FallenClan
Book 1, Chapter 1.
Fallenwings’ eyes sleepily blinked open as sunlight lazily drifted through the mouth of the cave. He slowly lifted his head and shifted on the mossy nest to look around at the cats next to him. All of the Clan except for Queens and the medicine cats lay in this large but warm cave-den. This is one of the many reasons why he liked FallenClan, since anyone could sleep where they wanted in the spot that was best for them. He quietly heaved himself up to a standing position, careful not to wake any of the cats in the cave. He padded out of the den and into the soft morning light that dappled FallenClan camp. The camp was in a large, circular gorge lined with caves, most empty, for only three were used as dens. Tall trees dotted the edges, which made a thick canopy over the clearing which offered protection. Nearish to the center there was a hollowed out tree with sticks on top which they used to store the fresh-kill. Fallenwings glanced up at the camp’s entrance, which was an easily climbable set of stair-like rocks that lead to the top of the gorge, and into the forest. Seeing the morning hunting patrol coming back, he padded over to the entrance.
“Fallenwings! You're finally up!” Moonflame, the deputy said, his mouth stuffed with fresh-kill. “I wanted you to come hunting with me but I didn’t want to wake you.”
“You get up earlier than me, Moonflame. This is too late for you. Too early for me…” Fallenwings quietly muttered to himself as he ran toward the fresh-kill tree. Once he arrived, he saw that Moonflame and Crowbreeze were the only ones on the patrol. Yet they had both managed to get four pieces of prey each. Crowbreeze had two mice, a thrush, and a vole, while Moonflame had two squirrels, a fat rabbit and a mouse. Makes sense. It's greenleaf and they are good hunters. Fallenwings thought, helping them put the prey in the prey tree.
“You know. I think the prey tree needs a cleaning. Can you get Lionpaw and Bramblepaw to change the leaves under the prey and add more sticks on top?”
“Sure, I'll go do that” Fallenwings replied, dreading the moment when he had to wake up the grumpy apprentices. Should I tell Shadedmoon? Lionpaw is her apprentice. Fallenwings asked himself. No, just more cats to wake up. He concluded Fallenwings sauntered over to the main den. He quietly padded inside and found Lionpaw and Bramblepaw near each other. He walked over to where they were and gently tapped both of them on their shoulders. Lionpaw jumped upwards, while Bramblepaw growled softly and opened an eye.
“WHAT DO YOU WANT”
“Whhyyy did you wake me up”
Lionpaw and Bramblepaw meowed at the same time. Lionpaw stood there staring at Fallenwings in an annoyed manner while Bramblepaw quietly began to stand up next to him.
“Moonflame wants you to clean the prey-tree” Fallenwings whispered. After seeing their disappointed faces he added, “You can both get first pick morning fresh kill before starting, seeing as it is in my best interests to not have both of you starve.” He chuckled slightly at the end, finding his joke funny, unlike the apprentices.
The apprentices let out a quiet noise of happiness about the prey as they walked out of the den. Fallenwings smiled to himself, glad that his apprentice and her friend seemed happy even though they would be stuck doing chores for half of the day. As they strolled over toward the prey-tree Fallenwings began to realize he too was hungry and wanted to eat. Hmm. A rabbit’s too big but A vole or a mouse might be good. Oh I could use one of those right now...Fallenwings quickly fantasized about the prey he wanted to eat. Once they reached the mouthwateringly smelling prey-tree, Bramblepaw and Lionpaw pounced on the fat rabbit Moonflame had caught earlier and began to quickly devour it. Fallenwings quickly scanned the prey-tree and decided on a plump mouse. He had just finished the mouse when the two apprentices were done devouring the fat rabbit and ready to work.
“Oh no…” Bramblepaw murmured when she saw the gross looking brown leaves under the fresh-kill. She shuddered but with help from Lionpaw, they began to gently pull the prey off the tree and into a small pile next to it. At this point Fallenwings had decided they were doing well and he didn’t need to watch them anymore. He glanced at the pile, deciding that it was much too small.
“I'm going hunting” he meowed to the apprentices while walking away from the tree and towards the camp entrance. He quickly scaled the rocks and began to make his way into the lush, green-leaf forest that was FallenClan’s territory. Sniffing the air, he quickly smelled a vole and he began quietly wandering toward the delicious scent. He tasted the air again, but this time he smelled cat. Fallenwings’ gaze probed the area around him, looking for cats. Seeing none, he checked the air to see if it could be the clan. It's not a FallenClan cat. It doesn’t smell like a rouge. Who could it be? He wondered. He sniffed again, nose low to the ground and began to follow the scent, keeping his body low and in a kind of stalking position. After a small amount of tracking he reached the source of the scent. Pushing some thick, dark green ferns to the side, he saw a warm, mossy nest, and in it a small white kit with an almost greenish tint to her fur. The kit opened her eyes and stared up at Fallenwings.
“Hello, I’m Mint” she said in a gentle and calm voice.
End of Chapter One