Waging War Book 4: Empty Peace {COMPLETE}

Chapter 18

Slateheart felt as if he was slowly losing his mind. He had been trapped in the apprentice den with his sisters and the three AshClan apprentices for several days and he hated it. He hated every single second of listening to their idle chatter. He wasn't afraid of the snow, but he knew that it was forbidden for him to be leaving his den for any reason other than to make dirt. His paws itched to be out in the forest again, to smell the pine trees and have a moment of silence away from his Clanmates.

His claws felt dull, and the battle with MoonClan hung over his mind like a storm cloud. He wanted to make them pay for killing Graypelt. He wanted Violetstar to pay for her hypocrisy. He couldn't take being trapped in here much longer, and he knew his den mates didn't want to me around him much either. He was irritable enough without being constantly pestered by the apprentices. Luckily his sisters had been helping by keeping the three busy but it still wasn't enough.

He needed to be out in the forest hunting, patrolling and being a warrior. Not stuck up in a den like an elder. He felt like if he didn't get out of the den and into the forest soon he would snap, and then he would get in all kinds of trouble with Riverstar which he really didn't feel like dealing with. His tail twitched irritably as he listened to Otterpaw tell some far fetched story, breathing out a sigh while he watched outside.

It hadn't snowed for the past few days and he was hoping this stupid blizzard would be coming to an end soon. Yet he hadn't heard any word from Riverstar about it and he was about to march out and see for himself if it was ready or not.

He laid in his nest, which had nearly been shredded by his restless claws but he didn't really care. He watched as the clouds drifted over head and nothing happened. Soon the soon took its place high in the sky, reflecting off the pure white snow in front of the den. It was hard to look at, but Slateheart just kept watching the clouds.

"Cats of AshClan!" Slateheart's ears instantly twitched and his head perked up as he heard the call of Riverstar. "Don't leave your dens yet, but please listen close." Slateheart was listening as close as he possibly could. "It hasn't snowed in two days and the snow will soon start to melt. I want to send out a patrol to see how badly our territory is snowed in. Any volunteers please leave your dens, everyone else stay put."

Slateheart was on his paws and out of the den before Riverstar could even finish her sentence. He was the first one out but Nightheart, Dustfall and Skyfeather had also left the warriors den. Stormheart was also standing beside Riverstar, his eyes focused on the cats who joined.

The air was cold, but not freezing. The snow was thick and completely covered the floor of AshClan cat, but there was less of it. Stormheart was easily able to cross through it and meet up with the rest of his Clanmates. "We will all be going. We're going to check all the borders and see how bad it is. If the snow is too difficult to traverse we will return home and try again tomorrow."

All the cats nodded in agreement and Slateheart felt his paws buzzing, he was just eager to get back out into the territory. It felt like it had been moons since he had left his den, but he knew that it was just his mind running wild from being trapped with three noisy apprentices for several days.

"Stay close everyone." Riverstar told the warriors. "I don't want anyone getting lost, we don't know how bad the snow is in the territory." Slateheart just nodded and he could tell that the Clanmates on patrol with him seemed just as eager to get out of the camp. They were all stretching their legs and seemed to have boundless energy.

The patrol left the camp and set into the forest. The snow went up past their paws, but not much higher. They headed towards the Spirit Garden first, checking the edge of their territory that they really didn't share with any other Clan as the path to the Spirit Garden separated them from LichenClan.