Chapter 4, rescuing Spiderpaw

Ravenpaw stalked quickly out of camp. Squirrelpaw's eyes glowed with excitement, and Whitepaw's tail was twitching nervously.

"Break up," Greystripe instructed, once they were out of the ravine. Cloudtail, go with Whitepaw and me toward the Sunningrocks. Brambleclaw, go with Squirrelpaw to the WindClan border, and Ravenpaw, you're on your own, head over to the ShadowClan border."

Ravenpaw's eyes grew wide with excitement. She was on her own!

Whitepaw looked worried. "Do we have enough warriors?" she asked Cloudtail, "And I'm worried for Ravenpaw."

Whitepaw walked over to Ravenpaw. "Go carefully," she meowed, "You're on your own. Fight like you fought me on the day we met, if you see an enemy. I now you would risk your life for Spiderpaw."

Ravenpaw licked the white she-cat's ear. "Don't worry, we are both safe. Be good, we might become warriors."

She turned before Whitepaw could say anything else and charged for the direction of ShadowClan. She kept her claws ready to scratch if an enemy appeared.

She burst out into a clearing. The Thunderpath was right in front of her, and a line of thin cats were racing over it onto ThunderClan territory.

She yowled and charged after them as they disappeared into the trees. She felt like a true warrior now, all her instincts sharp to do one thing: protect her Clan.

There was a yowl from somewhere ahead of her and Ravenpaw picked up speed until she was racing through the trees and came out into a small clearing, where the smell of blood filled the air.

The ShadowClan warriors had Spiderpaw pinned down. He was covered with scratches and bites. When he saw Ravenpaw he yowled for help.

She let out a battle cry and jumped at the nearest warrior. She pushed Spiderpaw from under him.

"Run Spiderpaw!" she yowled.

The young tom didn't move. "I have to help fight them off and protect my Clan!" he yowled, and clawed at a tortoiseshell.

Heavy paws landed on Ravenpaw's back. She yowled and jumped around, whacking her claws into the toms chin as she did so. Blood trickled down his neck, but Ravenpaw had fell on her back. In an instant he leaped on her unprotected underbelly and raked his claws down it again and again. Ravenpaw yowled in pain. Several other ShadowClan warriors circled around her. She was trapped.

There was a snarl and Spiderpaw leapt at one of the cats.

"No Spiderpaw!" Ravenpaw yowled, "I'm letting you get back to camp! I will die to protect my Clan, but you must go!"

Teeth started to prick in Ravenpaw's neck. She screwed up her eyes, knowing that this was the last moment of her life.

Suddenly there was yowl of rage and Cloudtail, Brambleclaw, Whitepaw, Greystripe and Squirrelpaw exploded into the clearing. Greystripe pulled the warrior off Ravenpaw.

The ShadowClan cats gave yowls of fear and ran off. Whitepaw gave a triumphant yowl but Ravenpaw gasped.

"There heading for the camp!"

Instantly the cats took after them. "Spiderpaw, Ravenpaw you're the fastest. Run back to camp and warn the others," Greystripe commanded, panting with effort.

Ravenpaw pelted after the ShadowClan warriors with Spiderpaw at her side. They soon were in front of the ShadowClan warriors and they dashed into camp.

"ShadowClan warriors! Attack!" Ravenpaw yowled.

Firestar, who had some fresh-kill in his jaws, dropped it and whirled to face his enemy with a snarl. The Clan heard his battle-cry and gathered around him with there claws out.

The ShadowClan warriors dashed in, and a big brown tom crashed into a cat named Rainwhisker. Rainwhisker gave a cry as he was pinned to the ground.

Yowling with rage, Ravenpaw threw herself on the tom. All her strength was drained and she dug in her claws to keep her from falling off as the tom bucked and bucked.

There was a yowl from another ShadowClan warrior, and it knocked Ravenpaw off the brown tom. Teeth fastened in her leg. Ravenpaw yowled in pain as she felt the teeth scrape bone. A large tortoiseshell bounded up, knocking the struggling Ravenpaw to the ground, and the dark tabby apprentice heard her bones shake with the impact. Claws raked over her throat and she struggled weakly, all the power gone from her limbs. Her sight was growing blurry and grey and she screwed up her eyes for the killing blow.

Then Squirrelpaw was there. She pilled off one of the cats, then clawed at another. Ravenpaw struggled to her feet, but her hind leg throbbed with pain and she collapsed again. "I can't get up!" she yowled. Squirrelpaw's picked her up in her mouth with eyes full of certainty, and dragged her over to a clump of ferns.

"Clean the wound!" Squirrelpaw commanded. She dashed away.

Ravenpaw put her head on her paws and caught her breath for a moment. Then she turned and cleaned the wound on her leg. She stood up, tucking the leg safely up to her belly and limped into the clearing.

Firestar was dragging off one of the last warriors. He gave it a sharp nip to the shoulder, reminding it that it was not welcome here.

Ravenpaw looked around at the devastated clearing. Squirrelpaw sat in the center, her chest heaving and a nasty looking bite on her nose. Whitepaw and Shrewpaw crouched together. Whitepaw had a scratch on her tail and was chattering to Shrewpaw how she had driven off an enemy warrior.

Her heart clenched in fear when she realized that she couldn't see Spiderpaw. Then she saw him, lying next to the nursery. Scratches rode up and down his flanks, one ear was torn and bleeding, and there was a place on his shoulder where a cat had scratched away the skin and then bitten it. But Leafpaw and her mentor Cinderpelt were already pressing cobwebs onto it.

