A black cat slowly crawled out of her den, and sat beside a pond, claws unsheathed, to catch a fish.
Soon a mackerel swam by, and in one quick flash, Ravenstar had caught it.
She watched as a small, red cat played in the reddening leaves, almost blended in with them. She stalked a small moth that was fluttering from a flower, and had pounced on it, only to learn that she was too slow.
"Darn it," she muttered, and started stalking it again.
"Good job, Rosepaw! You're just a tad slow!" Ravenstar called.
Rosepaw looked over, and smiled.
"Thanks!" she called back.
Ravenstar padded towards her deputy, Poisonfang, and dropped the fish next to him.
"Breakfast, eat up," she said, nudging the fish towards him.
"Great…" Poisonfang muttered.
"Ravenstar, intruders! They almost killed Amberpaw!" a screech suddenly sounded out across the beach.
Ravenstar looked up and saw Darkpelt dragging Amberpaw's body towards them.
"Shadowfoot!" Ravenstar shouted, but the medicine cat was already there.
"I'm here," he said, taking the limp body from Darkpelt.
"Dear StarClan," he murmured, looking at her wounds, "take her to my den, quick!"
Together, the two cats dragged Amberpaw's body towards Shadowfoot's den.
"I've had it with intruders. We never fight back," Poisonfang complained.
"That's because during the last invasion, we were short on warriors." Ravenstar mewed.
A sad, dark look swept over Poisonfang's face. During the last raid, DawnClan had killed his mother, Reefpelt, and his mate, Silvereye. He had learned after her death that she was carrying his unborn kits, and she and the kits had died.
Ravenstar licked his shoulder in comfort and padded towards Shadowfoot's den.
"Darkpelt, I need to speak to you," she called.
Darkpelt padded solemnly out of the medicine cat's den, and looked at Ravenstar.
"Yes?" he asked.
"Who was it that invaded our territory?" she asked.
"DawnClan again. Thunderclaw had caught Amberpaw, and when I tried to get to her, his warriors barred my way. Dirtpelt had then tackled me and pinned me down, and I couldn't do anything about it." he said.
"DawnClan again?" Ravenstar whispered.
Darkpelt nodded.
"What about the rest of the patrol? Where did they go?" she asked.
"Once DawnClan had retreated, Grayclaw and Leopardpelt said they'd go to make sure there were no other cats around. Leopardpelt helped me take Amberpaw halfway back home, and then she left me and went back to Grayclaw." Darkpelt said, "They should be back any minute,"
Ravenstar nodded and started towards the Nightstones. They were three large, black rocks that had fallen onto one another, creating high rocks. (They're like Thunderclan's, only black).
"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather at the Nightstones!" she yowled. It was still early in the morning, so it didn't surprise her that most cats were still asleep.
Soon they were filing out of their dens, and they sat at the foot of the Nightstones.
"DawnClan has invaded our territory again!" she said.
Anxious whispers and voices rippled across the crowd.
"They have gone past the line, though. They have invaded our territory, but also almost killed one of our cats, Amberpaw."
"Not almost killed," Shadowfoot said, suddenly appearing out of his den, "they HAVE killed. I tried everything, but the cut in Amberpaw's throat was too deep, and she was losing blood to fast. I tried to stop the bleeding with cobwebs, but it didn't work,"
"What? Amberpaw is dead, then?" Rosepaw, Amberpaw's sister, asked.
Shadowfoot looked at her sadly and said, "Yes, I'm so sorry,"
Rosepaw backed away, and was immediately comforted by a sad looking Graycloud.
Anger flared into Ravenstar, "How dare they attack an apprentice?" she snarled, her hackles rising, "They will pay dearly!"
"What should we do?" Mistsong asked.
Ravenstar's hackles flattened slightly. What should they do? They can't just immediately go into battle, they're outnumbered. But they can't just continue ignoring all these attacks.
"We'll wait for a short time, remember, the Gathering is tomorrow night, and I'll bring up the subject. Until then, we need to double the patrols," she said.
She jumped down from the Nightstones, and padded towards her den.