chapter 7
Thornclaw blinked open his eyes. Shafts of weak sunlight filtered through the branches, blinding him. With a low growl Thornclaw turned to one side, and found himself face-to-face with a sleeping Cinderheart. But that was not was shocked him.
Cinderheart's forepaws were wrapped around Thornclaw's mid-section, her body warmth snuggled close to him.
Thornclaw stared at her for a few moments in stunned silence.
How in Starclan's name did this happen?
He thought in panic. We didn't do anything... did we?The thought made him shudder and make a face. He tried to ease himself away form her. But his slight movement made the sleeping Cinderpelt unconsciously tighten her grip around him. A soft purr issued from her throat.
He sighed. Great. Just great.
"Thornclaw?"
The golden tom looked up. Mousewhisker staring at him and Cinderheart, jaw open in shock He closed it quickly though when he caught Thornclaw's gaze. His eye sparkled brightly.
Thornclaw felt his heart drop. This isn't what it looks like! He wanted to wail, but that would wake Cinderpelt. Instead he took to shaking his head vigorously. Take the hint you mousedung of a...
But Mousewhisker merely winked at Thornclaw and waved his tail in farewell before squeezing himself through the barrier for the dawn patrol.
Thornclaw stared furiously after him. He wanted to leave, but at the same time he didn't want to wake Cinderheart lest he received more staring from her; his pelt was already uncomfortable enough as it was without it. Instead He used one of his forepaws to lift Cinderheart's paws off his mid-section very carefully. He then slowly eased himself away from the she-cat, only to feel another cat's body behind him. He looked behind him to see that it was Cloudtail.
Argh! Too many cats here!
A yawn sounded. Thornclaw looked back and saw Cinderheart awakening. She opened her blue eyes sleepily. When they focused on Thornclaw's amber gaze the blue orbs sparkled for a moment. However, when she was a bit more awake to access the situation her eyes spread wide in surprise by their closeness. It was then Cinderheart noticed her paws still over Thornclaw.
Surprised, the gray she-cat removed her paws from him and stood quickly. Moss fell from her pelt as she gazed wordlessly at him.
Moments passed between them and still not a word was issued. When she still said nothing Thornclaw sighed inwardly and mewed "Guess we should go hunting now that we're up."
Cinderheart's distracted gaze cleared instantly. "Yes. We should bring our apprentices too for some additional advantage."
Thornclaw stood and groomed himself, aware of how brisk the gray she-cat's mew was when speaking about hunting and the fact that she made it seem Thornclaw was going to go hunting with her before the apprentices were mentioned. "Alright. You get Briarpaw and Ivypaw. I'll go speak with Brambleclaw about anything else he might need us for in case we need to return early.
Thornclaw left the den after his hasty wash. He checked to make sure Cinderheart was at the apprentices den, then padded to an already awake Brambleclaw—did he notice me sleeping with Cinderheart so close together like that?-standing by the foot of the high ledge. He was with Firestar, talking about news the dawn patrol just brought back.
I swear if it's those thieving Windclan...
"Brambleclaw?" The dark brown tom turned. "Cinderheart and I are going to take our apprentices hunting now. Will you need us for anything afterwards?"
"Could use you and Briarpaw for the sun high patrol," Brambleclaw mewed thoughtfully for a moment. "Around Shadowclan's border. Brightheart will be leading it."
Thornclaw dipped his head and padded to the already waiting Cinderheart and apprentices. Without a word they filed out the bracken entrance and into the forest scents.
"Where should we hunt?" Briarpaw asked her mentor as she sniffed at a bush.
"Mh?" Thornclaw mewed distractedly, his mind on last night.
Who could it have been? Hazeltail maybe? She did want to be his mate, yet she grew angry seemed to have wanted nothing to do with him afterwards. Or maybe—he shifted a glance beside him—it was Cinderheart. After all, he did find her paws around him. But the voice came from the other side of the den... could she have trekked through all the sleeping bodies without waking anyone and lay down beside him?
Cinderheart rolled her eyes. "How about we try the sky oak?" she suggested. The apprentices agreed and Thornclaw followed without really listening.
Thornclaw looked at the bushes they stalked past, suddenly finding them interesting.
The patrol approached the Sky Oak and hunted together. To say the least the golden tom had better as Thornclaw might, he fared far worse than even his apprentice in catching prey. Once, when he had a shrew in sight, he tripped over his own paws to earn a loss of prey and laughter from the apprentices who'd been watching.
"I'm just tired," he muttered self-consciously. He was not usually this terrible, even as an apprentice he fared pretty well.
Cinderheart shrugged. "Moping around like that won't catch prey," she pointed out.
"I wasn't moping!" Thornclaw snapped.
"If you say so."
"And you would know, wouldn't you?"
"Huh? What's that supposed to mean?" Cinderheart mewed, confused.
"If you didn't have your paws all over me last night then I would've had more sleep!"
"Are you insinuating that it's my fault you've hunted like a kit?"
That made Thornclaw and Cinderheart bicker at each while the apprentices watched with wide eyes. It was only when Ivypaw awkwardly told the mentors they still had hunting to do that Thornclaw and Cinderheart padded to opposite sides of the clearing, backs to each other as they hunted. The apprentices looked at each other, shrugged and followed their mentors.
The sun was high in the sky, signaling a return for Thornclaw and Briarpaw. The duo collected their prey and said their good-byes to Cinderheart and Ivypaw. Thornclaw had mewed a formal good-bye to Cinderheart, who ignored him but waved happily at Briarpaw—naturally-and Ivypaw waved at them as well before she continued her stalking of something Thornclaw couldn't see under a bramble bush.
