Path of Shadows (book)

***Spoiler warning:** Plot and/or ending details follow.*
***This contains non-canon content similar to the Warriors series, written by Erin Hunter. If it makes you uncomfortable, please navigate from this page immediately.***
***This article is the book,* Path of Shadows*. Please do not edit this unless you are fixing a mistake, such as a typo, or a wrong description of a specific cat. For a suggestion, you can contact Doe & Ryujin Stan.***

## Book

### Prologue

As she exited her den, Songheart heard cries coming from the nursery. *That must be Swampcreek having her kits.* "Why aren't the kits coming?" Swampcreek's mate, Snailfoot wailed. Oceanleaf reassured him. "Don't worry, kits take their own time." Swampcreek was biting down on a stick to silence her cries. Songheart heard Oceanleaf say, "A tom! You can do it, Swampcreek! Push!"
"Can I come in?" Songheart asked. No one heard her request. She peeked her head inside, and saw a tom and a she-kit. "They look beautiful!" Songheart exclaimed. "Yes they do." Snailfoot added, eyes glittering with pride. On the other hand, Swampcreek looked exhausted. *Will I have to go through this one day?* Stop it, she chided herself.  *Her mate, Tigerstripe, had wanted kits, but Songheart felt that she wasn't ready, and had refused. At least her mate had understood, unlike some other cats she knew.*
Suddenly, Songheart looked at the kitting queen's flank. Another she-kit was there, but she wasn't moving or breathing. A gentle voice sounded at her back. It was Oceanleaf's soft, normally reassuring voice. Now that voice which had reassured her in her worries, and helped her through grief broke. "She's not breathing." A pause, and then: "She's dead."
"No! That can't be," Songheart cried. "Does Swampcreek know?" The medicine cat nodded, her gaze cloudy, but she couldn't help notice that it felt like Oceanleaf had already experienced having a kit dying after birth or being born dead. *That must be hard, especially when comforting the mother.*
Songheart turned her attention away from the dead kit and looked at Swampcreek. "Do you know what you'll name them?" Her vocal cords were scraping, and her voice came out in a rasp. She wasn't ready to the wave that hit her, hard, and the tortoiseshell she-cat could feel her heart start to crack.
The brown she-cat nodded. "I'll name the she-cat Featherkit, because her tail is soft, and her brother Thornkit, because of his spiky fur. Their dead sister will be named Briarkit," she said, still shaking in disbelief.
"They are beautiful names." Songheart said softly. Oceanleaf nodded, her stare drilling through the wall as she diverted her eyes from Swampcreek's. The queen noticed this.
"You did the best you could, Oceanleaf. I still have two healthy kits." Swampcreek told Oceanleaf. "Thank StarClan. And, thank you Oceanleaf. For helping me before and helping me now." Oceanleaf's eyes glittered with sadness as she dipped her head in acknowledgement. "It is my duty."
"Can I come in now?" Snailfoot demanded, impatient to see his kits.
"Come in," called Oceanleaf. Footsteps quickened as Snailfoot dashed toward the entrance of the nursery, bursting through the bracken. The thorns shook in his wake, and he stared down at Featherkit and Thornkit. He searched the nursery, then let out a howl as he spotted Briarkit. "No!"
"I"m so sorry, Snailfoot. The dead she-kit's name is Briarkit, her sister's name is Featherkit, and the tom is Thornkit." Snailfoot glanced at Swampcreek, eyes full of grief. "I'll leave you two to talk." Songheart exited the den.
She walked out of the den and found Tigerstripe grooming his long fur. "How was Swampcreek's kitting?" he asked. She eyed the tom for a second, then replied.
"Two she-kits and a tom but one she-kit died after she was born," Songheart choked out. "The other two are healthy."
"What, no!" Tigerstripe gasped. He whipped his head around in circles, panic evident. Then, a tentative comment. "I hope that doesn't happen when we have kits."
*Great, that's the last thing I want to think about! Why can't you let go, Tigerstripe?* Songheart wanted to speak her thoughts out, but she realized that this had to be a private conversation between the two, so she just nodded.
*Ughh, this is exactly why I don't want kits. If this happens, it'll break both of our hearts. Tigerstripe doesn't realize it, but I do, and my love for him goes too far to let him have a chance of having a broken heart. Oh, Oceanleaf must deal with this all the time! I'll show Tigerstripe that I don't want kits yet!* Songheart looked over the tom, running her gaze over every patch of fur and stopped as she reached his eyes. As Songheart looked into them, she found herself getting lost in the vortex of brilliant amber shades.
"So you agree with me?" Tigerstripe asked. "That we should have kits?" Songheart walked by him with out responding. She felt Tigerstripe stare after her in confusion, but she didn't return his stare.
Tension rang through camp as she padded in, holding a vole. She tossed it over to Swampcreek. "For you." The grief hung in the air, and cats milled around with a dark look in their eyes. She searched the camp for any sign of Oceanleaf. The patched medicine cat wasn't anywhere. Songheart finally sat back on her hauches, puzzling over where Oceanleaf had went. She wasn't in the medicine cat den, for one. She sniffed the ground, struck by a idea. What if Oceanleaf had gone *outside* of camp? In search of a quiet place, not herbs? That certainly made sense to Songheart. She set off, into the woods.
The sun followed her footsteps as she hurried, looking for Oceanleaf. At last, she found her sitting on a cliff edge, leaning forward and glancing at the bottom. Gritting her teeth, she made careful manuevers to grab Oceanleaf's scruff then haul her to safety. "What in StarClan were you thinking?" Songheart growled. "You're going to get yourself killed!"
Oceanleaf turned her head, avoiding her stare. "I needed some time."
"Well, you got it!" yelped Songheart. "We are going to camp. Now." Oceanleaf followed her back. And Songheart failed to realize that foxes were trailing her. It was too late when she picked up the scent. The foxes were already on them.
### Chapter 1

