Chapter 7: The New Shadowclan Apprentices

Sparrowpaw winced as Puddleshine put on another marigold poultice on his scratches. 'Damm, Beaverclaw sure knows how to inflict a wound' Sparrowpaw thought. 'Maybe Starclan is punishing me for meeting Sunpaw in secret. But we were just meeting as friends!' Sparrowpaw sighed. Sunpaw entered the den looking at him with pity. "Well, I think you should join Shadowclan after what happened. Riverclan isn't safe with Beaverpaw in it." Sparrowpaw corrected her, "Beaverclaw, she and Stripewing were made warriors for their valiant fight against the rogues. Beverclaw tried killing the black tom, and the red tom when they attacked our home. She should have followed the warrior code, those cat's knew they couldn't beat her, yet she kept hurting them." Sunpaw mewed, "I'm sure she was just blinded by rage, but why would she hurt you?" Sparrowpaw looked into her green eyes and sighed, "I stopped her from hurting the black tom any further, and she ran into the rouges after the battle, I stopped her from killing any of Hawkeye's member's. She thought that they killed Robinfeather, her mother, but she was just unconscious. I think she dosen't relize how murder hurt's cat's. But she should, after Horsewing's murder,"

Sunpaw and Puddleshine were stunned. They both looked at each other with gaping jaws, their eyes locked into gazes of shock, and confusion. Sparrowpaw ducked his head. 'Wow, I thought Shadowclan wouldn't be surprised with cat's breaking the code,' Sparrowpaw thought. Puddleshine mewed, "Sparrowpaw would you like to join Shadowclan?" Sparrowpaw thought, 'Way to change the subject Puddleshine,' "Sure, Shadowclan is a safer place to be than Riverclan, and besides if I stay in Riverclan Beaverclaw might kill me, or try to get me to forgive her. I already forgive her, but I don't trust her emotions," replied Sparrowpaw to the medicine cat. "Well then, we'll have your apprentice ceremony at sunhigh which is in a few moments. Tigerstar thought you would stay and already asked a cat to be your mentor and planned out the ceremony ," mewed Puddleshine. "My wounds are good enough to begin training?" Sparrowpaw asked, surprised.

"Yes, Beaverclaw only managed to scratch thinly, you are incredibly lucky that Sunpaw lept to defend you before Beaverclaw made wounds too deep. And the blood loss from all those thin scratches just made you unconscious. But I think you are fit to begin training," meowed Puddleshine. He was shocked, he thought that Beaverclaw hurt him really badly and that was why he was unconscious until past moon high,but it was just losing blood from thin scratches.

He heard a loud yowl, "All cat's gather round the highbranch for a clan meeting!" Sparrowpaw, Sunpaw and Puddleshine walked out of the medicine cat den and into the clearing. Sparrowpaw looked around the clearing. The pine forest surrounded the thorn tunnel. It made the clearing feel more homey and warm, then Riverclan's clearing which is surrounded by the river and the bramble tunnel is surrounded by berry bushes and not dense trees like the river kind of is. The soft blowing wind reminded him of the river that separated Riverclans camp from the rest of the forest. There is a big oak tree in the far middle of the camp. The tree has strong and thick branches, making it easy for a cat to stay on the branch longer. He saw Tigerstar on the left branch sitting on it peacefully. When Sparrowpaw reached the middle of the clearing with Sunpaw and Puddleshine, Tigerstar yowled, "All of you have heard what happened to Sparrowpaw of Riverclan. If he has accepted to stay and train as a Shadowclan warrior we will welcome him as a member of Shadowclan!" All around Sparrowpaw, cat's erupted cheer's of excitement. "Sparrowpaw do you want to be an apprentice warrior for Shadowclan or return to Riverclan?" Sparrowpaw steadied himself and replied to Tigerstar, "I want to stay and become a Shadowclan warrior," Tigerstar nodded, pleased that Sparrowpaw chose to stay. "Then from this day forward until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Sparrowpaw. Sliverwing you were with Sunpaw and her mentor Moonscar during the scene, so I expect you to pass on your skills and to be understanding with him," Every cat called out his apprentice name. He padded towards the light gray she-cat, and touched his nose with hers.

