The next few days were relatively uneventful, in the midst of MistClan.
The sky remained gray and dull. It was still getting colder and more blustery outside every day. Prey was running slightly slower than normal. By this point, everyone was sharing individual pieces of prey in order to assure that everyone got something to eat. But Redpaw feared that not everyone would be able to get a bite soon. You see, apprentices were generally at the bottom of the pecking order in leaf-bare. But sometimes, when prey ran so slow that starvation was inevitable, the warriors will lose their honor to hunger, and ignore the sacred rules that allow elders and kits to eat first. According to Russetear, it's happened before. A long time ago. And even with Spottedstar's stellar leadership, if things get really bad, it could very well happen again.
Graydust continued his strict and torturous mentoring tactics. After sessions, Redpaw would feel sore to the bone, and would secretly wish that the weather tomorrow would be too bad to train in.
Just as Graydust promised, Redpaw rarely trained with Leafpaw. Both Swiftstem and Graydust were taking them out for private training more and more. Sometimes, Redpaw wouldn't see Leafpaw until sundown because of how horrific they would make their schedules.
And worst of all, when Graydust wasn't tearing him to shreds, or forcing him to sprint his heart out running, he'd cram every second Redpaw's spare time with excessive apprentice duties and chores. In fact, Graydust rarely ever trained him in hunting! Really, Redpaw only hunting practice was during hunting parties.
One day, Redpaw decided he was going to get back at Adderfoot for taunting him on his first day of apprenticeship. He slithered past a group of warriors, a stem of pine needles clutched in his jaws.
Just as he was about to slip into Adderfoot's den, he bumped directly into Leafpaw.
"Ow! Watch where you're going, birdbrain," she hissed.
"Oh, sorry. How's your shoulder doing?" asked Redpaw
"It's fine. He didn't bite that hard. Tigerfall told me to suck it up. I'm pretty sure she only said because she's running out of herbs."
"What did you tell her happened?"
"I told her I fell on a sharp stone. Yeah, she knows I was lying," she frowned at the pine stem in his mouth, "Um...what are you doing?"
"Nothing."
She glanced at Adderfoot's den, and back to him, "You're going to put that in his nest, aren't you?"
"Well…"
"Redpaw! You know I'm all for tricking and humiliating mean cats for personal amusement purposes! But this…rivalry thing, between you and Adderfoot could get really serious really fast, you realize. Please, just, don't take it too far."
Redpaw rolled his eyes and shrugged, "Fine, I promise I won't take it too far," he strode past her, "But I'm totally still putting this in his nest. It's just a prank. Think of all the times he played worse tricks on me."
Redpaw paused, looking over his shoulder at Leafpaw.
"Hey, Leafpaw, what were you doing in there?" he asked.
Leafpaw looked back at him, "Just saying good morning to mom, like I always do. You really ought to talk to her more, Redpaw. She misses you."
Later that gray morning, the rare occurrence of Redpaw and Leafpaw being on the same patrol happened. It consisted of Cloudstream, Hatchnose, Swiftstem, and Graydust. Stoneflower sent them to freshen up the borders.
The patrol trotted briskly across a farm, towards the beginning of the MistClan-CloudClan border. It consisted of open fields, some barns, and a frozen orchard. Some lone rams and bulls wandered aimlessly in fenced pastures.
"Huh. Is it just me, or does this farm seem more and more depressing every time we pass it?" yawned Leafpaw. She swayed her tail in boredom.
Swiftstem sighed "We get it, Leafpaw. We've come up this trail a lot. But you have to remember that's it's very important to patrol every border, for our ancestors declared that-"
Redpaw mimicked him. Leafpaw withheld a burst of laughter.
-and nobility," finished Swiftstem. Redpaw and Leafpaw were silently giggling.
Hatchnose raced ahead of the patrol. His muscle shown as climbed the slope. Today, he wore a very proud, and arrogant complexion. Once at the top, he raised his tail, and shoved his ears forward.
"Well!" he hollered to the patrol, "It's seems we have some company!"
The patrol anxiously rushed to the top of the hill. Leafpaw and Redpaw exchanged uneasy glances. This was near the spot where they found Leafstorm…
Sure enough, two, no, three warriors were running up the other side of the hill.
Redpaw was intrigued. He had never seen a CloudClan cat before.
The lean, hard-muscled bodies of the CloudClan warriors grew closer to the oncoming patrol. Their short pelts were wet with sweat and melted snow. Narrow eyes grimaced, they stalked closer.
"Uh oh," uttered Leafpaw.
