Forest of Three

[Squirreldash]

Before the four Clans of Thunder, Shadow, River, and Wind and before the four Clans moved away there were three Clans; ForestClan, RapidClan, and MoorClan. They never talked, and they only met at the dawn of the new moon after the darkness cleared away.

ForestClan lived deep in the forest, next to the fastly flowing river of RapidClan.
RapidClan hunted near and in the river, always swimming.
MoorClan came from the moors where the wind always was blowing.

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Cats of the Clans:

ForestClan:

Leader: Fleetstar – sleek grey she-cat
Deputy: Nightfur – dark pelted she-cat
---Apprentice:Cloverpaw
Medicine Cat: Jadefeather – russet colored she-cat with jade colored eyes
---Apprentice: Joypaw

Warriors:
Flamerunner – fiery ginger she-cat with long legs
Duskflyer – calico tom with dark gold eyes
---Apprentice: Turtlepaw
Foxfin – dark grey and white tabby she-cat with pale blue eyes
---Apprentice: Musepaw
Lightwhisker – light colored tom
Strongthorn – dark brown tabby, huge muscles and claws
Cobrawhisp - dark grey tom with irregular patterned white hairs, like scales
Thunderblade – shocking gold tom with wild long fur

Queens:
Heartsong – light grey and cream pelted she-cat with golden eyes
Rainwalker – white and silver tabby with dark blue eyes

Kits:
Berrykit – bright ginger she-kit with blue-berry like eyes
Wildkit – Foxfin’s miniature duplicate, dark grey and white tom
Rushkit – brown and gold tabby tom
Shellkit – creamy she- kit with dark smoky legs, tail, and face

Apprentices:
Joypaw – dark ginger she-cat with dark amber eyes
Cloverpaw – brown, black, ginger, and white tortie she-cat with bright green eyes
Turtlepaw – brown black, ginger and grey tortie tom with dark green eyes
Musepaw – white she-cat with ginger and black swirled ears and dark violet eyes

Elders:
Leafsinger – dark tabby with cloudy leaf-green eyes
Smoketail – smoky tom
Rosewalker – dark tabby with bright citrine eyes

RapidClan:

Leader: Deepstar – dark tabby tom with deep blue eyes
---Apprentice: Shallowpaw
Deputy: Riverpebble – sleek black and silver mottle she-cat
---Apprentice: Dovepaw
Medicine Cat: Emberfur – extremely bright ginger tom with amber eyes

Warriors:
Brokenfire – dull, lanky tabby tom
Tallweed – tall dusky brown she-cat
---Apprentice: Wolfpaw
Wildstripe – golden tan she-cat with dark stripes on her legs
---Apprentice: Wavepaw
Spidertail – tall dark grey tom with white ringed tail and legs
---Apprentice: Robinpaw
Crowmark – sleek silver tabby
Ashflower – ash-furred she-cat with stunning pale eyes

Queens:
Silverfrost – light silver tabby with dark eyes
Larkfeather – almost black she-cat with light grey paws

Kits:
Mousekit – light brown and dark ginger she-kit
Dustkit – light grey tom
Dawnkit – Pale ginger she-kit

Apprentices:
Shallowpaw – dark tabby she-cat with deep blue eyes
Dovepaw – light tom with swirl-y creamy ginger patterns and light blue eyes
Wolfpaw – light brown tabby tom
Wavepaw – light silver tom with irregularly shaped dark stripes like waves
Robinpaw – elegant chestnut she-cat

Elders:
Darksoot – grey flecked black tom
Blindhunter – black tabby with cloudy grey eyes; blind

MoorClan:

Leader: Darkstar – jet colored tom with tan throat
Deputy: Windcutter – swift tabby tom with unnaturally long tail and legs
Medicine Cat: Cedarherb – tan tom with extremely bright eyes
---Apprentice: Hollypaw

Warriors:
Gemclaw – many colored calico she-cat
---Apprentice: Applepaw
Opalfur – soft grey pelted she-cat with black, ginger, and white speckles
Shardclaw – off-white tom
---Apprentice: Adderpaw
Blackice – dark silver tabby tom with a silver sheen
Swiftsnake – sleek and slender black and ginger ringed tom
Thistletalon – light tabby tom
Brightflash – pure white she-cat

Queens:
Goldenspice – bright gold she-cat with ginger paws
Tulipsnap – light tan she-cat with dark amber eyes
Mothflight – creamy ginger she-cat with green eyes

