Chapter 13, After All
Icepaw spun around, heart pounding. The loud pulse in her ears made it so she couldn't hear anything. The forest was dark and the gloom prevented her from seeing anything. She squinted. Had it been nothing? Her heartbeat gradually began to slow and she let out a heavy sigh. What was I thinking? She asked herself shakily. I'll never fit in here if I jump at every slight noise. She gave one last glance in the direction of the snapped twig and began to pad away, her paws dragging slightly. For a moment, she fought to suppress the giggle that came to her mind. What are you giggling at, mousebrain? She asked herself. The forest floor looks red here, she answered in her mind. She had never thought the floor beneath her paws could be red. It brought an odd thrill to her mind. Suddeny the gloom didn't seem so bad. I will find my way back to camp.
Suddenly, a voice resounded from behind her. "Icepaw," it said.
She spun around once again, blue eyes flashing with alarm. "Wha-" she began, then saw who it was. "Snakepaw!" she had first met the tabby tom in theShadowClan camp, when she had arrived there.
"I followed you," he mewed nervously, staring at his gray paws.
"I gathered," she said drily.
He glanced up. "Well, think you can find your way back in the dark?"
She snorted. "Isn't that the whole purpose of this test?"
He looked like the conversations wasn't going the way he had hoped. He sighed, and said, "Would you like my help?"
"Do you need my help?" he asked cautiously, swallowing. It really was very dark outside of the camp.
The conversation was going in circles. "Look, Snakepaw. We can stay here gabbing all night, or I can get back to camp on my own, or I can be devoured by some badger, or you can help me. The first one really isn't an option. What is it going to be?" she realized her words were sharp but couldn't help herself from saying them. The darkness wasn't going to get less as the night wore on, and she wasn't going to get any less hungry, unless she caught something in this seemingly forlorn forest.
"Do you want me to help you, though?" he asked, still nervous.
She sighed. "What do you mean?"
"Well, if I help you they might find out. Also you won't be confident of yourself as a ShadowClan cat," he mewed, looking at his paws again.
She considered, staring into his amber eyes. "Alright," she conceded. "I'll find the way back myself." She began to pad away with her white tail low, when she looked back. "I wouldn't object to some company though..." she let her sentence trail away.
He nodded briskly and set after her. Some small part of her wanted to smile inside.
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The dark forest seemed to press around the apprentices as they padded beneath the branches. An owl hooted above them, staring at the moon that could not give light to the two below because of the thick canopy above them. Although the moon had risen, the forest seemed just as dark as ever to Icepaw. Upon looking around, however, she realized this wasn't could see moonlight across the forest floor, but in small oddly shaped patterns, like tiny licks of flame on the carpet of pine needles.
Snakepaw realized he hadn't been out of camp this late before. Moonpaw and Silverpaw sometimes went out - he had heard from the senior warriors that they caused trouble - but he never had after sunset. It had an eerie beauty to it, although his heart was pounding. He hoped Icepaw, who was leading them back to camp, knew where she was going. He realized that he didn't actually know the way back, so it was a good thing she hadn't accepted his offer of help.
The white shecat paused to sniff a space between two pine trees. "I think I smell something odd here," she reported back without turning her head.
He padded forward next to her, and sniffed also. He cocked his head. "That does smell weird," he said. "You know, I've never smelled that before."
This made more of an impression than he had intended. Her spine stiffened. Her fur began to stand on end. Her blue eyes scanned the dark forest, which was impossible to see far in. Suddenly, something clicked in her mind. A word surfaced. The word was, fox. She jumped at the revelation. The description of fox scent Wolfsong had told her about fit the smell perfectly. "Get back!" she mewed louder than she had intended. "It's a fox," she said in lower tones. "And it's fresh,"Snakepaw added a moment later. "Let's go," he mewed, scooting away into the darkest part of the trees.
Icepaw wished he hadn't gone where no moonlight shone, but ran after him swallowed as she looked around the place he had taken him. Unlike the rest of the forest, the trees here were not planted in rows. They had grown to make a grove, and all the branches overlapped so she couldn't see outside of the shivered. It was cold and she was frightened. The effect of the grove was rather similar to when she had looked the opposite direction that a row of pine trees. She shook herself. "Why are we here?" she asked cautiously.
