(Cat above is Thane)

The morning had been raw and cold, but as Losttail padded through the forest the clouds began to clear away. Long claws of sunlight pierced the branches, tipping the leaves with fire where they had changed from green to red, brown, and gold. Leaf-fall was almost upon them.

Tasting the air in the hope of finding some parsley leaves, Losttail caught a stale trace of an unfamiliar scent.

She padded on Before she finally caught the sharp scent of parsley. She found the small sharp leaves and nipped at the stems. Suddenly, a twig snapped and Losttail looked up abruptly.

She looked around and noticed a cat sitting a tree branch that was low to the ground near the Owl Tree. The cat lookwd around Hareleap's size,lithe but muscular, and looked around Nighthowl's age. His fur was black and he watched her with round yellow eyes.

He starred at her and Losttail could sense that he was intrigued by what she was doing. She turned away from him and continued to gather the parsley leaves.

"What are you doing?" The cat asked.

Losttail turned to look at him again. "I'm gathering parsley."

"What for?"

"I need them for a cat." Losttail mewed.

The cat turned his head to one side. "Are you a clan cat?"

Losttail starred at the tom. Can I trust him? He looked friendly. His eyes shone with curiosity and she could tell he was interested.

"Why?" She asked.

The tom shrugged. "I met a clan cat yesterday. He had light brown and cream fur. I think he said his name was Patchpaw."

Losttail felt her whiskers twitch. So this is where Patchpaw was.

She nodded. "Yes, I'm a clan cat. Patchpaw's one of my clan's apprentices."

The black tom brushed his tail back and forth, collecting a couple of near by leaves. "He went on and on yesterday about clan life." He mewed. "He spoke about the warrior code, the other clans, roles in a clan, StarClan."

Losttail just starred back at him, her thoughts drawn to the black cat. She tasted the air. The tom carried the scent of bramble and fern on his pelt, but nothing else familiar. The cat must be living in their territory. He didn't have any scents of the other clan's territories.

"You are in ThunderClan territory." She told him.

"I figured I was." The tom mewed. "My curiosity got the best of me. My mother told me and my siblings stories of the clans when we were kits. They live at that abandoned barn by the moor. When I was big enough, I left to live in the forest. My home's not far from here. It's an old fox burrow that been abandoned for a while."

The tom licked a forepaw and ran it over his ear. "Anyway, what does parsley do?"

"A queen in my clan just had kits and if a queen's milk keeps running, parsley can be used to absorb the milk a save it for later." Losttail explained.

She noticed the black cat's eyes light up. "A queen had kits!" He mewed.

He lifted up his front legs and Losttail could see a dead mouse tucked under him. He grabbed it and tossed it to her. Losttail bent down to sniff it. It was still warm.

"I just caught it so it's still fresh." The tom told her. "If a queen just had kits, she'll need the extra prey."

Losttail put a paw on the mouse. "You caught it, you should have it."

"Take it. The queen will need it more than I do." The tom mewed.

Losttail could see the tom wasn't taking no for an answer. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." The tom meowed. He turned to leave before looking back. "By the way, my name's Thane."

"Losttail."

Thane shot her one last smile before he leapt from his branch and disappeared into the bushes.

*

*

*

"You got it from who?"

Losttail sighed. "For the last time, I got it from a loner, Rogueshadow".

When she had returned with Thane's gift, the black warrior had questioned her over and over about the prey.

Ratfang bent down and gave the mouse a sniff. "There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with it. I'm sure it's safe."

Rogueshadow let out a defeated sigh. "Alright. I'll take it to Willowhaze."

"So where was this loner?" Brightring asked.

"I met him by the Owl Tree. I think he might explain Patchpaw's disappearance yesterday." Losttail explained. "His name is Thane and he said he met a clan cat yesterday by the name of Patchpaw."

"Well let's go find out." Brightring mewed.

The two she cats made their way to the apprentices' den. Patchpaw was lying outide. He looked up at them. "Hi, Brightring. Hi, Losttail."

"Hello." Brightring greeted him. "Losttail has some questions for you and I want you to answer honestly, alright?"

Patchpaw nodded. "Okay."

"Patchpaw, when you were 'hunting' yesterday," Losttail asked, putting emphasis on hunting. "did you meet a loner?"

Patchpaw shuffled on his paws and lowered his head. "Yes."

"Did he have black fur and yellow eyes?"

"Yes."

"Was his name Thane?"

"Yes."

"Did you spend all day talking to him?"

"Yes."

"Did you tell him all about the clans?"

"Yes."

Patchpaw looked up. "Am I in trouble?"

Brightring laid her tail on his shoulder. "No. Just be honest about where you were next time." 

Patchpaw nodded and slipped into the apprentices' den, his head hung low again. Losttail couldn't help feeling a tad bit sorry for him. It was clear the young apprentice didn't mean any harm by talking with the loner. She could see he was feeling a little bit regretful.

"He seems upset." Losttail remarked, watching the apprentice slipped into the den.

"He'll be alright." Brightring mewed. She spoke firmly and sympathetically. "This will blow over by tomorrow and Patchpaw will be his old self again."

Losttail nodded. Brightring bounded away and Losttail began to make her back to the medicine den. Just as she was about to enter, Flowerpaw rushed through the gorse tunnel, blood running down her ear.

"Rabbitstar! Rabbitstar!" She yowled.

