Shadow Warriors

Chapter Six

Written by le Amazing Annco.

Yarrowstar sighed, shaking his head. "Fine. You may return to camp, but I expect you to give a full apology to Quailpaw and Cloudyfoot. Understood?"

Sagepaw nodded, relieved that he didn't seem to blame her for anything. As she headed back to camp, her mind was filled with thoughts. Could the cat from her dream have anything to do with her strange moments of paralysis? Did Sagepaw somehow cause this by going to the Dark Forest in her sleep? And, if so, was there any way she could stop the dream from coming again tonight?

She slunk through the entrance of the camp, blushing as cats turned to stare at her. She poked her head into the apprentices' den and there Quailpaw sat, his back towards her. "Quailpaw?" she asked hesitantly.

"What?" her brother asked roughly.

"I- I just wanted to say that I'm sorry, and I didn't mean to-"

"Yeah, whatever," he muttered as he shoved past her. "Just stay away from me."

"Quailpaw, wait!" Sagepaw called, but he ignored her, bounding out of the ShadowClan camp.

"Don't blame yourself," Cloudyfoot said from behind. Sagepaw jumped, whirling around. She felt hot guilt rise within her at the sight of the blood on his pelt. Blood that she had drawn.

"Cloudyfoot, I'm so sorry!" she gasped. "I didn't mean to attack, I wasn't in control, I-"

"I know you weren't the one who did this, Sagepaw. But until we know what caused this, you're a danger, do you understand? You need to learn how to control this, before you can do any real damage."

"I- I'll try..." Sagepaw muttered, not convinced that she would be able to stop it the next time it happened.

"That's all any cat can ask," Cloudyfoot reassured. "You can have the rest of the day off, just promise to try and sort out this problem, okay?"

"I will," Sagepaw promised. Cloudyfoot nodded and left her.

Sagepaw needed to talk to someone about this, so she headed to the nursery, poking her head through the entrance.

"Fallowstrike? Can I talk to you?"

The she-cat lifted up her head, yawning as if she had just woken up. "Of course, Sagepaw, what is it?" Fallowstrike asked gently.

"You mean you haven't heard?" Sagepaw asked, relieved.

"No... Did something happen?" Fallowstrike asked concernedly.

"Well, sort of..." Sagepaw hedged, and explained what happened during the training session.

"Cloudyfoot sent me to Yarrowstar's den, and I was just so scared that he would be mad at me that... that I ran. I ran out of camp and I wasn't paying attention, so I hit a tree and Yarrowstar caught up to me with Larkshine. Larkshine gave me some herbs and they started asking me if I'd had any strange dreams about starless forests, or if I'd met cats named Tigerstar and Hawkfrost," Sagepaw finally paused long enough for Fallowstrike to say something.

"And have you had any strange dreams?" Fallowstrike asked. "And tell me truthfully, I didn't raise you and your brother to be liars."

Sagepaw's next word burned in her throat, but she couldn't risk telling the truth. "No."

"Good," Fallowstrike said. "Are your brother or Cloudyfoot upset with you?"

"Cloudyfoot isn't... But I'm pretty certain Quailpaw hates me now," Sagepaw stated sadly.

"He'll forgive you eventually. And don't worry too much about Larkshine and Yarrowstar. They just want to make sure that you aren't a threat to the Clan."

Sagepaw looked up at the she-cat. "Thanks, Fallowstrike," she said as she stood up.

"Anytime you need me, I'll be here," Fallowstrike promised. "Now, go get some sleep. You've had a hard day."

"Okay."

Sagepaw went back to the apprentice's den and laid down in her nest. Please StarClan, she thought, don't send me back to the Dark Forest! She closed her eyes with that thought in mind, and when she opened them-

She was in the Dark Forest once more. The tall, shadowy trees bent and creaked around her, the starless sky seemed to press down on her head. With one thought in mind, Sagepaw ran, desperate to escape this place of terror.

She ran as she had never run before, leaping over logs and wading through slimy rivers, jumping over pointy brambles and ignoring the thorns that caught in her pelt. She ran and ran until, finally, she noticed that the world was getting whiter, as if covered by fog.

Thank StarClan! she thought, hoping that she was finally out of the Dark Forest, but soon she started finding it difficult to breathe. She gasped and wheezed but the whiteness of the area seemed to be choking her and she coughed but she still couldn't breathe and she was getting desperate for air and her lungs were burning and her head was starting to swim and— Sagepaw stumbled away from the whiteness and the air got better, more breathable.

She lay panting for a moment on the ground, simply breathing until her head stopped spinning. Suddenly, she heard a faraway branch crack from behind her, the direction of the Dark Forest.

"Sagepaw! Sagepaw, come back! I won't hurt you, I promise!" She recognized the voice of the cat whom she had met the night before, the one that the elders told her was named Viperfang.

"I want to go home!" Sagepaw called back to the voice. "I don't want to be in the Dark Forest!"

"You can go home after you come out and talk with me." When Sagepaw was unresponsive, the cat sighed. "Don't make me come over there and drag you back."

Sagepaw knew that she had no choice. She slowly approached the direction that the voice was coming from until she couldn't see the whiteness anymore, and a russet-furred tom melted out from the shadows.

"Hello, Sagepaw," he said. When Sagepaw didn't reply, he continued. "I suppose you would feel more comfortable if you knew more about me, yes?" When Sagepaw nodded, he continued.

"My name is Viperfang," he stated. "Before the famine, I was an ordinary Warrior. I went on patrols, hunted, did everything that you will someday do. After ShadowClan exiled me, I never murdered again. And then, when I died, I was sent here! All because I was teaching two greedy apprentices a lesson!" His voice softened. "I'm a good cat, truly."

"I don't want to be rude, but what's this got to do with me?" Sagepaw asked hesitantly.

"I want to be your mentor."

"My mentor?" Sagepaw asked, confused. "But Cloudyfoot-"

"Can only tell you what he has been taught by ShadowClan," Viperfang interrupted. "I know secrets that your Clan cats could never dream of, battle moves and hunting techniques that could turn even the most mediocre apprentice into a cat admired throughout the Clans for her abilities. Will you let me teach you?"

Sagepaw thought about how she was always the one stuck with the menial, boring tasks and how the other apprentices got to do the interesting stuff. She thought about how great Quailpaw was compared to herself, how she would never amount to anything on her own. And she decided.

"Okay."

"Good. Let's start with battle moves," Viperfang suggested. "Sometimes, in a battle, you can win against a stronger and smarter opponent simply by using a technique that they've never learned. This one that I'm about to show you will work against almost any cat in any Clan. It goes like this..."