New divide book one: Sunlight

Hello, this is the first book of my new series, New divide! Sorry, this may be a bit wierd at the current moment. For some wierd reason, I cant do bold, italics, links, underlines, strike outs, I cant copy or paste anything, and headings i cant to either. It is a problem yet to be fixed, and currently I'm writing on another program, so enjoy what I have currently, I hope soon I can figure out the problem!

Prologue
The crack of dead leaves filled the woods, beside the sound of crickets on the stone cold night. A blue gray tom slipped beside the bushes, his forest green eyes gleaming in the darkness. His dark paws grew light in step, his blood stained claws unsheathed. A mouse scutted past, and the tom dived for it, landing on the large mouse. He cut it's stomach open slowly, grinning at it's cries. Once the meal was eaten, he continued on his trudge through the darkness. He swayed his tail, curling in it delight when he spotted what was ahead. He dived into bushes, stepping down into a moonlight lit hollow. Three dead trees loomed down on him, casting a long shadow. A pure white tom with the palest blue eyes stood up ahead. He met the tom's gaze, and ambled towards the tom. In the sight of Starclan, a grin appeared, revealing yellow teeth.

Chapter one
“For now on, you will be known  as Stormpaw. Your mentor will be Braveflight.” Duskstar's voice rang clear and loud in the Sunclan clearing. Stormpaw stood up, pride dancing in her eyes as she touched her nose with her new mentor. “I'll do my best, Duskstar.” Her mentor, the gray tabby she-cat, meowed before dipping her head to the leader. Stormpaw was ready to burst with pride when the chanting sounded all around her, even if a lot of them were half hearted for her and her sister. “Blizzardpaw! Finchpaw! Nightpaw! Brightpaw! Stormpaw!” the warriors chanted. The five of them were the only apprentices, as the newest warriors, Beetlefur and Birdwing, had left the apprentice den two moons before. She turned her head around and met her mother, Frostflower's, gaze. Her mother's dark blue eyes, like her own, were glowing with joy and pride for her two daughters. Brightpaw, her sister bounced over to her with her own mentor, Ferretleap. Turning to Braveflight, she excitedly asked her mentor, “What are we doing today?” She demanded. My first day as an apprentice- this better be good!

She thought, then her excitement dulled when she caught Ferretleap's suspicious, untrusting look she gave her and Brightpaw.Her clan had never really trusted her and Brightpaw, her sister did'nt look like their father, but Stormpaw did. Her fur was blue gray with darker gray paws and ears, and a silver tail tip. She looked almost just like Hollowclaw, but the silver tail tip and the dark blue eyes she inherited from her mother. Their father was a ambitious traitor who was exiled when he tried to kill Blizzardpaw's father because the tom found out he was meeting with his half sister, Furzestar and plotting to team up and kill Duskstar  and take control of the whole clan. Flintclaw and Eeljaw were his two closest friends, but they had proved their loyalty to Sunclan over him many times over. She understood why Ferretleap would'nt trust them, the clan not trust them now that they were apprentices. They could leave camp now. They had the freedom to meet their father privately, and could now be persuaded by Furzestar. Scents of Hollowclaw around the territory for the last two moons made the clan suspect the traitor was still around in the territory. But two days ago, the fresh scents of him vanished, only stale scents remaining of him around the territory, or any of the territories. Duskstar had warned the other clans of him, but they had told him he was not found or scented anywhere in the other three clan's, Swiftclan, Nightclan and Waterclan's, territories.

“I'm going to show you the territory today, Stormpaw.” Braveflight's mew interupted Stormpaw's far off thoughts. “Okay,” She meowed enthusiastically. She turned to her sister, and heard Ferretleap's meow. “You'll be learning how to collect moss today with me.” The sandy she-cat meowed, and Brightpaw nodded, not excitedly, but not satisfyingly. She felt bad for her sister, she had to have such an untrusting mentor. She was relieved she had Braveflight, the gray tabby was a friend of her mother's, though she never liked Hollowclaw, her mother had told her that Braveflight was long over his treachery. Stormpaw fixed her dark blue eyes on the forest ahead, anticipation boosting her paws so she could keep up with her mentor's fast pace as they exited camp. She glanced behind her to see Nightpaw following his mentor, Darkmist sluggishly to join Brightpaw and Ferretleap. She guessed the two mentors decided to teach their apprentices to get bedding so they could make nests for everyone, the only nests in the apprentices den were old and full of who knows what, as they had'nt been used in a whole two moons. She turned her head forward, wishing she had her sister or her best friend, Finchpaw, with her to go visit the territory. But she and her mentor were going without anyone else, and she wondered if it would help her to learn better if she did'nt have someone to distract her.

