Right, for a upload schedule I'm trying to get at least one chapter up a month. Just for a general schedule of when I'm uploading. _

Chapter 5

A figure wove through the trees, their eyes scanning the land. Their delicate paw steps barley rustled the leaves that littered the ground. They glanced back towards their companions, who didn't even seem to be trying to take as much care to be quiet as she was. It was annoying really. You go out of your way to do something but it doesn't matter because two idiots, or mouse brains, if you please, do the opposite. Well not the opposite, but they could at least try to be quieter.

She twitched her ears in annoyance, eyes scanning the forest. She heard one of them grumble something to the other cat, only to have the other cat hiss in reply.

" Would both of you shut up?" She hissed, turning around, making sure her voice was low. She narrowed her eyes, lashing her tail. One of her companions rolled their eyes while the other gave her a dirty look.

Out of all the cats that could have been picked to go with her on this mission, why did it have to be these two? She turned around, sniffing the air. They were close to the border. She looked around for any cats, spotting none.

" What's the point of doing this? " One of her companions grumbled, fluffing out his fur and lashing his tail. She twitched her ears annoyedly.

" Are you trying to tell everyone that we're here?" She hissed, narrowing her eyes. She paused and turned to her companions. " Yeah Pluto, shut it. " Her other companion snorted.

" You too Umber. " Pluto growled, glaring at the brown and white cat. Sylva stared at her companions, lashing her tail. " Now both of you, shut your- " she froze as she heard paw steps behind her. Umber crouched down, fluffing out his fur and Pluto took a step back. Of course! She thought, turning around and looking at the patrol, shoulders tense.

A short brown tabby paused and sniffed the air. She glanced around and met Sylva's eyes.

" Leafpaw, are you part of the patrol or not? " A white cat said, turning back towards the tabby, who's name was Leafpaw.

" Oh I thought I saw something. " She said, turning to meet the taller cat's gaze. The white she cat let out a sigh.

" Well whatever it was, it probably wasn't a threat. " The white she cat said, shaking out her pelt. " Come on."

Sylva watched as the cats left, letting the tension leave her shoulders. " That was close. " Pluto said after the patrol's paw steps faded away. Sylva turned to look at the two toms, twitching her tail.

" Why… why didn't she tell the other cat the truth?" Umber said, staring at the trees, shuffling his paws. " She probably didn't perceive us as a threat. " Sylva said, whiskers twitching. Umber gave her a look before scanning the forest, his ears twitching. He gave his paw a swift lick, his tail twitching uneasily.

Sylva sniffed the air, feeling a gust of wind hit her flank. " Well, should we start heading back or continue on our way? " She asked, watching Umber and Pluto, her eyes narrowed.

" Start heading back. We want to get back before sundown. " Pluto said, looking towards the sky. " Yeah, let's go back. " Umber said, fluffing out his fur. It's not that far away! She thought, annoyed. Of course that's what they chose. Why would they continue?

" Well, we'll start heading back then. We should try and catch something before leaving. " She said, taking a few steps forward before tasting the air. " If you haven't already scared away all the prey. " She added with a huff. Because that's one of the main reasons we were SENT here in the first place. But you guys wanted to see the border.

" If we catch at least one thing, Torn might not have our heads. " She grumbled, fur bushing. She heard Umber grumble something under his breath as she walked away.

Sylva paced near the path, twitching her ears as monster after monster sped by. A break in the monsters seemed to be coming up.

" Get ready." She said around the mouthful of squirrel in her mouth. She heard a muffled reply from Umber and Pluto didn't reply. There it was. Sylva darted across the path, paws thudding against the ground as she ran at full speed. The monsters were approaching at a rapid speed. Closer. Closer.

She flung herself forward, landing on the ground by the path with a thump, dropping the squirrel and catching her breath. Pluto skittered past her, tripping over his paws. She got to her paws, grabbing the squirrel that she had caught on the way here in her jaws as Umber skidded to a stop beside her, breathing heavily. A monster flashed by the spot he was just standing.

Sylva stared at the thunder path and the forest that sat a few paw steps past it. She flicked her gaze back towards Umber and Pluto. Pluto shook out his fur, gazing towards where they needed to go next.

" Right, I think we've spent enough time standing around. " Pluto said, without looking back at his companions. He muttered something unintelligible under his breath, flicking his tail.

" What was that? " Umber growled around his mouthful of prey. Pluto ignored him and started walking away, disappearing around a comer. Sylva rolled her eyes and started forward as well, a grumbling Umber following her.

The meeting with Tom had gone as expected: He was annoyed that their first goal hadn't been hunting, but instead it was finding the border. Sylvia thought that was reasonable of course, they had gone out of their way to do a task that had nothing to do with their mission.

Pluto had said something about it not being their fault since they were sent into the forest. Umber had swiped at him, hissing that, yes, they were accountable for their actions, never blame anything that you did on the mission. Torn had found that amusing, but he continued lecturing them.

She paced back and forth, fur fluffing up. As punishment, they had to watch over camp, not that there'd be anyone dumb enough to invade camp. She stared at the street, grumbling. Umber and Pluto were sitting as far away for each other as they could. She shook herself, looking up at the moon. It was going to be a long night, wasn't it.