Chapter 3

Thrushpaw felt the warrior breathing down his pelt. He twitched his tail and saw Blossompaw on the other side of the river uncertain as to if she should dare to cross to help her friend.

"What are you doing here?" repeated the ThunderClan warrior, snarling. His brown pelt was bristling and Thrushpaw couldn't help but think that the warrior wasn't going to let him go easily.

"I-I'm sorry," Thrushpaw mewed, realizing that he must've sounded like a kit, barely apprenticed. But Thrushpaw didn't care. That was how he felt. He hadn't been to the last Gathering; therefore, he didn't know any of the cats. He wished Coldstar had taken him, especially now, when he had no idea who he was looking up at.

"Mudpelt," muttered a white she-cat, looking down at Thrushpaw gently. "He's only an apprentice. It must've been a mistake. Besides, that was a fine catch."

"Yes," snarled Mudpelt. "And if you haven't realized, this 'nice' catch could've been ThunderClan's."

The white she-cat twitched her tail and Thrushpaw saw two other cats from behind him. One was a speckled gray-and-white she-cat and the other was a light gray apprentice. The speckled cat stepped forward, shoving Mudpelt off of Thrushpaw.

"I'm going to have to report this to Brightstar," she mewed.

Thrushpaw shivered, half expecting to have to be brought back to the ThunderClan camp. He couldn't imagine having to face the ThunderClan leader. He also couldn't imagine what Coldstar would say when he found out about him being on another clan's territory. He was almost certain that Coldstar wouldn't make him a warrior.

"Don't take him with you!"

Thrushpaw turned to see Blossompaw leaping across the shallow river towards them.

"Blossompaw!"

Thrushpaw saw the light gray apprentice bound forward, but the speckled cat held her back. "Silverpaw!" she scolded. "You know about not making friends with cats from other clans."

"It was just a greeting," she argued, but from the speckled cat's look, Silverpaw knew to keep quiet.

"I'll escort you back to camp," snarled Mudpelt. He swung around to face the other cats. "Whiteheart," he mewed to the white she cat, "go back to camp and tell Brightstar about our intruder. Spottedpath, you and Silverpaw finish the patrol." He then looked at the piece of fresh kill. "Take this back to camp with you." When he spoke, his words were more gentle, as though he was trying to determine Thrushpaw's abilities to hunt as a ThunderClan cat instead of a RiverClan cat.

"Yes, Mudpelt," Whiteheart mewed and gently scooped up the squirrel, heading away.

Spottedpath then flicked her tail towards Silverpaw and the two cats continued the patrol. Mudpelt then turned towards Thrushpaw and Blossompaw, growling.

"We're sorry, Mudpelt," Blossompaw mewed, shaking.

"'Sorry' doesn't do anything," Mudpelt growled. "You took a valuable piece of fresh-kill from us."

"But you just took it back with you to camp!" Thrushpaw objected, regretting the words as soon as he'd spoken them.

Mudpelt let out a hiss before guiding the two apprentices back towards their camp. Not knowing the way, Blossompaw led it while Thrushpaw walked with his head down. He could only begin to imagine Coldstar's expression when he saw them. He could already imagine the hatred mixed in with fury and punishment. Thrushpaw couldn't believe that he'd messed up again. This was the biggest mistake he'd made so far and he knew that Coldstar's trust level was low. Before this, he'd had doubts that it could get any lower.

"ThunderClan!"

Thrushpaw looked up to see Littlelegs padding forward followed by Splashfall. The two cats hissed at Mudpelt and Mudpelt shot them both a look. "This cat was caught stealing prey on our territory." He motioned to Thrushpaw. "I've come to speak with your leader about it."

"I'll lead you to him," Littlelegs offered.

"I don't need to be in his filthy den," Mudpelt growled, each word dropping like a stone. Thrushpaw shivered. Mudpelt wasn't the ThunderClan leader or deputy, but he spoke like he had authority over all the cats in the clan.

"In that case, I'll go get him," Littlelegs repeated, hobbling towards Coldstar's den, his short legs throwing him off.

Blossompaw, hoping that this was her signal to leave, slowly headed towards the apprentice's den, but Mudpelt hissed at her. "Get back here."

"You aren't my mentor," Blossompaw spat back.

Iceberry was already out of the warrior's den and turned to Blossompaw. "I think it's best if you stayed, Blossompaw."

Blossompaw dipped her head to her leader and sat steadfast, deliberately looking away from Mudpelt. Thrushpaw also noted that she was deliberately looking away from him. By now, most of the clan had gathered and Goldeneyes was busy trying to keep her two kits under control.

