Warrior Cats Fanfiction: Whispers of the Shadows Book 1 Rivers Descending

Chapter Six

Dawnpaw sighed as she heard the dawn patrol burst into the clearing. They had been doing that for the past half-moon, reporting on ShadowClan warriors trespassing and stealing prey. Do they really have to wake every cat up, though? she thought.

Silverpaw stirred beside her sister. Her green eyes opened, pipricks of light in the semi-dark den.

"Dawn patrol again?" she asked, slurring her words.

"Yeah." Dawnpaw stood up in her nest, shaking off the pieces of moss that clung to her shoulders and sides like spiderwebs. They drifted to the dirt floor, settling like leaves falling to the ground. 

"I think Tanglebrook said that we're going hunting today," Silverpaw mewed, rising up out of her nest.
"Thank StarClan!" 

Dawnpaw growled. Ever since the war started, getting out of camp was next to impossible. Even using the dirt place was a hassle! I can't wait to feel the breeze on my whiskers, Dawnpaw thought. There is no breeze in the elder's den.

"Sure beats cleaning the Elder's den, right, Dawnpaw?" 

Silverpaw padded lightly towards the camp clearing. Dawnpaw followed her sister to the clearing, where almost all of the cats were. The fresh-kill pile, usually in the middle had disappeared, and Dawnpaw looked down to the ground as her stomach rumbled. Silverpaw saw Tanglebrook and went over to him. The black and white cat looked even angrier than usual, spitting wordlessly and lashing his tail. Dawnpaw skidded after her sister, hoping Tanglebrook wouldn't leap on her in anger.

"Hi, Tanglebrook!" Dawnpaw said, going in front of her sister. "Are we going fishing today?"

"We're not," Tanglebrook growled. "Trying to train apprentices in a stupid, mouse-brained war against stupid, mouse-brained ShadowClan cats. It's impossible!" He ended in a splutter and began wordlessly muttering things.

"Then what are we going to do?" wailed Silverpaw. "We can't clean out the Elder's den again!" 

"Yes, you can," said Iceleap, appearing behind Silverpaw. "Now go." Dawnpaw and Silverpaw looked at each other.

"I hate ShadowClan," Dawnpaw muttered, and led the way to the bramble-covered den on the other side of the camp.

"We're back," said Silverpaw as they entered the Elders' den. "Does anybody have ticks? Need more moss? We are your humble servants, sent down from StarClan, to serve you." 

Both elders, Stonepad and Lakestrike were asleep, curled up in their nests. Their flanks rose and fell, and their both cat's faces were scarred by long ago, vicious battles. She growled softly at her sister.

"Don't be rude!" she said. "Do you want to have Tanglebrook clawing our ears when Stonepad and Lakestrike complain?"

Silverpaw snorted. "I'm not rude, I'm sarcastic. There's a difference."

Lakestrike stirred in her mossy nest, grey and white fur spilling out of it. 

"Welcome back, Silverpaw and Dawnpaw. I'm sorry that you don't enjoy your time here, but who can blame you?" the she-cat let out a husky laugh. "When I was an apprentice, the last thing I wanted to do was spend all my time with the cranky old elders when a war's being fought."

Silverpaw shifted her paws in the dirt. "You heard that?" she murmured,"because I didn't really mean any of it, you know."

Lakestrike shook her head. "As I said, I don't blame you!"

"Do you have any ticks?" Dawnpaw offered, hoping that she wouldn't. They needed mouse bile to do that, and for that she would have to go into the forest and catch a mouse. And though these paws are good at scooping fish, she thought ruefully, they're no good for catching a mouse. 

Thankfully, Lakestrike shook her head. "I don't have any, and neither does Stonepad," she lowered her voice. "I'd hear about it if he did. He's a crankerous old badger."

Dawnpaw snorted, and just as the fresh late green-leaf light filtered into the den and spilled onto the floor, Silverpaw sat down on the floor and gazed at Lakestrike pleadingly.

"Can you tell us a story?" she begged. "We haven't heard any since we were kits!" 

The old she-cat sat up from her nest and started grooming her ears, where the fur had started sticking straight up.

In-between licks she mewed," Sure. Do you have a specific one?"

"Do you have a story about the leader before Emberstar?" Dawnpaw asked, curious about the times when the clans had recently come to the lake.

Lakestrike sighed. "I don't remember who that was, apprentices, but I do remember the leader of RiverClan during the Great Battle against the Dark Forest." Dawnpaw sank to her belly in to the ground, Silverpaw next to her. 

"Her name was Mistystar," Lakestrike began," and as I remember my elders telling me about her. She was really all alone in life. Her medicine cat didn't believe in StarClan, and all but one of her kits died."

"Who was the kit who survived?" Silverpaw asked.

"Well," Lakestrike said, closing her eyes. "I'm not exactly sure, but I think it was something along the lines of Reedwhisker— no, Reedstar."

"They were both leaders?" Dawnpaw asked in amazement. "Was that the leader before Emberstar?"

"Oh no," Lakestrike mewed, "Reedstar was maybe two, three leaders before Emberstar." 

Suddenly, Stonepad snorted and rolled onto his side, his tail hanging over the side of the nest.

"Are you young cats talking about Reedstar?" he asked, voice drowsy with sleep. "Silverpaw? Dawnpaw?"

"Yes, Stonepad," Silverpaw said, drawing her paw in the dirt. 

"Funny thing," he said, gazing into the roof of the den. 

"What's funny about Reedstar?" asked Dawnpaw. "He was just a cat, RiverClan's leader at one point."

"Well," Stonepad said," I had a dream the other day, and my mother came. She reminded me of Reedstar for some reason." 

"StarClan?" Silverpaw said whimsically. "Was it from them?"

"Why did she remind you of Reedstar?" Dawnpaw asked impatiently.
Stonepad turned his amber gaze to her blue one. "Because Reedstar, and Mistystar, and an entire long, long line of Clan cats— are your kin."

There was a scuffling in the corner, and Dawnpaw whipped around, tasting the air for ShadowClan invaders. But when she turned, there was only the faint scent of RiverClan, herbs and a flash of a orange tail as it left the Elders den.