A cold wind from the water blew through the trees making them sway. The white snow glistened in the sunlight. The snow crunched softly under Snowpaw as she made her way to the apprentice den. She could see that Stormpaw and Sootpaw were already curled up in their nests. Sootpaw must have heard her because he lifted his head when she walked in the den.
"Sheesh, what were you and Poppystar doing? It's freezing out there!" Sootpaw's loud mew broke the silence in the apprentices' den.
"We were hunting." Snowpaw responded plainly as she walked over to her nest and lay down.
"Well, with your pelt, I'm sure it's really easy to stalk prey. No way would it see you coming. You practically ARE the snow! Well, besides the black on your ears." Sootpaw exclaimed.
Stormpaw started to stir. "Will you both shut up! I'm trying to sleep. I'm pretty sure the entire forest can hear you." Sootpaw glanced at Stormpaw before looking back at Snowpaw.
"He's just grumpy because he had to take care of the elders all day while I was training." Snowpaw just nodded as she curled up in her nest.
"Hey, Snowpaw. Are you okay?" Sootpaw asked cautiously. Stormpaw lifted his head and glared at Sootpaw.
"Sootpaw, leave her alone. She's been out hunting all day in the snow." Sootpaw opened his mouth to reply but quickly closed it when Reedpaw entered the den. He walked over and curled up in his nest. Sootpaw turned towards Stormpaw and opened his mouth again to speak, but Reedpaw spoke first.
"Sootpaw, I'm going to claw your ears off if you start talking again. I could hear you from the other side of camp." Sootpaw gave Reedpaw a death glare before laying his head down and closing his eyes. Stormpaw followed Sootpaw's lead and laid his head down as well. Snowpaw looked at all the apprentices before she laying her head on her paws and closing her eyes, quickly giving into sleep.
Snowpaw opened her eyes to see she was at the edge of the forest. The sun reflected off the still lake and the leaves on the trees behind Snowpaw rustled in the wind. She walked down to the water and sat just past where the small waves couldn't reach. Snowpaw jumped at the sound of light paw steps behind her. A golden spotted she-cat was standing just beyond the bracken. Snowpaw stood up to face the incoming she-cat who was advancing towards her. The she-cat stopped a few tail-lengths away and sat down on the dry sand of the beach. The she-cat's soft gaze stayed on Snowpaw as she sat down again, facing the she-cat.
"Who are you?" Snowpaw meowed to the she-cat. "I do not know you."
"My name is Leopardstar. I was the leader of Riverclan when the four clans made the Great Journey to where you are today." The she-cat mewed. Snowpaw stared at her in shock.
"You're Leopardstar?" Snowpaw jumped to her feet. "That's so cool!" Snowpaw stopped for a second and realized, "But, why are you here? I'm not a leader or a medicine cat. I'm not even a warrior yet!" Leopardstar let out a purr of amusement as she stood up and walked over to Snowpaw. She sat down next to Snowpaw, facing the lake. Snowpaw turned around to face the same direction.
"The lake is still as beautiful as the day I left it." Leopardstar mewed, but there was sadness in her voice. She turned her head to look at Snowpaw. "But that is all going to change." The lake suddenly turned red. Snowpaw jumped back in surprise. Behind her, the trees shook and began to topple over. The wind grew violent, whipping leaves and branches past Snowpaw's face.
"Leopardstar! What's happening?" Snowpaw exclaimed. Leopardstar stayed sitting in the same position but turned her head to Snowpaw.
"This is what will become of the forest if you do not save it." Leopardstar started to fade away into the wind as she spoke.
"Leopardstar! What do you mean? Don't leave me here!" Snowpaw meowed into the wind. Leopardstar vanished completely as Snowpaw's vision started to cloud over.
Snowpaw awoke, panting. She looked around to see that the only cat left in the apprentice den was Reedpaw, who was staring at her.
"Can you please be quiet when you sleep?" Snowpaw tilted her head in confusion.
"He means to stop yowling in your sleep, Snowpaw." Stormpaw's voice sounded from behind her. She turned to see him walking into the apprentice den. "Petallight is taking me out hunting and because apparently Poppystar is really busy today, she said to take you with us." Stormpaw meowed. Snowpaw nodded, stood up, and followed Stormpaw out of the apprentice den into the morning sun.
"Watch out!" A small voice pierced the air before a small gray bundle of fur ran full force into Snowpaw's leg. She looked down to see Dewkit sitting there with fear in his green eyes.
