Chapter two, unfit and no choice.

Sandstorm had finally found some time to herself, among the mess she had made back at camp. Among neglecting duties, she kept forgetting who was where, and couldn't get a nod from anyone. She wasn't a good deputy, at least not yet. Whitestorm took over for Sandstorm. He was the obvious choice, why had Bluestar picked her? She now knew why Fireheart always seemed to be on edge with her. This was a tough job, especially with a leader like Bluestar. How did anyone hide her from the rest of the clan for so long. Sandstorm hadn't realized how much the brave leader had slipped until she became deputy.

She tried hunting. But her mind was drifting, and she missed an easy sparrow. She hissed her frustration as a squirrel escaped her claws into the safety of its tree. She herd a big rustling above where the squirrel went. Probably its family, or a bird. She gave up and decided to patrol the river clan border up past sunning rocks. She turned and walked toward the border. Strangely, the rustling followed her. Or, she was tricking herself with all the new stress.

Sandstorm reached the border, and instantly heard a familiar voice calling to her from across the river. She looked over to see Greystripe launch himself into the river. He swam across strongly, a mere grey, moving rock in the river, but he fought it like it was nothing. He made it to the Thunderclan side in a short time, and shook the water from his pelt. Sandstorm felt the old challenge of territory well up in her. She ignored it too, as Greystripe walked up to meet Sandstorm. She sat her ground. Maybe talking with him would bring her mind at ease. " Hello, Greystripe." she said solemnly. Greystripe looked at her, surprised. He had a right to. Last time she tried to drive him off with remarks. But Fireheart had allowed him to stay and talk.

"What's the warm welcome for?" he asked. He inspected her quickly "What's wrong?"

"I have a lot pressing in on me." She responded slowly.

"What, Fireheart giving you trouble? I can straighten him out, if you like. What happened to him, anyway? I haven seen him for a while."

" No, not as much as he had caused himself trouble" Sandstorm answered.

"What, has that love struck tom gotten on your bad side?" Greystripe said warmheartedly.

"Love struck?" Sandstorm asked.

"Err… What did he do." Greystripe corrected himself

" Well, Bluestar was convinced that wind clan had been stealing Thunderclan prey," Sandstorm couldn't believe she was spilling Thunderclan secrets to a Riverclan cat, but it was necessary to get the point across. "Fireheart believed that it was a dog, like most of the cats did. He went to Windclan, warned them of the battle that Bluestar had been planning, and held a piece meeting between Tallstar and Bluestar, with the help of Ravenpaw."

"That sounds exactly like something that Fireheart would do." Greystripe cut in. " He was always trying to get the best for everyone. So now you are a little put off by his betrayal of Bluestar's orders, and he's probably going to have to clean our the elders den for a moon now."

"No. Well, not exactly." Sandstorm shifted her paws in front of her, rolling the dirt rocks under her paws. A slight breeze picked up from the direction of Thunderclan's camp.

"I have to say, its not a lot to put against him." Greystripe offered. "Wouldn't you like to work out the dogs rather than fight with Windclan? He has his reasons, just like anyone. I'm sure that whatever they did to him was deserved but unjust."

"You don't know the half of it. As a direct result of it, I got a stubborn apprentice."

"Stubborn or not, haven't you always wanted one?" Greystripe asked.

"His… stubborn apprentice" Sandstorm continued. "And his place in the clan"

"Bluestar took away his deputyship? That's a new low." Greystripe said out loud.

"And 'drove' him from the clan. Now I don't know what to do. The pressure of being deputy is weighing in on me. I don't know what to do. I don't know if I can convince Bluestar to let him back into the clan. I don't think I can fill his pelt. I know that Bluestar's judgement had been clouded as of recently, but why me?" Sandstorm felt like a gutted piece of prey. She wouldn't have spilled to anyone before. Now she was confessing everything to an enemy warrior like a new queen.

Greystripe thought this over for a while. Sadness glazed his eyes, and it didn't take any thought to figure out why. Even when they were in separate clans, Greystripe had stayed close to Fireheart. Sandstorm was a witness of that. " I think that Bluestar may still have a soft spot for Fireheart. He was her apprentice, and she seemed to trust him with everything. I have to admit, if you were a bit darker, you would be a perfect copy of him from a distance." Greystripe slumped a bit. "He's devoted to Thunder clan. He probably didn't go far. I'm sure of it. Its not like Fireheart to just run away from Thunder clan. I, as a friend to him as well as you, recommend that you hold up on your part. He'll turn up."

