Chapter 4 – Whitepaw

With a cry she tumbled down the slope and landed with a thud in Sunclan camp.

Her eyes widened as Sunclan cats stared at her. Some looked hostile, some just suprised.

They began to crowd around her asking questions, but Whitepaw couldn't focus. Slowly she got to her paws and yelped in surprise as a large black and white toms sniffed her then bared his teeth and declared "Nightclan!"

Whitepaw's fur bristled and she turned around to see a pale grey she-cat walk through the crowd. The way she was able to part the crowd made Whitepaw decide she was someone important, probably the leader or deputy.

A brown tabby looked at the pale she-cat and asked "What should we do with her?"

The pale she-cat flicked her ear to the tom then looked directly at Whitepaw "What's your name?" she asked, her voice calm and steady.

".. Whitepa- Whitekit... well I should be Whitepaw now but..." Whitepaw trailed off.

"And why are you here?" the silver she-cat asked, flicking her tail.

"I... because of a stupid mistake Lionstar decided to delay my ceremony until the end of this moon. So I snuck out.. it wasn't fair that my sister could explore the territory and I couldn't... and I ended up here. I guess I crossed the border... I thought I smelt something odd" Whitepaw said, trying to sound as innocent as possible.

It seemed to work.

"Fine... honestly Lionstar ought to take better care of the young cats in the clan" the she-cat mewed, shaking her head "A fox or anything could have got you"

Whitepaw shuddered slightly. Even with her half a moon of training she stood no chance against a fox. The elders had stories with the fierce animals in them. In fact it was a fox that ripped Rabbittail's tail off when he was an apprentice.

It would have been horrible she and Timberpaw had ran into a fox.

Timberpaw she thought, remembering that the tom had came with her Where is he? Surely he would have came to help? Or did he.. abandon me?

Whitepaw looked at her paws and the brown tom that had spoken to the silver she-cat earlier mewed "Miststar, what do we do with her?" he asked, the same question he had asked earlier.

Miststar Whitepaw thought So she must be the leader. That's good because she doesn't seem like the type of cat who would take me prisoner or cause too much trouble over this.

"We will take her home, of course" Miststar mewed, glancing at Whitepaw with a kind smile "Lionstar will be the one to decide her punishment"

The black and white tom let out a low growl "She could be a spy!"

Miststar sighed and shook her head "Lionstar's not the type of cat to use spies, remember that was Nightstar. Their first leader"

Whitepaw flicked her ears. Nightstar seemed to have a reputation in all clans, not just her own. She wondered if they told the same story they told in Nightclan, the one she was told as a kit, in the other clans.

"I, Spottedpelt and Tigerstripe will tame Whitekit back to her clan" Miststar mewed.

She's chosen two of the cats that never really acted awful to me Whitepaw thought she's wise. The ones who are acting hostile would cause trouble.

Miststar and the other two led her through Sunclan's territory, back towards Nightclan territory.

They paused at the border, where Miststar glanced around possibly looking for a patrol to hand her over to.

There was none, so they crossed the border and padded into Nightclan territory.

"I honestly can't remember where your camp is, it was awhile ago when I visited it to discuss matters with Lionstar" Miststar mewed, looking at Whitepaw.

Whitepaw said nothing, unsure of what to say. A kit wouldn't know the territory at all. With her half moon of training she still sometimes had trouble with directions.

They padded around for awhile until they managed to find the training hollow. In there Leafpaw and her mentor, also Whitepaw's father, were training.

Silverstone froze and turned around. His claws were unsheathed and he was prepared to attack when he noticed the cats before him did not seem hostile and one of them was his daughter.

"Miststar..." Silverstone trailed off then looked at his daughter sternly "Did you... trespass onto their territory?"

Whitepaw looked at her paws and Miststar mewed "I will say everything soon. First please lead me to your camp"

Silverstone looked reluctant at first then sighed "Follow me"

Silverstone took the lead with Miststar and her warriors right behind him.

Leafpaw and Whitepaw followed them, a slight distance behind.

"Did you really...?" Leafpaw asked, quietly.

"Yeah... so did Timberpaw... but I don't know where he is now" Whitepaw murmured in response.

Leafpaw looked concerned for her missing brother "I haven't seen him" she whispered "I hope he's okay"

Whitepaw gave a slight nod, though she still felt disappointed and betrayed by Timberpaw. She didn't know how to react, or how she would react to him when she saw him again.

"Hopefully Lionstar won't punish you that badly" Leafpaw mewed, with a friendly smile.

"Yeah..." Whitepaw muttered.

Soon their camp was in sight and they hurried up, as they had been trailing quite far behind but hadn't realised how far from the others they had gotten.

As they crossed the camp, her clanmates stared in shock. It was of course because of the Sunclan leader and warriors.

Lionstar was lying atop the Jagged rock, his long golden fur ruffled slightly from the breeze.

Whitepaw saw him narrow his eyes slightly before getting to his paws and climbing down the highrock.

He padded over to them and gave a nod to Miststar before speaking, "What brings you here?"

Miststar beckoned Whitepaw forward and Whitepaw moved to srand beside her. "Whitekit here wanted to explore the territory, ignoring the rules and of course the punishment you gave her. She wandered across the border and fell into our camp"

Lionstar's eyes widened for a moment. His turned his gaze to Whitepaw, his stare making her feel uncomfortable. He's mad at me Whitepaw thought, shuddering slightly but also wondering about why Miststar called me Whitekit and why she mentioned a punishment.

"I will leave now" Miststar mewed and went to leave, her two warriors following her.

"Silverstone, escort them to the border" Lionstar commanded.

Silverstone nodded and went joined the Sunclan cats as they left camp.

Whitepaw noticed her mother and sister had obviously been listening. Frostpaw had a look of disapproval on her face and Icepool... she looked dissapointed.

Icepool padded forward "I thought you promised me that you wouldn't cause any more trouble, or break any more rules. Do you realise that you could have gotten seriously hurt?" she mewed her words sharp but her eyes soft.

Frostpaw padded forward "You better get punished for this, cats like you need to learn they can't just do what they want"

Whitepaw's fur bristled slightly at her sister's words.

Icepool nodded "I agree that she should be punished... Lionstar what will her punishment be?"

Lionstar looked thoughtful then spoke, his voice loud and clear "For trespassing on another clan's territory Whitepaw will be punished. For half a moon she will take care of the elders alone, and in spare time afterwards she can train. Also she will not be coming to the upcoming gathering"

Whitepaw sighed, she had been looking forward to the gathering.

"Only half a moon!" muttered Frostpaw "If I was leader I would make that a moon!"

Whitepaw stalked off toward the apprentice den. When she passed Frostpaw she hissed in her ear "I heard that, you piece of fox-dung. Anyway no one in the right mind would make you leader"

Her sister hissed back "A cat with no respect for rules won't even have a chance of becoming a warrior!"

Whitepaw walked away in silence then curled up in her nest. She flattened her ears then let out another big sigh.

Starclan help me she thought the next half moon is going to be sooo boring!

AN : Another chapter for you lovely readers!

QOTD : Who's your favourite character in this story so far?

.

Please review and include your response to the question above in it!

Remember to check out my other ongoing fanfic Eaglestar's Reign.