Rainpaw awoke in her nest to feel thorn-sharp claws raking down her pelt. She spun around, knocking away the enemy, to see Darkshade, the medicine-cat apprentice, on the ground. "What were anda doing?" Rainpaw asked, her voice rising with horror. Darkshade scrambled to his paws, shooting her a panicked look, and ran away out of camp. Rainpaw chased after him, but her paws felt heavy and clumsy with tiredness. "Darkshade!" She yowled. Her clanmate, Duskfall, raced over to her and skidded to a halt. "What's wrong?" He asked. Rainpaw narrowed her eyes into the thick layer of pine trees. "Its Darkshade. This morning he clawed me, and I wanted to know why so asked him and he ran away." Duskfall dug his claws into the ground. "Darkshade is being trained oleh the dark forest. I didn't tell anyone this because he was a loyal warrior. But I can see now that his loyalty is leaning towards the dark forest." Rainpaw shuddered. "Is Nightstar going to exile him?" Duskfall shook his head. "No. She has no idea, and its going to stay that way." He was staring into the forest with a confused look on his face. "I see a shadow," he warned. "Its coming this way." Rainpaw shrugged. "Its probably just Darkshade coming back." But Duskfall was obviously scared, and Rainpaw didn't know why. "Darkshade is good. He probably wasn't thinking when he scratched me." Duskfall suddenly ran back to camp, letting out a screech of terror. Rainpaw turned to look again at Darkshade, who now was no longer a shadow. His eyes blazed with a api of fury, and his bulu was bushed out so that he looked twice his size. "Darkshade!" Cried Rainpaw. "Were your clanmates!" Darkshade ignored her and burst into the camp with a loud screech. Hollystem emerged from the nursery looking scared and confused, and her eyes widened with shock when she saw the medicine cat apprentice's state. "Join me," Darkshade growled, and Foxclan will be spared." Rainpaw's clanmates changed confused looks. "Join anda in what?" Mossfoot yowled. Darkshade thrust his muzzle closer to hers. "The Dark Forest." Mossfoot gave a small squeak of surprise. "The Dark Forest is evil," she warned, trembling from nose to tail-tip. Darkshade lifted his chin. "I don't care. Their teaching me valuable things." Mossfoot narrowed her eyes. "What sort of things?" "Fighting." He squared his haunches, ready to leap into battle. "So, who wants to gabung me?" Rainpaw's clanmates looked scared, and none of them raised a paw to gabung Darkshade. Darkshade grunted. "Suit yourself. anda are missing alot of fun, though." He padded away out of the camp and into the forest. Once he was gone, the clan broke into loud gossip. Poisenclaw snorted. "Fun? He calls the dark forest fun?!" Morningshade shrugged beside the nursery. "Who would have thought our loyal medicine cat apprentice would gabung ranks with the place of no stars?" Somewhere else Nightstar meowed grimly, "Who else have the dark warriors taken from else? Who else is disloyal and ready to fight us?"
***
Rainpaw, out training with Nightbreeze, listened as her mentor spoke instructions. "So, I want anda to spring on me and land on my back. When I roll over, go limp so that instead of anda having to carry the burden of your enemy, I will have to."Rainpaw nodded and dropped into a crouch. Then she found herself thinking, Is Nightbreeze being trained in the dark forest, to? Is she disloyal? Rainpaw stared wonderingly at her mentor. She couldn't picture her growling at Nightstar, atau any of her clanmates. "Rainpaw, are anda ready? Leap on me!" Nightbreeze's voice broke into her thoughts and Rainpaw sprang at Nightbreeze, landing squarely on her shoulders. "Now get in a couple blows before going limp!" Rainpaw hit Nightbreeze in the back, claws sheathed, before going limp. Nightbreeze toppled over with the weight and tried to shake Rainpaw off but couldn't. "Good job! You're almost ready to be a warrior!" The thought made Rainpaw shiver with excitement. She bounced off her mentor and sat calmly on the forest floor. Nightbreeze licked her paw, meowing, "I think your ready to pindah on. Lets try a lebih complicated move." Rainpaw nodded eagerly and looked up at Nightbreeze. "First, I want anda to rear up on your hind legs. Then leap up, twist with your paws out and claws unsheathed, then land on your enemy's back." Rainpaw tried this pindah nervously, rearing up on her hind legs. She leapt up and lashed at thin air with her claws unsheathed, then landed on the ground unbalanced. Nightbreeze stared at her. "Nice try. It was good except for two things: anda landed unbalanced, and didn't put enough force into your jump." Rainpaw sighed. "I guess I'll try that pindah again." She reared up on her hind legs and this time put lebih effort into her jump. She slashed out with her claws unsheathed, twisting, then landed perfectly. "Brilliant!" Meowed Nightbreeze happily. "Now we can pindah on to hunting tactics." They padded further into the pine forest until almost no sun reflected through the branches. Nightbreeze's eyes glinted in the darkness. "Here anda cant see any prey, so anda have to rely on other senses. Open your mouth to taste the air." Rainpaw obeyed her mentor and opened her mouth. The scent of the river lingered in the air faintly, along with the mingled scents of tupai and mouse. "What do anda smell?" Asked Nightbreeze. "The river, squirrel, and mouse." Nightbreeze nodded. "Good. Anything else?" Rainpaw sniffed the air, searching for a lebih stronger scent. The smell of rabbit hung in the air, but lebih strongly blackbird. "I smell blackbird," Rainpaw reported. Nightbreeze smiled. "Go and catch it." Rainpaw's tail trembled with excitement as she padded away. Almost instantly she heard a small scuffling under some dead leaves. Rainpaw dropped into a crouch and inched slowly forward. Once she was withen a tail-length of the tupai she leapt, killing it with a cepat, swift bite to its spine. She suddenly imagined Darkshade biting into a kucing spine, yowling with triumph as the cat's blood tasted on his tongue.

TO BE CONTINUED.