Chapter 20

                Of course, the night of their vigil was the first snowy night of leaf-bare.

                By the time dawn came, Crazyflame felt frozen. No wait, she couldn’t feel anything at all because of the dumb coldness.

                All of them, including Crazyflame, were practically buried in snow. She stood exhaustedly and shook the snow from her fur before stumbling towards the apprentices den. “Bye, Crazyflame,” Morningblaze called jokingly.

                The other three new warriors were marching into the warriors den. Crazyflame felt dumb. She’d made the same mistake on the night she was made an apprentice.

***

                Crazyflame laid on the ground for a moment before springing back onto her paws. “Was that good?” she asked with fake eagerness.

                Thunder nodded. “But you have to be quicker and you most certainly need to have better balance,” he commented. “Fighting on your hind paws is rather difficult, hard for any cat because it’s simply not natural. But if you can perfect it now, it’s a very powerful move for battle. Now charge me and watch this.”

                Crazypaw stifled a sigh and dashed towards him. He quickly stepped backwards and at the last moment leapt right at her, colliding with her at full force. “Use your enemy’s momentum to your advantage,” he advised. “They can’t stop in time and I assume it would leave the average warrior confused at the least.”

                This is more helpful training than any cat in any Clan could give me. But it’s simply too dangerous because Thunder is a traitor…

***

                Little did Crazyflame know that Thunder wasn’t the current issue.

                The problem was the cat climbing soundlessly up the secret entrance on the ThunderClan camp wall. It looked so simple as the cat nimbly sprang from ledge to ledge, leaving no signs of his exit than the few tiny pebbles that rained down from above with hardly a sound at all. And that sound was definitely too quiet to detect.

                The warrior looked cautiously back at the camp, but his escape had gone unnoticed. His fur color couldn’t quite be seen in the fading sunlight, but amber eyes could be the only thing noticed. The cat crept forward and was startled to hear a rustling in the bushes behind him. Have you been following me? the cat thought, but didn’t dare to speak it aloud. “What are you doing out at this time of night?” he demanded.

                “Hunting!” Crazyflame shouted eagerly, surprising him with her enthusiasm. “Leafstorm sent me!”

                “Good, get on with it,” he muttered. “Maybe actually bring something back, but good luck trying to catch much in this weather.”

                So young and innocent, the warrior thought. The same way I used to be…before Cloudstar’s father intentionally killed my mate, Pebblefoot. And of course, my brother Mintstorm was blamed and accused, exiled from the Clan. Cloudstar was given the title of deputy after that, and I can never forgive this Clan for that. After all these seasons, perhaps revenge is near…

                The moon was rising in the sky, making the tom’s fur shine silver as he padded through the forest. He passed the WindClan border markers without stopping or hesitating at all. He traveled through the moorland, passing the few warriors in the WindClan camp who dared to sleep outside despite the snow. And then, the mysterious ThunderClan cat stopped as he finally had reached what he was looking for.

                Large Twoleg structures rose in the distance. The smell of non-Clan cats, possibly some kittypets, was evident. Strange black and white creatures munched on grass and made strange low sounds that made the warrior jump backwards. Animals that looked like fluffy white clouds with legs completely ignored him.

                An annoyed looking dark gray WindClan tom came out of the bushes. “There you are!” the tom spat. “You’re late! If you dragged me out for no reason, ThunderClan mouse-brain, I’ll complain to Rabbitstar about invading ThunderClan warriors and you’ll be in trouble.”

                “You’re not deputy anymore, Smokewhisker,” the ThunderClan tom hissed. “I’d be careful with your threats. Rabbitstar would assume you’re just attempting to create problems and you’d be in more trouble than you already are. But I invited you here to help you. I know you hate ThunderClan because of Whiteflame. I hate them too for reasons I don’t wish to explain. But I’m one of three likely options for ThunderClan’s deputy, and it would be all too easy to take over ThunderClan if I can find a good opportunity to kill Cloudstar. And then you can join my Clan and be deputy and we’ll take over this dumb forest together. Are you in Smokewhisker?”

                Smokewhisker studied him suspiciously for a while. “If you are leader of ThunderClan, I won’t decline the offer to be your deputy,” he responded finally.

                At the same time while this was happening, Crazyflame sped up as she saw a gray-furred tom waiting by the WindClan border. “Stonepaw!” she shouted with excitement.

                Stonepaw lifted his head proudly. “Actually, it’s Stonestream.”

                “Congrats!” Crazyflame purred. “By the way, while we’re on the topic, you’ve got to call me Crazyflame now.”

A/N: Guess who this cold-hearted tom talking to Smokewhisker is?