Warriors: A Dawn Rising

Chapter Seven

                Dawnpaw woke up to feel the chilly breeze of leaf-bare, she shifted closer to Dustpaw, feeling comfort in his fluffy fur. "Dawnpaw," he groaned, shifting slightly. "what are you doing?" He asked softly.

              "It's cold." She murmured quietly, he huffed. Dawn light came through the twigs of the den, frowning, Dawnpaw wished for more sleep but stood up and slid out of the den. She slipped and fell straight into a snow drift, coughing out the cold substance, the entire camp was covered in a thick blanket of snow. Ivylight and Bluewhisker were talking quietly by the fresh-kill pile, and Dawnpaw dragged herself out of the snow, shaking it off.

             It was oddly quiet, and Dawnpaw realized Thrushpaw hadn't been in the den. Was he already on patrol? Leopardpaw and Cedarpaw followed after Dawnpaw, grumbling. "Move it, kittypet." She snarled, shoving the she-cat to the side. A low growl rose up in Dawnpaw's throat but Cedarpaw touched his tail tip to her shoulder.

           "It's not worth it." He meowed, padding off. Dawnpaw sighed as warriors began waking up and sliding out of the den, the camp stirred slowly.

           "We're going to go and check the scene of the battle that happened last night." Sharpeye meowed as he approached Dawnpaw, she nodded in understanding. "Just us two." He flicked his tail towards the camp entrance and the two cats set off.

           The forest was colder, with no leaves or bushes to cover them, the wind chilled Dawnpaw to the bone. Their paws left prints in the snow, they neared the border, scents of both Clans mingled together. Blood stains and fur tufts were left on the ground. Dawnpaw searched for the border and marked the border. "Should we hunt?" Dawnpaw asked.

          "You could try, but no prey would come near here after hearing last night." Sharpeye shrugged, stalking away in the bushes. Then Lightpaw came up in view, panting.

          "Nice, our Clans are still at war." She sighed, shaking her head. "Were you in the battle?"

          "No."
         "Neither was I." Lightpaw shrugged, looking at Dawnpaw. "I just came to see the aftermath."

            "It snowed." She meowed bluntly.

            "Thanks, captain obvious." Lightpaw teased, stretching. Her tail flicked. "Have you hunted yet?"

              "I was about to. I don't think I'll find much." Dawnpaw muttered, letting out a puff of air. The snow was glistening in the bright dawn light. The golden-brown tabby apprentice dipped her head to the ThornClan apprentice. "I should get going now."

             "Wait! Can you meet me here, tonight, when the moon is full?" Lightpaw meowed quickly, Dawnpaw looked at her, then nodded curtly before turning and padding off. She slid through a bramble bush, shaking the snow off as she scented the air. A squirrel was in her scent. Crouching down, she kept her pawsteps light, following the scent.

             "Attack!" A cat suddenly slammed down on Dawnpaw, kicking out her legs as she collapsed to the ground. Splitting pain hit her as she groaned, several heavy pawsteps sounded and cats surrounded her. "Pathetic."

             "She couldn't even defend herself." Another one snorted, by the smell of it, it was ThornClan. "Let's take her back to Brackenstar." Had she crossed the border? No, that was impossible, she went the opposite way of Lightpaw. Strong teeth pulled her scruff up. "Get up." It was a dark brown tom who snarled at her, his breath was rancid, worse than the smell of a badger or fox. She growled, tugging away and standing up. She glanced around, there were five full-grown warriors surrounding her. She couldn't fight her way out of this, even if she was about the size of them. "Let's get a move on!" He shouted, cuffing her ear.