They walked for some time without speaking until they reached the river. It expanded as far as she could see, rushing soothingly around the rocks as it headed downstream. Her eyes stretched wide in amazement; it was wonderful. She had heard her mother's descriptions of it, but she had always wanted to see it with her own eyes, feel the damp bank with her own paws, hear the rushing water with her own ears. “Woah,” She breathed. “This is the river, as you can see.” Braveflight meowed, then nudged Stormpaw. Looking up, Stormpaw fixed her gaze past the river, where there were less trees, and she could see a stream going through. “That's Riverclan territory. Taste the scent, remember it.” Her mentor instructed her. Obediently Stormpaw parted her jaws and tasted the scent, and instantly the scent of fish flooded her nose. “Ew! Disgusting!” She gasped. “They eat fish.” Braveflight briskly explained, and Stormpaw could feel her mentor's fluffy tail tip touching her flank, and followed her mentor down the river bank. The damp mud sank between her pads uncomfortably as she walked closer to the river and Stormpaw leaped back when the warm water splashed her paws. “Do Riverclan cats really swim in this?” She wrinkled her nose at the scent of fish. Eating those slippery water creatures, diving under the water where they could drown anywhere, enjoying wetting their fur... it sounded like a terrible life to her. She enjoyed the trees and the shade, the mice and the occasional rabbits. She couldn’t and did'nt want to imagine living in Nightclan, where it's all marshy and yucky where they eat frogs. Or Waterclan, where you get your fur wet all the time. Or Swiftclan, always living in those open moors with no trees, always eating rabbits, getting poured on when it rained. She was perfect where she was.

The river they walked by turned away from them and the territory past the border 's trees disappeared almost completely, all sunny with no shade. “Swiftclan?” She guessed, and her mentor nodded. She had heard much about the other clans. She tasted the scent, noting that she needed to remember the scents of all three clans.

A rabbit appeared into view, followed by a black and white tom. She watched in amazement at the black cat's speed, turning and following the rabbit's every stride. The rabbit blindly raced towards them, and Stormpaw decided to help him out, darting forward into sight. The rabbit noticed her immediately and skidded to turn around, but was caught by the black and white tom's paws. Braveflight followed her out of the shade, touching Stormpaw by the shoulder. The tom quickly killed the rabbit, then trotted over to them. There was a grateful light in his eyes, as if he new that the rabbit would have run into their paws. “Hello, there.” He meowed warmly. “Nice day, isn’t it?” Stormpaw watched as her mentor dipped her head. “Indeed, Cloudmask. How is deputy going?” she replied. “I'm still pretty new to it, but it's going well.” He meowed, then turned his green gaze to Stormpaw. Uncomfortably she dipped her head lightly, quickly copying her mentor. “I haven't seen you before,” He meowed thoughtfully. “New apprentice?” He guessed. “Yes, I'm Stormpaw.” She answered politely. “It's her first day out of camp.” Braveflight added. Cloudmask nodded. “I see. I best be going, thanks. Good luck with your apprentice, Braveflight.” he meowed, and Stormpaw watched as he picked up his rabbit, trotting out of sight. Braveflight turned and padded once again, and Stormpaw hurried up to catch up with her. “You were awefully friendly, Braveflight.” She meowed, and Braveflight seemed to understand that the main thing she heard about as a kit was just the battles they have with other clans. “Yes, we're good friends.” Her mentor replied. “He's the new deputy of Swiftclan, the old deputy, Fastfoot, retired a moon ago.” She explained. Nodding, Stormpaw fixed her gaze up ahead, not wanting to dive into her mentor's business any further. another while, they passed by a a group of tall alder trees, with some occasional flowers and plants growing near them. “These are the tallest alder trees in the whole forest. A decent place to hunt, good for finding certain herbs for Quick pounce’s supplies.” Her mentor explained, and Stormpaw nodded slowly, staring up at the tall trees. Only a minute or so after that, with a slower pace, they reached a dusty two leg house. But it was small, and looked like it hadn’t been used for a long time. “This is the abandoned shed. Great place to hunt if you can watch out for the rats,” The tabby meowed. Next they stopped by a clump of bushes with berries. “A good place for mice. And a good place for juniper berries and some of the other berries.” Her mentor meowed, then Stormpaw followed Braveflight's gaze to the other side. There were tall wooden fences with bushes a great distance away. “The twoleg place. Across one of the fences is a garden. Quickpounce and Berrypaw can collect Catnip and some other herbs there.” Braveflight meowed. “It's dangerous here, so stay away.” Her mentor warned her. “Okay.” Stormpaw meowed, a shiver running down her back as she recalled one of the stories her mother told her. She remembered Frostflower's words, telling her about how her brother, Adderpaw, was captured by some twolegs and carried away, never to be seen again when she and her brother wandered over to this area. Stormpaw's energy was worn out when Braveflight decided to pick up the pace and speed up. Her pads felt sore over the day's treck, but it was'nt over yet. She knew that when they visited the Rabbit crossing. Tall rocks jutted out of the ground, and some holes were around the rocks. The river was a bit past the Rabbit crossing. “This is the rabbit crossing. It's called that because a lot of rabbits live here and cross by. But be careful, not all of these holes belong to rabbits.” Her mentor had told her as they padded past the Nightclan border. “Why is the territory,” she meowed, “so big?” She asked her mentor. “It's not that big, it's just your first time out. And the patrols only go half way across the border, the border patrols. Your gonna have to know all the landmarks and best places to hunt, and the places we have to defend the hardest.” Her mentor meowed. Stormpaw nodded solemnly, anxious to get home. But again, they were'nt quite over yet. Some time eventually they dipped into their territory, leaving the border behind. They padded along the strong Sunclan scented trail until they reached some bushed. Braveflight beckoned Stormpaw with her tail, and Stormpaw watched her mentor dive into the bushes. She chased after her, struggling with all the leaves but following her mentor's scent that hunt onto the leaves where her mentor disappeared. She broke out of the bushes into a clear of trees meadow, with a thick oak stump nearby where they came throught he bushes. “This is the training meadow.” She turned her head to see Braveflight speaking. It was large, with some occational flowers and plants growing to the side. It was nice and peaceful, sunny. “It's a fine place for herbs, but during leaf-bare a poor place for hunting as apprentices train here, scaring prey away. During new-leaf it is a enjoyable place to sun yourself.” Braveflight explained. “I see,” Stormpaw meowed, looking around. It was indeed a wonderous place, and she looked forward to training here. “Come on, let's go back to camp.” Braveflight meowed to Stormpaw's suprise and quickly dissapeared back into the bushes.

