Chapter One
Coming Storms
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"Good job, Stripedpaw! now attack me!" Lilactail encouraged the young apprentice. The young tabby pounced, but Lilactail dodged, making him land in the dust. He got up, rubbing the dirt out of his nose with his tan paw and spitting dust from his mouth. Stripedpaw sighed, "Ooops..." Lilactail licked the remaining sand off of Stripedpaw's nose and let out a meowrr of laughter. "Be a bit faster, don't let me see what your intentions are." She instructed.
The ginger tabby shifted his weight and began to circle Lilactail. Once more he pounced, this time landing on Lilactail's back. She batted her apprentice with her paws, making sure her claws were sheathed, of course. Otherwise serious damage could come to Stripedpaw. The two wrestled on the ground, not noticing when Halfwhisker, the FireClan deputy, came up behind them.
She chuckled, "Who is attacking who?"
They stopped and Stripedpaw looked up, delight clear on his face. The light of battle, though it was just for pretend, glented in his amber colored eyes. Lilactail got up and shook dust from her lilac-gray pelt. "Stripedpaw's warrior ceremony is not too far off, he will be a wonderful warrior!" she exclaimed to Halfwhisker.
The deputy was about to reply, when from the distance came a terrible yowl of pain. Her ears pricked and her eyes widened, Lilactail sniffed the air. "MountainClan," she growled. The three raced towards the scent and the battle sounds. It was a while before they finally reached a clearing, evidence of heavy battle was scattered. Shreded fur and blood were everyplace, but what Stripedpaw noticed was some unusual drag markings and two sets of paw prints going backwards, followed by a heavy trail of blood.
"Come, follow me," meowed Halfwhisker. They didn't go far until they heard the sound of rushing water, it came from the river and waterfall that flowed off MountainClan territory. This could only mean one thing: WaterClan territory was not too far away. The waterfall flowed off the mountain, and then south to the WaterClan territory. They were just on the border as far as Halfwhisker could tell. They walked a little more and soon came upon the waterfall, the top part of it anyway.
They looked over the edge from an overhanging ledge, fog and haze came up from the bottom of the waterfall. They scampered back off, the drag marks led just into WaterClan territory, then they stopped by the river. From there, pawprints doubled back towards MountainClan territory. Lilactail tensed, Halfwhisker began leading them towards the riverside.
Stripedpaw's eyes widened as he saw a heap of black fur hooked onto a rock where the water began to get gentle, but was still not too far away from the bottom of the waterfall. Lilactail let out a choke of horror as Halfwhisker dived into the river and paddled back with the mound clenched in her teeth.
She laid it on the shore, and to everyone's horror, it was the body of their leader, Venomstar. Halfwhisker tensed, and the three began dragging it towards their territory. They smelled no WaterClan patrol, so they were safe for then. After a good deal of walking, they managed to drag the body back to camp. They laid it down, Venomstar's underside had been slit open from throat to tail. Halfwhisker pawed a bit more, reviling something terrible. The only thing left of the reckless young leader was the fur, it was as if the MountainClan cats had skinned him, then threw his fur off the waterfall.
"The filthy murderers!" hissed Stripedpaw, his muscles bunched as if he was going to spring.
The medicine cat, Silvereyes, hurried out of his den when he heard the commotion. He let out a choke of horror and scampered up to the pelt of Venomstar. "What happened?" he hissed to Halfwhisker.
"It was MountainClanners, they did this to Venomstar." She replied. Silvereyes shook his head, "We warned him, we told him to be careful. That cat was doomed from his wild beginning, Halfwhisker, it looks like you are our the new leader. Have Wildclaw watch the camp while we travel to the Greenstone."
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"Hey, that isn't fair!" Frog meowed as Ginger stole the squirrel tail he had been chewing on. He crouched, muscles bunching up, and pounced on the golden-brown she-cat. They tangled with each other for a moment, before Frog ended up victiorious. He struted along with the tail dangling out of his mouth. Hawk was just entering the hedgeden and Frog bumped into her, dropping the tail.
Ginger immediatly snatched it up and gave a smirk to Frog, who growled. Hawk smiled, "What are you two doing?" she asked, picking herself up. She shook leaves and dirt from her calico pelt. Frog gave a mock snarl, "Ginger is attempting to steal from me." Hawk's eyes lit and she turned to Ginger with a fake scowl on her face. "Oh is she? Hmm, attempting to steal from a fellow colony cat, eh?"
Ginger decided to play along, "Please have mercy on me, O Great One!" she said with a hint of a snicker. Hawk turned to Frog, "Do you wish to spare this treacherous feline?" she asked, a smile bright on her face. Frog seemed to consider this then shook his head, "No, traitors cannot be trusted." Ginger gave a fake look of shock, and Hawk turned back to her, "Its instant death for you, Ginger!" She pounced on the brown she-cat, they played around for a bit.
Hawk ended up on top and they all began laughing. "Oh, keep your silly squirrel tail!" chuckled Ginger with not a hint of scolding in her tone. She loved her coloney-mates as if they were her very own family. She had quite forgotten the prophecy that the StarClan cat had given to her the night before.
It was lovely in the valley that day, the loners had no worries or cares. They had know idea what chaos was going on in the clans that lived in the mountainlands above them. Peace, quiet, no worries. But Ginger had no clue what would happen to her the following day...
