Nightfrost's Choice

Chapter 4

The next morning, Nightpaw woke up to a loud yowl from the clearing:

"All cars old enough to climb the Valley, gather near High Boulder!" Fernstar ordered, and Nightpaw yawned as she stretched and sat up.

Beside her, Dewpaw did the same, and her sister looked at her with worry in her beautiful blue eyes.

"What do you think it is?" Dewpaw whispers. "Battle? Patrols?"

"Probably just assigning patrols. Fernstar did say she wanted extra security around the creek last night." Nightpaw reminded her, and Dewpaw relaxed.

Licking her beautiful black pelt clean, Nightpaw lapped at her paws till they were clean of mud, straightened her whiskers, and padded outside.

Moonshadow and Sparrowheart waited for her.

"Good morning, young one." Moonshadow purred, her muscles rippling easily because she had been going on more patrols. Sparrowheart purred and nuzzled Nightpaw, and Nightpaw was grateful for their warmth.

Today was more chilly than usual. Leafbare was nearing, Nightpaw reminded herself, as she settled down next to Dewpaw and Swiftpaw, the ginger she-cat's fluffy pelt brushing hers as she sat down. Fernstar immediately started,
"Cats of ValleyClan, We need to address a problem."

As all the cats waited patiently, fernstar carried on. "That problem, is StreamClan." Nightpaw heard hisses around her, some in agreement; she heard Rockshade murmur, "About time!" And Lemurtail snarl, "Finally!"

Nightpaw began to grow worried, because her clanmates seemed to blood thirsty! If they go on like this, they'll be in a war with themselves! Nightpaw knew, as Snaketail lashed his tail and hissed, "Battle is the only way!"

Fernstar raised her tail for silence. "The leader of StreamClan, Darkstar, is cunning. Yesterday, an apprentice told me that only the deputy addressed the clan, not the leader. She said she didn't even see Darkstar! I see a weakness." Fernstar stood up, her beautiful black pelt gleaming in the light sun, her green eyes glowing. "And we must strike. At dawn tomorrow," Fernstar continued, "We will attack StreamClan while they sleep in their filthy nests! We will force them deeper into their territory, and take the creek! Then, we will take territory beyond the creek, and our clan will be well fed for moons to come, especially in Leafbare!"

At Fernstar's words, the clan erupted into cheers.

A stab of worry surged through Nightpaw. What if ValleyClan wouldn't be able to take StreamClan? What would happen then? Nightpaw pushed the thought away and joined in with the cheering. She didn't want her mentor to Know she didn't want to have a battle, because then Cedartail might think that she was scared.

As the clan meeting was dismissed, Cedartail padded up to her. "I've been talking to the other mentors," the gray warrior meowed. "And we want to have a combined apprentice battle training session."

Pure excitement fizzed through Nightpaw's paws. "Seriously? Yay! I-I mean, Whatever's best for the Clan." She switched her meow in a heartbeat, looking up nervously to see if her mentor had noticed. Cedartail's eyes brimmed with amusement.

"Come on." He beckoned for her to follow, and when they got into the training hollow, Dewpaw, Fogpaw, Swiftpaw, and Sunfire were already there. They started training right away.

"The move we'll be teaching you today, is the belly rake and the paw swipe." Sunfire instructed. "The paw swipe is one of the most basic moves, after pinning a warrior down. Watch closely." Sunfire leaped at Cedartail, who ducked but gave Sunfire time to raise his paw, and swipe at Cedartail's muzzle, with his paws sheathed, of course.