Shade

Chapter Forty

"Shadepool, can I talk to you for a moment?"

"Sure, Silverstar." Shadepool stood and followed the Clan leader to her den. "What do you need?"

Silverstar settled down in her nest and looked straight at Shadepool. "I wanted to ask you about Marshpaw, actually. I know she feels quite lonely in the apprentices' den all on her own. I was wondering if you think she'll be ready for her warrior assessment soon."

Shadepool nodded, thinking. "Not right now. She's still got a few things to learn yet. But she's doing a lot better than she was a moon ago. I think Iceriver becoming a warrior has made Marshpaw want to do better. She did a perfect leap-and-twist yesterday, and that's the move she's been struggling with the most."

"Really?" Silverstar's blue eyes lit up.

"Yes. And perhaps most surprising is that she seems to have completely overcome her fear of water overnight." Shadepool felt pride for her apprentice swell up in her chest.

Silverstar nodded. "I'd like to see this for myself. Wake Marshpaw and tell her she's coming on a patrol with us."

"Of course, Silverstar." Shadepool dipped her head respectfully, then turned and left the den, heading for where Marshpaw was eating a minnow by the apprentices' den, surrounded by a swarm of kits.

"Are you the best fighter in the Clan?" Maplekit asked with wide eyes.

"Do you always bring back the most prey?" Swiftkit interjected.

"Can I be an apprentice with you?" Blackkit asked eagerly.

"No, I want to!" Maplekit mewed.

"No, I do!" Flowerkit put in.

"No, I do!" Swiftkit hissed.

"You all can, when you're old enough," Marshpaw purred.

"But that's ages away!" Blackkit complained.

"Hey, Marshpaw, look what I can do!" Maplekit crouched low in a sloppy, unbalanced attack crouch and jumped, pinning down Flowerkit's tail.

"Hey!" The brown tabby she-kit mewed indignantly.

"You were almost there, Maplekit," Shadepool purred, padding over.

"Shadepool!"

Shadepool suddenly found herself being ambushed by four kits, and pretended to yowl in pain. "Oh, no! You've got me!"

"Hey, Shadepool, are you the best fighter in the Clan?" Maplekit asked, scrambling down from her back.

"I'm better than you!" Shadepool lunged playfully at the kit and he skittered away, squealing joyfully.

"That's not fair!" Swiftkit pointed out. "You're a warrior!"

"Oh, really?" Shadepool rounded on her, pretending to pounce but purposefully missing. "But there's four of you and only one of me."

"Five!" Marshpaw corrected, pouncing on her mentor and pinning her down.

"Oof! You're getting good, Marshpaw," Shadepool praised.

"Did you need me for something, Shadepool?" Marshpaw asked, letting her up.

"Yes." Shadepool shook the grass and dew from her pelt. "Silverstar wants us to go on a patrol with her."

"With Silverstar?!" Marshpaw exclaimed. "Why didn't you say so in the first place?"

"I wanted to play with the kits," Shadepool meowed. "Anyway, we should get going."

Marshpaw hurriedly licked her chest to try and flatten her messy fur. It did little to help, but Shadepool knew Silverstar wouldn't mind. Their leader was very relaxed, and liked to act more like an old queen than a seasoned warrior and a leader with nine lives - or however many she had left.

Shadepool led the apprentice over to the camp entrance, where Silverstar was waiting for them.

"Where will we patrol?" Shadepool asked.

"Along the ShadowClan border, I think," Silverstar meowed. "Furzestar's lack of action against any Clan worries me."

"Should we take an extra warrior just in case?" Marshpaw asked, worry in her eyes.

"I think the three of us will be fine," Silverstar purred. "You're getting good at fighting, I hear."

"I - I guess." Marshpaw looked down, embarrassed.

Silverstar led the way out and they walked through the pine forest for a bit before it opened up into marshy grounds. They could see the tall pine trees where the ShadowClan border was.

"Hey, look, there's some ShadowClan cats down there," Marshpaw observed.

"Really?" Shadepool squinted to see, but she could barely make out three dark-pelted shapes next to the border.

"We might not have anything to worry about," Silverstar meowed lightly. "They're inside the border."

"They're also ShadowClan," Shadepool muttered, but she followed her leader down to the border, albeit warily.

The three cats at the border were all former rogues, Shadepool noted. She recognised Fang, the tortoiseshell she-cat she'd once battled; Mud, a dark brown tabby tom; and Stone, a grey tom - the one who killed Dewleaf, Shadepool thought angrily, but forced her fur to lie flat. They seemed to be in the middle of an argument over something, judging from Fang's ruffled pelt.

Stone glanced up and noticed the RiverClan cats for the first time. "Silverstar." He dipped his head respectfully, recognising the leader.

"Greetings." Silverstar dipped her head in return. "How is the prey running in ShadowClan?"

"Better than it was in leafbare," Fang snorted. "ShadowClan is fine."

Shadepool picked up quickly on the bitterness in her tone. It was almost like she was suggesting ShadowClan had had a particularly rough leafbare, more so perhaps than the other Clans.

"I'm glad to hear it," Silverstar meowed warmly. "Send Furzestar my best."

Fang nodded curtly. "We will. Come on, mouse-brains." She flicked her tail and turned back into the forest, Stone and Mud following.

Shadepool glanced at Silverstar, and the analytical look in the silver she-cat's eyes told her that she'd picked up on Fang's hidden tone as well.

"Lets mark the border," was all Silverstar said. "We'll hunt on the way back to camp."

Shadepool did as her leader had asked, nodding to Marshpaw to do the same. They covered the majority of the border then headed back into RiverClan territory to catch some prey. Silverstar watched Marshpaw hunt for a short while and seemed satisfied, then went down to the water's edge to join her. Shadepool purred at the image of the two cats - one an old, experienced and powerful leader and the other a young, spritely and somewhat insignificant apprentice.

It was nearing sunhigh, and shadows were beginning to fall long and black across the marshy fields. One touched Shadepool's paws and she looked down at it, remembering the power she held. It had been moons since she'd used it. She tried to forget it was there. But every time a shadow touched her, she could always feel her fur itching towards it like some sort of dark connection.

Shadepool looked up and saw Silverstar's blue eyes meet hers, like the leader knew exactly what she'd been thinking. Leaving the shadows behind her, she stood and went to join her Clanmates by the water.