Sparrowpaw looked at Tigerstar and saw him yowl, "I have another announcement to make. Sunpaw come forward!" Sunpaws green eyes widened and she hesitantly moved forward. Sunpaw looked up at Tigerstar as he yowled, "Sunpaw, yesterday you proved that a warrior can make some cat's hear their words and that it is a sign of strength. Thanks to your words and willingness to fight for Sparrowpaw when his clan mate injured him, you saved him from death. Moonscar, has your apprentice proved worthy of being a warrior?" The light gray tom with green eyes stood up and mewed, "Yes she has. She demonstrated that warriors do not need to fight to prove a point, or to be heard," Tigerstar nodded, "Then by the powers of Starclan I give you your warrior name, Sunfire! Shadowclan welcomes you as a full member, and we welcome your willpower and outspokenness and desire to do what is right." yowled Tigerstar. Sparrowpaw was the first one to yowl, "Sunfire!"

The group of cats started shouting her warrior name and they continued, until Tigerstar raised his tail for silence. "We still have to announce to the clans that Sparrowpaw is now Shadowclan. I bet they will not take it lightly. Also Hawkeye and her rogues want to become apprentices with the cat that stood up for them, even when they invaded his old home. I have decided that we will take them in, we are short of warriors because of the sickness that spread six moons ago. They will not replace the dead, but they will give us extra strength come leaf-bare. Hawkeye accepted my offer. She will be given a new life and she will not be known as Hawkeye anymore!"

Sparrowpaw yowled, "I think that's a great idea, Windclan and Horsewing couldn't give her happiness so maybe Shadowclan will. Also she's been punished enough for her crimes," Gasps of shock came from the assembled cats. Sunfire just looked at him confused. "What, I agree killing a cat isn't a good thing, but she's probably been feeling really terrible about killing her love. Also she deserves a second chance. Just because she killed once, doesn't mean she's going to do it again. Same with Shadsowclan, just because they followed Brokenstar and Tigerstar doesn't mean they're evil. Brokenstar thought he was making Shadowclan strong. Tigerstar thought that he was mixing the clans together for the sake of the clans. Yes they went about it the wrong way, but they still were cat's. We're not perfect. I bet Firestar had some setbacks in the way he was doing things. Hell, every cat thought that he was trying to take Windclan for himself, when all he wanted to do was help them. They wouldn't accept his help, so he helped them whether they wanted him to or not," yowled Sparrowpaw.

Tigerstar yowled in reply, "You are right. We had to follow the code and that meant following Brokenstar's and Tigerstar's order's. But we are not here to discuss that. We are here to welcome new members into Shadowclan. Hawkeye come forward," A dark gray tabby she-cat with cold frosty blue eyes walked through the crowd of warriors and stood to meet Tigerstar's gaze. " You and your group have already decided to become an apprentice warrior, and from this day forward, until you receive your full warrior name you shall be called, Brightpaw! Your mentor is Dogpelt. I expect you to show Brightpaw how to control her emotions, and the skills that Rowanclaw taught you," Sparrowpaw saw a scared she-cat walk up to meet the newly named Brightpaw.

The scared she-cat's coat was a dark ginger. Her ears were torn. Across the she-cat's right eye was a thick claw mark. Her left flank had three claw scratches, her left front paw has a scar across the top. Sparrowpaw looked away, he couldn't bear to see how many scars the she-cat has. He noticed before looking away, that the she-cat's eyes were brown and full of pride. "Gold come forward," mewed Tigerstar.

A golden furred she-cat came up to the trunk of the tree. " From this time forward until you receive your warrior name you shall be called Goldpaw," "Oh thank you for keeping a part of my original name!" purred Goldpaw. Her blue eyes shone. Tigerstar continued, "Your mentor will be Shadefrost, I expect her to teach you wonderful hunting and fighting skills to help you in the pine forest," A dark gray and black she-cat with cold dark amber eyes, and has a patch of white surrounding her right eye and a white tail tip walked to meet the golden apprentice. The dark gray she-cat touched her nose with Goldpaw's.

