Chapter 6

(Could someone aside from Stormfeather review? Or they could review again. I'm not picky.)

There was the dull sound of barking. It started off to far away for Whispervoice to recognize it. Then it got closer, and all too soon there were three dogs were on top of them. They were huge dogs, and Whispervoice knew they'd be no match for them. "Run." She told the apprentices.

The four of them ran away. Whispervoice led them into an alley in hopes of losing the dogs. It didn't work, and there was a fence in the alley. Luckily the fence was metal, they'd be able to climb it. On the way up a dog snatched onto Crinklepaw. She let out a scream. Salamanderpaw kicked the dog who had her with his hind legs. The dog let go and the four climbed to the top of the fence.

The dogs barked and jumped at them, but they couldn't reach and Whispervoice suspected they couldn't. "Okay, we're safe." She said.

She and the three apprentices scampered down the other side of the fence. For a moment the four of them could walk normally. Then they heard a terrified gasp. "Turn around!" Another cat warned them.

Whispervoice and the apprentices whirled around, just as the fence came down. Fox dung! Weak fence! Whispervoice thought. She and the apprentices turned back around and started running away again. Whispervoice gave a nod to the cat who'd warned them, a cream colored kitty-pet peering out a window, a nod in thanks as they left.

They managed to keep away from the dogs, mostly by using their small size to take short cuts. But then they reached the thunderpath, the busy one. Monsters were roaring by.

"We don't have time to wait!" Crinklepaw all but sobbed.

"No, we never would've guessed." Blurrpaw snapped back sarcastically. Whispervoice still heard the panic in his voice.

"Hey! Clan cats! This way!" Whispervoice looked up. Ghost was standing in a tree on the other side of the thunderpath. She swung her head at the tree on their side. It looked like if they climbed up that tree they could safely cross to Ghost's side.

There wasn't time to consider anything else. Whispervoice dashed up the tree, followed by the apprentices. Salamanderpaw was almost at the crossing branches when Blurrpaw shoved him out of the way.

"Woah!" Salamanderpaw grabbed a different branch with his front paws to stop from falling down. At this point the dogs were underneath them, so Whispervoice spun around and grabbed him by the scruff to help him get back up.

Blurrpaw meanwhile was running across the branched. On the other side, Ghost looked nervous. Then the branch snapped. Blurrpaw let out a scream as he fell, hitting thunderpath. A monster roared past and ran over.

"NO!" Crinklepaw shrieked.

Salamanderpaw, who was now back in the tree, stared in wide eyed horror. Whispervoice met Ghost's look. She was the only one who didn't look shocked or horrified. She looked relieved.

"You." Whispervoice hissed. "You knew the branch was going to break."

"Wh-You killed him?" Crinklepaw panted.

"I set him up." Ghost corrected. "And he deserved it! As do all of you! I tested the clans, I moved the Shadowclan border. You guys are no better than the rogue group." She glared at them.

"You . . . you killed Blurrpaw because of Shadowclan and Thunderclan!" Crinklepaw screamed. "We're not even in those clans!" She dashed across the branches.

Whispervoice's eyes grew wide in fear that Crinklepaw would fall too. But it was amazing how different one's abilities were when they were angry. Crinklepaw made it across the gap. Ghost's eyes went wide and she screamed before Crinklepaw had even leapt on her. And leap on her she did. The two fell out of the tree.

The dogs noticed them. They tried to cross the street, then a monster whipped past. The dogs fled in fear.

Crinklepaw and Ghost meanwhile were fighting. Crinklepaw was being smarter with her attacks, Ghost was mostly attacking at random, but Ghost was older and Crinklepaw was going to lose if she didn't have help.

Whispervoice looked around. The thunderpath was going to be empty soon. She raced down, nudging Salamanderpaw for him to follow. She dashed across the thunderpath and slammed a claw across Ghost's face. Ghost fell back. She backed up, trembling hard when she saw she was up against two cats now. Crinklepaw hissed and lunged at her.

Ghost whirled around and dashed away, back across the thunderpath. They couldn't follow, the monsters were coming again.

Where's Salamanderpaw? Whispervoice thought in fear. She looked around. There he was. He had dragged Blurrpaw's body off thunderpath, but the more correct term was what was left of Blurrpaw's body. He had been run over multiple times by monsters.

Crinklepaw let out a choked sob. Whispervoice looked down with a sigh. "Come on, let's go back to camp."


"Omenstar, Mintstar?" Whispervoice, Salamanderpaw, and Crinklepaw stood at the enterance of the leader's den. It was Whispervoice who'd spoken.

Her voice was soft, but Omenstar was used to that and had become a light sleeper. He woke up and nudged Mintstar awake. "What is it Whispervoice?" Omenstar asked.

"I'm afraid I have some terrible news." Whispervoice said, looking at the ground. "The apprentices left camp in the hopes of catching some prey tonight. I was curious what they were doing, and followed them. And . . . a rogue was in the territory. She killed Blurrpaw."

"What?!" Mintstar said, waking up completely.

"Who was this rogue, and what did they look like?" Omenstar wanted to know. "We have to keep an eye out for them now."

Whispervoice nodded. "She's Ghost, she has gray fur and gray eyes."

Omenstar nodded. "Right . . . not many cats fit that description."

"We have to hold a vigil." Mintstar said. "Cats will be waking up soon anyway."

Whispervoice turned around in surprise. Sure enough, the sun was just starting to rise out.

The leaders walked out and called a meeting, and warned the clans about Ghost and a silent vigil for Blurrpaw. Whispervoice and the apprentices hadn't brought his body back, it would've given their lie away, but no one questioned that.

"You three can get some sleep." Omenstar offered. "You've had a busy night."

As much as they needed warriors, Whispervoice couldn't argue with that one. She yawned and stumbled back into the warriors den, going to sleep