Warriors: Descending Darkness

Chapter 21

Ravenpaw plopped down in the Thunderclan den, glad that she finally had a break from training.  Thistlestar and Night had been working her hard the past few days and her entire body ached.  She rested her head on her paws and closed her eyes to sleep, but someone entered the den, prodding her with a paw.

"What?" Her fur bristled and she opened her eyes to glare at them.

Thornkit flinched back, his ears flattening, "Do you want to play a game with me and Fangpaw?"

Ravenpaw immediately relaxed, feeling bad for snapping at the kit, "Sorry, but I'm tired...maybe some other time?"

The kit nodded and scampered off, leaving Ravenpaw to rest her head back on her paws and close her eyes. It wasn't long before she fell asleep.
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She opened her eyes, finding that she was in the meadow in Starclan where she had met Crowbreath and Fogcloud. Looking around, she didn't spot either one of the two cats, so she wandered through the meadow, enjoying the sweet smell of flowers.  She wandered to the edge of the meadow and was about to step into the forest when a surprised meow behind her made her jump.

"Ravenpaw?"  Fogcloud padded up behind her, "What are you doing here?"

Ravenpaw turned to face the Starclan cat, confused, "I don't know.  Did you not want to tell me something?"

Fogcloud shook her head, studying her.  "Since you're here, I suppose I'll give you some advice if you'd like."

The black she-cat nodded, eagerly waiting the warrior's next words.

"Don't trust every cat you come across. You don't know who seeks to do you harm and who has."

Ravenpaw rolled her eyes as she sat down, "Okay, I think I know that. Who exactly do I need to be wary of?"

Fogcloud shook her head, her tail irritably twitching at the apprentice's attitude. "I thought you'd know, wise one."

Ravenpaw stood up, forcing her fur to lie flat, "I need to see Doeflight. Where is she?"

"You can speak with her some other time." Fogcloud glared at the younger cat, seeming to be even more irritated with her, "Right now you have something else to do."
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Ravenpaw groaned as her vision of Starclan was shattered by a paw prodding her side. Sighing, she opened her eyes, glaring into the brown eyes of Fangpaw.  He flinched away from her sharp gaze, muttering an apology.

Her whiskers quivered in amusement at how intimidated he was by her despite the fact he was much larger than her.  "What is it?"

"Keep your voice down," he whispered, glancing behind him at Birdsong who was in a nest closest to them, "You should go look for other Thunderclan warriors."

"What?" Ravenpaw asked, not understanding why he was asking her to do this out of the blue.

He sighed, "You wanted to help Thunderclan, right?"  When she nodded, he continued, "Well the best way to do that is to make the clan bigger, so we need to find cats who will join.  If you can find any Thunderclan cats, maybe telling them we have a plan to stop the wolves would make them come back."

Ravenpaw hesitated before nodding, his enthusiasm making her feel like his idea would work.  "Okay, so why are you waking me up and why do we have to whisper?"

"Because Thistlestar won't let you leave now, it's too dangerous at night."  He muttered.

She rolled her eyes, "Yeah, but can't this wait until sunrise?"

"You'll be training all day and won't have time to look for Thunderclan warriors."  He immediately answered, almost like he knew she would ask.

She narrowed her eyes at him before she stood up from her nest, "Fine, I'll try, but I don't think they'll listen to me."

"Why not?" He asked, watching her as she passed.

"Because one, I'm an apprentice and two, I'm from Windclan." She muttered, stopping to look back at him, "Plus it doesn't help I don't even know who was from Thunderclan."

The apprentice looked away despite giving her words of encouragement, "I think you'll know who's from Thunderclan somehow..."

Ravenpaw frowned before she exited the den, padding across the clearing into the forest.  She was already alert for any signs of danger as she wandered aimlessly, clueless as to where she should begin looking, wishing she could go back to sleep.  A noise to her side made her whip around with her muscles tensed to dart up a tree if necessary.