The Warrior Games

Chapter 1

40 years before Bluestar was born.....

"Snowpaw, wake up!" The dark ginger tom pawed the young ThunderClan apprentice. "It's the Warriors Games today, don't forget."
Snowpaw blinked her eyes opened and shivered at the mention of the Games. She had never been in the Games before. All she knew was that the Dark Forest cats came once every six moons to take two cats from each of the six clans to bring them and train them in the Warrior Games- a place where all the cats were faced against each other....and only one cat came out alive at the end. This was the first time she had the chance of getting picked for the Games, because he had reached 12 moons (a year) old. Any cat in the six clans stood a chance of getting picked for the Games if they were between the ages of 12 moons and 48 moons. That meant that each cat would stand a chance of getting picked 7 or 8 times in their lifetime.
"Wake up!" Snowpaw jumped up as Flameheart poked her a second time, this time with his claws out.
Snowpaw jumped up and scrambled to her feet. In only one hour, the Dark Forest cat Mapleclaw would come to announce the 'tributes' from ThunderClan. She hopped out of the apprentices den and took a vole from the fresh kill pile to eat. She wasn't even hungry but she forced herself to eat anyways. She needed her strength for today. The Clan was anxious today. The other apprentices, Applepaw, Dawnpaw and Mistypaw padded towards Snowpaw. They were all older then her except for her den ate Mistypaw who was one moon younger then Snowpaw. She was lucky. She had no chance of getting picked for the Games. Dawnpaw kept shivering in her fur and wouldn't eat,
"Come on, Dawnpaw. You have to eat to get your strength up!" Applepaw tried to tell her. Dawnpaw, the reddish apprentice took one bite of a sparrow, swallowed it and padded towards her mother Briarleaf. her mother nuzzled her, her eyes clouded with fear for her daughter. Snowpaw wished she had a mother now. Her mother had died six moons ago when the last Warrior Games were held. Now Snowpaw only had her father, Flameheart, who was full of himself and was obsessed with trying to show Snowpaw all the killing moves to use on an opponent.
Why did he bother?
It wasn't like she was going to get picked. She looked around at all the other warriors that could get picked for the games. There was Adderbelly, Brambledust, Yellowears, Clawfang, Spottedfur and Foxtail. Snowpaw held a deep breath. Adderbelly was a young, sly warrior. He could maybe make it to the end. Clawface would definitely participate in the bloodbath if he got picked. He sharpened his claws on stone every day, and in every battle over Sunningrocks with RiverClan, he always killed at least one RiverClan warrior. He was a natural killer. Then there was Foxtail, she wouldn't participate in the bloodbath. In fact she would probably run straight into the woods. It was hard to tell though. And why was he thinking this anyway? His clan had barely ever won the Games. There wasn't much chance of them winning again.

Snowpaw sat with her friends and her sister as the hour went by. She kept looking up at High Rock to see if Morningstar, her leader was there. As soon as her ginger and white leader leapt ontop of the rock, the whole clan would have to stop and listen, for this would mean the tributes would be chosen, not by Morningstar but by Mapleclaw, who would come to tell Morningstar who was picked as the ThunderClan tribute. The tributes are chosen randomly by the Dark Forest leader 'Snakestar', a dark brown tabby tom who is the leader of the Dark Forest and therefore controls the Warrior Games.
Snowpaw's heart was beating so fast that she no longer listened to the conversations Applepaw and Mistypaw were having about the forest.
Finally, a figure leapt up onto HighRock, it was Morningstar and Mapleclaw (an orange shecat) followed her and sat below her on the rock.
The Clan immediately faced their leader, hearts beating and fear scent everywhere.
"Happy Warrior Games!" Morningstar called out, "And may the odds be in your favour."
Then Mapleclaw happily pranced onto the Rock and whispered something in Morningstar's ear. Snowpaw held her breath. She knew that Mapleclaw was telling Morningstar exactly who the picked tributes were.
Morningstar blinked, then nodded and continued,
"The male tribute from ThunderClan is..."
The clan seemed to hold their breath.
"Brambledust."
The Clan continued to hold their breath as Brambledust, a light gray tabby tom padded up to the front. Snowpaw felt fear scent on him as he padded up to the Rock. Her heart began to beat even faster.
Morningstar nodded at Brambledust as he sat beside Mapleclaw at the bottom of the rock. Mapleclaw was watching him, her lips curled into a cruel-looking smile. Brambledust had fear in his eyes...but there was also courage. He was a skillful young warrior.
Then Morningstar began to speak again,
"The female tribute from ThunderClan is..."
Snowpaw's heart pounded wildly in her chest.
Then Morningstar finally said,
"Snowpaw."

* * *

Darktail made his way out of the Warriors den. The ShadowClan cats were all around him, ready for the meeting to start. Badgerstar, the black and white leader was sitting at the top of the rock. The ShadowClan cats were waiting for the Dark Forest warrior to come tell Badgerstar who the tribute of ShadowClan would be. Darktail's heart was pounding with exhilaration. His father had won the Warrior Games two Games ago, and his father (Raggedfang) hoped that his son would follow in his pawsteps to win the Games.
So Raggedfang had taught Darktail to fight and to be ready for the Games if he was chosen. Darktail knew that his father wanted him to be chosen. Darktail growled; if he was chosen, he would kill as many tributes in the Games as he could at the bloodbath. He was ready for anything. He looked up to see Badgerstar welcoming another cat into their camp. This cat was faded and Darktail knew that this was the Dark Forest who knew who the tributes would be. As Badgerstar listened to the Dark Forest cat, Darktail's claw were unsheathed and digging into the ground. He wanted to be chosen. He wanted to be like his father. He had spent his whole life training for the games.....this was his chance to win.
He looked around the camp at all the cats sitting and watching their leader. When his eyes drifted back to his leader, Darktail saw that Badgerstar was ready to announce the Warrior Games tributes from ShadowClan.
"The male tribute from ShadowClan is...." Badgerstar paused and Darktail's heart kept jumping.
"Darktail!" Badgerstar announced.
Yes!
Now he had a chance to please his father. He quickly looked at Raggedfang and saw that his father was staring at him, nodding with pride in his eyes.
Now who will the female tribute be? He wondered.
"The female tribute from ShadowClan is...." Badgerstar paused again,
"Silverflower!"
Half the clan gasped. Silverflower had kitted only two moons ago. Her two kits sat by her side and bounced up to her,
"Where are you going, Silverflower?" Whitekit asked her.
"I'm leaving, kits." She sighed, "And I'm not coming back." Her clan gasped at Silverflower. Her eyes began to cloud as her kits wailed in fear,
"It's ok, kits. You can stay with me." Redear, another queen. Curled her tail around the wailing kits and brought them back into the nursery.
"Goodbye my lovely kits." Darktail heard Silverflower say, "Take care, my lovely ones."
Darktail sneered,
'Silverflower will be on my side throughout the Games until every single tribute is dead. Then I will kill Silverflower too.' Darktail thought. He would make his father proud and would live to be the Winner of the 17th annual Warrior Games. At least, he hoped he would win.