When they had arrived at the fresh-kill pile and Thornclaw dropped his share of prey, he could automatically tell that something was missing. He looked at the entrance, then at the clearing. Now he knew what it was.
The problem was there was no patrol in sight.
He lowered his ears and looked for the familiar dark pelt. Brambleclaw was just climbing down the High Ledge. Thornclaw called to him and the dark tabby went straight to him.
"Where's the patrol?" Thornclaw asked without preamble.
Brambleclaw sniffed. "You were late. They already left with Mousewhisker and Bumblepaw to take your place." Thornclaw sighed in defeat as Brambleclaw went on. "You'll go with the dusk patrol later today." With that the dark tabby left, leaving Thornclaw and Briarpaw behind.
The apprentice looked up. "Now what?"
Thornclaw shrugged. "Why don't you go and spend time with your parents for now?" he mewed, hoping to find a way to distract his apprentice. He was tired at the moment. "Maybe you guys can catch up on news about the going-on." Briarpaw looked happy about the idea. She thanked him and immediately made her way to the Warriors Den to find her parents.
"Eat something first before you go!" Thornclaw called before his apprentice disappeared in the den. He only hoped Graystripe and Millie were inside and not off on a patrol.
With no idea of what else to do, the golden tom stared at the pile before him. He didn't feel like talking with another cat at the moment. But he was hungry. he bent down to retrieve a vole from the pile.
Creamy fur obliterated Thornclaw's view. Berrynose brushed past him to choose a bird.
"Watch it!" Thornclaw snarled.
Berrynose turned, bird in jaw. He flicked his ears. "What's with you?"
"Nothing," Thornclaw answered testily. He reached behind Berrynose to retrieve the vole, then randomly made his way to the closest group of cats he could find. He slumped down and began to eat his prey, listening with half an ear while the Warriors gossiped beside him.
"But that can't be right, can it?" Toadstep mewed, surprised.
Icecloud, whom Thornclaw realized the apprentice was speaking to, rolled her eyes. "No, of course not. I was just making up gossip to spread rumors for the fun of it."
"You don't have to be so sarcastic," the black and white tom frowned. He flicked a piece of moss away with his paw. "I just didn't know."
"That's because you don't pay attention enough!" Icecloud hissed lightly. She pointed with her tail at the entrance. Both Thornclaw and Toadstep followed her gaze. Rosepetal could be seen begging Brambleclaw to allow her to go on a hunting patrol. The cats to leave at the entrance, Foxleap, Brackenfur and Spiderleg, were shuffling their paws and waiting to see if Rosepetal would come or not.
Thornclaw couldn't see what Icecloud was getting at except the dark cream she-cat was bored staying in Thunderclan and wanted to go hunting with her clan-mates.
But Toadstep seemed to understand. "Oh... I see now." He blinked. "That's odd."
"Finally!" Icecloud mewed to the sky. "And it's not 'odd'," she added.
Thornclaw watched as his apprentice left the Warriors Den with two other warriors. Briarpaw padded eagerly ahead of Graystripe and Millie to the entrance of the thorn tunnel, passing the hunting patrol that still waited impatiently. He directed his gaze to Toadstep and Icecloud, flicking his ears in irritation. "What are you two talking about?" he asked.
Icecloud looked around in surprise. "Nothing that concerns you," she answered coolly. Thornclaw opened his jaw angrily, then closed it again. The white she-cats eyes were twinkling.
If anything he was even more annoyed. Where did she come off teasing him like that?
"We were trying to see if it was true that Rosepetal liked Foxleap or not." Toadstep answered for him.
Icecloud glared at him for blabbing, but Toadstep merely shrugged. "Of course it's true!" she mewed now that Thornclaw knew. "Haven't you seen the way Rosepetal stares at Foxleap and follows him everywhere he goes?"
"Er," Thornclaw and Toadstep mewed.
Icecloud huffed. "Toms," she muttered. The white she-cat stood, stretched exaggeratedly, flicking her tail against Thornclaw's face in the process, and stalked off to the Warriors den to rest before a patrol.
Toadstep raised his brows. "What's got her covered in fleas?" he asked.
Thornclaw shrugged. "That's she-cats for you."
They continued to chat and share tongues together, talking about anything in particular. Toadstep wanted to ask if it was true his sister was trying to get Foxleap's attention, but Thornclaw steered him away from the romance topic.
More than once he got the feeling that he was being watched. He looked over his shoulder to find the source of his discomfort. Standing just outside the nursery and giving him such a stern look only Elders would give to apprentices was... Daisy?
Thornclaw stared. What rattled the tom was not the fact that the creamy she-cat was giving him a glare—he'd already received enough of that to shrug it off. It was that no matter how much Thornclaw glared back the creamy she-cat stared back defiantly, hardly blinking or fidgeting at all, a characteristic so unlike her. Usually just narrowed eyes were enough to startle her. What could have made Daisy garner so much back-bone that she'd stare down Thornclaw without any problem?
To Thornclaw's discomfort Toadstep followed his gaze. "What did you do to get into Daisy's bad side?" He, too, noticed the way his mother was glaring at the golden Warrior.
He shrugged, aware that he was speaking to Daisy's kin. "Maybe she had her eye on the vole I had eaten," he made up. Toadstep seemed to have accepted the answer and kept on chatting. But Thornclaw felt he knew why the at the queen was glaring at him like that. And he had no intention of telling Toadstep!
