Amberpaw shook out her pale ginger coat and followed after Dustpelt. The bright green-leaf sun shone down on the ThunderClan camp, turning Amberpaw's pelt the color of pale fire. She trudged through the thick ocean of ferns and thistles, and winced as brambles tugged at her coat.

She flicked her ears at the carefree chatting of the three warriors behind her. Ivypool, Millie, and Cinderheart's voices added a calming effect to the early patrol. Just finishing up the dawn patrol and the sun's already bright and hot. Amberpaw noticed, Cinderheart padded forward to walk next to Dustpelt, and Ivypool advanced so that she was padding by Amberpaw's side.

"It's a warm morning." Ivypool casually meowed.

"Yes. It is." Amberpaw answered stiffly. Ivypool turned to look at the young apprentice.

"Is something bothering you?" Ivypool asked, sincerity glowing brightly in her dark, night-blue eyes.

"What?" Amberpaw gasped in surprise. "What would be bothering me?"

Ivypool offered a small smile. "I don't know. That's why I'm asking."

"Well…" Amberpaw paused uncertainly. "There is something…"

"What is it?" Ivypool once again turned her head to meet Amberpaw's eye. Amberpaw looked at the ground, watching her paws as they walked through the bracken and brambles.

"I understand." Ivypool said quietly, smiling slightly. "You don't have to tell me. But if you want to talk about it, I'll be happy to listen." Ivypool placed the tip of her tail on Amberpaw's shoulder. Amberpaw felt a surge comforted from the young warrior's presence. If only I could feel this way with Dewpaw and Snowpaw. She thought bitterly.

"Thank you, Ivypool." Amberpaw mewed quietly as the patrol ducked through the bramble barrier of camp and emerged into camp.

"You're welcome." Ivypool smiled again and broke away from the patrol to the apprentice den, where she met up with Snowpaw. Amberpaw narrowed her eyes and glared at her brother. Why does he have to take everything from me? He's even taken Ivypool.

Amberpaw curled her tail around her paws and watched Snowpaw. He looked worried, or confused. What's bothering him? She wondered. Dewpaw and Lilypaw slipped out of the den next, with Seedpaw right behind them. Whatever had been bothering Seedpaw the day before, seemed to have abandoned her. The golden-brown apprentice looked alert and well-groomed, her ears pricked and her pelt shone in the warm sunlight.

Snowpaw glanced quickly at Amberpaw, who looked away when he did. When Amberpaw finally looked back to where her brothers stood, Snowpaw had left with Ivypool, and Seedpaw and Lilypaw were being led out of camp by Bumblestripe and Poppyfrost. Dewpaw was left alone by the mouth of the den.

Amberpaw lifted one of her paws from the ground, debating whether or not she should go talk with her brother. But before she could move, Dewpaw was headed in her direction, tail waving happily in the air.

"Hi Dewpaw." Amberpaw mewed wearily.

"Hi. So…you got stuck on the dawn patrol?" Dewpaw asked. Amberpaw nodded.

"Yeah. But it wasn't much of a dawn patrol. The sun rose faster than we could walk."

"Anything interesting happen?" Dewpaw wondered casually. Amberpaw inspected him closely.

"Um…no. It was dawn patrol." Amberpaw snapped.

"Oh. Sorry." Dewpaw looked down at his paws.

"What's wrong with you?" Amberpaw probed.

"Uh…nothing."

Amberpaw glared at her brother disbelievingly.

"Okay… fine. Have you noticed that there's something wrong with Snowpaw?" Dewpaw looked nervous.

"He's not sick is he? And he's got no battle wounds." Amberpaw joked, trying to get more out of him.

"No! Not like that. Like something is bothering him." Dewpaw turned to look at Amberpaw. "Have you noticed?"

"Well…" Amberpaw meowed hesitantly, taken aback. "I left for dawn patrol before he was awake, and I didn't really talk to him this morning. But I did notice he didn't seem like he wasn't himself this morning. I wonder what's bothering him."

"Why don't you ask him?" Dewpaw suggested.

Amberpaw snorted. "Are you kidding? He won't tell me anything after our fight last night. You ask him."

Dewpaw shrugged.

Amberpaw and Dewpaw both looked to the entrance of the warriors den. Three warriors padded out of the den.

Whitewing, Dustpelt, and Spiderleg, heads bent close together in conversation, slowly made their way to where the two apprentices were sitting. Dustpelt abruptly lifted his head and flicked his tail in summoning Amberpaw. Amberpaw groaned.

"I guess I've got to go." Amberpaw muttered. "See you later, Dewpaw."

Amberpaw trudged through camp, pricking her ears as Bramblestar called out a hunting patrol. She paused to let a patrol led by Millie, and followed by Lionblaze, Molewhisker, and Rosepetal head out of camp.

"Yes Dustpelt?" Amberpaw asked when she finally reached the dark drown warrior.

"We're going on another border patrol with Spiderleg and Squirrelflight." Dustpelt told her. Amberpaw growled silently. Just as Dustpelt finished speaking, Squirrelflight trotted toward the little group and joined the patrol.

"Everyone ready?" She asked. Dustpelt nodded.

