The Lost Warriors- Moonsong

Chapter Two

Moonpaw stood in a Twoleg Place. She had never been to one before, but she knew what it was from the elders’ stories. Tall, plain, ugly dens stood all around her, with gardens of sour-smelling plants. But then she caught a trace of forest smell. Hoping it would lead her back home, she followed it. Right to a Twoleg garden.

A huge tabby tom sat in the garden, his tail curled around his massive paws. “I have been waiting,” he rasped.

“Who are you?” Moonpaw kept her distance, still unsure of this huge stranger.

“My name is Tree.” He mewed. “I was the first warrior leader of TreeClan.”

“Wow,” Moonpaw meowed. “So why are you waiting for me?”

Instead of answering, the tabby tom stood to his feet, gave a giant leap, and landed in a small, bare tree. But as soon as his paws touched the branch, he vanished. And it was only then that Moonpaw realized it was a dream.

Cats poured out of the twoleg dens, charging her. Yowling, she fled. Leaping over the fence, she landed on a Thunderpath. The mewing cats seemed unable to climb the fence, and they yowled in terror and frustration.

Suddenly the earth rumbled under her paws, and a monster was barreling towards her. She froze, her legs unable to obey her instinct. It was coming closer…closer…closer…

“Moonpaw!” Jaypaw jabbed her painfully in the side. She shot up out of her nest, and hit her head on the stone top of the den.

“Owww! What was that for?” She hissed.

“It’s time for Dawn patrol, mouse-brain.”

“Coming,” she yawned.

“Oh,” Jaypaw added as he was about to leave. “You mew in you sleep.”

Hissing in annoyance, Moonpaw shook the scraps of moss from her pelt and followed him out.

“Did you hear that?” Cloudfur perked his ears towards the SwampClan border.

“I didn’t hear anything,” Tornstripe mewed. “Jaypaw, what can you smell?”

Jaypaw concentrated on scents in the air. “SwampClan; it’s really strong.” Suddenly he looked up in horror at his mentor. “I think they moved the border!”

“Marshpaw, go back to camp and bring another patrol. Just in case,” Birdsong, Marhpaw’s mentor, instructed.

“But…”

“Now, Marshpaw!”

Still muttering in anger, Marshpaw turned tail and headed for the camp.

Tornstripe charged towards the border with his patrol.

As they neared SwampClan’s border, Tornstripe signaled the warriors to slow down. “Let’s see what they’re up to, first.”

Slinking through the underbrush, they approached the border cautiously. Just as Jaypaw had thought, the SwampClan patrol was marking the border at least five fox-lengths inside TreeClan’s territory.

They were mewing to themselves, and admiring their work. Before Tornstripe could step out and confront them, Cloudfur leapt out, yowling a battle cry. Cats from both sides were startled, but TreeClan acted first. Tornstripe leapt out also, his patrol close behind. Within moments, SwampClan’s patrol shook off their stupor and attacked the oncoming warriors.

Moonpaw spotted a cat her size, helping its mentor take Cloudfur down. Yowling, she leapt on its back and sunk her claws in. Hissing in surprise, the other cat rolled on top of her, and she was surprised at the weight. She tried desperately to claw her way out, but the other apprentice was shoving her down into the muck, and she could feel herself sinking.

Desperate, she bared her teeth and bit the cat wherever she could reach. Suddenly, she got a mouthful of its ear, and bit down hard.

Yowling, the apprentice leapt off of her and pelted away. The thrill of battle still coursing through her veins, Moonpaw chased after him. He was going deeper into TreeClan territory!

The stumbling cat seemed unable to see where it was going, and she caught up quickly. Tackling it from behind, she brought it crashing to the ground.   

“Talonpaw?” She backed away, uncertain. The tom that was lying on the ground, sides heaving, was covered in dirt and blood. But it looked just like the tom that had caught her crossing the border.

He sat up, and she saw why he was having trouble running in the right direction. Where she had bit him, was a torn, bloodied mess. He had blood in his eyes, and dripping down his face. Now Moonpaw understood why Tornstripe had said a bad ear bite will almost always send a warrior running.

He tried to run, but she stopped him. “It’s okay; you can stay here and rest.”

“No, if I get caught I’ll be crowfood.”

“Do you want me to show you the way back?”

“No I’m fine.” Talonpaw, anxious to get back into his own territory, started backing away. “See you at the gathering?”

“Yeah. I hope!”

When the victorious TreeClan warriors returned to camp, Raindrop and Redpaw already had herbs and cobwebs laid out, waiting for the injured cats to return.

Redpaw padded over to Moonpaw. “Are you okay?” He sniffed her stiff shoulder, where the wound had broken open again.

“A little sore. And muddy.”

Redpaw put some Marigold on her wound, and sent her to her nest.

Moonpaw tried to get some sleep, but every time she closed her eyes, the lost cats crowed into her mind, yowling and shrieking.

Leaving her nest, she left the crowded camp silently and went into the forest. The scent of prey made her mouth water, and forgetting her sore shoulder, she decided to hunt. That way she could at least bring something back for the Clan.

She had just caught her first vole, when she sensed something was wrong. Pricking her ears, she realized that she couldn’t hear any birds. They were all hiding, and the forest was eerily calm.

Trying to shake it off, she tried to keep hunting. But even the ground prey was disappearing into their holes, and she had no luck. Now worried, she decided to go back to camp. Padding silently along the leaf-covered ground, she glanced up at the leaf-bare sky. Instead of the usual gray dullness, it was tinted green.

Mewling like a lost kit, she started to run. But suddenly there was a white-hot explosion, and she was thrown off of her feet. Everything went cold and black.  

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