Warriors: The Darkest Shadow [Book 1]

Chapter 18

{I remade Shadepaw, tell me what you think, new or old?}

     Redheart nodded silently. "I can't kill one of them!" Shadepaw exclaimed, "No my dear, you misunderstood. StarClan will take care of that, you need to pick who we will punish." Redheart meowed, it was obvious he didn't like putting all this pressure on a poor apprentice.

     Shadepaw sighed, I must pick one. But which one, Greycloud was the one who asked, but Bluefeather was the one who said yes. She thought, her thoughts swirling more then the wind, but suddenly it dawned on her. Bluefeather said yes, she could have said no, but she said yes! Shadepaw thought. It was obvious who should be punished.

     "Ok Redheart, tell StarClan I have chosen Bluefeather to be punished, but not before Birdpaw becomes a medicine cat. She has barely been training for two moons, wait one more moon. Then punish Bluefeather the day Birdpaw becomes a real medicine cat." Shadepaw said.

     Redheart nodded, his fur slowly disappeared, "Wait! Redheart, where does Lynxpaw live! Otterpaw said she had a brother who left and became a kittypet, where does he live! The prophecy says 'The Lynx will reveal every thing about the Shadow.' Is there more I must do!" She suddenly exclaimed, the tom still disappearing.

     "There is one thing you must do first, find the runaway Smoke, the Smoke will lead you to the Lynx." Redheart said, then he disappeared completely, his scent following. "Wait, Redheart! Come back!" She yelled, but the forest starting fading as well.

     Shadepaw jumped up, letting her eyes get adjusted to the bright moonpool. "Shadepaw? Are you ok?" Otterpaw meowed to her, the leaf green eyes glaring at her in concern. "I'm fine, is Smallstar and Silverstar awake?" She asked, Otterpaw shook her head.

     "No, but Birdpaw and Spottedcloud are awake." She meowed, pointing her tail towards the two chatting she-cats. "Did- Did StarClan talk with you?" She asked, "Y- No sadly." She lied, Shadepaw couldn't tell this RiverClan apprentice what she was told.

     "Are you sure?" She asked, her eyes looked as if they knew something, "I- uh- uh-" Shadepaw stammered, but before the apprentice could nag anymore, a tail rested rested on her shoulder.

     "Otterpaw, curious as usual, leave this apprentice alone, you want her to nag you for answers you don't want to give?" Silverstar meowed to Otterpaw, "Yeah. Bring it on!" Otterpaw said, her eyes were gleaming with pride and stubbornness.

     Silverstar's blue eyes shined with challenge, "Ok then, why don't you go over there and tell Lakepaw your feelings." She said, Otterpaw's face suddenly went a light shade of red, "Otterpaw? You ok?" Shadepaw said, a teasing glare escaped from her eyes.

     "Bye Silverstar. May StarClan light your path." Smallstar meowed, the sun had started to rise by the time they made it into ThunderClan territory.

     A small twig snapped from behind them, "Smallstar? Did you hear that?" Birdpaw meowed, the leaders ear didn't even twitch, "I heard it Birdpaw." Larkpaw said, Shadepaw nodded and looked around, two ice-blue eyes flashed from behind a group of trees.

     "Did you guys see that?" She whispered, "See what?" Birdpaw asked, "N-Nothing." She muttered, but something nagged at her mind the rest of the way there.

     When they entered camp, Dustwing rushed up to Smallstar, "Smallstar, a patrol this morning picked up fresh scents of a rogue, shall I take a patrol to investigate it?" She asked, her sand colored fur was well groomed for a busy deputy.

     "Very well, take Shadepaw, Featherstep, Bluesky and Lionclaw." Smallstar said, then padded past her to the fresh-kill pile, "Ok, Shadepaw, go get Featherstep, I'll go get Bluesky and Lionclaw." Dustwing said, then trotted towards the warrior den.

     As exhausted as Shadepaw was, it didn't stop her from being excited as she padded to the apprentice den, where she found a proud Featherstep sharing a thrush with Blazepaw, "Featherstep, Dustwing said you have to go on a patrol to check out a rogue scent." Shadepaw meowed to her.

     Featherstep sighed, obvious she was enjoying her time with her son, and didn't want to go on some patrol, but she got up and padded to the entrance of camp, Shadepaw followed.

     "Can we make this quick, I finally got time with my ever busy kit, and I have to go on a patrol!" Featherstep snapped to herself, "Sorry Featherstep. I know what you mean, I just got back from the moonpool, but at least you can feel some importance." Shadepaw mewed, staring blankly at the ground.

     "Sorry it took so long, Lionclaw was impossible to find." Said Dustwing as they approached, earning a small giggle from Bluesky, "Shadepaw! There you are!" Bluesky meowed happily as she rubbed her muzzle against Shadepaw's.

     "Lets go." Meowed Dustwing, Featherstep followed, chatting with Bluesky, Lionclaw trailed behind them, silently padding, his eyes on the snowy ground.

     "This is where the scent was, look around." Dustwing ordered, the small patrol instantly splitting off, Shadepaw padded to a bramble patch and sniffed around, ignoring the thorns tearing into her pelt.

     Suddenly paw prints in the snow caught her eye, she sniffed them, expecting to find Lionclaw's scent, but she found a new scent. Rogue! "Dustwing! I found paw prints." She exclaimed, a second later the sandy pelt appeared from behind a young oak tree, its shriveling branches blew easily in the cold harsh Leaf-bare wind.

     "Rogue." Dustwing hissed, she called to the others, they appeared a moment later. "Featherstep, you have the best nose out of all of us, can you track it?" She asked, Featherstep nodded and opened her jaws.

     "Follow the paw prints, the scent is fresh, we'll find the rogue at the end of the trail." Featherstep said, then padded over to Bluesky, exchanging a worried glance with Shadepaw's mother. 

     "What's wrong?" Shadepaw whispered as they followed the paw prints, "Nothings wrong Shadepaw." Bluesky meowed quickly. There's something they're not telling me. Shadepaw thought, but didn't say anything else about it.

     As they followed the trail, Shadepaw started smelling a fresher scent, and she felt as if someone was watching her. "Its gone cold." Featherstep remarked.

     "Looking for someone." A tom's voice sounded from behind them. Featherstep and Bluesky froze as they turned around.

     It was a light grey tom with ice-blue eyes and darker grey stripes, his eyes looked identical to Cloudpaw's, and Bluesky's. Featherstep stepped forward, only a few mouse-lengths from him.

     "S-Smokepelt?" Featherstep whimpered, her lake-blue eyes reflecting his ice-blue ones. "Smokepelt!" Featherstep exclaimed happily, rubbing her muzzle against his. "Hey Smokepelt." Bluesky muttered, wrapping her tail around Shadepaw.