A quarter moon had passed since the visitors had arrived.

Needles fell from the large pinetrees that dotted the landscape. Deadpaw yelped in alarm when one stabbed his tail. His licked it, still half asleep. He laid his head back down and sighed. Beside him, his brother's breath was slow and relaxed. Soulkit, now Soulpaw, had joined the apprentices. Along with Flowerpaw and Tallpaw.

Soulpaw, luckily, had been mentored to Darksong. Deadpaw liked Darksong. He was kind and liked the young warriors. Flowerpaw and Tallpaw weren't so lucky. Flowerpaw's mentor was Mudwing. The tom's green gaze always made Deadpaw's fur bristle. Although he was still young, Mudwing behaved like an old, grouchy elder. Tallpaw's mentor was Foxtail. Deadpaw thought this was rather strange, considering Foxtail was the newest warrior.

"We have plenty of more experienced warriors." Fastwing, Tallpaw's mother, had said. "Why can't one of them mentor?"

It was very true. Shadowclan had many young but experienced warriors. Deadpaw couldn't think of any reason why the other warriors couldn't mentor the ginger and black tom.

Deadpaw had finally been dozing off when the needle hit him. He stared down at Soulpaw beside him. He would become a warrior soon and was afraid we wouldn't be able to guide Soulpaw through being an apprentice. He shivered as the image of Smallstar's limp body filled his mind. He quickly shook the thought away. Smallstar died of old age. Soulpaw will be fine. He murmured to himself over and over again before finally dozing off to sleep.

Beside him, Soulpaw's fur prickled in his sleep. He was so excited to finally share a den with his older brother who he loved so dearly. He dreamt of catching his first prey, protecting a lost kit from a badger, driving rogues off the territory and other heroic things.

Soulpaw's head shot up as he woke. He jumped up. He could here some of the other cats stirring in the other dens. he heard the warriors talking. One voice stood out from the rest. "Rosefoot. Take your apprentice, Crabclaw and Fastwing out for a hunting patrol. They will need to shape up after spending so long in the nursery."

"Okay, Dusklight." Soulpaw passed Rosefoot as she walked into the apprentice's den. The she-cat had ginger fur and strong amber eyes. "Great Starclan, Soulpaw! You scared my fur off!" She called to him.

"Sorry!" He yelled back as he rushed across the camp, looking for him mentor. He spotted the black and white tom just coming out of the warriors den. Darksong yawned. His amber gaze landed on Soulpaw in amusment. "Aren't you excited?" He greeted as the small apprentice reached him. Soulpaw nodded and grinned. "Are you going to show me the territory? Are we gonna go on a patrol? Will we get to drive Thumderclan off our-"

"Slow down, Soulpaw." Darksong purred. "Yes, you will get to see the territory. But no patrols and definitely no getting into fights with the other clans."

"Deadpaw says he gets to go on patrols with Leaftail all the time." Soulpaw responded, his tail dropping sadly. Darksong's amber eyes met his blue ones. He spoke sternly, his head held high to look down at the apprentice.

"Soulpaw." He began. "As your mentor you must trust me. You do not have enough skill to take on a Thunderclan or Riverclan patrol is anything like that were to happen. I do not want you anywhere near the borders without a warrior, understand?"

Soulpaw lowered his head, staring up at the larger tom. "Okay, Darksong. I understand."

Darksong brightened. "Good. Now run along and go get Flowerpaw and Tallpaw. You will all be training together so it's custom for you to learn the territory together."

Soulpaw nodded and walked back to the apprentice den. He pushed his way inside to find the other apprentices, besides Blizzardpaw, waking. Deadpaw shook out his fur and looked at Soulpaw. "Good morning, brother."

"Good morning!" Soulpaw greeted before completely dismissing his brother and looking around for Flowerpaw and Tallpaw. The two littermates were still asleep in a small bundle. Soulpaw padded over and pushed on Tallpaw's shoulder. "Get up you guys! We have training to do!"

Tallpaw waved Soulpaw away with his ginger tail. "Mother, I'm tired." He said yawning a looking up. After seeing it was Soulpaw he jumped up, embarrassed. "Training! Yes, let's go." He said, then rushed out of the den. The other apprentices purred in amusement. Flowerpaw stood up and yawned.

"Honestly, Soulpaw. You could have let us sleep a little longer." She meowed, looking at the smaller apprentice.

"We don't have time for sleeping when there's rotten rival clans to battle. Thunderclan could be on their way to ambushing us right now."

Weedpaw laughed, touching Soulpaw's shoulder with his tail. "Does paranoia run in your kin?" He said, looking at Deadpaw with a glint in his eyes. Deadpaw sighed and walked out of the den. Soulpaw shook his head and laughed.

An orang head peaked into the den. "Come on, you two. Tallpaw is waiting." The head belonged to Foxtail, flowerpaw's mentor.

"Coming, Foxtail. Sorry to keep you waiting." Flowerpaw apologized, dipping her head. She padded outside, closely followed by Soulpaw. The other two mentors and apprentice were by the entrance. Tallpaw yawned. beside him sat a brown and ginger tom named Mudwing.

Mudwing yawned as well, his dark eyes still glazed over with sleep. His tail lashed. Foxtail led the two apprentices out of camp. The others followed. Soulpaw fell back to walk beside Darksong. "Where are we going first?" He asked, his eyes bright.

"First, we want to show you the borders. It's important to know exactly where you are allowed to be." Darksong said sternly, looking straight ahead. Soulpaw nodded and Flowerpaw meowed in agreement.

"Of course. If we don't know where the borders are how will we be able to tell where are territory ends. Soulpaw, you really should listen very carefully to everything Darksong says. He is very wise and very experienced and we should respect him."

