Dark Shadows by Chocolatemeerkat (epub e ink reader .TXT) 📕

thing. Please explain."
"Well... um... we don't know a lot." Bearpelt admitted, twiching her whiskers. "We haven't been a clan for very long, only a few seasons."
"Yes, but we do know what clans do. They help eachother, hunt, fight even it means risking their own life and live in harmony." Snowstar explained. She glanced at him. "How old are you? You look very young."
"Actually, I'm 47 moons, so not really that young." Courage chuckled. "Would that make me a warrior?"
"Yes, unless you were the leader. You are older than me, Courage. I am 45 moons." Snowstar meowed. "You look like you would make a good leader."
"I wanted to start my own clan," Courage mewed. "But I haven't got any cats."
"Hey, maybe you could join our clan for a bit!" Swiftlegs suggested.
"Swiftlegs, Snowstar will have to comfirm that." Shadowstep reminded the young warrior sternly. "It is not your choice to bring this stranger into the clan."
"I will allow Courage in." Snowstar decided, licking her paw. She looked at Courage. "Do you have anything in mind for a warrior name?"
"Oh, um... no." Courage said sadly.
"I think Couragestorm or Courageclaw are nice names." Bearpelt suggested.
"Couragefur!" Swiftlegs shouted.
"I like Courageheart." Shadowstep meowed.
"Well, it's Courage's choice." Snowstar meowed. "What would you like your name to be?"
"Maybe Couragefur?" Courage suggested.
"Then it is settled." Snowstar said with a smile. "You will be known as Couragefur."
"Yay!" Swiftlegs said excitedly, jumping around the den.
"Calm down Swiftlegs." Shadowstep meowed sternly. He turned to Couragefur. "I will find a cat to teach you our ways. You will be safe from BloodClan here."
"Thank you." Couragefur said, dipping his head respectfully. He then padded out, free of the guards.

1 moon after Couragefur's arrival, it was time for the gathering. Darkmystery still hadn't shown his face for a long time, and his clan plot hadn't gone into action yet. Blazestrike knew Darkmystery would attack soon.
"Shadowstep, Couragefur, Clawedear, Blazestrike, Wildheart, Bearpelt, Morninghawk, Lizardeye, Falconsong, Blankpaw and Cloudpaw can go to the gathering tonight." Snowstar annonced. She signalled the cats and they padded towards the leader, following her to the gathering place.
"I hope the other clans haven't been fighting again." Wildheart said to Blazestrike.
"Same, we've done well so far." Blazestrike replied. "No fights."
"Yeah." The younger warrior then padded up to Snowstar. "What will you say about Darkmystery? You must warn LeafClan and SkyClan!"
"I will say nothing about Darkmystery's plan or Moonsky's kidnap." Snowstar said, lifting her head up. "It is our buisness and no one else needs to know." They arrived at the meeting place. RainClan and SkyClan were already there. Skystar smiled when she saw SnowClan arrive. "Greetings, Snowstar." She meowed , dipping her head respectfully. Snowstar smiled warmly and climbed up onto her branch on the tree. Oceanstar was glaring at them both. Lizardeye's heart sank when he saw Sparrowsong with his kits. He knew the last 4 kits were called Thunderpaw, Blackpaw, Fearpaw and Swanpaw. Taking a deep breath, he padded up to Sparrowsong. "Hello."
"Oh, hi Lizardeye." Sparrowsong meowed silently. Lizardeye was slightly annoyed. He had saved Sparrowsong's life in the fire and she wasn't very thankful for that. "How are things in RainClan?"
"Good, I suppose." Sparrowsong nudged her kits over and smiled at them. "Say hi to your dad."
"Hi dad!" Blackpaw chirped brightly, his green eyes shining.
"Hello, young ones. I am Lizardeye, former SnowClan deputy." Lizardeye meowed kindly.
"Wow! Deputy? Thats so cool!" Fearpaw said. Sparrowsong hushed them. "Keep your voices down, myself and Lizardeye took a huge risk bringing you into the world."
"How?" Swanpaw asked softly.
"Later." Sparrowsong said quickly. She turned to Lizardeye. "You might want to go to your clan. We are enemies now." She mummered, licking his shoulder. "Goodbye." Lizardeye padded off towards Morninghawk, his proper mate and rubbed his nose against her cheek. Morninghawk purred in delight. Blazestrike rushed up to them along with Clawedear. "I wonder where BloodClan and LeafClan are. I hope they haven't been fighting again." He groaned.
"Here comes BloodClan now, Blazestrike." Morninghawk meowed, turning her head to glance at the fierce clan. Bloodstar seemed a bit bigger since the last gathering. He jumped up onto his branch and looked at Snowstar. "How are our kits?"
"Fine." Snowstar mumbled angrily. "They aren't yours. They're mine and Badgerstripe's."
"No they are most certainly not. When did you last breed with Badgerstripe?"
"A queen can have several litters in her life to the same mate."
"I seriously doubt that."
"Robineye from SnowClan had 2 litters to the same mate. "
"But she died giving birth to her last litter."
"Because she was killed in the fight that you started, mouse-brain!" Snowstar had said this rather loudly, so everyone stared at her. The leader went red and turned away with embarssment. LeafClan then finally arrived. Blazestrike noticed they seemed a little silent and defeated. Leafstar jumped up onto her branch.
"The gathering has begun!" Skystar yowled. "SkyClan are fine, but we have recently decected enemy cats on our territory. We think they might be rouges, but we can't be sure. We are now settling in well, but don't mess with us, unless you want to be ripped to shreds." Some of the cats nodded their heads in agreement.
"I don't want to die!" Blankpaw wailed.
"Hush young one." Bearpelt whispered. "Skystar sometimes over does it." Blankpaw turned away, embrassed.
"I have finshed. Leafstar?" Skystar glanced at the leader and Leafstar stood up. "LeafClan are not at their best. As BloodClan and some RainClan senior warriors remember, Rainstar gave my clan hunting rights in a small river. But Oceanstar has demanded that hunting in the river is RainClan's speciality, so they have taken back the river. Our prey is scare and most of us are thin and straving. I know this seems a little rude, but our clan will fall without food. So all I ask is some hunting rights on other clans territory." Many cats gasped and went into chatter. Bloodstar glared at the LeafClan leader. "No. We have had to given up territory for SkyClan already and we don't want to loose any more!" He growled.
"Not going to happen!" Oceanstar hissed, lashing her tail angrily. "My clan need more prey than you!"
"I would, but I'm afraid my clan are new and we have just got the hunting techinque, so no, sorry." Skystar mewed.
"My clan hunt in the river and the forest Oceanstar, so RainClan are not unique." Snowstar pointed out. She turned to Leafstar. "I will be willing to help with your prey problem."
"Oh, you really don't need to." Leafstar meowed. "We are good friends, you and I, also I believe that I owe you a debt for helping my clan flee from BloodClan and RainClan."
"I insist, and my clan will be more than welcome to share their prey." Snowstar replied. The SnowClan cats nodded and Leafstar smiled. "Very well. I thank you again SnowClan."
"Will you get on with the gathering, for StarClan's sake! We haven't got all day!" Bloodstar hissed. Leafstar gave a silent growl and continued on. "We were also recently attacked by rouges. Thunderfoot was killed and all of us are injured." Leafstar was nearly crying, but bravely talked on. "The rouge leader looked like a SnowClan cat. He was smaller than the other rouges and had black fur and yellow eyes."
"That's Darkmystery!" Snowstar gasped in horror. "We know he betrayed our clan and wanted to start a clan of his own, but I warn all of the clans. Darkmystery has a cunning plot to drive out 3 clans in make the other 2 his slaves! He'll kill the weak cats for prey!" Everyone was horrorfied. The apprentices wailed and Snowstar hushed them. "We must join up together to fight off Darkmystery. We can't let a traitor take over the forest."
"Count me in!" Leafstar meowed.
"I will help." Skystar said in her quiet voice.
"I suppose." Bloodstar mumbled.
"Ok, I shall help." Oceanstar mewed.
"Thank you everyone." Snowstar purred. "The gathering is over!" The leaders led their clans away. DarkClan

