Warriors: Fallen Stars- Flutterpaw's Gift (COMPLETE)

Prologue

(Art by: karagaming2020)

The waning moon in the night shined dimly above the clans who resided in territories around the lake. It was the end of leaf-fall, and any day now the long months of leaf-bare would begin. All the leaves from the trees that shedded them were now heavy and flat on the ground. The air gave a chilly sting and any paws that dare feel the piercing water of the lake are cursed to shiver from their whiskers to their tail tips. The night however was silent. Cats were asleep in their clans cuddling together to share warmth among them. The only movement that could be seen in the darkness was the shimmering pelt of an apprentice sneaking through her territory.

Flutterpaw, a young apprentice of RiverClan crept through the towering reeds that surrounded the lake as she made her way towards the towering pine trees of ShadowClan. She came across a tiny slope where the reeds thinned out. Above the shore was where a single tree stood, all of its leaves gone, and to the east of the tree was a line of pines and the border between RiverClan and ShadowClan.

Flutterpaw pressed herself to the trunk of the tree, hiding herself incase any of her clan mates were in the area. Her whiskers twitched as she turned her head. She gazed out at the lake shore and noticed a section that was close to RiverClan. A sliver of land that branched out into the lake. 

"SkyClan!" she breathed as her paws stimmed with excitement.

The silver and white cat sniffed the air for any scent of ShadowClan cats, after all they were known to be a clan who hunts at night. She knew she had to be quick and stealthy to get into SkyClan's territory.

"At least I've done this before," Flutterpaw thought, "just gotta grab it, turn, and dash! Easy peasy!" 

She took one glance back to make sure she wasn't being followed. She wasn't. Flutterpaw crouched softly into a hunter's crouch. All that greeted her was silence as she gently shifted her claws to make sure she had her balance. 

"And.....now!" 

Flutterpaw bolted across the border, keeping her tail up high so it wouldn't shift any of the needles on the ground. Puffs of clouds escaped as she breathed and cold wind whipped her face. It was cold and crisp, but Flutterpaw never felt more alive. Her personal mission felt exhilarating! 

Once she was surrounded by pine trees she peeled from heading west and shifted her direction to the north. Crispy sounds starting popping at her paws.

"Yes! There's some here!" Flutterpaw quietly panted. 

She kept her tail up high, but started to lower her neck almost like she was converting back into a hunter's crouch. Just like a RiverClan cat pulling a fish out of the lake Flutterpaw's jaws clamped down on her prey. Her prey of course being a freshly fallen pine cone that resided on the ground in ShadowClan's territory.

"I got one!" She mumbled with the pine cone in her mouth, "I got a good one! This is gonna be so much fun to play with!"

The SkyClan border was just up ahead. Where as pine trees were the border between RiverClan and ShadowClan the border between ShadowClan and SkyClan was a line of bushes and thinning pine trees. Luckily for Flutterpaw the stretch of ShadowClan territory that lay between RiverClan and SkyClan wasn't that big. 

Flutterpaw slowed down and gently eased into the line of bushes, pausing to make sure there wasn't any enemy cats who heard her. She didn't sense any cats nearby, she was safe. The silver and white apprentice gently glided her body through the bushes, pausing after each stride so she didn't make any extra noise. 

Once she got to the final bush her eyes peered through the leaves. Her eyes darted around making sure no one else was around. Flutterpaw's eyes eventually gazed towards the lake shore. There was an oak tree with large meandering roots that ended in the bushes that she was currently hiding in. Beside the trunk of the tree was a brown tom, a lot larger than Flutterpaw and with neck fur so large it could be mistaken for a lion's mane. Despite the size of the SkyClan cat he was an apprentice around Flutterpaw's age.