Chapter I
"Breezepaw! Mintpaw! Leafpaw! Smokepaw!" The cats of DuskClan cheered on as a litter of kits proudly stood alongside their mentors and leader. It would probably seem rather unreal, if you were standing there, that a flood had just devastated the area a couple of weeks ago. Yet that was exactly what had happened, and the now-named Smokepaw had saved innumerable lives.
"Right then, that was exciting, but now we can get to the hard work." Smokepaw's mentor Petalflight mewed in a let's-get-down-to-business tone, though her eyes were still smiling. "I can't wait!" Leafpaw pressed against her brother as they headed towards the camp's entrance.
"If only Falconkit was here too." Breezepaw added mournfully, her eyes clouding over. Recently, Falconkit, their sister had drowned in the flood, leaving her sisters and brother grieving. "Don't worry. I'm sure she's looking down on us and feeling happy for us in StarClan." Smokekit comforted his sister.
Once they were free of the camp they had grown up in, the four apprentices leaped over every single obstacle in their path, happy to be apprentices and not little kits in the nursery. Sure, they missed innocent life as a kit with Snowhaze, but that was way behind them now.
"We'll take you on a short border patrol to get you to know the territory. Is that okay?" Bumbleberry, who was Breezepaw's mentor asked, though she was already leading the way towards their left. "Sounds great!" Mintpaw cheered, bouncing around like she had just become a warrior.
Her siblings laughed at her happy-go-lucky attitude, and though Mintpaw turned a frown on them, it soon became laughter. "Sensible, apprentices." Fawnberry reminded them, trotting in front. "We're reaching the DawnClan border." Bumbleberry explained, flicking her tail towards the border as they neared it.
On the other side, Smokepaw could see the pelts of several cats on the other side of the border. They looked friendly enough, but Smokepaw wasn't yet sure he wanted to mingle with cats from other Clans, though Fawnberry was already walking over to them. "Hi, Amberstorm." She dipped her head towards a small creamy-brown she-cat.
The other cats waited patiently a few tail-lengths away from the two chatting cats, Breezepaw's tail waving in slight annoyance. "What are they talking about?" Mintpaw mewed quietly. Smokepaw only shrugged, but did try to find out what was going on.
He couldn't exactly hear what they were saying, but he did hear the words "killed", "traumatic" and "unbelievable". What could Cinderpaw's mother be talking about?
Fawnberry greeted Amberstorm with a cheerful smile. They almost never saw each other, as the Gatherings they both went to were few and far between, and their Clans were incredibly separate anyway. But today, Amberstorm carried a distressed and slightly grieving look.
"What happened?" Fawnberry rested the tip of her tail on her friend's back, talking softly. "Our medicine cat apprentice's sister got killed." Amberstorm's voice was barely a whisper. "Oh no." Fawnberry meowed, sensing the grief this must have caused.
"Her sister - Onepaw - is incredibly traumatic and unable to receive her full name, which is such a shame. It's unbelievable, really. Have you heard of any rogues around recently?" Amberstorm seemed to be returned to her usual chatty state.
"No." Fawnberry shook her head. "I'm pretty sure this is a one-time thing though."
She would soon find out that it was not.
A/N: Yay first chapter! *clap clap clap* Snowsong and Amber, thanks a lot for reviewing! Hope you liked it and I want some constructive criticism. What did I do well? Plot holes? Anything negative?
~Kay