Hey, everyone! It's been awhile, huh? Sorry for never posting anything, I've been busy with life. Anyways, I've decided to write a new story because I don't really have any inspiration or ideas for my other two stories. And while one of my stories was adopted from another author, I just can't seem to find any drive to continue that story.
Prologue
A young black tom with icy-blue eyes was stalking through the undergrowth of ShadeClan's territory, tracking a mouse. The small brown creature was ignorant to its impending demise, and as it was forage for nuts, the tom lunged. The mouse squealed in terror before being cut off as the tom bit its neck, killing it. The tom buried his catch in the dirt before he continued on his hunt. After awhile, he paused and scented the air. He scented vole, and immediately began tracking the morsel. The vole was downwind of him, so catching it unawares would be easy. However, as he prepared to leap and kill his prey, he heard a voice. Then, as he turned to look in the direction of the voice, the ground began shaking violently. And with a sudden, crash the ground cracked and he fell into darkness.
Then, he heard the voice again, only this time it sounded angry.
Nightpaw! the voice hollered. The tom shook his head, and tried to drown out the shouting, but it only got louder and more aggressive.
Nightpaw!
Nightpaw!
Then, with a sudden jerk, the tom woke up to see a small white she-cat with icy-blue eyes, staring at him with an aggravated expression. "About time you got up, rogue!" the she-cat hissed. "We're on the dawn patrol." The tom sat up and gave a small smile, "Good morning to you too, Icepaw." The small she-cat responded with a hiss and stormed out of the apprentices' den.
"She still hates you, I see."
Nightpaw turned around to see one of his only friends, and Icepaw's sister, Snowpaw, frowning at the entrance to the den. "I guess so," Nightpaw meowed, his smile not dropping for a second. "But you know how she is. I wasn't born into this Clan, I was a rogue. It's only natural that she hates me, most Clan cats hate rogues anyway." Snowpaw, looked at him, her frown deepening. "You're not a rogue, you're a Clan cat, regardless of your blood. You've been here since before I was even born. So I don't get why she doesn't accept you." Nightpaw was the one frowning this time, though he didn't show it to Snowpaw. If she knew just how much Icepaw's hatred towards him actually bugged him, then she would end up hating her sister, and he didn't want that. With a shake of his pelt he padded out of the den towards the camp entrance, where Icepaw, Frozenpaw, Lionfur, and Blacktail were waiting.
"Good morning, Nightpaw," the ShadeClan deputy, and Nightpaw's mentor, Lionfur, mewed. The black tom dipped his head in greeting. "We'll be going to the HawkClan border to remark it. However, we're still waiting on one cat." Then, a silver tabby she-cat padded up to the patrol. "Sorry I'm late." she meowed. "Are we all ready to go?"
"Yes, Hailstar," Lionfur meowed, dipping his head in respect. Without another word, the golden tabby tom bounded out of the camp entrance and into the forest.
"I can't believe that we're actually patrolling with Hailstar!" whispered Frozenpaw. The white tom was Icepaw's brother, however he was a lot nicer than his identical counterpart. Nightpaw chuckled and meowed, "Of course she's on this border patrol. There have been scents of HawkClan warriors on our territory." Frozenpaw nodded, but his smile didn't disappear. "Though, she wouldn't be if you hadn't had scented those cats. Even Flamewillow couldn't scent anything and he's the best tracker in the Clan!" Nightpaw shook his head. "Flamewillow would've found the scents too, I just noticed them quicker."
"No, he wouldn't have!" Frozenpaw exclaimed. "They had herbs and mud covering their scent trails." Icepaw snorted, "Their were so poorly hidden that even a fox could have scented them."
Suddenly, Hailstar flicked her tail, beckoning silence. Peering through the undergrowth, Nightpaw spotted several warriors marking the border. I don't get it, he thought. They're just marking their territory. However, upon closer inspection, Nightpaw noticed that the cats were several tail-lengths past the border, marking ShadeClan territory.
Hailstar turned to the apprentices. "Icepaw, run back to camp and tell Flamewillow to gather reinforcements. You're the fastest cat here, so it has to be you." Hailstar added as Icepaw looked like she was about to argue. The white she-cat then nodded and turned and ran for the camp. Hailstar then strode out towards the border. The HawkClan cats turned towards the silver leader. A brute of a tom shifted his stance to dip his head to the she-cat. "Good morning, Hailstar," the tom meowed. Hailstar wasn't haven't it though.
"What in StarClan's name do you think you're doing, Owlclaw?" Hailstar growled. Owlclaw looked at her with a confused look. "Why, we're just marking out territory." Hailstar hissed. "This is ShadeClan territory!"
The large tom's demeanor changed suddenly, going from innocent and confused to angry and malicious. "This territory was never supposed to be your's, Hailstar." Owlclaw growled lowly. "Olivestar never should have given it to you. This strip of land was a prime hunting spot, and now it's going to waste because of your Clan." The brown tom then flicked his tail and a dozen warriors jumped out of the undergrowth. "Attack!" he screeched. Hailstar and the other warriors charged. Frozenpaw, being only seven moons old, sat back and watched, his fear evident in his eyes. Nightpaw stood in front of the smaller tom protectively. Being older and more experienced the tall black tom knew he had to protect the younger tom, as he did not have as much battle experience as the others.
Though after awhile, Nightpaw noticed that none of the HawkClan warriors were paying any attention to the two apprentices, so he let his guard down just a smidge.
Suddenly, he heard a yowl of agony and turned his head to see Owlclaw, standing over top of his mentor, Lionfur. With a burst of speed, Nightpaw darted across the battlefield and lunged for the large brown tom. He bowled him over and began slashing at him, hoping the distraction gave Lionfur enough time to escape. It did, but as Nightpaw sighed in relief, Owlclaw gained the upperhand. Grabbing the black tom by his scruff, Owlclaw clawed at his chest and then threw him across the clearing. Nightpaw hit the ground with a sickening thud.
Just as things seemed to be getting worse, a battle cry was heard and Icepaw and the reinforcements charged into battle. Soon, the ShadeClan warriors drove off the HawkClan cats. Hailstar caterwauled in triumph and soon the other cats joined in. Then, Icepaw turned and saw a black mound of fur lying on the ground. She raced over and sniffed the tom. She said in relief and turned. "Nightpaw is injured, Hailstar. I think he's unconscious." she meowed. The silver leader turned and padded towards the tom. She stiffened as she saw the large amount of blood welling from wounds on his chest. She turned and looked around for the least injured cats. "Aspenstrike, Blacktail." The two toms sat up straight at the sound of her call. "Carry Nightpaw back to camp." The toms nodded and gently lifted the apprentice onto their shoulders. And soon, they were headed back to camp.
I'm awful at writing dreams and battles, so yeah :P
But that is this first chapter of this story, hope you guys enjoyed. And as usual I'm willing to accept OC submissions, just review or PM me
Peace!
~ Nightsky of FlameClan