Warrior Cats Book 1: A Dark Path- Dusk of the Clans

Chapter 22

Shadowpaw stretched with a yawn and blinked open her eyes, Foxflame's scent lingered in the nest beside her and she smiled inwardly. She turned and jabbed Bumblepaw with a paw, "Come on, get up!" The yellow and black tabby groaned and sat up, a clump of moss clinging to his shoulder. Shadowpaw laughed and flicked the moss off with her tail, then said, "Its your turn to wake up Mintpaw." Bumblepaw's eyes went wide, and Shadowpaw snickered as he creeped up to the sleeping apprentice, and prodded her in the side, retreating back quickly. Mintpaw shifted but didn't wake, so he creeped back up, prodding her with both his front paws, and the short tempered apprentice leaped to her paws with a startled hiss, Bumblepaw catapulting backwards in surprise.

Shadowpaw laughed and Bumblepaw leaped back up, laughing as well. Mintpaw growled and leaped onto Bumblepaw, "You little!" Bumblepaw rolled around with the other apprentice, boxing and pummeling each other with sheathed claws. Shadowpaw laughed, "Every cat for himself!" She leaped onto the two other cats, knocking Mintpaw back with sheathed paws, then flinging herself onto her brother.

The three apprentices rolled and tumbled around the apprentice part of the clearing, even Mintpaw was laughing. "Okay you three, break it up." Crowclaw meowed, startling the apprentices, Shadowpaw flashed him a guilty look, but the good humored deputy's whiskers were twitching in amusement. "Duskstar wants to speak with you three, I would not keep him waiting."

Shadowpaw exchanged bewildered glances with the others, then they padded across the grassy clearing to where Duskstar sat speaking with Wrentooth, Mintpaw's mentor. The leader looked up as they approached, "There you three are, I believe that it is time for a very important part of your apprenticeship." Shadowpaw tilted her head, and her mentor continued, "It is time for you to make the journey to the Moontree, Wrentooth and I will accompany you there." Bumblepaw perked up in excitement, and Mintpaw looked interested in the thought, but Shadowpaw felt a small flicker of doubt.

"Ivyleaf has your traveling herbs ready, we will leave as soon as possible." Wrentooth's meow snapped her out of her thoughts, and the three apprentices nodded, rushing for the medicine clearing. Shadowpaw pushed her doubt to the back of her mind as they entered the clearing, Ivyleaf was poking around the herb storage, and she called out, flicking her tail toward piles of leaves, "Your traveling herbs are over there."

Mintpaw shrugged and bent down, wrinkling her nose as she swallowed the strong scented leaves, Bumblepaw reluctantly did the same, and Shadowpaw did as well, almost gagging at the bitter taste. "Yuck!" Bumblepaw spat when they finished, but before any of them could say anything else, Wrentooth poked his head into the medicine clearing, "Come on, lets get going."

Shadowpaw led the way out of the clearing, trotting over to Duskstar, who nodded when he saw that everyone was there, "We have lots of ground to cover, lets go." With that he led the way out of camp, and toward RiverClan territory, where they would follow the border until they cross out of clan land.

(Foxflame)

By the time he returned with his patrol he received the news of the apprentices journey to the Moontree, remembering back to his own exciting journey there. Crowclaw paced around the clearing, his tail flicking, visibly upset about something. Foxflame trotted over to the deputy, "Something wrong?" he asked, and Crowclaw frowned, motioning him forward with a flick of his tail.

"RiverClan is acting suspicious, they were spotted training in the dense forest on their territory by one of our patrols, normally it wouldn't be a big deal, except the fact that they have never trained in those trees before, and I highly doubt we are just now seeing them train there for the first time." Crowclaw meowed, and Foxflame felt the fur on his spine raise.

"We will keep a close watch on RiverClan, just in case, as for you take Sootcloud, Morningleaf, and Lionflame on a border patrol along ShadowClan territory." The deputy dismissed him with a flick of his tail, and Foxflame dipped his head, going to collect his patrol.