Shadow's Rise.

Prologue




"Welcome back, Shadeclaw." Snakestar mewed to ShadowClan's medicine cat, Shadeclaw. The black cat had just returned from the Moonpool, and looked rather distressed. "Is something wrong?"
"Snakestar, I need to talk where no other cat can hear." Shadeclaw replied, quickly.
"Yes, of course... May I ask Darkheart to come?"
"No. I know you trust your deputy, but this must be known by as few as possible.
"Yes... Of course," Snakestar was surprised by Shadeclaw's bluntness. "Come to my den." The two cats padded through the ShadowClan camp and into the leader's den. "Now, what is the matter?"
"I had a dream. StarClan came to me and gave me a very strange warning... It seems a lot simpler than their usual messages, but just as worrying."
"What did they say?"
"Beware the new cat with power in his heart."
"What?" Snakestar was confused.
"It certainly is basic."
"Yes. But who does it refer to?"
"Er... Snakestar? Is Shadeclaw in there?" a new voice called out.
"He is. Come in," Snakestar and Shadeclaw mewed, and turned to see Riverheart, a ShadowClan warrior. "What is it now?"
"I have been feeling strange lately, and... I think I am expecting kits."

Chapter One


Scarykit's life as a kit was very strange. He was an only kit, and stayed in the nursery, even long after he was ready to look outside. Not only this, but every cat (excluding apprentices and his parents themselves) who came to see his mother or perform their duties acted like he was about to claw their fur off.
One time, a fairly young warrior came with herbs from Shadeclaw to give to his mother, and he asked if something was wrong. The warrior practically jumped out of his skin, and left immediately.
It was when he was nearly six moons old, and about to be apprenticed, that he left the nursery for the first time. He glanced outside, and saw cats everywhere. Some he knew, some he didn't. He looked around in awe, then stepped out of the den.
"What are you doing?" a huge cat asked him, from beside him. He tried hard not to gasp in awe.
"I... I thought I would take a look outside the den." he replied, trying to keep calm.
"Save that for apprenticeship. Now, back to your mother." Scarykit ran back into the den, and the huge cat grunted.
"Who was that?" Scarykit asked Riverheart, his mother, once safely by her side.
"That was Snakestar." she replied, "he is the leader of ShadowClan."
"He didn't seem to like me..." Scarykit sadly pointed out. "Why not?"
"I... I don't know." Riverheart stammered. Scarykit went to ask her another question, but was cut off. "Now, shouldn't you go back to sleep? You'll be an apprentice soon."
"Yeah, yeah." he purred, and curled up at her side.

---

"ShadowClan, assemble!" Snakestar barked, from his den. The entire Clan came forth to see what he had to say. "Today, Shadowkit is six moons old. As you all know, this means he is ready to become an apprentice."
Scarykit was excited. He sincerely hoped Faintshadow, his father, could be his mentor.
"I award you your new apprentice name, Scarypaw." Only the apprentices called out his name, and were all shortly silenced by their mentors. "I will be your mentor."
"What?" whispered one of the apprentices to another.
"That is all." Snakestar finished, and turned to walk to his den. Scarypaw tried to touch noses with his new mentor, but was ignored. If he hates me so much, he wondered, then why did he choose me to be his apprentice?

