Warriors: Setting Sun: Falling Feather #1

Chapter 17

Mudpaw woke up in a dark forest. He glanced around, the scent of rotting plants and blood filling his nose. The dark, rotting trees stood tall above him, and he stared up st the sky, which was black. A slightly red fog swirled around the apprentice and twisted around the trees.

What is this place? Mudpaw felt leaves crunch under his paws, and beyond the leaves on the ground he could see that the grass was brown and wilted. Mudpaw looked towards the trees and peered through the fog, seeing fungus on the trees. Whatever this place is, I don't like it. It's definitely not StarClan.

Mudpaw snapped around when he heard a crunch. He could see a figure in the fog. "Hey, where am I? Who are you?" He questioned.

"You're in the Dark Forest." A dark gray tom with amber eyes padded out from the fog, his tail in the air. "My name is Wolffang. And I'm part of your kin," he meowed.

Mudpaw bristled and narrowed his eyes, his claws sinking into the ground. "Part of my kin?" He questioned. Wait, Wolffang, I've heard of that name!

"I'm your sister's older brother," Wolffang responded. "And I'm going to train you to become a better warrior."

"I don't need help from a murderer," Mudpaw spat, about to turn away. Wolffang then suddenly pinned him to the ground, his amber eyes burning with malice. "Don't run away, apprentice. You need this training, trust me, unless you want your little friend to die," Wolffang growled.

"What friend?" Mudpaw asked, kicking the dark gray warrior off. He stood up, his tail lashing. When am I gonna wake up? And will this stupid tom leave me alone!

"You're growing close to Snowy. I saw how you looked at her. I sensed your concern for her," Wolffang sighed. "Don't you wanna protect her?"

"W-Well I do," Mudpaw murmured. "I feel bad for her, that's all! I just want them to escape safely!" He growled.

"Then let me train you. You want to protect cats? Then let me help you. You know, Mudpaw, Sharptalon, Frostheart's brother, trained here. I was involved in training him. We are friends," Wolffang meowed.

"Why would Sharptalon train here? I heard that he was a good warrior!" Mudpaw gasped. Did he really train here, or is this cat lying? 

"Sure, you heard that he was a good warrior. But you never knew what he did," Wolffang snapped. The gray tom sat down, his tail curling neatly around his paws. "Sharptalon murdered his brother, Lighttail."

Mudpaw gasped. No, he's lying! Lighttail is alive in RiverClan, so that's not true! "I don't believe you. Lighttail is alive and well in RiverClan," he hissed.

"Yeah, he is alive. But he was killed by Sharptalon. Sharptalon says it was by accident, but I know he did it because he was misted by anger and distrust. For some reason, when he died, StarClan felt as though it wasn't his time to go, so they gave him a second life. Haven't you noticed those nasty scars across his throat? I'm sure if you asked him, he'd tell you," Wolffang meowed.

"Why would they do that?" Mudpaw asked, his interest peeking. "He isn't a leader," he pointed out, shaking his head.

"Like I said, maybe StarClan thought it wasn't his time to go. But do you know what else Sharptalon did?" Wolffang questioned. When Mudpaw didn't reply, Wolffang lifted his head. "He killed a StarClan cat, which was Softpaw. She's my sister that never made it to a warrior." The warrior paused suddenly. "Because I killed her."

"W-what?" Mudpaw gasped. "You killed your sister? What kind of cat are you?" He growled. "I love my sisters, I can't imagine what it would be like for them to killed by some cat, let alone by me!" He hissed. He then closed his eyes tightly, hoping he could end this.