I finally stopped being lazy and got back to writing this. Huzzah!
Chapter 1- Rejected- Nightsong[]
Nightsong watched Skypaw crouch down and begin nibbling on the mouse, shooting nervous glances behind her every now and then. Now that two of their warriors were missing, the entire clan was on edge. Tigereyes was still in the medicine cat den, due to his injury. The apprentices were being trained in mostly battle moves now, just in case.
“Two cats in one day! Can you believe it?” Nightsong heard a couple of elders talking with each other about the missing cats.
“Well, they were relatively affectionate toward each other. Perhaps they ran away to be together?”
“Leopardspot and Fireclaw would never abandon Thunderclan!” Nightsong hissed at the elders. The first backed away a rabbit-length, but the second gave her a glare.
“You never know. They might have.” Both the elders padded away. Nightsong gave another hiss of annoyance, then padded over to Skypaw and settled down next to her.
“How’s training going?” Nightsong questioned.
“It’s not.” Skypaw murmured. “Tigereyes is still in the medicine cat den. But all the other apprentices keep coming back complaining about the battle training. I feel kind of left out.”
Nightsong pondered this for a moment. “You should talk to Thornstar about it. I’m sure he’d do something.”
“Yeah, sure. Whatever.” Skypaw left the half mouse lying there and walked away.
Chapter 2- Icy Tones- Fireclaw[]
Fireclaw stretched his leg again. It hurt, but he thought it might help.
“Will you quit that? It’s not helping. Maybe you should try setting it properly.” Leopardspot snapped at him. They weren’t as close as they used to be, due to being confined to lying on their sides in a tree trunk.
“I’ve already tried that, Leopardspot. I’m no medicine cat.”
“Yeah, well, I set mine.”
“Sure you did.”
“Will you two stop arguing?” A new voice echoed around the space. Leopardspot and Fireclaw craned their necks to see who it was.
“Iceleaf,” they both hissed at once.
“Are you two in pain?”
Leopardspot hissed an insult, and Fireclaw just glared at Iceleaf.
“Oh dear, maybe I should bring your medicine cat here as well?” Iceleaf chuckled.
“If you dare-“ Leopardspot began, but Iceleaf interjected.
“You’ll do what? I’ll pick your clanmates off one by one until Thunderclan is no more,” Iceleaf leaned closer and breathed into Leopardspot’s ear, “and you can do nothing about it.”
Chapter 3- Change- Nightsong[]
Nightsong padded into the medicine cat den almost casually. "Blackleaf, how is he?"
Blackleaf sniffed at a sleeping Tigereyes, then looked back up at Nightsong "He's getting better. If he wants to, he can go to the gathering tonight."
"Excellent," Nightsong nodded, then added, "The more fit warriors we have, the better." Blackleaf nodded in agreement.
Nightsong left the medicine cat den, and looked toward the leaders den. Thornstar stood tall and muscular, looking out at his clan. Even he looked a tad nervous. The strong, aggresive leader looked nervous. She watched as he jumped up to the Highledge.
"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather beneath the highledge for a clan meeting!" He yowled, then sat down as the cats came streaming toward the meeting place.
Thornstar let his gaze fall. "As you all well know, two of our warriors are missing. We have been giving extra battle training. Tigereyes is still in the medicine cat den, but he is almost all the way better. He will join us at the gathering tonight. However, he is still unfit to properly train his apprentice. Nightsong, you will train Skypaw for the time being." Nightsong acknowledged him with a nod, but Skypaw's gaze remained blank. "I will only take a few warriors and apprentices to the gathering tonight, and the rest will stay here." As Thornstar began listing names, Nightsong realized the normal enthusiasm of going to a gathering had died down. Whoever has taken our warriors has also taken our clan's spirit...
Be sure to read the next book, Gathering Storm!