Kits:
Jetkit – all black tom
Onyxkit – black she-kit with a white circle around her left eye
Pearlkit – cream colored she-kit
Whirlkit – silver tabby tom
Flightkit – sand colored she-kit with wind swept-looking grey hairs

Apprentices:
Hollypaw – deep brown tabby with gold paws, ears, and tail tip, her eyes are green
Applepaw – a reddish-ginger she-cat with white paws and honey-colored eyes
Adderpaw – a reddish-ginger tom with white paws and fern-colored eyes


Elders:
Stoneridge – dull grey tom with bright yellow eyes

[Squirreldash]

Silver eyes stared down into the rippling pool with dismay and pain. It was silent around the she-cat but she grimaced as though loud sounds were pounding on her ears. The feline looked up and into the slightly glowing bushes and out of which padded star-dusted cats. As the last cat left the leafy cover, the bushes were bereft of any light and left shadowy. A majestic tom strode to the bent she-cat and touched his nose to her head.

“Dear Lilypetal, what is it you see?” he asked softly.

The she-cat raised her grieving gaze up to his and whispered. “Blood will spill on the moor, red will run in the river free, peace will be never more, and the forest will be split in one more than three.”

Anxious murmurings rose up until they were a deafening storm and a wail broke through it all. “Coalstar, what does this mean?” yowled an apprentice.

A tall tom stepped forward and looked into the shimmering waters. His voice was low and yet it floated to the ears of every cat present. “Only two shall save the forest; one free as a bird and bright, the other dark of thought and caged. Together they will bring to the forest hope and light.”

“Are you sure they are the ones, Scorchmark?” Coalstar asked, a bit anxiously. The cats all bunched together to stare at the images of two cats on two different circles of land.

The tom who had spoken stood next to Lilypetal and dipped his head. “Yes Coalstar.”

Coalstar raised his voice above the crowd of cats. “Then let it be known to all of you that these two cats will save the three Clans from the threat that will soon be upon us.” No voice opted any approval or disapproval. “Then let StarClan go our separate ways.”

Silently, as though a soft breeze rippling the grass, they padded through the bushes and then they were gone. All except for one tiny kit that murmured to herself seemingly, “But there will be betrayal between those of the forest and all will rue the day they let him get his way.” The she-kit looked up to the blank sky before she trotted away.

[Brightstar]

Screaming... screeching, yowls of agony erupted into a racous chorus that sent violent notes soaring in octaves shooting and rebounding off of the jumbled boulders.

Boulders that were bleeding.

A lone she-cat sat calmly in the midst of flying shadows leaping at others, some fled, others fell to never move again...

The she-cat's cold eyes bored across the writhing clearing at a cowering apprentice, her pelt a bright splash of white against the shade and her ginger and black ears the only color other than the glistening vermilion sheet of blood and the still cat's eyes...

"Come," a cold voice commanded, shearing through the din of fighting and struggling shapes. The young apprentice shakily got to her paws and took a tentative step forward. The mass of undulating claws suddenly shoved closer and a burly cat larger than any she had ever seen before bowled her over, trampling her.

"I can't!" the apprentice yowled, flattening herself to the ground, trying to be as small as possible.

"Success comes not without hardship, Musepaw," meowed the she-cat icily. "Now get up!"

The young cat got to her paws and then moved forward, darting away from cats that hurled themselves at her, and dodging extended claws. Her dark eyes were wide with fear and confusion, her swirl-patterned ears flattened to try and drown out the noise.

"Hurry!" the she-cat yowled, her voice raising an octave or two in panic. "They come!"

Musepaw stopped dead, her blood ran chill and then froze as an eery wail suddenly lifted and then erupted into a choir of howls that echoed and ricocheted into the eardrums of all. The fighting cats stopped as though they were turned to stone as well and then, as one, turning their gazes and heads to the source of the noise slowly.

A thin tom with jet fur and blazing red eyes stood silhouetted against the rising blood-red moon.

His voice boomed as he declared, "I claim this land mine!" And then he leapt toward the she-cat still sitting with a strucken expression in the center of camp, a whole wave of dark cats following.

"Help us," the she-cat whispered before the tom slammed into her and darkness exploded into life.

Dark eyes flew open and her breathing was ragged as Musepaw got to her paws with as much strength as a new born kit. The scent of blood and rogues and... death permeated through the still air of the apprentices' den. The young she-cat padded clumsily into the center of ForestClan's camp and collapsed, her head spinning with the effort to piece together what had happened.

