"Wolfpaw, Meadowpaw, Poundpaw, wake up!" Wolfpaw opened his eyes to see Glaregaze looking through the entrance of the apprentice's den. The silver apprentice looked over to see Poundpaw and Meadowpaw both wriggled before they opened their eyes as well. "We're taking you three out to teach you about the borders."

"Don't we mark the borders and stay on our territory where we mark?" Meadowpaw asked sitting up.

"There's more to it than that," Glaregaze answered, "now hurry and get something to eat, Russetclaw and Diamondeyes are waiting." with that the warrior flicked his tail and walked off. Poundpaw linked his paw and drew it over his ear before groggily leaving the den. Meadowpaw licked her chest a couple of times before following her brother out. Wolfpaw stretched and went out to see the sun was still rising behind the trees. Russetclaw and Diamondeyes shared a vole while Poundpaw and Meadowpaw were looking for something in the fresh-kill pile.

Wolfpaw walked up to the pile and searched to find a grey squirrel. With a shrug Wolfpaw took the dead prey, seeing how plump it was, and lied down on the nettle patch. As he bit down to eat, a foul awful scent filled his mouth and something wriggled on his tongue. Spitting the piece out, Wolfpaw was disturbed to see maggots squirming around inside the grey squirrel. Not wanting to frighten anyone, Wolfpaw went and buried his food in the bracken hiding area. Wolfpaw walked out and looked up to see dark grey clouds were beginning to form. Was it going to rain today? With a shiver, Wolfpaw made his way to the gorse tunnel, not hungry for anything anymore. Was StarClan trying to send him a sign?

"Berrybush, you push yourself too hard!" Wolfpaw turned to see Bramblestripe talking to his sister. "You're not that an experienced warrior yet!"

"I'm fine Bramblestripe!" Berrybush snapped. "I'm not an apprentice anymore and I want to go hunting!"

"But you've been hunting since yesterday, you haven't had a moments rest!" Bramblestripe snapped back. "If you push yourself any harder you won't have the energy in battle!"

"I have plenty energy!" Berrybush hissed. "I'm going hunting, leaf-fall will be here soon and the Clan needs to stalk up!" with that the tan she-cat flicked her tail and stormed out the camp.

"She'll be fine, Bramblestripe," Sparrowwing reassured the tom, "she's a strong warrior."

Bramblestripe just huffed and stormed off to the warrior's den. Sparrowwing lowers her head and ears sadly. Wolfpaw remembered listening to the older cats play while he and Foxkit hadn't opened their eyes yet. Berrybush always had energy, never wanting to go back in the nursery.

Glaregaze, Diamondeyes, and Russetclaw made their way to the entrance, while Meadowpaw and Poundpaw finished their vole. The two licked their lips and ran up to join the older cats. Glaregaze lead the way through the gorse tunnel with Diamondeyes and Russetclaw close behind. Wolfpaw listened to Meadowpaw and Poundpaw argue about who would be the best apprentice in the Clan and the silver tom had to wonder; would Wolfpaw and Foxkit have fought like Poundpaw and Meadowpaw, or Bramblestripe and Berrybush do? They shared a special bond even in StarClan and all she wanted to do was play. How could anyone blame her though? She was just a kit when she died. How many kits were in StarClan?

When they got to the training area in the wood, Glaregaze, Diamondeyes, and Russetclaw turned and sat, Diamondeyes flicked her tail to motion for the apprentices to sit as well. Before Wolfpaw could sit, Glaregaze stopped him with his grumpy gaze.

"Wolfpaw, go get us a stick," Wolfpaw's mentor ordered, "it'll be useful for our lesson today."

Wolfpaw turned and headed through the forest. He looked around, but there was no stick to be found as he searched. He then froze when he saw a gray tabby tom glaring at him with hard light blue eyes. Wolfpaw noticed his pelt was covered in stars and realized it was a StarClan cat. He seemed too small to be a warrior, or leader. He must have been a medicine cat. What did a medicine cat want with him? The tabby turned and motioned with his tail for Wolfpaw to follow.

The silver tom looked back for a moment and quickly followed after the StarClan cat. Were they going to give him another gift to help his Clan? The grey tabby was heading for the tunnels and Wolfpaw worried Glaregaze would be angry with him for going somewhere without telling him. He stopped to look back then hurried after the medicine cat.

When he got to the cave, the dead cat was nowhere to be seen. He searched around frantically. Whatever it was, if it could wait, Wolfpaw was leaving. He flicked his tail, ready to leave, but something batted at his tail. Wolfpaw spun around to see the tom push a stick with strange markings all over it. Next to it was a normal looking stick that didn't seem as important.

