Warriors: A Silver Moon Rises

Chapter 1

                   It was the beginning of greenleaf, prey had been,  good and the amount of kits that had been born earlier in newleaf had begun to grow up fast.  Already venturing out of sight of the busy queens and causing mischief to the elders. I had become a warrior only half a moon ago, and already I had managed to catch enough prey to last the clan through a long hard leafbare. I slowly padded along the edge of the forest that marked the end of thunderclan territory. I stopped to sniff the air for any signs of danger, or other clan cats, especially shadowclan. They had always been the most dangerouse, sly, and feared clan. For they didnt fear for their lives and always broke the warrior code. But despite their dangerouse ways they did have a way of surviving, their strength and lack of fear allowed them to easily win in battles, wich was an advantage for them. Taking claim of other clans territories was

much like a hobby to them, a chance to prove themselves better than the rest of the clans.

  I continued along the edge of the territory when I heard a sudden loud rustling noise coming from a nearby bush. I dropped into the hunters crouch and began to slowly make my way toward the bush. I stopped to smell the air, the scent was familiar... a thunderclan cat.  Silvermoon the medicine cat suddenly jumped out of the bush, causing me to jump back in fear and land on my back with a hard thump.

  " Well you won't make much of a good hunter if you jump at everything that comes out of a bush, " The young silver-she explained.

" Silvermoon, you startled me, I wasn't expecting you to jump out of the bush like that, what were you doing anyways?

" Well I was trying to collect some more cob web for the medicine den, but then I saw you from inside the bush and I decided to give you a little scare, " she laughed softly. I glance down at her paws and see that she has gathered no cobweb   " May I help you gather cobweb? I have finished the border patrol and have nothing else to do, as we have more than enough prey to last us for awhile, " I ask with a sincere look in my eyes.

" Alright, the help would be nice, the more paws available the better for carrying more cobweb, " she answered with a gleam of sunlight in her blue eyes.  We spent the rest of the afternoon gathering cobweb for the medicine den, and when we had finally finished, I swear it would take a moon before I removed all leaves and twigs from my pelt. We entered the camp and dropped the load in the medicine den. Tired from all the crawling, Silvermoon padded toward the fresh kill pile, and picked out a nice giant bird for us to share. It felt good to just sit back and relax after helping one of my clanmates. It always felt good to me, helping one of my clan mates, then getting to relax knowing I have helped them accomplish something. I look toward Silvermoon as she finished up the last bit of our meal and began washing her silver paws.  " Is there anything else you need help with, because I would be willing to help in any way I can," I asked with a hint of hope in my eyes.

  " I'm sorry Angelheart, but there is nothing else that needs to be done, besides you have helped me enough already. Why don't you go to your den and get some rest. you are probably really tired after today," the silver she said as she got up and slowly padded into the medicine den.

  I gazed around the camp to see if anyone needed help, but there was no one. Queens had already finished cleaning the kits and were getting them to bed, the elders had already fallen asleep or were just sharing stories of the old days. And all warriors were in the camp eating fresh kill and going to sleep. There was nothing for me to do here, so I turned and headed back into the forest. The feel of the breeze against my pelt as I raced to get out of the camp felt so good, not something you get to enjoy when you are busy hunting or on border patrol.

I slowed my pace as I reached the edge of Thunderclan territory, staring into the dark shadows of Shadowclan. I sat down, closed my eyes, and allowed the energy of the entire forest to surround me. I heard the rustling of every leaf on every tree, felt the tiny foot steps of prey in the undergrowth, and the smell of every living, breathing thing in this forest. It felt good to relax in this way, something I enjoyed doing since the first time I came into the forest as an apprentice.  A hush fell over the forest as the breeze died down, as if the forest was trying to whisper. I sniffed the air once more, but instead of the scent of everything I knew in the forest, a new scent filled my nose......Shadowclan.

 

The scent was coming from behind me, which meant that there was a Shadowclan cat inside Thunderclan territory. I spun around to see if I could find the source of the foul, dark smell.

   " You shouldn't be out here at this time of night, and so alone Thunderclan, " the voice laughed, it belonged to a male, and he was above me in the trees somewhere.

  " And you should not be here at all, you piece of Shadowclan trash, " I snapped back as I dropped into the hunters crouch, watching for any sign of movement in the trees.  Suddenly the male cat dropped down in front of me, now visible in the moonlight, I could see he had dark brown fur with black stripes and one black paw.

    " What are you doing in Thunderclan territory and who are you? " I snapped as he began circling around me.

  " My name is Shadowtail, and I am here because I was wondering what you were doing out in the forest at this time of night, and by yourself, " he smiled, but I just held my ground and kept my claws at the ready.

  " Am I not allowed to enjoy my own territory without one of you Shadowclan mouse brains ruining it, besides this is my territory, so GET OUT," I hissed. He continued to circle around me, then finally stopped and sat down in front of me. I could see him sizing me up, so I decided to stand and hiss as hard as I could. He then began to laugh, what did this stupid Shadowclan cat find funny.

  "Why are you laughing? Don't you know that at any moment I could kill you," I snapped at him, which seemed to make him laugh more.

  " If you wanted me dead you would have done it already, besides, you will get nowhere with weak stances like that. I could easily knock you over right now. Come on Thunderclan, let a real warrior show you how it's done," he smiled. For some reason I began to feel the fur on my back relax, why was I relaxing around this flee bag? and why was I now following him to a clear spot in the forest? I did not know, but I just allowed myself to follow anyways.  He dropped into a crouch and told me to attack him. I dropped into a crouch, charged and trying to jump onto his back to make him lose balance, but instead, while in mind air he swiped at my feet and I fell flat on my stomach.

  " Instead of trying to knock me onto the ground by landing on my back, take out my paws first then go for my back," he explained with a hint of a smile. I crouched down again, using my speed I zig-zagged towards his forelegs. With one swipe of my paw he was on the ground, I leaped into the air and landed squarely on his back causing him to fall back to the ground, quite winded.

  " If you use that, you will have more chances to make a strike at your enemy, " he told me while looking into my eyes. He quickly turned his head and began to head for his territory.

  " Well goodbye Thunderclan, it was a pleasure arguing with you, " he said as he turned and stared toward his territory.

  " Wait, my name is Angelheart," I suddenly stammered. He turned and gave a faint smile

  " Maybe we could do this again sometime, like tommorow or whatever," I was having difficulty speaking now. Without turning around, he nodded his head and told me to meet him by two-leg place. I slowly watched as he dissapeard into the dark of Shadowclan. I turned and headed back to the camp, but before I entered the camp, I rolled around in the undergrowth to get rid of the Shadowclan scent. If any of my clanmates found out I had been with a Shadowclan cat, I would be in so much trouble.

I slowly padded back into the camp and headed for the warriors den. Every one of my clanmates was already asleep, so I quietly snuck into my nest and tried to go to sleep. Wich was quite hard because I found myself thinking non stop about Shadowtail. Why couldn't I get him off my mind? I couldn't like him, it was against the warrior code. But the way his dark fur looked in the moonlight, and his beautiful Amber eyes as they looked into mine. I didn't want to break the warrior code, but something inside me wanted him to be mine. I closed my eyes and went to sleep, and later dreamed about Shadowtail. We were in the forest, he was teaching me more moves. Then suddenly he stopped and told me he wanted me, the last thing I remember in my dream was that we had wandered into a dark cave. I was looking forward to tommorow night, it was a chance to get away from daily clan life, and a chance to see the cat that had caused me to fall in love with him.