"Snap come forward," mewed Tigerstar. A ginger and white she-cat timidly walked up to the oak tree. The she-cats blue gaze wandered fearfully as Tigerstar meowed, "From this time forward you shall be known as Coralpaw, your mentor will be Tawnypelt, she will teach you that there is nothing wrong with having friends across the border and she will teach you how to be bold," Coralpaw padded towards a lean mottled,tortoiseshell and-white she-cat with clear green eyes. The she-cat walked over to her and they touched noses with each other as Tigerstar called, "Bracken come forward,"

A bracken coloured she-cat with eyes like moss padded towards him. "From this time forward until you receive your warrior name you shall be known as Brackenpaw, your mentor will be Moonscar. You did a fine job with Sunfire, and I expect you will pass everything you've taught to her to Brackenpaw," Moonscar nodded and met Brackenpaw. They didn't touch their noses with each other. "Snow come forward!" yowled Tigerstar. A white tom with pine needle green eyes stepped forwards and walked towards the oak tree. "From this time forward until you receive your warrior name you will be known as Snowpaw, your mentor will be Snowbird, she will teach you how to hunt with a white pelt," Snowbird, a white she-cat with light green eyes came forward to meet Snowpaw. She whispered something to him that Sparrowpaw couldn't catch. "Lake come forward!," yowled Tigerstar, his claws digging into the thick branch.

A brown tom with amber eyes came forward, he had a scar on the back of his left ear. A claw mark is on the top of his head and his left foreleg has a scar wrapping around the back and near the front. "Lake, from this moment forward you will be named Lakepaw until you receive your warrior name. Sunfire, you will be his mentor. You are young yet you have great wisdom and understanding. Pass these skills on to Lakepaw. The clan meeting is adjourned!" Tigerstar climbed down the oak tree and sat on the soft grass.

Sparrowpaw and the rest of the clan yowled their names loudly into the sky. "Brightpaw!Lakepaw!Snowpaw!Brackenpaw!Goldpaw! Coralpaw!'' The clan kept cheering their names. The cheering died down and everyone went to the fresh kill pile to pick out something to eat. Sliverwing mewed, "Sparrowpaw want to see the territory?" Sparrowpaw shook his head, "Can we take care of the elders? I'm sure because of the commotion last night and this morning they might have been forgotten," Sliverwing sighed, "Sure kiddo. And anyway I'm glad you're alright. When I get the chance in battle I'm going to hurt Beaverclaw with the most stinging injuries to get her back for what she did to you!" Sparrowpaw nodded. 'Hopefully she doesn't die from what Sliverwing plans on doing to her' thought Sparrowpaw as they padded out of camp.

The grass was marshy and wet under paw, it made Sparrowpaw remember the grass near the river in Riverclan territory. "Here we are, the marshes near the Skyclan border are the best for moss," mewed Sliverwing as she stopped near a bunch of moss. "Wow, that's more than Riverclan territory grows. Our moss pile is found at the base of a great oak north from camp,'' mewed Sparrowpaw in astonishment. Sliverwing gave him a curious look, before grabbing some moss with her paws and rolling it up. Sparrowpaw followed her lead. "So, how was your time in Riverclan?" asked Sliverwing. Sparrowpaw replied, "Fine, it wasn't that great or bad. Although it was great to sneak out to see Sunfire and talk to her about the code, and the way the clans behave. I couldn't do that with Beaverclaw since she was always being a stick in the mud about certain things. So I'm glad that I don't have to sneak out of camp to meet her and just talk about life. Though we only met every seventh sunrise to make sure that we got enough rest to do our duties for our clans," Sliverwing let out mews of laughter.

Sparrowpaw flattened his ears in embarrassment and hissed, "It's not funny! We realized that we had lots in common during the walk to escort her out of Riverclan territory with the bark that Mothwing gave her. And when we met at the gathering later that day, we realized that we had lot's to talk about and I found it interesting to learn all of Shadowclan's myths and legends and stories and Sunfire felt the same way about Riverclans,'' Sliverwing mewed, "If Moonscar found out, he would have been very angry with Sunfire, but she's not an apprentice any more. So, he can't do anything to her if he finds out right now," Sparrowpaw nodded in agreement. 'I always found Moonscar to be on the scary side' thought Sparrowpaw as he collected his moss in the way that Spikefur had shown him.

