Shadows in The Emerald

Chapter 1

Blueleaf sat in her den watching the newest members of the clan. She had her eye on Littlekit, the tom was smaller than the others and always wanted to go sort the pray pile or learn herbs instead of play-fighting with his brother and sister. She could tell the kits were arguing, probabably just Littlekit not wanting to play she thought. Littlekit finally gave in and began "battle training" with his siblings. He tried to do a stalking crouch, and after seeing him fail his brother, Birchkit, leaped, claws sheathed, and pinned him to the ground. As he did so Leafkit, his sister, shoved Birchkit off of him. Forgetting to sheath her claws she dug her back claws into Littlekit's back. "Hey Littlekit, do you want to learn about yarrow!" I yelled as the young tom yowled in pain. He got away from his siblings and Blueleaf swears she never seen a kit run so fast. "Yarrow is simple, it stops infection." He said brightly as Blueleaf led him across the bridge to her den. "Your sibling are being too ruff, I will have to have a talk with Shiningheart, then again you are going to be apprentices in less than a moon." As they made it to the den, Shiningheart runs across the bridge. "Oh my baby, I told her to sheath her claws, are you ok, Blueleaf will he be ok?" The young mother was rambling, though Blueleaf wasn't shocked, she lost one of her kits when a blizzard blew in and she froze to death, leaving Shiningheart distraught and in tears. Even though they used brambles and leaf's and twigs to surround the camp, it didnt always work. "He will be fine, but I need to have a talk with you and Amberstar." Blueleaf thought, zoning back into reality. She put some goosegrass on the scratches to stop the bleeding and marigold to prevent infection. Everytime Littlekit yelped Shiningheart comforted him, knowing that the herbs were to help him. Covering the wound with cobweb, Blueleaf gave Littlekit half a poppy seed. "Thank you Blueleaf, can I go back to my nest?" His mother looked at Blueleaf, who nodded, and nuzzled his cheek. "Go lay down, I will be there in a minute, Leafkit and Birchkit are playing with the apprentices ok?" She was so calm and caring when it came to her kits, and you could see the love in her eyes. The kit ran off and Shiningheart looked at Blueleaf. She was tired and stressed. "I will be right back." Blueleaf said, turning around and going to her herb storage, separated by a wall on brambles and leaf's and whatnot. She came back with Dandelion leaves. "Here, these will help with the nervousness." She said placing them on the floor in front of Shiningheart. The queen gratefully took them and looked back to the blue-gray she-cat. "So what did we need to talk about?" She said after a moment of letting the herbs kick in. "Come with me." It was leaf-bare so the sides of the platforms had brambles. The top was always covered in whatever wood the two-legs used, and it was good at keeping the rain out. Blueleaf led Shiningheart to the leaders den. "Amberstar" she shouted calmly from the outside. "Come in Blueleaf." The leaders voice was shaky and Blueleaf felt a pang of worry. "Stay here for a minute ok?" She whispered to Shiningheart who nodded, worry filling her gorgeous blue eyes. As Blueleaf moved the brambles to enter, she noticed that Amberstar was laying down and looked tired. "What do you need, I guarded camp all night and need to sleep." Blueleaf sighed in relief for her sister. "I wanted to discuss Littlekit." At this the leader sat up. "What about him?" The leader looked worried, it was the beginning of Leaf-bare and it was bad enough not having all that much pray, they didn't need Whitecough or better yet Greencough in camp and Blueleaf knew that. "Shiningheart, come in." She called to the queen outside. "I want to take him as my apprentice." Blueleaf said as the queen walked inside.

Authors note: this may seem like a filler chapter, but I just wanted to get a feel for how this is going because this is my first fanfic. I need help writing the prophacy, so if you want to help, dm me or say hi on my discord account when I finally add it to my bio. See ya in the next one.
-Jayda