right before leaf-bare? They've been working hard to get as much prey as possible, Hawkstorm's told me. Now that their territory is prey-rich, doesn't that mean they're strong enough to attack? I'll have to warn Pinestar somehow.

Darkspirit smiled happily. "I wonder which one I'll get. Finchkit or Bramblekit?"

Hawkstorm shrugged in reply. Hawkstorm purred, "What would happen if we made our own Clan? We'd make a Clan called LightningClan!"

Darkspirit purred, "Or DarkClan."

Hawkstorm shook her head, "Of course not. We'd have to call it HawkClan."

Darkspirit purred, "That will never happen! We'll have to battle to see who gets rights for the name!" And then, Darkspirit plunged into a play-fight with Hawkstorm.

It could be like this every day. Darkspirit leaped away from Hawkstorm at the thought, but covered it up by leaping back again. But wouldn't that betray my loyalty to ShadeClan? No, it's alright. I'm still a loyal warrior of ShadeClan. Hawkstorm can join my Clan and we'd be happy together!

"What if it was like this every day?" Darkspirit blurted out impulsively. Hawkstorm stopped and broke away from him, looking bewildered.

"What do you mean?" Hawkstorm asked, puzzled.

Darkspirit blurted out, "I could settle down with a mate and kits. You could be my mate, and it could be our kits. You could join ShadeClan! It would be great!"

Hawkstorm took a step back. "I don't know."

"Oh, come on, Hawkstorm! It would be great!" Darkspirit meowed.

Hawkstorm shook her head, "I can't leave my mom and my sisters. I'm sorry, but I just simply can't join ShadeClan. We can still meet here, though."

Darkspirit flinched. He knew he had gone too far and scared the fox-colored she-cat off. "I'm sorry," Darkspirit murmured.

Hawkstorm's ears pricked as the sound of a twig snapping came from behind her. Darkspirit tilted his head, confused. How could a twig snap in MistClan territory? Claws dug into Darkspirit's fur and he was wrenched back. Hawkstorm bristled through the leaves. Darkspirit twisted around to see the shape of a cat. He could only guess that this cat had thrown a twig onto a sharp rock so it would snap.

The cat disappeared again, and Darkspirit began to wonder if it had been sent from StarClan. Hawkstorm pushed her way through the leaves to stand before Darkspirit. "Who was that?" she hissed urgently.

Darkspirit shrugged, "I don't know."

Hawkstorm narrowed her eyes. She whispered, "I'd better get out of here, fast."

Darkspirit nodded in agreement. He watched Hawkstorm dart off, heading back to MistClan territory. Darkspirit raced off for the ShadeClan camp. Darkspirit arrived back, holding a sparrow in his jaws. The guard, Weasalflight, gave him an approving nod as he slipped past. Darkspirit dropped his prey by the fresh-kill pile and padded into the warriors' den.

Darkspirit tucked his nose underneath his tail and quickly was covered by the blanket of sleep.

Me: I love new books! I'm so excitedly depressed about this book! Does that make sense to any of you?

Anyway, my goal for this book is 100 reviews, double that of the first book. That's only because people are starting to get to know who I am! :D Took me three months to get eight reviews for One Splash, but way less time to get 27 reviews for Forgotten Love! (and counting!)

I do not own, or claim to own, Warriors, Erin Hunter does.