Blackfrost's Legend: a warrior cat fanfic

Chapter 2

"Birdpaw! Let's go practice some hunting moves!" Blackpaw mewed excitedly.

"Blackpaw, how many times do I have to tell you? I'm a medicine cat apprentice! I don't do hunting moves." Birdpaw sternly meowed, giving her sister a side-look with her green eyes.

Blackpaw flicked her tail angrily, laying her ears back on her head. "You're no fun at all! And you already sound like Toadfoot with that attitude."

Birdpaw's eyes narrowed in annoyance, then they opened up again and sat down with a sigh. "Please don't make this hard for me! I'm already having problems keeping up with Toadfoot! He says that whitecough is already spreading through the camp, but I don't even have all the herbs memorized yet!"

Blackpaw's anger faded away, replaced with sympathy for her sister. She rested her tail on Birdpaw's shoulder to comfort her. "I'm sorry. It's just hard now because I've always imagined us becoming warriors together." She diverted her blue eyes away from her sister's green ones.

"That's alright. But I better get going before Toadfoot-"

"Birdpaw! Where are those poppyseeds I asked for?" A tom called from across the brightening camp.

"Uh oh. Better run, you know how he gets!" Birdpaw raced off to the narrow opening in the brambles in the medicine den.

Blackpaw sighed. Now who am I going to train with? She wondered.

"Hey Blackpaw! Wanna join our hunting patrol?"

Blackpaw turned around to see the most annoying member of Shadowclan standing with a wide grin on his face. "Nightpaw, I don't think it's your job to pick who comes on patrols!" She growled.

"She's right, Nightpaw." Eagleshade padded up to the two apprentices. "But, I do think this hunting patrol could use some extra paws. How about coming with us, Blackpaw?" His tabby fur gleamed in the sunlight, his long shadow making him seem huge.

Blackpaw rolled her eyes. She hated it when the older cats treated her like a kit! "Sure." She mumbled grumpily.

Eagleshade didn't seem to notice Blackpaw's attitude, and continued to round up the patrol, choosing Stormpelt and Grayfoot to finish it off.

Nightpaw stuck to Blackpaw's side like a stubborn bramble, through the whole patrol.

Stormpelt looked back and glared at Blackpaw and her living shadow. "Keep up! Leaf-bare is coming soon, and we can't afford to lose any fresh-kill." He snarled.

Nightpaw dipped his head. "Sorry, Stormpelt." Then he sped up, still beside Blackpaw, but keeping up with the older cats.

Suddenly, Eagleshade froze, and every cat had to stop in it's tracks to keep from running into him. "Do you hear that?" He whispered to Stormpelt.

Stormpelt nodded. "Smells like Thunderclan." He growled.

Nightpaw's eyes grew wide. "Oh no! I don't want to get attacked! I haven't had enough training!" He yowled loudly.

Blackpaw practically shoved her tail into the pesky cat's mouth trying to quiet him down, but the Thunderclan voices had stopped, and the forest grew eerily quiet.

The birds stopped chirping, and the sounds of prey stopped mid-rustle. The wind even died down, the usual leaf-fall air stopped swishing the pines overhead.

Blackpaw could hear Eagleshade and Stormpelt taking deep breaths, their jaws parted. She copied them, and the scents flew freely onto her tongue. The Thunderclan scent was very obvious, even though Blackpaw had only been an apprentice for a moon, she could tell which direction it was coming from and how close. She wondered what Thunderclan was doing so far inside the Shadowclan borders.

Nightpaw shivered, his black pelt rubbing Blackpaw's.

Eagleshade crouched down, stalking through the brush silent as a mouse. He peeked around a pine and slowly returned to the patrol. He then nodded in the direction of the Thunderclan intruders.

Blackpaw understood. Even though this was a hunting patrol, she braced herself for a border skirmish.

The Shadowclan deputy stood up straight, and called out to the tresspassers. "Hey! Thunderclan! What do you think you're doing?"

The hunting patrol walked together into sight of the Thunderclan cats. By the sight of it, they weren't there for a fight. There were only three cats, and one was scrawny like a rougue.

Suddenly, Eagleshade relaxed, along with Stormpelt and Grayfoot.

"Sorry, Heathersong, I didn't realize this was a medicine cat thing." Eagleshade apologized to the scrawny black and white cat.

Heathersong chuckled. "That's alright Eagleshade. But if you wouldn't mind escorting us to your camp, I'd rather not run into any more hostile hunting patrols!"

Eagleshade nodded. "Of course," Then, turning to Stormpelt, "can you finish this patrol for me? Like you said, we can't afford to waste our time losing prey."

Stormpelt looked honored, even though Blackpaw thought being leader of a hunting patrol wasn't exactly a huge deal. "Yes, we will bring back loads of fresh-kill!" He meowed proudly.

Heathersong dipped her head to the Shadowclan deputy and they headed for the camp, along with the escorts Heathersong had brought with her.

"Wow, I can't believe he put you in charge! You must be very important!" Nightpaw gaped at the gray warrior with awe.

Stormpelt puffed out his chest. "Of course I am! Why else would he put me in charge rather than Grayfoot?"

Because you're one moon older than him, Blackpaw wanted to say. But she kept her mouth shut.

"We should split up," Grayfoot meowed, "you know, to cover more ground. If that's okay with you, Stormpelt."

"Great idea! We'll each take an apprentice with us; we wouldn't want them running off!" Stormpelt laughed.

Grayfoot agreed jokingly. "You never know what those little rascals might get into!"

Both warriors laughed loudly, seeming to forget about the hunting patrol.

Blackpaw cleared her throat, annoyed at the older cat's irresponsibility. If Eagleshade would've put her in charge, they would already be hunting by now.

Stormpelt calmed down at the sudden inturruption from Blackpaw. "Okay, okay. Sorry about that." He meowed to her. "Just having some fun."

"There's no time for fun, we need to get hunting if we are going to catch anything!" Blackpaw blurted accidentally. Oh no, she thought, what if he kicks me out of the patrol?

Stormpelt stared at her for a moment, then smiled again. "I like you, kid. Come on, you're on my team. Whoever gets the most prey wins!"

All four cats darted off; Grayfoot and Nightpaw going the opposite direction of Stormpelt and Blackpaw.

They slowed down, listening for sounds of soon-to-be-fresh-kill.

Blackpaw picked up the rustling of what she guessed to be a mouse. The mice were plentiful closer to the Thunderclan border, and that's just where they'd chosen to hunt.

She ducked down into the hunter's crouch, concentrating on a pile of oak leaves about a fox-length in front of her. She stalked forward, silently. Suddenly, a stick cracked under her paw, and the mouse darted out from under the leaves.

Stormpelt caught it and killed it with a quick bite to the neck. Then set it down on the cold ground.

"Good job! I didn't even smell that mouse!" He praised.

Blackpaw felt her fur get hot with embarrassment. "No, I should've been paying attention to where I put my paws. Then I might've caught it myself!" She flicked her tail.

"Hey, that's what I'm here for." Stormpelt meowed, covering up their mouse to come retrieve it later. "We're partners, remember?"

Blackpaw felt a little better after hearing that. "Yeah," She meowed with a smile. "Now let's win this thing!"