Warriors- Rise of the Guardians

Chapter 1

~Fire

<Prologue>

Tigerstar's back, and he's back for vengeance- he intends to enlist his grandson's help. His grandson, as clan leader of Thunderclan, is torn between Tigerstar's threats against his clan and the newly announced prophecy. With the arrival of two young kits that might be coincidentally mentioned in the prophecy, Lionstar must make the toughest decisions that he will ever make in this lifetime.

Chapter 1: Into the territory

Thunder let out a startled yelp as she stumbled on a thorn. It was embedded into her flesh, and she let out a whimper of pain. "Fire, it hurts!" She wailed in distress. Fire, her brother, an orange-brown tabby with striped fur, looking just like her, immediately slowed his steps to wait for his sister. His eyes were full of concern as he whispered, "Are you okay?" Thunder shook her head.

"It really, really hurts. Take it out please, Fire!"

Fire stared at the thorn. Blood was dripping slowly down the sides of the wound, and he frowned. He gripped the thorn firmly in his teeth, accidentally biting into Thunder's flesh, making her wince. Then he tried again, and pulled the thorn out with a quick tug. He spat it onto the forest floor, and looked at his sister.

"Thanks, Fire!"

Thunder's paw was still numb with pain, but it was better now, with the thorn out. They started padding forward again, at a slower pace since Thunder could not keep up with her wounded paw. They continued on, only to realize that their father and brother had gone. Fire growled in displeasure.

"Where's Rock? And Blue's gone too?" Thunder whimpered in fright. She pressed herself closer to her brother. Fire looked around and tried to scent them, but could not detect their scent at all; they were completely lost. They had stopped, standing in a defensive stance under a tree.

A loud, threatening growl sounded from behind them, and they spun around instinctively. They came face to face with five hostile cats, their claws unsheathed, their heads held high. Fire pushed his sister behind him protectively. He growled back boldly, even though he was terrified inside.

These were forest cats, wild and unpredictable; they could kill him with one swipe of their paws. Just thinking of them made him shiver inside. "Touch her and you die!" he spat angrily, his ears flattened. A dark brown tabby stepped out and he glared at Fire.

"Who are you and why are you trespassing?" He asked lowly, his amber eyes narrowing suspiciously. Fire bowed his head as he replied, "I'm sorry, we didn't know there were any cats here. We were just following our father but we got lost." The cat continued to glare at them with a cold, frigid stare. "Oh really? We didn't spot other intruders at our borders. Do not lie to us."

Fire sighed and shook his head in exasperation. "I'm not lying, okay? What do you think two kits can do alone? We obviously need our father!" He spat as if the tabby was a kit. The tabby blinked, then snarled back, "Fine. But you are coming with us. Lionstar will decide what to do with you."

--

Fire and Thunder were hustled mercilessly back to camp. "What are we, hostages?" Thunder muttered crossly under her breath. Fire nudged her and whispered back, "Yeah. It seems that way." Thunder growled in slight anger. "Lionstar! We caught these two kits at our border," the brown-furred tabby cat meowed, dipping his head in respect as another larger and sleeker orange cat bounded down a high rock which jutted unexpectedly out of the ground at the center of the clearing.

He had an aura of authority around him, his posture radiating confidence. The other four cats who had 'captured' Thunder and her brother stepped back to reveal them. Lionstar's eyes glittered as he looked Thunder and Fire up and down. Then he shot a questioning look at his clan mates and another cat explained, "This one," he nodded towards Fire and he let out a soft growl, "said that they were with their father but got lost."