Sandstorm knew that he was right. She felt stupid for not having faith in Fireheart. Who knew. Maybe Starclan would be on their side on this one. " Thank you, Greystripe. I fell better now." Greystripe accepted the thanks with a nod. " I should probably get of thunder clans territory." He looked around, like he would had he really been invading Thunderclan. "Without Fireheart to hold back Thunderclan, I'm truly in enemy territory." he turned to the river, and ran to its banks. " And if you find Fireheart, tell him to come visit me. I get lonely in River clan." He called over his shoulder. Without a second thought, he launched himself into the river, cutting the water's surface smoothly with his face. Sandstorm watched him for a moment, then turned back to the forest. She felt reinvigorated after her meeting with Greystripe. She felt like she could hunt again.

Once Sandstorm was back under the leaves of the forest again, she started to scent for prey. Instead a confusing mix of different scents hit her scent glands. First was one of Squirrel, mouse, and vole, three things that she was hunting, but surprisingly all together. Also, overlaying them was the scent of cat. The scent of her memory. She quickly followed the scent to a bush, and she dug her way under it. There, after some tight maneuvering, where a small space between the branches, was a small pile of fresh kill. She sniffed it over, and found Firehearts scent all over it. Excitement hit her. Greystripe had been right. Fireheart had stayed in the forest. The scent was fresh, so he was hear not to long ago. Maybe he was hunting near by. She tried to follow the scent trail.

The scent started at a specific point near the bush, about four tail lengths away from it. Then, to her dismay, came out on a nearby side to the bush, then, only a few whisker lengths away, disappeared completely. No matter where she stuck her nose, that's all to the scent there was. She sat down next to the bush, and shook he head in anger. How could she let a cat evade her so well? She found a neighboring bush, not to far form the first, and, her head already a few paces ahead of her, decided to try to catch Fireheart when he came back for his stash.

She crawled into the bush and waited. She continued to wait there, listening to the steady forest for the faintest sound of Firehearts return. Suddenly, a thought crossed her mind. Usually, when a cat wanted to retrieve prey, they would bury it so no other animals could get it or scent it. Fireheart had left this out, under a bush, yes, but still exposed. Had he left out this prey on purpose? She cleared her head of the thoughts. He may still return. She waited…

The sun had moved a considerable amount by the time Sandstorm woke up. She had dozed of waiting for Fireheart. She sniffed, trying to wake herself up, and a scent instantly filled her scent glands. Prey, and Fireheart. Her eye's instantly flickered open, and surprisingly, the prey from before was piled up atop her nose. She jumped, completely free from the weight of sleep.

But not from the clutches of her hiding spot. Her back rammed into a hard branch, snapping it. Her head, following the action, rammed sidelong into another branch, and her tail shot up and through a tight cluster of live but sharp twigs. The prey had fallen into a limp pile in front of where she had been sleeping, not effected by Sandstorms leap. She let out a yowl of pain as she hit the ground, soft dirt puffing up around her. Her body was tense, trying to will away the pain in her head and back. The new round of scratches along her tail was insignificant in comparison. She opened her eyes, which had been clenched shut, and saw the prey through her pain.

Fireheart had been here, and she had fallen asleep. She scolded herself for being so negligent. The prey had another dose of fresh scent from Fireheart. He had make it obvious that he wanted her to have the prey. She grabbed it, and set it down outside the cover, trying not to let her hits get the better of her. She tried to follow the scent trail, but it suddenly broke off again, and she couldn't find it again. She hissed her frustration and returned to the prey.

She picked up the vole and ripped into it. It was gone in a few short lived gulps. The food helped pick up her mood, though she still couldn't believe she had let what she was hunting walk right up to her and set prey on her face without her noticing. She froze at the thought. 'Hunting.' She truly had been hunting Fireheart, but not for food. A fresh pang of embarrassment rushed over her. She was the best hunter in Thunderclan. This was the first time in a long time when something slipped past her, let alone mess with her. She picked up the other two pieces and turned toward camp. She was glad that Fireheart was still in the forest, though. Somewhere…

Fireheart had gotten pretty good at jumping from tree to tree, and could now judge if a jump was safe or not. He was sure he would have broken everything in his body if he hadn't started practicing on low branches. He didn't know why thunder clan didn't use this method to start with. He did fall short some times, leaving him to claw for anything, but he had always found a grip somewhere, whether it was a trunk or a random branch. That only proved that it was safe enough. He decided to try his luck at hunting. He hadn't eaten for several days. He had been to caught up in testing his new way of life, and finding a place to nest.