Who was that she-cat? Why did she asked Musepaw for help? The she-cat shook her head and closed her eyes in pain.

[Brightstar]

A small voice niggled in the back of her mind, wriggling for an audience with Musepaw's conciousness. "Musepaw!" the voice meowed, and breath tickled her ear. "Wake up Musepaw!" it continued.

The exhausted apprentice blearily opened her eyes to see twinkling green ones stare back at her. "Goo' mornin' shunshine!" mewed the tortoiseshell above her. "Have a nice nap?"

Musepaw groaned and got to her paws, her terrifying dream forgotten momentarily. The young she-cat then realized that comforting moss was not under-paw and that solid hard ground was pushing against her and gravity was shoving her down. Her head swam and her vision flickered, and Musepaw was suddenly awar that her friend was supporting her -- barely.

"Musepaw!" Cloverpaw's voice was frantic. "Jadefeather! Joypaw! Quick! Musepaw!"

There was a rustle of ferns and the medicine cat raced over, looking into Musepaw's violet with her emerald ones. "Take her to my nest, Cloverpaw," she commanded in a soft voice, taking Musepaw's other shoulder against hers.


Everything was black once more, and the apprentice was scared and for good reason too; muted rustling and hushed whispers were surrounding her until one voice spoke up clearer than the rest. It was that of a tom's.

"Musepaw of ForestClan, do you know what you have seen?" It was still dark, though Musepaw pinpointed his voice from directly ahead of her.

"No," her voice wavered as she said it.

The voice continued, "Than you will know soon enough. Go to the Leaping Stones today, and you may find out a little more." A little chuckle seemed to diffuse in his voice, but then it and the murmuring background started to fade.

"What was the point?" Musepaw cried, trying to run to the voice. "Tell me!"


"Calm down! Stop thrashing!" cried an indignant voice Musepaw recognized as Joypaw's.

Musepaw then found that her eyes were tighting closed and that her nest of moss was mutilated. "Um... Sorry, Joypaw. I didn't mean too."

The medicine cat's apprentice flicked her tail to brush it off. "It's okay, really. Jadefeather is coming back. She went to get some fresh-kill." Musepaw opened her maw, but Joypaw answered her unspoken question, "You blacked out an hour or so ago, Fleetstar told Foxfin to hunt without you."

"Oh... I did?"

Joypaw nodded. "You must have ate something terrible last night!" She purred and padded lightly away, mixing some herbs for Shellkit, Rainwalker and Duskflyer's sickly kitten.

I must have... That would explain all these dreams I've been having and waking up somewhere I shouldn't. Musepaw nodded. Of course. She would go to the Leaping Stones anyway, just for curiousity purposes tomorrow. It wouldn't hurt her.

Jadefeather then entered, bringing in a mouse for Musepaw, a chaffinch for Joypaw and a vole for herself. The detained apprentice nodded her thanks, but her paws itched to set out. Curiousity always got the cat... and Musepaw might be that cat.

[Brightstar]

Bright blue eyes flicked ceaselessly across the water, throwing itheir glaring gaze at the foaming eddies. A light-pelted tom perched precariously on a large boulde jetting from the riverside, obviously one of RapidClan's apprentices. His pelt was bristling, and he was muttering crossly under his breath; "...Stupid Wavepaw, always getting me in trouble..."

The tom's creamy ginger paw flashed down into the river and hooked a fish. With practiced grace he swung it into his jaws and broke its spine before tossing the limp prey onto the shore.

"Making me catch fresh-kill for the elders... What did I do? Nothing!" The young tom's tail lashed behind him and he sprang to the bank easily, his muscles rippling under his pelt. He gripped the three fish he had caught and sullenly started to pad away upriver, his tail dropped slightly.

After a few mere heartbeats of walking, a sweet scent breached that of the fish. He spun around, but not fast enough as a dark she-cat leapt on to his back and swiftly brough him down.

"Got you!" she crowed, throwing her head back in imitation of Deepstar. "Now, Dovepaw, bow before me!"

The tom, only squirmed and play-hissed, "Never fiend!"

The she-cat growled and sprang neatly away, crouching and staring at him with deep eyes. Then she jumped forward, but Dovepaw had got to his paws and side-stepped away, pressing his paws on her back as she passed him. "Now who has who, Shallowpaw?" he asked smugly.