When they arrived back to camp, Stormpaw was tired, her paws feeling heavy over the day's travel. The sun was setting, and Stormpaw was ready to eat and sleep. The day's travel was enjoyable, she got to see all the things in the territory, and got to meet Swiftclan's deputy, too.When she arrived to the fresh kill pile, she found Blizzardpaw and Finchpaw. She settled down next to her friend and dragged a mouse over with her paw. “What did you do today, Stormpaw? You look exhausted.” Finchpaw commented, while Blizzardpaw stayed silent, his narrowed amber eyes fixed on her. “Yeah. We went through the whole territory! It's huge!” She replied enthusiastically. “Really? Went through half of it, Brindlepool and I. Her old leg's will be leading me through the other half tomorrow.” Finchpaw meowed. “I heard that Nightpaw and Brightpaw made nests for all five of us, they must've worked hard. Their both asleep.” Finchpaw started. “Is that so?” Stormpaw replied, enjoying the taste of a warm, juicy mouse in her mouth. She was greatful for her sister and Nightpaw, hearing that. “We ought to thank them tomorrow.” Stormpaw mewed. Finchpaw nodded, but was silent, her forest green eyes narrowed at Blizzardpaw. Suddenly Stormpaw was aware of his narrowed, disliking gaze resting on her now, and anger swelled up inside of her, threatning to be released. Blizzardpaw judged her for her father, who killed his father and sent Darkmist to the medicine den for a moon. Ever sinse Blizzardpaw would not speak to her, while his brother Nightpaw was much more friendly and forgiving. Blizzardpaw was different though. He nearly lost his mother, too. Why did he have to make it such a big deal? Why could'nt he accept her for who she was? Like Nightpaw, his brother, did? Standing up, she abandoned the half eaten mouse and stalked away to the apprentice den, her paws nearly leading her to the nursery where Eaglekit and Crowkit were probably wrestling supposed to be asleep. She pushed into the apprentice den, tears stinging her eyes, and flopped into the nest right next to her sister's. Closing her eyes upset and angry, she let herself be developed by sleep, unaware of Finchpaw settling in the nest beside her.







* Chapter two



A hard paw jabbed her in the side. Stormpaw opened her dark blue eyes and fixed them irritably on the culprit of her wake. Finchpaw leaned over her, the she-cat's mixed light and dark brown fur already groomed, her green eyes dancing with excitement. Confused, Stormpaw rolled about in her nest for a moment, then remembered the events of yesterday. She let out a yawn and sat up, listening to her friend's explanation as she began to groom her messy pelt. “We're going out with out mentors today! Hunting training, you and I.” Finchpaw meowed, bouncing. “Brindlepool will show the the other half of the territory later on.” Anticipation tingled in her paws as she quietly followed Finchpaw, the excitement and the pleasure of learning how to hunt glowing in her eyes.





