Warriors Fanfic Prolouge

Icepelt looked down at her apprentice and smiled as the young cat jumped back from the leaves. Nightpaw shook, almost as if ridding herself of invisible fleas, then shuddered. “Icepelt, I think there’s.... There’s someone off the path,” she whispered, brushing up against her mentor, her green eyes growing wide and tears welling in their corners. “I’m scared, Icepelt. It smells... like ThunderClan.” “Hush,” the white cat whispered, “the Moonpool is a place of gathering. I’m sure it will smell like other cats. Besides, we are just coming out of ThunderClan territory now.” Nightpaw sniffled and tucked her tail in between her legs, wary of the dark woods on either side of the path. She had always been a bit jumpy ever since she was a kit, but Icepelt could tell that something had really gotten under her fur. She flicked her tail over Nightpaw’s shoulders as they walked forward and closed her eyes, smelling the air for any sign of another cat. But before she could sense it, their stalker jumped out of the trees and tackled her to the ground. Icepelt let out a gasp and a cry as the air was knocked out of her, looking back at Nightpaw who stood frozen in her paws, shaking as she dug her tiny claws into the dirt. “Gotcha!” Moonfeather laughed, then paused for a moment and followed Icepelt’s gaze. Her eyes met Nightpaw’s and she could see the fear in the young apprentice’s eyes. Her grip loosened and Icepelt wriggled out from under her before rushing over to comfort Nightpaw. “Moonfeather…” she started, her thoughts trailing off as Nightpaw started to regain her senses, panting and heaving. “You didn’t tell me you were bringing your apprentice tonight!” Moonfeather laughed. “Should I have brought Lightningstrike?” “You’re not calling that lowlife your apprentice now, are you?” Icepelt called back. “You shouldn’t be acting like that anyways! You’re old enough to be an elder!” “And yet I still caught you by surprise!” Nightpaw slowly caught her breath, nuzzling her face into Icepelt’s chest and breathing her scent in so she could ground herself. Icepelt was closer to her than her own mother, and the scent of lavender always seemed to linger on her, no matter how long it had been since she last used it. Icepelt groomed the long, dark fur on Nightpaw’s head and smiled, turning back to the other medicine cat. “Nightpaw, this is Moonfeather. She’s ThunderClan’s medicine cat.” Nightpaw looked up at Moonfeather and instantly felt all of the residual fear inside of her melt away. She was too afraid to take in the other cat before- now she could see that the cat she was so afraid of was a scraggly, pale she-cat with the biggest silver eyes. Her long fur nearly reached the ground, but underneath it was all skin and bones. Moonfeather smiled and then spat on the ground, muttering. “I swear, I still smell like chervil,” she said. “Spottedeye delivered her kits five days ago now, and yet it still lingers.” Icepelt gasped in delight. “She did now? How many?” “Two. Named them Graykit and Silverkit,” Moonfeather smiled. “You can tell just by their names that they look like their father.” “Very original names,” a tomcat called out from the distance. “Almost as original as Firekit. I think I’ve delivered five of those so far. Nearly two in the same litter before I talked the mother out of it!” “Badgerlily!” Nightpaw called out in delight, and ran over to the tomcat. RiverClan’s medicine cat looked down at her and laughed, running towards her as well. “Nightpaw! I’m so happy! Did Icepelt finally decide to bring you?” “She did! It only took, like, ten moons of asking!” “Ten moons? You’re only eight!” Badgerlily and Nightpaw laughed shared tongues as Moonfeather turned to Icepelt and lovingly glared at her. “So he gets to know your apprentice before I do? That hardly seems fair.” “Oh, you toad-brain, leave it. I can’t help that the oaf wandered into ShadowClan territory while looking for poppy seeds,” Icepelt laughed. “You should’ve seen her face! You saw how scared she was when she saw you, you’d never guess how afraid she was to see a RiverClan cat so deep in our territory!” “Hey, who are you calling an oaf?” Badgerlily called back. Nightpaw laughed at him and exclaimed, “You are an oaf!” The four cats kept up on the path towards the Moonpool, and Nightpaw’s tenseness was