Chapter11: Nightpaw

"Beetlepaw!" Nightpaw hissed. "Beetlepaw, are you okay?"

Beetlepaw lifted his head from his nest in the den that was serving as his "prisoner den". "What do you want?" He hissed back.

Nightpaw peered in at Beetlepaw. "What happened?" He asked.

Beetlepaw rolled his eyes. "I got caught."

Nightpaw snorted. "Clearly. But how?"

"Coming back from meeting with Smokepaw, Foxpaw and Fernpaw didn't hear anything, I'm sure. The rest doesn't matter."

Nightpaw bristled. "What do you mean it doesn't matter? Of course it matters! We need to prove you innocence!"

Beetlepaw interrupted him. "What I was saying was that it doesn't matter because," he looked around then lowered his voice, "they've come."

Nightpaw blinked in confusion. "They?"

Beetlepaw rolled his eyes as if it was so obvious. "They should be here by dawn tomorrow. The rogues?"

"Oh!" Nightpaw felt stupid. "They. That makes much more sense."

"You have to warn Harepaw. I've contacted him and he's going to be on the dawn patrol for the RiverClan border tomorrow. You need to be on our dawn patrol tomorrow," Beetlepaw whispered.

Nightpaw nodded and dashed out of the den. "Reedwhisker!" He called.

"What is it?" The deputy asked.

"Could I be on the dawn patrol for the WindClan border tomorrow?" Nightpaw mewed, excited.

Reedwhisker cocked his head. "I was going to put you on the ShadowClan border patrol. Why WindClan?"

Nightpaw shrugged, "Just a hunch that they might need me."

Reedwhisker nodded dismissively, and Nightpaw padded up to his mentor.

"Hey, Nightpaw! How's your brother? I know that he would never betray the Clan." Pebblefoot greeted.

"He's fine." Nightpaw said in a voice that told Pebblefoot not to push it.

Pebblefoot blinked. "Okay, we should go hunting now."

"Actually," Nightpaw started, "Could we spend the whole day battle training? I feel like I need to brush up on my skills."

"But the Clans are at peace! And your battle skills are fine."

Nightpaw bristled. "Just because the Clans are at peace doesn't mean that we should go soft! And "fine" isn't good enough!"

Pebblefoot looked taken aback. "Okay," he muttered.

Nightpaw felt bad for yelling at his mentor, but this was important.

Once at the training grounds, Pebblefoot ran Nightpaw through all of the basic attack and defend positions.

"I still don't see why you wanted to practice, you are doing everything perfectly." Pebblefoot commented.

"I just like to be prepared." Nightpaw replied as he executed what Pebblefoot calls "a perfect front paw swipe".

Pebblefoot sighed. "How about some sparing?"

"Sure," Nightpaw responded as he crouched into an attack position.

Pebblefoot charged at Nightpaw, but Nightpaw was ready. He easily leapt onto Pebblefoot's back, clawing his spine with a sheathed paw. Pebblefoot stopped his charged and tried to shake Nightpaw off. When his attempts didn't work, he rolled onto his back, but not before Nightpaw jumped off. Nightpaw jumped back onto Pebblefoot and pinned him on his back, when Pebblefoot went limp, Nightpaw was not fooled.

"Alright, you win." Pebblefoot stated as Nightpaw let him up. "I told you, you are already at your best."

"Well, maybe my best isn't good enough." Nightpaw muttered.

"Okay, Nightpaw, what's wrong?" Pebblefoot questioned.

"I'm worried about my brother."

"Beetlepaw? Why?" Pebblefoot was surprised.

"Because he's not a traitor! He wouldn't do that! Maybe we was just exchanging news when he was out for a walk. He probably didn't even intend to meet that ShadowClan app– uh… cat." Nightpaw stammered. "He has… a hard time sleeping so… he goes out on night walks a lot to clear his head."

Pebblefoot narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "And why would he be at the border?"

"He probably went to check it since he was out there anyway. You can never be too careful."

Pebblefoot sighed. "It's getting late, and we're both on the dawn patrol tomorrow."

The two went back to camp. Pebblefoot gave Nightpaw permission to eat and he chose a plump trout to share with Beetlepaw. When Nightpaw went to the den were Beetlepaw was kept, he was stopped by Robinwing.

"What are you doing?" Nightpaw asked.

"No one is allowed to see Beetlepaw," Robinwing reported.

"And why is that?" He questioned.

Robinwing shrugged. "Mistystar's orders."

Nightpaw let out a hiss of frustration. "Well, can you give him this trout? It's his favorite."

Robinwing nodded and picked up the trout. He entered Beetlepaw's den.

Nightpaw marched up to his leader's den. "Mistystar!" He called.

"What is it, Nightpaw?" Mistystar asked when he entered the den.

"Why won't you let anyone see Beetlepaw?" Nightpaw asked.

Mistystar sighed. "It's complicated, Nightpaw we'll get this all settled out."

Nightpaw shook his head. "He didn't do anything wrong," He muttered as he left the den.

Nightpaw went to the apprentices' den and settled down as far away from Foxpaw and Fernpaw as possible.

The next morning, Nightpaw waited for the rest of the dawn patrol. Those who were going on the patrol were Pebblefoot, Rushheart, and Mintfur with their apprentices, Nightpaw, Foxpaw, and Fernpaw.

"A rather big border patrol," Mintfur muttered.

"I would be a good for the apprentices to get along." Rushheart commented.

Pebblefoot snorted at Rushheart's comment. "Alright, let's go, guys."

Once at the border, they met another large border patrol lead by Boulderfur consisting of Leaftail and Emberfoot, with their apprentices, Eaglepaw and Harepaw.

Nightpaw went to exchange a greeting with Harepaw. "Beetlepaw got caught meeting with Smokepaw."

Harepaw nodded, "He contacted me in a dream." He shrugged. "StarClan knows how."

"And Beetlepaw says that they're here." Nightpaw whispered.

Harepaw gaped. "Already?"

Nightpaw was just about to say something else, but they were interrupted by Fernpaw and Foxpaw's yowling. They rushed over to where it came from beside the horseplace.