Chapter 2
ShadowClan
A/N – I forgot to add this in the allegiances.
Cats outside of Clans
Puma – Black she-cat with a white tipped tail.
Sapphire – White she-cat with eyes as blue as sapphires, slightly deaf.
Oliver – Brown tabby with grey eyes.
So yeah, hi.
Silverpaw woke to an impatient prodding on her side.
"Silver! Silver! Wake up!" Thunder mewed "Silverpaw!"
"Wha'?" she mewed sleepily.
"We're apprentices!"
"I know…" She yawned and lowered her nose back onto her paws.
"But its morning!" He wailed.
Silverpaw opened an eye, then closed it and started to stretch, shaking the moss from her pelt.
"Duskpelt will probably want to see you." Sparrowpaw added helpfully as he padded out of the den.
Blinking, Silverpaw followed him with Thunderpaw after her.
She gazed around the camp, looking for Duskpelt. When her gaze settled on him they headed across to where he was sitting with Featherwing.
As they reached them they stopped talking as Duskpelt raised his head to look at her.
"Hey, we were just discussing what we're doing today. We're going to take a patrol around the ShadowClan border."
"It seems like a good way to start you off." Featherwing meowed.
Thunderpaw flicked his tail in anticipation. "When do we leave?"
"In a few moments" Duskpelt meowed, "I want to have a word with Paddedfoot."
"Why don't you two grab something from the fresh kill pile and take it to the elders." Featherwing suggested.
Thunderpaw padded off without waiting for Silverpaw as she slowly followed him.
When they reached the fresh kill pile, Darktail was gingerly picking up a mouse from it, but as soon as he saw them he dropped it and hissed, stalking off and leaving the mouse on the ground.
Silverpaw chose a fat looking vole from the pile and Thunderpaw chose a chaffinch. As they made their way into the elders' den, the elders turned to look at them.
"I thought I could smell a new scent." Came a rasping voice from a dappled tortoiseshell lying on her side, who had lifted her head from cleaning herself. "So who are you?"
Silverpaw gently set down her piece of prey before answering.
"We were recently accepted into the Clan." She meowed, her voice echoing oddly throughout the hollow oak. "I am Silverpaw and this is Thunderpaw, we used to live with housefolk."
"So you were kittypets." Stated a dark blue tom as he settled himself down in front of them.
Thunderpaw blinked. "I've been called that a lot, what does it mean? I know that it's an insult."
This time a dark red she-cat stepped from the shadows she had been sitting in. "A kittypet is one that lives with the twolegs." She rasped. "You are right in the fact that it is an insult. It means that you are weak, soft, and certainly not worthy of being a Clan-cat."
A short pause followed until the dappled tortoiseshell broke the silence.
"So is that fresh-kill for us? I'm starving!" she complained bitterly.
Silverpaw dipped her head and picked up the piece of fresh-kill before setting it in front of the tortoiseshell.
As she started tearing up the vole, the dark blue tom let out a throaty purr.
"I see we have forgotten our manners." He rumbled. "I am Trueheart, my companions are Dapplecoat and Scarletstripe. Thank you for the prey, no doubt your mentors are waiting for you."
As they padded out of the oak, Featherwing came up to them.
"Duskpelt is waiting for us by the entrance. It's time we showed you the territory."
They followed her to the entrance to the Clan, which was a large hollow log, filled with moss and lichen and draped with vines. Gorse acted as the impregnable barrier, which protected the Clan from danger.
Thunderpaw and Silverpaw exchanged excited glances as they followed their mentors out the end of the log into the forest beyond.
Scents of the forest filled their nostrils with different fragrances, some sweet, others tangy. As their mentors continued, Thunderpaw padded across to a bush with bright red berries and sniffed them cautiously. He had poked out his tongue to taste them, when Silverpaw bowled him over.
"Mouse-brain!" she hissed. "Don't go eating things you haven't seen before."
Their mentors stopped and turned. Featherwing nodded appreciatively. "That was careless Thunderpaw, you're lucky that Silverpaw has common sense." She padded up to the bush. "These are death berries, three can kill even the strongest warrior. You would do well to avoid them." Her penetrating gaze held Thunderpaw as he shrunk like a kit.