Sparrowpaw padded side by side with Sliverwing. He thought that the she-cat was familiar somehow, but didn't know why. A screech was heard and Sparrowpaw bolted towards the sound. He was shocked to see Coralpaw, Tawnypelt, Brightpaw, and Dogpelt battling against a fox. He saw that Coralpaw was shuddering in terror and pushed herself against a pine tree. Sparrowpaw saw the fox head towards the trembling ginger and white she-cat. He rushed in between the fox and Coralpaw. He hissed and prepared himself for the coming blow. He ducked and jumped onto the fox's back and began to bite the fox's flesh. He dug his claws in when the fox began to try and shake him off. Dogpelt, Tawnypelt, and Brightpaw attacked the fox's hind quarters and back legs, trying to make the fox lose balance. Meanwhile Sliverwing was batting at the fox's underbelly. Sparrowpaw kept biting and kept his claws into the fox's orange pelt as it tried to shake him off and defend itself against Sliverwing,Dogpelt,Tawnypelt, and Brightpaw.

The fox yowled in pain and bolted away. Sparrowpaw sheathed his claws and jumped off the fox's back. Coralpaw ran up to him and nuzzled his cheek. She purred, "Thanks for saving me. I still need to get better at not getting afraid around enemies. I tend to only attack if some cat is going after a friend and they are beating the dung out of them," Sparrowpaw replied, "It's no problem. I would defend any clanmate of mine," Coralpaw blinked gratefully at him. Tawnypelt whispered into Coralpaw's ear, "I think we should work at getting you to attack an enemy and not just tremble in fear," Coralpaw nodded. "I think we should all work together. Since every one of us knows how to hunt and fight we could all do hunting sessions and fighting sessions with each other and after the mock battle or hunt is over you tell us what we did wrong and what we can improve. And you can show us new techniques if you think it will help in battle," mewed Sparrowpaw. Tawnypelt mewed, "Right all the new apprentices have training in fighting and hunting, so I think that works. We'll just need to work out a schedule for which apprentices and mentors should go to the training area all day while the others do bedding and hunting, and I think two apprentices will work for every task. Since we have seven apprentices, two could do training, two could hunt for the elders and queens and three could do the bedding,"

Dogpelt mewed, "I think that's a good idea Sparrowpaw and Tawnypelt. Since Sparrowpaw is already going to do the bedding Coralpaw can help him and then tomorrow in the grassy hollow we can hold a training session between Coralpaw and Brightpaw, while Sparrowpaw hunts with Snowpaw, and Lakepaw. Brackenpaw and Goldpaw could do the elders and queens bedding, but we'll have to ask their mentors, Tigerstar, and Cloverfoot for permission and to make a schedule that rotates and makes sure that each apprentice can practice with different partners when it's their turn for session day. Of course some might do hunting twice or cleaning twice or sessions twice as long as every apprentice gets to learn with a different partner and never ends up with the same apprentice every time they do a session," The group nodded their heads in agreement.

Sparrowpaw collected his trampled moss and headed towards camp with Sliverwing beside him. Dogpelt, Tawnypelt, Brightpaw and Coralpaw were ahead of them by a few tail lengths. When they reached camp they saw that Goldpaw, Brackenpaw and Snowpaw and their mentor's weren't back yet. The sun moved a few fox lengths down in the sky. Sparrowpaw let Sliverwing lead the way to the elders' den. A hollow pine tree trunk was the elder's den. He smelled the musty pine scent as he walked into the den. There were no black shells weaved into the walls like in the Riverclan elder's den. He felt a pang of homesickness at the sight. Sparrowpaw made room for Coralpaw and started to make the mossy nest's for the three elders in the den. "Coralpaw could you take out the old bedding and bury it near a tree? If you take it to the back of camp it makes a smell and can be uncomfortable for the clan. I know because when I was in Riverclan Ravenpaw had Duskpaw our hostage take the old bedding and put it into the bramble barrier and after a few sunrises it made a bad smell, and that is why you bury it underneath a strong smelling tree and let it rot," Sparrowpaw mewed to Coralpaw.