broken by Badgerlily’s constant cheeriness and jabs at the two she-cats. As they came upon the starry pool, Icepelt looked around, confused. “Where’s Robinleaf? Usually he’d be here by now…” “Unless he’s off making dirt!” Badgerlily called out, causing Nightpaw to have another fit of giggles. “Come out of the woods, you rascal!” Moonfeather looked down at her paws and sighed, shaking her head. Badgerlily’s smile softened as he stooped down and licked Nightpaw’s shoulders to get her attention. All eyes were on Moonfeather as she whispered, “He’s… he’s not coming.” Silence hung like a murky fog in the air, and none of the other three cats could bring themselves to open their mouths. Robinleaf was the youngest out of all of them, and it was an unspoken truth that Moonfeather would be gone long before him. He didn’t even have an apprentice, as it was only since the last leaf-bare that he was one himself. “Harestar came to ThunderClan’s camp a few days ago to talk to me and Redstar… all of a sudden, Flightfeather contracted greencough and it spread through the clan like a wildfire. It took four elders and an apprentice, and Robinleaf stayed up day and night to take care of the sick… Flightfeather was the last of them to go…” Icepelt gasped, breaking through the crushing silence. “Her kits... “ “She died giving birth… it was only one… the other three came out dead already. Harestar wouldn’t even speak of her… niece, nephew, I don’t know. I couldn’t bring myself to ask. I can’t see this as anything else than a harbinger. Harestar refuses to name another medicine cat in his name. Nobody in the clan wants to bring that shame upon themselves anymore… it’s ridiculous.” “Shame?” Nightpaw asked. “My… my father told me there was nothing to be ashamed of in being a medicine cat.” “And there isn’t anything to be ashamed of,” Icepelt whispered. “It’s just… just that… some people think that there is. That we all belong in StarClan, and medicine cats are just keeping us from there. It’s nonsense…” “Nonsense as it is, it’s tearing ThunderClan apart,” Moonfeather spat. “Lightningstrike too, he preaches this horrid noise about how I should just let him die, and how I’m stopping him from being a great warrior like all those star-studded cats back in Firestar’s days. It’s ridiculous, what it is, and I can hardly stand to hear it. Especially not when WindClan’s own leader is spitting directly on Robinleaf’s grave!” Nightpaw padded over to the moonpool as Moonfeather ranted on, unsure of how she should mourn the death of a cat she had never met. As she looked down at her reflection in the water, she saw it warp and change into an older cat with the ripples of the pond, her muzzle lengthening and her body growing into her big paws. But as she aged, she watched horrible scars and lesions grow and burst out of her skin. Her right eye sagged down, and she gasped, biting her tongue and looking away, back at Icepelt, who didn’t seem to notice. Her reflection pressed its nose up against the brink of the water, closing its eyes, and Nightpaw looked back. She knew she should ask permission of Icepelt before doing anything, or even of her father, who knew so much about the world and what she should and shouldn’t do. But she looked at herself and knew she was safe. It was just her. No matter how ugly and how horrid she was, the reflection was nothing more than that. She closed her eyes and pressed her nose to the water. “I’m sorry,” her reflection spoke. “I was looking forward to meeting you. You seem like a good kid, Nightpaw. I hope you grow old and well. Be nice to Greenkit for me, okay? She’s going to need it.” Nightpaw looked back at her reflection and shook her head. “I… I don’t know a Greenkit.” “You will soon enough… she’s tiny, and she’s weak, and she can barely lift her head yet… but I know she’ll love you. By the time you’ve got your name, she’ll be an apprentice herself. I hope she comes here, to me, and you can guide her. If she comes, Nightpaw, will you be kind to her?” “I will,” Nightpaw said, even though she hardly knew what the cat in the Moonpool was speaking of. Agreeing was her talent, although she didn’t know quite yet how much trouble agreeing to everything would get her into. “Good. Now go. Tell them that I will always be here with them. And tell Badgerlily to go make dirt himself.”