Up Until Now: A Warrior Cat FanFic

Chapter Nine*

"Nettleclaw, Mosscloud!" he hissed, and the two warriors turned to face us. "I smell ShadowClan."

"What?" Nettleclaw mewed, sniffing. "That's impossible, we're not even close to the Thunderpath."

I took a sniff, and I caught what Moonpaw had said. "I smell them too, but it's a little faint. They haven't been here since last night, I'm guessing."

Mosscloud nodded. "That sounds about right, Sunpaw. But why are they here in the first place?"

I took a look around, as though I was expecting to see ShadowClan poking around somewhere in the bramble, even though I knew they couldn't be anywhere nearby. That didn't make me less worried though. Last night was the Gathering. Had ShadowClan been planning something sinister even during the truce of the full moon? Surely, not even they would dare to break the sacred truce of the full moon set forth by our starry ancestors?

"They better not show up now," Nettleclaw hissed. "This scent is too close to the camp for my liking, and we really should tell someone about it."

"Why don't we finish the patrol, and then we can head back and let Hardstar and the rest of the Clans know," Mosscloud mewed.

"That sounds fair enough," Nettleclaw replied, after thinking about it for a bit.

We continued on the patrol, sniffing around even more now, and every now and then we caught a sniff of ShadowClan, always stale, always last night at the earliest, but still, it was there. My tail fluffed up with rage. How dare the ShadowClan cats think they could just come onto our territory and walk around it as though they owned it! It wasn't even all confined in one area. The smell was all over the territory, and by the time we got to Fourtrees, I couldn't shake the smell of ShadowClan. The piney-scent was stuck in my nose, and I absolutely couldn't stand it.

Even though the sun had been barely peaking out of the ground when we left, it was high in the sky after getting back from the patrol, nearing sunhigh. The camp was hustling around, and it was clear we were having a busy day today. With greenleaf ending soon,, and leading into leaf-fall, we were getting ready to deal with less prey.

Lionfur had just finished sending out the sunhigh patrols, and Hardstar looked like he was about to head out on patrol with Lilyfur and Bumbleheart.

"Hardstar, can we speak with you for a moment?" Mosscloud mewed, waving her tail. "We have some things we need to talk to you about."

Hardstar looked at us, and then turned to Lilyfur and Bumbleheart. "Alright, you guys can take Crowpelt and Snowpaw out hunting instead. I'll see what the dawn patrol wants. Bumbleheart, you're in charge."

Bumbleheart nodded his head, and then called out to the other two cats Hardstar had named. When the black warrior and the white apprentice joined the other two cats, they headed up out of the ravine.

"Alright, what's this you want to talk to me about?" Hardstar asked.

"Perhaps you should get Lionfur as well," Mosscloud suggested.

Hardstar's eyes narrowed with worry. "Okay, this must be serious." He called the golden deputy over, who flashed his green eyes when he saw all the cats.

Nettleclaw and Mosscloud launched into a full explanation of the patrol, and all the ShadowClan scent we had found, and both Hardstar and Lionfur narrowed their eyes as the two she-cats continued their explanation.

"We even found their scent up by Fourtrees, on our side of the border," Nettleclaw finished.

Hardstar dug his claws into the ground, raking them angrily. "That's why they were so late to the Gathering! They were snooping around our territory!"

Mosscloud looked worried. "They were late at the Gathering?"

"Yeah, by the time they finally showed up, us leaders had just enough time to share the news of the Clans, and then we had to break it up so that we would not loose the truce only the full moon brings us."

My eyes were wide. "Does this mean ShadowClan is planning an attack?" I whispered.

"They very well may be doing just that," Hardstar mewed, his green eyes narrowed. "I'll have to let the Clan know, and we're going to be battle ready. If ShadowClan does attack, they'll find us ready for them."

I wished I could be as certain as he was. My father had to be the bravest warrior in the Clan, and I really did understand that in the end, the battle would probably end up happening. I just wasn't sure if I wanted to lose any of my friends in the process. That's what I was worried about.   

Edited 4/3/2016

Oh my gosh. That was actually a really difficult chapter to write because this sets up the new main plot for this book. The last one had like, zero plot whatsoever really for the first one, but this one actually will. It'll also build up into the next book as well. What do you all think ShadowClan is up to? Naughty naughty shadow kitties xD