Warriors: Dawn Of The Forest

Chapter two

Fernstar raced alongside Berryfawn, skidding to a halt inside of the medicine den.
"The dawn patrol found her on the old border with.. WolfClan." The medicine cat shivered. "I've never seen so much blood."
The little gray tabby kit lay In a nest far too big for his tiny frame. Fernstar could clearly see a large wound upon his stomach, though not deep enough to be fatal or maim him too greiveiously.
"W-WolfClan did this?" Fernstar stammered. She couldn't take her eyes off of the obvious injuries on the kitten.
"Yes, but.. Berrypaw's scent was on him." Berryfawn murmured, delicately touching the kit with pale his tail-tip.
Fernstar gasped, green eyes widening. "She did this?! Injuring her denmate?!" Fernstar seethed, fur bristling. Her longtime friend gently touched his nose to her shoulder.
"Calm down. She didn't do this directly, but she was there." Berryfawn murmured, but instantly realized he said the wrong thing when Fernstar bared her teeth and dug her long claws into the sandy floor of the den. Though, when Thistlekit stirred, her behavior flipped like a switch. The tiny gray kitten looked up at his concerned leader with unfocused, cloudy yellow eyes. Berryfawn trotted into the herb store and brought out some ginger root and fed it to Thistlekit, along with a few leaves of chamomile to calm him down.
"Hey, can you tell me what happened?" Fernstar whispered, looking down at the kitten with a reassuring smile.
"I snuck out of camp to go and see the moss-rocks.." Thistlekit admitted, hanging his head shamefully.
"We're not here to get you in trouble," Berryfawn said, flicking his tail.
Thistlekit shakily nodded and continued with his story.
"A really mean she-cat was walking with two other cats I didn't recognize, and I hear all the nursery queens talking about WolfClan cats, and they didn't smell like TundraClan or SandClan cats, so I though they were WolfClan.. they saw me spying on them so this mean ginger shecat ordered the other two cats to attack me. I ran, but they caught me and I passed out. Then, I woke up here."
By the time Thistlekit finished his story, Fernstar was majorly worried.
"We have to get the other Clans.. She does have WolfClan warriors following her.." She muttered and raced out of the den abruptly.
"Was it something I said?" Thistlekit squeaked, staring wide-eyed at where his leader and run out of the den.
"I don't know." Berryfawn chuckled grimly.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Fernstar immediately sent two messengers to both SandClan and TundraClan for an emergency gathering. Now she paced the gathering pool, eternally frozen by the cold temperatures up on the mountain. Snakestar arrived first, with Icestar following a few heartbeats later.
"What is it?" Icestar hissed. "For you to drag us over here?"
Fernstar grimaced.
"Berrypaw has the remaining WolfClan warriors." She grimly spat, flattening her ears.
Snakestar gasped. "She can't really..?"
The gray tabby leader nodded. "Thistlekit snuck out of camp and was attacked by Berrypaw and two WolfClan warriors."
Icestar stared in shock. It was a well-known fact that Icestar had lost her mother/leader during the battle, and became leader shortly after.
"Looks like that joint patrol really is a nessecity" Icestar muttered.
"Send two warriors up to the peak two sunrises from now, and we'll find where she made her camp." Fernstar affirmed, raising her chin.
"We will find her."
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Dawnpaw watched the leaders exchange news at the emergency gathering. A young SandClan apprentice bounced up to him, the apprentices tawny and light ginger fur growing dim in the evening light.
"Hi, I'm Sunpaw! Is this your first gathering?" She boldly said, smiling and flicking her tail.
"Yeah.. I'm Dawnpaw. Fernstar's apprentice." Dawnpaw said, looking warily at Sunpaw, who was currently hyper actively bouncing on her toes.
"Wow! The leader's apprentice? What an honour!" She squeaked, ears flicking forwards and she put her muzzle mouselegnths from Dawnpaw's own.
"We're gonna be great friends, you and I!" She squealed, bouncing around a very flustered Dawnpaw as she flicked her tail underneath his chin. Sunpaw sat beside Dawnpaw, just barely brushing up against him.
"Hey, come here and look at this." Sunpaw whispered, flicking her ochre tail at him. The two apprentices drew away from the crowd, and Sunpaw led them to a cliff overhanging the territories.
"Look! You can see ForestClan land from here! And TundraClan and SandClan- my clan!" Sunpaw squealed.
Dawnpaw could see she was right. He could see the tall, ancient redwood forest where ForestClan made their home. The desert lands stretched off to the south, and Dawnpaw swore he could see a few warriors hunting a cactus owl.
To the north, the snowlands covered a large portion of the lands. Spruce trees dotted the landscape, and he could see odd structures of snow where two gray-furred apprentices played underneath a weeping juniper tree.
"Wow..." He breathed.
Sunpaw nudged him with her shoulder. "I know, right? The world is beautiful." Dawnpaw glanced at Sunpaw from the corner of his eye.
Like you? He thought, looking at Sunpaw as the moon made her fur glow in the night.
"Let's get back to the gathering." Sunpaw said, looking at Dawnpaw with joy in her yellow eyes. Dawnpaw nodded and followed, where the gathering was coming to an end.
"ForestClan, let's get going!" Fernstar yowled.
Dawnpaw turned to Sunpaw.
"See you at the next gathering!" He promised, touching his nose to her ear.
"You bet!" Sunpaw smiled, and headed off to SandClan.
Dawnpaw walked home, thoughts fixed on the tawny and light ginger tabby she-cat.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Fernstar's next few days were spent training her apprentice. One foggy morning, the day of the joint patrol at sunhigh, Fernstar was leading Dawnpaw to the training clearing when she overheard a conversation between Yellowstem and Wildfur. "Those Many WolfClan scum were seen by the icepool today."
"Really?"
"Yeah, me and Deerpaw were hunting by the mountain when we saw them."
As he was finishing his sentence, Fernstar trotted out of the brush.
"WolfClan warriors at the icepool?"
Fernstar hissed. Yellowstem nodded.
"They were too far away for us to hear what they were speaking about, but it was obviously important." The black and brown tabby tom said, nodding his head.
"Thank you, Yellowstem. Do me a favor and keep a lookout for any more WolfClan cats up there."
"Will do, Fernstar."
Fernstar dupped her head and trotted back up towards the training clearing where Dawnpaw waited patiently.
"We have to learn about tracking today." Fernstar said, watching Dawnpaw nod.
"Okay."
"I'm going to walk in the forest, and you tell me which direction I went."
Fernstar stalked into the woods, taking a sharp left, and doubling back.
She then sent Dawnpaw to show.
"You went straight for a few foxlengths, paused for a few moments, and went left where you doubled backwards to the training clearing." He said, flicking his tail.
"And how could you tell?"
"The brush was bent awkwardly where you turned, and your scent congregated in one spot where you stopped."
"Great work, Dawnpaw. A moon more and you'll be a warrior." Fernstar smiled softly, staring at her apprentice whom immediately straightened and fluffed out his whited chest. "T-thanks!" He stammered, a grin on his muzzle and happiness sparkling in his blue eyes.