Chapter 2:

Stormstar's POV:

The clearing was bright, the half-full moon shining down on the silent and still clearing. Just then, a breeze ruffled the ferns and a stormy-grey cat appeared.

The tom looked around warily, his blue eyes narrowed. Just then, a misty outline began to form in front of the StormClan leader.

Blinking in confusion, Stormstar stepped back, his tail lashing back and forth. "Stormstar..." the outline whispered quietly, the gleam of amber eyes fixated on the leader.

"Who... Who are you?" Stormstar demanded.

"It matters not who I am, but what does matter, is what will soon happen to your Clan," the cat spoke, eyes gleaming with a fierce light.

As the misty cat spoke, Stormstar narrowed his blue eyes even further, his face beginning to twist into a snarl. "Are you from the Dark Forest?"

The misty cat began to laugh, throwing its head back, the laugh piercing the still sky with its cold edge. "As I have said before, it matters not who I am or where I come from," the cat chuckled, looking back at the snarling leader.

"Get out of my sight!" Stormstar snarled, stepping forward, his tail lashing dangerously. In reply, the misty outline of the cat smirked and said mockingly, "Farewell, Stormstar, leader of StormClan." Then with those last words, the outline disappeared completely, leaving the StormClan leader alone once again in the clearing.

Jaycloud's POV:

The deputy woke up to the sound of whispering cats.

Blinking open her bright blue eyes, she looked around the warriors' den and noticed Speckwind and Ashtail talking in low voices to one another.

"Yes, but I truly believe that something is amiss in DuskClan," Ashtail whispered back worriedly. She and Speckwind had been on the patrol that had first scented DuskClan's scent growing fainter before Stormstar's patrol only specified that something was amiss.

"Well, what do you think could be wrong with DuskClan? Surely, they haven't been driven off or anything of the sort," Speckwind asked the grey she-cat.

"No, I don't think that's what's going on, Speckwind. I think they've been attacked or something," Ashtail wondered.

At that moment, Jaycloud decided to show that she was awake already. She twitched slightly, her tail flicking and yawned, sitting up. The two she-cats seemed surprised at Jaycloud's sudden wakening. "Morning, Speckwind and Ashtail," Jaycloud purred, looking at them with her bright blue eyes.

"Hello, Jaycloud," Ashtail replied, dipping her head slightly. The white she-cat did the same, smiling lightly.

"Wake the other warriors, will you?" Jaycloud asked, getting up to her paws. "I'm going to start to assemble the patrols soon." "Alright, Jaycloud," the two warriors meowed, turning to face the other sleeping warriors.

Yawning, the deputy padded out of the warriors' den and into the empty camp clearing. Well, sort of empty, considering that some apprentices were out already.

She padded to the fresh-kill pile to grab herself a plump mouse. Sitting down by the Highrock, she started eating her mouse, thinking of what the two she-cats had said before when she had barely woken up. Is it true that DuskClan had been attacked? Or maybe it's something worse that had afflicted them... she thought worriedly.

Approaching pawsteps made the deputy look up, the remains of the mouse lying at her paws. Quickly, she buried them and went to clean her fur. "Good morning, Jaycloud," Mousestreak smiled slightly.

"Greetings, Mousestreak," purred the dark-grey she-cat lightly. "How are you today?"

"I'm fine, thanks for asking," came the shy reply to the deputy's question. Jaycloud nodded slightly.

"Are the other warriors awake yet?"

"They're getting up now, I believe," Mousestreak reported, glancing back at the warriors' den.

"Alright, well, can you be the leader of a hunting patrol? You can choose your cats when the others come out." Mousestreak nodded before he padded to a different spot in the camp.

Soon enough, Speckwind appeared in the entrance to the warriors' den. "Speckwind," called the deputy, noticing the white she-cat.

"Yes?" Speckwind padded up to the deputy, her head tilted curiously.

"You're on the border patrol. The other cats will be accompanying you as followed: Ashtail, Pebblestone, Ripplepaw, and Maplecreek. Check around the DuskClan border and also the border we have with OwlClan. We haven't checked around there for a while," Jaycloud informed, looking at the white warrior.

"Very well, Jaycloud. I'll get the others and we'll set off immediately," Speckwind replied before she padded to where Ashtail was standing, murmuring to her in a low voice. Ashtail then nodded in understanding and went into the apprentices' cave.

Speckwind's POV:

After Maplecreek and Ripplepaw arrived, we set off, heading towards the DuskClan border first before we moved onto the border with OwlClan.

Speckwind noticed that Ashtail was right beside her while the others were following behind. She turned to her friend and murmured, "Do you think DuskClan's dawn patrol will be there when we arrive?"

Ashtail thought for a moment before she replied back, keeping her voice low so as not for the others to overhear their little conversation. "I'm not sure, I mean, there's the situation with DuskClan. We don't know if they're injured or not. Maybe they've been driven off their territory."

Speckwind was shocked at the mere suggestion of DuskClan being driven off. "But what could have driven them off, if that's the case? It couldn't have been one of the other Clans. We've been at peace for over a moon now."

Ashtail shrugged, then simply said, "We don't know yet until we actually arrive at the border." Frowning, Speckwind nodded reluctantly before she turned her gaze to the path ahead.

As they neared the border, Maplecreek suddenly stopped, her amber eyes carefully neutral, but narrowed. The others stopped as well, noticing the she-cat's sudden stop.

"What is it, Maplecreek?" Pebblestone inquired, his eyes gleaming with curiousity as he gazed at the warrior.

"Do you smell that?" Maplecreek asked, turning her attention back to the patrol.

Confused, the patrol cats all sniffed the air uncertainly. It was a long moment of silence before Ashtail replied hesitantly, "Yes... it smells like a rogue has been in our territory recently."

Pebblestone flicked his ear slightly towards the breeze before nodding in agreement. "So, what should we do about it?" Ripplepaw questioned, looking up at the senior warriors. "We'll deal with it later. For now, we'll just finish the patrol," Speckwind decided, flicking her tail in thought.

The others nodded in understanding before they resumed their walk to the border. When they finally reached the border, they noticed that the scent marks were fresh, unlike yesterday and the day before.

"Huh, guess DuskClan is busy with something that's troubling them. I mean, they just refreshed their scent markers, by the smell of it," remarked Pebblestone, glancing over at DuskClan territory.

Speckwind nodded and cast a glance at Ashtail who was looking around, before Speckwind raised her tail and refreshed their side of the border.

When the patrol was about to go to the OwlClan border, they heard a distant yowl, not far from where they were at, currently. Shocked, they turned towards the noise that was coming from inside DuskClan territory. The yowl came again, but this time more louder than before.

"Come on, they might need our help!" Pebblestone raced over the border with the bewildered patrol following behind.

A/N: Cliffhanger! :D So, what do you think is happening with DuskClan right now? And who do you think yowled, was it a rogue, loner, or one of the DuskClan cats? Review, please. :3