Leafshadow's War [Warrior Cats]

Chapter Three

Leafshadow woke up to feel Cloudstorm prodding her. "Hey, Leaf, the patrol's going to fetch those rogues. You coming?"

The brown tabby blinked open her eyes stretching to see the fluffy white tom. "Yeah. In a sec. Where's Nightleap?"

"Hunting, with Silverpaw."

"Oh, okay." StarClan knows why she gets up so early...

Cloudstorm left the den, and Leafshadow wearily got to her paws, giving her flank a quick lick, and heading outside.

It was drizzling. Oatwhisker, Cloudstorm and Featherstar were waiting at the camp entrance - Leafshadow noticed that Featherstar looked a little worse than he had the night before, but said nothing. She padded up to them, fluffing out her fur against the cold morning air. "Is this all of us?"

Oatwhisker nodded. "Lead the way, Leafshadow."

The dark tabby flicked her tail, and stood up, slipping through the camp entrance, making her way up the slope, wishing there was a little more shelter from the rain. The ground was wet and muddy, and more than once she had to dig her claws into the earth to stop herself from slipping. Featherstar quickened his pace, padding beside her. "So what does this Rin person look like?"

"A she-cat, black, huge, with a white stripe on her face, and green eyes. We might run into one of her friends first, though."

He nodded. "I wonder how long they've been here..."

The tabby flicked her ears in agreement. And I wonder what in StarClan a warehouse is.

Finally they came to the top of the territory. "They should be at the birch tree," she meowed.

Oatwhisker nodded, and she and Featherstar automatically moved to the front of the group. Oatwhisker raised her tail, calling out, "Hello? Rin?"

After a short pause, and a few hissed whispers, the shuffling of leaves could be heard, and Rin padded out of the trees, shaking water out of her fur - the wet droplets seemed to make her fur shine. "Yeah?"

Featherstar stepped forwards. "Where are the rest of you? You said you wanted to join ShadowClan?"

Rin nodded, and with a swish of her tail, her companions emerged from the trees. A silvery-grey tom with a scarred muzzle, an even larger thick-furred black tom, a slender calico, and a small ginger tom, no larger than an apprentice. Leafshadow blinked. They look quite strong...

"We heard about you from some of the cats in twolegplace," Rin meowed. "And ShadowClan seems more our style than any of the others."

Cloudstorm's ears pricked. "In what way?"

She blinked. "Pine territory. Eating frogs. Keeping to yourselves."

Oatwhisker narrowed her eyes. "And if we keep to ourselves...what makes you think you're welcome here?"

"Erm...Flint's good looks and charm?"

There was an awkward silence. Leafshadow could almost read Rin's expression. Internally screaming. Horrified, but trying to play it cool. I said that out loud. Foxdung.

Featherstar blinked. "Well, come back to the camp, and stay the night, at least." He glanced at Cloudstorm, who discreetly inclined his head. The clan leader went on - "Though I can't promise anything, I hope you'll be able to stay with us."

"Really?"

He smiled. "Mm, really."

Cloudstorm swished his tail. "We should probably warn you, a lot of us are quite sick at the moment. This doesn't change your minds?"