Early Morning Frost: Chapter 14
The dusk sky turned to night and the stars woke up as the Clan went to sleep. The apprentices had spent the whole day restocking the empty prey pile. But now, the young cats finally got to rest their tired paws.
"Whew!" Graypaw sighed as she snuggled into her nest. "What a day! I can't believe we had to restock the whole fresh-kill pile!"
Pinkpaw nodded. Then she turned to Specklepaw and Spottedpaw. "How are you feeling?"
"Hey," Spottedpaw glared teasingly at her. "We've been apprentices for a half-moon now; we aren't kits. We are just fine."
"I'm tired though," Specklepaw admitted quietly.
Graypaw sighed through her nose and tucked her muzzle into her paws. Pinkpaw glanced at the two sisters and then at Thornpaw. He was rolling around white stuff in his nest. Then Figpaw finally piped up.
"Well, are we all gonna sleep or are we gonna go to the farmplace?" The mottled tom meowed irritatedly.
Thornpaw hooked some of the fluff on his claws and threw it at him. "Fine. Let's go." The brown-gold tabby hated agreeing with Figpaw.
But Specklepaw and Spottedpaw looked uncertainly at each other. They were going to the farmplace- at night? Without their mentors? Did they have bat brains?
"It's where we get this wool," Pinkpaw explained to them, flicking a scrap of fluff from her nest. "It's nice to sleep on."
"Are you two mouse-hearts scared?" Figpaw asked, turning his narrowed green eyes at them.
Spottedpaw jumped up. "No way, and we aren't mouse-hearts." She growled at the gray tomcat.
"Shut your faces, 'paws." An angry warrior yowled from his nest somewhere in the camp.
"Sorry, Gentlevoice!" Graypaw meowed to her mentor. Then she added in a whisper, "He doesn't have much of a gentle voice."
Figpaw snorted and walked over to the rabbit hole and crawled into the darkness. Thornpaw and Pinkpaw followed after him. Graypaw stood up nudged the newer apprentices to the hole.
"What about Fuzzypaw?" Specklepaw asked, throwing a glance over her shoulder where Fuzzypaw was still sleeping.
"She's too scared. She wouldn't go last time we went." Graypaw shrugged, leading them into the burrow.
Specklepaw squinted. Figpaw was in the back pawing at a wall of rock. She didn't understand how being in a hole would get them to the farmplace. But she tried to look over Graypaw's shoulder to see.
"Yeow!" She squeaked as she hit her head on the earthy ceiling.
"It's a tight fit," Pinkpaw said, glancing behind her at Specklepaw. The cream-colored she-cat sighed and tried to make room for them by pressing against Thornpaw.
"Finally," Figpaw muttered. The loose rocks tumbled down.
"Hey, watch it!" Thornpaw yowled as a stone fell on his paw. He stumbled backwards and bumped into Graypaw.
"You watch it!" Graypaw whacked her brother's tail out of her face.
Specklepaw and Spottedpaw simply gazed at the hole. It was black and dark and looked scary. Figpaw flicked his tail. Thornpaw grunted and bit down on the tom's tail, then Thornpaw took hold of Pinkpaw's, and then Graypaw took her brother's tail in her mouth, and Spottedpaw gulped- But she still bit down on Graypaw's tail. Specklepaw began to back up. They were going into the deeper hole. This is why Fuzzypaw hadn't gone with them, and why they hadn't asked her this time. It was because Fuzzypaw was afraid. It looked very scary.
But Specklepaw held onto her sister's tail and Figpaw led them into the tunnel. The dim light from the moon and stars disappeared as they wandered deeper underground. The tunnel twisted around like a snake, but there were no turns or other tunnels. Specklepaw couldn't see her own nose in front of her; she relied on Figpaw to lead them out of the tunnels.
Spottedpaw began to pant heavily. Her heart raced. They were underground. If the tunnels collapsed, they'd be trapped underground forever!
"Specklepaw, don't be a mouse-heart," Figpaw growled as he came to the first cross-path.
"It's not me, it's Spottedpaw who's afraid," Specklepaw murmured to herself.
