Slanted shadows stretched across the dark green grass, flitting in an endless pattern along four cats. They sauntered silently, keeping their heads high and tail parallel to the ground. The pine trees stood proud and lofty in the forest, their peaks reaching to the clouds. The sky was choked in dark gray clouds, promising rain.
Spikefur looked over his shoulder, his eyes glowing impatiently. "Hurry up, Tigerheart!" he hissed.
The dark brown tabby warrior's muscles rippled, each muscle tense with anger. He stood back amongst the ShadowClan border patrol, gazing at a dead frog, its body sprawled and rotten. Maggots surrounded the rotten prey, silently fulfilling their hungers in the forest. He never knew, but there was something fascinating about the frog.
As the rest of the patrol slowly sauntered on, Spikefur turned around, pacing a few paw steps to meet up with Tigerheart. "Come on," he hissed. "Or you'll hold up the patrol."
Tigerheart only looked at him with his burning amber gaze. Without speaking, he and Spikefur caught up with the patrol. On their way to the patrol, Tigerheart caught sight of a half-eaten lizard lying along the base of a pine tree. He locked his eyes on it but never broke pace. They finally reached the border patrol, with Pouncetail in the lead.
Pouncetail didn't look over his shoulder. "Where were you two?" he asked impatiently.
"Tigerheart here was too busy dawdling around," declared Spikefur.
"I found a frog and a lizard lying around the territory, half-eaten," announced Tigerheart dutifully and immediately, his voice firm, making sure that his Clanmates had heard him. "They smelt rotten and maggots were on them."
His announcement caught the attention of his entire patrol. The cats halted and turned their eyes on the dark tabby warrior.
"You found that on our territory?" meowed Pinenose, her black fur glowing a smoky gray in the faint sunlight in between two slanted pine tree shadows.
"Yes," assured Tigerheart. "I think we have a rogue under our paws."
"Oh yeah?" Pouncetail stepped up, challenge in his eyes. "And what makes you say that?"
Tigerheart had to think for a moment. He just wanted to make his Clanmates proud of him. After hearing the announcement of Dovewing and Bumblestripe's kits five moons ago, he felt like the loneliest cat in the world. He'd always wanted to be a father, even if it was for Half-Clan kits. I loved her, but she lied to me. His Clanmates, especially his mother Tawnypelt, would coax him to eat prey from the fresh-kill pile. But his depression hung over him like a mist cloud for so long that he had forgotten that he even had a Clan to serve. He would always stay in the warriors' den, aborting any hunting and border patrols. Rowanstar, his father, was worried that he had gotten sick. Littlecloud had went to check up on him and announced that nothing was wrong with his health. Tigerheart wanted to clear things up once and for all that he was not weak, and he wanted every cat to stop looking after him like he was a kit with greencough.
"They've been lying out," meowed Tigerheart. "If it was a rogue that had eaten our prey, they've unceremoniously left it out for it to rot."
"Have you scented out the cat's scent?" asked Spikefur.
"Over the rotten smell of crowfood, no."
"Well, we'll have to go back to it, once we renew out scent markers."
Tigerheart moved along with his Clanmates as they slunk along the borders, refreshing any stale markers. Pouncetail and Spikefur moved along a tree stump, renewing the scent markers. Before they dispersed, Pinenose and Spikefur touched noses and Spikefur gave Pinenose's cheek a quick lick. Tigerheart and Pinenose moved along further down the pine forest, but not far from their Clanmates. From time to time, Tigerheart thought that he felt a pair of pale yellow eyes watching his every movement. With every whisker twitch and paw lift he made, Tigerheart felt paranoid. He tried to shake it off but the stinging sensation of being watched was still there, hiding right beneath his pelt.
Pinenose walked up to Tigerheart. "What's wrong?" she asked him.
Tigerheart looked at her. "Nothing," he grunted.
"There's something wrong with you, I know it," meowed Pinenose. "Your tail-tip's twitching and I can sense a lurking nous of unease around you." Why is she so good at this?
Tigerheart straightened up, glancing furtively both ways. "I feel that there's someone watching us," he whispered.
Pinenose blinked. "Right. And snakes can fly," she snorted.
"No, I'm serious!" hissed Tigerheart. "Look amongst those clump of thorn bushes." He pointed with his tail at the bushes, where he felt the eyes staring him down from. The two ShadowClan cats observed and waited patiently in silence. The pale yellow eyes blinked and appeared, watching, waiting.
Just then, a cat emerged from the thorn bushes. Tigerheart stiffened. He wasn't expecting to see this cat again, especially after he heard about the WindClan raid on ThunderClan in the underground tunnels.
Sol!
The tortoiseshell-and-white tom paced up at them, his tail swaying side to side. "My, what a lovely welcome from my friends," he purred. Friends? Tigerheart felt a prick of unease at his emphasis on "friends".
"What do you want from us?" growled Tigerheart, his claws sliding out.
Thunder rolled distantly in the sky. The dim sunlight was gone from the pine forest. A gentle breeze slipped through the forest and rain tickled along the cats' spines.
Sol had a hungry gleam in his yellow eyes. "We want revenge on the Clans," he said in a low tone. We? "I've done everything to be a part of SkyClan in the past and I've been rejected. I failed and came a little slow last time, but now, I have a few others that can help me. Let vengeance take its toll!"
