Chapter 3

"Who's that?" Toadpaw asked.

"Shhh," Fogheart warned, "I know I'm not your mentor but one thing you need to know, is if that was an enemy they would have heard you and we wouldn't have anytime to run away."

Toadpaw's tail drooped down between his legs, then came straight back up, "Wait, you said if they were enemies, which means they are not right?"

Fogheart sighed. Dewpaw saw and knew that he was frustrated, "Let me explain, well, let's see," she squinted ahead of them, the shapes grew nearer and nearer, "There only seems to be two of them, a mentor and apprentice, if you ask me, and how many cats do we have?"

Toadpaw's tail moved as he counted everyone, "Um, well Thornclaw and Fogheart is two, then us six, which is eight, then Wovenstar which is nine."

"Correct, and do you think that two cats can beat nine?"

"Um, no?"

"Correct, no, that is why Fogheart didn't take us into that little cave over there," she pointed to a cave on the right of them, "The cats would have walked by without noticing us so we could get away."

Wovenstar purred, "Well said, Dewpaw."

Though it was dark, Applepaw could tell that she was deeply blushing.

"Thank you," she whispered.

"Thank you," Fogheart stopped, "For saving me a lecture. I expect you to be a good mentor when you become a warrior."

They kept walking, the shapes grew closer, and then stopped, curious Wovenstar called to the darkness, "Who's there?"

"Who are you, should I ask," a voice called back.

"I am Wovenstar, leader of GrassClan, and these are some cats from my clan, we have just come back from the Mooncave."

"I am Cottonbark and this is Nettlepaw, my apprentice," Applepaw saw Dewpaw mutter something about "being right", "We are from Medicine cats from DawnClan, I need to go to the Mooncave immediately."

"Do not let us stop you, but I have one question," Wovenstar looked into the darkness to see if he could see Cottonbark, "Oh yes, please come out so we can talk civilly."

"I am sorry if I am trespassing on your territory but this is important."

"You are not trespassing, this is neutral territory, but we have never seen you before so what are you doing here?" Wovenstar asked.

"As I said before, I am here to go to the Mooncave to speak to my ancestors," Cottonbark mewed with anxiousness in his voice.

"Where did you come from?" Wovenstar asked, "I've never seen you before around here."

"I come from north of Highstones," said Cottonbark, "Our leader and deputy died both mysteriously and I need help finding the right leader."

"Oh," mewed Wovenstar, surprised, "Go ahead." He motioned the group aside to let them pass.

Applepaw saw an old black spotted cream cat and a small female apprentice that was acorn brown.

"Let's go back," mewed Wovenstar, "I want to tell the clan about these new cats."

They walked all the way back to camp and Applepaw, along with the other apprentices padded sleepily to the den.

"That was weird," mewed Marshpaw, but the other cats had already fallen asleep.