Sunlight shown brightly through the lichen hanging over the entrance. Aurorastar slowly opened her eyes, her jaws parting in a huge yawn. She stretched and licked her fur clean. The voices of the SunClan cats outside sounded like bird song to Aurorastar. She ambled out of the den and sat on the smooth surface of Brightledge, forcing away the urge to lie back down in her nest.

Aurorastar felt her body relax as she watched her Clan. Nightclaw and Redpalm were sharing a squirrel, while Playingbreeze and Fireleaf were slowing making there way over to join them. Cheetahpaw was in a mock battle with Skypaw, and the two apprentices scuffled along the sandy ground near the apprentice's den. Their den was a small pine tree growing at the edge of the camp. It had low hanging branches and brambles that surrounded it, creating a perfect den for smaller cats.

SunClan's camp was a hallow in the ground of a forest. It almost looked like a great cat came down from the sky and scooped out a pawfull of dirt from the ground. Large stones surrounded the camp, one of these pale gray stones being Brightledge. Brightledge lay up against a much larger stone, where the leader's den was.

Aurorastar eyed a small, abandoned looking den near the nursery. A hint of grief struck her when seeing this. It was the elder's den, though currently empty. Their last elder had died last leafbare. Brackenshadow had been a kind tom, very friendly especially with younger cats. She eyed Cheetahpaw and Skypaw again.

If only SunClan had elders again. Our apprentice have very little duties helping the Clan through their service other than hunting.

Tigerfang padded out of the warrior's den, a smaller hallow under a large stone near Brightledge. He padded over to Wolfsong, giving her ear a friendly lick.

Those two have been very close lately, Aurorastar observed to herself. Her whiskers twitched in amusement.

A wail of protest sounded from Starwhisper's bramble den. A quiet murmur answered it, but Aurorastar was too far away to hear what was being said. However, she had already guessed. A half moon had passed since Swiftpaw's injury occurred, and the young apprentice had already healed internally. Her chest wound was still not entirely healed, and she had to stay in Starwhisper's den under the medicine cat's eyes until she was. Swiftpaw was not pleased with the fact that her friends were training and she was not, but Starwhisper's quiet murmurs of encouragement seemed to help Swiftpaw's recovery.

"Maybe I could play moss ball with her." A small light brown she cat with black streaks appeared at the entrance of the medicine den. Aurorastar pricked her ears. Starwhisper had recently taken on an apprentice, Birchpaw. The young little she cat was very enthusiastic about her training, and she was trying hard to help Swiftpaw through her injury.

Starwhisper had come out to meet her apprentice. She was shaking her sleek black head, eyes severe. "No, Birchpaw, I'm sorry. I can't afford to have the wound open up again. You will both just have to be patient."

Birchpaw just nodded, her green eyes still bright. "Can you and I go do herb training then?"

Starwhisper's eyes softened. "Yes, of course," she mewed, flicking her tail. After murmuring something to Swiftpaw, the two set off, side by side, out of camp.

Aurorastar sighed. Maybe she should get her own apprentice. It had been a couple seasons since she had been a mentor, her last apprentice being young Petalblossom.

Petalblossom is a fine warrior now, she commented. She has chosen a mate, Silverblaze, and is now expecting his kits.

The two young cats sat next to each other, sharing prey near the warriors den. They were happy, along with the rest of SunClan. The strange scents they had found on their territory had seemed to disappear since the Gathering, and the Clan had seemed all the more calm and cheerful because of it.

A loud commotion stormed through the entrance, alerting Aurorastar. She leaped down from Brightledge, all senses alert. It was the border patrol, rushing back with wide, scared eyes and bristled fur. Aurorastar noticed with horror that claw marks scored over their flesh, and Lionstrike had a bad gash on his shoulder.

"What happened?" Aurorastar exclaimed anxiously.

Lionstrike gave his shoulder a quick lick. "We were ambushed," he rasped, sounding exhausted. "We couldn't tell who they were exactly. They jumped us when we weren't looking. They were definitely cats though." His dark gray fur began to lay flat, but it was torn in many places, and the silver stripes that lay over his pelt looked dirty and messy. "If you ask me," he continued, "it was ShadowClan."

"ShadowClan!" a tom named Bluefire snarled. "They were cowardly rogues! No Clan would be such a lame coward to jump a patrol in their own territory!"

Lionstrike narrowed his eyes, and Bluefire sank his claws into the dirt, as if expecting Lionstrike to attack him. Bluefire's sister, Nightglow, ran over to him to calm him down, whispering a few words into his ear that Aurorastar could not make out.

"Both Lionstrike and Bluefire have logical points," Nightglow mewed after a long pause. "Rogues and ShadowClan could both easily be an explanation to this."

Aurorastar nodded. "I'm going to take a patrol out there myself," she declared. "Bluemoon, Rainfall, Honeysplash, Moonshine, and Sunsplash, you come with me."

The three she cats, Bluemoon, Sunsplash, and Honeysplash, who were busy talking amongst themselves nearby, stopped and ran to their leader's side when they heard their names. The toms, Moonshine and Rainfall, were already next to Aurorastar, their claws unsheathed as if they were imagining sinking their claws into what was threatening their Clan.

"Let's go!" Aurorastar raced to the entrance, her patrol at her side.

"What will we do if we encounter these cats?" Rainfall asked, his eyes wide with worry and his ears flat. His blue-gray fur was bristled out, and Aurorastar realized that this was an intense event for even more stronger and experienced warriors like Rainfall.

"We should fight them!" Moonshine snarled, lashing his white tail.

"But do we really want to take the risk?" Sunsplash asked. "Even one of our strong border patrols could not chase a few of these cats off." Her light ginger tabby fur shimmered in the dappled sunlight.

"We are SunClan warriors!" Honeysplash said with determination. "We can take on anything!" She raced forward in a flash of golden brown fur.

Aurorastar narrowed her eyes. "Honeysplash is right," she said. "We are SunClan warriors, and we'll do whatever it takes to drive them off!" She waved her tail when she saw satisfaction flash in Rainfall's eyes.

Suddenly, she saw Honeysplash standing still in front of her. She skidded to a halt next to her Clanmate, wondering why she had stopped so suddenly. Then, she saw it.

A huge black tom stood in front of them, flanked by six other rogue cats. Their eyes blazed with the thirst for blood, and they sank their cruel looking claws into the dirt.

"Well, what do we have here?" a deep voice spoke.

I hope you liked it!

The wolfs poet: Thanks for your critical review! When Eclipsewing says "you were chosen by SunClan and the Clan," I actually meant to say "StarClan and the Clan," so that was a typo mess up. Thanks for pointing it out! ^.^