Dark Moon

In the dark of the moon

Shadows rule

Casting darkness upon the land

Naturally dark and foreboding.

But evil?

In the dark of the moon

Evil lurks, but never truly shows

Darkness in the heart of the shadows

Darkness in the light....

Prologue
"This is the most mouse-brained thing I've ever done"

"Oh? You've done other mouse-brained things?"

"Oh your smart River, well, your the one that got us caught"

In a dark cave, two she-cats were arguing, the small blue-gray she cat mewed "If I remember correctly Dragon, you were the one that taunted them"

The bigger she-cat, a silver tabby, with flaming green eyes, snapped "What else was I supposed to do?"

"Um... Attack?"

"I did that, and looked what happened!" Dragon snapped.

"I meant attacking as in surprise attack, not as in "Oh, I hope you guys are good at fighting" kind of thing" River said flatly.

"Whatever" Dragon sniffed.

River sighed "I hope Shadow and Yarrow are okay"

"They might be" Dragon grunted.

"You don't seem convinced"

"I'm not" Dragon looked at her sister.

"Any ideas on how to get out of here smart one?" River snapped.

"Actually... I do have one..." Dragon mewed "But it might have to involve getting hurt"

"Don't all your plans?" River asked.

"Now your getting it" Dragon laughed, then looked at the door with narrowed eyes, her whiskers twitching "I hope they hurry though, I'll launch my plan when they are distracted!"

"Yay distractions" River sighed "The ultimate fighting is using distractions"

"Exactly, I hope your prepared River, we've got a few long days ahead of us..." Dragon mewed in an excited whisper.

"Oh joy" River rolled her eyes

Chapter 1
"Well, this is more like it!" Yarrow exclaimed.

Shadow looked at his brother with narrowed eyes "We just got into the forest"

"I know! The mountains were so plain" Yarrow mewed "And cold"

Shadow shook his head "Come on, we got to find our sisters" he led Yarrow, following the scent of the rogues. Which was getting more closer to the lake.

"I hope we don't have to the swim" Yarrow commented.

Shadow stopped "There's a tree forming a bridge across, so unless you slip, no you don't"

Yarrow stayed silent, and Shadow rolled his eyes.

They continued, Shadow kept going, but Yarrow stumbled behind. Shadow looked at him "What's wrong?"

"Tired... Is all" Yarrow panted.

Shadow narrowed his eyes. He had a feeling it was the thing around his neck tiring his little brother out. After all, they didn't know what it was.

Shadow shrugged then turned back. Continuing to walk.

Soon they were at the bridge. Shadow sniffed the air, the heavy scent of crow-food and cat on the air.

Shadow was about to go to the tree bridge but was stopped by a voice "Well.. This is a rare sight..." he looked up quickly. A cat was already on the bridge watching him and Yarrow.

The cat jumped down. and soon him and Yarrow were surrounded by cats.

Yarrow looked around alarmed. His claws unsheathing.

"We usually get rogues around here... but they usually smell of mountains.. You two smell of forest" a she-cat mewed silkily.

Yarrow asked "What do you want?"

The she-cat was staring at Shadow intently. But glanced at Yarrow, her eyes widened, and she bristled "Star carrier!"

The cats looked up. Their eyes widened. They started whispering to each other, glancing at Yarrow with fear.

Shadow saw Yarrows eyes flash. He mewed cooly "Where did the rogues take our sisters?"

The she-cat bowed "To the outskirts, where they made their camp"

The other cats murmured in agreement.

One of the cats, a tom mewed weakly "They took two cats, they were putting up a fight though" he looked at Shadow "We can take you to them, but you can't fight them off alone, but we wouldn't be any help, they deprived us of food"

Shadow looked at Yarrow.

Yarrow mewed "Take us to them, we don't need numbers to beat them"

The she-cat mewed "This way.." she flicked her tail. She looked at Shadow with an unreadable emotion, then led them away from the bridge.

Shadow was confused. but then followed, with Yarrow behind them.

A little bit later, they were in a forest. It was dark and unwavering. With pine reaching to the sky.

The she-cat looked at Shadow "There camp is near, be cautious"

Shadow nodded and padded past her. He thought he heard her sigh, but he flicked his ear and kept going.

Yarrow mewed "Hey! Do you smell that?"

Shadow looked up. Narrowing his eyes, the cats looked around worriedly.

The tom flinched "They are near" he flicked his tail backing up a little bit.

The she-cat looked at him "Are you going to back out so soon?" she sneered "You aren't usually the type to back out of a fight, Stormfrost... Descendents of ShadowClan always like a good fight..."

Stormfrost looked at her "I always like a good fight, I just know this is going to be a fight we won't win"

The she-cat purred silkily "There's always a way to win Stormfrost..."

"Moonberry, don't be mouse-brained, we're not the clan cats, we're only descendents" Stormfrost growled.

Moonberry ignored him. She looked at Shadow "What do you think we should do?"

Shadow shrugged. And Yarrow piped up "Cl-Clan cats?"

Moonberry and Stormfrost looked at him "Yes, clan cats, have you heard of them star carrier?" Moonberry asked.

Yarrow looked away, his eyes full of fear and hurt. Shadow was confused, then looked into the dark shadows of the pine forest.

Moonberry stared at Yarrow, then looked into the darkness too.

Shadow started to pad into the darkness, and Stormfrost called after him "Are you crazy? They'll kill you! They'll kill us all"

Shadow stopped and looked back. And Moonberry mewed "We have the star carrier with us Stormfrost, there's no way we can lose!"

Stormfrost looked at Yarrow "I know, you seem a little young carrier. Do you know how to fight?"