Leafpaw left her mentor and trotted over to Ravenpaw. She licked at the gash on her neck, then pressed a green herb onto it.

"Coltsfoot," she mewed, (AN: I don't pay much attention to the herbs they use so work with me here.)

"Now that wound on your leg," Leafpaw muttered. She sniffed it. "We better put some cobweb on to stop the bleeding," she told Ravenpaw. She wound a long sticky cobweb around the leg and held it there for a long time.

Finally she let go. "Tell me if it gets puffy or starts bleeding again," she meowed, walking away to help Cinderpelt with Spiderpaw.

Ravenpaw sniffed at the wound, and then looked up at Firestar. He was looking right at her. Ravenpaw raised her head, trying to act like a warrior, but Firestar turned away.

OoOoO

It was two days since the battle with the ShadowClan warriors. Ravenpaw awoke in the apprentices den. The sun was wasn't up yet. Whitepaw was asleep lying on her back with her paws in the air. Spiderpaw lay silently in one corner.

Soon the sun peeked above the horizon, and the warriors woke up.

Brambleclaw padded over to the apprentices den. "Ravenpaw?" he called.

Whitepaw and the other apprentices do there feet as the other mentors approached.

"I'm here," Ravenpaw meowed. She stretched her tail up to brush it over Brambleclaw's face. He blushed and looked away.

"Mousefur and I are assessing you today," Brambleclaw meowed as they reached the training hollow with Squirrelpaw, Shrewpaw, Whitepaw, Spiderpaw, Ravenpaw and Mousefur.

"Yes," Mousefur mewed, "You hunt and try to catch as much prey as you can. And we will be following and watching you."

"Shrewpaw," Brambleclaw instructed, "you do near the RiverClan border, Whitepaw, you go to Snakerocks, and Squirrelpaw you can go by Fourtrees, Spiderpaw to Tallpines and Ravenpaw-,"

He broke off as Mousefur interrupted. "Ravenpaw can go by Twolegplace."

Ravenpaw felt cold pricks down her spine. She didn't want to hunt by Twolegplace. She wasn't soft anymore!

Mousefur gave a harsh nod. "Off you go then," she told the apprentices.

Whitepaw bolted, but Ravenpaw trotted out with her tail held high. She raced through the trees until she reached Twolegplace.

Her ears pricked for sound of smell of Mousefur, Ravenpaw crouched in the underbrush, her jaws parted to let the smells of the forest flood her sent glands. soon she detected a wood mouse and a vole.

She scanned the clearing until she saw the mouse. It was sitting washing its face. Ravenpaw crept up behind it until she could see every move it made. Without warning she sprang, and dispatched it quickly with a sharp bite.

Hoping Mousefur had seen that, she trotted on until she found where the vole was. It was rounding up nuts for its dinner. She caught it quickly, and then caught another mouse and buried them beneath some dirt.

There was a rustling above her and she saw a sparrow in a tree, preening its feathers. Birds were hard to catch, and Ravenpaw hoped Mousefur could see her if she caught it.

She waited a few moments for it to come down, but it didn't so she crept silently up to the bottom of the tree then clawed her way up with infinite caution.

Ravenpaw scented the air, because she couldn't see the sparrow now. She found where it was, then crept along the branch above it. She jumped down suddenly and caught it between her forepaws.

She scrambled down the trunk and buried her sparrow underneath the tree.

Ravenpaw heard a twig snap behind her and knew Mousefur was there. Suddenly there was a twittering and three young squirrels danced down a tree.

Ravenpaw's heart clenched with ambition. If Mousefur saw her catch those at once she would be basically famous!

She waited until they danced closer before she sprang, her claws and teeth flashing out as she clawed and bit to catch the squirrels.

She raised her head. One of them was grasped in her mouth, dead, another was dead beneath one paw , and the third had its tail caught on her claw. It was struggling to get away. Ravenpaw whacked it with a sturdy paw and killed it.

She buried them beneath a tree. Soon she had caught two rabbits and a shrew. Deciding she had enough she picked up as much as she could and carried it back to the training hollow where Brambleclaw was waiting.

"Great job!" he yowled when he saw her huge load.

"There's more back there," Ravenpaw gestured with her tail then went off to bring back the rest of the prey.

She sat with it in front of her, a huge pile. She was enormously proud.

Whitepaw trotted in with two voles and a shrew. "I left a nouse ack dhere." She meowed with her mouth full of shrew and vole.

Ravenpaw laughed. Soon Spiderpaw came back. He had a good sized pile. Squirrelpaw arrived with Shrewpaw and Mousefur was just behind him.

"You all did well," Brambleclaw meowed, with a glance at Ravenpaw. She looked up into his eyes and then looked away quickly. There was admiration and pride in his amber gaze, but something more. Ravenpaw felt her paws tingle.

They trotted back to camp with there jaws weighed down with the fresh-kill. Ravenpaw dropped hers on the fresh-kill pile, and decided it was warrior-like to take food to the elders without being told by a warrior. She scooped up a squirrel and a rabbit and trotted over to the elders den with her tail high. (AN: as usual.)

Ravenpaw bent her head and toke a mouse and a pigeon for herself and squeezed into the apprentices den. As usual, Squirrelpaw was boasting.

"I caught a lot," she bragged, "Who saw what Whitepaw caught? That was so tiny! But Kittypet did worse. I of course did the most. So everybody will be looking at me at the gathering that's going to happen in a few nights."

Well? That wasn't really a cliff-hanger, but what do you think will happen next?