Dartpaw yawned and opened her eyes. She stretched, before scampering around the sleeping bodies of the other apprentices. She shook her ruffled black fur and padded into the center of camp. "What's going on?" She whispered to Lightstep, her mother, seeing cats gathered around something large in the middle of camp.
"Someone was out hunting- land animals, because the streams are freezing over- and they found a dead body out underneath a tree. He was killed by a cat! The thought of cats breaking the code like this... It's sickening."
"Who was it?" Lightstep and Dartpaw both jumped at the sound of a new voice behind them. They whipped around to face this new cat.
"Talonpaw! You scared me!" Lightstep scolded her daughter.
"Sorry," Talonpaw said, not sounding very sorry, "but seriously, who was the cat who got killed? Can I see?" The golden tabby tried to push through the cats to see.
"Will that cat ever grow up?" Lightstep hissed, but the anger wasn't in her eyes.
A few seconds later, Talonpaw staggered up, eyes glazed over in shock.
"What, who is it?! What's wrong?!" Dartpaw pressed excitedly.
"I-It's… D-... Dad…" She whispered. Lightstep gasped.
"No, no, no, they wouldn't let me see it, they just came back with it a few seconds ago- Stoneclaw, no, no, no!" She muttered to herself, pushing through the crowd to see. Stoneclaw's neck had been savagely bitten into.
Dartpaw watched, mouth agape. "No. No. Noo… Who would, or could kill Stoneclaw?!"
Beewhisper shrugged, padding over to the two apprentices. "The worst part is that he left Lightstep when she's carrying her second litter," he commented.
Talonpaw snarled at him, "He did not leave her, he was brutally murdered!" Beewhisper dipped his head. "Yes, I'm sorry… Stoneclaw was my friend, and I would never imagine that he would abandon us." His eyes darkened. "But we did find something."
Dartpaw stared at him hard. "What did you find?" She asked in a low voice, afraid of what the answer would be. Beewhisper noticed her concern. "No, nothing about Stoneclaw exactly, so don't worry, but… We found a scent on him. We aren't exactly sure, but it might be ThunderClan scent.
They turned to see Owlpaw and Wishpaw pushing through the crowd toward them. "Those sick-minded monsters!" Owlpaw's brown muzzle was twisted into a savage snarl. "Let's teach them a lesson!" He were mews of agreement through the Clan. "Owlpaw has a point," Wishpaw murmured, "as they took out one of our strongest warriors."
"I say battle!" Whiskerhop yowled. Nightfall, Dartpaw's mentor, yowled in agreement.
Silentstar stalked up to the cats. "Do you want to lose more lives?!"
"If we can defeat ThunderClan, and save the others in this Clan, I would put my life in danger for this," Whiskerhop whispered hoarsely. Nightfall stood up next to her.
"Same with me." Dartpaw scrunched up her face before running over to join them. "Me too!" Owlpaw stepped up, with Wishpaw close behind. Silentstar widened her eyes.
"You are but young apprentices!"
"All due respect, Silentstar, but we are the oldest apprentices," Dartpaw remarked.
"There ARE no other apprentices!" Owlpaw hissed.
"Shut it! Ugh, fine- even if there are no other apprentices, we are, for apprentices quite old."
Beewhisper stepped forward. "We do have enough cats here to take down a patrol… Maybe another warrior should be added, but… It's not such a bad idea. Now, I wouldn't do this for revenge. Many other warriors have been killed. We must still show them that we are not weak!"
Lightstep padded up, hunger for her enemy's pain in her eyes, but she shook her head. "I say it's a good idea, but.. I've already lost my mate. I don't want to lose you three, either!"
Wishpaw shook her head and looked at her mother pleadingly. "No, you do not get it… We will die on our own here. We've seen enough. It is time to end this madness. Please."
"But.. I can't go with you to make sure you'll be safe!" She looked guiltily at her pregnant stomach.
Nightfall glanced at Lightstep and then his apprentice. "Oh, don't you worry, if Owlpaw and Wishpaw are anything like their sister, then they'll get through a battle without a scratch, covered in the blood of their enemies."
"Bit graphic…" Dartpaw muttered, feeling her ear tips burn in embarrassment.
Silentstar narrowed her eyes and turned, running to the middle of camp, next to Stoneclaw's body. "Let all cats old enough to swim gather for a Clan Meeting!" She yowled out the words, but is wasn't much use, as about all of the cats were already out of their dens. "Some of our Clanmates have gotten the idea into their heads to attack ThunderClan! They may or may not be doing it out of revenge, but our Clan is doing it for a different reason. We must make the first move before their cats kill more of us! The battle will commence in a quarter moon-"
"So soon?" A silver tabby stepped forward. Dartpaw recognized her as Fernwhisker, Talonpaw's mentor.
"So soon?" Tinytail, Owlpaw's mentor, exclaimed in an incredulous voice. "Seems to me like a few seasons! I want to rip those mangy pelts off their backs right now!"
Silentstar glared harshly down at the two warriors. "May I continue, or do the elders need new bedding?"
"And we can give ya a lot more than that, kitty!" Duskheart yowled at Tinytail.
Tinytail looked away and Fernwhisker nodded.
"Well, as I was saying, we attack in a quarter moon. We will use that time to train. Nightfall, Badgerback, Brightnose, and Fishstrike, you will train offense." The three warriors nodded. "Wingedblossom, Grassfur, Rosewhatcher, and Thrushclaw, you train defense. There will be different shifts- some of you go train offense in the morning, and train defense in the afternoon."
"What about hunting patrols, and herb collecting? We most likely will have injuries in the battle," Beewhisker asked.
"Good thinking! We'll get to that, 'kay? Now, even if you aren't participating in the battle, you still need to learn fighting moves if it comes to that. We need warriors guarding the elders and Lightstep, but they will learn fighting moves easier for them as well. Flowertalon, you had kits during a battle. Teach Lightstep some fighting moves. And you aren't going to fight. You are protecting the nursery. Shadowshade, Snowthrush, Ashdapple- you protect Duskheart and Willowbark, and teach them some moves easy on their joints. Beewhisper, you organize hunting patrols and get the apprentices to help Ripplewhisker with what he needs." With that, she turned and walked back into her den.
"Alright! First things first, go over to Nightfall if you are fighting with the patrol, and over to Willowbark and Duskheart if you aren't."
Dartpaw and her siblings sprinted over to Nightfall. Dartpaw skidded to a stop and looked at the fighting cats: Nightfall, herself, Owlpaw, Wishpaw, Fernwhisker, Tinytail, Rosewatcher, Whiskerhop, Wingedblossom, and Badgerback. She looked over at the nonfighters, surprised to see some of the cats who were going to train cats over there. She scanned them: Brightnose, Thrushclaw, Flowertalon, Grassfur, Snowthrush, Duskheart, Willowbark, Ripplewhisker, Ashdapple, Shadowshade, Fishstrike, and Lightstep. She froze when she saw her mother.
The black she-cat had a mournful expression on her face, and she lifted her tail as if saying goodbye, that she was seeing her daughter for the last time.