A cold Dawn patrol... **FINISHED**

[darkangel]

((okay, so the warriors that came with Gingerstar on the Dawn Patrol should come here ))

Gingerstar shivered. It was a frosty and cold leaf-bare. She led her clan down the border and padded towards the Ancient Oak. She tasted the air and smelled the plump scents of prey.
"Let's hunt for a bit," she decided, even though it was only a patrol. "The freshkill pile needs stocking anyways." she tasted the air again. There was a muddle of fresh squirrel scent. That meant lots of squirrels for the pile, she thought with relish.

((any..ideas for what could happen? I liek excitement :3))

[Magicheart]

Magicheart picked up the scent of Gingerstar in the air. Please let Inkpaw be with them! she thought nervously. She tracked the patrol and met up with them out in the opening. Her eyes quickly scanned the cats with her leader. "Inkpaw is not on patrol this morning?" Magicheart asked, her tail drooped. Deep down, she knew that her son had been with Phoenixpaw, his sister who lived in Windclan. If only she could just ask Gingerstar if she had seen Inkpaw without sounding suspicious!

[darkangel]

Gingerstar dipped her head at the arrival as Magicheart. "No, Magicheart. He is with the other apprentice, sorting herbs, I believe. Would you like to join us on the patrol? We could always have more security."
She stiffened, tasting the air, and crept forward, forgetting her conversation for a moment. Nearby, a bit of bramble was rustling. She kept forward, executing a well-practiced hunter's crouch, and pounced; it was a nice, plump mouse.
"So, what do you say?" Gingerstar asked, returning to Magicheart; her words were muffled by the squirrel in her jaws.

[Magicheart]

Magicheart blinked her eyes, trying to not be too obviously relieved. "I would be glad to join the patrol, Gingerstar." Magicheart said in her unique chirrup of a meow. "Shall we spread out from here, or do you have a particular area in mind?"

[darkangel]

"We're going to hunt for a bit around this border, watching it while hunting it. The freshkill pile needs restocking, after all," Gingerstar meowed, while burying her mouse under some dirt to retrieve later. "Go ahead and hunt."
She began to taste the air again, looking right and left for any signs of prey.

[Seraphinu]

Lionfire and Littleflower both dipped their heads in greeting to Magicheart. Lionfire flicked Littleflower's shoulder with his tail. "Shall we hunt together?" he asked his mate. Littleflower nodded and smiled, and the two trekked off together. They were near the WindClan border, so Lionheart began to scent-mark the area a bit before heading back toward the trees.

"Hm. WindClan's scent markers are a bit weak. I wonder if their strength has been diminished by LostClan?" he noted, a worried look creeping into his eyes. Normally this would have instigated interest in expanding territory, but the threat of LostClan had set Clan rivalry aside for now. They weren't working together, but they weren't fighting each other either. Lionfire sighed, and opened his mouth, drawing in the scents of the forest. The air was sharp and cold. There wasn't much prey here at the forest's edge, so, signaling Littleflower, he moved further in. Keeping his senses alert, he searched for any sign of prey.

"There's some squirrel scent up this tree," Littleflower mewed quietly. Lionfire looked up the side of an oak tree, and saw it, curled up in it's nest in a hole in the trunk. Littleflower was a better climber, so she scrambled up the tree, taking a higher branch than the hole. Lionfire clawed his way up more carefully, not as adept as his smaller and lighter mate. He climbed his way up to the squirrel's nest until he was directly below the hole. Removing one large paw from the trunk of the tree, he reached inside the hole and tried to grab the sleeping squirrel. It woke up just in time with a squeal, and darted out of the hole and up the tree- right into Littleflower's paws. She pinned it to the branch and quickly killed it. Both warriors dropped out of the tree, pleased with their teamwork.

