Warriors: Dissension By The Marsh

Chapter 12

  After the soft mews of slumbering cats grew quiet, Clovermist carefully rose off of Coldsong's delicate fur and quietly snuck towards the entrance to the den. He looked over his shoulder, glancing at his sleeping denmates, before slipping into the snow. His thick coat protected him from the cold winds that ravaged the night, he couldn't imagine how Briarstalker could survive this.

Clovermist snuck towards the fresh-kill pile and snatched a sparrow. ShadeClan was already having a prey shortage, what's one less sparrow to us, he thought. He stalked through the camp like a hunting owl as he followed the border east. The Starless Meadow he remembered where she proposed, or rather demanded they'd meet.

The Starless Meadow was an area east of ShadeClan and MarshClan that neither claimed, while no clan gains an advantage owning it, it would only cause more problems to do so. If one clan went and claimed the area, the other clan would be upset and want it for themselves, Timberstar and Owlstar have an unspoken agreement to not claim the meadow. It was the perfect meeting place.

Clovermist followed the treeline, the snow wasn't thick, but it was still enough to make him shake his paws every couple of steps. The moon lit and glittered the icy crystals, lighting his way to the meadow. When he finally arrived, he couldn't see her, he twisted around rabidly to make sure he wasn't alone.

"Clovermist!" A loud whisper called from the treeline. "Over here!"

Clovermist turned towards the voice and hesitantly entered the woodland, he was greeted by the colorful coat of Briarstalker. The two rubbed against each other and purred.

"The trees will guard you from the wind." She smiled.

Clovermist smiled before dropping the sparrow from his jaws in front of her.

"I know you guys have been having troubles with prey, and leaf-bare makes it harder, so I wanted to give you this!" Clovermist purred happily.

"You're giving me food? Why would you betray your clan? You didn't seem like the rebellious type." Briarstalker looked suspiciously at the sparrow.

"I'm just trying to be nice, but if you don't want the sparrow..."

"Oh I want it, I'm just surprised with you."

Briarstalker crouched down and bit into the cold sparrow, Clovermist laid against a tree, protecting himself from the cold as he watched her dig in. Sure, this was wildly against the warrior code, and if anyone found out what he'd done, he'd be over for, but he couldn't sit by knowing her and her clan were going hungry, even if she was the only one he'd feed.

Besides, he was already breaking so many rules by meeting here, what's one more. Briarstalker finished her meal and buried the remains in the snow to hide the evidence.

"Thank you, I really needed that." She purred, before laying against Clovermist.

He licked her ear. "I'm always happy to rebel for you."

"Yeah right, I doubt that." She chuckled.

The two cuddled close and kept warm from the cold. Her sleek and thin coat couldn't possibly shield her from the chill of leaf-bare, she must be lucky to live protected by the trees rather than in the open clearing like MarshClan.

"Hey, what's ShadeClan like? I've never been...clearly." Clovermist mewed.

"It's dark, the trees hide us from any light, though there are times when it's too dark for even us. New moons are the worst, but we work well in the dark. The tall trees can seem intimidating to some, but to us, we call it home." Her eyes closed as she leaned her head against him.