Chapter 3

The cats who Applepaw figured out to be a band of warriors from NightClan forced the queens and kits and Applepaw and Goldenpaw out of the camp into the old badger set. The set had been abandoned by a badger that GrassClan warriors and WaterClan warriors had fought frequently. The badger had been hoping to make a set but the clans had shown her they wouldn't let her do that.

The cave was dark and let in no light except for a crack in the top left corner, too small for even a kit to fit through. After they had shoved them in, the cats had put heavy logs over the entrance to stop them from getting out.

". . . and stay there!" the last cat commanded looking back at them through the crack in the log.

"What are we going to do?" asked Cherryblossom, "Heatkit and Minnowkit are very tired and they can't sleep on hard dirt like this!"

"This is no time to be picky," answered Lightcloud, "that leader of theirs gave me a cut to remember." She pointed to her paw that had a big gash in it.

"We need to get out of here," Aquaflower insisted, "start thinking of a way out everyone!"

"Wait! Everyone be quiet for just a moment," Gingerkit looked out of the small crack that separated them from the forest, "The cats have Milkleaf! And kit, does she look startled; and look, she's bleeding on the side of her belly!" a deep gash had implanted itself from a cat's claw into Milkleaf's side and she looked around as if she didn't know the forest around her.

"Let me see," Dewkit ran over to the crack, "she looks like she's in pain!"

"I'm almost a warrior! I could have fought those cats!" Goldenpaw looked disgusted at himself.

"Don't be too hard on yourself dear," Rubystem promised, "When we get out of here you can fight them along side of our warriors; which reminds me, that NightClan patrol only brought 5 cats including their leader last time, and they couldn't have brought that many more, our warriors should have chased them out of here by now!"

"I was wondering that too," Lightcloud looked up into the crack in the ceiling, "Could they have brought so many warriors that they outnumbered us?"

"Who cares if we get out of here we could run away and get WaterClan warriors to help us!" Dewkit pointed out, for WaterClan had been their sister clan for many moons.

"That is a good idea but we need to figure out a way to get out of here before we can get WaterClan," Marshkit put in.

"Well, if we were lifted high enough, some kit might be able to squeeze through that crack in the ceiling if we made it bigger, because we would have no chance through the one in the logs; there are probably guards out there!" Toadkit quickly calculated.

"Good thinking Toadkit," Applepaw agreed, "that could work, but what if they came back and all the kits were gone, they would figure out that we went for help and they would run after us."

"Hmm, that is a problem," Cherryblossom agreed, "But if all of you don't go maybe 2 or 3 of you the rest of us could fluff up and pretend we were going to sleep and fill up the cave so it would look like we all were here."

"The question is who should go?" Goldenpaw replied, "I can't because if someone comes back I might need to fight and protect everyone."

"Same goes for me," Applepaw said.

"Then Dewkit, Gingerkit, and Marshkit should go," Toadkit responded, "I'll stay to see if I can figure out a way to get everyone out of here before they come back."

"Okay, everyone knows what to do?" asked Lightcloud.

"Yes."

"Then let's go!"

"I'll lift Goldenpaw up onto my back so he can widen the crack," suggested Aquaflower, "and then everyone else."

She lifted Goldenpaw onto her back and he unleashed his claws and broke apart at the crack for several minutes. Then she lifted Dewkit, Gingerkit and Marshkit onto her back and they climbed through the hole onto the roof.

Dewkit stuck her head back through the hole to warn them, "I think a cat saw us through the bushes then ran away to get help, you guys had better be fluffy!"

"We will," Rubystem promised and Dewkit and the others leapt of the roof and ran away.

"Now about getting us out of here," Toadkit looked down at the dirt they were standing on, "It could work if we're careful," he mumbled to himself.

"What? For StarClan's sake, what?" Cherryblossom asked, "We don't have much time!"

"It's the oldest trick in the book, but we could dig ourselves out of here," Toadkit answered.

"Are you Mouse-brained?" Aquaflower looked at him in astonishment, "We could end up somewhere else and get lost and who knows what could happen to us? They could come back and see us digging and take us somewhere else, without dirt floors!"

Then Applepaw remembered the prophecy, 'Take risks for friends even if they have a low chance of succeeding', "I think we should give it a try, something in me tells me it will be okay," she ventured, "What could they do to us? Queens aren't totally disabled and you have Goldenpaw and me and Toadkit! Altogether we could take on probably take on three cats!"

"If they only bring three cats," Toadkit answered, "If they bring more we're history, but I agree with Applepaw let's take our chances."

Toadkit looked around, "Anyone seen a large rock around here?"

"Yeah, I'm sitting on it," Aquaflower answered.

"Could we use it to cover up the whole if they come in?" Toadkit asked.

"Yeah, I suppose," Aquaflower nudged the rock over to Toadkit. Toadkit turned around and choose a spot to dig and unleashed his claws.

"Hey, let us help!" Applepaw and Goldenpaw ran over to where a good soft spot was and began digging.

After a while, as it seemed, they had dug under the cave and out to the forest.

"Yay! We did it!" Heatkit and Minnowkit ran to the hole and began to go in.

"We might as well, but we should send someone to check the area out," Lightcloud suggested, "How about Rubystem?" she turned to her and kept talking, "You don't have kits yet and you can climb better than any of us!"

"I could, but now I have these," she pointed to her belly, "Maybe you should go, your kits can take care of themselves and you can climb well too."

"Alright, I'll check things out, but if I don't come back soon send Toadkit to come after me or put the rock in and hope I'm okay," Lightcloud climbed into the hole and disappeared.