"C'mon you flea-infested rats!" a ginger tom snarled, hackles raised and claws buried deep into the earth. "Come see what happens when you mess with LakeClan!"

Standing at the opposite side of a rushing river was a patrol of five large, muscled cats. A dark brown tabby stood a little before the rest and glared at the pale grey tom. "Have you got fluff in your head?" he demanded. "Or have you not listened to anything I have said? We haven't been stealing your prey."

A golden-furred molly stood next to the the ginger tom, Applestream She curled her claws into the soil, kneading the ground angrily as she faced her opponents across the river. Her tail tip twitched erratically. 'How dare these foxhearted cats claim innocence!' "And I supposed the rabbit killed and laid themselves on our borders?" She curled her lip to reveal a set of pearly white, sharp teeth. "Have you dirty BarnClanners gotten so arrogant as to openly mock us with dead prey?"

A lithe, dark grey she-cat stepped up next to her companion and flashed the LakeClan patrol a hateful glare. "You aren't even listening to us!" she snapped. "Tell Beetlestar that we didn't steal prey from you, and there needn't be any bloodshed here."

'Lies. All I scent are lies.' The apprentice knew it was not her place to speak - Owlfoot was the deputy, after all. He would speak on behalf of LakeClan. But she still could barely resist the temptation of leaping across the river and tearing her enemies to bits - if she was powerful enough, of course. Instead, she maintained a venomous glare at the cats, her back arched and muscles bunched. If these foxhearted cats even dared to attack, then she would be one of the first to defend her Clanmates. Even if she was the youngest of the group. Her ears twitched, alarmed, when a soft tail brushed itself down her flank.

"Lightningpaw," her mentor, a pale grey tom murmured. "Calm down. Owlfoot has yet to decide on our next course of action."

Lightningpaw turned around and glared at her mentor. "How can I be calm when these rats refuse to admit to their crimes?" Underneath her anger, which clouded her judgement, she knew that Palecloud didn't deserve her sharpness. But still. How could Palecloud just sit there while criminals refused to suffer their rightful punishment? No, Lightningpaw couldn't allow these cats to slip away unscathed, but she knew that Owlfoot had the final say. She looked at the brown tabby, blue eyes narrowed expectantly. 'Well?'

The LakeClan deputy sat at the back of the patrol, yellow eyes as unreadable as ever. Even Lightningpaw could not decipher them. After a moment's silence, she replied coolly, "I'm sorry to have caused you trouble, Sedgetail." She nodded firmly to the opposing dark brown tom. "This leafbare has been particularly harsh on us both - my Clanmates are just a little antsy is all." She stood, seemingly shrugging off her Clanmates' flabbergasted expressions. "Send Lionstar LakeClan's apologies."

Sedgetail smirked and smoothened his fur. "Of course, Owlfoot. Don't let this happen again." With that said, he turned and waved his tail, which sent the rest of his patrol trailing after him as they disappeared into the thick forest.

Meanwhile, Lightningpaw was unable to comprehend what had happened. Had they just...surrendered? Let the enemies go? Let criminals writhe free from their claws? Lost? No! "Owlfoot!" Lightningpaw protested, whipping around and storming after her deputy. "Why did you let them go? Every sign so far has pointed to them!"

"We have no concrete evidence," she replied tiredly, not even sparing Lightningpaw a side glance.

"That's completely mousebrained," Lightningpaw argued, unaware that she was raising her voice by the second. "Didn't the dawn patrol find a dead squirrel with BarnClan's scent on it? And they also scented BarnClan over on our side of the river! This isn't the first time either; this has been happening since the beginning of leafbare."

"Lightningpaw," Owlfoot growled, suddenly turning around and shadowing over the smaller apprentice. "We don't have enough evidence to pin the blame on anybody. For all we know, it can be a rogue weaving in and out of both territories." She flashed Lightningpaw a warning glare. "Now, no more complaints. I mean it."

She kept a steady glare at Owlfoot, unphased by the fact that the deputy had just publicly scolded her in front of the whole patrol. "Alright," she replied through gritted teeth, body tense. A whirlwind of thoughts filled her mind, but one emotion rang true and clear: anger. Owlfoot had just practically allowed BarnClan to have free reign over LakeClan's territory and thus prey! But, as angry as she was, she knew that she couldn't change Owlfoot's mind.

"Let's get back to camp," Palecloud suggested, voice as soft and soothing as ever. "You must be tired, so get some sleep."

"Of course," she replied scathingly, glaring at Palecloud. Obviously, she wasn't angry at Palecloud, but she couldn't help herself. The thing that made it all the worse was that nobody seemed to care! Stomping ahead of her mentor, she made sure to destroy every yellowed leaf in her way (she was aware that she was being childish, but the notion to stop was beyond her) as she paved her way back to camp. 'This is embarrassing,' she growled to herself. 'We're returning empty-pawed. Our Clanmates wanted some answers, but we couldn't get them.'