Chapter II

Scarypaw lay in the clearing, staring into space. Nobody came near him, nobody asked what was wrong... He was ignored. Riverheart was being introduced back into the warriors den by Faintshadow.
"Scarypaw." Snakestar called. He turned his head, to see his new mentor behind him.
"What?" he asked.
"I thought you might want to meet some other Clan cats." Snakestar offered un-enthusiasticly.
"Mm."
"This is Darkbelly," he mewed, as a cat walked by.
"Hi." Darkbelly muttered flatly, and walked away. Scarypaw said nothing.
"And Woodtail and Poppytail are over there," he pointed with his paw to two cats sitting together outside the warriors den. "You already know Faintshadow and Riverheart."
"Observant." Scarypaw muttered. This earned him an angry glance. His leader began to walk to another point in the camp, so Scarypaw followed.
"Here is the medicine cat's den." he said. "Shadeclaw is our medicine cat." The dark cat padded into view, and abruptly disappeared again. "And our elder." he pointed with his paw again to another den, "his name is Blackfire. No doubt you'll meet him soon enough with your duties."
Scarypaw stayed silent.
"And over here is our deputy, Darkheart." the gray cat looked at them, and blinked apathetically. "And Ravenshadow, wherever he is..." Snakestar glanced around the camp, but saw him nowhere. "Oh well. I guess you'll meet him another time."
"Mm." Scarypaw replied.
"Actually..." Snakestar mewed, in a curious way, "how about I invite him to go hunting with us tomorrow?"
"Whatever you say." Scarypaw replied, and padded off towards the apprentice den. I wonder what my denmates will be like... he wandered. He soon found out.
"Hello," one said, walking out of the den. Her pelt was almost painful to the eye, it seemed to be a perfect golden colour. "My name is Goldenpaw. You're Scarypaw, of course. How was your first day as an apprentice?"
Scarypaw paused a moment. He had never met someone so talkative. "Fine." he replied, and the other cat nodded.
"I'd better get to my duties... See you around!" Goldenpaw padded off.
"How annoying." Scarypaw said to himself. He entered the den, and saw two other apprentices.
"Scarypaw." one said, and left the den suddenly.
"Oh!" the other said. "That's Wolfpaw. He's incredibly rude. I'm Berrypaw. It's nice to meet you!" The feeling wasn't mutual. Scarypaw ignored her, and found his own space in the den, seperate from the others. He curled up and went to sleep.

Chapter III


The next day's hunting was a pesimistic affair. Snakestar clearly disliked the apprentice, who clearly disliked everyone. Ravenpelt seemed to just be tagging along, and didn't say much. He was ShadowClan's newest warrior, Snakestar had explained, and Scarypaw decided he hated him, too.
"Is there a reason you dragged me out?" Scarypaw demanded.
"To teach you to hunt, of course." Snakestar sniffed the air. "There seems to be a mouse o--" Scarypaw had grabbed the tiny mouse in his jaw. It was, of course, dead.
"What now?"
"Well, try burying it so we can retrieve it on the way back." Ravenpelt pointed out. Scarypaw did so. Snakestar sniffed the air again, as did Ravenpelt.
"Over there..." Snakestar began, and glanced at Ravenpelt. Some soundless dialogue seemed to happen between the two. "That's a rabbit. They're great for prey, but can be a little tricky to catch unless you're quick."
"I don't see anything." Scarypaw pointed out.
"No, it's hiding behind the bush, over there. Sneak up on it, and pounce straight into the bush. You should get it." the leader explained, with slight malice in his tone. Scarypaw didn't overly care. He dived at the bush. Except his paws didn't come down on a rabbit. In fact, they didn't come down on anything. He fell, into a hole in the earth.
"Ugg..." he winced, when he hit the bottom. He glanced up, but could see nearly nothing. He was in a dark place, apparently similar to the dens in the ShadowClan camp. He smelt the scent Snakestar had described as rabbit, and pounced at it. He felt an incredible force against his face, and was thrown into a wall.
A brutal scream came from the beast that had hit him. He recognised the noise from a story his mother had told him. Why had Snakestar told him to attack a badger? He leaped backwards as the badger's mighty claw came down right where he had been standing, and made a run back towards where he had come in.
"Hello? Anybody! Help!" he yelped, completely surrendering his dignity. No reply came, so he began to scramble up the earthen slope leading to a spot of light. The spot was blurred unnaturally, and Scarypaw thought something may have happened to his sight.
The world outside the badger's lair wasn't much less blurred. The badger came charging up the slope, and crashed out of the hole. Scarypaw charged to meet it, and leaped into the air. He followed gut instinct, and grabbed what seemed to be the creature's head. The badger began to swing it's head from side to side, and Scarypaw began to lose his grip.
I have to do something! his mind screamed, and he unsheathed his claws. He felt warm blood against his paws, and the badger began to stop swaying. He clawed at the air, and fell to the ground. The badger didn't seem to be making any more noise. He half-smiled; it seemed he had killed it.