"Mouse dung. What do they want?" hissed Cloudstream.
The MistClan patrol readied themselves.
The first tom, the leader, as it appeared, was a speckled gray tom. Trailing him was a black tom, and a white she-cat with a gray stripe down her back.
"Greetings, MistClan. We've been waiting for a patrol all morning."
"May we ask why?" meowed Hatchnose threateningly. He took a pace towards them.
"No need to unsheathe your claws, Hatchnose. We only bring a message," replied the gray tom.
Swiftstem glanced at his patrol, "Is that so, Eaglestorm? What message requires three full-warriors to deliver?"
The black CloudClan tom narrowed his eyes, "Don't act so smug, MistClan! We know you've been invading our territory!"
Cloudstream, Hatchnose and Swiftstem yowled in protest, "Lies!"
"That's foxdung!"
"You thirst for battle!"
Redpaw and Leafpaw tensed.
"Spiderfang, we've done no such thing," snapped Swiftstem, "If anything, we've found your scents on our side!"
"Then explain why Snowstrike and Spiderfang here, keep finding strange cat scents deep in our land," growled Eaglestorm, "Right here, along your border."
"You liers! Mouse-hearted liers!" hissed Cloudstream.
"Leave it to CloudClan to look for trouble," grumbled Hatchnose.
"Why, you-" started Spiderfang. He started to approach, but Eaglestorm whipped his tail out to block his path, "Now, now, we didn't come here to start fights," he meowed firmly. Each side was poised for attack.
"Like I said before, we came to present the newly appointed Goldenstar's message," explained Eaglestorm.
So Goldenclaw is the new CloudClan leader, thought Redpaw.
"Goldenstar agreed that MistClan probably isn't purposely sending over trespassers, and acknowledged that gracefully," he dipped his head and narrowed his eyes, "However,"
Everyone's claws unsheathed.
"He said to make it very clear, that if we were to find your scents on our land again, he would take immediate action. You have been warned."
Hatchnose bared his teeth. The scar of his nose made him seem all the more menacing, "Well you can tell Goldenstar that-"
"Hatchnose, please, just, shut up," said Graydust, "You'll drag all of MistClan into this quarrel with your temper."
Hatchnose looked like he was about to explode. He clutched the snow between his claws.
Graydust turned to the CloudClan patrol, "Your threat is well accounted for. But just know, even if you do decide to blame your own trespassings on us again, you would, and could, never beat the best of MistClan. He glanced at his clanmates, who howled their approval.
Eaglestorm huffed a deep breath and scowled, "Don't say we didn't warn you."
Without any further words, the CloudClan cats turned and retreated in the direction that they came from. Spiderfang shot them one last furious look, and shook with anger
"Well, that just happened," blinked Redpaw.
"Welcome to the day in the life of a warrior, Redpaw," said Swiftstem. He watched the CloudClan cats disappear over the side of a distant hill.
"We should be keeping a better eye on those mousehearts. CloudClan's been jumpier than usual lately," commented Cloudstream, waving her slim white tail. The patrol started moving again.
"CloudClan's always been this way. I'd say they're always just a bunch of hot-headed foxhearts," retorted Hatchnose.
"One day, Hatchnose, you're going to get us all killed," grumbled Graydust.
"Um, no. What I was doing was fine. You're the one who made us look weak!"
"With your words, they would've attacked. But with mine, they left with only a warning. They made themselves look weak."
Hatchnose growled.
"You know what looks really weak?," meowed Cloudstream, "A divided clan. We shouldn't argue in front of our enemies from now on."
"That's right," agreed Swiftstem.
Hatchnose rolled his eyes.
Redpaw and Leafpaw purposely lagged behind, staring at each other with wide eyes. They hissed to each other in hushed voices.
"Oh, StarClan," muttered Leafpaw.
"You know Leafpaw, this, is why we tell certain things, you know, like intruders! To the leader!" spluttered Redpaw.
"Hey, hey, we have no proof the scents they found were Leafstorm's, or ours…"
"Oh. Really, Leafpaw. You're right. I'm just sure there's another random cat that decided to intrude the exact spot we found Leafstorm! What are the odds!"
"Yes, Redpaw! That actually could've happened! Besides, they say CloudClan always overreacts over these kinds of things. No one will blame us."
"Admit it, Leafpaw. That tom was probably a spy, and now he's going to-"
"What, in the name of StarClan, are you two whispering about?" growled Graydust.
Redpaw felt his heart drop, "Uh, nothing."
"Are you sure? You seem quite tense," Graydust's eyes narrowed.
