Stormpaw dropped into a crouch just as a second shadow dropped behind the first. He growled, baring his teeth.
"That's him. That's the one who chased us off earlier," the second form hissed. The first shadow stepped into the moonlight. The tabby's brown and white fur were nearly glowing in the light, his green eyes an eerie silver. Stormpaw felt his heart pounding in his chest and he wasn't sure why. Rogues were a fairly common thing.
"Wh-who are you?" Stormpaw remained still, his heart still thundering away in his chest. What was wrong with him?
"Who am I? Who are you," the tabby meowed in amusement.
"I asked you f-first..."
"Ha, nice. You sure this is the same cat that chased you off? He doesn't seem that tough, River."
The second cat, River, glared at the first. "Of course I'm sure. He sure was eager to get rid of us," he sniffed.
"Now that all seems silly-"
"I asked you who you were," Stormpaw snapped. The first cat looked surprised. Almost as though he had never been snapped at.
"Hey, maybe he is tough after all!" Stormpaw felt his patience snap and leapt towards the tabby. His whiskers twitched, clearly entertained by this whole exchanged. Stormpaw stopped short. Why? This rogue's making fun of you...why are you being stupid?
"Names. I asked for you names," Stormpaw meowed shortly.
"Ah, yes. That's River," he meowed, gesturing towards the gray tom. "And I'm Genesis."
"You're trespassing on BarkClan territory. What are you doing?"
"I was under the impression that once a cat shared his name, one should offer his own," Genesis purred. Stormpaw groaned. He was not going to make this easy.
"I'm Stormpaw of BarkClan. Now why are you on our territory?"
"Our territory? So there's more than just you? I guess that would make it harder to take some land, huh?"
"You aren't the first rogues to try," Stormpaw sniffed. "Get in line."
"Oh well. What a shame. Looks like our recon was useless River. We'll just have to look somewhere else." Genesis shrugged. His green eyes flickered over Stormpaw for a heartbeat. "Thanks for your help. See you around, Stormpaw." He waved his tail, summoning River to follow him. The pair left, leaving Stormpaw alone.
He turned to head back to camp. What did he mean, see you around? Was he going to try to take over anyway? He shook his head. No rogue was that stupid. There was no way he would try anything like that. Gradually his heartbeat returned to normal. He still had no idea what that had been about.
x
The forest seemed colder, darker. He let out a sigh of relief as he reentered camp. He slipped into the apprentices' den and carefully stepped over multiple sleeping bodies. He settled into his nest and instantly felt warmer. As he closed his eyes, he saw a pair of familiar silvery green eyes. Genesis.