Warriors: Impending Storm (ON PAUSE)

Chapter One

CHAPTER ONE

When Quail Feather stood at the shoreline, her paws digging into the warm white sands and her fur buffeted by the gentle breeze, she felt as if she were standing at the edge of the world.

            The young she-cat had been visiting the beach for some time now, long before she was old enough to be out alone, standing at the edge of the deep blue waters with her breath caught in her throat and her eyes as wide as full moons. As the waves lapped at the shore, as the sharp smell of salt reached her nostrils, she always gazed towards the edge of the horizon, where the mists shrouded the other side of the lake in shimmering grey shadows. Her paws itched with the desire to wade into the cold water, and swim as far as she could, to where the edge of the oak trees lay—but fear and duty held her back, and as Quail Feather turned her gaze away from the Starpool, she closed her eyes and parted her jaws, letting the scents of dozens of other cats waft across her scent glands.

            She was a Tribe cat. Not a rogue. She had family, and friends. She had a home to protect.

            Behind her, the pine forest stretched towards the east for what seemed like miles, covering the hills and valleys and fanning out along the edges of the lake like thousands of dark claws grasping towards the sunlight. No matter how desperately she stared across the lake, Quail Feather always found her paws leading her back into the dark shadows of the forest, where familiarity lay.

            I am of the Tribe of the Rising Sun, she mewed. I will always return to the east, as my namesake tells me to.

            Quail Feather's paws felt as heavy as stones as she padded away from the beach, leaving the warm sands and the dark waters behind her. As she began her ascent up one of the wooded hills, her muscles straining from the climb, she cast one last glance towards the Starpool. Her ears twitching, Quail Feather found her heart aching with a familiar feeling of longing that made her breath catch in her throat.

            "I will see what hides within that mist one day," she murmured to herself. "I promise."

            "Oh, will you?"

            Quail Feather felt the fur along her spine rise as a familiar voice spoke up from the shadows. Her head snapped back towards the hillside, her bright blue gaze turning upwards as the scent of one of her Tribemates wafted through her nostrils. She resisted the urge to wrinkle her nose as she recognized it, barely able to conceal her disgust.

            "Badger's Paw," she mewed, keeping her tone level but sharp. "I didn't know you were following me."

            At the crest of the hill, shrouded in the darkness of the pine trees, a gray-and-white tomcat lay stretched out luxuriously beneath the branch of an overgrown berry bush, his tail arched high in the air and his claws unsheathed as he stretched his long legs towards the sky. He gazed at her with curious suspicion in his eyes, his narrow face as pointed and cunning as a rat's. His scent was sharp like a fox, musky and bitter, and Quail Feather resisted the urge to run her tongue along her jaws with revulsion.

            "I wasn't following you," the young tom replied, flexing his front paws. "I was heading down to the lake to meet a friend of mine, if you know what I mean." Badger's Paw's eyes gleamed like golden moons in the pale darkness. He rolled over onto his belly, tucking his long legs beneath him as he gazed down at the speckled brown tabby she-cat. "What are you doing at the Starpool?"

            "Watching the tides." It was not really a lie, Quail Feather told herself. As often as she visited the Starpool, she had gotten to know the flow of the waters, and had seen both tides come and go more times than she could count.