"I'm sorry! I didn't see you! I-" Snowpaw cut him off before he could continue on his little rant.
"Dewkit, slow down." She bent down so she could be at the same level as the small kit. "It was an accident. Just make sure you're watching where you're going. I wouldn't want you to run into Jaystorm." Dewkit's eyes grew wide as he thought about the grumpy old warrior. Snowpaw purred in amusement. "Now you go on and play with Moonkit and Rainkit, they're waiting for you." Dewkit nodded before running over to his littermates. When Dewkit reached his littermates, their mother, Honeyfur, came out of the nursery, telling them it was too cold and they need to come back inside. The kits lowered their heads as they followed Honeyfur back into the nursery.
"You coming, Snowpaw? Or are you gonna just stand there and wait for another kit to barrel into you?" Stormpaw meowed impatiently. Snowpaw rolled her eyes before walking over to where Stormpaw was standing. The two apprentices walked over to where Petallight was waiting for them by the camp entrance.
"Hey, Snowpaw! You ready to hunt?" Petallight mewed in a warm tone. Snowpaw nodded to Petallight before the warrior turned and headed out of the camp with Snowpaw and Stormpaw in tow.
The three cats walked quietly down to the edge of the calm lake. The sun reflected off the water creating an almost blinding glare as they walked down far enough that Snowpaw could see the fish swimming within the calm lake. Careful not to let her shadow fall over the water, she approached the still lake. Snowpaw, seeing a fish swimming towards her, quickly hooked her claws into the water and pulled it on to dry land, killing it with a slash of her claws.
"Nice catch, Snowpaw!" Petallight mewed around the fish in her jaws. Snowpaw let out a purr of satisfaction as she picked up the fish and followed Petallight over to where Stormpaw was crouched by the water. There was already a fish lying next to him in the snow. Before the two she-cats reached him, he quickly stuck his paw in the water, instantly pulling his paw out again with a fish hooked to his claws. He killed it and dropped it next to the one he had already caught.
"Great catch, Stormpaw!" Petallight congratulated her apprentice. He lifted his head in pride.
"Thanks, Petallight!" Stormpaw meowed proudly.
The three cats picked up their catch and started back to the camp. As they reached the entrance they heard a lot of commotion from inside the camp. Snowpaw rushed into the camp to see what was going on. She was met by a very worried looking queen rushing around camp. It was Honeyfur. Snowpaw ran over to the fresh-kill pile, dropped the fish there, and ran over to Honeyfur.
"Honeyfur! What going on?" She turned to face the apprentice, worry in her eyes.
"Dewkit, Moonkit, and Rainkit have disappeared and we can't find them!" There was desperation in the queen's voice. Around the camp, cats were running every which way, searching for the missing kits. Suddenly Poppystar's voice echoed around the camp. Snowpaw turned to see Poppystar standing on the large rock near her den.
"Rapidpelt, Mistyshade, Ripplewing, Snowpaw, you four and I will be the first search party. Winterpelt, you take Mosswhisker, Ravenheart, and Sootpaw. I will search near the WindClan border. Winterpelt, you take the border with ShadowClan. Let's go!" Poppystar gracefully jumped off the rock onto the snow-covered ground. She raced towards the camp entrance with Rapidpelt, Mistyshade, Ripplewing, and Snowpaw hot on her tail. Once the five cats exited the camp, they headed towards the WindClan border. Snowpaw sniffed the air in hopes she could catch the kits scents, but with no such luck. Ripplewing called out the kits names, getting only silence in return. The cats quickly reached the stream that marked the border with WindClan.
"You don't think they fell into the stream, do you?" Snowpaw meowed worriedly.
"I don't know Snowpaw." Poppystar turned to the other three cats. "Ripplewing, Mistyshade, go downstream and search for the kits there. Snowpaw, Rapidpelt, you two will stay with me." She ordered. Ripplewing and Mistyshade nodded in understanding and started to head downstream as the rest of the cats headed upstream. The three cats had only walked slightly upstream when Snowpaw heard a soft cry up ahead. Without waiting to ask if anyone else had heard it, Snowpaw bolted past Poppystar and Rapidpelt, searching for the source of the cry. A bundle of gray fur was hanging onto a branch in the stream.
"Dewkit!" Snowpaw ran over to the edge of the stream.
"Sn-Snowpaw! He-Help!" The kit managed to choke out before he lost his grip on the branch, disappearing under the waves.
