A New Horizon Book 2: The Dying Forest {COMPLETE}

Prologue

The forest was as dark as it always was, in the shadow a dark, tabby tom was training by himself. His sharp claws swiped at empty air, and his teeth snapped at an invisible enemy. The tom stopped for a moment, taking a moment to catch his breath. This was all he could do, at least until the sun went down in the forest. For now, he was only training by himself. Thinking of new ways to train his apprentice.

"How's Falconpaw's training coming along?" The dark warrior turned as another voice spoke and another warrior approached. His pelt laced with many scars, his amber eyes glowing in the dim forest light.

"Thornstar," The warrior lifted his head, facing the other dark warrior. "Falconpaw's training is coming along very well, he's getting better each day."

Thornstar gave a small nod. "That's good to hear, Falconclaw." Thornstar stepped closer. "He's got a lot of potential inside of him."

"Why are you speaking as if you're higher than me?" Falconclaw growled at Thronstar. "Don't forget who trained you, Thornstar."

Thornstar chuckled. "Put your claws away, uncle. I was only asking, I already know you're a wonderful mentor. You're the reason I managed to get to where I did. If only it weren't for Dawnstar," His claws dug into the soggy soil.

"Calm yourself." Falconclaw stepped forward, brushing past Thornstar. "If you waste your life hating her then you'll never get anywhere."

"It's not like I'm going anywhere." Thornstar replied, walking along side Falconclaw. "I'm sort of stuck here."

Falconclaw looked up at Thornstar with a sneer. "Listen, Thornstar. You could stay in here and complain about how Dawnstar ruined your life, or you could do what I'm doing."

"What exactly is that?" Thornstar stopped walking with a flick of his tail. "You don't seem to be doing much."

"Train an apprentice." Falconclaw looked Thornstar, amber eyes meeting amber eyes. "Find an apprentice in the forest to train, and maybe she can bring some more excitement into your dead life."

"She?" Thornstar narrowed her eyes. "Something tells me you already have an apprentice picked out."

"I absolutely do." Falconclaw replied as they reached a small pond, he touched the surface with his paw. The murky water rippled into an image of a black she-cat with piercing yellow eyes.

"Nightpaw?" Thornstar looked into the reflection in the water. "Echoheart' s daughter..." His voice trained into thoughts.

"Echoheart's daughter. She and her brother don't exactly shine in their Clanmate's eyes. Echoheart only had these two so she could have more warriors on your side. She didn't even claim them to be her own until right before everything fell apart. She's perfect, I can guarantee that she will follow you if you offer her training."

"Considering what Echoheart did to her, and my own relationship with Echoheart I don't think that Nightpaw would exactly welcome my training." Thornstar looked up at Falconclaw.

"Convince her, tell her that you only want to help her. Your name is more recent in history, but even my name has a bitter taste on the tongue of SunClan warriors. Yet I convinced Falconpaw to follow me. If you speak correctly, then you can get Nightpaw to follow you as well."

Thornstar nodded and watched as the image of Nightpaw faded away, Falconclaw turned away walking back towards his training area. "Meanwhile, I want you to go talk to Echoheart. Falconpaw found his way into the Twolegplace and I want you to tell her to try and not kill him the next time she sees him."

"Show me what you've got rogue!" Echoheart hissed, extending her claws as she lept at a large, brown rogue. "You said you wanted to learn how to fight, so show me that you actually want to!" She dug her claws into his shoulder and threw him to the ground, he let out a cry of pain. "If you ever come into contact with a Clan cat they would tear you apart!"