[X][Up] From Dawn Till Dusk

[Smokeheart]

Title
From Dawn Till Dusk

Chapters
Prologue and Chapter 1

Author
Me, Smokeheart

Pairing
None, unless you cound Badger x Ivy

Summary
The leader of Windclan and the medicine cats of Thunderclan, Shadowclan, and Riverclan as recieved a mysterious prophecy that is worrying even the most calm and collected cats. Everyone watches as this mysterious prophecy unfolds and leaves the fate of the clans in the paws of seven young apprentices...

Editor
NiGhTsToRm (WW Archives)

Cover
None Yet

Author's Notes: I am still updating this, so keep checking back for the next installment!


Prologue

“Cloudshadow!” yowled a pitch black tom, pacing back and forth at the foot of a small boulder. A white she-cat appeared out of the warrior’s den and raced over to where the impatient tom stood.

“Yes, Nightstar? I already sent out the extra patrols that you asked for if that is what you want...”

“No, it’s not that. Have you seen Crookedspot anywhere?” the leader asked nervously. His amber eyes moved from one spot to another so fast that Cloudshadow didn’t have time to even think about the question she had just been asked about. Ever since the tom had come back from the Moonpool, he had been like this. Anybody could tell that something was wrong...terribly wrong.

Without answering Nightstar’s question, the deputy went off to go fetch Crookedspot, WindClan’s medicine cat. With a sigh, Nightstar watched the she-cat leave in her own polite way. She might just become leader sooner than expected..... he thought bitterly as the dream he shared with StarClan the day before flooded into his mind. A slight shudder of fear passed over him as he let himself drift back into the real world and out of the land of dreams. He and Crookedspot must talk about this... and fast.

It didn’t take long for the old tom to appear, the usually grim look on his face even grimmer. “It is about the dream you shared with StarClan the other night?” he asked with slight humor in his old, cracked voice. The black tom was so easy to predict sometimes.

“It is.” replied Nightstar, getting up and padding over to a rock covered with moss. He disappeared under the small wall of lichen that was the entrance to his den with Crookedspot following close behind. Once inside and away from clan ears, the leader began to describe his dream. “... and it all ended after some voices chanted some kind of prophecy, which is the part of the dream that is unnerving me. "Shadow, Thunder, Wind, and River shall fight and lift the lake from its shores."

Amber eyes met blue as the shock from the prophecy subdued somewhat. Shaking, the medicine cat gave a deep sigh. “We can only fear its meaning. I suggest we tell the clan nothing of this until what we fear comes true. I also suggest that we forget about it for the time being and not worry about it too much.”

Little did they know, but worrying about it is what every cat beside the lake should do, for troubled times lay ahead.

[Smokeheart]

Chapter 1

Feel the grass under your feet and crouch down low.....

A young black and white tom repeated these steps in his mind as he crouched low in a tuft of grass, watching a hare eat some kind of plant or other. He was about to bound toward the hare, but it heard the movement in the grass and ran off. “Mousedung!” cursed the tom as he bounded after it, only to be stopped by his mentor, a tortoiseshell tom that went by the name of Battleheart.

“You can’t outrun a hare if it has a head start, Badgerpaw. I suggest that you put less weight on your paws when you are moving around in the grass.” mewed Battleheart, picking up a hare that he himself had caught a few moments before. Badgerpaw hissed silently to himself. Why was Battleheart always this way? Whatever he did, the tortoiseshell tom would always find fault with it.

They both went back to get all the rest of the prey they had caught earlier and then made their way back to camp. As soon as they got there, Badgerpaw quickly ran to the fresh-kill pile and went off to find his best friend, Boulderpaw. It never seemed to hurt his mentor if he ran off when they got back and it definitely wasn’t like they were going out for battle training. They never did. It seemed as though Battleheart was refusing to teach him in battling, even though fighting is how Battleheart got his name. All the old mentor would ever ramble on about is being a good hunter and stalker.

He found Boulderpaw beside the apprentice’s den, laying outside and enjoying the breeze. The apprentice's den was located in an old badger's set like most of the other dens and it was across the camp from the warrior's den. Like mostg WinClan cats, the apprentices enjoyed the open spaces of outside and didn't sleep inside of the den very often. Perhaps the only good use for it was just to say that they had a den of their own. “Hey Badgerpaw! How ya doin’ today?” called out the dark grey tom, his light blue eyes glittering with joy. Badgerpaw smiled and bounded over the rest of the way.

“So what happened to you today that is making you so happy you fat ol’ boulder?”

“I get to go to the gathering in two days!” came cheerful reply. Badgerpaw’s ears drooped and he shook his head. This is the third gathering he hasn’t got to go to since he became an apprentice! What was that old hag requesting the leader to do now, keep him confined to the camp the rest of his life?