Chapter 13

Duskpaw walked back into camp with a bundle of marigold in her jaws. Twigshade was carrying poppy seeds in front of her. Orcafin came next with moss and cobwebs. Twigshade lead them to the medicine cat den and placed his herbs in their storage hold. Duskpaw placed the marigold in its hole then turned to Orcafin. Taking the moss she placed it in the pile next to the pool. She put the cobwebs in a pile at the back of the den.

"Thanks for the help," Twigshade mewed. Orcafin dipped his head.

"I'm just trying to make it up to you for saving Snowypaw," he mewed. Duskpaw smiled. The black and white tom helped them whenever he could to thank them for saving his brother. Sometimes he was actually useful.

"We appreciate it, but now you can return to your warrior duties," Twigshade smiled. Orcafin nodded and turned to leave.

"Bye," he called as he left the den.

"Bye," Duskpaw yelled after him. "We should have more cats in the clan like that," she purred. Twigshade glanced at her.

"It's odd how we saved his brother's life yet Orcafin's the one who's trying to make it up to us," he laughed. Duskpaw giggled. Twigshade smiled and turned to sorting the herbs. Duskpaw turned to help him when Snowypaw ducked inside the den.

"Can I speak with Duskpaw?" he asked. Duskpaw glanced at Twigshade. He nodded. She turned to Snowypaw.

"What is it?"

"Let's go outside," he mewed. Duskpaw followed him out into the camp. He lead her behind the empty elders den. "We have to get Silverpaw," he whispered. Duskpaw blinked at him.

"We are going to get her. The clan is going into war over her," she pointed out. Snowypaw lashed his tail.

"We will lose. We did last time and last time we had more cats," he growled. "We need to rescue her." Duskpaw studied his face, it was serious.

"But how in Starclan can we sneak into the Oceanclan camp to rescue her?" she asked. Snowypaw smiled.

"When I tried to free her last night I got close enough to smell something that was a little off about her," he mewed. Duskpaw tipped her head. "Water."

"Well she's beside the ocean," Duskpaw laughed. "Of course she smelled like it." Snowypaw narrowed his eyes.

"It was coming from her and her fur was wet. She must have been swimming," he insisted.

"Why would she be swimming?" Duskpaw asked.

"If she was attacked like I was then her legs would have been broken. So to help her heal they took her swimming. I heard Roarpaw say that Oceanclan cats do that at a gathering," he mewed. Duskpaw quietly thought about what he said.

"How is that going to help us rescue her?"

"If she was injured they wouldn't let her swim right there in front of the camp. They would take her to a gentle place, somewhere away from camp," he finished. Duskpaw gasped. He was right. It made perfect sense. Perhaps it was possible to save her and the clan.

"What's the plan?" she asked. Snowypaw grinned.

"We'll have to spy on their camp to see when they take her to swim and we find out when would be the best time to get her." Duskpaw gawked at him.

"Spy on the camp?" she echoed. "Are you seal-brained? How are we supposed to do that?" Snowypaw shrugged.

"We'll find out," he mewed. Duskpaw wasn't so sure.

"Do you really think we can rescue her?" she asked. Snowypaw nodded. Duskpaw sighed. "Then I'll help you." Snowypaw jumped to his paws, his eyes bright.

"Alright," he purred.

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Duskpaw stood at the border with Snowypaw. She had decided to spy first, it was her sister after all. She sniffed. There was only the stale scent of the dawn patrol and the faint scent of an Oceanclan hunting patrol. Taking a deep breath she stepped over the border.

No cat came and no scent reached her so she continued. Crouching down she quickly slunk across their territory. She followed the trail Maplestar had taken the night they had tried to save Silverpaw. It lead straight through their territory to their camp. Duskpaw walked fast and covered the ground quickly. She reached the camp in a matter of seconds.

A group of boulders hung over the cliff wall. She approached them. A hole just big enough for her was in between them. She crawled in and settled down to listen to what happened.

Seagullfur and his mate, Pelicanwing, left to hunt together. They were followed by Crabclaw, Sharknight, and their apprentices. The four were obviously headed to train for battle by the way Krisppaw and Shellpaw were violently nudging each other and talking about beating each other. Duskpaw rolled her eyes.

"Warrior apprentices," she muttered.

"Did you hear that?" a voice called. Duskpaw held her breath.

"Hear what Sandpaw?" a deep voice asked.

"It sounded like someone said something," Sandpaw mewed. Her voice was steadily coming closer and Duskpaw crouched farther back in her cave. Her fur brushed against leaves and she recognized tansy. The medicine cat apprentice was probably coming to pick some.

"Really?" the other voice asked.

"Yes Sealfeather," Sandpaw mewed. "I swear I heard someone say something," she insisted. There was the sound of an intake of breath and Duskpaw thanked Starclan she had rolled in fox-ding before she came.

"I smell fox," Sealfeather growled. "We must go tell Belugastar," he growled. His paw steps sounded on the rocky ground as he ran away. Sandpaw's lighter steps sounded after his. Duskpaw leapt to her paws and raced out of the cave as they ran away. Her heart twisted in disappointment that she hadn't found anything out but she couldn't stay any longer or she'd get caught.

Now that she was running she reached Frostclan territory within moments. Racing into the trees she dove under a bush and caught her breath. Panting she heard the bush start to rustle. She unsheathed her claws and barred her teeth in defiance. Suddenly Snowypaw's head popped in between the branches.

"What did you find?" he asked. Duskpaw let out a sigh of relief. With a murderer on the loose she couldn't be too careful.

"Nothing. They almost found my hiding place so I had to leave," she panted. Snowypaw looked frustrated.

"I'll spy tomorrow," he growled in disappointment. Then he seemed to soften. "Good job and thanks for trying," he purred. Then he whisked his head out and Duskpaw heard him run off. Duskpaw took a deep breath before crawling out of the bush. She pelted back to camp, thinking of the murderer had got her nervous.

When she reached camp she went straight to the medicine cat den. Twigshade was gone. His scent was faint but not yet stale so Duskpaw guessed that he had just left. Sighing she walked to her nest and curled into the soft moss. Settling down she felt disappointment sink in. She had failed. They were nowhere near rescuing her sister now.

Snowypaw will find something, she told herself, after all he's training to be a warrior, not me.

A/N:

Sorry for the really short chapter but I just got back from camp so I'm exhausted. But anyways I hoped you liked it and please review. Byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.