Warriors: Paws At Starlight (Outdated)

Chapter 5

Wolfpaw hunched down and prickled his ears attentively. A mouse scuffled in the roots of a tree. The wind was at his favor, he crawled forward slowly, this was an opportunity and he could not waste. Making sure his tail didn't touch the ground below him, he stalked forward. He felt a shiver go down his spine, the wind had changed in almost an instant. His heart pounding as his prey jerked its head up, Now!, a voice inside him growled. He leaped forward with all his strength, the mouse turned tail and ran, but it was too late. The tom pounced on it, and bit down onto it to make sure it did not survive.

     This was his fifth catch of the day, he'd been on a hunting mission. It was a great time to hunt, the rays of the sun were warm and prey was beginning to leave their hiding places after leaf-bare. Silentleaf had scent him down to the border between their territory and the Hindpaw nests by the south of their territory. It had been a day since the fire on the other side of the mountains that divided both EarthClan and DeathClan from BlazeClan, apprentices weren't allowed to go there without a warrior to accompany them. Owlstar had sent a patrol to explore through the narrow border with DeathClan and see how they had been affected, but they had seen no cats over there, only a charred forest, everything was gray and dead with ash.

     The only cats that had seemed very struck by the news were Halfpetal and Fernpetal. But the Clan was still shocked by the news, there was a possibility that many cats had died.

     Wolfpaw paced forward a few fox-lengths to where he had buried a pigeon little earlier, he dropped his mouse and dug his other fresh-kill. He picked up both of them and padded onward. The scent of his prey lingered in his nostrils, only then had he noticed he was so hungry. Gazing up to the sky, he saw it was light blue with white fluffy clouds, but there was still a tinge of gray mixed with it from the smoke of the fire. Images flooded his mind of frightened cats running for their lives from flames as they devoured their forest, he almost felt pity for the rival Clans. DeathClan had begun changing attitude since Snakestar became leader, he controled the clan with such confidence, and most of his clan had learned to be more peaceful. The apprentice had to give credit to the DeathClan leader; he had become leader right after Amberstar's bloody rule, which had left him with a devastated clan to look after. His leadership was one of the hardest, and even though he had played a major role in Amberstar's plans he had proved that he had great intentions to serve his clan as best as he could. EarthClan was differnent matter, they had an indecisive leader, Tornstar was the youngest of the leaders. He only felt sorry for them because of the decisions their leader would take to save them.

     He padded along a trees, the silence was broken only by a pair of birds singing in the distance. Everything was so peaceful. It was hard to believe that there was a destroyed landscape on the other side of the mountains. His tail fluffed out nervously. Something told him that even if DeathClan was becoming friendly, they'd have trouble with them sooner or later.

***

     He approached the thorn bush that was the clan entrance, Hazelswirl sat guard. The dark ginger she-cat dipped her head in greeting her expression gave nothing away. He entered the clearing slowly, looking around at his Clanmates. Eveningspot lay beside the warriors den, the sun made her pelt a flaming bright orange, her black colored throat looking like a shadow in the . Her green eyes were fixed on something on the other side of the clearing, they were filled with soft affection and happiness. He followed her gaze to the apprentices den, where he saw Lightningpaw and Pigeonpaw taking to each other. She sat in the shade below the low hanging branch of a tree, she listened carefully at the tomcat. Wolfpaw quickened his pace to the elder's den, he didn't want to keep the elders from eating.

     Greeting them by dipping his head, he left the mouse and the pigeon in front of Cindersnout and Sandbelly; the pale ginger she-cat had scornfully reminded him of being late but the other elder reassured him that he had been right on time. His muscles felt tense. Sandbelly was a short-tempered she-cat but she was wise, but her words always got him out of his mood. Either way, he couldn't do anything about it, if he ever snapped at an elder he would be given a very scornful approach from the whole clan.