Chapter 8
"Blackpaw."
A soothing voice was murmuring to the black apprentice. It felt as if she should have been in the nursery with morning sunlight pouring in, Runningpaw and Dawnpaw at her sides, yawning and waking up tangled in Sandflower's soft fur.
But she wasn't.
The ground beneath the tiny black apprentice was cold and unforgiving, the air humid. Her fur was damp and clung to her skin, making Blackpaw feel claustrophobic. Her eyes stayed sealed shut.
"Blackpaw, wake up. It's time to go."
The voice sounded friendly at first, now it was getting impatient. She groaned and opened her eyes, expecting to be in the apprentices den, getting woken up early by Robinfeather.
But she wasn't.
There was no cat near her, and it was pitch dark. In the distance Blackpaw heard water dripping onto the wet ground. The scents of ancientness and stone clung to her damp, mud-clogged fur as she stood up. Below her was a puddle, now tinged brown from the dir that still hung on her fur.
Blackpaw unsheathed her claws and tried to scramble up to the top of the ditch she remembered falling into. She couldn't get a grip! StarClan, givemestrength.
The short green-eyed she-cat prayed to StarClan faithfully, and soon enough she heard a familiar voice in the distance.
"I followed her scent in here, but then it disappeared in the Separated Cavern. Surely she didn't go to those stuck-up StoneClan heathens?"
Pinestep! WhydidshecallStoneClanstuck-upheathens?
"I'm in here!" Blackpaw yowled, almost like a screech. She heard the cats' unsheathed claws skittering on the cave floor as they rushed over to her.
"Grab my tail, Patchstar, I'm going in to get her." Patchstarwashere, too?
Teeth gripped Blackpaw's scruff and she felt her feet lift off the ground. She felt like a blind kit getting pushed towards her mother.
"Come on, Pinestep, we must get her to camp. She could be sick." Patchstar's voice was thick with worry. I'mnotsick!
"You could have been killed!" Pinestep lectured the timid apprentice, but her voice softened. "Let's get you out of this watery death place," she murmured and led Blackpaw towards the tunnel towards home.
OnenightawayfromMudClanfeelslikeaseason.
. . .
"MudClan, I have been keeping something from you all."
Patchstar didn't even have to use the call, every cat was already in the clearing. Blackpaw's escapade had revealed to Patchstar that obviously keeping secrets kept no cat safe. She had revealed to him and Pinestep every cat she had met on her adventure.
"There is another Clan besides ours and HoneyClan." His voice was full of shame of keeping this from every cat.
Blackpaw heard Seedpaw snicker to Pebblepaw. "Well, duh! StarClan, stupid!" Stripedbelly turned his head towards his kits, eyes like slits. They stared at their father with fear in their eyes.
Their leader ignored them. "This Clan is StoneClan."
Pinestep's head was bowed as she murmured over the many gasps and exclamations shouted in the camp, "It's true. They live in the tunnels connected to my den."
"They live in the Mooncave?" Cherrydrop asked. The spiky-furred medicine cat shook her head. "There are a series of tunnels throughout the ground," she told the warrior. Senior warriors were shaking their heads in disappointment.
"No more secrets!" Stripedbelly yowled. Poolripple joined him, next Larkcry. "No more secrets!"
Blackpaw couldn't help but notice the look of horror that passed through Patchstar's face as the Clan chanted the same three words endlessly. He was staring at a cat in the crowd. The black apprentice followed his eyes.
Was he looking at Cherrydrop?
. . .
"You need to take these herbs."
A bundle of leaves was at Blackpaw's feet. She shook her head. "I'm fine, Snowpaw."
"No, you're not," the solid white tom insisted. "Take them now, or I'll tell Lionpaw you have a crush on him!"
"You'd better not!" Blackpaw was worried for a moment, but she saw a look of mischief in the medicine cat apprentice's gaze. "I will," he mewed. "Oh, Lionpaw!" the amber-eyed tom pretended to call.
"Okay, okay," the black apprentice mewed and gulped up the herbs. She chewed and chewed, but couldn't seem to swallow.
Snowpaw looked down at his feet. "I knew I had put too much." Blackpaw saw his white shoulders hunch in shame, but he sat up again with perfect posture. "Here, let me help, Blackpaw," he mewed and shoved her to the ground. Her head hit with a thud.
She wanted to ask "What are you doing?!" but the leaves blocked her throat. Snowpaw used a paw to tenderly rub down Blackpaw's neck, and surprisingly it made the muscles in her esophagus take the herbs. She swallowed, her mouth extremely dry. "Thanks," she managed to say while sitting up once again.
OhStarClan. Ithinkshelikesme.
"Want to meet me at the top of the Great Valley tonight?" Snowpaw asked eagerly. "I want to show you the herbs I used in that poultice." Blackpaw could tell the apprentice wanted her to come so desperately, but she knew she couldn't. IhavetoputthegoodofMudClanfirst.
"Sure," she mewed, with an ever-so-slight hint of sadness. She craved to just say yes and mean it, but in her mind she knew she could not.
"Okay! I'll teach you the names of every herb I know, in case one day I've eaten too much catmint and can't remember anything..." Snowpaw rambled excessively, Blackpaw noticed. But that was okay. She felt like she didn't have to be just a warrior apprentice around him, she could be a friend. Blackpaw toned out her friend's rambling, until...
"...of course, that's only if her kits can walk. Thenwe can take them with us!" Snowpaw paused to take a breath and Blackpaw took this opportunity to interrupt the cat apprentice.
"Well, okay then, Snowpaw. If I'm going to meet you tonight, I'll need to get some beauty rest now," Blackpaw joked and kept a lighthearted tone. Her whiskers twitched at her own joke, but Snowpaw ruined it with a totally serious tone.
"You don't need sleep to have beauty, Blackpaw," he mewed. Amber eyes were big as they stared at Blackpaw.
"See you later, Snowpaw!" Blackpaw turned tail and started to half-run, half-walk towards the apprentices' den where she could finally get away from this apprentice.
"Tonight, remember!" he meowed after her.
"I promise I will be there!"
"Positive?" This tom was eager.
Blackpaw ducked into the apprentice's den only to stick her head out again and mew a reply back to her eager friend.
"Positive."
But she wasn't.