Shallowpaw only sent him a glare. "Get off me, Dovepaw. Or I'll get my father to make you clean the elders' ticks off for a whole season!"

Dovepaw's ears flattened and he stepped away. "Deepstar wouldn't."

"Oh yes he would," drawled a lazy voice, and a tom with wave-like stripes sauntered over. "He would if I told him what a slacker you are being -- again."

Shallowpaw scooted away from Wavepaw, but he was still at her side, and Dovepaw pinned back his ears. "Go away, Wavepaw," he hissed.

"Why? All I was doing was trying to help you, no need to get so snappy, Dovepaw." Wavepaw smirked and Dovepaw realised that the deputy was standing in the fringe of bushes that filed above the river.

She flicked her tail to him and said, "Shallowpaw, Wavepaw, take the fresh-kill to the elders please. Dovepaw, come here." Riverpebble's sleek pelt disappeared once more as she turned into the shadows. Dovepaw sent Wavepaw a glare as he headed up the slope, and Shallowpaw gave him a sympathetic look before following the smug tom to the RapidClan camp.

"Dovepaw," Riverpebble started, the sun filtering through the not-so-dense canopy of trees to send many beams of bright sun-light on her speckled pelt. "Why are you constantly fighting with Wavepaw -- and being outbested and outwitted! I thought you were smarter than that."

Dovepaw's ears swivelled back in shame and rage, but his blazing eyes still stared into his mentor's and that was his reply.

Riverpebble sighed. "Look... Dovepaw... Your naming ceremony is not that far away; don't get drawn into Wavepaw's snares, and try not to mess this up." Her eyes implored his. "Please?"

Dovepaw sighed and then grunted, "Fine."

"Good." The graceful she-cat got to her paws and then marched back to camp, Dovepaw following. Why did things always mess up for him? His pelt broiled with barely suppressed rage as he slipped from shade to shade, light to light, pondering how he could evade Wavepaw...

[Wandering Moth]

Dovepaw stalked into the RapidClan camp after wading through the stream that seperated the shore from the actual camp itself, his bad mood increasing with each step. The tom immediantly turned to the apprentices' den but Ashflower, a snappy young warrior, order him away to clean the elders' den.

The apprentice stifled his mutinous urges and slumped into the elders' den, instinctively turning to Blindhunter, the kinder of the two toms. Dovepaw asked the elder to move and the not-so-elderly tom complied, moving to Darksoot.

Dovepaw scraped the old reeds and drug them into the camp, moving to the small hole in the barrier of willow strands and reeds to discard the old bedding. He went back and made three trips for Blindhunter's nest and then collected new reeds and slender branches. He shaped them into a large nest and then gathered some moss and layered it with it.

And then repeatd the whole process for Darksoot.


By the time that Dovepaw had finished, the sun hung low in the purple and orange tinted sky, recieving barbed comments from the grumpy Darksoot all the while. The RapidClan apprentice was too mad to eat and too tired to go and get it. He stumbled into the apprentices' den and collapsed in his nest. This was not one of a few nights of falling asleep hungry.


As usual, Dovepaw felt a sharp prod in his side and his eyes opened quickly, glaring up. "What?" he hissed.

Shallowpaw slept next to him, but she rolled over and murmured something softly. Dovepaw glared at the cat that awoke him and got to his paws stiffly. "Make it quick."

The dark cat nodded wordlessly, leading him out into the moonlight. The toms waded through the crisp liquid silver waters and leapt into the bushes on the ridge of the slope. "You know why you are here, Dovepaw." The tom's voice was in monotone tones.

Dovepaw was impatient, all he knew was that he wanted to sleep, "Can you speed this up, Brokenfire? Where's Crowmark?"

"Here, and present," a soft she-cat's voice replied from behind.

Brokenfire nodded in greeting and his low voice was lowered. "We all know that Deepstar has two lives remaining, at least, I was here when he was made a leader and I kept track. He will lose one shortly, of that fact I am sure. You know how he is. After that life is lost we must spring."

Dovepaw felt his stomach flip continuously as it always did when Brokenfire uttered those words. We must spring... Dovepaw hadn't been too sure about this little group of cats rebelling against their leader, but it was too late. He was sucked in, farther than he would have wanted, in the plots... the schemes... the deceptions...

