Warriors: What A Nightmare

Chapter one-Nightpaw

Nightpaw scented the air and drew in as many smells as he could; he tasted rabbit on the air, and her heard a mouse hiding in a bush.

"Can we hunt?" he asked Dawnmist.

His mentor shook her head. "Not right now, we're the border patrol, not a hunting party."

"I wouldn't be here if it was a hunting patrol," Twistedfoot chimed in, limping on her forepaw.

Nightpaw nodded, now remembering that Twistedfoot couldn't hunt anymore. He had heard the story of how she used to be a normal apprentice, but after a dog attacked her and clenched its powerful jaws around her paw, it was permanently injured and she was renamed. He had always felt bad for her, but he knew she didn't let it get her down, though she never had and never would have an apprentice.

"Sorry, I forgot," Nightpaw mumbled softly, his face heating up with embarrassment. He gave his chest fur a few quick licks and continued on his way to the ThunderClan border.

When they reached the border, Nightpaw wrinkled up his nose as ThunderClan scent filled his senses. He could see a patrol of warriors in the distance.

"Let's wait for them to come here," Icefang meowed, indicating to the ThunderClan patrol. "We should talk to them about their scents on our territory."

Twistedfoot and Dawnmist both nodded in agreement, and the patrol all stepped up to the border. Nightpaw watched the ThunderClan patrol through slitted eyes as they noticed the WindClan patrol and raced over to the border.

"What are you doing this close to our border?" an orange warrior asked with a growl. Nightpaw recognized him as Firespot. His apprentice, Lionpaw, bristled beside him.

"We know you crossed the border yesterday," Icefang growled back. Pigeonpaw squared up beside his mentor, and Nightpaw puffed out his chest to make himself look bigger than the buff ThunderClan warriors.

The other warriors in the ThunderClan patrol all stiffened and let out hisses.

"How dare you accuse us of that?!" Bluepaw, a dark grey she-cat, growled, stepping forward.

"Bluepaw, stay on our side of the border, we don't want to prove them right," her mentor, Marigoldfern, meowed, pushing her apprentice back.

"But they accused us of something we didn't do!" Bluepaw meowed indignantly, looking up at her mentor.

Nightpaw scoffed. "Unless our noses our telling us lies, we know what you smell like," he growled. Dawnmist flicked her tail across Nightpaw's flank to signal for him to stop talking.

"Well, you still shouldn't accuse us like that," Firespot meowed calmly, glaring at Nightpaw.

Nightpaw couldn't care less if the ThunderClan cats got mad, they were outnumbered, so they wouldn't start a fight if they were in their right minds.

Dawnmist stepped forward so her paws were right on the border. "If we find your scent on our territory again, Eveningstar will bring it up at the next Gathering." She flicked her fluffy grey tail back and forth, as if daring the ThunderClan cats to do something.

To Nightpaw's relief, Marigoldfern stepped away from the patrol and started to pad away.

"Come on, we know we didn't do anything," the golden tabby she-cat meowed to her Clan-mates. Bluepaw bounded after her.

Twistedfoot smirked and also started to pad away, with Icefang and Pigeonpaw stepping beside her. Nightpaw was still suspicious of the ThunderClan patrol, and stayed a moment longer. Lionpaw was holding his gaze calmly. As Dawnmist and Firespot both stepped away, Lionpaw leaned over the border so his muzzle was right in front of Nightpaw's face. The WindClan apprentice was prepared to slash Lionpaw's muzzle if he needed to.