Warrior Cats: Fate of the Clans-Shattered Borders

Prologue

Juniperpaw POV

She trembled excitedly as they walked through the deciduous trees on the path to Moonpool. Her mentor Stonecreek padded along beside her, his clear blue eyes staring ahead. It was her first time visiting Moonpool as an apprentice and she could barely contain her excitement.

A squirrel was sitting on a tree root, scrounging in the fallen leaves for food. Juniperpaw crouched down and awkwardly crept forward. Her foot landed on a twig sending a crack through the forest. The squirrel looked up, it's nose twitching, and it froze as it saw the young apprentice. Quickly she sprinted forward, determined to catch the fury creature. It let out a loud chittering noise and ran off into the undergrowth as she thundered after it.

Somecat let out an impatient cough behind her. Juniperpaw skidded to a stop and looked over her shoulder apologetically at Stonecreek. Whoops. He shook his head amused and spoke in his low voice. "I'd be surprised if the warriors find anything after that." Flattening her ears in shame she lowered her head. He rested his tail reassuringly on her shoulder."It's alright." Grinning, she she straightened, looking up at her mentor. Suddenly a loud greeting came from behind them. "Nice catch!"

Juniperpaw licked her chest quickly glad for the fur hiding the red tinge of embarrassment on her cheeks. The speaker came out of the tree line a wide grin on their face.

The dark gray she-cat bounced over followed by her mentor who she knew as Darkwing. Juniperpaw was familiar with the ShadowClan medicine cat after a bought of whitecough that left Stonecreek short on catmint. She hadn't been his apprentice during that time but she often watched the medicine cat from the nursery. Darkwing meowed a greeting to Stonecreek her hazel eyes sparking with curiosity as she eyed Juniperpaw. "Is this the new apprentice you spoke so fondly of?," she said to the gray tom.

"Yes, her name is Juniperpaw." Stonecreek nudged her forward to say hello to the dark she-cat. "Hi," she mumbled shyly her pelt heating up in embarrassment from the praise. The ShadowClan medicine cat purred with amusement. "Hello Juniperpaw."
Turning to the small grey cat beside her, who Juniperpaw assumed to be Darkwing's apprentice,she meowed. "This is my apprentice Sedgepaw," the black she-cat confirmed, gesturing to the blue eyed apprentice. "-she is actually the one who found the new source of catmint and is nearing the time to receive her warrior name." She looked down proudly at Sedgepaw, who puffed out her chest basking in the pride and attention.

"Hey," she mewed bounding over. Sedgepaw had a cheerful voice and her eyes were bright. "Have you ever been to Moonpool?," the loud apprentice asked quickly. Juniperpaw opened her mouth to reply, but Sedgepaw started talking again. "Oh wait of course you haven't you're new that was mouse brained of me to ask wasn't it?" The young apprentice laughed and Juniperpaw shuffled her feet nervously. Oblivious to her discomfort Sedgepaw continued rambling on. "My first time I was so nervous, but it ended up being absolutely AMAZING and I felt fine afterward so I'm sure you'll be okay." Juniperpaw jumped when the other apprentice suddenly gasped. "What if StarClan gives us a prophecy? There hasn't been a prophecy since the Great Battle!" Juniperpaw frowned as she spoke. "But isn't that a good thing?," she reflected. "The prophecy was about the return of the Dark Forest. A lot of cats died." Sedgepaw looked down her tail drooping slightly. "I guess so," she sighed sounding disappointed. Juniperpaw nodded but felt slightly guilty for discouraging the excitable she-cat. Their mentors called them over as the other medicine cats arrived.

Sedgepaw's temporary silence was broken when she leaned over to Juniperpaw and whispered in her ear, her breaths tickling her ear fur. "Don't worry I won't tell them about your fantastic hunting skills." Juniperpaw blushed which made Sedgepaw laugh as she bounded away.