[darkangel]

Gingerstar returned with two squirrels hanging from her jaws. One was quite lean, though, but she was there in time to spectate their teamwork.
"Nice work," she said, her words muffled by squirrel fur. "Have you noticed the border on WindClan's quite weak?"
She sniffed at the border more. "I'm trying to decide whether we take a look. Although, I don't think Sunstar enjoys it when we cross their border." she decided, shaking her head. "Maybe not. Though it is worrying."

[Seraphinu]

Lionfire and Littleflower nodded their thanks, and each in turn took another sniff at the WindClan border.

"It is troubling. But I'm sure WindClan has enough to deal with without us meddling in their affairs," Lionfire said, and began tasting the air for more prey. Littleflower scrambled up into the trees again, intent on finding more squirrels and perhaps some birds that had been slow in migrating.

Lionfire uncovered a skinny mouse. He was scraping earth over it when Littleflower reappeared with an old sparrow.

"Where did you find that?" He asked in amazement.

"I know my way around the trees," his mate teased.

[darkangel]

Gingerstar dipped her head at the good hunting. It was rather surprising for LeafBare.
"Let's move on to the ShadowClan border..." she mewed. "We should make sure that that border is secure too. We can never be too careful, as I've said before."
She had a rather bad memory that day, so she wasn't sure if she HAD said that. She shrugged it off as usual, and padded forward with the usual purposeful grace. Bright sunlight had already filtered through the gaps in the forest's foliage, even though it was still relative early morning. She glowed as the soft LeafBare sun soaked into her ginger pelt, and she was in an even better mood as she warmed up.

((I don't need to make another topic on the shadowClan border, right? I can jus tkeep it here?))

[Magicheart]

Magicheart joined her clanmates with a small mole in her mouth. She bristled when she heard them discussing the Windclan border, but said nothing. Russettail and Phoenixpaw...please let them be safe, Starclan... she prayed quietly. The tuxedo she-cat then padded after her leader as they headed towards the border.

[darkangel]

Gingerstar sniffed along the ShadowClan border, noting for any weaknesses or anything to be afraid of while wending her way through the trees, making their own scent border.
She looked up at the clearshot blue sky, wondering if she could make out any StarClan stars from Silverpelt that were still visible other than the sun. She could make out one dimly with her green, emerald eyes but then dropped her gaze back towards the ground.
Oh starclan, she prayed quietly. Let this time of trouble pass by us with no death or suffering. Please.

[Magicheart]

Magicheart bristled. "Look over there." she meowed. There was a tangle of black and white fur in a bramble bush and a pile of blood staining the earth beside it. She wrinkled her nose. "Fox..." she mewed. Her gaze moved further and she saw a dead adult fox lying nearby. "Looks like Shadowclan is dealing with their problems well." she meowed, impressed that the warriors had taken down a fox. "But we have enough trouble already without having foxes in the forest." she growled.

[Seraphinu]

Lionfire sniffed at the fox and curled his nose in disgust. "It hasn't been dead long," he noted. "A few hours at best," he added, standing straighter. "We'll have to be vigilant with our borders now. Where there is one fox there's bound to be more," he meowed, and Littleflower nodded in agreement, her eyes narrowed against the stench of dead fox.

[darkangel]

Gingerstar raised her tail in warning. "There's another scent leading away...more fox! But...it's coming onto our territory..." she muttered in horror. She then unsheathed her claws immediately. "Be on your guard, it might be nearby!" she said softly, so that if the fox was nearby it wouldn't hear them.
She crouched, stepping forward deliberately and carefully, so as to not crack a branch or alert the fox of their presence if it was nearby.
"We might need backup, it depends on if its a cub or a huge fox..." she murmured.

[Seraphinu]

Lionfire bristled as the scent of fox became more fresh. "Whitefire and Icecrystal are out collecting moss with their apprentices- they shouldn't be far from here. Littleflower, you're fastest, go find them, but have them send Darkpaw and Spottedpaw back to camp to warn them to be on guard. We can't afford to lose any more apprentices," Lionfire meowed, and his mate darted off into the woods to find their Clanmates.