He wasn't sure he wanted to kill Deepstar anymore. He had only joined shortly after Shallowpaw's father told him that he had to care for the elders by himself and rely on no help or support. Naturally he was angry. And now... he was scared.

[Wandering Moth]

Sadly, it was all she could see. Blackness. The she-cat let loose a small, quivering whimper as her mind closed in on her and pressed against the mental barriers it had set up moons ago. “Adderpaw?” she whispered hoarsely, her fur brushing against rock wall on one side before she gave a breathy yelp and Applepaw jumped into a wall on the other side. There was a quiet snigger from ahead, and Applepaw stopped.

“Let’s go back, Adderpaw, please,” she breathed, claustrophobia strangling her in a death grip. Her breathing picked up its lazy pace and started to lope, running faster until it was racing and she was panting hard, barely getting a breath.

“Mouse. You aren’t scared are you?” Adderpaw’s scathing voice floated to her, getting fainter as he headed farther into the cave-passageway.

“I can honestly say that I am. Adderpaw lets go.” Applepaw started to back out, but her brother was stubbornly going farther in she knew. “Fine, you stay in here; I’m leaving.” The red-pelted apprentice backed out until she could fully turn and then ran out, her white paws propelling her faster than any ForestClan or RapidClan cat could. She didn’t miss the bark of scornful laughter from the black belly of the under ground path.


That mouse-hearted fool. That’s what her name should be; Mouseheart. He gave a snort in derision and padded confidently forward. That stupid she-cat. Why did his sister have to follow him? There was a slight draft blowing towards him and Adderpaw detected that the breeze caught and carried few familiar scents and his white paws’ pace quickened. Adderpaw of MoorClan suddenly burst into a bright, blinding light that forced him to squint his fern-eyes at it.

Impatiently he paced forward, ignoring the fact that he had crossed his Clan’s scent-marks and was now crossing the thin peninsula of RapidClan to the No-Clan’s Land. The apprentice moved with confidence and arrogance, his deep red pelt reflecting strands of gold in the sun. Adderpaw then started to run and glided easily into a thick thicket of brambles and navigated his lean build through the winding passageway.

A gathering of cats greeted his eyes, many loners and rogues lined in a circle along the edge of the dome in the center of the thorny maze. Cats from the three Clans stood in the curved line and all pairs of eyes turned to him.

“Adderpaw,” a large tom with rippling muscles stepped out from the long line and fixed the younger cat with his steely pale gaze. “You are late.”

The apprentice bristled and hissed, “Only by a couple of heartbeats! Besides, Applepaw decided to follow me this time and she only just ran back down the Path like the mouse-heart she is.” The young tom took his place in the line, standing near the apprentice from RapidClan, Dovepaw. Adderpaw stood closer to him than the young rogue on his other side. She, too, seemed to flinch away from him.

The heavy-set tom frowned and meowed, “How can you be sure she will not come back, Adderpaw?”

Adderpaw heaved a sigh and spat, “She’s a bloody coward! She barely got through the first fourth of the Path before turning tail.”

The tom nodded slowly and then resumed his place and nodding to one of the Clan cats. A RapidClan tom, Brokenfire, stepped forward. He dipped his head in the direction of the whole assembly in general and then cleared his raspy throat. Brokenfire then spoke. “Cats of all backgrounds, RapidClan have a bountiful report; Deepstar is on his second to last life. And knowing our rash leader, he shall soon lose one more, making it the opportune chance to kill him once more and have him join StarClan.” Adderpaw felt Dovepaw stiffen beside him, and out of the corner of his green eyes he watched the RapidClan tom’s light blue eyes narrow until they were slits of the sky. “I suggest that some rogues go in RapidClan territory and cause havoc; steal prey, mark your own territory and attack any cats you find. This will draw him out in order to rid him of one life.”

There was a tense murmuring all around, and Adderpaw’s ears pinned back. Why were they discussing this? They should be out and fulfilling their plans right now!

“But, Brokenfire, what if he brings all the warriors?” questioned a lanky she-cat on the rogues’ side. “What then?”

A muscular tabby, Strongthorn, from ForestClan stepped up and shrugged. “Then fight. Unless you rogues are coward?” A challenge hung in the air, and his amber eyes were flashing.

All the rogues’ back’s arched, their fur raised, and their tails lashed. The she-cat standing beside Adderpaw hissed menacingly and he slipped into a crouch, his stance mirroring hers. He hissed and their claws slipped out, but before they could leap at each other’s throats, Dovepaw thrust his way between them.

