Maplepaw awoke to the sounds of newleaf. The sunlight was streaming through the bramble walls of the den. Jeez. It's bright out today. She stood and stretched, then poked Wolfpaw and Thunderpaw with her tail to wake them up.
"Come on and get up, sleepyhead."
"Whaaaaaaaaaaaaat…" Wolfpaw moaned.
"Foxleaf and Sagetail want us to practice tree jumping."
"I'm coming," Thunderpaw grumbled.
Foxleaf was waiting for them by the camp entrance. "Hi. Sagetail told me something came up and she's got to skip out, but I'm still here." Skipped out? She and Wolfpaw exchanged a glance. Maplepaw guessed he was thinking the same thing as she was. She must be meeting the ShadowClan cat!
But Foxleaf led them over toward the WindClan border instead. "You already know how to climb trees, right?" The three apprentices nodded. "Alright then. Climb on up here and I'll give you some jumping tips." They did so.
"What you should avoid doing is jumping onto dead branches," Foxleaf mewed. "Dead branches are more brittle and weaker, and they can break off easily. Sometimes it can be hard to tell what's dead and what's not in leaf-bare, though." Foxleaf flicked a black-tipped tail toward a sickly-looking branch. "Like that one over there."
"Got it," Maplepaw mewed. She stepped out onto the tree limb and cautiously padded outward until she felt it would break if she went much further. And then she leapt onto a thick-looking branch and landed safely.
But then Sagetail came back into her mind. I know she's doing something, she thought. I've got to go see for myself before Sagetail gets back! "I'm going to go make dirt," she called to Foxleaf, who didn't reply. She was busy watching Wolfpaw. Whatever. I'm still going. Maplepaw hopped down off of the tree and made her way to the ShadowClan border.
She could scent Sagetail. The deputy had definitely been this way. She followed the trail and saw Sagetail on the border. And standing beside her was a brown tabby tom who looked a bit scared of her. Maplepaw paused, trying not to make any noise, and strained to hear their words.
"How soon will it be?" Sagetail hissed to the tom.
"We're working on it," Maplepaw could sense the tom's suppressed terror.
"Oakpelt, I said," Sagetail snarled, "How - soon - will - it - be?"
"I don't know!" Oakpelt was no longer covering up his terror. "Cats are unpredictable!"
"I'll give you one day," The deputy decided. "To tell me when. Otherwise I'll tell your whole Clan what you've done. You are dismissed." The tom hurriedly ran back to his own territory. With a swish of her ginger tail, Sagetail got up and began to leave. She's coming toward me! StarClan, don't let her see me… She shrank back further into the bush. The white-and-ginger she-cat left without noticing.
What has Oakpelt done? She decided to ask the elders later. They might've heard rumors. And what is Sagetail plotting?