He sat down on his branch near sunning rocks and listened for prey. Suddenly, a squirrel shot up next to him in an effort to reach its burrow. Instinctively, he jumped up and grabbed it by its tail before it could make it to its burrow, then, while it was air-born, killed it with a swift bite to its neck. He griped his squirrel and crawled the length of the branch. The squirrel was in full escape, and Fireheart wanted to know what it was escaping from.

Sandstorm was staring at the tree where the squirrel had disappeared into Firehearts jaws. She had probably been hunting it, and had managed to miss it. Cuiriosity flicked in Firehearts ear. She was known as the best hunter in the clan. How is it that she could catch such an easy mark as a old squirrel like this one. She shook her head, then stormed off into the forest towards the Riverclan border. He wanted to know what messed up her catch, but he couldn't just ask her, for more reasons than three.

Not only was she prideful of her catching skills, but he was an outcast to the clan. Also, he was on her territory, plus he had caught the squirrel that she had missed. He figured he would just get back to hunting.

He listened and scented, but mostly he watched. Though with the birds he could track them by scent because he was on level with them usually, all the rest of the prey was on the ground. Even from a lower branch, where he would have to be to make his leap, it was hard to smell anything on the ground, and though he could also listen, the odd angle sometimes played its tricks on him. So, mostly, he watched. Silently, from tree to tree, from branch to branch he moved

It wasn't long before he caught glimpse of vole. It was a plump mark, scurrying across the ground in pursuit of food. Fireheart slipped onto a lower branch, instinctively falling into the hunters crouch. He had to readjust himself to the rounder foothold of a branch, which was always harder the previous day then the next. The vole stopped, staring down a mouse not to far away. The mouse scurried up to the vole, and stood, staring at it. They were both young, so they probably were meeting one of the other kind for the first time.

Fireheart had never caught two pieces of prey in one leap. But he was experiencing a lot of other first, too. He drop-leaped on top of them. The mouse saw him, one moment to late, and released a shrill squeak. Fireheart landed, one paw on one each, and ended both of them with two quick nips to the neck. He found it strange to have to deal with two pieces of prey from one jump, and had almost left the vole. He returned to the squirrel he had left in the tree, almost walking up the side of the tree. He had gotten more skilled and stronger at climbing, since he had done it several more times than any Thunderclan cat that he knew. Knew…

He was worried about how everyone faired back at camp when he left. Darkstripe probably sneered his approval with a kittypet comment. Fireheart thought of Cinderpelt. He laughed at the though of her doing the same. He couldn't imagine her face twisted up in a sneer. She would have tried when she was younger, and his apprentice.

He had a sudden idea. What if he left out his prey, so that a Thunderclan cat could get at it. If he burried it, his scent would be burried with the prey, making it easy for them to pick it out. But… with a bush… scents seamed to disapate faster.

He made up his mind. He would leave this catch out for Thunderclan. Hopefully, Sandstorm would come back through here when she returned to camp. Maybe she would find it. He tried to imagine her path of travel. She would probably come along the clearest path. He would hide his catch under a bush, exposed so she could find it. He would make it hard for a bigger creature to get at, so a fox nor a badger would be able to get at it. He traveled a few trees, then dropped down next to and exposed point of the forest…

Fireheart was traveling home. He almost burst with laughter. He had watched the prey, so that if Sandstorm didn't get it, then he could take it home himself. She had made a desperate search for the cat that had caught it, but she couldn't find them. She had taken to another bush, and had taken a nap. Fireheart thought it would be funny if he piled it atop her face! It was easier though than said. But he had pilled up all three pieces across her nose, and made it away without waking her. He could almost imagine her start when she awoke.

He had needed to get back at her for putting fire-ants in his pelt during training, and only now thought of pulling through with it. Any other way and time would only start a fight.

AH-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!