Rabbitstar appeared from his den and raced across the clearing to meet his daughter.

"What is it?" He asked.

"It's ShadowClan! They moved their scent markers into our territory!" Flowerpaw exclaimed. "A ShadowClan warrior attacked Badgerclaw and he can't walk."

Rabbitstar looked around and his gaze rested on Ratfang. "Ratfang, take Tigergrowl, Ashleap, Ferbeeeze, and Losttail and go help the patrol." He instructed. He turned to Losttail. "Help Badgerclaw but let the patrol handle ShadowClan."

Losttail nodded and followed Ratfang's group. Soon the reek of the ShadowClan scent markers flooded over her. They were fresh and Losttail assumed ShadowClan had just moved them.

They raced through the forest until they finally spotted the ThunderClan patrol of Birchfur, Spidersilk, and Badgerclaw. There were five ShadowClan cats:Reedclaw, Darkwater,Viperheart, Nightpelt and Raggedfur. The ShadowClan cats were now outnumbered. Losttail rushed over to Badgerclaw who was lying on the forest floor, blood streaming from his leg. She helped him stand and lead a little ways away from the bickering patrols.

"Reedclaw!" Ratfang called to the ShadowClan deputy. "What are you doing here?"

All five ShadowClan cats met his gaze "What do you thinks going on?" Reedclaw mewed insolently.

"We think you're trying to steal our territory," Tigergrowl hissed.

"Clan boundaries have always remained the same." Ratfang challanged. "Did you forget the extent of yours?."

"ShadowClan needs more space." Reedclaw narrowed his eyes at Ratfang.

"And ThunderClan is too weak to defend it anyway, ever since those two rogues attacks." Challanged Darkwater.

Losttail raised her head at the warrior's words. How did ShadowClan know about the second rogue attack? Rabbitstar hadn't said a word about it and as far as she knew none of her other clanmates did.

"And you think that means will give up our territory that easily?" Fernbreeze asked, taking a step forward.

"What else are going to do?" Reedclaw replied. The tip of his tail twitched. "Aren't you still recovering? Plus you saw what we did to that cat." He mewed motioning to Badgerclaw. "Imagine what we could do to all of you."

Losttail saw Ratfang's claws sank into the ground. "Get out of our territory," he snarled at the ShadowClan deputy. "Or we'll show you what we can do."

Reedclaw curled his lip. "I don't think so."

Letting out a fearsome screech, Ratfang hurled himself into Reeddclaw; his claws raked across his shoulder. Reedclaw tried to fasten his teeth into his throat, but Ratfang pushed him off with one paw on his chest. The black and silver tom writhed under his weight, his eyes blazing with anger.

Losttail caught a glimpse of Fernbreeze locked in battle with Viperheart, her hind paws battering his belly, while Nightpelt and Raggedfur had Ashleap pinned down between them. Ratfang aimed one more blow at Reedclaw and sprang to help his Clanmate, only to feel Reedclaw's claws score his haunches as he bounded away.

Losttail watched as Tigergrowl leaped on top of Raggedfur, gripping the dark brown tabby's neck fur in his teeth. Nightpelt bit his tail; he lashed out with his hind legs to beat her off.

Then she heard a yowl from Ratfang. The ThunderClan And ShadowClan cat seperated themselves from each other. The ShadowClan patrol turned and fled back into the brambles into their territory.

"Don't think you've won." Reedclaw spat at the patrol. "We will set own new border."

"Go back to your own territory." Ratfang retorted. "Your new borders will not be in ThunderClan."

His eyes glaring with hatred, Reedclaw let out a furious hiss before turning to flee after his Clanmates. Birchfur and Ashleap followed hard on his paws, letting out fearsome screeches as they pursued the invading cats until they were out of sight.

"Is everyone alright?" Ratfang asked, eyeing the patrol. The patrolling cats nodded and Ratfang turned to Losttail. "How is Badgerclaw?"

"He'll be alright." Losttail answered, once again helping Badgerclaw to his paws, his back leg covered in leaves and cobwebs.

Tigergrowl padded up to them and let Badgerclaw lean on him and began to the lead the injured warrior back to camp.

"Come on." Ratfang mewed, flicking his tail. "Let's go report to Rabbitstar."

He turned on his heels and began to pad back to camp. The patrol followed, exhausted and scarred with anger in their eyes.

When the patrol returned to camp, their ears pricked at the wails of outrage coming from the stone hollow. They slipped through the thorn tunnel to find Rabbitstar standing on the Highledge, with the rest of the Clan gathered below.

"We should attack them!" Snaketail yowled.

"We can't attack them." Swallowpelt mewed. "In a time like this, we need to make friends not enemies."

"He's right." Meowed Cloverpetal. "The clans will need to come together to defeat the Dark Forest. Angering ShadowClan would bnot be a wise idea."

Rabbitstar twitched his tail for silence. "We won't attack them." He meowed. "But from now on, all patrols should look for signs of ShadowClan warriors on our territory."

Rabbitstar flicked bis tail to dismissed the clan and disappeared into den with Brightring and Ratfang.

Losttail slipped into the medicine den to find that Berryseed was busy treating Badgerclaw's leg. She sat on her nest, her mind whirling with all that happened. Her meeting Thane and now ShadowClan threatening to take more territory.

Thunderclan can handle it. We have too.