Chapter One:

“Hollyspots! Wake up! It’s time to go hunting! Or have you forgotten, it’s your first hunting expedition as a warrior!” “W-wah? Oh! Sorry Swiftflight! I promised Stormpaw I’d go for a walk with him by the lake. He’s found a special place for hunting he wants to show me,” mewed the young warrior, suddenly seeming as if she had been awake for hours, losing all traces of drowsiness. With that, she jumped up from her mossy nest, and hurried out of the den. “Hollyspots! Wait! You were supposed to go hunting…….”  Swiftflight’s voice trailed off, as his former apprentice scampered off towards the apprentices’ den, where a smoky black tom was waiting for her. “Why did she run off like that?” he asked himself, then a thought hit him that he had never considered before….”No, it can’t be, Hollyspots isn’t like that…..But what if…”  He put the thought at the back of his head, and stalked off. “They’re just old friends, they want to play together, like when they were kits.”

“Hollyspots. I’ve been waiting for you. Come on. Let’s go,” purred the young black tomcat. “Oh, yes, Stormpaw. Now, where is this place, I wonder,” Hollyspots said vaguely. The two cats walked out of camp together and into the trees. After a while, Stormpaw said, “Here, this is the place,” and he disappeared into a hole in a pile of large boulders. Hollyspots followed him between the rocks. After following a rocky path, they reached a large cave with rocks jutting out of the floor, and crevasses in the wall, where beautiful shining crystals were imbedded in the rock. A tiny stream flowed through the middle of the cave, and tiny minnows were darting around, chasing each other. “Oh, Stormpaw! How did you ever find this place?” the small she-cat purred in an awed whisper. “Well,” started Stormpaw, who had seated himself on top of a small plateau on the far side of the cave, “I was hunting on am assessment for Mosspelt, and a vole ran through the rocks and into the cave, so I followed it, and found this cave. I never caught the vole; it ran into that hole where the stream runs through,” he finished. “Stormpaw, let’s keep this place secret. If the older warriors find out, they will use it as some kind of warrior hangout, and we won’t even be able to play by ourselves in here,” Hollyspots mewed nervously. “Of course! That’s exactly what they would do,” Stormpaw hissed angrily, leaping from his plateau and walking past the young she-cat twisting his long tail in hers, and brushing his sleek fur against hers. “Oh, Hollyspots……….yes. This will be our place alone, together,” he purred softly. The two cats lay down together on the cool, hard floor. Hollyspots felt his warm, soft pelt on hers, and soon they both fell asleep, side by side, purring softly.