Chapter 2

"Sorry", Icepaw meowed in apology. "I was distracted".

"Next time, be late again and I'll scratch your fur off," Darkstorm snarled.

Icepaw gave a tiny mew of laughter. Darkstorm was the clan's most grumpy cat. Sometimes, it was hard to believe he was an elder.

Vinepaw stared at Icepaw." You're late again!" she meowed with a not- so -surprised look.

"It's all because of the distance," Icepaw mewed with protest. "

Vinepaw snorted in disbelief. "We're close to finished with Squirrelstrike's and Bramblefang's sleeping nests. You can line Darkstorm's nest. That's what you get for being a lazy badger." Icepaw sighed with unwillingness. She seemed to get Darkstorm every time!

"Take this," Eaglepaw mewed softly as he pushed a pile of black and green toward her. "This is Darkstorm's favourite bedding combonation- moss and blackbird feathers."

"Thanks Eaglepaw," meowed Icepaw. She piled the bedding in Darkstorm's sleeping hollow gratefully. The niceness of Eaglepaw only lasted a moment. After about ten heartbeats, he continued chittering about how he snatched a crow from the air like the legendary Firestar did.

Flamepaw seemed to have enough of the chittering when he meowed,"Be silent. We are trying to line nests, not scare away prey twenty fox-leaps away." In her heart, she silently agreed with him, but she thought that Flamepaw was being a little harsh.

"Here, Icepaw, take this, Darkstorm likes seagull feathers in his bedding too. I traded these with Ocean for a mouse."

"Don't you know, Flamepaw? Seagull feathers can give some cats a rash," Eaglepaw hissed, a rare event.

Flamepaw merely shrugged. Icepaw didn't know what to do, so she gave the feathers back.

"Sorry Flamepaw, I want to be on the safe side, but thanks," said Icepaw. She finished lining the nest alone, as everybody was done and left.

When she looked up in relief, she found Darkstorm's piercing gaze on her. Quickly, she hurried out, trying not to look scared. Darkstorm's gaze was powerful enough to make Brookstar flinch, so what chance would a puny apprentice have?

Elmshadow was standing right outside the elder's den.

"Come on, Icepaw, the others have already gone to the river. Don't you want to learn how to fish?" Without waiting for a reply, she trotted off towards the river. Icepaw followed, rubbing her slightly scratched paws.

As they arrived at the river, Icepaw saw Flamepaw, looking slightly bored but determined, and nodded in greeting. "So, Icepaw, you catch a fish by doing this." Elmshadow made a scooping motion, and out came one wriggling silver fish. Icepaw tried as she spotted a brownish fish, but all she caught was a pawful of water.

"No, Icepaw," Elmshadow meowed in a patient voice. "Scoop before the fish arrives, and use your claws to trap the struggling fish." Icepaw tried once more, but she still came up with a handful of water.

"Icepaw, you scooped too late. You have to time it- within three heartbeats of spotting the fish, scoop it. Practice the motion above the water for me to see," Elmshadow meowed again, this time her voice strained just a tiny bit. Icepaw scooped in the air, as if trying to claw the face of an invisible enemy. "

I see... ..." Elmshadow murmured as she identified the mistake." You are scooping too violently, and the fish escape your hand as you make the huge scoop. Try to do it delicately, with just a flick of your paw."

Elmshadow demonstrated the motion in the air. Icepaw tried it, but she thought she still wasn't doing it correctly. As she glanced over her side, she saw Ivypaw and Snakepaw marveling over the two fish that Flamepaw had already caught. Her heart sank in despair. How could she be of any use to her clan if she couldn't even catch the clan's main prey?

Then, the chirpy voice of Eaglepaw meowed," It's okay, Icepaw. I only caught a drippy leaf myself. Vinepaw and Snakepaw are too busy fawning over Flamepaw to catch any fish themselves. At least you're not alone. And did you know that .. ... " And so Eaglepaw went on and on about the most random subjects.

Unfortunately, that only made Icepaw feel even worse. She wanted to be compared with the best, not worst! She attempted to catch prey three more times, then finally gave up when a fish decided to bite her. Disappointed,(and mad,) she walked over to Flamepaw.

" I caught four fish already!" Flamepaw exclaimed proudly. " Here, have one, Icepaw."

" Thanks," she muttered gratefully. Vinepaw gave her a jealous look, but said nothing, not wanting to look bad in front of Flamepaw. As she tore into the fish, she could hear Eaglepaw chattering despite the fact that nobody was listening.

To be polite, she abstractedly mewed," That's great, Eaglepaw."

Suddenly, yowls of "Border skirmish!" began to penetrate the usual noises of the river.

" All apprentices and mentors, come with me!" Firegaze's deep and confident voice rallied the cats, and they quickly organized as if they were the tally leaves used to keep track of fresh kill. They swam across the river and leaped onto the Thunderclan border.

" We had every right to take that squirrel," Scorchstar hissed. " Riverclan doesn't even hunt squirrels."

" You still trespassed on our territory," Birchtail said. He looked like he would burst out fighting any moment if there wasn't a stern gaze from Brookstar keeping him locked in place.

" We already explained to you," spoke Dappleleaf, her usually soft voice icy. " The squirrel was our prey. We are prepared to fight for the right to our prey." She said the "our" with extra emphasis.

Brookstar, determined to avoid the prospect of making her clan seem weak, also knew that at least one cat would be seriously injured if this huge border skirmish actually saw action.

Seeing that Brookstar was caught, Scorchstar slyly meowed,"But of course there is a option. Give Flamepaw back to his rightful clan." Everybody knew that Flamepaw's father was the deceased Snakeflame, the sole cat from Thunderclan that had almost been the end of the four clans, but it was almost a taboo to discuss that topic out loud.

" Give Flamepaw back to Thunderclan, and we will forget the squirrel," Scorchstar hissed softly. "Give the poor cat his rightful home back."

So that was what all the fuss was about, Icepaw thought angrily. Now Scorchstar had backed Brookstar into a trap. A steel trap coated with burning poison.