MerleClan

Prologue

Clean, damp grass bowed to the rocky soil right beneath it as nighttime mountain wind ran across it. The cold air filled the ears of any animal outside at this hour, and the waning moon kept it's light alive for another night for those creatures to see. Not much could be heard with the roar of the wind, except the calling out of a hoot owl or the occasional and, hopefully, distant yells of a coyote. The silence remained as two cats walked in the densely fern-filled clearing along a pine forest, walking towards a field some hundred yards away. The pair had walked from their home within the forest, all around the outside borders of the forest in patrol for hours. It was only a bit over an hour until sunrise, so they traveled to the nearest field in hunt for field mice. Suddenly the wind carried the sounds of rustling ferns along it, and the two jumped up and turned around to the clearing, hackles raised.

The pair were warriors. They were the two best left in their clan as of that day, which was why they had been that night's patrol. Tragedy had struck when least expected, and half of the clan was now dead or too injured to work. A pair of coyotes had slipped into the cats' territory, and before reaching the den so that the warriors could jump to action, had slaughtered a cat and three kittens. The clan's second in command, the Deputy named Birchdusk, and another elder had been mauled while defending the rest of the clan's youngest members. The leader, PineStar, had now only his last of nine lives left. There had to be a new Deputy to take Birchdusk's place, and would very likely be one of the pair.
The two were Salmoncatcher and Lightwhisper. Salmoncatcher was an average sized tom cat with a thin light brown and white coat, and marbled eyes of green and yellow. Lightwhisper was a slender tom with a short tabby coat the color of freshly wet mud, and hazel eyes. The pair hadn't brought up who they thought would be chosen yet, but it was in the back of their minds the entire night.

Salmoncatcher glanced over to Lightwhisper, who was crouched towards the ferns as he too was. Both cats' eyes narrowed as they fully prepared themselves to come face-to-face with the coyote pair once again. The strong wind picked up again, and from the distancing rustles of ferns, carried whatever was there away from the territory with it. Lightwhisper turned around and began to pad towards the field in return to the hunt and spoke, "Salmoncatcher, do you believe PineStar will listen to the clan tomorrow, or will he choose the warrior he sees fit or favors?"
Salmoncatcher hadn't thought this far into it yet, his mind still occupied and heart still sprinting from the moment before. "I hope he listens to the elders. Doewatcher has been with him in the medicine den, and I'm sure that he's already been given enough advice for many moons to come" he replied with a chuckle.
Lightwhisper looked up from the ground to shake his head and chuckle back, "oh you've got that right for sure." Just as he had planned on popping the question of whom of the pair, Salmoncatcher lunged ahead and darted after a mouse scurrying through the weeds. Lightwhisper ran after him, hoping this would only be the first prey of many they could bring back to their devastated clan.