"Blazestrike, Falconsong, Lizardeye, Deerleap, Streampaw, Swiftlegs and Owlpaw, you are on patrol with me." Duckfoot meowed. "Snowstar has made us a super patrol, with our only mission to spy on Darkmystery, see what he's up to and rescue Moonsky. We might be away a few days, moons, who knows? I will just warn you all now that 1 or 2 of you may die on the way, but you will be remembered for this. Questions?" The 7 cats were silent and Duckfoot smiled. "Good. Now we must get going." Duckfoot led the patrol through the forest, past the boarder with BloodClan and then they stopped outside SkyClan's camp. They had never seen it before. They peeked through the bushes and watched. The dens were well-built and the prey pile was huge. SkyClan were obviously off to a good start.
"Keep moving everyrone." Duckfoot ordered. The patrol padded on until they reached a tall mountain. Cats roamed above their heads, carrying prey in their jaws.
"Who are they?" Streampaw asked curiously.
"FlowerClan, Puffinpaw's old clan." Lizardeye explained. "They are decents of OwlClan, the wisest living clan that ever lived. Also, they have the most difficulty surrving because of where they live. The lack of prey and increasing number of invaders make this clan under threat of falling." Duckfoot nodded and walked on. "We are heading futher into the Highstones, near another small Twolegplace like the one back at our camp. Remember the warrior code and don't try to become a kittypet." She joked. Blazestrike then picked up a strange scent. "Hold on a minute.." He could hear another cat coming towards them. Blazestrike's face then turned into a look of pure fear. "Everybody! Run!" He yowled. The cats ran for their lives, tearing through the forest like dogs. The cat followed, coming closer and closer until the patrol came to a large oak tree.
"Quick! Up the tree and hide in the branches!" Owlpaw meowed, climbing the tree. The warriors and apprentices began to climb the tree swiftly and finally got to the top, panting. Quietly, they listened for the cat. All was silent. Too silent. Lizardeye deicded to climb slowly down the tree and look around. Silently, the patrol waited anxiously for the senior warrior's return. Rustling could then be heard and the cats growled. Lizardeye then poked his head up.
"Is it safe?" Streampaw asked.
"Whatever we were running from is gone." Lizardeye told him. The apprentice sighed in relief. "Phew! I thought that would be it!" The warriors chuckled and jumped down the tree.
"I think we should find somewhere to rest and then we'll hunt for a bit." Duckfoot meowed, flicking her tail towards a forest. "This will put us closer to a Thunderpath, so be careful whilst hunting."

Within a few minutes, the patrol of SnowClan cats had reached the forest and were resting in a large ditch. Duckfoot had sent out Deerleap, Blazestrike and Owlpaw to hunt first, because they seemed to be full of energy.
"We'll find you Moonsky." Blazestrike mummered as he looked