Shadowing Paws

[Nightowl]

Title: Shadowing Paws
Chapters: Maybe 10
Author: Nightowl
Pairing: Not a romance, but some couples
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: MANY NEW PROPHECY AND POWER OF THREE!
Summary: What would happen if right after Brambleclaw is made deputy, Brackenfur, Dustpelt, Sandstorm, and Brook are killed... by Ahsfur?! What will Whitepaw and Birchpaw do to stop him before his true plan unfolds?
Warning: Character deaths
Disclaimer: I do not own Warriors or any of the characters.
Beta: None
Cover: Maybe later

[Nightowl]

Chapter 1:

Whitepaw awoke in the chilled apprentice’s den. She remembered everything that had happened last night: Hawkfrost was killed by his half-brother Brambleclaw, Brambleclaw was dubbed deputy. At first, Whitepaw was angry with the decision. Her father, Dustpelt, should have been chosen. He has had apprentices, Brambleclaw has had none, but when Leafpool swore that StarClan said that he was destined to be deputy of ThunderClan, Whitepaw could not complain.
She pushed herself to her paws and focused her green eyes on Birchpaw, who was soundly sleeping. His light brown pelt brushed against the moss bed as he breathed. I shouldn’t wake him… Whitepaw thought to herself. The new apprentice was often rowdy and Whitepaw was happy when he would finally calm down.
Whitepaw walked out into the clan’s camp and began grooming her white pelt as she waited for her mentor Brackenfur to wake. She sniffed the air. “It smells a little damp today,” she mewed to herself.
“I agree,” Birchpaw meowed while stretching from a night’s sleep. “Wild night, huh?”
Whitepaw nodded. “I don’t know how we could be up so early. It took till dawn to get into the den. Too much excitement!” Whitepaw laid down on the ground, a little impatient for training. “When will he wake up?”
“Birchpaw, are you ready for training?” Ashfur asked as he padded up to the two apprentices.
Birchpaw bounced up and down. “I can’t wait to start training!” he purred.
“Good. We will start after you care for the elders,” Ashfur meowed sternly.
Whitepaw snickered. “Ashfur, have you seen Brackenfur?” she asked. Whitepaw was starting to get worried. He’s never slept in so late before.
“No. I thought he was already awake. He wasn’t in the warrior’s den,” his mew sounded a little worried.
“Maybe Ferncloud’s seen him,” she reassured herself. Where could he be?

Whitepaw spent until sun-high looking for her mentor. “Maybe I should tell Firestar,” she said to herself.
“Whitepaw! Whitepaw!” Birchpaw called for her. He looked panicked.
“What?! Is something wrong? What happened?” Her green eyes were wide with fear.
“We found Brackenfur’s body! Go tell Firestar and Leafpool!”
“He’s… Dead?” Whitepaw held back tears as she ran for Firestar. Her mentor was gone and so was a friend. The relationship between mentor and apprentice is a strong bond of friendship, and in some cases like Dustpelt and Ferncloud, love. Whitepaw was emotionally crushed. Her friend was gone.
“Firestar! Birchpaw and Ashfur found Brackenfur’s body- dead.” The words were hard to leave say, and Whitepaw hoped she would never have to say that about a friend again.
“What? When did he go missing?” he asked while rushing out of his den.
“I’m not sure, but… I’ve been looking for him since dawn.”
“And you just now decided to tell me?” He asked sternly.
“No, Firestar. I wanted to make sure that he wasn’t just doing something. I was about to tell you when Birchpaw came running into camp and told me to tell you and Leafpool that he… was… dead,” she meowed.
“Where is Birchpaw? And go tell Leafpool!” Firestar looked at Whitepaw, his green eyes filled with worry.
Whitepaw raced off to the medicine cat’s den. When she walked in, strong scents of herbs filled her nose. “Leafpool?” she looked around the den.
“Yes? Oh, hello Whitepaw. Is something wrong?” she asked as she appeared from behind a rock.
“Firestar wants you. Brackenfur is… dead.”
Leafpool looked at her, concerned. “Are you okay?” Leafpool paused. “I know how it feels losing a mentor. Your losing a friend,” she mewed.
Whitepaw felt sympathetic for the she-cat. Cinderpelt mentored Leafpool for a long time, while Whitepaw hadn’t been apprenticed for that long.
“We should be going,” Leafpool meowed.

[.Swiftclaw.]

Wow!!!!!! This is great!!! You have very good spelling and grammar, and I love the plot so far! But Brackenfur...*sniffs* why did he have to die?

[Nightowl]

Frankly, Brakenfur's one of my favorite characters, but I thought I should start with him for some reason. I always had this desire to kill off one of my favorite characters, but I couldn't stand killing Squirrelflight, Brambleclaw, or Dustpelt.

[Nightowl]

Oops! I meant Spiderleg. I was just writing about Dustpelt in my story...