Before Wolfpaw could ask, he looked up to see the gray tabby was gone. Wolfpaw looked down at the sticks before finally picking both of them up with his mouth and running out to the tunnels. He stopped and decided to leave the more interesting looking stick behind a smooth rock near the entrance.

Taking the regular, ordinary stick Wolfpaw bolted to where everyone else was waiting. Poundpaw was complaining about how he was still hungry and Meadowpaw kept wacking him with her tail to make him shut up. Glaregaze didn't ask where his apprentice ran off to, to Wolfpaw's relief, and took the stick. The dark grey tom then stabbed the stick in to the ground and dragged it to make a straight line in the dirt. He then tossed the stick away, making Wolfpaw dig his claws in the ground.

Was that all? Wolfpaw thought bitterly. That's all you needed the stick for? Wolfpaw decided to keep his mouth shut, not wanting to get scolded in front of two new apprentices.

"Alright, now imagine this line is the border between ShadowClan and ThunderClan," Glaregaze instructed, "you're hunting alone in the forest and you spot a ShadowClan warrior in your territory, he looks like he's hunting here, what do you do?"

"Claw his ears off!" Poundpaw called out.

"Violence isn't always the answer, Poundpaw," Diamondeyes glared at her brown apprentice.

"Go up and see what he's doing?" Meadowpaw tilted her head.

"Right," Russetclaw nodded happily. Meadowpaw stuck her tongue out at Poundpaw, who lowered his ears and glared at his sister.

"Here's where three scenarios would come in, either the warrior will tell you what their doing, run back to their territory, or attack. If they tell you and it's a good reason, bring them to Adderstar. If they tell you and it's not a good reason, chase them out." Glaregaze explained.

"Now if they attack," Russetclaw stepped in, "then you must fight to protect your territory, die trying, it's okay to kill the warrior in self defense, but that's it! Any other time is against the warrior code."

"But he's in our territory!" Poundpaw complained.

"That shouldn't matter, if they're in our territory and they don't fight, or give up, you are not allowed to kill them." Diamondeyes explained. Poundpaw lowered his pelt with a huff as Meadowpaw rolled her eyes.

"Now with that being said," Glaregaze stood, "we're going to show you what will happen during border battles." he nodded to Russetclaw, who got to his paws as well. Diamondeyes went to stand behind the apprentices, while Glaregaze and Russetclaw stood on opposite sides of the line Glaregaze drew.

Russetclaw stepped over the line and Glaregaze glared at him defiantly. "What are you doing?" the older warrior asked, baring his yellow teeth.

"My Clan deserves more prey than ThunderClan," Russetclaw answered darkly, "I'm going to hunt here until I find something worth eating!"

Glaregaze bared his teeth and pounced on Russetclaw. The two fought with sheathed claws, until Russetclaw finally gave up. The dark brown tom shoved off and ran back over the line.

"Great!" Poundpaw jumped sarcastically. "Now show us when we should kill for our Clan!"

"It's not always about killing, Poundpaw!" Diamondeyes snapped, wacking her apprentice on the back of his head with her tail.

"You're too dark to be a better apprentice than me!" Meadowpaw spat.

"And you're too soft!" Poundpaw shot back.

"Glaregaze," Russetclaw interrupted the argument, "why don't you and Wolfpaw go hunting, or battle training? Me and Diamondeyes want to speak to our apprentices alone!"

Wolfpaw looked at the younger apprentices sadly as they lowered their ears. It was their first time out of camp and all they wanted to do was explore the forest. But, with their constant bickering, they would scare off the prey. They needed to learn to work together if either of them wanted to be a great apprentice.

"Very, well," Glaregaze flicked his tail, "Wolfpaw, go hunt near SkyClan border, I'll hunt at the WindClan border."

Wolfpaw nodded before turning and pelting off toward the part of the lake that was shared by ThunderClan and SkyClan. The wind blew a gentle breeze around him as he opened his mouth to smell for anything good.

He stopped when he saw a squirrel eating a nut hurriedly. The silver apprentice lowered himself as he eyed the plump prey. Wolfpaw kept silent as he unsheathed his claws and the squirrel looked up, twitching its nose curiously.

After a moment, the squirrel pelted off and Wolfpaw immediately chased after. The squirrel seemed young, fast, and healthy as Wolfpaw tried keeping up with it.

That's when the prey climbed up a tree, making Wolfpaw skid to a stop. He needed to get that squirrel! He wanted to show Glaregaze how well his hunting skills were. Lowering himself down and haunching up his shoulders, Wolfpaw eyed the tree, swishing his tail silently. He thanked StarClan only gave him the ability to only hear his predators and not his prey. If the squirrel was a mother and begged for her kits safety, Wolfpaw wouldn't have the heart to kill it.

