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| - The ShadowClan camp was dark and shadowy in the twilight, and the fog made the pine forest let off an eerie feeling. The sun had just been swallowed up not long ago, giving the sky red, orange and pink streaks, while higher up, the midnight blue sky was speckled with the first warriors of StarClan. The warriors gave the camp entrance a wary glance, before padding into their dens for the night. Some cats pushed past one another anxiously to get in the den first, while the strongest warriors sat gaurd just outside camp, though even they looked unsettled. The medicine cat and her apprentice gathered the herbs they had collected that day and carried them into their den at a hurried pace. The only cats who weren't daunted were two kits pushing an acorn back and forth. But they had noticed. "What's wrong with camp? Everyone's acting werid and stupid," meowed the brown tabby Yarrowkit, glancing at a couple of apprentices who tripped over each other. Graykit shrugged her unkempt gray shoulders. "I don't know. They've been actinf like this all day. I've been tripped over like... five times!" Yarrowkit sighed, lifting her small head up to look at the starry sky in wonder. There were few warriors ancestors out, only a few glimmering specks here and there. The moon was a very thin clawscratch, letting little light fall to the ground. Yarrowkit shivered at the thought of their being little light. ShadowClan was the Clan of darkness, but even they were afraid of it. At least on one night every moon. "Hey, you two!" Graykit and Yarrowkit whipped their heads to see a ginger tabby stomping over, looking stern. "Oi, hey Frogpaw," Graykit mumbled, not liking how tense he was. "What are you doing out?" he asked, eyes narrowed, almost looking angry. "Playing!" Yarrowkit snarled, pushing herself in front of Graykit and baring her teeth. She didn't like it when other cats made Graykit uneasy. "You shouldn't be playing at this hour," Frogpaw said, letting his features soften, only slightly, but as he glanced back up to the fast darkness growing across the sky, the tesion return. He lowered his amber eyes back down to them. "It's not safe." Yarrowkit's ears pricked while Graykit shuffled uneasily beside her. "Why not!?" "Why not..?" The two kits asked at the same time, one fiery and the other soft. Frogpaw's eyes widened and his jaw dropped in disbelief. "You haven't heard? You've never heard?" "Heard what?" Yarrowkit hissed in annoyance, rolling her eyes. "The legend of Clawmoon!" Frogpaw gasped, then looked aorund, a sudden spark of fear flickering across his face, which was replaced by embarrassment and he gave his chest a lick to cover it up. "The legend of what-huh?" Yarrowkit asked, looking suspiscus. Frogpaw glanced around again, uneasy, then leaned close to the two she-cats ears, close enough so his breath warmed their fur. "Clawmoon," he whispered, his voice forced and scratchy. "Clawmoon?" Yarrowkit loudly echoed. Frogpaw slapped his tabby tail across her mouth. "Shhh!! Keep your voice down! The queens really haven't told you?" Graykit shook her head while Yarrowkit battled Frogpaw's tail out her her mouth, looking disgusted. Frogpaw closed his eyes. "Okay. Someone needs to tell you," he looked around, frowning. "It's not safe out here. Come with me to the apprentices den. I'll tell you there." Yarrowkit grinned widely. "We get to go in the apprentices den?" while Graykit's eyes rounded with worry. "Wouldn't the queens worry where we're at?" Frogpaw shrugged. "Too late. Just follow me, fast!" he ordered, trotting across the camp in a few steps, leaving Yarrowkit and Graykit scampering behind to keep up. Frogpaw's tail disappeared inside the apprentice's hollowed out tree. Yarrowkit and Graykit followed quickly. "Sit there," Frogpaw directed, nodding to an abandoned nest. Yarrowkit and Graykit clambered inside. "Ew, it stinks," Yarrowkit complaned. Frogpaw curled up in his nest, blocking the entrance of the den with his body, as if trying to protect them from whatever lurked outside. Graykit blinked, yellow eyes wide. "Is Clawmoon a cat?" "And if it's a legend, then isn't it fake?" Yarrowkit added a second later. Frogpaw shook his head. "No! It's all real! Every single bit of it. Here, let me start," he mewed, pausing for a moment to look for words. "Okay... Clawmoon was a cat, an evil cat... Clawmoon was murderous, slaining many, even of his own Clan! which was our Clan... But a hero named Rustlefoot, killed him. The Clans' were at peace again, but Clawmoon was a vengeful spirit, and he hadn't finished what he had started. Lengend has it that one night, every moon, when the moon is at it's thinest clawsctrach, and the night is darkest, Clawmoon rooms the forest, in search of victums to take his anger out on, and he takes them back to his nest, and the poor cats are trapped there forever!" Frogpaw said in a rush, quietly sucking in breath when he finished. Yarrowkit looked to Graykit, who was trembling by her side. The brown tabby snorted. "That doesn't sound scary to me. Have you ever seen 'Clawmoon'? Has anyone else in this Clan?" Yarrowkit challenged. "Well no..." Frogpaw admitted, shifting his paws uneasily. "But just because you don't see something, doesn't mean it's not real." Graykit had stopped trembling and looked at Frogpaw thoughtfully. "Is there anymore you can tell us of Clawmoon? Was he always evil?" Frogpaw shook his head. "No... Clawmoon started out as a loyal warrior, like me," he added, giving his chest fur an embarrassed lick before he carried on. "That just goes to show anyone can become evil, somehow." Yarrowkit rolled her eyes while Graykit stared at Frogpaw, her golden eyes willing him to carry on. Frogpaw didn't catch it right away and stared back, looking confused. He finally realized and let out a mrrow of amusement. "Nothing more tonight... It's really best not to speak of him when he's out and about. He could hear you." Graykit looked at her paws in disappointment while Yarrowkit began to head for the den entrance. "Oh - and you should stay in here tonight. It's too dangerous to go out," he added, just before Yarrowkit could take a step out. She groaned and stamped back over to Graykit's nest and curled up. "Go to sleep now. I'll keep watch. Oh... and I'll tell you more tomorrow..."
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