sage | a warrior cats fanfiction

chapter one

Chirp, chirp, chirp!

"StarClan forsaken birds," grumbled a cat in a clearly irritated tone.

Maybe if you didn't complain about it, we'd all still be asleep anyways.

Thanks to the mutter of an irritated warrior, the warrior's den was slowly getting up. A few cats could almost always easily get out of their nests with swift movements, though most felt the need to laze around longer. Or simply, they felt too tired to move.

And that usually meant being shouted at by Cougarstar — SageClan's fierce-tongued leader — which meant a lot of the newer warriors got little to no sleep at night.

Adderheart was certainly not a younger warrior. He was actually a senior one, and although they held no more power than a usual warrior, it was generally known that the younger warriors and younger cats, in general, were to respect the senior warriors and hold their opinions to more of a higher quality — a higher value. Of course, there was always one cat who was snappy or sharp with Adderheart or the other senior warriors, and he knew they never really meant it.

It simply was just that the younger warriors wished to have their opinions so highly valued, too. But of course, they would reach that stage eventually, provided they actually survived a tad past their middle warriorhood. That was normal, though. It was frequent that cats lived past their middle moons, although some didn't live much past that.

It was the reason why there were so few elders. Most of the elderly warriors wanted to serve their Clan for as long as they could, so they didn't have to sit around all day in a den, yet many saw a few lovely pros to being an elder that others simply didn't see.

The healing in SageClan was decent as it was. The herbs were fairly advanced compared to the previous healers. It seemed with each passing generation, more discoveries were made about herbs and healing that contributed to SageClan's prosperity.

Well, only some cats believed that the Clan was living in that way.

Adderheart was one of the cats who frequently got up earlier. It was generally much better to do so, anyway. Being shouted at by Cougarstar was not only embarrassing but very hard on the ears, especially when it happened nearly every day. He didn't understand how others did it.

And with a quick movement, the lean tom slipped from the warrior's den and out into the camp.

Scents of marsh drifted to him, tinged with the smell of frog and mouse. Head whipping to the fresh-kill pile, he saw both of the previously mentioned pieces of prey, gently laying atop the mostly empty pile. His tail flickered absently.

Pale creamy-brownish fur rising for a moment, he glanced up at the sky.

A late greenleaf sun climbed carefully into the paleish blue expanse above his head. It was surprising to him how fast the warm season had ended. Adderheart really adored the warmth and the pleasant sun of greenleaf and newleaf, and now it was going away. Soon it would be leaf-fall, where the days would be chilly and the wind would nip at him. And then soon would come the biting chill of leaf-bare...

Shivering at the thought, he cast his dark gray eyes around once more.

Past the thorn and bramble barrier that surrounded the dip of the camp was a few trees. That was the majority of their territory. Pine trees that had ample space between them which was filled with simple marshland. Of course, rocks and ponds dotted the territory too. Yet it was nice to the older tom, honestly. He loved the light squish of the ground between his paws and the small pricklings of the pine needles as he walked.

His tail, with the two white stripes that was practically attributed to his very name, flicked slightly as he spotted Bearpatch and Palewhisker both emerging from their den.