Chapter 1
A young she-cat emerged drowsily from the apprentice's den, shaking out her golden pelt and taking in the sunlight. The warm sun rays kissed her pelt lightly, warming her from the inside out. It was a beautiful newleaf day, and she was eager to start her daily training. Next to her, a cat with the colors of mud and shade exited the den as well, and gave the golden she-cat a smile. She smiled back and spoke her first words of the day. "Good morning, Amberpaw. Sleep well?"
"I did." Her friend replied. "Articwind exhausted me with battle-training yesterday, so I was eager for some sleep. How about you, Sparkpaw?"
Sparkpaw frowned. She actually had trouble sleeping the previous night. She was kept awake from an unusual amount of cold for newleaf and a strange voice whispering in her head. When she had finally fallen asleep, she dreamt of a dark, shadowy figure with a piercing, cold gaze.
Sparkpaw decided not to trouble her friend with this however, and merely shrugged. "I guess, I had a bit of trouble sleeping, but I think I got enough."
"I hope so," Amberpaw mewed. "Our mentors are taking us hunting, remember?"
"Yeah, I remember." Sparkpaw assured. "What are the other apprentices doing?"
"The others are battle training. Well, other than Blazepaw. Weasalscar is taking Blazepaw hunting as well, but not with us because apparently they are 'too cool' to go hunting with us normal warriors and apprentices." Amberpaw meowed with a bit of envy in her tone.
Sparkpaw rolled her eyes. "I think six cats is too much for a hunting patrol, that's why." She nudged her friend playfully. "You need to stop being jealous of Blazepaw."
"I'm trying, but it's hard not to be when your mentor is never proud of anything you do and your friend has the deputy of all cats." Amberpaw muttered.
"Just give it time, it's only been a quarter moon since we started training. You'll be impressing Articwind in no time!" Sparkpaw reassured her.
Amberpaw smiled and replied. "I hope you're right."
"Come on, let's find our mentors."
Sometime later, the two apprentices and their mentors were in the forest and finally started hunting. Streams of sunlight fell through the thick wall of trees, filling up every space between the leaves with warm, sugary light. The rays tumbled down strands of grass, which gleamed with remains of the morning dew. The prey was plentiful, the two mentors were easily able to demonstrate the hunting crouch and catch a few mice.
Amberpaw spotted another mouse, and glanced at her mentor for permission. Articwind replied with a simple flick of his tail, and Amberpaw went for her kill. She crouched down, mimicking the movements of her mentor from earlier. She pounced and landed on the small creature, killing it with a swift bite to the neck. Sparkpaw was impressed by how quickly Amberpaw got the crouch down, and hoped she could do the same.
Her friend looked up at her mentor with a gleam in her eyes, and her mentor simply replied, "Good work." in a stoic tone. Sparkpaw saw the pride in his eyes though, and mentally noted to tell Amberpaw she told her so later.
"Let's see if you can do the same, Sparkpaw." Her mentor, Splashnight's, cheery voice meowed from behind her. The black she-cat looked down at her apprentice and continued. "What do you smell?"
Sparkpaw lifted her snout and sniffed. A familiar scent filled her nostrils. It wasn't a mouse, but another rodent. "Vole." She concluded.
"Good work." Her mentor praised. "See if you can catch it."
The golden apprentice moved quietly, the other three cats watching her intently. She swallowed down her nervousness and located the small rodent. It was very small and gray with a stout body, a short hairy tail, a slightly round head and small ears and eyes. She crept silently towards it, careful to avoid any sticks or leaves that could give her away, and pounced. She grabbed the vole and killed it swiftly. She stared down at her catch proudly.
So much potential…
Sparkpaw froze. The voice from last night!
She looked up and to her horror, the shadowy figure from her dream was in front of her. Its gaze shook her to her core and she could have sworn she saw a smirk on its face.
"Sparkpaw? What happened? What are you staring at?" She heard Splashnight approach her.
Sparkpaw turned to look at her, shaking. "Don't you see it? The shadowy figure?"
The black she-cat looked confused. "What shadowy figure? There's nothing there."
Sparkpaw turned around and to her shock it was gone. The only thing in front of her was the dead vole.