"Suck-up..." Soulpaw murmured just loud enough for Tallpaw to here. Tallpaw snickered but stopped when Flowerpaw turned to look at them. Darksong and Mudwing purred in amusement.

"I remember when I was an apprentice..." Foxtail piped up, his head high.

"I sure hope you remember. It was no more than two moons ago, Foxtail." Mudwing pointed out, earning another purr from Darksong. Soulpaw thought about Foxtail as an apprentice. He was only four moons old back then. It was amazing that Foxtail already had an apprentice. Most warriors didn't get their first apprentice until at least their sixth moon of being a warrior. Foxtail got lucky. Soulpaw remembered a conversation he had heard between his mother and Crabclaw a few sunrises before he became an apprentice.

"Oh, of course Foxtail is already getting an apprentice." Crabclaw growled. "He's Flamestar's and Dusklight's only kit. They're probably trying to keep leadership in in their kin."

"Now I'm sure they are just trying to prepare the next generation. It's good that a young warrior is getting mentor experience." fastwing said. Soulpaw (Soulkit at the time) had been pretending to be asleep as he listened to two queens argue.

"Think about it. When Flamestar dies, Foxtail might already have his own kits. Dusklight would become leader and Foxtail would become deputy. Or if Dusklight dies then Foxtail would still become deputy. Either way Foxtail's kits would still get to be deputies and leaders after him. They are creating a monarchy!"

At this point, fastwing had given up trying to defend Foxtail's kin. She nodded, her amber eyes glowing. "Flamestar was the son of the last leader I think. What was her name...?"

"Wormstar." Crabclaw informed. She had been a new warrior when he became leader. Fastwing hadn't even been born yet. Crabclaw would be retiring to the elders den soon. fastwing scrunched up her nose.

"What a strange name. Wormstar. Why would any queen name a kit that?"

Crabclaw purred in amusement. "As deputy he was called Wormflight. It is strange, I know. But you must respect him. He was a brave and wise leader."

The following day Soulpaw had asked about the formal leader before Flamstar. He made sure not to use his name to give away that he had been listening. Crabclaw smiled and broke into a detailed description. She spent so much time rambling Soulpaw almost regretted asking. "He had blazing orange fur. It almost looked like fire. Some say he looked like an ancient leader named Firestar. And that he had named his kit after the Thunderclan leader. By why in Starclan's name would a Shadowclan cat name his kit after a Thunderclan leader? Especially in this day and age? Anyway, he had sparkling green eyes the color of leaves during new-leaf. We was so brave and wonderful. he made everyone feel important, paying attention to all the cats of Shadowclan."

Soulpaw now stared at Foxtail, comparing him to the image of the former leader that he had formed in his mind. They didn't look very alike. Foxtail was scrawny and his fur was a little dark. His eyes were a cold shade of amber. Soulpaw had pictured Wormstar as a muscular tom with bright orange fur and glowing eyes. He then compared the image to Flamestar. Still very little resemplence.

The group of cats came to a sudden stop. Soulpaw assumed they had reached the Riverclan border. He looked out over the strange new area. Suddenly, a bush rustled and three cats appeared. Soulpaw stared at their glossy fur. No one in Shadowclan had that kind of shiny, bright fur. Soulpaw looked at his own fur. he hadn't groomed since yesterday. He quickly licked his back, trying to get the hairs to lay flat on his back before the Riverclan patrol noticed.

The leader of the patrol purred and dipped his head. The Shadowclan warriors did the same and the apprentices followed suit. Darksong and the leader of the patrol began to chat. The apprentices had made a small circle around each other. Flowerpaw and Tallpaw whispered to each other anxiously.

Foxtail leaned toward Soulpaw. "That over there is Lightfang. He's the new Riverclan deputy." Foxtail waved his fluffy tail towards the tabby then continued. "That's Mousetail." He pointed to a small white and gray tom with friendly hazel eyes.

Mousetail turned to meet Soulpaw's gaze and smiled. Soulpaw smiled back, lowering his head respectfully. Foxtail turned his attention to the last cat. "That must be a new apprentice. I've never seen him before. Kinda small isn't he?"

Soulpaw looked at the small apprentice. He had calico fur and amber eyes. Soulpaw smiled and stepped forward. making sure to stay on his side of the border. "Hi. My name is Soulpaw. This is my first day out of camp. What's your name?"

The new apprenticed looked taken aback by the friendliness of the Shadowclan apprentice. He heisitated before finally responding. "I'm Otterpaw."

"It's nice to meet you, Otterpaw. I-"

"Soulpaw, let's go now." Darksong inturupted. Soulpaw looked up, confused. "Why?"

"We don't have all day. You still have a lot of territory to see."

Soulpaw nodded and said his good-byes to Otterpaw, before turning and following the rest of the cats. He padded beside Foxtail.

Foxtail, as an apprentice, had been rather nice. Beside being overly dramatic about almost everything, he didn't seem to hard to approach. "Why couldn't we stay and talk?" He asked ignorantly.

Foxtail stiffened, his tail fell. "It's a little hard to explain, Soulpaw." He sighed. "We are at war you know. With all the other clans. That includes Riverclan." Foxtail looked ahead at Darksong. "Don't take it too seriously. Darksong did what was best. You were getting a little to friendly with...what was his name? Otterpaw? yeah, Otterpaw. One day, you might meet him in battle. That's no time to be friendly." Foxtail chuckled half-heartedly. Soulpaw nodded and went silent. He didn't talk much for the rest of the day. Instead he sat, staring at Foxtail.

He's so nice. Is such a cat really part of a leadership conspiracy?

I'm planning on giving each clan an individual conflict that all leads to the main conflict. So here is Shadowclan's. DUNDUNDUN