Chapter Four: Border Patrol


Before he knew it, it was dusk. Sunpaw shook her pelt, ruffling it in the air. The cats on waiting to go on the patrol had started to group up in the entrance of the camp.

Whitetail, Oakfur, Littlefoot, Boldstripe and Badgerpaw were waiting for the two new apprentices.

"Let's go!" Yelped Sunpaw to his sleeping friend. For once, his friend woke up quickly and they ran to the gathering patrol.

Sunpaw licked his lips mournfully at the fresh-kill pile as they left—the shrew that Adderpaw and he had shared hadn't been enough.

"Don't fall behind, Sunpaw." Boldstripe warned from the head of the patrol.


After the Clan cats had padded a long way Boldstripe stopped to look at the new apprentices. "What do you smell?"

Sunpaw inhaled sharply, tasting the air. He was confused by Boldstripe's query. What am I missing? He thought desperately. He could smell the forest and each district scent of the cats on patrol but not a whiff of anything else. Beside him, Adderpaw bristled.

"Other cats!" He hissed, his body tensing to either fight or run.

"Good, Adderpaw but you can lower your hackles, we are on the edge of MistClan border. The river that flows through the forest separates our territories. For the past many moons, our standing with MistClan has been shaky. They believe they should own the land until the stream that runs further further through SolarClan while we think we should hunt on the other side of the river where the trees grow thick."

The cats padded along further across the bank. Boldstripe led the patrol quickly as the sun continued to sink beyond the mountains in the distance. Each territory was large, as they had been blessed by StarClan, and they had a lot of ground to cover if they were going to patrol the entirety of the border. This was a tradition for new apprentices, Littlefoot explained.

The river they were following suddenly fanned out like veins, tiny streams only a few mouse-lengths deep in most areas. The small streams split into two directions and joined back together a while later, creating a circle of untouched land. Looking closely with his keen eyes, Sunpaw noticed a large molted gray rock on the island, standing above the flat grass.

"That's Great-pile. A rock pile that doesn't lose a stone, even in the harshest storms. We all come here for the Gathering where the moon is round and bright." Badgerpaw mewed.

Sunpaw looked excitedly at the senior apprentice. "All the Clans meet here?"

"Yes, SolarClan, NightClan, MoorClan and even MistClan meet here at the Moon-Marsh. Doesn't the island look just like the full moon?" Badgerpaw explained, eyes wide in wonder.

Sunpaw didn't think the circle was very special but he kept quiet, until a new question came to him just as the Moon-Marsh was falling from view.

"Don't the cats get in fights while they're all in one place?"

It was Adderpaw who answered. "We can't—StarClan sends clouds to cover the moon if we've upset them and the Gathering is over!"

Sunpaw's whiskers twitched. "But StarClan doesn't have power over the clouds, right?" He asked tentatively.

"They do—they help fill the forests with prey and send storms and watch over us from Starpelt." Littlefoot meowed.

Sunpaw shook his head confusedly. "But surely dead cats—"

"Kittypet! Watch your words!" Oakfur turned around to snarl. Sunpaw immediately ducked his head, ears low. He hadn't meant to offend his adoptive Clanmates, he simply didn't understand. He looked up at he stars above his nose.

Surely each star cannot be a fallen Clan warrior? He thought incredulously.


Sunpaw's paw pads began to ache as they trotted along the NightClan border, even though they had just rested. Every so often one of the warriors would lift a leg to scent-mark SolarClan's territory.

Boldstripe had warned them that the NightClan cats were most active around this time, where the sun had sunk and its colors hung faded on the darkening clouds. They stalked night prey like hedgehogs, opossums, rabbit-rats, frogs geckos and even owls if they were hungry enough. The patrol continued and the scene of NightClan faded. They were on the town's border—or the Twolegplace, as his Clan called it. The rest of the border was nearby Twoleg settlements. "We don't hunt in the flat Twoleg grass between their place in the forest. There's no place for us to hide. Come on we can finish before moonhigh if we hurry." Littlefoot explained.


The following day, they were out again with Adderpaw and Littlefoot, making their way through the high grass. They had explained that prey was bolder among the sticky-tall grass, for for a third sun apprentice to learn to stalk and hunt prey. Sunpaw wasn't so sure—his curious long ears just barely poked out from the top of the grass. Littlefoot was up to his chest but nearly unhindered was Boldstripe, the stalks only just licked his belly.

Sitting up on his backlegs, Sunpaw saw an expanse of shrubs as the long grass became patchy and trodden on by forest creatures, just low enough that he could see Adderpaw's black tail ahead of him.

