Warriors: A New Hope

Chapter Eleven

It was blinding. So blinding that it caused many to cover their eyes from the light. The bright moon shone through a parting in the snow-filled clouds, its light shining through everyone’s fur and sending the sparkling, clear light down onto the snow. It seemed as if the white snow had turned into some sort of crystal wonderland, the moon’s dazzling light leaving a pale glow around the island. But a heartbeat later it was gone, the scenery turning back to its usual, dull forest look. Shadowpaw could hear murmurs of confusion and curiosity, paw steps of startled cats cracking the snow under their paws, and feel the power of what ever had caused the bright, clear light. For a moment, she was lost in a vision of a silver and white she-cat with grey-black stripes, but it suddenly faded as her Clan began to file out and across the fallen-tree bridge. She shook her head in confusion. Who was that cat?

“Hey, you okay?” Asked Bramblestar, his eyes flickering around the fleeing cats.

“Yeah, I guess.” She shrugged it off. Her mind was odd, and that was that. She thought nothing more of the vision but a mere image in her mind. One of many.

“Well, come on then or you’ll get left behind.” She then noticed that most of her clan mates were already far ahead, saying good bye to their friends in RiverClan. She nodded at her mentor before pelting after her Clan, the cold wind stinging her ice-blue eyes once again.

* * *

Soon enough, the patrol returned. The first thing heard was someone frantically calling Bramblestar’s voice and the loud thudding of multiple paws as a border patrol burst through the ravine. At the lead was Lionblaze, his golden pelt a mere blur, followed by Mousewhisker and Shimmerpaw.  Lionblaze skidded to a halt in front of his leader, fur ruffled. He raised his tail for the others to stop, too. Urgency shined in his amber eyes.

“What is the news?” Bramblestar asked, leaping to his paws.

“Our patrol saw a cat near the WindClan border” The deputy panted, “We don’t know if it’s a rogue, loner, or a kittypet. But we are sure that someone was stalking around, and their scent was unrecognizable.”

Bramblestar paused for a moment, twitching his whiskers. “Did you get a good look at this cat?”

“We caught a glimpse, but not more. It was a dark russet and white she-cat. From what I saw, she was wearing a collar with something studding it. Before I could, Mousewhisker gave chase to the intruder after we called to her and she didn’t answer. She then slipped away into WindClan territory and Mousewhisker stopped at the border.”

“Thanks, guys. I’ll organize extra patrols to check over the borders, just to make sure it’s not a WindClan spy. But for now, don’t make a big deal out of it. It was probably just a loner.” He nodded to the before trotting away and climbing the ledge to his den.

The patrol broke off.

Shadowpaw had heard the whole thing. She just shrugged it off, though, as it seemed like nothing to be worried about. It’s just a harmless loner. Giving herself a real strong shake, she found her paws leading towards the fresh-kill pile. Her belly began rumbling as the strong scent of a black bird surrounded her. Surprisingly, she wasn’t tired one bit. Bending over to pick up the bird, she realized that it was the last bit of prey left. Seeing that her mentor was eyeing her watchfully from the inside of his den, she wiped the snow off the bird and trotted over the medicine den. The snow cracked underneath her with every paw step. She nosed her way in, and set the bird nest to Berrynose and Poppyfrost, who were curled up sleeping. She could feel the warmth coming off them in waves.

“I bet they’ll really appreciate that.” Jayfeather’s voice startled her, causing her to jump. “I’ll tell them you brought it when they wake up.”