Warrior Cats: The Four Clans

Birchfall turned to Fawnheart and blinked. "Not everyone is up to going out all the time. If I can help, I will." He nodded. They had been apprentices together. He had been made a warrior soon after she was apprenticed, but still, they had picked ticks off the elders, and he had been with her to show her around the territory on her first time out. That was when the forest was bursting with prey. Fawnheart interrupted his thoughts, saying that he looked tired. "You look tired yourself," his voice was soft. He was starting to see her fur hang from her bones like a rabbit. But her blue eyes were just as soft as ever, always caring for those around her. He frowned, worried about her.

He acknowledged Mossfoot with a flick of the tail. He wasn't feeling a border patrol, but all patrols ended up becoming hunting patrols, so he wasn't put off. Heatclaw bounded over, shaking the chill out of his paws. Looked like they were ready to set off. Fawnheart's ears flicked. Because of their odd shape, it usually made him smile, but his mind was elsewhere. His claws ached in his paws, and he wished to start moving to warm up. They set off, and he flexed every muscle as he walked, trying to warm up. It only succeeded in making him sore. He fell in step with Fawnheart. "How've you been keeping up?" he asked her. Before she could respond, Emberstorm stopped and signaled that an enemy was near. Birchfall felt heat prick his spine. Why hadn't he noticed? Mossfoot signaled to attack. He couldn't see where she disappeared to, but the scent of Kittypet filled his nostrils. Why had Mossfoot attacked Kittypets? They were probably just lost. He pushed closer to the scent and caught sight of a group of them. They were obviously ready to fight now. But Birchfall wasn't concerned. He kept his claws sheathed and started to bat at the ones that were wandering. If he kept them in a circle, they would realise that fighting was useless. He locked eyes with Fawnheart, hoping she'd understand his intentions.

"What are you doing here?" Mossfoot hissed her ears flattening. The black and white kittypet that Emberstorm had fought limped over to Mossfoot. I didn't hurt him that badly to make him limp so much. What happened to him? She wondered.

"Hi. My name is Coal." He addressed her as if speaking to an equal. Not as if to a surperior as most kittypets who wander into the territory act. Not as if to an inferior like some of the more daring kittypets act. Equal. Strange. Kittypets rarely act like that. "You see." He continued. "We have heard lots about you and we wanted to meet you. Maybe share customs, ideas, so we might live in peace perhaps."

"Oh." Mossfoot said as calmly as she could. "So why have you been hunting so much prey here?" She said flicking her tail to a small pile in the snow. Emberstorm gasped. It smelled like fresh-kill. Why haven't I noticed that before? She thought.

"Well.." Coal began trying to explain. Suddenly a tortiseshell she-cat walked to the front of the group and pushed him aside.

"Shut up, Coal!" She snarled at him. She looked at Mossfoot with disgust. "The forest doesn't belong to you savages." She hissed. There we go. A common kittypet attitude. Emberstorm thought with amusement. "You don't own the forest and you don't own every last scrap of prey in it. And don't give me the we need prey to survive blah blah blah. I've already heard it." Emberstorm's eyes narrowed. How could a cat, no a kittypet treat her deputy like this. But instead of angry, Mossfoot looked amused. "So," the she-cat continued. "We've come to take advantage of your weakness. If theres no food to go around you'll all be weak and we will destroy you." Mossfoot looked taken aback. Emberstorm started to laugh.

"You really think that a couple of you guys can take on Warriors?" She asked purring. "But don't you know that we go around and kill dogs with the slightest ease for amusement and we like to eat bones, escpecially kittypet bones." She said with a wicked grin. A cliche line to deal with kittypets. If your opponments are scared the battle is already half-won. The tortiseshell she-cat didn't look like she was scared at all.

"Oh please." She retorted. "We all know about-"

"Thats enough Anabelle!" Coal shouted at her. Anabel froze and stepped back into the crowd. "Please take the prey we caught. And in fact take the credit of catching it if you want. Were very sorry." He said.