RED MOON ⬤ a warriors cat fan-fiction

CHAPTER THREE.

Standing on a vast land that was nothing but tall grass, Thornspring felt out of place. He felt exposed by standing in the open where other cats could see him. He missed the large oak trees that would linger above him; he missed the scents of the pine trees and he missed the marshy swamp-like earth beneath his paws.

Despite what he missed, he could not deny how the wind felt in his fur. It was refreshing. The scents that were around him were half bad either. The sharp tang of the heather in the grass had him on edge and seemed to sharpen his senses.

Maybe Squirrelstar was onto something. He thought as his blue eyes scanned the land. Perhaps switching clans will open a new rule in the code. Thornspring had always wondered what it would be like living in another clan, though now that he was in WindClan rather than ShadowClan, Thornspring was excited.

Never in my years have I thought about coming to WindClan. The ginger tom then padded down the slope and towards the lake. Thornspring always thought that an older tom like him would be stuck in his ways, but it surprised him how much he is open to change.

Coming to the edge of the lake, Thornspring leaned down and lapped at the water. Enjoying the cold drink, Thronspring then turned to look toward the WindClan camp just in time to see a few lanky cats. Thornspring may have been there for a moon, but he took it upon himself to remember the WindClan cat's names.

The patrol didn't seem to be coming towards him, however, the ginger tom padded over to join them. Hootwhisker was in the lead, followed by Fernstripe and Leaftail. Thornspring never felt threatened by the other cats so he had no problem casually joining their patrol.

"Greetings," Hootwhisker dipped his head as Thornspring approached them, "how was your walk?"

"Refreshing," the ShadowClan warrior replied. "I'll join you for the remainder of the walk."

"That is fine by me," Hootwhisker meowed, the dark gray tom's tail swaying. "We are heading towards ThunderClan, but we don't expect much to come out of it."

Thornspring nodded, taking note of Fernstripe and Leaftail following behind, They weren't saying much, but Thornspring could see them glancing at one another.

"Fair enough," Thornspring meowed, "The borders have been silent since Squirrelstar started sending cats of each clan to others."

Hootwhisker's eyes seemed to widen in surprise. "I suppose so... Do you miss ShadowClan?"

Thinking of his home had his heart longing for his nest, but he also felt a strange sense of warmth within WindClan. Something that made Thornspring felt like he was home. Thornspring knew that WindClan may never welcome him, especially if Squirrelstar changes her mind about the Cross-Clannaed cats.

"I do, but, I am fascinated by another clan," Thornsrping replied.

It wasn't all the odd to speak with another cat about how he was settling in his new clan. Thornspring was more than willing to let them know how he was feeling.

Hootwhisker seemed pleased at the answer and continued on, with the others following behind.

It did not take long for them to come across the stream that separated WindClan and ThunderClan. Thornspring let the patrol scent mark the border, though his gaze moved to the forest on the other side. For a moment, he wondered if Birchburr, one of his own clanmates, was being treated well.

"Oh, here comes a patrol."

Thornspring turned his head as he spotted the patrol that consisted of Snaptooth, Flywhisker, Stemleaf, Mousefur and her apprentice, Owlpaw, and Sagemist. Seeing that many cats in a patrol sent a strange shiver down Thornspring's spine.

Leaning to Hootwhisker, he spoke. "Isn't that a bit too many cats on a patrol?"

Hootwhisker's eyes were trained on the ThunderClan patrol, but he nodded.

"ThunderClan is always up to something," Hootwhisker reminded him, "but for now, we can only assume they are doing their duties."

"Are we going to report it to Crowstar?" Fernstripe asked.

Hootwhisker thought for a moment but shook his head.

"No, after all, they are just patrolling," he meowed.

Thornspring knew better. He knew that ThunderClan was a powerful clan with a new leader. He also knew nothing about Squirrelstar.

As the patrol turned, Thornspring looked back to where the ThunderClan patrol had been. He did not like to speculate, but to him, he couldn't help it.

ThunderClan was up to something, and he had no idea what they were doing.