After several minutes of silent anger, she stepped her paw upon the entrance to camp, slightly hesitant to enter. How could she? Shame weighed heavily on her shoulders. How could she return to her hungry Clanmates?

"Hey," Palecloud mewed, beckoning his apprentice forward with a tail flick. "Owlfoot's talking to Beetlestar; there will be a Clan meeting soon."

Nodding, Lightningpaw held her breath and entered camp, paws crunching the yellowed and browned leaves underneath her. She swept her blue gaze over the clearing, frowning at the sight of her skinny Clanmates. Yesterday her own mother, Brambleflower, had told her that this leafbare was particularly harsh. 'No kidding.' The pale golden apprentice padded across the camp's clearing, heading towards the only place where she could find comfort - her nest. But, of course, she would have to overcome some obstacles. Namely the other apprentices. As she tiredly approached the apprentices' den, she scrunched her face in distaste at the recognition of Spiderpaw. That tom had quite the mouth and energy.

"Well?" the pure black furred tom asked as she neared the den's entrance. He followed Lightningpaw as she slid past him and into her own nest at the middle of the den - a luxury she enjoyed due to her seniority.

"Owlfoot says BarnClan didn't do it," Lightningpaw growled in irritation at the memory. "Which is a load of foxdung."

"Whaaat?" He sat in front of her nest, eager for details. "But it must be BarnClan! Everybody thinks so."

"Well, not Owlfoot, apparently."

"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather here beneath the Tall Rock for a Clan meeting," a deep voice ordered from outside.

'Here we go.' Begrudgingly, she lifted herself from her nest and followed Spiderpaw towards the gathered cats. She sat with the other apprentices. Her shoulder brushed against the snowy white shoulders of Lilypaw, who greeted her warmly with a nose-bump to the neck. "Nice to see you, too," the she-cat replied. Lilypaw was deaf, as most white furred, blue-eyed cats were (or so Brambleflower said), and thus used her body to communicate. Lightningpaw struggled to communicate with the white molly at some times, but she was getting the hang of it - or so she liked to think.

A dark, heavily scarred, brown tom emerged from the den situated at the top of a pile of rocks. His green eyes scanned his Clanmates for several seconds before he began: "Earlier today, Owlfoot joined a border patrol to inspect the river and question BarnClan about our disappearing prey. For so long, we have suspected our neighbors of being thieves, but today Owlfoot brings back news. BarnClan is not behind the disappearance of our prey."

"What?"

"That's ridiculous!"

"Of course they are!"

A chorus of discontented, angered cats began to protest against Beetlestar, but the leader hushed them with a stern flick of his tail. "This is the hardest leafbare in several season cycles, but we still must support our large numbers. We cannot afford to wrongfully accuse and wage war against BarnClan." He cast one more stoic look. "I will not tolerate any fighting with BarnClan, am I understood?" After a moment's silence, he dismissed the Clan with a tail wave and ducked into his den, Owlfoot following shortly behind.

"Can you believe that?" a white tom hissed under his breath to Applestream. "I've never known Beetlestar to allow BarnClan to pick on us!"

"Me neither, Cloudstream," Applestream growled, "but what can we do?"

"Oi, Lightningpaw!" Spiderpaw called, peering up at Lightningpaw. "Earth to Lightningpaw!"

'Oh.' She hadn't been aware that Spiderpaw was still around. To be frank, her focus still remained on the Tall Rock, as if willing Beetlestar to remerge so that she could fully demand an explanation from both Owlfoot and Beetlestar. "Yeah?"

"Let's go to bed," he said, walking towards the apprentices' den. "Bramblingpaw made your nest today - aren't you glad?"

"Why should I be glad she did her job?" Lightningpaw grumbled mostly to herself. "If she had gotten the job done right the first time, then she wouldn't be doing it again."

"Oh, cut her some slack." Spiderpaw chuckled. "Bramblingpaw was just apprenticed a quarter moon ago, and she's already scared of you! She says that you're quite intimidating."

She shrugged indifferently. "I suppose so." She slipped into the apprentices' den, padding past all of the other apprentices and reaching her nest, which was snuggled comfortably at the middle of the nests. With a farewell tail flick to Spiderpaw, she settled into her nest and snuggled her nose underneath her tail. Great StarClan, I'm sore.' With all that anger and adrenaline, she hadn't realized exactly how long the day had been. At least she was able to sleep now - but not without the thought of BarnClan's thievery and Owlfoot's naivety nagging her from the back of her mind.

'I'll figure this all out,' she promised herself as sleep began to overtake her. 'For my Clan.'