Chapter IV

His next woken moment, Scarypaw was in the medicine cat's den, back in ShadowClan camp.
"Badger!" he shouted, and leaped up.
"Woa-" Shadeclaw dropped a stash of herbs in his mouth, and turned to Scarypaw. "Don't do that!"
"You aren't a badger?" Scarypaw asked, his common sense failing. Luckily, his sight had returned.
"Apparently not." Shadeclaw informed him. "Does that hurt?" he asked.
"What?"
"Your nose."
"What about it?"
"It's... Well, it looks painful. Maybe you should go down to the lake sometime and see..."
"I'm fine. I'll go now." Scarypaw turned to leave.
"Oh, wait! Snakestar bought you back, said something about a badger, and told me to tell you he wanted to see you."
"See me dead, more like... He can come to me." he left the den, leaving Shadeclaw confused.
"What was that all about?" he wondered out loud, and went to pick up his herbs. On the other end of the camp, Scarypaw was entering the apprentice's den. Goldenpaw almost leaped at him. Here we go again...
"Are you okay?!" she screamed.
"So long as my ears hold out."
"Was that an insult?" she growled, but quickly redeemed herself in Scarypaw's eyes as an annoying chatterbox. "Anyway, tell us what happened! We heared a badger had attacked you! Did you beat it? What's wrong with your nose?
"Scarypaw?" Snakestar entered.
"What?" he snapped. Was there any other annoying cat in ShadowClan who felt like they needed to suddenly make an appearance?
"I was wondering if you would like to come on a patrol tomorrow." he opened his mouth to object, but was cut off. "With Riverheart and Faintshadow, too. If that's okay."
"Fine." Scarypaw replied, and moved from his mentor hastily. No harm would come to him with his parents there... Would it?
"So yeah, are you okay?" Goldenpaw enquired from beside him. He rolled over to look away from her. "Oh, you probably need to sleep. Okay, bye then!" he ignored her. When he thought about it, he didn't know why he hated Goldenpaw so much. Sure, he hated everyone... But that was because of the way they acted around him. She was even quite attractive... No, you did not just think that.
His mind wandered to the patrol tomorrow and his hunting mission gone wrong today. Had Snakestar tried to get him killed? On his first day as an apprentice? Why did he hate him so much? And why was he inviting his parents along to his patrol? These questions floated around in his mind, all unanswered, until sleep took hold of him.

Chapter V

"Wake up," Faintshadow called, from the entrance to the apprentice's den. "Time for the dawn patrol." Some of the other apprentices stirred, but once they saw it wasn't them being called, they dozed off again. Scarypaw reluctantly padded out of the den, immediately missing his sleep.
"Where's everyone else?" he asked, looking around the camp.
"Asleep. What happened to your nose?" his father asked him.
"Badger." he replied simply, and quickly headed to the entrance to the camp. He really didn't want to have to tell anyone about it all. Snakestar and Riverheart were already outside the camp, and ready to go.
"You were asleep, I take it." Snakestar said, as he came.
"As sharp as always..." the apprentice muttered, and was completely ignored.
"We're going to patrol along the borders of ThunderClan and RiverClan." Riverheart explained. "If we're lucky, you may even meet some of the other Clans' cats."
"Will I." Scarypaw replied, in an apathetic tone. The four set of, scarcely talking. They stopped to hunt once on the way, and Scarypaw caught two mice in a minute. The other three went to talk, and invited him to eat one of the mice.
He decided to listen in on their conversation. As he approached the bushes they had disappeared through, he heared their voices.
"...Nothing wrong with him." he heard Faintshadow point out.
"Perhaps you have the wrong cat." Riverheart suggested.
"Definitely not. It's too perfect timing for us to be wrong. He may just be the cat we've been told to fear." Snakestar complained.
"Then, there's no chance-" Faintshadow began.
"No. At least, definitely not yet. We know he's a skilled hunter, and clearly a skilled fighter, but until we're sure there's no threat, this is how it must stay." Snakestar mewed grimly.
"Okay. We should go back." Rivershadow began to walk back towards Scarypaw. Scarypaw glanced around quickly, then dived back out of the bushes.
"We're back." Snakestar said.
"You really are observant." Scarypaw said, with mock surprise.
"How about we go to ThunderClan territory now." Snakestar spat.
"Sounds good to me." Riverheart purred happily, and trotted off ahead of the group.