Warriors [ United Shadows ] < book 1 >

Chapter 1

Rainpaw quickly ran across the path leaving from the moonpool. He felt his mentor nudge him to quicken his pace. Rain pounded down onto the cats pelts, soaking them and the ground underneath. Rainpaw received another nudge from his mentor, making him slip across the cold stone. He quickly stood up, sensing a deep rumble from the ground he looked up in fear. A huge wave of mud was crashing down the mountain, he saw small trees and rubble get sucked inside of the wave of mud. "Rainpaw! Hurry! We must get to Riverclan and tell them what Starclan has sent us!" His mentor, Sagefish, shoved him as hard as the blind cat could. The rumbling became louder and it was getting closer and closer as the moments passed by. "Sagefish! Hurry, you're gonna be crushed!" The tabby yelled out to his mentor. Mistymist grabbed the scared cats scruff and dragged him away from the mudslide. "Sagefish!" Rainpaw screeched out, trying to grasp at his mentor. "Farewell Rainpaw! I'll see you in Starclan! May Starclan light your path!" Sagefish yelled out to his apprentice, quickly being swept away by the incoming mud. "Stop! Let me go! We need to save him!" Rainpaw yelled out slashing at the golden tom that dragged him away. He quickly got out of the other medicine cat's grasp and ran towards the spot his mentor was last seen. He could see his mentor being dragged away from him. "Sagefish!" The apprentice yowled out, pacing back and forth. "Rainpaw! Get away from there you're going to be swept away!" His friend Splitpaw warned as she hobbled over. "We have to save him!" The grey tabby choked out. "Yeah, but we have to wait for the mud to finish coming down!" Splitpaw tried to reason with her friend. "He'll be dead by then! Sagefish I'm coming!" Rainpaw yelled out. Leaping into the mudslide and being washed away in it. "Rainpaw you mouse brain!" Runningtuft yelled out to the apprentice. Rainpaw didn't listen instead pushed his way through to his mentor. "Rainpaw? Rainpaw what are you doing here?!" Sagefish yelled out to his apprentice. "Saving you!" He grabbed his mentor by the scruff and continued pushing his way to the end of the rubble. He struggled against the mudslides current. "Let go Rainpaw." Sagefish said sadly. "Save yourself." Rainpaw quickly looked down at his mentor.

"No I will not! I'm saving you! I need you to finish teaching me before you leave!" Rainpaw yelled. His yell was muffled by the fur in his mouth. He continued pushing his way towards the moonpool path. "Rainpaw you actually made it!" Mossystem yelled out. "Of course I did I'm not leaving anyone behind!" He responded. StoneTuft helped pull Sagefish back onto the path. "You guys shouldn't of risked your lives." Sagefish whispered. "I said I'm not leaving you behind!" Rainpaw turned around and yelled at his mentor. "Yeah what Rainpaw said!" Splitpaw chimes in. "We should head back to our territories, and you should get to your camp as soon as possible Sagefish." Mistymist told the other medicine cats. "Yes I agree with Mistymist, we must get back to our respective camps as soon as possible." Mossystem piped in nervously. A few of them nodded and they continued their journey down the moonpool path.

Rainpaw aided Sagefish through the territory that separated Thunderclan and Windclan. Runningtuft, Mistymist, and Splitpaw separated at the border and they left towards their own camps. Rainpaw along with the fawn tom and ginger she-cat continued down the path towards the lake. They trotted in a comfortable silence until Sagefish started to lag behind. "Huh? Oh Sagefish do you need help to your camp?" Mossystem asked worriedly. "That would be really-" Sagefish started. "No that's ok, I've got him!" Rainpaw butted in. Mossystem looked at Rainpaw skeptically. "Uhh... ok, I'll see you at the next gathering then." She veered off towards the right crossing Thunderclan's territory and into Shadowclan. Rainpaw aided Sagefish toward the left, they continued their walk towards their territory. "Why did you interrupt her Rainpaw?" His mentor asked. "Because she'll want to stay to make sure that you're fine, but we have to tell Brindlestar the information Starclan gave us immediately." Rainpaw explained to the injured tom. "Ah, so you didn't want her snooping? She's a medicine cat so why would she snoop? Along with that question, why should we hold this information from her, all of the clans are in danger so why hold back information?" His mentor interrogated the apprentice. "Starclan would of told the other medicine cats if they needed to know, which it seems they didn't, but if they did tell all of us but everyone is skeptical of each other then it's important she gets back to her camp to tell her leader immediately." Rainpaw explained his reasoning. Sagefish hummed in response.