She nodded in agreement and asked the three elders to get out of their old nests. A big fluffy gray she-cat, a tortoiseshell she-cat, which has yellow, gray and orange patches of fur and a yellow tabby tom with brown stripes rose out of their nest and let Coralpaw collect the old bedding. Sparrowpaw weaved the moss to make perfect nest's for the three elders. "Wow, you're pretty good at making those nest's apprentice," meowed the yellow tabby. Sparrowpaw mewed back, "I was an apprentice of Riverclan before I came to join Shadowclan," The yellow tabby mewed, "I knew that, but even Sunpaw couldn't make such good nest's when she was an apprentice," Sparrowpaw mewed, "Well I like taking care of the elder's so I always made sure that they had fresh bedding and food for their bellies. Especially caring for Greyfur, he was such a kind elder and always played with me and my den mates when we were kit's. So I vowed to make every elder comfortable and well fed, because of the work they do for the kit's and queens of the clans." The tortoiseshell she-cat's brown eyes looked thoughtfully at him. "Well then, I suppose you being here means that we elder's will get well taken care of," meowed the gray fluffy she-cat.

"What are your name's?" asked Sparrowpaw. The gray fluffy she-cat answered him, "I'm Rainsky, the yellow tabby over there is Duststripe since his stripes look like dust, and the tortoiseshell is Patchfur since her fur is all patchy looking," Patchfur snorted, "And you're Rainsky because your pelt looks like the sky after it's rained," Duststripe let out mews of laughter at hearing what Patchfur mewed. Coralpaw came into the den and mewed, "Wow, you're fast at making nest's Sparrowpaw," Sparrowpaw jumped, surprised to hear her behind him. Rainsky, Patchfur and Duststripe laughed and Sparrowpaw flattened his ears in embarrassment . Coralpaw looked confused, "What did I do?" she muttered underneath her breath loud enough for Sparrowpaw to hear her. 'You only made me jump in surprise and made the elder's laugh,' Sparrowpaw thought to himself.

Sparrowpaw brushed past Coralpaw as he walked out of the elder's den. He walked up to the fresh kill pile and picked out a mouse. Sliverwing padded up to him. "The apprentices den is the bramble den on the left side of camp, close to the warriors den which is made out of leaves and brambles and sticks," Sparrowpaw mewed, "Thanks, Sliverwing," He padded towards the bramble den and dropped his mouse and began to tear into the mouses flesh. Coralpaw has a thrush in between her jaws. She gently put it down beside the mouse Sparrowpaw was eating.

She meowed, "Thanks for saving me, I know I meowed that after the fight, but I still feel like I owe you my life. I'm really grateful. Also I heard from Goldpaw that you saved Smoke from dying at the paws of Beaverclaw. Thank you for doing so," Coralpaw looked away embarrassed from what she meowed to him. Sparrowpaw mewed, "Well, no cat has ever thanked me before for doing things for them, except for you just now," Coralpaw looked at him with bewildered eyes. Sparrowpaw bit into the mouse, it's flesh filling his belly.

Coralpaw began to bite into her thrush. Brightpaw,Snowpaw,Brackenpaw, Lakepaw and Goldpaw came up to the pair. Goldpaw has a rabbit, Snowpaw has a lizard, Brackenpaw has a pigeon, Lakepaw has a shrew and Brightpaw has a magpie in her jaws. Brightpaw dropped the magie and mewed, "Guess what?" Snowpaw gave her a look, but said nothing. "What?'' mewed Coralpaw, annoyed that her dinner had been interrupted. "Tigerstar, Cloverfoot and their mentors agreed with the plan, Snowpaw, Brackenpaw, and Goldpaw have already been given their instructions for tomorrow. I will be doing a session with Coralpaw, while Sparrowpaw hunts with Snowpaw, and Lakepaw, while Brackenpaw and Goldpaw will do the queen's bedding and the elders' bedding. Oh I can't wait for tomorrow!" Sparrowpaw and the others nodded in agreement.

