Warriors: Impending Storm (ON PAUSE)

Chapter Four

Waning Moon was awoken to the gentle prodding of a paw in her side.

Groaning, she rolled over onto her back, sticking her paws into the air. What in the name of the Ancients is going on? She thought drowsily, unsheathing her claws. Cut that out!

"Waning Moon! Waning Moon, wake up! Its high noon, you mousebrain!"

Waning Moon's eyes snapped open wide. "What is going on?" she hissed, blinking violently at the sunlight filtering through the woven branches of the novices' den. "What do you want?"

Standing beside her, Badger's Paw loomed over her like a great shadow. The young gray-and-white tom was leering at her, pale green eyes gleaming, as he raised his paw once again to take a stab at Waning Moon's aching sides. Rolling over quickly, Waning Moon swiped at the tom's belly with sheathed paws, knocking the novice onto his side. As he grunted in surprise, the white she-cat wrapped both front paws around his neck and toppled him, climbing on top of his back and pressing his face into the mossy floor of the den.

"Alright, alright, I give!" Badger's Paw hissed, struggling against her strong grip. "Just get up, Thrush Wing wants to see you!"

"Thrush Wing?" Waning Moon relaxed her grip on the gray-and-white tom, surprised. "What does my old mentor want with me?"

"He's still your mentor, mousebrain!" Badger's Paw wriggled out from underneath the white she-cat.

"He hasn't talked to me for almost three moons!" Waning Moon answered snappily. Just the thought of standing face-to-face with her old mentor, the tomcat who had abandoned her as a novice when he had come to realize she would never hunt or fight again, made her skin crawl beneath her pelt. "And according to him, I'm no longer his novice. What does he want with me?"

For three days Waning Moon had been mustering up the courage to speak to Cloud Chaser. At the behest of Rising Wind, she had decided to seek out new mentorship; perhaps she could find an older, more experienced cat who would be willing to work with her injury, to help her walk on three limbs as she had once done on four. It had become obvious to her that Thrush Wing was no longer the right choice for her; inexperienced with dealing with cats younger than himself, Thrush Wing had been too embarrassed by his wounded Tribemate's inability to walk to bring himself to start retraining her. It was too great a challenge for him, and Waning Moon, though understanding, had lost her patience with the speckled brown tom and his avoidance of her. Rising Wind must be right—surely there must be other cats in the Tribe willing to give her a second chance?

"Don't ask me." Badger's Paw shook his head, trying to shake away the dust and moss that clung to his thick fur. "He just asked me to wake you up, and to tell you to meet him by the prey pile." He frowned, whiskers twitching. "Now get going, before I get yelled at by two warriors today!"

Waning Moon grumbled incoherently. Stupid furball, she thought angrily. What's he up to?

Waning Moon left Badger's Paw to groom his now-dusty fur in the novices' den. Carefully, she picked her way out of the thorny entrance, making sure to keep her injured back leg lifted up. Stumbling, she attempted to walk on all three legs, ignoring her fourth—but it was difficult, especially with its dead weight heavy as a stone at her side. She compromised, allowing the leg to drag on the ground while focusing most of her attention on her three working limbs. It was slow going, but she made her way towards the prey pile with her head held high. It would not do to show fear or dismay in front of her Tribemates when she was trying

As she made her way to the prey pile, a big gray tom bounded towards her, his massive black-tipped paws pounding on the forest floor. "Waning Moon!" he called. "I had begun to think you'd turned into a log, with how long you were hiding in the novices' den!"