“Cut it out!” he spat. The she-cat gave him a glare and then straightened, licking her chest fur down. Adderpaw sent Dovepaw a resentful glare and reluctantly stood. An unfamiliar rogue stepped up to address the plotting cats. He was thin, skeletally so, his jet fur was ragged and clumped, and his claws were unnaturally long.

But the most eye-catching sight on him was his eyes… The color of freshly spilled blood on white snow… Even Adderpaw shivered as he swept his red-gaze across him. “Those of noble blood,” he started, his voice as chilling as ice – maybe even colder. “I am Plague, my Pack and I plan to help you – on one condition.” Plague’s voice dropped into a menacing hiss. “On one condition alone; that you give us territory when all is done.”

The Clan cats suddenly protested loudly, but the rogues – newcomers and regulars alike announced claims on land. Plague and his lot only stood by, watching with amused eyes… All of their eyes were a vivid orange or a fierce yellow. None were the blood-hued color of Plague’s…

“Never! Rogues cannot have territory within the Clans!” roared Strongthorn, his voice rising above the rest. One of his Clanmates, the shockingly gold-pelted Thunderblade agreed with a magnified voice;

“It goes against all our ancestors fought to create!”

The same tom that had greeted Adderpaw yowled, “Your ancestors were rogues once! You’d be going back to your heritage – our heritage!”

Outraged meows broke out like a wildfire and the out-numbered Clan cats sunk as one into fighting crouches and growled at the rogues across from them. Adderpaw turned on the she-cat beside him – this time Dovepaw let it go.

Suddenly Strongthorn and the giant rogue charged at each other, and then there was an abrupt uproar as the Clan cats surged upon the rogues. Adderpaw leaped up as the she-cat dove at him, and he landed on her back, sinking his claws into her back. She yowled in defiance and leapt up with more strength than it looked like she had and flipped in the air, rolling over completely so he took the full weight combined of him and her as they slammed to the ground.

Dovepaw streaked over Adderpaw and the rogue, knocked her off him, and that brought Adderpaw on top again; he still hadn’t sheathed his claws. Dovepaw landed on the back of another rogue apprentice and brought the tom down, biting hard on his shoulder. The tom screeched and thrashed on the ground, but Dovepaw held on fast.

Thunderblade shot past, locking into a heated battle with one of Plague’s cats. The blood-eyed tom suddenly let loose an eerie wail that claimed the attention of all the fighting cats. “Stop! We should not let this argument split us if we are to unite and be one.”

Swiftsnake of MoorClan narrowed his eyes skeptically and hissed. “Sure, as if we can trust a rogue,” he breathed to Crowmark. The RapidClan she-cat nodded her head.

Plague seemed to know what he was saying, and flashed them a sharp, hate-filled glance before addressing the whole crowd. “My Pack of Hunters will need to know who the prey is before we can track him down.” A frightening smile lit up his ghastly features. “What Clan?”

No one spoke, but then Dovepaw stepped forward.

“RapidClan,” he answered his voice full of conviction – and even – regret.

Plague’s eyes flashed and he swept his tail, and silently the Pack slipped quickly away, rustling up a cold breeze that carried the scent of rotting fruit. They passed like ghosts, apparitions that quickly vanished, and their former presence blown away as a mere memory, a bad dream.

As though they had never been. Though they were real enough, as Deepstar was soon to find out.

[Noonracer]

Cloverpaw trotted enthusiastically ahead of her, prancing lightly ahead. "I'm so glad you agreed to take me hunting, Foxfin!" she mewed.

Musepaw sighed and shook her head in mock pity. The young warrior by her side laughed and then meowed, "It's my pleasure. Nightfur is just so busy as a deputy." Musepaw nodded, but her thoughts were directed elsewhere.

The Sharing was in a few hours, and this time she and Cloverpaw were going! I hope Shallowpaw and Applepaw are there... she thought, but a sharp whack! sounded and a stinging pain shot up her nose and between her eyes, making them water.

"Ow!" Musepaw yowled, leaping back with bristling fur. Cloverpaw was in midstep and then she rolled over onto her back -- hysterically laughing. Musepaw blinked furiously to drive away the blurriness caused by the reflex tears. "That hurt!"

Foxfin frowned. "Musepaw, you should have seen that branch coming. You need to get your head out of the clouds, or cats may think I'm an incompetent mentor."