After each of them ate, they shared tongues with each other. Coralpaw washed Sparrowpaw's fur and Sparrowpaw washed her fur. Brackenpaw did that with Snowpaw, and Brightpaw did it with Goldpaw and Lakepaw. They all retired into the apprentices den together, chatting like starlings about the things they did today. Sparrowpaw hadn't felt this much warmth and comfort for a long time. The only ones in the apprentice den were Ravenpaw, Nigthpaw,Stormpaw, and the two newly made warriors. He felt that those three were more like trainee's than friends and Beaverclaw either hated him or tolerated him most of the time and Stripewing mooned over him and other toms, so he felt that they were more like acquaintances that had grown up together. So maybe he had a chance to actually make friends and become mates with one of them. Soon enough the chatting had died down and every cat in the den curled up to sleep. Sparrowpaw wreathed in the pine and cat scents and drifted off into sleep.

Sparrowpaw woke up early, the sun was illuminating the den when he stretched and walked out. Frost glittered in the morning sunlight, as he sat outside the den to wash himself. Sunfire approached him, and mewed, "So, how do you like my clan?" Sparrowpaw stopped washing his pelt and replied, "It's different then Riverclan, but it's a good kind of different," Sunfire's green eyes bored into him, he sensed that she was longing for something, but couldn't tell what it was. Sunfire purred, "Well hopefully you'll be a warrior soon, you were so close to finishing your training in Riverclan," Sparrowpaw mewed, "I don't mind, besides I have to learn Shadowclan's hunting and fighting techniques which will probably take a while to remember," Sunfire looked away, "I suppose you're right," Sadness edged her mew. "Look, I'm not going anywhere. Besides, how can I leave Shadowclan right now when I am finally making actual friends for a change. And besides it's not like I can leave you my best friend," Sparrowpaw mewed as he gazed directly into Sunfire's green eyes.

Her eyes gave him a look of shock, relief, and comfort. "Then I'll be waiting for you to become a warrior," mewed Sunfire, then she bounded away towards the Shadowclan deputy, seeing if she was on any patrols. Sparrowpaw returned to washing himself. Once he finished he picked out a plump lizard, and began to dig into it's flesh. Coralpaw sat down beside him, and mewed, "You and Sunfire huh?" Sparrowpaw flattened his ears and hissed, "It's not like that, she's my best friend since Beaverclaw revoked that title when she attacked me. And we've been friends ever since we met the day of the gathering, four moons ago, the day before Horsewing was killed. Though I wonder why our friendship was stronger than with Beaverclaw since I've basically known her all my life," Coralpaw purred, "Well, maybe it's because you two have more in common with ways of thinking and life as a whole. I've seen Sunfire, she kinda act's like you do except she always thinks things through instead of rushing into trouble without thinking like you do sometimes. Like with the fox, you didn't take a second to think things through, whereas she would have made a strategic approach within two seconds," Sparrowpaw looked into Coralpaw's eyes confused. "What I mean is that you two are similar whereas Beaverclaw acted and thought way differently than you," Sparrowpaw nodded in agreement.

"Hey, you ready for hunting, Sparrowpaw," Sparrowpaw glanced at his half eaten lizard and mewed, "I'm ready whenever you are, Sliverwing," Sliverwing mewed, "You can finish that lizard, while we wait for Snowpaw and Lakepaw," Sparrowpaw had a bite left when the snow pelted tom, and the brown tom walked out of den. Lakepaw mewed, " Are we hunting right now or do we have time to eat breakfast?" Sliverwing purred, "You should have woken up earlier, they say that the early bird gets the worm. We only have so many hours in the day, so you can eat after we hunt for the elders and queens," Lakepaw sighed, but Snowpaw mewed, "Sounds good to me," Lakepaw glared his amber eyes at Snowpaw. Snowpaw glared back at him, making Lakepaw shrink. Sparrowpaw smirked at the site. Snowpaw rolled his green eyes at Lakepaw who dove behind Sparrowpaw. "Hey! Don't hide behind me!" Sparrowpaw yowled as Snowpaw lunged at him. Sparrowpaw dove out the way leaving Lakepaw to be squashed by Snowpaw. "Ha! I win!" mewed Snowpaw as he still lay on top of Lakepaw. "Get off me," growled Lakepaw from underneath Snowpaw. "

