Warriors #4: Darkness Awakens

Chapter 1

Lilypetal's POV

"Smudge!" Firestar exclaimed.

Many cats in the camp gasped as a large tom slithered through the camp entrance, with two more cats following behind him, who looked much younger. I tried to suppress a purr of amusement as observed how terrified they looked.

"Rust-... Firestar!" the tom, this... Smudge, exclaimed. He and Firestar ran up to each other and touched noses.

Cats began to slither from their dens to see what was going on, and they immediately ran over to their leader.

"He has the scent of a kittypet!" a cat shouted. It sounded like Dustpelt.

I took the time to observe the strange cat. He was quite plump, and he was white with black patches. He seemed very familiar to me.

My mouth nearly dropped as I then remembered who this "Smudge" was.

I quickly ran over to where Firestar and Smudge were exchanging greetings.

How could they possibly know each other? I asked myself.

I shook off the thought when Smudge turned to me. He almost looked as shocked as I was.

"Lily!?" he meowed in shock. "No way! It's so great to see you!"

I ran up to him, and we touched noses just as he and Firestar had done.

"I can't believe it!" Firestar meowed. "How are you here?"

"The real question is," Sandstorm walked up to stand by Firestar, "Why is he here and how do you know him?"

Everyone grew silent and turned to Firestar and the kittypets.

I turned to look at all of the cats. Almost all of the cats had their teeth bared with claws unsheathed.

Firestar tried to hide his excitement for the visiting cat and turned to face the Clan.

"This is Smudge," Firestar began,"We were friends before I came to the forest."

Dustpelt let out a low growl. "This is the kittypet that Tigerclaw caught you with in the forest when you were a warrior!"

Some cats gasped, and some shivered at the thought of Tigerstar.

"What is he doing here?" another cat shouted.

Smudge took a step back toward the other kittypets, knowing that he would have to speak in front of everybody.

"Our housefolk took us up to this lake for the summer, they let us outside, and we talked to a rogue. He said that cats lived in this forest. I knew that the Clans had to leave the forest because of the damage, and so we went deeper into the forest.

I smelled the familiar scent of ThunderClan that I recognized from the forest, and then we ended up here."

"This is all lovely," Mousefur meowed from the entrance of her den, "but can they please leave?"

Cats murmured in agreement.

"Gladly," one of the smaller house cats meowed, beginning to walk away.