"Sorry Featherwing." He mewed.
"Be more careful next time. We don't want to lose you because of a simple mistake." She flicked his ear-tip with her tail and started forward again, and this time Thunderpaw followed.
A little further on, they stopped, and Duskpelt tasted the air.
"Scent the air and tell me what you can taste." He instructed Silverpaw.
She opened her jaws and drank in the air. A rancid odor washed over her and she choked on the thick scent.
"Ergh, it's putrid!" She moaned.
"This is the ShadowClan border, remember their scent."
Duskpelt stepped up to the border and started renewing ThunderClans border scent.
"We will continue this way." He meowed, motioning with his tail. "It wouldn't hurt to hunt for a while."
They padded softly down a gentle slope and headed further away from the Clan camp.
Soon, they came to a stream that trickled over the pebbles through the forest. The cats lowered their heads and quenched their thirst.
"Scent the air now, what do you smell."
Thunderpaw and Silverpaw both scented the air.
"I can smell prey." Thunderpaw mewed.
"Very good, what kind of prey?"
"Mouse, and a strange scent."
"That would be rabbit." Featherwing meowed.
"And what can you smell, Silverpaw?"
"I smell ShadowClan!" she exclaimed. "But we're not near a border, are we?"
Duskpelt shared a worried glance with Featherwing. "No, we're not. You two, go back and tell Flamestar what we have found. We will scope out the area."
Thunderpaw and Silverpaw shot off towards the camp, jumping over tree roots and dodging low hanging plants. They skidded to a halt beside the entrance to the camp and padded in. They headed over to where Flamestar's den was and waited outside.
"Flamestar?" Silverpaw meowed.
The large cat pushed his way through the curtain of lichen and sat in front of them.
"Yes? What do you want?" He asked.
Thunderpaw twitched his whiskers. "Duskpelt and Featherwing told us to come tell you that we scented ShadowClan inside our borders."
Flamestar blinked and walked off, "Foxtail!" he called. "Take Bluethorn and Rippledstripe, go find Duskpelt and Featherwing. ShadowClan have been found inside our borders."
The warrior named Foxtail dipped his head. "I'm betting they want to take some of our territory." He meowed as he walked off to find the appointed cats.
As Flamestar turned back to them he added, "You two have done enough for today, the elders have been fed, eat, then you may rest." He moved towards Paddedfoot who was walking with Wolfheart, presumably going hunting.
Thunderpaw and Silverpaw padded to the fresh-kill pile, trying to decide what to eat.
"Why don't you try a mouse?" Silverpaw suggested. "You always wanted to."
Thunderpaw hesitated. "I kind of wanted my first piece of prey that I eat to have been caught by myself."
"Well you can't starve yourself."
"Why don't we go see if we can hunt something?"
"Are we supposed to go out on our own?"
Thunderpaw shrugged, "I'm going." He padded away as Silverpaw jumped up to join him.
They trotted through the forest for a while, tasting the air. Finally, Thunderpaw scented a mouse within a bush. He crouched down and wriggled his haunches as he waited for the mouse to appear. It scuffled around on the ground, nibbling on a seed before venturing further from the safety of the bush. Thunderpaw pounced and caught the mouse between his front paws.
Biting it to kill it quickly, he dropped it on the ground before turning to find Silverpaw gone. He covered his kill with leaves and padded out, scenting for his sister. He found her crouching in some brambles, stalking a mouse quietly as she softly padded through the undergrowth.
She leapt for the mouse and landed right on top of it, her paws in front of it by an inch. She scrabbled for it in the leaves and managed to snag it with a claw before ending its life.
"Good catch." Thunderpaw mewed.
Silverpaw dropped the mouse in surprise as a horrible screeching sound pierced the air.
Another screech was sounded, followed by hissing and yowling. It sounded like there was a battle going on! Silverpaw and Thunderpaw quickly darted round a tree and rushed forward to find the source of the noise. They came across a clearing, where there was a fierce battle ensuing. Warriors from ThunderClan were wrestling with what smelled like… ShadowClan!
Thunderpaw bravely leapt into the fray and landed on a small white she-cat. The ThunderClan cats were fighting ferociously, battling with all their might. Silverpaw watched as Duskpelt was bowled over and barreled into his opponent, fastening her claws into his back. The black tom wailed and tried to shake her off without success as she bit into his scruff and held on tight.