"You shouldn't have hid behind Sparrowpaw. Hiding behind a clanmate in battle is a cowardly move, especially if you make the cat fight you in the first place," mewed Sunfire padding up to them. Snowpaw quickly got off Lakepaw and Lakepaw growled, "I thought Sparrowpaw could fight him, but I guess he didn't want to get into the quarrel," Sparrowpaw snorted, "Of course, I don't want to get mixed up in whatever friendly rivalry you've got going on," Lakepaw's amber eyes glowed with amusement. Snowpaw mewed, "I guess you could say that is what we have," Lakepaw nodded in agreement. Snowbird came up to group, and mewed, "Well, looks like we have a bunch of us hunting today, and some kits who want to play fight," Snowpaw open his jaws to speak to his mentor but Lakepaw beat him, "I made Snowpaw want to fight me," Snowbird chuckled, "Every cat always does something to make other cats fight them," Sparrowpaw ducked his head, while Snowpaw looked at his mentor's light green eyes searching her gaze.

Sunfire locked her gaze with Silverwing and mewed, "Let's get on with the hunt, there'll be time to assess your skills at fighting in the training hollow tomorrow," Her green gaze looking at Snowpaw. Snowbird led the group out into the pine forest, the sun blazing off all the frost on the ground that was there only moments ago. Sparrowpaw noticed something ginger and brown moving in the undergrowth. He dropped down onto the marshy ground and moved forwards. He smelled a squirrel, he tracked the scent and found the squirrel eating a beech nut. He crept up ever so carefully to not alert the squirrel that there is a predator nearby.

When he got close enough to leap onto the squirrel, a white she cat with unusually long ears startled the squirrel, and made it dash straight into his claws. He killed it silently and crept back under the shade of a pine tree. The white she-cat is Rabbitear. 'What's she doing on Shadowclan territory?' Sparrowpaw thought as he made himself blend into the shadows of the pine tree. Rabbitear looked around and squeaked when the other members of the patrol came out of the path of pine trees. Silverwing stood up to the she-cat and growled, "What are you doing on Shadowclan territory?" Lakepaw, Sunfire, Snowpaw and Snowbird surrounded Rabbitear so she couldn't escape from their grasp. Rabbitear looked into Silverwings eyes and mewed, "My clan has been looking for Sparrowpaw, we don't know how he disappeared and one of my clanmates says that they saw him after the battle, he's been missing for two sunrises now. Squirreltail and Softfeather are worried to death about him,"

"Well, you won't find him here as a Riverclan apprentice, but as a Shadowclan apprentice," hissed Snowpaw. Lakepaw growled, "He's our clanmate, and willingly chose to leave you foxhearts," Sunfire raised her hackles to attack, along with Snowbird. Silverwing made herself look bigger and more menacing. Rabbitear yowled in shock, "He can't be, Riverclan is where he belongs! Shadowclan are the foxhearts for taking away an apprentice from their clan!" Rabbitear then dashed away out of the circle of Shadowclan cats. Lakepaw and Snowpaw prepared themselves to run after her, but Snowbird mewed, "Let her run away, and tell Riverclan. Afterall, we will be meeting them at the gathering. We can then decide what to do about Riverclan and their threat's" Silverwing and Sunfire nodded in agreement, but Snowpaw growled, "Beaverclaw tried to kill two members of our group, if it wasn't for Sparrowpaw Smoke and Jack could have been killed, some warriors they are if they have no honor when fighting," Lakepaw nodded in agreement.

"Well then let's get back to the hunt, Lakepaw will go with Sparrowpaw, Snowpaw with Snowbird and me and Silverwing will go and watch Lakepaw's and Sparrowpaw's progress. So Sparrowpaw you can come out of the shadows now," Sparrowpaw with his squirrel emerged from the pine tree he was hiding near and gasps of shock escaped Snowpaw and Lakepaw. "What Sparrowpaw did there was an excellent show of a Shadowclan move. We hide in the shadows of pine trees or rocks and become completely still. Brown and Darker fur color's work more for pine tree shadowing while gray and white cats are better at shadowing underneath rocks. It gives us the element of surprise, and is perfect for ambushes," Sunfire mewed to the stunned apprentices.