[.Swiftclaw.]

ah, well, please write more soon! ;D

[Nightowl]

Chapter 2
“He’s over here!” Birchpaw yelled as the group neared Ashfur.
Whitepaw followed behind Leafpool. Please StarClan, let him be okay! she prayed. Whitepaw fastened in pace when she saw Ashfur.
“Oh no..” Firestar mewed when he looked at the body. Whitepaw hesitated to look. She did not want to see her mentor’s mangled body.
“How bad… is it?” she asked meekly.
“Whitepaw, you may not want to look,” Birchpaw answered.
He was my mentor. The least I can do is look.. Whitepaw thought. She built up the courage and looked at Brackenfur’s body. A foot was cut off, an eye was missing, the tail were tiny pieces, bones were poking through organs and skin. Whitepaw could barely look.
Leafpool looked in disgust. “Dogs?” she asked.
“I thought foxes,” Ashfur meowed.
“No matter how he died, we need to go ahead and bury his body. We will do the vigil without it. It’s too… Distorted.” Firestar’s meow was shaken. He had lost a great warrior.

“I… I can’t believe it! No way it was foxes or dogs! He had to have been murdered!” Whitepaw hissed to Birchpaw.
“What makes you say that? Why couldn’t it have been dogs or foxes?” he asked, looking at a vole in the fresh-kill pile.
“Birchpaw! We scared the dogs out of WindClan, so they would have told us, and the dogs would be easy to find. And if there was a fox, Brambleclaw or Firestar would have seen it when they killed Hawkfrost,” Whitepaw ranted. She turned her head to see what Birchpaw was staring at when it became apparent he wasn’t completely focused on her yelling. With a sigh, Whitepaw mewed, “Go ahead and get it.”
Birchpaw bounced up and ran over to the fresh-kill pile meowing, “Thanks!”
“Bring me a mouse!” Whitepaw called. She stared at her paws. “Why did he have to die? I can only imagine how hard this must be on Sorreltail and her kits.
Birchpaw cheerily bounded up to Whitepaw. “Here,” he meowed through muffled fur. “Cheer up. You’ll get a new mentor.”
Whitepaw shot him and icy glare. “A new mentor? No! Brackenfur was my mentor and no one else can replace him!” she growled.
“It sounds like you loved him, Whitepaw.” Birchpaw looked at her awkwardly.
“I did not. He was my best friend. Aren’t you and Ashfur friends?”
“Not really. He’s… Weird,” Birchpaw lowered his mew. “I hear mumbling things about Bramble claw a lot. It makes sense; Ashfur loved Squirrelflight, but she left him for Brambleclaw. I see how that can upset a tom.”
Whitepaw pondered for a second. “Do you think he has anything to do with this?” she asked while taking the first bite of her mouse.
Birchpaw stared at her. “I… I don’t think so.” It sounded as if he was hiding something.
Why does he sound so nervous all of a sudden? Whitepaw wondered. Did Ashfur have something to do with my mentor’s death?
Birchpaw could sense her suspicion. “Or I hope not.”

A little before sunset, Whitepaw trotted through camp, not as upset as earlier, but not so happy that she was ready for her new mentor. I would prefer them to just go ahead and make me a warrior! she thought to herself. Whitepaw looked at Sorreltail in the nursery. She was looking at her kits with tears rolling down her tortoiseshell muzzle. Whitepaw’s heart ached with sympathy. Her kits, Cinderkit, Honeykit, Poppykit, and Molekit sat together looking at their mother.
Whitepaw walked over to her. “Will you be okay?” she asked.
Sorreltail looked at her. “I… I miss him so much!” she wailed. “He was too young to die! He had four kits!”
Whitepaw nudged her. “He’s in StarClan now. He’s safe and watching you and your kits,” she mewed calmly, tears trying pour from her eyes. “He’s honored as a great warrior, mate, and friend.”’

The two she-cats stayed together until midnight, comforting each other as Sorreltail fed her kits.
“I think I should go back to my den now,” Whitepaw yawned. Sorreltail nodded as she left.
Whitepaw curled up in her moss nest and drifted off to sleep.

[Nightowl]

Fwee! I made an account!

[.Swiftclaw.]

Your description of Brackenfur after he died was...interesting. I know how the other cats feel, especially Firestar. lol

Anyway, great chapter! Post again soon! ;D ;D ;D

[Mossleg]

I'm just being picky about details here:
This story takes place a few days after the end of Sunset,right? But they didn't chase the dogs out of WindClan until TPOT, when White and Birch were Warriors...
Just pointing that out. Great story, BTW.

[Nightowl]

Are you sure? *slaps head*

We'll just say that right after the end of Sunset, dogs attacked...