"What's going on?" Whistlekit demanded, bouncing up and down.

"That's not a ThunderClan warrior!" Whistlekit's brother, Owlkit, agreed.

"Hush!" Their mother silenced them, drawing her tail over their mouths.

The next moment, Coldstar appeared from his den, and approached Mudpelt, dipping his head. "Mudpelt."

"Coldstar."

"What is it that you'd like to speak to me about?" Coldstar demanded, keeping his voice at a steady pace.

"These two apprentices." He flicked his tail towards Thrushpaw and Blossompaw.

"What have they done?" Coldstar spoke with an even done, not glancing at Thrushpaw like he'd expected. Thrushpaw was used to his mentor's menacing glare but received nothing of the sort.

Thrushpaw was too preoccupied in his own thoughts, that he hadn't realized that the conversation was wrapping up by the time it was over. He looked up and pretended to have been listening through the entire thing.

"Thank you, Mudpelt," Coldstar mewed evenly. "I'll speak with them both and make sure they receive fair punishments."

"You better," snarled Mudpelt before turning to leave.

"I think it's best if some cats took you," Coldstar replied. "Longwhisker and Honeydapple will be happy to accompany you."

Thrushpaw waited for Mudpelt to reply, but he didn't and Longwhisker and Honeydapple obediently followed Mudpelt out of the camp.

"Blossompaw," Coldstar meowed. "As this was not your doing, I'd like you to go to the elder's den and deal with their bedding for the rest of the day. You may resume training tomorrow."

Thrushpaw sensed Blossompaw's antagonism towards her father, but she didn't say anything. Instead, she lashed her tail along the ground and unhappily headed towards the elder's den. Once the clan had begun to disperse, Coldstar whirled on Thrushpaw, his amber eyes burning into Thrushpaw's.

"What have you done?" he growled.

"Nothing, Coldstar," Thrushpaw croaked meekly. He had known something like this was coming.

"Come with me to my den," the leader growled.

Thrushpaw didn't have time to object and instead, numbly followed his leader towards his den. This wasn't the first time he'd been inside of there, but thinking about it, Thrushpaw realized the only times he'd ever been in his leader's den were for punishment.

"What did you do?" growled Coldstar.

"I made a mistake," Thrushpaw mewed, crumbling under the pressure. "I promise it won't happen again."

"You know it won't," Coldstar snarled. Before Thrushpaw could reply, he carried on. "Because from now on, RiverClan doesn't need a warrior like you."

"What are you talking about?" Thrushpaw croaked, his voice barely above a whisper.

"You are no longer a member of RiverClan. I never want to see you on this territory again. From now on, you are our enemy. All you're going to bring this clan is destruction and terror. Your future lies elsewhere."

Then, without waiting to see what Thrushpaw could say, Coldstar deliberately walked over to his nest and turned away. Thrushpaw felt as though he was crumbling, but he couldn't bear to think about it. He whipped around from his leader, realizing he was banished. In a way, it was a relief to know that he could no longer have to deal with the RiverClan leader, but Thrushpaw also knew that it came with a price. He was lost. He was hopeless.

Eyes shadowed, Thrushpaw headed out of his leader's den to see Blossompaw carrying moss between her teeth as she crossed the clearing. She bounded over to him and dropped the moss.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"I'm no longer part of this clan."

Thrushpaw looked down and then up.

"What're you talking about?" Blossompaw asked.

Thrushpaw looked away. "Coldstar banished me from RiverClan."

Blossompaw's eyes immediately filled with rage. "No!" she wailed. "No! Thrushpaw, you can't leave." She buried her nose into his pelt. "What am I going to do without you?"

Thrushpaw couldn't bear to look at her and instead looked away. "I'm not part of RiverClan," he meowed. "I was never meant to be."

He then turned to leave the clan. His vision blurred and he didn't bother turning around, but he could hear Blossompaw's wails.

"Thrushpaw! I can talk to him! You can stay! Don't go!"

But Thrushpaw didn't need to hear it. He couldn't cling onto this part of his life anymore. He had never been a true RiverClan cat. And now, it was time for him to go and find his life's path elsewhere, no matter what else he had to leave behind.

DUN DUN DUN. Okay, so a POV with Leafkit from ThunderClan is coming up so get excited! Sorry if the book is boring you. I promise, it gets better. Or, at least, in my opinion, I think it gets better. I'll post tomorrow (hopefully) so keep reading then to find out!

-Leaf