Moons Ago... Leaffrost : A Warrior

Chapter 1 : A Warrior

Blurred images of painfully yowling cats circled hopeless thoughts of freedom from the grasp of the terrible nightmares. Leafpaw's eyes popped open. Shivering, she nestled closer to Daisypaw, who was peacefully snoring. The nightmares had been occurring constantly for a moon now. Blinking, she shook the image of the struggling cats out of her troubled mind. Closing her eyes, she tried to get to sleep. Although it was moon high, she still wasn't tired. Leafpaw crept up and padded quietly out into the open. The stars glittered mysteriously in the skies. The whispering wind warned her of an untold trouble, a menacing battle. Every night, the dreams would be clearer. The yowling of the strange cats louder, more urgent. What could it mean?

"What are you doing out so late, Leafpaw?" a voice meowed softly in her ear.

Closing her eyes, she turned around to face Stemtail, River Clan's wise medicine cat.

Stemtail was known everywhere for her gentle kindness to patients and for weaving miraculous stories of battles long lost. Leafpaw could trust her. Stemtail's eyes glittered in the moonlight, and she whispered kindly, "Having trouble sleeping?"

"Kind of, Stemtail, I've been having..." Leafpaw paused, unsure of herself.

"Well, I've been having some sort of dream over and over again," Leafpaw blurted out.

The whole story unfolded before Stemtail, the fighting cats, screeches filling the air, death and destruction.

Leafpaw stopped. Stemtail was staring up at the stars. Her tail swished smoothy through the warm air in decision.

"Leafpaw, do you know what this means?" Stemtail asked.

Leafpaw turned her head away. Many times before she had heard that only medicine cats had dreams. And now she was having dreams after dreams.

"I am a warrior, not a medicine cat!"

Drawing herself up to her full height, she mewed, "I will fight for my clan!"

Stemtail shook her head and mewed fiercely, "You don't know what it takes to be a medicine cat. Your talent is unpasseble. You need to begin training as a medicine cat."