**OLD** Valley Cats: Of Sky and Stone 2- Poison Clouds

Chapter Eight

 Gray covered everything as far as the eye could see, blurring the shadows and smothering the light of the morning sun that filtered through the ominously cloudy sky. Palepaw could barely stare at it long enough, as she needed to keep her paws moving even though she had been awake for less than an hour. No matter how many dawn patrols she went on, she was never fully alert for one.

 It had been little over a moon since Graypaw had gotten his mission, and he had completed it the night before, which also happened to be the first frost. Now, the eager apprentice chattered away with his mentor while, trailing behind, Shattersweep was quizzing Palepaw on things she would know if she was paying attention on the first day of training.

 "And what's the Clan between MeadowClan and MireClan?" the gray-and-black tom barked.

 "Um... GroveClan!"

 "No, it's ConiferClan to the east. You saw it just a few days ago, for snakes' sake!" her ornery mentor snapped.

 "Sure, I've seen it at the horizon, like, twice in my life. And that was at night!" Palepaw dug her claws into the depressingly gray sand, but was met with an unpleasant surprise as cold, wet grains of rock squeezed between her toes.

 "It's still something you should have known moons ago." Shattersweep looked like he wanted to scold her more, but then he took on a condescendingly soft tone. "Palepaw, you're soon to be the oldest apprentice. Once Graypaw joins Tempestwhistle in the warriors' den, you'll be over a year old and stuck with an eight-moon-old and Featherfur's kits. Do you really want them getting their missions before you?"

 "Ugh. No, I guess not." Palepaw kicked at the ground, only grinding more gravel between her toes. Here it comes, she thought. Wait for it...

 "Think of how Graypaw always paid attention in all of his lessons." Sure enough, Shattersweep was really going there. "If you knew all of this basic information, then surely you would be on his level by now."

 "Wha- I'm totally on his level! I've just got to find the thing I'm really good at so I can get my mission and everyone will see how awesome I am!" the apprentice protested, her embarrassingly desperate voice echoing around the rocky walls.

 "Oh, really? Who's the leader of GroveClan?" Shattersweep quizzed smugly.

 "I know this one. It's Tawnystar, right?" But Palepaw would never know if she was correct because Shattersweep suddenly let out a sharp call.

 "Lightningstripe! Look out!" Ahead, the tom turned around to stare curiously at the senior warrior. Graypaw also looked over his shoulder, as if Shattersweep had sneezed obnoxiously instead of letting out a warning call. But it was too late. A blue roan cat was leaping over a wall of stone, gliding down the steep incline to pounce on Lightningstripe's shoulders. A small, multicolored she-cat followed quickly, snapping their teeth around Graypaw's throat. It was a violent surprise, but with little warning. An ambush! RockClan? No, this is CloudClan. Of course it is. Palepaw immediately curved her claws into the sand, ready to prove that she was ready for warriorhood.

 Shattersweep was thinking ahead, whirling around to face the other side of the ravine where none other than Sapphirestar was sneering down at the senior warrior, two thick-furred toms waiting for her command. In the tense moment that the two fearsome cats were sizing each other up, Palepaw recognize them as the deputy Frostyfur and the warrior Thunderheart. Such stupid names they gave themselves... Hey, I learned something after all!

 "You!" the CliffClan warrior spat at the CloudClan leader. "Get out of our territory!"

 "I don't think you've noticed, but it's our territory now." Sapphirestar purred smoothly, not even glancing over when, from just a few moose-lengths away, Lightningstripe let out a wild screech. Shattersweep still glared up at the mischievous blue-gray she-cat, claws out and tail bristling.