Warriors: Rising Dawn- Book 1

Chapter 15

Sandpaw stood at the base of the Storm Stone, with his brother at his side. Sandpaw had been surprised to find Tigerpaw at Three Stones, but had quickly gotten over it. So far, only four out of nine of the apprentices had come to Three Stones. There was Tigerpaw, and himself from StormClan, and Rosepaw and Thornpaw from SunClan.

Sandpaw had attempted conversation with the SunClan apprentices, but no cat seemed willing to converse. Bored of doing nothing, Sandpaw began to wander around Three Stones. Rosepaw was a beautiful brown tabby, who seemed extremely shy, and was nothing like her brother Thornpaw. Thornpaw had a dark brown pelt, and shared the same hazel colored eyes as his sister. Thornpaw had also attempted conversation, but after seeing it was hopeless, had wandered back over to his sister's side.

Suddenly, Sandpaw heard a rustle from the trees near the StormClan border, and stumbled back in astonishment as his sister lept down from a maple tree. Both Sandpaw and Tigerpaw rushed over to Snowpaw as soon as she appeared.

"What are you doing here?!?" Sandpaw whispered anxiously.

"Same as you two! I had a dream! Silverstar told me to come here," Snowpaw replied to her brothers.

"Silverstar? Who in StarClan is that?" Tigerpaw asked with a surprised expression on his face.

"Didn't she come to you too?" Snowpaw asked.

At this point, Rosepaw and Thornpaw had wandered over to join in the conversation.

"I was told by Raggedfur to come here," Thornpaw meowed,"He told me to come here at moonhigh. Apparently he was a previous medicine cat of SunClan."

Another rustle interrupted the apprentices, as two more cats stepped out of the bushes. One was a silver tabby she-cat, and the other was an orange tom. They were closely followed by a pale brown tom.

"Hello! I'm Ivypaw! Who are you?" mewed the silver tabby.

All eight cats exchanged names and began to discuss what had happened.

"My name is Juniperpaw, and obviously you've met my sister Ivypaw," meowed the orange tom, who stood next to Ivypaw.

"Oh and I'm Timberpaw," a pale brown tom stepped out from behind Ivypaw and her brother.

Sandpaw still felt there was something or someone missing. "How many cats are supposed to be here?" Sandpaw asked.

"I think StarClan told me there was supposed to be three from each clan, so nine cats. We're still missing someone. From SunClan," Rosepaw mewed softly.

Just as she said that, Sandpaw turned around and saw a black tom padding through the tall grasses of SunClan.

"Hello. Did I miss something?" the black tom grinned,"I'm Kestrelpaw, by the way."

Sandpaw watched as Kestrelpaw padded over. The black tom looked very strong, and had a single white star shape on his chest. As soon as Kestrelpaw had stepped into Three Stones, a cat appeared on each of the Three Stones. Sandpaw noticed that all three cats had stars in their pelts. They must be from StarClan! Sandpaw realized.

On top on the Storm Stone, stood a silver tabby, and ontop of the Sun Stone was a dark gray tom. Finally, a proud looking white tom sat on the Moon Stone.

"Greetings apprentices," mewed the silver tabby she-cat, "My name is Silverstar. I shall explain why you have been brought here. First, as you may have noticed, you all have a special power."

All nine apprentices nodded.

Then the white tom stood, "You will each be taught how to master your power. Let's start by seeing which power each of you have. All cats who can run faster than normal, please sit at the base of the Moon Stone."

Sandpaw watched as Tigerpaw reluctantly got up from his side, and padded over to the Moon Stone. Though he was suprised to see his brother at Three Stones, he realized he had never thought to ask what power any of his siblings had. Tigerpaw was joined by Kestrelpaw and Timberpaw.

Next Silverstar stood up and called, "All cats who can change their appearance to match their surroundings, please come to the StormClan."

Now Snowpaw, looking happier than Tigerpaw, padded over to Silverstar. Closely behind her was Rosepaw and Ivypaw.

Finally, the dark gray tom stood up. "All cats who can change their form to other animals, come beneath the Sun Stone," the tom meowed gruffly.

Slowly, Sandpaw got up and padded over to join Thrornpaw and Juniperpaw, who were already over there. Sandpaw sat down and glanced shyly at the other apprentices.

Silverstar got up once more and began to address the cats, "You nine apprentices are closer to StarClan than any cats have ever been. Even closer than the medicine cats. You will each be given special training on how to use your power. Your StarClan mentors will tell you more about that later," Silverstar paused, "A great darkness looms over the clans, waiting to strike. You must defeat this darkness. You nine apprentices are a new dawn for the clans. You will rise to defeat the darkness! You are the Rising Dawn!" Silverstar finished, "Now listen to your mentors."

"Alright apprentices, I am Ashcloud, your StarClan mentor. I will teach you your power in your dreams, but we will also meet once a moon outside the clans," the gray tom told them witha slight glare in his eyes.

"Ashcloud," Thornpaw asked,"Where would we be meeting outside the clans?"

"That will be determined later," Ashcloud mewed grumpily.

"Looks like someone ate a bad piece of prey!" Juniperpaw whispered to Sandpaw.

"No kidding!" Sandpaw replied. Is this cat always grumpy? Sandpaw wondered. I sure hope not!

"Quiet down!" Ashcloud commanded, glaring at Sandpaw and Juniperpaw.

"It's time for you to go now, its nearly dawn!" Silverstar's voice echoed across Three Stones, and with that, all StarClan cats padded off into the sky, and disapeared.

Sandpaw left Thornpaw and Juniperpaw, and rushed over to his siblings, who were already at the woods. "So what do think of this?" Sandpaw asked curiously.

"Well I think that Silverstar is really nice, and Ivypaw and Rosepaw are pretty nice too!" Snowpaw replied happily.

"I guess the cats in my group are pretty good, but Adderclaw is really proud. A bit like Kestrelpaw," Tigerpaw rolled his eyes, "What about you?"

"Same as you, I like the cats, but Ashcloud is super grumpy," Sandpaw meowed.

Before he knew it, Sandpaw and his siblings had reached the camp.

"Shh! Let's try to get in quietly without anyone hearing us!" Sandpaw whispered.

Carefully, they managed to sneak past Snakejaw and Breezefur who were guarding camp, and snuck in through the dirtplace tunnel. Sandpaw and Tigerpaw then headed for the apprentices den, while Snowpaw rushed off to the medicine cats den.

As soon as he got into the den, Sandpaw plopped down into his nest. He felt like his paws were going to fall off! When he got into his nest, he immediately fell into a deep sleep.