SHIMMERWIND'S RISE
The most ambitious rewrite of Starkit's Prophecy you'll ever see
CHAPTER TWO
DIRTY TRESSPASSERS
A/N: Crystalshine of LightClan here! I'm so excited for this and sooo not ready, but okay. Hope you enjoy my chapter!
Review replies *passes mic to PhoenixEcho2007*!
Mintflight0245: Thank you! Lol, yeah they have. Hear ye, hear ye, they have been yeeted into ShadowClan
Succulentsofa: Thank you! Me too lol
Dragonbreathjr: Thank you! Yep, she is! And I wonder too….
Crystalshine of LightClan: Oh, I'm sure you'll do even better than me! Thank you! YEP lol
Thanks to all reviewers on the prologue as well!
Shimmerpaw pushed though the bramble-lined opening to camp on Bramblestar, Molewhisker, Cherryfall, Songpaw and Cloudpaw's tails. She emerged into the forest, emerald leaves and tall trees surrounding her as she twisted around and around to try and take it all in. The mentors purred and looked on patiently while their apprentices did the same.
It's so pretty! The grey she-cat thought, her amber gaze falling on wild briar roses.
"Let's move on," Bramblestar meowed with a beckon of his tail. "There'll be more to see further on."
"There's more?" Songpaw exclaimed with wonder. "But there's so much of it already!"
Cherryfall nodded. "Yes," she confirmed. "But we'll never have time to see it all if we dawdle."
Molewhisker fell back to let Bramblestar lead the way, Shimmerpaw following, still trying to see, scent, touch everything. Every few heartbeats she wanted to rush away and poke her nose into a bush, a flower, a rabbit hole, a strangely shaped log...
Bramblestar's voice startled her to attention. "This is the old Thunderpath," he announced. The apprentices turned towards where he was pointing. It was an oddly smooth and regular strip of dark rock, overgrown by weeds and grass stalks.
"Monsters carrying Twolegs used to pass that way to take stones out of the hollow," Molewhisker began to explain. "Presumably to build the abandoned Twoleg nest that we'll pass by later on."
Cloudpaw and Songpaw shook their heads up and down, Shimmerpaw imitating them and trying to process all that information. Monsters... Thunderpath... Stones to build - butterfly! It was flitting at the edge of her vision, and she clamped her paws down onto the ground to avoid chasing it like a kit. She was an apprentice, she wasn't in the nursery anymore!
"Let's move on now," Cherryfall suggested. They all followed her across the Thunderpath, and then further through the forest until a terrible reek hit Shimmerpaw's nose.
"What in StarClan is that?" Songpaw spat, echoing her thoughts.
Bramblestar purred in amusement. "That's the scent of ShadowClan, it means we're getting close to the border."
"You get used to it eventually!" Cherryfall added. "But for now we need to mark the boundary."
"Will we meet ShadowClan cats? What do we do if we see them? What if they start a fight?" Shimmerpaw bounced up and down in excitement.
"We might meet ShadowClan cats. If we see them, we stay on our side of the border and so do they. They won't start anything, apart from maybe a conversation." Bramblestar gave a small sigh as if this was the hundredth time he repeated those same words.
Cloudpaw looked slightly crestfallen.
"Let's show you how to mark a border," Molewhisker said. He demonstrated, then invited his apprentice, Cloudpaw, to try it himself. In turn, all the apprentices did it, working up the border and attempting to breathe by their noses so the stench wouldn't reach the scent glands on the roof of their mouth.
"Bramblestar." A formal voice meowed. A large ginger tom was standing on the other side of the border, along with two warriors and two cats who looked like they were apprentices.
"Rowanclaw." Bramblestar stared the cat down until he dipped his head.
"Who is he?" Shimmerpaw asked Molewhisker in a whisper.
"The ShadowClan deputy. Next to him are Crowfrost and Tigerheart and their apprentices Shardpaw and Lakepaw." Cloudpaw's mentor discreetly pointed at them with his tail.
The amber-eyed apprentice stared at the ginger tom, Rowanclaw, in awe. He was a deputy! Like Squirrelflight, who would take up her duties again the next day. But he was much bigger than her. And he was a ShadowClan cat!
Crowfrost was black-and-white while Tigerheart was a dark brown tabby. Shardpaw was a dark silver-and-white tom - rather handsome, she noted - and Lakepaw was blue-grey.
She realised the apprentices were staring at them with thinly veiled hostility while ThunderClan and ShadowClan warriors made polite converstation. What's their problem?
Cloudpaw hissed at them, and Shardpaw growled, Lakepaw dropping into an aggressive crouch.
"What are you doing here?" Lakepaw shot at them.
