It's a chilly leaf fall night. The wind whistles gently through the trees of the forest surrounding our camp. The sky is clear as I walk through camp. I can hear the sound of paws crunching on the leaves of the forest floor as cats all around camp prepare to head off to the Gathering. The sound of running paw steps causes me to turn my head to the incoming cat.
"Brightheart come on! I don't want to be late to my first Gathering!" The excited voice of my apprentice, Thornpaw, rings through the quiet night air.
"I'm coming, I'm coming," I meow in an exasperated tone. Thornpaw takes off through the camp at full speed to catch up with his sister, Flamepaw. "That furbrain's gonna end up hurting someone if he keeps tearing around camp like that," I mutter under my breath.
"Looks like you've got your paws full with that one." I whip my head around to see who had spoken. I am greeted by a familiar face.
"Oh, it's only you, Rowanwing," I sigh. "Yeah, he's quite the pawful," I mew with relief.
"Why are you so jumpy all of a sudden?" he asks, tilting his head slightly.
"It's, uh, it's nothing," I meow quickly, wanting to change the subject.
"Ok, if you say so. If you want to talk though I'm here."
"Thanks. How was hunting?"
"Pretty good. Food's getting scarcer though as leaf bare approaches." I nod in agreement.
"I noticed. The food pile looked..."
"Can you two young'uns get a move on?" I jump as an exasperated voice from behind us interrupts me. "You're walking slower than a snail!"
"Sorry Owlclaw!" I mew in surprise as Owlclaw stalks past us, muttering something under his breath. Once he's past, I continue to Rowanwing, "The food pile looked smaller today."
He sighs. "Cedarfang is going to have to start sending out more patrols so we can stock up before it gets too cold. Thank StarClan we know how to keep the food fresh under snow."
Once Rowanwing finishes his sentence, I realize we have already reached the treebridge to the island. RiverClan is ahead of us crossing the treebridge.
Once the last RiverClan cat crosses the bridge ShadowClan begin to file on one by one. In his excitement, Thornpaw charges onto the branch, nearly falling into the water. He yelps as he regains his footing on the slippery branch and continues on with caution. I hear some of the warriors around me purring in amusement.
When it is my turn, I gracefully leap onto the dead tree, careful not to slip, and make my way down to the island on the other side, where I am greeted by a reenergized Thornpaw.
"Hey Brightheart! Race you to the clearing!" he meows as he takes off again. Hoping to tire him, I race after him at full speed and quickly catch up. It doesn't take long for me to pass him. "Not fair!" he meows as I fly by him. When we reach the clearing, we both stop, panting. "Not...fair." he says through pants.
"What? Thought I'd let you win?" I say in amusement.
"Well...kinda," he meows, still panting. "I thought maybe you would because of how much smaller I am than you."
"Well, would that be the case in a battle? 'Oh, you're small than me, so I'll go easy on you and let you win'?"
"No, but..." I cut him off.
"No buts! You need to learn to work for your wins and accept your losses. No warrior is going to go easy on you just because you are smaller than them."
"Ok," he mews, discouraged.
"A good warrior works hard and puts all his strength into a battle. If you can do these things, you will be a fine warrior."
"Ok! I'll work as hard as I can and be the best warrior ever!" This is the last thing either of us say before the Gathering starts. WindClan is the first to share their news, saying they have new kits and are well prepared for leaf bare. I tune out most of RiverClan and ThunderClan, who don't have much to say anyways, and wait for ShadowClan's announcements. When Wolfstar announces the new apprentices, I, along with the rest of ShadowClan, cheer loudly. I can see my apprentice, bursting with excitement, sitting over with the other apprentices from the different clans.
When the Gathering is over, I wander around a bit to find Rowanwing and talk to him, but am cut short when I hear a cat calling my name from some nearby bushes. I walk over to investigate, only to find Raventail of ThunderClan waiting for me. "What do you want now, Raventail?" I meow in an annoyed tone.
"I still think you should come back home, to ThunderClan, where you belong," he says stubbornly.
"How many times do I have to tell you that I'm not going back to ThunderClan? I have been raised in ShadowClan. It is my home and it's where I'd like to stay," I shoot back.
"You'd have a warm wel…"
"I am not leaving ShadowClan! I am not gonna betray my clan just because some crazy old cat thinks I belong in ThunderClan!" I stalk off, not wanting to hear anymore of his argument, and run into Rowanwing.