Boldstripe looked towards his spotted apprentice. "Do you remember the stalking technique I showed you?" Sunpaw nodded enthusiastically.

"Practice then. Careful not to step on the grass-stalk stems, they're much drier than forest grass and will make cracking sounds. Move low to the ground."

Sunpaw practiced his stalk, creeping forward a few tail-lengths.

"Don't be tempted to put so much weight on your ranches. If you startle a mouse or vole you still may be able to catch it by being light on your feet."

Sunpaw nodded again and shifted his weight when his ears suddenly perked, twitching back and forth.

Boldstripe was immediately alert, looking around the low-trees and scrub.

"Did you scent something?" Littlefoot asked, taking a doubtful taste of the air.

Sunpaw didn't answer immediately. A strange sound reverberated in his thick ear-fluff. He couldn't see or scent anything strange and neither could the cats around him. The slow, repeated sound grew louder but it was as if it was muffled by kit fluff.

"I hear posts but they are far away so they must be very heavy." Sunpaw said, aware of his own fear-scent.

Littlefoot finally caught the sound too and twitched his tail nervously. Adderpaw looked around confused.

Ten fox-lengths away, a great lowered head appeared along with a strong, huge body. Sunpaw's eyes widened and his legs shook as the long-faced beast looked up from the grass with its far apart eyes, flicking it's rabbit-like ears.

"W-what's on it's head?" Adderpaw whimpered, finally funded his voice. On it's sleek head were giant brown claws that grew like a tree's tangled branches. Sunpaw's full height would only reach the creature's foreleg. A bile-like urge crept up his throat to run the other way and not look back.

Boldstripe nudged him gently. "We'll be safe, Sunpaw. That creature is a deer. Deer toms have claws coming out of their heads since they don't have proper paws. They don't hurt cats unless they're scared. They are the only animals to come and go through Clan territory undisturbed. Come, let's find another route."


Sunpaw woke up at Sunhigh the next day. He stretched leisurely, noting he was the last apprentice in the den, the others must have been pulled out for training. Unfortunately, SUnpaw was to care for the elders today because he'd been to rattled from the deer to catch any prey.

After changing the moss for the elders, he set off to the medicine den.

"Silverleaf, do you have some, uh, mouse bile I could have? Gyrofoot says it helps get rid of fleas." He stopped in his tracks in surprise when he saw Silverleaf looking above his head blankly, jaw slack and fur raised in terror.

Instantly, fear shot through Sunpaw's paws. If something spooked a seasoned Clan cat, he didn't want to face it. "Silverleaf, what is it?" The white and gray she-cat gave no response. Sunpaw nosed her side fearfully. "Silverleaf?"

Instantly, she was on top of him, pinning him to the ground with unseated claws. It was only when Sunpaw yelped that her eyes cleared and she jumped off him.

"Their greatest prey." Silverleaf gasped, legs stiffened. Her fear scent was coming off in waves.

"Their greatest…?" Sunpaw broke off in confusion but the pretty medicine cat had bounded out of the hollow before he could finish.

"Silverleaf?" Sunpaw called uncertainly, pulling himself up and padding out of the den. She was making her way up to Snowstar's den. Most cats wouldn't dare wake the leader but at the moment, Silverleaf had no such reservation.

Sunpaw's whiskers twitched in curiosity. What had Silverleaf meant when she said 'greatest prey'? After a moment of hesitation, Sunpaw ran after them, pulling a small chaffinch over to the bottom of the Rock-ledge. He moved his large ears as far back as he could and concentrated as best he could without looking like he had a bellyache.

A chill of excitement sparked in his chest as he picked up low murmurs from the den two fox-lengths above him.

"You're sure it was a prophecy?" The troubled murmur was his leader's.

"Yes, I was organizing the cat-mint when it shriveled into leaf-mold and I saw a great LeopardClan cat with starry golden fur locked in battle with a stout but strong white cat with spots and pointed ears. I've never heard legends of such a fearsome and strange wild-cat! It had barely a tail at all." Silverleaf's voice trembled. "It's pelt was cloaked in Darkness and covered in old blood-stench!"

Snowstar was silent for a moment. "Are you sure it wasn't the catmint?"

"I heard the voices of StarClan!" She yowled back. "They said 'Beware the battle of the Great Cats. LeopardClan fights for the stars while their mighty foe hunts their greatest prey.' But what does the mighty LeopardClan have to do with us?"

Sunpaw felt his heart thump loudly in his chest. What did her words mean? He could almost see the two powerful cats clashing front of him. He scuttled up and back to the Elder's Den empty-pawed when Silverleaf and Snowstar reappeared from the den, forgetting his untouched chaffinch on the ground.


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