"Marking the border," Shimmerpaw retorted. "At least we're not dirty trespassers." Maybe she was just a new apprentice but that didn't mean she couldn't argue with them.
"I don't believe that," Shardpaw said. "All ThunderClan cats are dirty trespassers."
Cloudpaw gave a hiss of fury and swiped inexperiencedly at the older apprentice, missing his blue-grey face by a whisker. Lakepaw retaliated by jumping across the border to snarl in his face.
"Aww," Songpaw meowed sweetly. "Who's the trespasser now?"
"What are you doing?" Bramblestar yowled at them. "Can't you keep your apprentices in check Rowanclaw?"
Crowfrost dragged Lakepaw away from Cloudpaw, the deputy dipping his head to Bramblestar in apology. "It won't happen again." He threw a venomous glance at the ShadowClan apprentices, and Shimmerpaw grinned with glee. Those two are getting scolded tonight!
"Come on," Cherryfall meowed curtly. "We're going."
With a triumphant glance at the ShadowClan apprentices, Shimmerpaw turned to follow the warrior away from the border.
Further along, Shimmerpaw emerged from the treeline and was greeted by a blinding light.
"The lake," Cherryfall sighed in wonder. "It's still as beautiful as the first time I saw it."
As Shimmerpaw's eyes began to get used to the brightness, she started to discern the outline of a huge expanse of water, so huge you could probably fit two of ThunderClan's territory and still have some to spare. She could barely see the other side, it was just a misty dark line.
The lake was reflecting the light of the day, shimmering.
Shimmer! Like me!
Shimmerpaw rushed forwards and tried to dab a paw into the water at the edge of the lake, letting out a startled cry when she slipped on a pebble and fell on her flank in the shallows. Songpaw was trying not to giggle and Cloudpaw was outright laughing.
Some friends they are! She picked her half-soaked self up.
"You should have been more careful," Bramblestar scolded.
"Anyway," Molewhisker changed the subject, " Over there, on the other side, is RiverClan. To the other side side " -he pointed- " we have WindClan. And there is - well, you know what's over there." He finished with a hard glance at Cloudpaw, who had been the most eager to stir up trouble.
"Moving on," Bramblestar ordered.
They traced the curve of the lake until they came to a clearing with a single tree right in the middle.
"The Ancient Oak," Cherryfall explained. "We don't climb on it; it's too old to be very stable, most of its branches are too brittle to hold a grown cat's full weight." Shimmerpaw tried to nod and listen carefully, but in reality she was already distracted. A small streak of brown flashed a little way past her, probably a mouse or some kind of prey.
"When are we hunting?" She asked out of nowhere. Bramblestar glared at her. She must have interrupted him! "Sorry..." She looked down at her paws.
"We all make mistakes," the leader said. "But listen. It's important."
Shimmerpaw burst into camp after Songpaw, Cloudpaw on her tail.
"How... are you... so fast?" Cloudpaw gasped for air.
"We're lighter than you," Shimmerpaw suggested.
"You're heavy," Songpaw added bluntly.
"Am not!" The three had been racing to camp, and Songpaw had won. The mentors pushed past the bramble opening.
Two she-cats, one ginger and one grey tabby, approached them.
"We'll leave them in good paws," Cherryfall said. "Show them around, Redpaw, Splashpaw." All the warriors dispersed into camp.
The ginger she-cat, Redpaw, meowed. "Do you want to grab something to eat before we show you your nests?"
Shimmerpaw and her friends nodded vigourously, and both older apprentices purred at their eagerness.
"C'mon then," Splashpaw and Redpaw started to walk towards the pile together, and the younger apprentices followed.
Shimmerpaw took a shrew - her favourite! - Cloudpaw had a vole, and Songpaw ate a mouse, while Redpaw and Splashpaw shared a fat rabbit. She assumed Purdy was already fed.
Licking her chops, Splashpaw jumped up. "Ready?"
"Yes!" The new apprentices exclaimed.
Redpaw signalled to them to go with her to the den. "Nest for you... Nest for you... Nest for you."
Shimmerpaw collapsed into her nest next to Songpaw with Cloudpaw on her other side, while Splashpaw and Redpaw slept close together.
I can't believe how much has happened! It's been a long day.
That's it! Hope you enjoyed.
Disclaimer: None of us own Warriors (if we did it would have actual gay characters!)
Shimmerpaw's endless energy is tiring me out so badly lol
B
Y
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~Crystalshine of LightClan
"STUP GLAMING!11! IF YOU'R AN FLAM,E YOUR A STNITS AND WIL BUN IN HEIKL!"
-darkrose, Our Lord and Savior