Fierce / A Warriors Tale (Book #1 = Shadow Book Series)

Chapter One (Just Good For His Wits)

Shadowpaw was waiting for the perfect moment to glide through the soft breeze and land perfectly on all fours with a fuzzy long tailed creature right under his left paw. He had already planned out how was going to do it, now he had actually catch the mouse.

Shadowpaw was a smart cat, he had the brains and the other apprentices had strength. "You can do this Shadowpaw, you can do this..." He mumbled to himself. He didn't want to let the others know that all he was good for was his wits.

"Hurry up, Shadowpaw!" Meowed Flowerpaw. She might be beautiful, but she sure is bossy. He turned his head around and huffed.

"I understand Flowerpaw, that's what I'm trying to do right now!" He zoomed his head back around. This time he knew he was able to catch it. He leaped forward and just like he planned, he glided through the wind and landed on all fours.

Everyone looked anxious to see what was under Shadowpaw's claws. He slowly lifted his paw upward and looked down. The mouse had ran right before he landed. Shadowpaw felt himself overwhelmed with embarrassment. "But-"

Flowerpaw cut him off. She looked surprised as if she was expecting him to catch the mouse. "Nice try, I guess." She spat. Shadowpaw looked confused, he thought she was at least going to be more kind.

Flowerpaw turned to walk away but Shadowpaw jumped right in front of her. "Doesn't matter if I'm good for wits or not, I'm deputy's apprentice and you can't get any better then that. There is obviously more reasons I'm training to be a warrior." Shadowpaw held is head up in confidence, ready for whatever Flowerpaw would hiss back at him.

Flowerpaw stood there for a second, and then she turned back around with no expression. "You're right, Shadowpaw. You must be something if your Lionclaw's apprentice. He is one of the greatest fighters in any of the clans." She turned back around a huffed.

"What's wrong, did it hurt you to say something nice to me for once?" He quickly realized that questioning Flowerpaw was a bad idea.

She plunged herself onto Shadowpaw and dug her teeth into his shoulder. Not soon after she attacked him Spottedstar and Lionclaw hopped out from behind the large needle bush. "Stop the fighting!" Spottedstar yelped. "This is no way you should treat each other!"

Flowerpaw quickly leaped off Shadowpaw and stood quietly. Flowerpaw's mentor jumped out from the needle bush as well. "You should have smelt Spottedstar and Lionclaw coming, Flowerpaw. Have you been paying attention to me?" Redtail mewed calmly. Flowerpaw lowered her head in embarrassment.

Shadowpaw winced at the pain Flowerpaw gave him. "I'm very disappointed, Flowerpaw." Shadowpaw could tell Redtail was very angry inside, but he was trying to hide it.

Redtail looked Flowerpaw straight in the eye, he was trying not to lash out on her. He flicked is tail in a blink and dashed off into the needle bush. Spottedstar was about to hiss as loud as she could at the apprentices, but she knew better.

"You two should be in big trouble but I am not feeling in the mood today to deal with some foolish problem kittypets would have!"

Shadowpaw put his head up quickly and smelt a warm, soft sent. His ears twitched in the other direction and the smell got stronger, but this time it wasn't warm nor soft, it was strong and cold.

He felt as if it was a familiar sent, so he kept smelling. He finally recognized the scent, it was Windpaw. She was a beautiful white she-cat with the most beautiful eyes in all of the clan. She was known as a great apprentice and for her skill of hunting.

Shadowpaw eyes focused on Windpaw. He loved how she smelled so fresh and warm like the forest, and her kindness towards Shadowpaw was very appreciated by him. He greeted her my smoothing down a piece of fur that was sticking up on her head.

"Hello, Shadowpaw." She greeted him calmly and her soft breath passed the side of his face, leaving him feeling comfortable and relaxed. She purred smoothly and rubbed on his side.

Lionclaw leaped down from a tall-ish rock he sat upon. "Shadowpaw, come with me. We are going on an important mission today, and I'm going to need you wits."

Shadowpaw hesitated at first, but then he turned around and walked aside Lionclaw. "May Starclan light your path." Windpaw mewed from the distance.

Shadowpaw wanted to turn back and ask why she said that, but Lionclaw was already leaping forward as fast as he could. After a while, Lionclaw came to a sudden stop.

"What's the matter?" Shadowpaw meowed. "Shhhh! They will hear you,  young Shadowpaw." Lionclaw whispered.

Shadowpaw picked up a scent, it wasn't warm or friendly like Mountainclan's scent, it was muddy and rotting smelling. He sniffed once more, trying to figure out what Lionclaw got him into.

The scent stayed still and strong, and he couldn't pick up any other scents. Lionclaw backed into a small fern and hid. He motioned Shadowpaw to do the same. Shadowpaw quickly but steadily ran into the bush with Lionclaw.

Scarstar, leader of FadeClan hopped out from behind rotting old trees. FadeClan was one of MountainClan's biggest enemies.

Shadowpaw stood low enough so the raggedy old cat couldn't pick up his scent. He sniffed the air, and he could smell the faint smell of a MountainClan cat. Desperate to find them, Scarstar scurried around the forest floor, looking for the enemy that was brave enough to place a paw near his clan.

Lionclaw could tell Shadowpaw was worried, but he kept his position and held his head down further.

Finally, Scarstar stopped. He sat down quietly and looked around for a minute. He stretched his paws in front of his scar covered face and took a big sniff. He suddenly scrambled back onto his paws, and Shadowpaw could tell he was picking up a stronger scent.

Scarstar blinked slowly and and opened his mouth for some air. He looked around and walked across the floor covered in dead, crunchy leaves.

Out of no where, Lionclaw dashed out of the bush and tackled Scarstar. Struggling to stay on top of him, Lionclaw pinned him to the ground and sunk his teeth into his shiny black coat. He quickly flipped Lionclaw back over and dug his dirty long claws into his back.

Out of fear, Shadowpaw stood still. He then got a sudden urge to run out there and help Lionclaw.

Shadowpaw plunged himself on top of Scarstar swiping at his ear. It distracted him from attacking Lionclaw and turned around and jumped on Shadowpaw.

Scarstar weighed so much that as soon as he landed on top of Shadowpaw, he blacked out.