A soft paw prodded at her flank, rousing the pale golden molly from her sleep. Lightningpaw groaned and lashed an irritated tail. "What is it?" she managed to growl. "It's not even dawn yet." A gentle breeze told her that the cat who irritated her so was Spiderpaw.
"I know," Spiderpaw murmured quietly. "But you have to see this."
"Spiderpaw, for the last time, that mouse didn't move. It's dead. You killed it. It's not moving." Shaking his paw off, Lightningpaw turned so that her back faced her friend. "Now good night."
He snorted, "Of course I know that!" Perhaps he noticed that Lightningpaw was soundly returning to her slumber, because he suddenly knead her with both paws. "I saw Owlfoot walking out of camp when I was going to make dirt. She looked all nervous - kept looking around like she was scared," he said, hoping to catch Lightningpaw's attention.
Her ears immediately pricked and swiveled. He had successfully captured her attention. Lightningpaw shot her head up and blinked away the fog that clouded her vision. "What?" she said. She scrambled to her paws and immediately slipped through the den's entrance, paying no heed to the flecks of moss and feathers that clung to her nest. "We have to go check it out!" What could Owlfoot be doing out of the forest this late?
Spiderpaw appeared from the apprentices' den with a victorious smirk plastered across his muzzle. "Let's go," he said, padding ahead of Lightningpaw.
At this point, she didn't really care that Spiderpaw was the one leading her. Obviously, the black-furred tom knew where the brown tabby deputy had disappeared off to. She stepped through the forest carefully, making sure that no yellowed leaves or twigs crunched underneath her weight. Spiderpaw blended in perfectly with the dark scenery, but Lightningpaw was still able to follow his familiar scent.
The two of them walked for a while - a long while. In fact, Lightningpaw had just begun to wonder if Spiderpaw was just seeing things again when the tom suddenly paused, tail raised high in the air.
"Right there," Spiderpaw whispered, crouching in the thick bushes.
Heart beating wildly, Lightningpaw followed suit. She wondered briefly if her pale golden fur could be spotted in the midst of darkness, but pushed the thought aside. 'If I can hide well enough, I won't have to worry.' Her pale blue eyes trained on the scene before her, she pressed her shoulder against Spiderpaw's. Luckily for the two apprentices, the wind blew towards them.
They were at the river again. Owlfoot sat on LakeClan's side of the river, pacing anxiously. Her tail tip twitched impatiently as she waited for the unknown. Only a few moments later, a silhouette appeared from the other side. Owlfoot stiffened immediately.
"You came," Owlfoot said with a steely tone, her yellow eyes locked upon the cat.
"Why wouldn't I?" the male voice replied. As he stepped into the moonlight, Lightningpaw had to force herself to stifle a horrified gasp. The tom was none other than Sedgetail - the tom from the border skirmish!
The LakeClan deputy ignored Sedgetail's mocking tone. "You must tell your Clan to stop hunting on our land," she said. "I can't keep covering for you anymore. Beetlestar is getting suspicious."
Sedgetail frowned. "This does not concern me. If Beetlestar were to discover our agreement, then we both know that LakeClan doesn't stand a chance against BarnClan."
"We agreed for your Clan to take prey that is necessary," Owlfoot insisted. "Now you are simply hunting for fun, as evidenced by the rabbits you laid on our land!"
He shrugged indifferently. "You can't stop us."
"We did not agree to this."
"You have a lot to lose," he said. "Are you sure you want to challenge me?"
Owlfoot faltered underneath his cold stare. A moment of silence washed over the two of them as the she-cat assessed the situation. "Just tread carefully," she finally said.
"I should be saying that to you."
"Goodbye, Sedgetail." With that said, the LakeClan deputy stood to her paws, turned, and began to slink off into the forest. Sedgetail watched as she left with an unreadable expression, and he soon turned to leave, too.
It was a long while before Spiderpaw finally spoke: "Great StarClan."
'What did I just witness?' Lightningpaw sat there, dumbstruck. How should she react? She didn't know how to react. Anger made her throat close and chest burn, but she didn't know how to express it. 'A conspiracy within LakeClan? What is Owlfoot doing?!' She turned to Spiderpaw. "We have to tell Beetlestar!"
"Are you mousebrained?!" Spiderpaw replied, shocked. "Sedgetail just threatened a war on us if Beetlestar finds out! And we both know how Beetlestar will react to this situation."
Lightningpaw bristled. "And we're just going to let BarnClan take our food?"
"How about Owlfoot?" he growled. "We can't just expose Owlfoot like that; you heard what Sedgetail said about her! She has everything to lose."
"And rightfully so!" she hissed. "Our own deputy is making deals with the enemy without consent? For her own benefit?" Her unsheathed claws dug into the dirt as she continued: "Owlfoot doesn't even deserve to be deputy."
Spiderpaw quieted for a while, simply staring at Lightningpaw, before sighing and getting up. "Let's return to camp. The sun is rising and Owlfoot will be organizing dawn patrols soon. Don't want to be missing for that."
Tail whipping in agitation, Lightningpaw also got up and trailed after Spiderpaw. Though she traveled silently, her mind was abuzz with thoughts. 'How can Spiderpaw defend her?' Lightningpaw glared at her companion's back. 'A deputy is supposed to defend the Clan. Not compromise its safety.' As she continued to walk, a more question surfaced: 'What should I do?' Telling Beetlestar seemed to be her instinct right now, but Lightningpaw realized that Sedgetail was right about one thing - LakeClan was far too weak to fight BarnClan. But Beetlestar was the leader; he obviously had the right to know what his deputy was up to. On the other paw… "Spiderpaw," Lightningpaw broke the silence.
"Hm?" He looked over his shoulder.
"Promise me that we'll find out what's going on," she said, eyes burning with determination. "No one has to get involved, not even Beetlestar. Just us two. We'll figure out what Owlfoot is up to and put an end to it."
Spiderpaw's ears flicked in agreement. "Of course, Lightningpaw."
The apprentices soon approached camp, and the comforting scents of their Clanmates wafted towards them. Lightningpaw paused and looked onward. 'I can't tell anyone what I saw,' she reminded herself. 'Pretend like nothing's wrong.' Pretend as if she hadn't overheard her supposedly loyal and capable deputy have a very treacherous conversation with the enemy. Like that would be easy.