Several hours had past since dawn had woken up the ShadowClan warriors in the camp. From the time sun had started rising in the sky to the very moment when Dawnstar decided to leave her Clan’s basement, she had been watching over her cats, and checking what kind of orders Foamcoat, her strong and brave lieutenant, had already given to the apprentices and the other grown up tomcats. His sense of organization was worthy any other lieutenant’s, and so, once again, the pure white she-cat congratulated herself for choosing him, of all cats, to become chief when she gives up her very last life at her Clan’s service. When the tabby grey cat asked for a hunting patrol, and chose some warriors to go look for some preys, the Clan master decided to take the lead of it. It seemed important to her that her entire tribe saw her behaving as an example for every single cat in the forest. Although she’d have rather slept a little while longer inside her comfortable, dark den, she knew that the survival of her Clan depended on how much preys the wild cats could bring back to the camp. She shook her spotless white fur to get rid of the last traces of tiredness and rose her tail up to give her troops the “go” signal.

Wildclaw, Stonefur and his apprentice Cloudpaw were running alongside their leader through the ShadowClan deep swamps, looking for game to kill. The four cats knew exactly where any kind of prey could hide, and recognized every single blade of grass as theirs. They were on their territory, and hereby knew it by heart. No other cat could ever deny it. Cloudpaw caught up a frog, and killed it in the moment. The young pale grey cat would make an other strong warrior, once his training as a ShadowClan apprentice is over ! Dawnstar thought of how many Moons of training would be left before she can make him a true hunter, with StarClan’s approval of course. Now that the war is over, she reminded herself, maybe the Clan can grow strong and powerful again. I wonder how much time it’ll take for us to get our full strength back. On these hopeful thoughts, the emerald-eyed queen captured a last mouse and gave the hunting patrol she led the signal for departure. In a common movement, the four wild cats had got their preys back and started running behind Dawnstar. They rushed through the ShadowClan territory as fast as they could to bring their lunch to the other warriors, surely waiting for them to return at any moment now.

Once inside the camp, the white she-cat gazed around herself, willing to know whether the Elders had already been fed or not this day. She spotted Fadinglight, the oldest of the Elders, and asked her if she or the other Elders needed anything. As the old, pale grey she-cat answered negatively, the Clan leader turned back and sprung to the camp exit. If she just hurried up, then she might be able to catch up with her lieutenant and his frontier patrol. She remembered him saying he would go make sure that none of these ThunderClan rats had broken the laws, and crossed the line between the two territories. If Forgottenstar’s warriors poped up on my territory again, I’ll make ‘em pay the price of their mistake myself ! she raged for herself. She decelerated a little when she picked up a familiar smell floating in the air. Two of her warriors were in the area nearby. Then she heard Foamcoat’s voice, laughing meanly at some other cat’s nose.

« You know, that's why someone like you couldn't become a great warrior. You don't try to have much than you already have. » he was saying.

That’s the moment the green-eyed she-cat chose to show up. She gazed at the tomcat who accompanied her tabby grey deputy, kind of surprised – it was Uncertainheart, his less beloved son, and the one he had always blamed for not being like his brother, Quicksilver. Now, Dawnstar understood why he sounded so nasty with him. But why did he pick him up, while building the patrol, then ? After smelling the air again, the ShadowClan leader noticed that they were alone. Then she got it – they were the two last warriors able to go check the frontier ! All the others’ paws were already full with handling their usual tasks.

« Well, ‘looks like I’m coming just in time. I’ll be patrolling with you two, if you don’t mind. So, have you picked up a suspect smell or something ? Like a ThunderClan warrior’s ? Forgottenstar’s cats are a little fast to forget about the forest laws, especially since the war broke out. »

She spat her last sentences, her pelt suddenly fluffed up with anger.

She would have wanted to ask the proud, tabby, grey cat not to sound so mean when addressing his own son, but had more important things to make sure of, first. For instance, the constant threat of the other tribes was a much more worrisome problem.

HJ:
	Vive l'Anglais ! *W* J'adore vraiment écrire dans cette langue, et même si je ne fais pas autant de lignes que d'habitude, je trouve que c'est plus amusant. x) Si vous voyez des fautes, n'hésitez pas, surtout, je suis sûre que j'en ai laissé.