"Great StarClan!" I meow to him.
"What's wrong?"
"That crazy mousebrain Raventail was pestering me about going back to ThunderClan and insisting it's where I 'belong'!" I exclaim, furious.
"Relax, Brightheart. You were raised with us, and you are a great warrior of ShadowClan," he meows, trying to calm me down. He headbutts me in my shoulder and takes off into the woods. I'm hot on his tail, purring with joy as we tear through the forest. Rowanwing turns his head to look at me, an affectionate look in his eyes, and for a moment I feel like we're the only cats in the world.
Everyone's asleep when we get back to camp. We quietly head over to the warriors den and enter, careful not to rustle the branches too much. Treading softly over the sleeping cats, we make our way to the back of the den where our nests sit side by side. I lay down first, my paws aching from running so much, and almost instantly fall asleep.
I awake outside of camp in the clearing where we do battle training, the sun shining brightly overhead. "Hello?" I mew. No response. I start to walk away, but just as I turn the sun disappears and the wind picks up, whistling loudly through the trees. Leaves are spinning everywhere, hitting me in the face causing me to shake my head, and I hear a voice say,
"Beware of the cat with leaves on her back," and just like that it's all over. I awake with a start to someone shaking my side, and look up to see Rowanwing, Amberleaf, and Dawnwhisker standing over me. "What...what happened?" I meow, dazed. Amberleaf answers first;
"You were shaking violently in your sleep. You woke up most of the den! Are you ok?"
Rowanwing interjects before I can answer her question. "Brightheart, what's wrong? I woke up and you were shaking and whimpering."
"I'm fine, honest. It was just a bad dream."
"Are you sure?"
"Positive," I reassure him.
Dawnwhisker speaks this time. "Maybe you should see if Mistfeather could give you something to help you sleep better."
"Maybe," I mew, calmer now and no longer shaking. I get up and walk towards the entrance to the den. The three of them follow me out into the sunlight. I stop and squint, waiting for my eyes to adjust to the bright light of the morning sun before moving on.
The first place I go is to the food pile, where I pick out a nice lizard and carry it over to the spot where Rowanwing and I usually eat. He is waiting there for me with two big, fat voles in his mouth, which he drops as he sees me coming. "Oh, uh, I thought I'd get your food for you, but I see you already have something," he mews.
I can sense the disappointment in his tone, so I drop my lizard and quickly say "No, it's fine. We can just share this. It's really too small anyways. Thank you."
"Sure," he says as he lays down to start eating. I lay down too and take a big, juicy bite out of my vole. The warm juices seep into my mouth, and I close my eyes to savor the delicious taste.
It doesn't take me long to finish the vole and my half of the lizard, so I'm finished by the time Cedarfang starts assigning patrols.
"Ivypelt, Nightwhisker, and Toadfoot, I want you three to patrol the ThunderClan border. Brightheart, Thornpaw, Lizardspeck, and Tigerstripe, you take the border with RiverClan. Smokefur, Flamepaw and I will go hunting," he orders. I lead my patrol out of the camp and to the small thunderpath that borders RiverClan.
I can't seem to shake last night's dream out of my head, and eventually decide to consult Mistfeather to see if she can help me figure out what it means.
"I'm as lost as you are as to what this means," the she-cat meows.
"But, why did StarClan tell it to me? I'm not a leader or a medicine cat," I say, confused.
"Your guess is as good as mine, but I'm sure there is a reason why you received it and not Wolfstar or I."
"Am I allowed to tell Rowanwing about it? He's been worried about me since he woke me this morning."
"I'm sorry, but you cannot share this with anyone other than me or Wolfstar. We don't need you spreading fear across the camp."
"Ok," I say, and walk out of the medicine den.
Thornpaw is there waiting for me when I get out. "Brightheart, can we go do battle training? I need to practice to be the best warrior ever!" he meows excitedly.
"Sure! Let's see if Smokefur and Flamepaw want to join us," I meow back, refreshed by his enthusiasm. He runs over to where his sister is laying on her side soaking in the warm sun. I watch him pounce her as I trot over to Smokefur, who is sitting by the entrance talking to some of the other warriors. Before I can ask him if he wants to take Flamepaw out for battle training with Thornpaw and I, the two of them come racing over at full speed and almost plow into him.
