Warriors: Omen Of Fire

Chapter 9

Three moons had passed since the horrible accident. Leafpaw and Eaglepaw had been training for two moons now and Flowertail was made a warrior at last. The den seemed crowded recently, especially because the two younger cats were so full of energy. At least at the moment they were out with their mentors, Flameclaw and Starnose.

He remembered their naming ceremony. They and the whole clan were so excited as their new names were called. It was the first good news since the Rocky Hills and the coming of new leaf helped lift everyone's hearts. Eaglepaw quickly warmed up to his mentor Starnose, but Leafpaw seemed a little nervous. Snowpaw had congratulated them, but wasn't excited to have them badger him all day and to share a den.

They're so annoying, he thought with a smirk. He remembered when he was young and enthusiastic like them. These days nothing really seemed to get him excited like that anymore, he just wanted to work hard and get through every day. Emberpaw, however, seemed worse, only talking when she had to and bringing back meagre prey offerings. He could tell Lizardbelly was pretty fed up with her.

One afternoon they had come back into the camp yelling at each other over StarClan knows what. Snowpaw was so surprised at his sister's ferocity, as was the rest of the clan. Everyone but him and Flowertail had avoided her for a while.

The days now were warmer as leaf bare came to an end. The snow was melting and the ground was soggy under-paw. Some early buds were beginning to show on the undergrowth and some new leaf flowers were budding.

Snowpaw breathed in their scent deeply as he padded after his mentor. They were on dawn patrol. Rainwhisker and Oneclaw joined them. The forest smelled fresh and new as the earth began to warm.

A small stream chattered along beside them, swollen with snowmelt. It seemed Snowpaw had to shake each paw after every step or else he feared he would grow webbed feet! This is no weather for a warrior.

They arrived at the SapphireClan border and everything seemed in place. But as they padded farther along, Snowpaw noticed something odd. The newly grown grass was crushed on their side of the border and he thought he could smell the strong stench of SapphireClan, but it was hard to tell. He didn't want to be wrong so he called his mentor back.

"I think I smell SapphireClan. But the border is right there and I can't tell if they crossed it or not."

Charfur bent to sniff the grass and narrowed his eyes. "Oh it's them alright. And it looks like they've been stealing prey."

Snowpaw was taken aback; surely they wouldn't be so bold!

"Oneclaw! Rainwhisker! Come see this," Charfur called them over.

They padded quickly over, examined the ground, and agreed with the grey warrior. There were tufts of squirrel fur caught on a blade of grass and crimson blood spattered the ground. Ears flat back, they all glared over the border. It was early, they sun was barely pushing the stars away. If they had stolen prey, it mustn't have been long ago.

"It smells fresh," observed Oneclaw.

"We should attack them now!" yowled Rainwhisker. Snowpaw had to agree. How could they steal prey so soon after leaf bare!

"We should tell Sleetstar first," reasoned Charfur. "He can decide what to do."

Oneclaw grunted in agreement and they raced back to camp to make their report. Snowpaw was excited, but maybe for the wrong reason. He wanted to finally experience his first battle and put his training to the test.

Emberpaw padded up to him as he stood waiting while the two senior warriors reported to their leader. Rainwhisker paced nearby and Meltwater quickly stepped up to see what was wrong.