Musepaw felt ashamed, and hung her head. The she-cat plodded on, past the still-giggling Cloverpaw and ducked under a low hanging branch. Amiably, her friend padded up to her side and said, "You have to admit Musepaw, it was funny."

And Musepaw supplied her with a helpful snort.

"Hush!" hissed Foxfin from ahead. "We're nearing RapidClan territory!"

Musepaw felt with relief Cloverpaw tensing into a crawl and close her mouth. Thank StarClan! She crawled forward as well and paused under a bush. There, a few mouse-lengths away was a fat mouse. Musepaw fluidly turned, taking all her weight off her paws. After a heartbeat's pause, Musepaw sprang and then fell short in surprise.

A horrible scent wafted to her; putrid, rotting, sickly sweet... Like dead fruit. The ForestClan cat watched with wide eyes as the mouse ran to her. The terrified prey scuttled into her paws and then rebounded bodily away. Musepaw heard Cloverpaw hiss and Foxfin brushed up next to her, looking down at the river where a group of cats were running.

They were too unfed and their fur was too snarled to be a self-respecting Clan cat... They were horrible.

"Foxfin..." she breathed in horror as the rogue band stopped. "What are we going to do?"

"RapidClan can deal with them," she replied just as quietly, but with confidence. She backed slowly into the underbrush. "Come on Musepaw, your pelt sticks out."

Musepaw gave a barely perceptible nod and took a small step back but froze. Her violet eyes were wide as they stared back into deep vermilion. She felt like a mouse captivated by the dark hypotic gaze of an adder. Musepaw watched with horror as the skeleton of a tom shambled up the slope toward her, and she was deaf to the meows of her mentor and friend as a sudden rush of adrenaline and terror as she recognized those red-irises and the snarled black fur...

A soundless wail of fear escaped her and those powerful eyes glinted in amusement -- cruel, bloodthirsty amusement.

A tortoiseshell body slammed into her, breaking the spell. "Run, mouse-brain!" Cloverpaw hissed and shoved Musepaw away from the rogue. The imposing tom started to run up the slope, intent now upon Musepaw's white pelt now. The young she-cat turned and then ran, faster than she ever had and ignored the reedy and thin voice calling her name.

How did he know it?

"Musepaw!" the wail rose higher and higher until her ears felt like they were about to break.

"Run, Cloverpaw!" Musepaw yowled, but it was strangely mute. Her friend nodded and they raced onward, aware of the tom swiftly and silently gaining on them from behind. Where was Foxfin?

Suddenly a dark form shot out of the bushes head on from Musepaw. She screamed and tried to turn, but jagged claws reached out and trapped her back between them. They were sharper than thorns, and longer. Musepaw screeched as the tom slowly raked them down her side and Cloverpaw skidded into a thorn bush, and struggled trying to get free.

"Oh, Musepaw, I'll get your little friend later," the rogue purred in a deadly voice. Musepaw froze and then struggled all he fiercer. "Don't struggle or I'll make it all the more painful -- for both of you."

The apprentice fell into misery. She yowled, "Run away Cloverpaw! Go!" But the she-cat ripped herself free and leaped forward, aiming for the rogue tom's eyes...


A sudden battle-cry sounded and the mighty form of Deepstar jumped into the clearing. Without hesitation he bowled over the rogue, ripping his claws out of her back. Musepaw yowled in pain and then a solid blow struck the back of her head and darkness blossomed once more.

[Noonracer]

Eery wails of remorse rose up and up into the now star-spred sky and they reflected off of Musepaw's now-open eyes. Jadefeather leaned over her with an anxious face and mewed something she could not comprehend. With a frown she repeated it again. Musepaw blinked and shook her head to try and will away the stuffed feeling between her ears. A look of irritation flashed across the medicine cat's face before she meowed it again and this time the groggy apprentice caught;

"...what happened?"

"Rogue..." she mewed hoarsely and then wildly tried to get up. He could still be there, out searching and stabbing her with his bloody eyes! A strong paw held her down and she recognized the gold fur of Thunderblade. She relaxed as her father sniffed the wounds on her back and looked surprised.

"That was no average rogue," he murmured.

Jadefeather asked sharply, "What was that?"

Thunderblade glanced over at the medicine cat before replying just as softly, "It smells like the Pack. You know, the vicious band of rogues that created something remotely like a Clan. It smells like Plague, their leader." He frowned.

