The worst of the exams are over FINALLY. And yes, I accidentally called the Stream of Emotions a lake.
Introduction to my made-up clans here.
"Take that!" Beetlekit squealed. Wolfheart's kits were strong and healthy, not yet affected by the leaf-bare coldness. Hazelpaw watched as Beetlekit batted the ball of moss over to Shadekit. The tabby bit it fiercely, shaking her head to side to side.
"Mange-pelt!" snarled the kit, releasing the moss. "Run back to your FallenClan-forsaken meadow, BreezeClan warrior!"
Hazelpaw had learned about the five clans living in this strange place. IceClan was always the strongest in leaf-bare: their ancient warriors had worked out ways to scoop prey out of their hiding places. However, after the cold season, they would lose some of their plumpness. The IceClan cats were used to scooping prey out of their burrows and did not know how to stalk prey. Often, their prey escaped, even if it was greenleaf.
RainClan was the clan that lived near the Stream of Emotions. They scooped fish and frogs out of the water as prey, and had great agility in the water. The river prey did not always die in the cold, and the RainClan cats could always find sufficient food from the stream that bordered their territory.
BreezeClan was the fastest clan, and as Shadekit had said, they lived in a meadow. In greenleaf, the sight would be truly beautiful, according to Blackbird. BreezeClan hunted rabbits, and anything that would stray onto the meadow. The clan was also the closest to the herb garden. The BreezeClan medicine cat, Thorneyes, found it very convenient, according to Duskwatcher.
NightClan cats skulked among shadows, and hunted prey in darkness. Said to as sly as a fox, the warriors of NightClan were advised to be avoided. Hazelpaw couldn't see why. Just because cats stuck to darkness, didn't mean that they were evil.
LightningClan, her own clan, was a large forest clan. They were second to BreezeClan in terms of speed, and also in terms of distance to the herb garden. LightningClan seemed to be the most agile in the forest as well.
Suddenly, Hazelpaw heard a cry coming up from beyond the camp walls. Runningkit, Shadekit and Beetlekit instantly stopped their play.
The lithe black shape of Tailwind appeared moments later. She paused, looked around the camp, and finding only Hazelpaw and the kits, sped over to the brown cat. "Come quick!" panted Tailwind, breathless. "We caught three intruders inside our territory!"
"Intruders?" echoed Hazelpaw, stupefied.
"Yes," meowed Tailwind impatiently. "Come and see!"
Without waiting for an answer, Tailwind sped off, her black tail lashing back and forth. Hazelpaw ran after her.
"Wait!" squeaked Runningkit, bounding over to Hazelpaw. "Where're you going? Can we come?"
Runningkit's littermates followed her. "Please? Please?" they chorused, circling Hazelpaw.
Hazelpaw bit back an annoyed hiss. "No, you can't," she told the kits. "Wait till you're an apprentice."
Without looking back, she ran after Tailwind. She had lost the black she-cat, but her scent lingered, telling Hazelpaw which way to go. When at last she found Tailwind, the she-cat was standing with four other warriors, this morning's border patrol. Moonlight was among them, and was talking to Tailwind.
"Why didn't you fetch Froststar?" the deputy demanded.
The tip of Tailwind's ebony-black tail twitched. "Froststar wasn't there."
Hazelpaw noticed three strange cats in the middle of the warriors. Yarrowstem, back from the medicine cat's den, was questioning them. "What are you doing on our territory?" he demanded.
Two of the intruders flinched, but the other one, a white tom hardly bigger than an apprentice, replied, "We were bored, so we decided to explore. Momma wasn't watching us, so we left her side and started to explore your territory." His eyes shone. "The forest is fun!"
Sundapple, a golden warrior, nudged Yarrowstem. "They're hardly six moons old," he told the black and white cat. "They won't do any harm."
This time, all of the intruders' eyes blazed.
"We're not kits!" meowed one of them, a black she-cat. "We're ten moons old!"
"What's going on?" Hazelpaw whirled around to find Lightstripe and Daisypaw running over to her.
"There're three cats on our territory," Hazelpaw informed them.
Yarrowstem was sniffing the three kits. "Well, you're all pretty small for ten-moon-old cats."
This time, the gray-and-black tabby answered. "Well, it is leaf-bare," she pointed out. "Or had you forgotten?"
The black she-cat whirled around to face her brother. "What mousebrains they are!"
The members of the patrol started to bristle; though Hazelpaw noted that the pure white tom didn't respond, just stared at Daisypaw and Lightstripe.
"You're just as mousebrained if you decide to leave your mother in this kind of weather!" Grasspelt snapped.
"Mousebrained?" Hazelpaw whispered to Daisypaw.
"They mean not very smart," Daisypaw told her. Her fur began to prickle with unease. "Why's that white cat staring at me like that?"
As though on cue, the white tom looked away. Trying to soothe the awkwardness between her sister and the intruders, Hazelpaw asked the tom, "What's your name? Are these your littermates?"
The white tom blinked. "Oh. My name's White. My sisters are Night and Sky. Night's the black one, and Sky's the tabby."
Before Hazelpaw could reply, Sundapple mewed, "Let's escort them off the territory. Their mother must be worried."
White looked like he was about to protest, but then Sky flicked his ear with her tail. "Come on, White. Leave these mousebrains and let's go home."
Grasspelt, Moonlight and Sundapple led the way out of their territory. White shot one despairing glance back at the territory and followed the warriors and his sisters. Hazelpaw got the feeling that he wanted to stay here. Even then, the white cat kept glancing back, almost as if he couldn't bear to leave.
But couldn't bear to leave what? Hazelpaw thought. She had noticed that White's glances were mostly aimed at the departing figure of Daisypaw. Even as Hazelpaw trailed after her sister, she could feel White's burning green gaze on her pelt, until the leafless trees hid them from his sight.