ilikebackgroundcharacters- Thanks for the review. Yes, I meant to mix the books since it's kind of a crossover of DOTC and Prophecies Begin.
"Another day of sunshine!" Graystripe mewed to his companions cheerfully as they walked through the territory. Dustpelt snorted, Thornpaw gave him a blank look and Brackenpaw yawned.
Clearly no one else shared his enthusiasm.
They arrived at the edge of the hollow and Thornpaw raced forward with Brackenpaw at his tail.
"So, what're we teaching them today?" Dustpelt muttered.
"We'll show them the best places to hunt I suppose," Graystripe answered.
"Where?" Thornpaw skidded over with Brackenpaw again. "What are we hunting?"
"We're going to Sunningrocks," Dustpelt decided. "And you can catch whatever you find."
"I'd like to catch a robin," Thornpaw declared. "Now, which way is Sunningrocks?"
"This way." Graystripe led them out of the hollow, Brackenpaw by his side.
They made their way to Sunningrocks. The sun was shining above the trees by the time they got there. Ahead of them, a slope of rocks rose out from the earth.
The ginger brothers jumped onto them. "It's so warm!" Thornpaw exclaimed.
They rested at the top for a moment. Graystripe closed his eyes and listened to the gentle bubble of the river, although it was quieter than usual. "Make the most of the sun," he said. "Leafbare will be here soon."
"Dad told us this is where Redtail died," Brackenpaw mewed quietly.
"Yeah," Graystripe said.
"And where Tigerclaw avenged his death by killing Oakheart!" Thornpaw piped up.
"Yep," Dustpelt sighed, looking sad at the mention of his first mentor.
Suddenly, Graystripe could hear a noise. "Wait. What's that sound?"
The two apprentices froze.
"I think I hear it," Brackenpaw whispered. "Like scratching."
"It might be a vole," Graystripe murmured. "Can you tell where it's coming from?"
"Over there!" Thornpaw hissed. The creature heard and the scratching stopped.
"You have to be silent," Dustpelt remarked. Thornpaw looked annoyed, but Brackenpaw snickered at his brother's mistake.
"It's okay," Graystripe said. "At least you've learned a valuable lesson–be quiet!"
"You have to sit and listen," Dustpelt advised. "Next time we hear something, work out where it came from and stalk slowly toward it."
They remained still, not daring to move until they heard scratching again. Dustpelt stood and moved forward in the hunter's crouch. Once he reached a crack in the boulder, he scooped out a vole and swiftly killed it.
"Wow!" Thornpaw said. "Let me try!"
Graystripe sighed at his loud voice.
"Hush!" Dustpelt snapped around his mouthful of prey. "You'll scare away all the animals yelling like that."
Graystripe nodded. "Let's head back into the trees. We'll find more prey there."
But suddenly, Thornpaw dashed away and Dustpelt followed, exasperated. He was definitely like his sister, Cinderpaw, while Brightpaw was more calm like Brackenpaw. Graystripe followed amused with his own apprentice behind him.
The river was frozen when they reached it.
"I wanted to see," Thornpaw explained at his mentor's glare. The brown tabby just huffed and adjusted the grip on his vole.
Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, Graystripe caught sight of a vole and without thinking, he launched himself out onto the ice.
"Come back!" Dustpelt yowled, but the ice had already cracked under his weight and with a yelp Graystripe fell in.
His limbs froze as the icy water swept him away from the opening he had made, trapping him under the ice.
He panicked as he tried to thrash back towards the hole, but the current was more strong and his limbs weakened from the icy chill.
StarClan, help! He thought.
After a while of being pulled under the ice, he gave up his struggle and admitted defeat. At least I'll see Ravenpaw…and Sandstorm…
Suddenly, something gripped his scruff and pulled him back the way he came. He was pulled out of the icy water and flung onto the bank.
"GRAYSTRIPE!"
Suddenly, he was attacked by two tongues. "Agh! Geroff!" He grumbled, pushing at the apprentices. Dustpelt hovered behind them nervously.
Graystripe blinked water out of his eyes and looked to see the weird cat, River Ripple. "Thanks," he croaked.
"Of course," the silver tom meowed kindly. "I couldn't have just let you die."
"Even if we're ThunderClan?" Graystripe asked. He knew his clan wasn't the most popular since Thistlestar took over.
"Of course, besides…you're not all bad," River Ripple murmured so quietly only Graystripe heard.
"Yeah, well, thanks," Dustpelt sighed, looking sad again. He must have been remembering Sandstorm. "I couldn't bare to lose another friend."
River Ripple gave him a sympathetic smile before he left back to the other side of the river.
Graystripe sneezed.
"C'mon, let's get you back to camp before you die too," Dustpelt muttered.
The sun had set and stars littered the sky.
Gray Wing headed to the camp entrance. Another normal day had passed. Turns out the fire hadn't been anywhere near their camp.
Thunder, Ash Blaze, and Ivy Breeze were doing well in their training and today, Skystar had made Lightning Tail and Acorn Fur join them in the apprentice's den. Rainswept Flower and Fircone were their mentors.
"Going somewhere?" said she-cat asked. She was on guard that night.
"I think I'll sleep outside tonight," Gray Wing replied.
Rainswept Flower nodded. "I don't envy you in this cold. But then I guess I'm freezing my tail off just sitting here as well."
Gray Wing chuckled.
The gray tom continued out into the trees until he found a gap that showed the sky. His throat had been aching for days. Cloud Spots gave him honey, but it seemed to do nothing for it.
He found a comfortable spot on a mossy boulder and laid on his back to look up at the stars. He felt tired and almost drifted off.
Suddenly, he heard a small sound that warned him of company.
"Surprise!" Turtle Tail laughed, jumping on the boulder beside him.
Gray Wing smiled at his mate and touched his nose to her cheek, though he could see concern in her eyes.
"You sounded different earlier," Turtle Tail said. "Is your voice okay? And I noticed you were limping."
Gray Wing sighed. He couldn't lie to her. "I burnt my leg and breathed in a lot of smoke. Where are the kits?"
"They're fine," Turtle Tail said. "They're asleep with Ravenpaw. It's nice to have a kit-sitter."
Gray Wing purred and the two of them curled up together, feeling more warm from the night chill.
Low voices rose Gray Wing from his light sleep. He blinked his eyes open to see Rainswept Flower standing over him with Owl Eyes, Sparrow Fur and Pebble Heart. They stood around the edge of the boulder.
Rainswept Flower's eyes were full of mischief. "There you are!" she exclaimed. "You look so cozy."
The kits squeaked before throwing themselves on their parents, scrambling over them.
Gray Wing smiled, feeling warm and happy.
Thistlestar looked back at the other cat, who sat staring at him, head tilted. They were in the training hollow.
He shook his head with a sigh. Before turning to face them.
After a while, he stopped by the stream for a drink and headed back to camp.
Luckily, a fox had passed in the hollow recently. He sneered with pleasure as he strutted into camp.
Crickets chirped and the stars shone down on his camp as he headed to his den.
I know this last part is vague, but it'll be more obvious what happened in the next chapter, unless you've already guessed what happened.