The five Warrior Clans are going extinct. Gatherings and Moonpool visits are inacessable, with leaders falling left and right. The lake territories are being wiped out to the brink of extinction by new, large predators that have migrated into their...
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"Crescentpaw and Cheetah! It's time for the dawn patrol." Lagoonstripe mewed from the den entrance as her eyes cracked open a smidge.
The weak gray light pouring in was laced with fog. Her joints cracked as she stretched them and turned right-side up, lifting to her paws and shaking each one in turn.
Freezing, Crescentpaw threw a fearful glance over at her new acting mentor. But the she-cat had already retreated. Good thing, too. She might've seen that my claws didn't retract during that stretch.
Cheetah left her behind as she exited the den. She hardly even paused to groom her fur. Tinypaw was still trying to sleep, stretched out in one corner with her tail flopped over her legs. As Crescentpaw gave herself a few licks and moved towards the entrance she scented damp, moist air flowing in from outside.
It was a cool dawn morning. The woven wooden stems of the apprentice's den were flecked with dew as she passed. The camp still had a few mud-laden puddles around the less grassy areas of camp. Each one reflected a cluster of cloudy, uncertain skies above. The fog was so thick that they could hardly distinguish sky from mist. It lay across Riverclan in a blanket of white-washed cotton swathes. The tabby apprentice could barely see the empty leader's den from across camp.
"This is perfect weather!" Cheetah exclaimed with her huge round ears perked. "It's not even hot today."
"It probably will be after the sun rises and burns off the mist," Lagoonstripe educated. Cheetah nodded, then bounced on excited paws when she saw another cat exiting the dirtplace tunnel.
"I'm ready to go," Emberfawn said after a huge yawn, pausing beside them.
"Weren't you on watch last night, though?" Crescentpaw looked him up and down. His fur was unkept and messy, with one of his ears still turned inside out.
Lagoonstripe flicked it with a paw, fixing it.
"He was, but Houndspots relieved him partway through. Unfortunately with so few warriors we have been subjected to cutting our sleeping times in half." The older warrior shuffled her paws, as if concerned that she couldn't properly manage the shortage of cats left.
"I understand," Crescentpaw said quickly. "I bet it would help if we could stand guard, though." She let a bit of suggestiveness creep into her voice. But Lagoonstripe was already shaking her head, scarred cheeks set in a firm half-smile.
"Nice try, but it wouldn't be worth it. If we don't keep our apprentices alive then we'll have even less of a future for Riverclan."
Crescentpaw dejectedly turned her head away. She loftily glanced into the sea-foam blue grey sky above. Guess I'll just have to give it up. Even though we're of warrior age nothing's going to change.