"Leafsong, take Frostflame, Leopardpelt, and Swifwind on a border patrol. Take your apprentice with you," Squirrelheart ordered. Leafsong stared at her for a moment, before nodding and beckoning the cats on her patrol. Squirrelheart heard a high-pitch squeak. "Can I take prey from the fresh-kill pile?" She recognized it as Treepaw, Leafsong's apprentice. Leafsong rolled her eyes. "No, Treepaw. We'll mark the borders, and if we have time, we'll hunt." Treepaw looked sad. "Okay," he mewed. "Where's Swiftwind?" Leafsong asked. Squirrelheart scanned the camp. *No sign of him. Is he in the elder's den, checking on Violetfern?* Violetfern had been injured in a recent battle, and had decided to reside in the elders' den from now on. Treepaw echoed her thoughts. "Maybe he's in the elder's den. I'll go check on him!" The young apprentice bounced away.
"Hmm, we need some hunting patrols." Squirrelheart wondered what cats she should put on patrol. Aldercloud slid outside the medicine cat den, heading towards the leader's den. *Wonder what Aldercloud is talking about.* Hoping not to be caught, Squirrelheart crept over to just outside the leader's den.
"...prophecy at the Moonpool." After a moment of silence, Aldercloud exited the den. *No, I just missed it! Maybe I can ask Flamestar what it is! But it would be awkward if I don't tell him that I was eavesdropping.* Squirrelheart realized that there was the Gathering tonight, so hopefully Flamestar would announce the prophecy. "Squirrelheart, we'll be heading out," Leafsong reported. Squirrelheart just nodded, realizing that the other patrols needed to be sent.
"Finchfire! Icefire!" Squirrelheart called. The two cats turned their heads in unison, glancing at her. "Could you take out Runningpaw, and go on a hunting patrol?" "Sure, Squirrelheart," was Icefire's reply. "Yes! Hunting! I love hunting!" Runningpaw squeaked. Squirrelheart smiled at the apprentice. *I remember my apprentice days, they were lovely.*
Squirrelheart had finished the patrols, so she decided to pay a visit to the nursery. Happiness lit her gaze as she saw Yewkit, Bluekit, and Fleckkit climbing on top of their mother's back. Squirrelheart decided to play a game with the kits. She grabbed a patch of moss from the floor, and rolled it into a ball.
"Kits! Which one of you can throw this moss-ball farthest?" she called. "Me!" Fleckkit squeaked. "No! Me!" Bluekit squealed. Squirrelheart happily watched the kits scramble towards the moss-ball and toss it back and forth. *Kits are so cute,* she thought. After some time, the kits were exhausted and fell asleep. Squirrelheart left the nursery, and went to check on the elders.
As she walked towards the elder's den, she heard Violetfern telling a story to the kits, about one of their ancient leaders, Fernstar.
"...Fernstar was fearless! She was also a great hunter. She was kind, and loyal. Flamestar says he loved being her deputy..." she was saying.
"Did Fernstar ever get mad at Flamestar?" Yewkit asked. "Sometimes, but rarely," Violetfern replied.
"I knew Fernstar. She died from greencough when I was a warrior," Squirrelheart said, joining the kits. "She was smart, noble, and kind. She will be missed," she added.
"What did Fernstar look like?" Bluekit asked. "She was a tortoiseshell with green eyes," Violetfern replied. "She went to StarClan after she died, and that's all I know about her."
"Squirrelheart, do you know anything more about Fernstar?" Fleckkit asked. "I don'-."
"There you are! I've been looking for you!" Cinderflame burst into the elders den.
"Is something wrong, Cinderflame?" Squirrelheart asked. "No, nothing's wrong, it's just-"
"Squirrelheart! Come quick! Finchfire has been injured!" A voice sounded behind her. She recognized the voice as Icefire's. Squirrelheart rushed outside. She saw Finchfire severly bruised on his flank.
"What happened?" Squirrelheart asked.
"We met rogues, and they attacked us," Icefire replied. "What did they look like?" Squirrelheart asked. *If I know what they look like, we can give them a piece of our mind. That'll teach them not to cross the border.* "There were two of them. One was ginger, the other was black and white. There was also a gray kittypet, and a brown kittypet," Icefire replied.
"Oh wow.I'll take a patrol to find these rogues. Leopardpelt, take Finchfire to Aldercloud. Icefire, Bramblethorn, and Frostflame, follow me. You are coming on patrol with me," Squirrelheart ordered.
*With one of our strongest warrior injured severely, will we be okay? StarClan, please let us survive this attack!*
### Chapter 2

Spinleaf wasn't able to sleep that night. His border patrol had met rogues on the border with DawnClan and they had an injured warrior. *I sure hope that Vinefall is okay. He's got an apprentice to mentor,* he thought. A gray tom had attacked Vinefall and he had a scratch on his shoulder.
Spinleaf decided to go see Barleystalk. He had a scratch on his flank that was bothering him. He knew that if he waited, the wound would become infected. As Spinleaf walked inside, he noticed that Barleystalk was looking panicked.
"What do you want?" Barleystalk asked sharply.
"I have a scratch on my flank that has been bothering me from the fight yesterday," Spinleaf replied.

*More Coming Soon*