[Nightowl]

Chapter 3
Morning arose around the lake and ThunderClan woke up to Dustpelt lying in the middle of the camp. Whitepaw and Birchpaw rushed out of the apprentice’s den and stared at him.
“What is he doing?” Birchpaw asked.
Whitepaw shrugged and walked over to him. “Dustpelt.. Are you okay?” Whitepaw asked her father. Whitepaw received no answer. “Birchpaw, go get Leafpool!”
Birchpaw ran for the medicine cats den and called Leafpool. Leafpool stares at him as he spoke some words and then ran to Dustpelt.
“What’s wrong?” she asked franticly.
“I don’t know! I just woke up and saw him here and he won’t move!” she yowled as tears dropped from her muzzle.
Leafpool sniffed him and put her paw on him. “He’s dead. His body is cold. I think he was poisoned,” she mewed.
Ashfur ran to him. “Are you sure? We can’t loose another warrior!” he meowed. Whitepaw stared at him, her vision blurry. What is he up to?
Firestar walked down from his den and stared at his departed friend. “Something’s wrong. He was with me almost all of yesterday. How could he have been poisoned? The fresh-kill isn’t contaminated, is it?” he asked, upset.
Leafpool looked at her father and walked to fresh-kill pile and sniffed it. “It smells fine.”
“Someone might have poisoned him!” Firestar growled.
Sandstorm walked over to him and sat down. “You are being foolish. No one would have been up that late,” she meowed.
“Whitepaw was,” Sorreltail meowed coming out of the nursery.
Ashfur and the others looked at her. “Did you-”
“No! I would never kill my own father!” she cried, interrupting Ashfur.
“I felt her come in the apprentice den right after she left the nursery.” Birchpaw looked at Whitepaw and gave her sympathetic look.

Whitepaw remained quiet the rest of the day. I can’t believe they thought I would kill my own father!
“Whitepaw, are you okay?” Birchpaw asked her.
“I… I think someone is trying to kill my friends and family,” she meowed.
Birchpaw walked over to her. “I know something that will cheer you up!”
Whitepaw looked at her friend. “What?” she questioned.
“There’s a giant starling in the fresh-kill pile with your name on it!” Birchpaw bounced up and down.
“What I really want is to know who kill Brackenfur and Dustpelt.” Whitepaw stood up. “Will you help me find out who did it?” she asked looking at Birchpaw.
Birchpaw trembled with excitement. “You know I will!”
Whitepaw smiled. I promise Dustpelt, I will find out who killed you!

The next morning, Whitepaw hurried out of the den with Birchpaw following her. The two acted as if they were going into the elder’s den, but they snuck out through the roof of the stone camp.
“Now what?” Birchpaw asked as he stumbled into the forest.
“We go to where Brackenfur was killed,” Whitepaw meowed. She ran as far as she could remember the path. “Birchpaw, where exactly was that?”
Birchpaw sighed and ran to the left of where Whitepaw had stopped and led her to where he found the body. “Here.”
Whitepaw sniffed around and found a clump of fur next to a dry blood stain. “I found something!”
Birchpaw rushed over to see what she had found. He vigorously sniffed the fur and blood. “It’s… Ashfur’s fur and Brackenfur’s blood,” he mewed.
Whitepaw’s eyes widened. “Do you think he killed Brackenfur?” she asked.
The two apprentices ran back to camp, but got stopped by Thornclaw, Cloudtail, and Brightheart. “What are you two doing?” Thornclaw asked.
“I saw a squirrel,” Birchpaw lied.
“Do your mentors know you’re here?” Bightheart questioned. Whitepaw looked at her paws. “Wait! I… uh…”
“Save it. I know you didn’t mean to,” Whitepaw mewed, slouching back to camp, Birchpaw following her.

“Cheer up!” Birchpaw meowed. “We didn’t get in trouble!”
“I know. Shouldn’t you be upset? Your mentor is a murderer!” Whitepaw looked at Birchpaw.
“I kinda already knew…” he whispered.
“WHAT?!” she yowled. “Why didn’t you tell someone?!”
“Because your yelling.”

[ghostfeather]

its a great story! ;D

im being picky about details too, srry: i thought Cloudtail
and Brightheart were Whitepaw's parents.

cats dying makes me think about my teacher's cat.....she gave birth
a couple of weeks ago and then one of her kittens died!
then that thought makes me think about my neighbor's cat.....she had kits too.......but on the up side, none of her's died! well there was that one that was born dead, but i neva saw it.

Anyway srry for talking about my life, post soon!

[Nightowl]

I re-read the book: I'm an idiot

Since I'm too lazy to fix it, and since I like Dustpelt better, Ferncloud and Dustpelt will be Whitepaw's parents. I always thought they would be better like that...

[.Swiftclaw.]

Ooo, great chapter! Post again soon!
I kinda like Ferncloud and Dustpelt being Whitepaw's parents too...that makes Whitepaw and Birchpaw siblings! ;D ;D ;D