Yarrow shook his head. And Stormfrost looked at Moonberry in triumph.

Moonberry purred silkily as she passed Shadow "He doesn't need to know how to fight, as long as he's the carrier."

Stormfrost sighed. Muttering as he followed Moonberry with the other cats. Shadow and Yarrow followed closely.

As they got deeper, the smell of carrion and crow food got stronger. Sickness hung on the air, with the scent of blood and cats.

Shadow froze. Looking up at the trees suspiciously. The cats stopped and looked at him with confusion "What is it?" Moonberry asked.

Shadow growled "They know we're here" he looked around quickly, unsheathing his claws.

Stormfrost looked around also "I-I don't see anything..."

"You don't need to see us to know that we are there!" a small squeaky voice mewed.

Stonefrost got hit with an attack, he yowled. Battling the cat weakly, who had the upper hand.

Shadow was about to go help him but a heavy weight landed on him. He and the cat rolled some ways away from the others. But they were close enough to yowl in shock.

Shadow pushed the tom off him, jumping into the trees. The cat hissed "So your going to fight darkness with darkness? Two can play at that game"

The cat jumped where Shadow was moments before. Shadow landed onto the ground. And he looked at that cat.

Yarrow yowled. Shadow looked around distracted, and the cat saw his chance to attack Shadow.

Shadow was slammed into the ground. Teeth biting his neck.

Shadow narrowed his eyes and drove his claws upwards, the claws pierced the cats neck. The cat backed off in pain, running into the darknes.

Yarrow yowled again, and Shadow hurried to the group.

Yarrow was getting pulled by the neck, Yarrow, who had no fighting experiance. Wriggled helplessy as the cat pulled him.

Shadow was about to reach him, but Moonberry got there first. She wrestled the cat away from Yarrow, Yarrow leaped away.

Moonberry bit the cats neck. The cat tried to wriggle away. But each attempt got weaker and weaker.

Moonberry finally let go when the cat stopped moving. She looked at Yarrow "You alright?"

"Never better" Yarrow panted.

There were a couple of shrieks and yowls deep in the forest, soon cats poured into the clearing, fear in there eyes.

"We did it Dragon!"

Shadow looked up to see River and Dragon jumping from tree to tree chasing the cats.

Dragon leaped on top of a big cat. Making him yowl in surprise. Dragon bit his neck.

He growled and threw her off, only to be attacked in the face by River.

The big cat screeched in pain, running off. Dragon and nodded at each other and grabbed a cat by the tail. The small cat screeched, trying to pull away.

The cat managed to break free.

Shadow and Dragon looked each-other. Dragon looked relived, but it soon turned into fear "Shadow watch-!"

Shadow didn't hear the rest. He turned around quickly, only to have his world go black.

~*~*~*~*~

Shadow wasn't really sure what happened. Dragon tried to warn him.

I'm so mouse-brained, I saw that coming. he thought angrily. Trying to open his eyes.

A voice whispered "Hey, Shadow.. Are you alive?"

Shadow automatically knew the voice was Dragon's, but he couldn't talk, or move. I must be dead he thought.

"Shadow?" Dragon asked again. Worry echoing in her voice.

He managed to mew "It's not like you to worry Dragon...." he drifted off.

<p style="text-align: left;">Dragon sighed "That cat could have killed you if it wasn't for Moonberry"

<p style="text-align: left;">Shadow didn't say anything. He thought ''Wait... What?''

<p style="text-align: left;">Dragon asked "Remember? That cat was insane, and his claws were like... Thorns"

<p style="text-align: left;">Shadow mewed "Yes Dragon..."

<p style="text-align: left;">Dragon mewed "Are you okay, Shadow?"

<p style="text-align: left;">"I've felt worse if that's what you mean" Shadow mewed.

<p style="text-align: left;">Dragon didn't say anything "You look like your dying" she mewed.

<p style="text-align: left;">"Thanks" Shadow growled. He opened his eyes and looked at Dragon "I'm fine Dragon, I'm not dying"

<p style="text-align: left;">Dragon looked at him as if she wasn't convinced. Then she shrugged "Well, we won the battle anyways, everyone's okay"

<p style="text-align: left;">Shadow closed his eyes again I am dying... he thought, wanting to tell Dragon, but didn't want to worry her. He asked "Where's River?"

<p style="text-align: left;">"With Yarrow, he's the reason we won" Dragon said in a surprised voice.

<p style="text-align: left;">"Huh.."

<p style="text-align: left;">"You know that myth Mizu told us about?" Dragon asked.

<p style="text-align: left;">"Yes.."

<p style="text-align: left;">"Well, It's true" Dragon mewed with awe in her voice.

<p style="text-align: left;">"All of it?" Shadow asked.

<p style="text-align: left;">"Every single one of it" Dragon mewed.

<p style="text-align: left;">Shadow sighed.

<p style="text-align: left;">"Are you sure your alright?" Dragon mewed "I mean, Moonberry got him off you, but he still managed to drive his claws in your neck"

<p style="text-align: left;">"I'll be fine" Shadow reassured her.

<p style="text-align: left;">Dragon looked at him "You never could lie Shadow..."

<p style="text-align: left;">Shadow growled again "I'm fine" he stood up to prove it, but he flinched from the pain.

<p style="text-align: left;">Dragon sighed "Everyone's asleep, you should rest."

<p style="text-align: left;">Dragon didn't wait for him to answer, she padded away swiftly, leaving Shadow alone in the den.

<p style="text-align: left;">Shadow sighed, curling up in the nest. He closed his eyes Dragon knows me too well.... he thought. Drifting off into sleep.