Broken Dream - A Warriors Fanfic: Chapter One

CHAPTER 1

 Moonpaw crept silently forward, placing her paws carefully on the grass. She wouldn’t lose this mouse.

It was nearing the end of Leaf-fall, and the edges of the River had frozen over, leaving the River Clan cats scrambling for enough prey.

Hah! To think we’re usually the most well-fed Clan! Moonpaw thought crossly. She closed her eyes and imagined the camp back at home, reinforcing walls in preparation of the first-snow and stalking up prey that would hopefully get them through Leaf-bare. When she opened her eyes, the mouse had disappeared.

Moonpaw let out a frustrated snarl.

“Moonpaw, calm down. It was only a mouse.” Moonpaw’s mentor, Dawnfire, spoke from the bushes.

She lashed her tail, and Dawnfire sighed.
“It’s nearly Leaf-bare. The Clan needs everything!” Moonpaw muttered.

“Don’t be so hard on yourself. Come, take this back to Camp.” Dawnfire dropped a rabbit at her apprentice’s paws.

Moonpaw sniffed, about to argue, but picked up the rabbit and set off back towards camp. Dawnfire trotted behind her, ears pricked to sense danger.

Swiftshadow, the RiverClan deputy and Moonpaw’s father, was waiting for them inside camp.
“Nice catch!” He commented as he say the rabbit Moonpaw was carrying.

Moonpaw grunted from under the rabbit fur, “Dawnfire caught it,”

Swiftshadow and Dawnfire exchanged swift glances before turning back to Moonpaw. The black-and-white tom flicked his tail towards the fresh-kill pile, and she obediently trotted over. After Moonpaw had dropped off Dawnfire’s kill, she padded over to her den beneath a twisted pine tree.

Moonpaw glanced inside to see her brother, Rowanpaw, and his best friend, Birchpaw, sharing a mouse. Rowanpaw looked up and meowed in greeting as Moonpaw padded inside.
“Where’s Snowpaw?” Moonpaw grumbled, collapsing in her nest.

“One way to greet your brother!” Rowanpaw mewed playfully. “And, she’s out patrolling with Ravenflight, Skyfall and Breezepaw.”

Moonpaw heaved a sigh, then stood and padded away, leaving Rowanpaw and Birchpaw to themselves.

Just then, Fernpaw bounded down to greet her.

“Hey, Moonpaw… We need to talk.” She murmured.

Moonpaw drew her breath for a sharp retort, then sighed and nodded.
“Let’s go out of the camp.” Fernpaw decided uneasily.

Moonpaw followed her sister out through the twisted branches and leaped the tiny creek that ran behind RiverClan’s camp, deciding it would be too risky to walk straight through the main thorn tunnel. They were, after all, two fairly new apprentices. And, they, at such a young age, weren’t allowed out of camp by themselves.

Fernpaw stopped underneath a patch of draping blackberry bushes. She turned, her green eyes glowing with wariness and sighed.

“What’s this about?” Moonpaw asked breezily.

“It’s Silverfrost. She was staring at me like I was a dog or something when she woke up this morning.” Fernpaw sounded scared by the memory. “She looked… almost… angry.”

Moonpaw shook herself. “I’m sure it was nothing,” She told her sister absently. Fernpaw doesn't need to come bounding to me with her problems. She is the medicine cat, after all.

Fernpaw looked hurt for a moment, then nodded blissfully and turned away, disappearing into the ferns. Moonpaw heard the gentle thud of her sister’s paws as she leaped across the stream, back into the only world they had ever known.