Warriors: Fate Of The Storm

Chapter 1

"Hurry! Get back to camp and warn Rainstar!"A fluffy orange tom hisses in her ear. Icepaw spun around horrified.

"No! Liontail I can't leave you and Whiteclaw alone, were the only ones left on this patro..!" Icepaw stopped abruptly and screeched. A huge dark brown tom had picked her up by her scruff. Thinking quickly, she twisted and sunk her claws deep into his chest. He yowled in pain and swiped a huge paw in retaliation. But Icepaw was faster. She ducked, the paw whizzing over her head. As he hissed in frustration she turned and sprinted away from the snowy, blood stained landscape.

"Why did this happen! The thunderpath was no place for a battle..." Icepaw thought to herself. She shook her head and sped up. Her clan needed her, but she knew it was probably too late for some of them.

Suddenly Icepaw felt pounding paw steps behind her. Still running she whipped her head around, and saw two cats.

"Quick! After that apprentice!" The grey she-cat yowled to the other, a small brown tom with grey patches.

Icepaw looked forward again and concentrated harder on her speed and breathing. Forcing herself to keep going.

"Faster, Faster, Faster!"

Icepaw woke, disturbed by someone moving beside her. She shivered realizing her brother had gotten up, exposing her back to the cold Leafbare air. "Where you going?" Icepaw meowed sleepily.

"Dawn patrol." Her brother meowed quickly.

Icepaw shivered again. Realizing it would be a long time before she would get warm again. "Could I join your patrol, moving would get me warmed up again. And besides, I haven't gotten to do a patrol in forever. Whiteclaw thinks I need to be catching prey all the time, with the prey so scarce because of the cold and Shadowclan.

"Sure." Emberpaw replied. Obviously in a hurry to be at the gorse tunnel on time. He turned and trotted out of the apprentice's den.

Icepaw quickly got up and shook moss off her pelt. Then ran out into the snow to catch up to her brother.

"Finally Emberpaw! The sun is already rising." Icepaw recognized the grumpy voice of Smokestripe immediately. He was a good warrior, but he was also a hothead.

"Oh Smokestripe he's only an apprentice. And he and his sister are still recovering." A fluffy cream she-cat mewed.

"Well he's MY apprentice,Dawnpelt. And I expect him to be punctual. Even after the event of a battle.Warriors must still be alert, and Emberpaw wasn't even in the battle."

Icepaw watched as Dawnpelt let out a sigh and sat down, giving up. Icepaw shuffled her paws, itching to be off, so they didn't have to talk about this topic. She was still tense around the subject of the battle between the two patrols at the thunderpath. It still haunted her, especially in her dreams. She had the same one every night. And the worst part was that the dreams were true. "Why couldn't I have been faster! Then Ferncreek wouldn't have died."

The patrol had consisted of herself, Liontail, Ferncreek, and her mentor, Whiteclaw. They had been on a regular Sunhigh patrol along the Shadowclan border, when a patrol ambushed them from the bushes lining the thunderpath. And Ferncreek had bled out before Thunderclan's fresh patrol had gotten there. Shadowclan's leader Fogstar, had said something at the previous gathering, just a couple nights before, that the kits in his clan weren't getting enough milk because of the lack of food. "I agree that the lack of prey has been harsh to us this Leafbare but Shadowclan didn't have to act out like that!"

And strange for her too. Icepaw would always be the first out of all the apprentices, to volunteer for a battle. She was a great fighter, especially for her level of experience. It sure did make up for her hunting. Honestly she was an ok hunter from the start, and was never against feeding her clan. But she just could never stay still for such a long time. Not patient enough. But that battle, because of Ferncreek... she blamed herself.

She suddenly realized the impatient voice of Smokestripe was even farther away now.

"Icepaw! Stop daydreaming and hurry up!"

Shaking her head she ran after them and disappeared into the gorse tunnel.