Duskpelt raked his claws across the tom's muzzle and blood spurted forth onto the ground. The tom shivered and yowled as Silverpaw leapt clear of him, and he hurtled into the bush behind, running for the ShadowClan border.
"What - are you doing here?" Duskpelt panted.
"We heard the commotion and came to help." Silverpaw meowed.
Thunderpaw tore past them at speed, chasing the little white she-cat he had landed on earlier.
Duskpelt blinked and looked at her again. "The ShadowClan cats are retreating. Go back to camp and let the warriors handle this."
Silverpaw dipped her head and found her brother padding back from his chase. She told him that the battle was over and they padded back to camp together, collecting their mice on the way back.
"Did you see how I took care of that little white she-cat?" Thunderpaw boasted. "I bet I could take on a full blown warrior anytime!"
Silverpaw stayed silent as she lay in the clearing, eating her mouse. Its meat was succulent, nothing like the hard brown pellets that they were fed at their housefolk's nest. She swallowed and took another bite of it, ravenously devouring it, yet savoring the taste.
Thunderpaw had already finished his, and was sitting, cleaning between his claws to get the dried blood out. The white she-cat had dealt him a blow to the flank, and it was bleeding as he moved.
"You should get that looked at." Silverpaw mewed as he started to clean the wound. "It looks bad."
Thunderpaw paused from washing and looked at her. "I'm hoping I get a scar, that would be so awesome!"
"Even so, you should go see Whiteherb for treatment."
Thunderpaw grumbled all the way to the medicine cats den as he padded slowly, limping slightly on his hind left paw.
As they got there, the warrior called Foxtail appeared in the entrance, he glanced at them quickly and continued over to where Bluethorn was sitting.
Silverpaw brushed through the ferns surrounding the entrance and looked around her. The walls were covered with cracks that were filled with different herbs and seeds. A small trickle of water ran through the den.
Next to the wall was a small tortoiseshell apprentice who had her paw in a crack, retrieving some seeds. When Silverpaw came in, her paw came out and she padded over while Thunderpaw made his way inside.
"Hi, we're looking for Whiteherb." Silverpaw mewed.
"He should be back soon, meanwhile, maybe I can help you. I'm Mosspaw, Whiteherb's apprentice." The she-cat meowed. "So what seems to be the problem?"
Thunderpaw blinked stupidly at the pretty she-cat until Silverpaw batted him with her tail, making him wince.
"Uh, um, my side." He muttered.
"Okay, just let me take a look at it." Mosspaw beckoned for him to turn and he did.
At this moment, the ferns at the entrance rustled and Whiteherb slid through the gap.
"Ah, Mosspaw, visitors I see." He rumbled happily. "What seems to be the problem?"
Thunderpaw muttered for a second time. "My side."
"Ah, okay. Mosspaw, what would you use for this wound?"
Mosspaw sat down and thought hard. "Poppy seeds to ease the pain, and goldenrod to heal?" she guessed. "Oh, and cobwebs to stop the bleeding." She added thoughtfully.
"Excellent. Fetch the goldenrod for me will you?"
Whiteherb padded across to one of the gaps and licked his paw, inserting it into the crack and pulling out a few seeds.
"Here, eat these." He meowed. Thunderpaw looked at the seeds skeptically before licking them up quickly. Mosspaw came over with the goldenrod in her mouth and passed it to Whiteherb, where he mashed it up into a paste that he spread onto Thunderpaw's wound. Thunderpaw flinched as this new addition was made, and resisted the urge to lick the cut. Next, Mosspaw collected some cobwebs, and pressed them down on Thunderpaw's side to stop the bleeding.
"There you go!" She mewed. "All done! Make sure you rest up or it won't heal."
"Thanks." Thunderpaw murmured as he started to rise. Silverpaw blinked and got ready to follow. She dipped her head and retreated from the den.
Mosspaw sat there watching them until they had disappeared from sight.
A/N – So yeah, (again), this chapters kind of short. Well bye and I'll see you (or at least write to you) next time I update. Unless I'm just writing to myself here!
(This space is free because I haven't got any reviews to reply to!)
