B E F O G G E D // Warriors

/ p r o l o u g e /

Swiftstar held his gaze to the ground, his thoughts rambling on and on about the upcoming Gathering.
He knew the Clan could see him, see him acting so funny, but his paws were tingling with excitement and he didn't know why.
Well - he did. New leader of EbonyClan, and first Gathering? Surely something to be excited about.
The eager EbonyClan patrol slipped into the clearing, and their presence was abruptly acknowledged by HollowClan with a snort from some elders and a quiet, "About time.," from some senior warriors. The EbonyClan warriors weaved their way into the clearing like fish in a lake, and Swiftstar approached the Fallen Spruce.
"Thank StarClan you showed up, I could've sworn my grays started coming in," Dapplestar playfully shoved Swiftstar as he hauled himself to the top of the tree.
Thornstar softly chuckled from the other end of the tree, "Oh quit your whining, you've still got time left."
The three cats smirked and snorted, while Crowstar - of BrookClan - kept a straight face.
"Let's get a move on." He said once the other leaders were done. Swiftstar narrowed his eyes slightly at the sudden change of mood.
Well, look who woke up with a thorn in his nest.
Thornstar stepped forward, a faint smile softly painting his face.
"RubbleClan, despite the Leaf-bare, is doing well. Prey is good and herbs are growing well, and I thank my neighbors for being relatively kind for the times. One of our queens is expecting as well, this will be Deerwhisker's first litter. She's back at camp resting and preparing for the birth."
A few cats nodded their heads in congratulations and smiled.
At least the cats are pretty chill tonight.
At the end of his thought, a sharp call and some scuffling caught the cat's attention. They turned their head to the right and spotted a gang of apprentices circling some of Swiftstar's apprentices.
Foxdung!
Dapplestar squared up - to no-cat - and planted a rock-hard scowl on her face. She swiftly slid off the Fallen Spruce and weaved around cats in the clearing like a snake, all while yowling, "Ivypaw! Ravenpaw! Flamepaw! Darkpaw! You ignorant fools!"
The cats weren't too far off, as the Gathering was rather small today, so she had no problem getting to them before any other cat could.
"What do you think you're doing!"
A cocky gray-tabby apprentice kept a firm smirk, while another gray and white she-cat simply kept a straight face, and the other two looked scared.
Swiftstar - ungracefully - jumped off the tree and took the same path used by Dapplestar to get to the apprentices.
"Bullying this young apprentice? As a representative of HollowClan, you ought to be ashamed of yourselves!"
Swiftstar kept his cold gaze fixated on the four apprentices, "Not to mention breaking the truce."
"Do you realize how bad you're making us look!" Dapplestar hissed.
The cocky gray apprentice shrugged and kept his head low, muttering something under his breath.
"Excuse us?" Swiftstar meowed, "You got something to say there?"
"No." The tom meowed
"Good."
"Stupid apprentices! I knew I shouldn't-ve brought you here, even at camp all you idiots do is cause trouble. Elder care for 8 sunrises - no hunting, no training, and no going out of camp. I'm sure your poor mentors need a break from listening to you pathetic excuses of cats." Dapplestar angrily spat.
While the two were scorning the apprentices, two of Swiftstar's other apprentices, Kestrelpaw and Smokepaw, came over and escorted the two newly-apprenticed kits to a nicer group of apprentices from the other Clans. Swiftstar made sure to give them a grateful nod.
Two HollowClan warriors, who Swiftstar recognized as Palefeather and Sagepuddle, showed up shortly after.
"I'm so sorry, I should've watched them." Palefeather apologized.
Dapplestar sighed, "No worries, they'll always slip away. Hopefully, this is the last time they try to pull dung like that."
Dapplestar and Swiftstar padded side by side back to the Fallen Spruce, and after a quick apology from Dapplestar - and some shameful glances from nearby warriors - it was time for Swiftstar to speak.
"EbonyClan is doing exceptionally well. With all the prey and luck, we even had room to expand. We have a new batch of apprentices, Foxpaw and Haypaw to Jaggedstripe and Stagclaw."
Many cheers arose from the crowd, mainly because the two young apprentices were the ones in the center of the incident. Swiftstar caught the four apprentices - being watched by their mentors - glancing at their paws.
Dapplestar stepped up, "HollowClan is doing well, despite the intrusion of a few stupid apprentices."
Man, Dapplestar really letting those apprentices have it!
"We have no other news to share other than that we are doing well and the prey is running well, and StarClan must've been on our side for the Leaf-bare."
Crowstar, with his dark amber gaze, didn't move from his spot.
"BrookClan has no news to share." He snapped.
Thornstar shifted closer to the black tom, "You have to share news at the Gathering, it's custom." "We have nothing to report, Thornstar. Does that fill your belly?" Crowstar barked.
Thornstar parted his jaws to speak, but Crowstar beat him to it.
"Gathering dismissed!"
Swiftstar cast a look at Dapplestar and Thornstar from the corner of his eye and saw they were doing the same. Crowstar had already leaped off the tree, and most of his Clan had already left.
"Well then somethings up with BrookClan, and now we know." Dapplestar snorted.

"He's pretty intelligent, keeping it on the down-low. It took all of my smartest warriors to figure that out." Thornstar scoffed.
"Whatever he did was a mistake, I hope he knows that. I'm going to get back." Dapplestar's cats were waiting for her by the exit into the trees, and Dapplestar quickly caught up to them. Swiftstar bid farewell to Thornstar and the two Clans parted ways, back to their own territories.
Well.. Something's up with Crowstar. And thank StarClan we know about it!

~
A/N
Thank you all very much for reading the Prolouge of Befogged. This chapter had 992 words, and that will probably be the same for the rest of the chapters. Did you like this length? Would you like to see longer chapters or even shorter chapters? Also, what do you think of those Chapter Graphics?
Thank you very much for reading! I'll see you at Chapter One!

Discussion Question: What do you think is going on with BrookClan and Crowstar?