She padded behind the rest of the patrol quietly, examining her surroundings. 'As soon as I get the chance, I'll find Owlfoot,' she thought to herself. Owlfoot was supposedly "busy," but Lightningpaw just knew that the deputy was off doing something suspicious. And she had to put a stop to it, especially since no one else could! 'If only Spiderpaw was here.' Oh, how Spiderpaw would've loved to come with her.
"Have you talked to Brambleflower lately?" Morningclaw asked, slowing her pace so that her bright golden fur brushed against Lightningpaw's pale one.
"No, been too busy," she said. She felt guilt creep into her conscious; Brambleflower had always been there for her. For the first few days of her apprenticeship, Brambleflower constantly provided her with extra bedding. "Don't let your joints become stiff!" Brambleflower would exclaim. Gradually, with Lightningpaw's pleads, Brambleflower stopped coming by. "Her kits are due soon, aren't they?"
Morningclaw shrugged. "Dunno, Ravenleaf says they should be." She looked up at the cloudy, grey sky. "A shame about the season though. Leafbare is the harshest."
'Especially with the lack of food...' "Brambleflower and her kits will make it."
"Excited for your new siblings?"
"I suppose so," the apprentice said. As a kit, she had always wished for a sibling, especially since her littermate had been stillborn. But she never asked Brambleflower - it was always a touchy subject to her, and rightfully so.
"Hush, back there!" Loonclaw snapped from the front of the patrol. "With all that noise back there, any cat would think that a badger was crashing through the forest."
"Oh, you're the badger," Morningclaw teased, obviously shrugging off Loonclaw's annoyed tone.
Lightningpaw chuckled and returned to her former silence. Eventually, Morningclaw picked up her pace and began a conversation with Palecloud and Loonclaw. She focused hard on everything else but their conversation, and eventually the conversation turned into meaningless buzzes. She looked around at the thick forest, sniffing as a breeze carried different scents down her path. 'I need to leave soon. But how?' Separating from these three warriors - especially with a patrol as small as theirs - would not be an easy feat. But maybe if they kept talking…
After several more minutes of walking, Lightningpaw finally found her chance. She had lagged behind far enough, and they hadn't even noticed. Loonclaw was too engrossed in a conversation about a badger-versus-fox situation with Palecloud and Morningclaw to notice anything.
Quckly, the apprentice slipped off into the bushes. Luckily, her escape was silent. 'Palecloud is going to kill me later,' she thought as she continued to walk by herself. She was in the Meadows, a popular training area for new apprentice. The river wasn't too far from here, and with that realization, Lightningpaw quickened her pace.
Finally, she arrived onto the scene. The sun was dipping below the distant mountains now, but there was still sufficient sunlight to compliment Lightningpaw's pale fur. She hid in the bramble bushes, careful not to catch her fur in its thorns, as she waited for Owlfoot's arrival.
"Lightningpaw?" an all-too-familiar voice called from behind.
Her heart turned into stone and dropped to her belly. That voice belonged to Owlfoot. 'Mousedung!' Taking deep breaths, Lightningpaw turned to face the brown tabby. "What are you doing here?"
Owlfoot studied Lightningpaw with an unreadable expression. "I should be asking you that. Where is your patrol?"
"Oh." There was another momentary pause before she continued, "I thought I smelled something strange here. I didn't want to bother them so I left; I just got here."
"Mhm," Owlfoot said, though her tone betrayed her words. "So, where is Spiderpaw hiding?"
Another heart-drop. "What do you mean?"
The deputy motioned over to the bush where she and Spiderpaw had hidden last night. "I found a tuft of black fur there last night."
"That could be Loonclaw," Lightningpaw pointed out, "or Ravenleaf."
"True," she said, "but my nose does not betray me. You and Spiderpaw were there."
'She knows.' She twitched her whiskers. "Then how long did you expect your secret to stay a secret?"
"Long enough for me to figure this all out," Owlfoot replied.
"Mousedung!" Her tail lashed like a whip. "How dare you put your own needs before your own Clan's?!" Anger and ferocity took over her now. A loud woosh sound filled her ears, and she could barely hear herself yelling over the noise. "How can you stand seeing your hungry Clanmates? Brambleflower will kit soon and there isn't even enough food for her, let alone the kits!"
"You don't think I feel guilty every day?" Owlfoot snarled, looming like a menacing badger above Lightningpaw. "Watching my Clanmates suffer is never something I wanted, and you should know that."
"Then why do you condemn us?" she snapped.
"I-I have business with BarnClan." Owlfoot suddenly looked away.
"I know that," Lightningpaw growled. "A deputy should not have business with another Clan. You are breaking the warrior code."
"The warrior code isn't always right," she shot back. Shaking her head, Owlfoot said, "Lightningpaw, you have to promise me that you and Spiderpaw don't get involved anymore than you are. And you have to also promise not to tell anyone what you two saw."
Another wave of anger overtook Lightningpaw. How dare this traitorous deputy tell her what to do? And doubt the warrior code? "You really are courageous. But you are also mousebrained," she hissed. "Does Beetlestar know? Does he know what kind of a deputy he has trusted for many moons?"
She ignored the apprentice's question. "If you tell any cat, your safety may be compromised."
"If we don't die of starvation first!"
"I'll make this right," Owlfoot promised. Her eyes were rounded and shined with desperation, as if she were trying to convince herself that, too. "I hurt LakeClan, but I will make this right."
"So you won't step down from your position?" she asked.
"After all of this is figured out, then I will." Owlfoot stood and turned to leave. "Remember to relay the message to Spiderpaw. Your safety is always my priority, as your deputy."
It took every shred of self respect for Lightningpaw not to hurl herself at Owlfoot at that very moment. Instead, she pulled herself to her paws and turned towards the direction she had arrived from. She padded to leave, but took one long look over her shoulder at the deputy. "Your priorities are skewed, Owlfoot. You are no deputy to me."