"Okay. Let's go." She flicked her tail to her patrol and led the group out of camp. Amberpaw glanced over her shoulder and saw Dewpaw and Whitewing meeting up and slipping into the elders den to visit Purdy. For once, she envied him. Visiting Purdy was much more exciting than romping through thick ferns and having your pelt ripped off by brambles.

Amberpaw forced her eyes to remain opened and willed her stomach to cease growling. This isn't fair! She thought indignantly. I've been up since before dawn, and I haven't eaten since last night. She could feel the exhaustion tugging at her paws, and hunger clawing at her belly. So much for Dustpelt being a wonderful mentor! He even forgets to feed his apprentice!

"Stop." Squirrelflight whispered suddenly. Amberpaw almost rammed into her haunches.

"What is it?" Amberpaw asked softly. She angled her ears to pick up the sound of the stream that bordered ShadowClan territory.

"ShadowClan." Squirrelflight meowed simply.

Of course she smells ShadowClan. We're right on the border! But after a moment's silence, Amberpaw knew Squirrelflight was right. The scent of ShadowClan was overwhelming. It seemed to be coming from everywhere. Are ShadowClan invading ThunderClan? Amberpaw wondered. There was a rustling sound coming from Amberpaw's right, and Amberpaw's fur bristled. There was a ShadowClan warrior right on the other side of those bushes. Suddenly, four cats burst out of the bushes. Amberpaw yowled in terror and leaped on the nearest cat, a white tom.

"Get off me you furball!" The tom hissed quietly. Sheepishly, Amberpaw released the white tom. Snowpaw glared at her and shook out his fur.

"I thought you were a ShadowClan cat." Amberpaw muttered quietly. Now, instead of being a patrol of only four cats, they were eight strong. Snowpaw, Seedpaw, Ivypool, and Bumblestripe now crouched down with the original border patrol.

"What do you say we find out what these ShadowClan flea-pelts are doing in our territory?" Dustpelt suggested. Squirrelflight nodded.

"Yes, we'll attack them. If it looks like we need another patrol, Snowpaw can go and fetch reinforcements from camp. Got that Snowpaw?" Squirrelflight glanced quickly at the white apprentice, who nodded solemnly. "Good."

Squirrelflight tasted the air to figure out where the ShadowClan cats were, then looked back at her patrol. "I think there's nine cats. The only scent I recognize is Tawnypelt's." Squirrelflight's eyes flashed with betrayal, but only briefly.

"Ready?" All seven cats nodded. Squirrelflight turned back to where the ShadowClan cats were, then froze.

"Now!" She yowled. The ThunderClan cats burst out of the bushes. Amberpaw hurled herself on top of the first cat she saw, a dark tabby apprentice. The apprentice yowled in fury, and the two cats tumbled through the bushes, clawing and hissing. Amberpaw clawed at the tom's belly, and whacked him on the nose. The ShadowClan apprentice had begun to bleed, and he kicked out feebly with his back paws, trying to dislodge Amberpaw. The apprentice seemed to gain sudden strength as he clawed at Amberpaw's underbelly, and threw her off of him. Amberpaw yowled in pain as the tom jumped onto her, fastening his teeth around her neck. Amberpaw kicked out frantically, then felt the tom's weight being pulled off of her. She looked up and saw Tawnypelt dragging the apprentice by his scruff.

"We fight to win! A warrior does not kill unless absolutely necessary. Get back to camp, Spikepaw. You're not ready for this battle." Tawnypelt ordered. While Tawnypelt and Spikepaw were preoccupied, Amberpaw had managed to crawl away from the battle. She gasped when she looked back. The ThunderClan cats were largely outnumbered. There were eleven cats, counting Spikepaw, who ignored Tawnypelt's orders and had hurled himself back into the battle. Amberpaw caught a glimpse of Snowpaw struggling with a brown tabby she-cat apprentice. As Amberpaw charged to his aid, Snowpaw hurled the she-cat off of him.

"Snowpaw! Get help!" Squirrelflight yowled, clawing Blackstar's face.

Snowpaw turned and dashed away like a frantic white rabbit. Amberpaw flew back into the battle, fighting by Seedpaw's side. The two she-cats worked at a team to fight off a black-and-grey tom, who limped off to help a black-and white tom, and a light brown tabby tom. The tabby tom grabbed Amberpaw by the nape of her neck and threw her away from the battle.

"Seedpaw!" Amberpaw yowled. Then she sighed in relief. Dovewing, Rosepetal, Molewhisker, Lionblaze, Greystripe, Sandstorm, Millie, and Cinderheart charged into the clearing, led by Snowpaw. Dovewing hurled herself at a dark brown tabby tom, and Lionblaze jumped into battle with Blackstar.

Amberpaw joined up with Rosepetal, and the two she-cats dashed through the battle, clawing and slashing at ShadowClan cats. As the two of them worked to fight off Rowanclaw, Amberpaw glimpsed Seedpaw and Spikepaw locked in fierce combat together. Spikepaw had Seedpaw pinned down, and was fastening his sharp teeth around her neck.

"Seedpaw!" Amberpaw yowled. Spikepaw looked up for a moment to glance at Amberpaw, and Seedpaw lunged at him. Both apprentices rolled into the Lake.