Finally, Wolfpaw launched himself up, higher than he thought, on to the tree trunk. He quickly climbed to a branch then to the next. The squirrel was grooming its face, its back to Wolfpaw. The short tom climbed silently, doing his best not to spook the prey.

The squirrel then perked its ears up and Wolfpaw panicked. He pounced and snatched the squirrel in his jaws, snapping its neck instantly. Wolfpaw wanted to let out a yowl of triumph, but knew he had to get down, give thanks to StarClan, and bury his catch.

"Wolfpaw, what are you doing?" Wolfpaw looked down to see Littlestone and Brackenfoot staring up at him at the base of the tree. "Get down from there right now! You could get hurt!" 

"Come on Littlestone, you have to be impress by how high he got!" Brackenfoot encouraged.

"I'm coming!" Wolfpaw called back down. He picked up his squirrel and carefully began making his way down the tree. When he reached one branch, Wolfpaw heard a loud snapping noise. Panicking when he realized he was falling Wolfpaw saw the world as if it had gone in slow motion. He turned to see a branch close by and closer to the ground. Quickly, Wolfpaw pounced and landed on the branch as the one he jumped on hit the ground.

Littlestone's and Brackenfoot's mouth hung open in awe. Wolfpaw jumped down from the branch and looked at his Clanmates.

"That was incredible!" Brackenfoot meowed excitingly.

"I thought for sure you were going to fall!" said Littlestone, her blue eyes shining with administration.

"If Glaregaze saw you, he'd probably ask Adderstar to make you a warrior already!" Brackenfoot added.

The two continued to praise the silver cat as he thanked StarClan for giving him a longer life and buried his catch. His tail flicked after hearing how many times the two warriors praised him. He just acted on panic, he wasn't thinking. Not to mention, that if he did fall and possibly die, or loose ability to hunt and fight, he would have never become a warrior. He needed to get his warrior name for Foxkit and make Hazelnose proud.

When the two finally stopped, Wolfpaw thanked them and said they would've been able to do the same. He headed off and continued hunting until he had enough to carry to camp. The squirrel, a black bird, and a mouse. He retrieved his catches and met up with Glaregaze, who had two mice and an adder hanging from his jaw. Wolfpaw's widened at the venomous prey. Wolfpaw wondered if he would ever catch an adder. Maybe then Goosetail and Glaregaze will treat him like their Clanmate, instead of feeling stuck with him.

Wolfpaw helped Meadowpaw with the elder's bedding and Poundpaw helped Lightpelt clear the elder's pelts of ticks. Earthdirt and Sunnigpelt told the young cats about when life was much quieter before Sparrowwing and Hazeleyes were born.

"Remember when Bramblestripe got jealous every time Berrybush beat him in races while the warriors were at the Daylight Gathering?" Sunnigpelt purred with amusement.

"I remember when Sparrowwing didn't talk yet!" Earthdirt joked.

"Thank you three," Lightpelt meowed when her and Poundpaw had finished, "your mentors gave you the rest of the day off, right? Why don't you three go take a break?"

"Thank you, Lightpelt," all three bowed their heads before running out the den.

"Wolfpaw," Poundpaw stopped the silver apprentice, "will you take us exploring around the territory? Russetclaw and Diamondeyes wouldn't let us go anywhere until we were done with battle training."

Wolfpaw looked up to see it was still sun high, but the sun would be going down sometime soon. He looked to the warrior's den, where Glaregaze disappeared to, then over to Russetclaw and Diamondeyes, who were sharing a thrush.

"Alright, but only for a while," Wolfpaw nodded, turning back to the younger cats, "I think it's supposed to rain later and I'm tired. I'll just take you to the ShadowClan border and WindClan border, I don't know if I can walk all the way to SkyClan border."

The three made their way out the gorse tunnel and Wolfpaw looked up to see the Dark clouds were starting to cluster. The memory of his dream suddenly then returned. Silverstorm. He prayed he didn't just get Meadowpaw and Poundpaw in to his troubles. They were still so young and had nothing to do with his prophecy... Or did they? Wolfpaw was beginning to get frustrated. What was it StarClan wanted him to do exactly?

"Hey, what's this?" Wolfpaw snapped away from his thoughts as he turned to see Meadowpaw and Poundpaw looked in to the tunnels that lead to the caves. Wolfpaw perked up as he went to stand between the two cats.