"Watch it!" he growls in surprise. This makes the two of them hesitate for a minute.
"Sorry Smokefur!" they mew in unison.
"We were wondering if we could do battle training," Flamepaw mews hesitantly.
"Brightheart said we could go!" Thornpaw chimes in.
Smokefur looks like he's about to say no, so I chime in and say, "I'm fine with taking them both if you don't want to come. I've handled two apprentices before."
"If Brightheart wants to take you two that's fine, but I'm starting to get too old for battle training," he rasps.
"Ok!" they both say, and take off through the entrance.
"Those two really need to learn to stop racing everywhere," Smokefur says in annoyance. I nod my head, agreeing with him, and trot through the entrance after them before they can get too far.
"Get back here you two!" I meow to them. They quickly obey and come trotting over to me. "You two can't keep racing off everywhere. I know you're excited, but you're going to end up getting hurt or hurting someone else," I say when they reach me.
"Ok, we'll stop," says Thornpaw. We continue the walk to the clearing in silence. I can sense that they are trying their best to behave and not take off again, so when we're only a few tail lengths off from the clearing I let them race out into it. "I win!" Thornpaw boasts to his sister. He puffs out his chest as he and Flamepaw prance over to me to start training.
"The first move I'm going to teach you two is the front paw blow. The key to this is to try to hit your opponent's head as hard as you can, but since this is only your first time training we'll start softer." I demonstrate this move to them and watch them as they try to imitate what I've done.
"Ow!" Flamepaw exclaims as the first blow hits her. "You clawed me!"
"Thornpaw! Keep your claws sheathed! This is meant to knock your opponent down, not claw their fur off!" I instruct him.
"Ok," he meows just before he receives a blow to the head. This catches him off guard, and he sways a little.
"Nice job!" I congratulate Flamepaw. Now she's the one puffing out her chest. I let them practice this move a little longer before I say to them, "Ok, you guys seem to have that one down pretty well. Now I'm gonna teach you how to duck and twist. This is a simple but effective defensive move if your opponent is coming at you with a blow. What you want to do is duck and then twist around, rolling onto your back and then immediately standing up again. Thornpaw, come at me with the blow I just taught you so I can demonstrate." He quickly obeys and goes to land a hard blow to my head, but before he makes contact I duck, twist, and roll quickly away from him, causing him to miss and lose his balance.
"Woah! That's cool!" he exclaims. "Can I try?"
"Sure! You and Flamepaw can take turns blowing and ducking," I meow back to him.
We stay in the clearing for quite awhile, me telling them ways to make their moves better and them practicing these things, until finally they decide that they're tired and want to head back to camp. "You two did good today. I'm proud of you," I say as we walk back to camp.
"Thanks!" they say proudly, and I can tell by their tone of voice that they are happy I approved of their work.
The sun has almost set by the time we get back to camp. The two of them head over to the food pile to pick out something to eat while I go over to the place where Rowanwing is waiting for me with a giant toad in his mouth. "I think it's big enough to share," he mutters around the prey in his mouth. I can just barely make out what he said, and as if reading my mind he drops the toad and repeats himself; "I think it's big enough for us to share."
"I think so too," I meow in agreement as I lay down next to him to eat.
Pinedust- HOLY CRAP! IT'S CHAPTER 1!
Snowcloud- Damn, miss Fuzzbrain over here actually made it to chapter 1!
Pinedust- Does that really surprise you?
Snowcloud- To be truthful, yes.
Pinedust- Well, it's good to know how much faith you have in me…
Snowcloud- Faith ain't got nothin' to do with it, Fuzzbrain.
Pinedust- Are we really gonna start this again? *rolls eyes*
Snowcloud- No, because I don't feel like feeling the wrath of Firestar…
Foxmoom- *from somewhere else* WISE CHOICE!
Snowcloud- *sarcastically* Why, thank you!
Pinedust- Oh, no… Snowcloud's getting sarcastic. EVERYBODY RUN!
Snowcloud- I hate you…
Pinedust- Love you too. *sticks tongue out*
Snowcloud- *glares*
Pinedust- I'm gonna go ahead and end this. Pi-
Snowcloud- *interrupts* SNOWCLOUD OUT!
Pinedust- That's my line!