As Sol finished, five other shapes emerged from a nearby bramble thicket. Their eyes locked hungrily on Tigerheart and Pinenose, their hackles raised.
"Quit now," growled Sol. "Or we'll finish this for you."
A few heartbeats later, Spikefur and Pouncetail broke out in a scurry towards the rest of the border patrol. Their eyes were wide with surprise. Spikefur looked on in half shock and half confusion.
"Who are you?" he growled at Sol.
"This is Sol," hissed Tigerheart in his Clanmate's ear. "He was the one mentioned in the elders' tales that made the sun go away."
Spikefur unsheathed his claws, looking at Tigerheart with total disbelief. "That's frog-dung," he snorted.
One of the five rogues, a sturdy, dark ginger tom with a green collar, took a few paces up. "Sol's told us himself." His voice was rumbling and low in his throat, like a Clan of deadly badgers.
Pouncetail stiffened beside Tigerheart. "That's a kittypet!" he hissed, sliding his claws out. "Get that mange-pelt out of our territory! As a matter of fact, we'll chase you out ourselves."
Sol's whiskers twitched in amusement. "Oh, you and your warrior code," he sneered. "It's no doubt that you're wild cats, but yet you aren't so wild after all, being controlled under floating words slopped out by dead cats."
Tigerheart began to bristle, pulling his lips back into a snarl. Pinenose and the others did the same. The warrior code is everything! How dare he mocks StarClan?
The dark ginger tom flared his eyes open. "I've given up that soft life long ago," he snarled. "Being taken care of impulsive Twolegs is the last thing on my mind."
A slender, brown-and-white tabby she-cat stepped up to his side, resting her tail along his spine. "Cobra, remember we always wanted to run wild?" she murmured gently. Tigerheart was surprised to see sympathy running through the two cats. "We would be able to feel the breeze in our fur."
"And eat bones," added Pouncetail with a snort.
"And with the help of Sol," the she-cat added more softly in the ginger tom's ear. "We could live without our Twolegs. We can control our own lives."
The ginger cat called Cobra looked down at the she-cat, his green eyes softened. "We'll serve for Sol, whatever he needs us for, Rosie," he murmured back.
Rosie dipped her head, glaring back at the ShadowClan patrol.
"You have been warned, Clan cats," meowed Sol as the downpour became gray around them, hissing in their ears. "We will return and I'll have my vengeance."
A solid black she-cat with green eyes narrowed her eyes at the ShadowClan patrol. "Remember us," she meowed coolly. "I am Jade."
A white she-cat with orange splotches and amber eyes stepped up, one ear torn. "I am Tawny," she hissed. "Remember my name during your downfall."
"And I'm Archer," meowed a smoky black tom. "I came to fulfill Sol's wishes, and the fulfillment of my wish, too." Tigerheart stared at him. What does he mean by that? Beneath those hostile gazes of the five rogues, Tigerheart could also sense a hint of loss whirling in them. These cats probably don't know what they're up to; they may think that if they did anything for Sol, who was probably still a stranger to them, he'd accomplish their wishes. Do these cats know who they'll be facing? All four Clans!
Sol flitted his gaze across the ShadowClan border patrol, the hissing rain slicing the earth. "These rogues have a purpose," he meowed. And, with a flick of his bushed-tip tail, he and his followers padded away deep in the unfamiliar territory of the ShadowClan grounds, where pine trees were their thickest.
Tigerheart swung his gaze at Pinenose. "We need to report to Rowanstar now."
Pouncetail ran past Tigerheart, not breaking pace. "You were right, Tigerheart," he meowed coolly. "Rogues have been invading our territory."
By then, the cats had returned to camp. The Clan cats were sheltering in bramble thickets in the clearing from the fierce downpour. The border patrol returned, their pelts sodden to the bone.
After they had addressed to Rowanstar on their encounter with Sol and his followers, the ShadowClan leader drew his lips back in a menacing snarl. "I've heard bad news about that cat!" he sneered. "He's too clingy to the past and doesn't have his nose pried in the present."
When Crowfrost heard him, he slid his claws in and out. "We already have trouble with prey," he meowed. "The last thing we need is trouble from a bunch of rogues."
Tigerheart twitched his nose in arrogance. Pinenose prodded him with a forepaw.
Rowanstar dipped his head. "Thank you, Tigerheart," he said, "for warning us. If it wasn't for you, we would've possibly been attacked without warning. I must address to my Clan and tell them to double the patrols and to sharpen up their senses. If ShadowClan will be at war with these cats, then so be it. I will not let one strand of rogue hair rest easily on my borders."
thank you for reading and be sure to R&R when u have the chance! 3
OKAY. NEWCOMERS. To catch up with the new [fan-made] rogues, I'll list them and their descriptions here:
Jade- solid black she-cat with green eyes, a kittypet
Cobra- sturdy ginger tom with a torn ear; a loner, former kittypet
Rosie- light brown-and-white tabby she-cat, a loner
Tawny- white she-cat with orange splotches and yellow eyes, a rogue
Archer-smoky black tom; loner, former kittypet
keep in mind that these cats were loosely gathered by Sol just so that they could fulfill his plans; he cares little about their well-beings.