"Dewkit!" Without hesitating, Snowpaw leapt in after Dewkit. She heard her mentor call her name before the freezing water closed over her head. Snowpaw forced her eyes open to see Dewkit floundering as he was being pulled downstream.
Snowpaw started to swim as fast as she could but the waves kept turning her over and over again. She fought the urge to breathe as she continued to make her way towards the drowning kit. She finally got close enough to grab the scruff of the gray kit who was now unmoving. Every muscle in her body told her to stop, to give up and take a breath, but she ignored it. Using what little strength she had left, Snowpaw swam as hard as she could to the surface. Her head broke the surface of the water, and she managed to take a breath before she was pulled back under. Don't give up! The voice of her mother echoed in her head. Over and over the voice told her Don't give up! Don't give up! So she didn't.
She swam. She swam as hard as she could. Her head broke the surface once more, but before she could be pulled under again, someone grabbed her scruff, pulling her towards the bank. She could see the bank was a tail length away. She felt her paws hit the sand and scrambled up the shore with the kit still in her mouth. Once she was completely out of the water, she collapsed into to the snow. After being in the frigid water, the snow didn't feel so cold.
Snowpaw lifted her head at the sound of foot steps. Mistingriver, Soaringpaw, and Rapidpelt were racing towards the three soaked cats.
"Soaringpaw, go check on Snowpaw! Rapidpelt, I need you to use your body heat to try and heat up Dewkit!" Mistingriver ordered. Rapidpelt obeyed. He took Dewkit from Snowpaw and curled up around him while Mistingriver started to look him over. Snowpaw laid her head back down onto the snow as Soaringpaw came over to her.
"Snowpaw?" Snowpaw looked up at her. Her vision was starting to get blurry. "Snowpaw, you need to stay awake. Okay?" Snowpaw nodded weakly as the medicine cat apprentice started to look her over. She could feel herself shaking from the cold as her vision started to blur more. She started to close her eyes before Soaringpaw nudged her awake again. "Snowpaw! You need to stay with me!" Her voice was getting quiet in Snowpaw's ears. Snowpaw tried to force her eyes to stay open but they won over and slowly closed. "Mistingriver! Snowpaw-" That was the last thing Snowpaw heard before drifting into the realm of unconsciousness.
Snowpaw awoke with a shudder. She was cold, freezing even, but there was something warm pressed up against her. Snowpaw snuggled closely to the source of heat as she started to shiver violently.
"Mistingriver, she's shivering even more!" A voice mewed. There was the sound of paw steps close to Snowpaw's ear. Something cold prodded her stomach, Snowpaw tried to shrink away, and let out a whimper.
"Snowpaw? Can you hear me?" Mistingriver's calm voice meowed. Snowpaw forced one eye open to see Mistingriver's concerned gaze. "She's awake." The medicine cat said calmly. Snowpaw turned her head slightly to see the source of heat was her father, Winterpelt, curled around her. Her father looked at her with concern. Snowpaw looked back at Mistingriver.
"Mi-Mistingriver? Is-is Dewkit ok?" She asked, stuttering. Mistingriver gave her a small smile.
"Yes. He is fine. You saved his life. He would've drowned if you didn't jump in when you did. You are gonna be fine too. You caught a chill, so you'll have to stay here in the medicine cat den." Snowpaw looked around, just now noticing the familiar walls of the Medicine cat den. How did I get here? Snowpaw thought to herself. As if reading her mind, Winterpelt answered her.
"You should thank Rapidpelt after you are able to leave the medicine cat den. He's the one who carried you all the way back here after you collapsed. He and the apprentices are worried about you. Mistingriver had a hard time making them leave the medicine cat den." Snowpaw smiled at Winterpelt before laying her head back down on top of her paws and closing her eyes. The warmth from her father finally began to warm her up as she drifted off to sleep.
Snowcloud- Chapter 1!
Pinedust- Congrats. You got 1 whole chapter. How many do I have? Like 7.
Snowcloud- Ya, whatever. Be proud of me for once.
Pinedust- Or what?
Snowcloud- I tell Foxmoon you're being mean to me.
Pinedust- DON'T TELL FOXMOON!
Snowcloud- You're scared of her aren't you?
Pinedust- Shut up, Snowcloud.
Snowcloud- Foxmoon! Pinedust is-
Pinedust- NOT DOING ANYTHING!
Snowcloud- You ARE scared of her!
Pinedust- I'm scared of her keeping her promise to get Firestar to claw our pelts off!
Snowcloud- *purrs in amusement* I'm gonna end this for Pinedust sake so, SNOWCLOUD OUT!