Badgerpaw couldn't sleep well that night. Her denmates were fine and her nest was mossy, but her dreams were stressful and confusing. She kept seeing a small white tabby calling to her. He looked sad and angry.
"Stop….her!" he would say. "Your...fault!"
"What?" Badgerpaw called. "What do I do? Who are you?"
"Sister… stop!" he cried. "Wrong… fault!"
"What?" she yowled again, but now she was scrambling up in her nest in the apprentices den, with pre-dawn light filtering in. She was breathing heavily.
"Sheesh, Badgerpaw," Harepaw yawned, sitting up in has nest. "What was that about? You okay?"
"Sorry," she mewed. "Nightmare."
"It's fine," he meowed. "Berrypaw and I needed to get up early anyway for dawn patrol." He prodded his sister, who was sleeping beside him. "Get up, lazy bones."
Berrypaw grunted. "I'm up." She struggled to her paws.
Badgerpaw tried to slow her breathing. She was still shaken from the dream. She had the odd feeling that she recognized the tom, though there was not kit in ThunderClan that looked like him now. Could she have been receiving a dream from StarClan?
No. She wasn't a medicine cat. The bird she ate last night must have been funny.
"Hey Badgerpaw!" Harepaw stuck his head back into the den. "Featherleg's on the patrol this morning. He told me to get you. You're coming with us."
"Oh," Badgerpaw mewed. She stood and shook the moss from her pelt. "Coming." She padded out of the den, trying to push her dream out of her mind. Maybe she would ask Birdpaw about it later, but felt a bit silly about the thought. Why bother her with a silly dream?
Featherleg flicked his tail in greeting. "Up early for dawn patrol, I see. Ready to go?"
Badgerpaw nodded and yawned. "Sure thing. Which border?"
"Raventail's sent us to the WindClan border," Spottedwing, Berrypaw's mentor, explained. "Prey may be running well, but those rabbit chasers can't help themselves."
Badgerpaw nodded seriously. She hadn't much trusted the leader when she had met her yesterday.
"There's a few landmarks that Badgerpaw hasn't seen yet," Featherleg meowed to Amberbreeze and Spottedwing as they padded out of the camp. "Can we pass the Sky oak on the way to the border?"
"Of course," Amberbreeze meowed, dipping her head and looking back at Badgerpaw. "It's hard to patrol a territory when you don't know what you're protecting."
Badgerpaw looked between the much older apprentices walking beside her. She felt a bit nervous. She had never been on a patrol before, and she didn't know Berrypaw and Harepaw very well since they had been made apprentices a little more than a moon after she was born. What was she supposed to do? Were they aloud to talk? What should she say?
"Alright, you three," Spottedwing meowed, raising his tail and motioning for the cats to stop. "Scent the air. What do you smell?"
Badgerpaw opened her mouth and let the earthy smells of the forest float over her scent glands. She didn't know what she was sniffing for, and she hadn't been trained enough to separate all the smells that filled ThunderClan territory. Before she had even finished, Harepaw declared, "A mouse just passed through here, and there a squirrels nearby, too."
Amberbreeze nodded. "Very good. Badgerpaw, Berrypaw? Anything to add?"
"I smell some herbs nearby, but I don't know what they're called," Berrypaw meowed. "We should probably tell Willownose about them soon when we head back."
"Very good," Spottedwing praised. "You two are doing very well."
Harepaw ducked his head and Berrypaw licked her chest fur. The group headed off again.
"Don't feel bad," Harepaw whispered to her. "We've had moons to get good at tracking. You'll be able to show off to Leafkit and Sparrowkit one day."
"Thanks, Harepaw," she meowed to the brown tom. She was grateful for the support but she still felt embarrassed that she hadn't been able to distinguish anything from the muddled scents. She looked at her mentor, expecting to see disappointment, but Featherleg looked rather indifferent. She felt a bit better seeing that he wasn't mad.
Amberbreeze let out a long yawn. Spottedwing glanced at her. "A warrior, still not used to dawn patrols? Even Badgerpaw is awake."
"I don't doze all day and get into my nest right after sunhigh," Amberbreeze teased back.
Featherleg twitched his whiskers. "I don't know, Amberbreeze," he mewed slyly. "I've seen you drop of your morning kill and flop straight down to bask in the sun."
The ginger she-cat flicked her tail in irritation at the toms. "StarClan forbid I have one day where Raventail isn't ordering me to go on every patrol."
"She isn't that lazy," Harepaw interjected, clearly trying to defend his mentor.
"Yeah, she has to run in circles just to keep you entertained," Berrypaw jumped in. "No one should be called lazy when they have to watch you."
"I'm not a kit," Harepaw protested. "She doesn't watch me!"
Badgerpaw wanted desperately to be able to join in with the teasing, but she didn't know what to say. Harepaw and Berrypaw might be her kin and Featherleg her mentor, but she didn't know any of them very well. She imagined saying something, only for none of them to laugh at her comment. Badgerpaw kept her mouth shut.
"Well, here's the sky oak," Spottedwing meowed, pointing with his tail to a tall, thick trunk. Badgerpaw looked up, amazement in her eyes.
"This tree must be ancient," she meowed. "We have to climb it?"
"Don't worry," Harepaw meowed. "It's not as scary as it looks."
Featherleg nodded. "We'll start with the lower branches. I Just wanted to show you where we might be training soon." He looked to Spottedwing. "We can move on, now."
The spotted tabby nodded and continued forward until they reached the stream. "Featherleg, Harepaw, and Badgerpaw, head down towards the lake," he meowed. "Berrypaw, Amberbreeze and I will go as far as the unclaimed territory."
"Harepaw, do as Featherleg tells you," Amberbreeze meowed.
Harepaw dipped his head, then spun around and trotted along the stream, sniffing the air.
Featherleg turned and followed him. Badgerpaw padded after her mentor, glancing over her shoulder to watch the others go the opposite direction.
"WindClan ahd better watch out," Harepaw declared, his head held high. "I'll claw any cat who's set a paw over the border."
"Harepaw," Featherleg chided, "we don't go looking for fights with them."
"I'm not," the brown tom meowed. "Thistlepaw told me that yesterday there was a patrol right next to the border. I'm just ready."
Featherleg rolled his eyes but said nothing.
Badgerpaw sniffed the air, and frowned. She smelled something else, something warm, almost like fresh prey. She sniffed again, turning her head, trying to find where it was strongest.
"What is it?" Featherleg asked. "Do you have a cold? What's with the sniffing?"
"I smell something," Badgerpaw meowed. "I think it's bird blood."
Featherleg inhaled deeply, his expression going serious. "Harepaw, stop," he meowed sternly.
Harepaw went still, looking back. "What is it?"
"Badgerpaw noticed the scent of blood, and she's right," he meowed. "You and I probably though it was just prey. Run ahead, and keep smelling. Call for us if you see anything."
Harepaw nodded, the bounded forward. Badgerpaw and Featherleg sped up.
Suddenly, Harepaw called, "Featherleg!"
The gray tom sprinted forward. Startled by the sudden change, Badgerpaw quicked and tried to keep up with her mentor.
They skidded to a stop where Harepaw stood. On they ground was the blood of a freshly killed animal. And mingled with is was the strong scent of WindClan.
