Warriors Fanfiction: Evils of Darkness: Shadows and Light

Chapter 21

Greyshard paced around the mouth of the tunnel, flicking her tail with impatience. Not far behind her, Flamepelt and Skunkpaw were discussing group hunting strategies. Greyshard heard snippets of their conversation, "...keep it surrounded at all times..." and "...keep your eyes on the prey and the leader...". She sighed and stared down the twisting tunnel, the crevices and crags lining its walls at irregular intervals were inky black, as was the rock a few fox-lengths down.

She had always wondered how the tunnel had gotten there. The elders, or at least the Clan born ones, had told her as an apprentice that it was ancient Twolegs. That they came here to carve 'special rocks' out of the mountains. Or something like that anyway. They wriggled like moles and rabbits down here with giant rock claws and dug out the hollow and about half of the tunnels in the territory.

When Greyshard had asked why the tunnels were so small, Redsplodge had replied something like, "Oh, Grey, dearie, use your head, how should I know? The Twolegs are stupid and nothing they do makes sense." And then, Fireburst, her mate, had added, "I assume they wanted to hide the tunnels from other Twolegs, the selfish mouse-brains they are." The elders had laughed and Greyshard had sulkily padded out of the den.

Suddenly, something caught her eye in the shadowy depths of the tunnel. She stood up and stared into it. After a few moments, she called to Flamepelt and Skunkpaw, "We can go now." and as the figure in the tunnel was no more than two tail-lengths away, she added scornfully, "The amazing Rockpaw has decided to bless us with his presence."

The dull brownish shape hissed and Rockpaw stepped out of the rocky entrance. He looked out of breath and agitated, barely able to stop his tail from lashing and his ears from flattening. He glared at Greyshard with his pale orange eyes, in the same way Owlstar had glared at him. Greyshard smiled slightly and turned to beckon Flamepelt and his apprentice towards the tunnel.

Rockpaw stared at the passing cats blankly, until Greyshard asked silkily, "Well. Are you planning on joining this patrol or not?"

He just gazed at her and finally inquired, somewhat sarcastically, "Isn't Mousefoot going to slow us down if we take him along?"

She scoffed and replied, "Mousefoot isn't going. Obviously," she added, rolling her eyes. "I'm leading a hunting patrol around the South-Easter border. If you decided that you don't want to go, go tell Foxnose and Mousefoot. I'm sure Crystalwing would appreciate being disrupted by a moss-headed apprentice."

Flamepelt curled his tail nervously and nosed himself between them. He meowed gently, "Greyshard, calm yourself, Rockpaw was just a few minutes late, and he hasn't said anything about not wanting to come."

Rockpaw blinked at Flamepelt and shot a smug look over the tom's shoulder at Greyshard. Her blue-grey tail lashed, hitting Skunkpaw in the nose.

"Ouch!"

She rolled her eyes again and whipped around to face the tunnel. "Let's go then - we're wasting sunlight." she meowed, as she ducked underneath the sharp ridge of rock at the top of the entrance.

After about a minute of walking in the darkness, Greyshard came out of the tunnel and slid under the bramble bush at the mouth of it. She blinked a few times to get used to the bright, harsh sunlight. After waiting for the rest of the patrol to come out, she started walking through the forest, heading for the lower corner of their territory.

Not long after, she heard a rustle and a flash of brown fur like tiny lightning. She raised her tail as a signal for the rest of them to stop and crept up to a giant patch of golden-brown bracken. Greyshard nodded to Flamepelt and signalled to the tree just behind the bracken patch. He dipped his head and slowly slid up behind the tree.