Runningpaw felt dazed. What? Let Ashstar come with him? "B-but who will watch over the Clan?" He asked, trying not to stutter with amazement.

"Isn't it obvious?" Ashstar mewed encouragingly. "Cinderhope will take over for me. I'm sure that he will cope, with his wonderful leader skills."

Runningpaw nodded. What was going on? Ashstar was leaving ThunderClan camp? Ashstar? The cat that had given birth to three litters of kits? The cat that had worked to the bone to get her deputyship without doing anything bloodthirsty? This was all getting a little too weird…

"So you're coming with me?" Runningpaw asked, just to clarify.

Ashstar nodded. So ahead of herself. "Yes, that's true," she replied.

Runningpaw did nothing. "So why don't you get some prey before we leave?" He recommended.

She shook her head. "Oh no, I just ate. Cinderhope got me something to eat a few minutes ago." So ahead of herself.

"May I get some rest before we leave?" Runningpaw asked. He wanted some time to get this cleared up.

"Yes, you may Runningpaw. But don't take your time- we need to leave before Sundown so that we can get there by Sunrise."

The light brown tom nodded wearily. He had to get some sleep…Slowly, very slowly, he trod towards the den.

He flopped down on his usual spot, tons of thoughts running, streaming, through his head. Runningpaw was glad to get some sleep so he could take his mind off of things for a while. It was surprisingly hectic today so far… so sleepy…

His eyelids drooped and darkness filled through his mind, curling through his head like dark mist. He drifted off to sleep…

---

"Runningpaw, wake up!" Snapped a voice.

Runningpaw's eyes instantly snapped open. He peered around the den and wasn't surprised to see Ashstar prodding him.

"Come on, we have to leave! It's getting dark, it's past sunset!" she hissed.

Runningpaw leaped to his paws. "Oh StarClan, I'm so sorry that I slept in Ashstar-"

"Don't," she hissed through her teeth, "take the name of StarClan in vain. Now, follow me. We need to get going if we are going to get to the Twolegplace by daylight."

"But-"

"No buts! We must leave now!"

Runningpaw was about to say that Twolegplace wasn't far away from ThunderClan territory, but didn't dare speak. He just went along with Ashstar's weird, unexpected scheme.

"So we'll be able to hunt whenever we want?" Asked Runningpaw.

"As long as its either in ThunderClan territory or by the Twolegplace," Ashstar replied. She flicked her tail for Runningpaw to follow her up the slope of the camp and through the gorse tunnel.

Runningpaw squeezed through the tunnel, wondering if he would ever see his fellow apprentices ever again. What if one of them died while he was gone?

Runningpaw stopped thinking about it. One sunrise, no questions. Period.

He followed Ashstar quickly. She seemed to be going at a brisk pace.

They leaped over a fallen tree. Runningpaw yelped as he felt his fur catch on one of the prickly branches. His tawny fur had gotten caught, and he was stuck. He saw Ashstar had cleared the jump easily, and was trotting away and out of sight.

The stench of RiverClan was hanging in the air, and Runningpaw wrinkled his nose at the constant smell of fish. It was disgusting. But this was a dangerous place to be stuck- at the edge of RiverClan camp.

Instantly, he started to swing around on the branch. If he was to get out of here soon, the only way to do it was to get quite a wound doing it. But that didn't matter right now as Runningpaw caught sight of a rippling pelt. His heart sank as he caught sight of a RiverClan patrol.

He was now desperately starting to lunge forward and off of the log. His fur started to sting with pain, but that wasn't the problem- the patrol had caught Runningpaw's scent and were heading to the source. The apprentice saw a ginger pelt come into sight and he was choking with the scent of RiverClan.

"Hey, what's that?" The ginger she-cat mewed to the rest of the patrol.

The other cat instantly pounced to the spot where their fellow warrior was. Runningpaw froze with fear as he saw the she-cat point out the tuft of light brown fur.

A blue-gray tom, who was standing right by the warrior and sort of bigger and bulkier, snorted. "Are you kidding me, Gingerpelt? There isn't anything there but a stupid vole. Don't you know how to recognize different things?"

Gingerpelt shook her head. "N-no, it's not a vole. Why else would it stink of ThunderClan?" She hissed, curling her lips in a snarl.

The tom tensed his shoulders. "Perhaps ThunderClan are starting to lay their already eaten prey out and not disposing of it properly! I would certainly expect it from them, those lazy, fat mouse-brains!"

Runningpaw stifled an angry hiss at the warrior, who he recognized as Reedheart, the RiverClan deputy. Reedheart was known to be a hard cat.

"Let's get out of here," Reedheart called to the rest of the cats. "We don't need to be looking for ThunderClan trash."

Runningpaw curled his lip in a snarl as he saw the rest of the patrol leave. RiverClan must now be rash around ThunderClan cats, especially since Reedheart was now the deputy.

Runningpaw rolled his eyes at the tom that was now shouldering his way through the whisker-like weeds and lead the patrol to another spot. Maybe one that isn't in ThunderClan territory! Runningpaw thought with scorn.