Oh, foxdung. I'm doomed.
"Um, yes sir."
"Really."
"Yeah! We were just...we were just talking about…"
"If you and your sister are keeping secrets, don't bother telling me," his face menaced, "I'll find out," he stalked to the front of the patrol with slitted eyes.
Redpaw and Leafpaw once again lagged behind the rest of the patrol. Graydust would occasionally shoot them a look.
"Don't worry about him," whispered Leafpaw, "What we did won't send us to the dark forest. Busting apprentices is just what mentors like to do."
"Yeah. Just not Swiftstem," Redpaw thought bitterly. He shoved his ears forward and stared at the ground in front of him.
She frowned, "What did you say?"
He didn't mean to say that last part out loud…
"Um, Redpaw," she murmured, "You're not, jealous, of me for having Swiftstem as a mentor, are you?"
"I don't know," he groaned.
"Because, Graydust isn't all bad, you know. Heck, last night, when we were out of camp and fighting, you looked pretty good. Espeacially compared to me," she threw in bitterly.
Redpaw didn't answer.
"I'm serious! Graydust will make you into a fine warrior!"
Redpaw nodded and fake smiled. He decided not to voice all the hardships that being Graydust's mentor had. He didn't want her to feel guilty. So he forced a grin, "Yeah, I guess so."
As morning ended, the cloudy gray sky darkened. The stiffening cold air punctuated the coming of a snowstorm. The patrol neared camp, and much to their convenience. These days, the cold in their territory during storms could be brutal.
Graydust, Hatchnose, Swiftstem, and Cloudstream all sighed with a relief of warmth once they reentered the warm camp.
Swiftstem peeked behind him, "Come on, you two! Get inside! The last thing we need is for you two to get whitecough."
"Coming!" Leafpaw scampered up next to her mentor.
Redpaw was about to run after her, when he felt a paw prod his shoulder. Alarm jutted through him.
He whipped around, to see Brookshadow.
"Brookshadow? What…"
She held a black paw to her mouth, signalling for him to be quiet.
"Follow me. There's something you have to see," she whispered.
Redpaw cocked his head, perplexed.
"It's about what you found with Leafpaw."
Redpaw was just startled she even knew about that. Curious, he followed.
Once they were out of earshot, Redpaw raised his voice again, "What's going on? How do you know-"
In the pitch black, Brookshadow shuffled away out of sight.
"Brookshadow?" no response. Redpaw didn't like this at all.
Suddenly, another cat bundled in Redpaw, knocking the wind out of him. He dug his claws into Redpaw's hide. Redpaw withered, but couldn't free himself from the cat's grip. He could feel his grimy breath.
"That'll teach you not to leave pine needles in someone's den," It was Adderfoot. Redpaw was unnerved by the calm growl Adderfoot spoke with, "Traitor."
Adder released him and left him laying in the snow, "Come on, Mouseheart. Fight me. Just like you wanted."
Wary limbs and sore paws kept Redpaw from attacking. He staggered to his paws and struggled in vain to get away.
Adderfoot just sat glass-still, "Coward."
Redpaw stopped, just before he entered camp. He glowered back.
"Fine. If it's a fight you want, it's a fight you'll get!" Redpaw lunged at his foe, his energy fueled by fury. They both pounced high, with Adderfoot on his hind legs. They clashed viciously.
Redpaw attempted to dig his teeth into Adderfoot's front leg, but the lanky warrior was smarter. He used Redpaw's high pounce against him, pushing him into the ground. Redpaw's flank hit the compressed snow with a thump.
Adderfoot backed away, smirking.
Redpaw felt another rush of adrenaline. He scrambled to his feet, and pounced with a battle cry.
Once again, Adderfoot shifted out of the way. When he stumbled forward, Adderfoot smashed into Redpaw's torso.
Redpaw rolled away from the pain.
Grunting, Redpaw struggled to his feet and raised his paw to strike back, but Adderfoot slashed him across the muzzle first.
Redpaw staggered backwards, defeated. He could taste the blood welling from the scratch.
Adderfoot stood, tensed, pounced, and struck one last cruel brow straight to his head.
"Come on, Adderfoot," muttered Brookshadow, "He's had enough." Adderfoot hesitated,
With that, they turned their tails and left him lying in the snow. Redpaw shivered. They left him in a flurry of paw prints and scratches. To his horror, Redpaw could see his own blood staining the snow.
Once he saw them disappear into camp, he felt sick, and dizzy. Lying there defeated, Redpaw slowly slipped away from consciousness.
