Shadows in the Night

Chapter Four

"Come on, Webfoot! You're joining our patrol!" Gingernose called. Webfoot sat up from where he was sharing a starling with Nightclaw. The sun had only just gone up, and the camp was lit alight with dawn light.

"Coming!" He called, and touched noses with the black she-cat. "Are you coming too?"

Nightclaw nodded. "It's you, me, Gingernose, Emberpaw, Stormpelt, Mousefoot and Leaftail. We're patrolling the StalkClan border," she mewed. Webfoot twined his tail with hers, and together they padded over to the gathering group of cats.

Stormpelt padded towards his brother, then turned away, pointedly looking at Nightclaw.

What? Webfoot thought. You have Frostpelt, it's fair that I get to have a mate too, isn't it?

"Why are we bringing so many cats on this patrol?" Gingernose asked.

"We're preparing for an ambush," Stormpelt replied, his voice grim. "You know how hostile StalkClan cats are acting; even patrolling the border is a huge risk. We need to be prepared."

"Perhaps we should bring Firestorm too," the ginger tom suggested, using his tail to point to the ginger and white she-cat lying next to the fresh-kill pile. The deputy shook his broad head.

"We'll bring Sunstrike instead," he meowed, beckoning the warrior to come over from the edge of the clearing, where he was sharing tongues with Silverpaw. It had been two moons since he had been made a warrior, and Silverpaw's littermates would become warriors soon, too.

He noticed that Stormpelt had chosen only levelheaded cats to join this patrol, in case of encountering a hostile enemy.

"Sorry Stormpelt, but i'm joining Frostpelt's hunting patrol with Owlfang and Sharpclaw, remember?" Sunstrike mewed, padding over to join the white she-cat.

"What about Blacktail?" Leaftail suggested.

"Blacktail," Stormpelt called to the white tom that was sprawled outside of the warriors' den, "I need you on this patrol more than Leopardfur does. Come on!"

The patrol headed out of the camp, towards the border. Emberpaw was bouncing up and down in excitement, her orange fur catching bits of twig. Webfoot had to admit that former kittypet was settling in well; she was already competition to Silverpaw in hunting. Gingernose was glad to have her to think about instead of his ex-mate, Sootfur, and her and Sharpclaw's kit, Mudkit.

The nursery is filling up, Webfoot realized. Mosspelt had moved to the nursery, expecting Owlfang's kits. But Poppykit and Cheetahkit would become apprentices in a moon, unfortunately without their littermates, Littlekit, Bravekit and Stripekit, whom had already joined StarClan.

"Do you think that we will meet a StalkClan patrol?" Nightclaw's meow snapped him out of his thoughts. Webfoot shrugged.

"We'll see," he meowed.

The patrol was nearing the StalkClan border, and as they got close to the owl tree, Stormpelt suddenly signaled for the patrol to crouch down. "Patrol!" He hissed. Webfoot dropped down and crouched behind a tree. The StalkClan patrol approached with Adderear in the lead. He recognized Badgerclaw and Shadefur falling in behind him.

At Stormpelt's command, the rest of the cats in the LightningClan patrol crept forwards, fanning out so they closed in on the enemy patrol. It was heading over the border onto LightningClan territory, and Webfoot felt his claws slide out.

The deputy signaled for Blacktail and Emberpaw to back into the undergrowth as backup. The rest of the patrol retreated with them, and then advanced, tricking the StalkClan patrol into thinking that they had just arrived.