The Lost Prophecy: Book 3: Hidden Shadows

Chapter 1

The sound of scrabbling broke the silence of the forest. Ravenwing crept forward, stalking slowly to keep his paw steps silent.

The mouse was moving quickly though, even if it hadn't seen Ravenwing. Its tiny paws pattered against the ground; the sound was just loud enough to ruffle Ravenwing's ear fur. Bunching the muscles in his hind legs, Ravenwing narrowed his eyes. Any moment and the mouse would be out of range; he'd have to take his chance now. He leaped out of his hiding spot, and the chase was on.

The mouse swerved toward a small hollow in the base of a tree, but Ravenwing was on its tail. He batted it away from the trees- it would have trouble finding cover in such an open space- and pelted after it. Stunned, the mouse couldn't flee from Ravenwing's swift killing bite.

Ravenwing purred. He had already caught a rabbit, a sparrow, and another mouse. This would be enough, surely. He began to take a circuitous path to the ThunderClan camp, stopping along the way to dig his other catches from where he had stowed them.

Upon reaching the gorse tunnel, he paused, feeling uncharacteristically proud of himself. He had hunted especially well today and was looking forward to seeing his Clanmates' reactions. Ravenwing headed into camp, fluffing out his thin, black fur. He couldn't stop his tail from twitching; a few cats were nodding approvingly, but there was one cat, a gray and black striped tom, who was not.

With Brokenstar's rogues driven off for now, ThunderClan was peaceful for the most part. The most noticeable difference in the camp was the presence of Darkstripe. Ravenwing felt his eyes shift toward the dark tom, and quickly forced them away. Darkstripe was paralyzed, and spent most of his time staring at the camp from his spot under the fallen oak, but it seemed that whenever Ravenwing turned he could feel Darkstripe's glare on his pelt. While Darkstripe's body was damaged, his gaze was not, and Ravenwing shuddered whenever he noticed it out of the corner of his eye. Even though Ravenwing himself had recommended keeping Darkstripe prisoner, it didn't mean he was in any way comfortable around the dark tom.

At least Brokenstar hadn't returned, Ravenwing thought, slipping past Frostfur's youngest kits scuffling in the snow. The former ShadowClan leader had been oddly terrifying the few times Ravenwing had seen him, even before Darkstripe had supported him. Ravenwing hoped that Brokenstar's rogues were as busy hunting as ThunderClan; it would stop them from invading the camp again.

He dropped his cache on top of the fresh-kill pile, and his tail curled up in satisfaction. His addition had more than doubled the meager pile's size. If he set out again every cat in the Clan would eat tonight.

Although he was glad to be a warrior and leave his apprentice days behind, in truth he was quite overwhelmed with all the patrolling he was required to do with so many cats injured. It will get better soon, Ravenwing thought. Once Mousefur and Runningwind are cleared to hunt again there will be less to do.

He turned to leave the fresh-kill pile behind, but his paws were weary. His hunt had lasted since dawn, and he hadn't eaten yet. He picked up a large squirrel and started to head toward the elders' den, resolving to make sure they had eaten before he chose his own prey. Then he would hunt again.

"Hey, Ravenwing." Ears twitching, Ravenwing spun around. It was Willowpelt, one of the Clan's senior warriors. "You can keep that squirrel for yourself. Brackenpaw brought fresh-kill for the elders already."

Ravenwing twitched his ears in acknowledgement. "Thank you."

"Graystripe's done well with Brackenpaw," Willowpelt meowed wistfully, padding up to sit down beside him. Ravenwing vaguely noted that Willowpelt was Graystripe's mother, though he rarely heard her talk about him. Like many warrior parents, she wasn't close to her kits. "He is a good warrior," Willowpelt went on, "unlike some cats." She paused, her gaze flitting toward Darkstripe. "I thank StarClan every day that Graystripe didn't turn out like him."