Suddenly, he felt his fur loosen. Runningpaw grinned as he felt his fur start to slip out of the branches.

The apprentice flinched as he saw some of his fur left behind, but he ignored it.

He was surprised at how easily his fur slipped out, almost as if it had been lubricated by…

Runningpaw looked down wildly and saw a certain tabby kit there. Cloverkit was standing right there, chewing some kind of leaf between her teeth.

"Cloverkit!" Runningpaw hissed with clenched teeth. "Is that you?"

She nodded. "Yeah. Are you a cat?" She joked. She twitched her whiskers with amusement.

The apprentice rolled his eyes and grumbled as the kit gave him a curious look and sniffed, "Yes, it's Runningpaw. What are you doing here, Cloverkit!" He hissed. "You aren't allowed to be out of camp!" He didn't dare point out that she was a kit, since that might make her think that she wasn't good enough for ThunderClan.

"I know, but I saw you go out with Ashstar and I figured that you were onto something special. Where are you going?" She asked suspiciously.

"I…" Runningpaw tried to think of a good excuse. He knew that a kit couldn't keep a secret, and that once they got ahold of information it could spread through the camp like wildfire. "Actually, I'm going on a secret mission. I can't tell you because it's too special," Runningpaw whispered.

Cloverkit's eyes were as wide as full moons. "Wow…" She mewed, her voice full of awe. "Can I come?" She instantly asked.

Runningpaw shook his head. "No!" He snapped. "I- I mean, no, you can't," he repeated, lowering his voice a tad this time. "Because this is only supposed to be between me and Ashstar."

"What?" Asked Cloverkit. "Can you at least tell me what you're doing?" She asked sincerely. "At least give me a hint?" The cute little kit looked up into Runningpaw's eyes with her sparkling amber ones. "Please?"

Runningpaw sighed. "Fine. Let's just say that Ashstar and I are picking up an apprentice from far away. But remember," He whispered to the kit, "it has to be kept secret. Can you do that, Cloverkit?" He asked.

Cloverkit nodded. "Yes, Runningpaw. I promise."

Runningpaw smiled. "Okay then. Run off back to camp, then," he mewed, flicking his tail in the direction of camp.

The tabby kit nodded and quickly flew in the direction of the camp, making sure that no cat knew she was gone.

Runningpaw chuckled. Cloverkit was one of those kittens that was sure to be adventurous. One that would always be sneaking out of camp just to learn more…one that didn't listen to her mentor.

All of a sudden Runningpaw didn't want to be Cloverkit's mentor when he was a warrior. The tabby she-cat would be tough to train, for sure. But why was he worrying himself about it? He could take it! Besides, the possibility that Cloverkit was going to be his apprentice wasn't very high. He could get any other kit, maybe one from a different litter. If I'm made a warrior in that time, Runningpaw thought grimly.

Hepushed the thoughts out of his mind and ventured on. Cinderhope most likely didn't want Runningpaw to become a warrior simply because he wasn't ready. Even though he had all of his training through. It was even approved by Ashstar!

Runningpaw rolled his eyes at his own negative thoughts and centered his attention on his departed leader. Ashstar was probably far ahead of him by now, but the apprentice was almost confident that she had stopped for him. Besides, she must have noticed by now that Runningpaw wasn't there with her?

Suddenly, he caught sight of a smoky colored tail. Runningpaw hurried after it, instantly thinking of Ashstar. Who else had that distinctive black-striped tail?

Leaping over a log, Runningpaw tried to keep his eye on the tail. She sure was going fast! Did she even know that he wasn't currently by her side? He shook his head. Of course she knew, why else would she be…leaving him here…? What if she thought he was going too slow and decided to just run off and finish the mission herself? That would never happen! Ridiculous! Runningpaw sure had been using that word a lot lately.

Slow down, Ashstar! He hissed in his mind. Don't you have any idea that I'm falling behind due to an injury? Actually, that part would take some explaining. But still!

Finally, the leader seemed to slow her pace a little. She seemed to be hanging around the dense undergrowth, and for some reason was trying to hide her pelt. Something strange was going on… why would Ashstar try to hide herself from Runningpaw? Did she have some kind of rabid tick that was easily noticeable? Had she slipped and fallen into the water and her fur looked bad wet for some reason? Runningpaw shook his head. No, this was not right. But hey, at least Runningpaw was catching up to Ashstar!

He bounded towards the spot of whiskery grass. He instantly felt the scent of his leader come flooding into his nose. Runningpaw couldn't wait to tell her about what had happened with that stupid branch…

Suddenly, a loud crackle filled the air. It was the breaking of a branch. Runningpaw looked around wildly, frightened. What was that? It must have taken quite a heavy paw to crush a branch so loudly…and Ashstar was pretty light, as she was a she-cat…

"OOF!" Runningpaw yowled. A huge shape had bowled into him, knocking the wind out of him. The apprentice couldn't see them, but instantly knew the cats by the scent: ShadowClan. And lots of them.