Warrior Cats: Alliance Ch. 1

                                 Chapter One
                                                      The Fated Meeting





     Badgerclaw nudged a pinecone aside with her paw as she walked, her gaze fixed on the ground and her ears perked and attentive. Leaf bare was approaching, and she could feel the cool air seeming through her sleek black fur.
     "The borders need remarking." Thornthicket said stiffly at her side, sniffing the air around them.
     Badgerclaw glanced up in surprise- the scents had been faint… so much so that she hadn't even realized that they had arrived at the end of PineClan territory. "I'll take care of it." She said, pacing along the length of the border and distributing her scent.
     Thornthicket watched her impatiently for several moments, then huffed and joined in. Badgerclaw was used to his behavior, but it never ceased to annoy her. Thornthicket had always been stubborn and unruly, but he was one of the few cats in the clan who had never treated her mouse droppings. They often got stuck doing things together, such as hunting or patrolling, because they were both hard to handle. The other PineClan cats didn't like Badgerclaw because of her short temper, and they didn't like Thornthicket because he didn't do what he was told.
     Still, they were two of the clan's strongest fighters- even though they had only been warriors for a half moon –which was most likely the reasons everyone tried to put up with them.
     Thornthicket stopped so suddenly that Badgerclaw bumped into his side.
     "Watch it, mouse brain!" she hissed, swatting him with her tail.
     He gritted his teeth. "OakClan."
     Badgerclaw parted her jaws and drank in the scent. To their immediate left was the OakClan territory, where the trees that gave each clan their name blended and disappeared into one another. The bushes several tail lengths away began to rustle, and suddenly a cat burst through, darting across the grass. It was a tom no older than Badgerclaw, with dark brown fur, tall ears, and a short, fluffy white tail. He skidded to a halt as the mouse he had been chasing scurried into PineClan territory, his paws just inches away from crossing the border they had just marked.
     Thornthicket lashed out with his claws with speed greater than lightening, breaking the mouse's neck. "That was a close one, Rabbitfur." He sneered, tauntingly rolling the dead mouse around with his front paw. "Another step and that could have been your neck that I had just snapped."
     Rabbitfur's whiskers twitched with amusement. "I suppose it's a good thing I stopped when I did, then." He said cheerfully, then cast his amber gaze to the cat at Thornthicket's side. "Hello, Badgerclaw!" he said cheerfully. There was no mistaking such a unique cat. Her lean build, her jet-black fur with the three white stripes running along her back, her wide hazel eyes.
     Badgerclaw bit the inside of her mouth. She wasn't used to being around such a friendly cat- at the last gathering, Rabbitfur had spoken to her when he had noticed that she was all alone. Why had he been so nice, anyway? They were from rival clans- it wasn't a good idea to make friends with potential enemies. "Hello, Rabbitfur."
     "How is your patrol going?" he asked kindly.
     He's relentless, Badgerclaw thought with an inaudible sigh. "Fine." She said vaguely, having never been one for stimulating conversation.
     Rabbitfur glanced over his shoulder as another cat beyond the oak trees called his name. He turned back to the PineClan cats apologetically. "It looks like I should be going. Nice to see you, Thornthicket." He glanced at Badgerclaw, his amber gaze searching her hazel for several heartbeats. "I hope to see you at the next gathering, Badgerclaw," he said at last. "I really enjoyed talking to you."
     With that, he whirled around and disappeared into the bushes the way he had come.
     Thornthicket growled and scooped up his kill in his jaws. "I bet if we hadn't been here, that mouse brain would have chased that prey onto our territory." He said bitterly.
     Badgerclaw lifted her shoulder in a shrug, causing the stripes along her back to ripple across her fur. "I don't know. Rabbitfur doesn't strike me as that kind of cat. He seemed really friendly."
     "That's what they want you to think." Thornthicket turned toward camp. "Don't turn soft on me now, Badgerclaw, or those OakClan cats will turn around and bite you in the back."
     He's right. What was I thinking? She thought with another sigh. Why had she even tried to defend Rabbitfur? Alliances with cats among other clans only led to trouble; all it had ever done in the past was make things worse for all four clans.
     Little did Badgerclaw, Thornthicket, or even Rabbitfur know, was that StarClan had already been planning such an alliance for many, many moons. That seemingly insignificant meeting had only been the beginning of what their ancestors had inevitably put into place.