"If the fox comes any way but the way we came in, it won't be able to get at us and we'll have a good warning that it is coming this way. We can dash out the open side of the grove to safety." He whispered loudly, so she could hear him.
"But if the fox comes in the open side of the grove, it'll trap us," she protested, frowning.
"We'll just have to hope that it doesn't," he said a bit uncomfortably.
She looked at him. His amber eyes were trained on the dark entrance to the grove. "We have to get out of this grove. Getting a warning from the fox won't help much if the other option is getting trapped." Upon seeing him look even more uncomfortable, she added, "It was a good idea, and could work in daylight. But I'm not used to the way this forest smells yet, so all I can smell is pines, honestly. I was lucky picking up the fox scent. What I can do is run, and we need to get back to camp as soon as we can. Besides, I'm making the decisions," she ended playfully.
"Okay," he mewed. Then he added seriously, "As long as your decisions don't lead to my death."
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Icepaw had made her way back to ShadowClan camp by the time the sun was rising. Icepaw let out a heavy breath of relief as she saw the familiar form of Sleetflash hurrying over to greet her. "You got back safely!" the gray medicine cat said, blue eyes deep pools of relief.
"Yes," Icepaw said wasn't sure whether she could tell Sleetflash about Snakepaw or not. She was saved by talking about him by his appearance. Once they were within distance of camp, they had split up and he had snuck into the apprentices den. Silverpaw was tagging after him. "Why weren't you in the den this morning?" she asked. She hadn't even noticed Icepaw.
"I snuck out early for some prey, I told you." He said. He wondered why he felt amused by her questioning. As he looked at Icepaw, he suddenly had a flash of why. She made everything seem more funny and less threatening.
"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather here beneath the High Ledge for a Clan meeting!" Petalstar yowled upon seeing Icepaw return. "She has passed the first test," the white shecat continued, eyes surveying the Clan beneath her. "And now must pass the second. If she passes the second, she will become a full member of this Clan. If she fails, I will decide her fate."
Icepaw shuddered.
"She will need someone to verify if she guessed all of the dens correctly," Petalstar hesitated. She needed someone she could trust to not lie, and couldn't get involved herself because they would think she was showing too much of an interest in Icepaw. "Snakepaw?" she asked hesitantly.
The brown and gray tom stepped forward, and bent his head. "I will see to the test," he said.
As they went to the far side of camp, she turned to him. "So," she began. "Which den should we start with?"
"Nice try," he scoffed. "Not like I'm going to name them for you."
She made a face. "Darn it."
"Come on, slowpoke! You won't guess them by standing there making faces." He sped off in the direction of Petalstar's den, making a face at her.
She growled and sped after him. He'd have to pay for calling her a slowpoke. As he skidded to a halt and looked back at her, her whiskers twitched. Maybe living in ShadowClan wouldn't be so strange and alien after all, when she had a friend there.
Wow! I think that's my longest chapter so far. (I know, not much happened. There may be a lot of chapters like this in sight, before I get to twists in the plot and soforth.) Replying to reviews:
Miryam Lea: I'm glad you like it (Sorry about the last chapter, I have a limit on my time so often split things up into smaller chapters than I would like). I think it's fairly safe to say she will, otherwise I think my plot developing skills might need some work!
Koraki: Obviously she did, and while I'm not giving out spoilers she will probably pass the next test as well. Hahahaha, I'm glad you like it! (Somehow my quickest allegiance job made my best warrior names... weird, eh?) I think most of the ShadowClan warriors will play minor parts in the story, so we should get more on her soon. Yep I luvers her! Petalstar is awesome, if you don't mind me saying so. (I haven't quite got the whole 'humble' thing down yet, so please excuse me) I dislike them both, although I hope they will develop into more likeable people. (Hope; sometimes my mind takes control and writes whole chapters I don't even know about. Just kidding.) I hate reading cliffies but love writing them! Weird!
monkeyCsaw: Thanks for reviewing! I love both Snakepaw and Sleetflash, and dislike Silverpaw and Moonpaw, so we have a lot in common there! Hm... just out of curiosity, can you point a few of the errors out to me? (Sometimes I'll have to go and edit this up a lot, but I seem to never want to do it or never have the time) Anyways, hope you enjoy future chapters and this one!