Warriors AU: Sandstar's Quest

Chapter 26

Sandstar slept fitfully and woke at dawn to find that clouds had covered the sky. A stiff breeze was blowing, and a few leaves whirled down from the bushes on the cliff top. Leaf-fall could not be far away. Giving himself a quick grooming, he tried to forget his fears from the night before. The meaning of Skywatcher's prophecy was hidden in the moons to come. He could do nothing about it now.

Patchfoot and her kits had finally settled in the nursery, leaving room for the new Skyclan warriors to share the big cave with Sandstar and Fireheart. Restless to be doing something, Sandstar padded across the cave and prodded Cherrytail with one paw.

"Wha...?" Cherrytail raised his head, blinking.

"Time for a dawn patrol," Sandstar announced.

Cherrytail groaned, then hauled himself out of his nest and shook scraps of moss and fern from his pelt while Sandstar roused Poppystorm.

"We'll fetch Sharppaw and Tinypaw and patrol the borders," he explained.

Poppystorm looked puzzled. "We haven't got any borders."

"We're going to set some."

He led the way down the trail to the cave they had chosen for the apprentices' den, wondering how Sharppaw and Tinypaw had coped with their first night away from their Twolegs. He remembered settling them in the night before, helping them to carry moss up from the cave beside the river and arrange it into comfortable nests.

Tinypaw's eyes had grown wide with anxiety as the sun set and night crept into the gorge. "I wonder how our housefolk are feeling," he muttered.

Sharppaw gave him a comforting lick. "They'll be okay, and so will we. We're Clan cats now."

But Sandstar had noticed the tip of her tail twitching, and knew she wasn't as confident as she pretended.

When he and the other warriors arrived outside their cave that morning, Sharppaw shot outside, her fur sticking all over the place.

"Are we going hunting?" she demanded. "I'm starving!"

"Elders and nursing queens eat first," Cherrytail reminded her, with a glance at Sandstar.

"That's right, but Fireheart will lead a hunting patrol later on for the rest of the Clan," Sandstar mewed. "We're the dawn patrol, and we can pick up some prey on the way."

"Are we allowed to do that?" Sharppaw asked.

"Sure," Sandstar replied. "It's only hunting patrols who have to bring their fresh-kill back for the Clan."

"Good." Tinypaw poked his head out of the den behind his sister. "Let's get going!"

Sandstar led the way up the gorge past the path that led to Skywatcher's den, as far as the rocks where they had saved Patchfoot and her kits from the fox. He wondered if the first Skyclan warriors had set their boundaries anywhere nearby; he guessed they would have marked out a bigger territory than the new Skyclan needed now, with fewer mouths to feed and fewer warriors to guard the borders.

"We'll set the first scent markers here," he explained. "Then any cat who comes along will know that this is our territory. If you keep renewing the marks, then over a few moons a really strong scent builds up."

A shiver went through him from ears to tail tip. When he first came to the forest, the borders of Thunderclan had been settled for more seasons than any cat could remember. The decisions he made now would affect Skyclan for seasons to come.

"Do other cats respect the boundaries?" Poppystorm asked.

It was a good question, Sandstar thought. Cats from other Clans would think twice before crossing border markers, but there were no other Clans in this remote place.