Musepaw felt this icy clutches of fear creep up her spine and leave her tingling. But she was saved from inevitably contemplating this new information when Fleetstar and Cloverpaw padded over. The stately she-cat crouched down and sniffed Musepaw as well, confirming what Thunderblade had said by hissing, "Plague!" But then she turned to Jadefeather. "Can she still travel to the Sharing?"

The medicine cat nodded. "If she eats some fresh kill first. I do believe that all the Clans will want to hear her testimony of why a leader lost another life on another Clan's territory."

Musepaw choked out, "W-what? Deepstar l-lost a life!"

Fleetstar nodded in sadness. "Yes, Musepaw. He lays a few tail-lengths away." Thunderblade released Musepaw from under his foot and stepping back. Musepaw slowly raised herself to a sitting position and gasped. Deepstar breathed evenly not too far away from her and was surrounded by a a patrol that riged around him protectively. Their faces were those of hostility.

Musepaw got shakily to her paws and stumbled forward, ignoring the hisses of warning from the RapidClan warriors and the white apprentice. She moved to the leader's side and dipped her head in the deepest respect. "Thank you, Deepstar. You saved my friend and my life and gave up one of your own."

The leader's blue eyes opened and he replied raspily, "Just doing what a leader is charged to do."

"But we're not even of your own Clan!"

Deepstar gave a small, breathy chuckle. "But a leader is not only supposed to keep safe and protect those of their own Clan, but the whole of the forest. Now go, young one." Musepaw nodded and padded away, aware that Cloverpaw was walking shame-faced beside her.

"I should have been able to help you!" she mewed sadly. The elder apprentice sighed and sat down. "Nightfur'll probably make sure I am not a warrior for another five moons!" she moaned.

Musepaw shooked her head. "Yeah right, you did all you could. You saved me too." She butted Cloverpaw's shoulder with her head, which wasn't a good thing to do as she realized when stabbing pains shot down her spine.

Cloverpaw looked at least a bit better. And she brightened a lot more when Fleetstar padded over with Foxfin at her side. "Foxfin says that as Plague stalked toward tyour friend who was frozen in fear, you leapt forward, in front of a dangerous foe, and shoved her toward the forest, and would have fought him too if Deepstar had not arrived." Musepaw nodded and Cloverpaw looked at her paws sheepishly.

"And now," Fleetstar went on, "I think it is time Cloverpaw was made into a warrior."

The normally bold and bubbly Cloverpaw was strangely silenced and still. "Me... a warrior...? Right now?" A light danced in her eyes and she suddenly trembled, getting to her paws and prancing around joyfully.

Fleetstar smiled and signalled with her tail for Cloverpaw to follow and jumped onto a fallen log and announced, "All cats present of ForestClan gather by this fallen tree for a Clan meeting!" The warriors that had came milled closer to the tree, Turtlepaw sitting next to Joypaw near the front. Musepaw wound her way toward them and found that Cloverpaw's brother was shivering barely suppressed excitement similar to the shakes of Cloverpaw who trembled next to the log.

And then Fleetstar began the ritual: "I, Fleetstar, leader of ForestClan, call upon my warrior ancestors to look down on this apprentice. She has trained hard to understand the way of your noble code, and I commend her to you as a warrior in her turn."

The she-cat turned to Cloverpaw. "Cloverpaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect and defend this Clan, even at the cost of your life?"

Cloverpaw took a shaky breath and replied clearly, "I do."

"Then by the powers of Starclan I give you your warrior name. Cloverpaw, from this moment you will be known as Cloverbloom. Starclan honors your bravery and your willingness to help, and we welcome you as a full warrior of ForestClan."

Fleetstar leapt down and rested her chin on Cloverbloom's head, and the newly ranked warrior licked her shoulder to the chorus of "Cloverbloom! Cloverbloom!"

She stepped back and was immediantly swamped by the representatives of ForestClan. Turtlepaw licked his sister's forehead and looked prouder than a queen. Musepaw couldn't hear anything through the babble of happiness and waited for the congratulating cats to thin out before she moved up to Cloverbloom.

Thunderblade sat next to his daughter and meowed, "You know, I had half a mind to ask Fleetstar to make you a warrior as well. Even though you have trained for less moons than Cloverbloom."

Musepaw shook her head slowly. "I didn't show any courage. I was rooted like a tree."

Thunderblade didn't miss the shame in her voice, but didn't voice any disagreement to her statement.