"It's amazing, come with me I'll show you!" Wolfpaw exclaimed slipping in to the tunnel. He felt the excited looks of Meadowpaw and Poundpaw as they quickly followed after him. He kept his tail on either Meadowpaw or Poundpaw's nose, so they'd know where he was going.

When he got out the tunnel, Wolfpaw moved out the way for the other apprentices to see the beautiful golden like cave.

"Wolfpaw, it's amazing!" Meadowpaw's eyes shined.

"How long have you been coming here?" Poundpaw asked.

"When I was a kit, I'd get in trouble for leaving camp," Wolfpaw started, "this is where I kept coming to, I just couldn't help myself, I like coming here."

"Where do the other tunnels lead?" Meadowpaw asked looking at all the other tunnels that surrounded the beautiful cave and waterfalls.

"I'm not sure actually," Wolfpaw admitted, "to the other Clan territories I'd say."

"This would be great for a sneak attack!" Poundpaw pointed out.

"We don't need to sneak attack a Clan, unless it's a good reason," Wolfpaw explained, "if a Clan does something that goes against what the warrior code is, or cause only four Clans in the lake, nothing more Poundpaw."

That's when voices were heard from the tunnels. Wolfpaw opened his mouth and smelled Bramblestripe and Sparrowwing outside the tunnel, looking in. Bramblestripe was boasting about how he wasn't afraid of the dangerous tunnel.

"I have an idea!" Wolfpaw whispered to the other apprentices. "Have you ever seen a warrior get scared?" when the two shook their heads, Wolfpaw gestured with his tail for them to follow him. He made his way back to the tunnels with Meadowpaw and Poundpaw close behind.

"Bramblestripe, be careful!" Sparrowwing's voice mew was close and Wolfpaw could see the outline of of the brown tabby tom. "Twitchwhisker says it's dangerous to go down there!"

"Danger?" Bramblestripe turned his head to look at the younger warrior. "I laugh at the face of danger!" The warrior then let out a brave heroic laugh and Wolfpaw saw his chance. Taking a deep breath, the silver tom let out an evil dark laugh, which made Bramblestripe jump and hide behind Sparrowwing as Wolfpaw, Meadowpaw, and Poundpaw walked out with mrrows of laughter.

Sparrowpaw giggled and congratulated the young apprentices on a job well done. Bramblestripe immediately cleared his throat and raised his head and tail up, with little amusement in his green eyes.

"Sorry, Bramblestripe," Wolfpaw purred, "I just couldn't resist!"

That's when Berrybush walked out from the bracken with a huge plump rabbit in her mouth. Bramblestripe narrowed his eyes at his sister as she set her catch down and looked at the scene.

"What happened?" The long legged she-cat asked.

"Bramblestripe got scared of three little apprentices!" Sparrowwing answered with a purr. Wolfpaw held back his own purr when he saw the embarrassed look on Bramblestripe's face.

"Berrybush, I really wished you relax once in a while," Bramblestripe meowed, obviously wanting to change the subject, a cat can only do so much."

"Bramblestripe, I'm fine," Berrybush assured, flicking her tail, "I need to be doing something so I don't get bored, plus Twitchwhisker says that if he retires after I have an apprentice, he'd suggest me as deputy! Can imagine what it would be like to protect Adderstar and ThunderClan as deputy and if I became leader I'd choose you, or Wolfpaw!"

Wolfpaw gulped. Was that what StarClan had planned? Was Berrybush going to be leader and make Wolfpaw her deputy?

"Berrystar?" Sparrowwing snorted.

"It could happen!" Berrybush spat.

Suddenly, the ground began to shake, almost making Meadowpaw and Poundpaw tumble over. Bramblestripe held Sparrowwing up, while Berrybush dug her claws in to the ground. Wolfpaw looked up and his eyes almost bulged as he saw the tunnel begin to crumble. He, Meadowpaw, and Poundpaw would have to run out fast if they didn't want to be crushed. But, the shaking was so violent, Poundpaw and Meadowpaw could hardly move. Wolfpaw lowered his body as the tunnel walls started coming down.

"Wolfpaw, Meadowpaw, Poundpaw!" Both Bramblestripe and Sparrowwing shrieked.

"No!" Berrybush yowled as she pounced in to the tunnel and pushed the apprentices out of the way as the tunnel fell down, leaving a huge smoke of dirt.

When it cleared Wolfpaw looked up and saw Poundpaw and Meadowpaw were safely in the deep part of the tunnel near the cave. But, Berrybush wasn't anywhere in sight. The silver apprentice turned to see a tan paw sticking out from the bottom of the rubble. The smell of death filled Wolfpaw's mouth as it hung open in a terrified silent shriek.

"Berrybush!"