Figpaw led them through the left fork and they continued their trek to the farmplace. Specklepaw began to wonder how the tunnels got their in the first place.
"Where do the tunnels come from?" She asked aloud.
Through tail fur, Pinkpaw explained, "WindClan used to have two warrior ranks: Moor-runners and tunnelers. Tunneling was stopped a long time ago by Heatherstar, the WindClan tom leader. These are some of the many tunnels from back then."
"Why don't we use them anymore?" Spottedpaw asked.
"I don't know," Pinkpaw replied, her voice carrying back to them through the darkness. "All of the tunnel entrances are blocked up and forgotten, except we found the one in that rabbit hole."
Heatherstar sounds more like a she-cat name... Specklepaw thought idly. Suddenly, she bumped into Spottedpaw. Figpaw had stopped walking.
"Are you lost?" Thornpaw growled. "We've done this a thousand times!"
"No," Specklepaw could smell his fear-scent as the leading apprentice couldn't decide which way to go. "Okay, we're lost."
"H-how will we get out?!" Spottedpaw yowled loudly, dropping Graypaw's tail.
"Never let go of the tail in front of you," Thornpaw meowed, hearing Spottedpaw's voice clear.
Specklepaw could hear the older apprentices shuffling and give off fear-scent. Spottedpaw quickly grabbed Graypaw's tail again. Figpaw couldn't choose between the paths in front of him. She had heard stories from the elders about trips to the Moonstone; how there were tunnels in the Mothermouth and it was easy for cats to be lost forever. Were these tunnels like the ones in the Mothermouth?
"We're stuck here," Pinkpaw said at last.
Then a cold breeze blew through the tunnels and every cat started to panic. A cat spirit brushed past them and stood by Figpaw. The ghost offered light, and Specklepaw could see Figpaw trying to press against the wall away from the cat. the cat wasn't starry like StarClan were supposed to be, so Specklepaw wondered why it was there.
"Oh, Shimmer Frost, you got lost again," it sounded like a she-cat, and she was talking to herself. Shimmer Frost didn't even notice the apprentices. "I'll never get out of here..."
"Shimmer F-Frost?" Spottedpaw meowed to the spirit.
"Huh? Who's there?" The small she-cat whipped around and stared straight straight the apprentices. Shimmer Frost flattened her ears and sighed. "Well, I am pretty hungry. My belly must be talking to me..."
The faint ginger turned back around and looked at the three tunnels that branched out in front of her. Graypaw whispered softly, "Maybe if we shout her name, she'll hear us."
"Okay," Her brother nodded.
All at once, they shouted, "SHIMMER FROST!"
The ghostly cat jumped and stared at them with wide eyes. "Who are you?"
"We're apprentices of WindClan." Figpaw mewed. "We were going to the farmplace, but now we're lost."
"Oh! Did you follow me?" She tipped her head.
The apprentices looked at each other with uncertainty. This she-cat was dead- just a spirit! And she didn't know it.
"No, but can you lead us out of here?" Thornpaw asked her politely.
"Yes, grab my tail and follow me." She shifted her eyes around.
When Figpaw and Thornpaw had tails in their mouths, Shimmer Frost took a path and led them through. Specklepaw marveled at the dark rich soil that the tunnels were made of. She scented stale ground hogs and other critters. The ancient tunnelers of WindClan probably hunted for them long ago, and they probably still could. The WindClan cats, dead and alive, became silent as they took twists and turns in the cobweb of tunnels.
Suddenly, they all bumped into each other as Shimmer Frost stopped. Her light showed them that they were at a dead end.
"I'm sorry, I'm lost." The sandy-ginger shook her head in shame. Her glowing blue eyes, absent of pupils, were narrowed in apology. She slipped past them and faded as she ran away.
"We are so dead!" Spottedpaw wailed.
[A/N] Someone PM'd me asking why I put so many side adventures in my stories... Heh heh, you'll see later.
BTW, in the summary, one cat leaves the Clan and one falls for a kittypet... Which cats? *duhn duhn*