I'm back and ready for some more writing! I hope you like this chapter!
Chapter 5
Talonpaw pelted after his mentor as fast as his legs could carry him. The trees and bushes flashed by him like a wall of green. Sharp brambles ripped at his pelt, but he ignored the pain and pushed on, leaving red and gray tufts of fur on the thorns.
Will we really have to battle Shadowclan? Talonpaw wondered. Would the Shadowclan cats be as cruel as the elders portrayed them in their stories? If so, he wasn't so sure he was ready to face one of them alone. I'm not alone. He had his clanmates to help him and protect him, so he shouldn't be worried.
"It looks like some of the spring has been taken out of your step, Talonpaw!" Flowerpaw mewed, racing up beside him. "Are you scared of a few Shadowclan cats?"
"Of course not!" he protested, flicking her head with his tail.
"Yeah, right," she taunted, ducking away when he tried to cuff her over the ear. "You'll never hit me like that while we're running!"
Berrynose looked back at the two apprentices with an irritated glint in his eye. "Stop bickering, you two. This is no time for games."
"He's right, we could be running straight into an ambush." Brambleclaw told them.
An ambush? He's just trying to quiet us down, Talonpaw thought, slightly annoyed.
"Hey, I told you guys we found scents, not that we found a patrol!" Mousewhisker said. "Don't you think we may be jumping to conclusions?"
"How fresh was the scent?" Brambleclaw inquired, ducking under a low hanging branch.
"Fresh enough."
"Then the patrol can't be far away from where you found it!" Berrynose decided. "We should go find them and confront them!"
Talonpaw looked at Flowerpaw. She had a determined and excited look in her eyes, as if she couldn't wait to fight in a real battle, even if it just turned out to be a border skirmish. Talonpaw had to admit that he felt the same way, although he was worried that she would leap into the fight without thinking of talking to the intruders. That's just how she is, he reminded himself.
"That wouldn't be very smart, Berrynose. Tracking them down will most likely require entering Shadowclan territory, and the last thing we want is to do the exact same thing that we may fight them over," Brambleclaw pointed out.
"Well, we should do it anyways," the cream colored warrior replied.
"We're almost there," Mousewhisker warned.
Talonpaw couldn't help wondering what they would find when they arrived in the clearing. Would a battle have already broken out? No, that wouldn't make sense. Mousewhisker said his patrol found scent, not cats. We should all still stay on our guard, though.
The five cats skidded into the clearing to see the rest of Mousewhisker's patrol waiting there. There were no Shadowclan cats, and no battles going on. Talonpaw had to suppress a sigh of disappointment.
"Aw, I was expecting a full on war!" Flowerpaw complained.
Berrynose's eyes widened. "Really? I don't remember teaching you that."
The she-cat shrugged. "It was probably Lionblaze."
Brambleclaw cuffed Flowerpaw roughly over the ear. "Respect your clanmates! Lionblaze would never wish for something like that."
Talonpaw purred with amusement at Flowerpaw's boldness. "So, are we going to deal with that Shadowclan scent thing now?"
"Right!" Mousewhisker ran over to the rest of his patrol. "Have you figured anything out yet?"
"Not much," Whitewing mewed. "Although we've recognized a few of the scents as Ratscar and Owlclaw. There's a few more, but we can't tell who they might be."
"Let me look. I'm one of the best trackers in ThunderClan, after all," Berrynose mewed, striding confidently over to them.
"Yeah, right," Flowerpaw whispered sarcastically in Talonpaw's ear.
"He just wishes he was the best, but no cat can track better than Cloudtail!" Talonpaw replied.
"I think I've found something!" Berrynose announced, raising his head importantly.
"What is it?" Spiderleg questioned, straightening up.
"ShadowClan scent."
Brambleclaw sighed heavily. "Mouse-brain! We knew that already!"
Berrynose shrugged. "I know, but I was just telling you."
Brambleclaw pushed past the cream-colored warrior to scent it for himself. "You're right," he turned to Mousewhisker and the rest of the patrol. "I don't scent anyone in particular."
"We should probably report back to Firestar, then," Mousewhisker decided.
"I think we should go find Blackstar and ask him why his warriors are crossing our border!" Bumblestripe countered.
That would be a bad idea, Talonpaw thought. Those ShadowClan cats would rip a patrol like this to shreds!
"No, we'll report back to Firestar," Whitewing told him. "It isn't smart to provoke a fight for a cause that isn't worth the battle."
"The scent could have also just drifted across the border. Just because we found scent doesn't mean that ShadowClan crossed into our territory," Brambleclaw added.
Talonpaw breathed a sigh of relief. He hadn't been sure he was ready for his first battle, but Flowerpaw obviously thought otherwise.
"Oh, come on! Can't we listen to Bumblestripe? There's plenty of sense in what he's saying!" Flowerpaw protested as she bounced around the warriors.
"Don't listen to Bumblestripe, he's just a naive young warrior," Berrynose reassured his apprentice.
"Hey, that's not fair!" Bumblestripe mewed indignantly. "I'm not that much younger than you!"
"Young enough," Berrynose responded smugly.
"That's enough bickering, we need to bring this news back to Firestar,"Brambleclaw told them, pushing the two warriors apart before they could lunge at each other.
"Right!" they said in unison.
The group of cats soon made it back to the ThunderClan camp. Talonpaw followed Brambleclaw and the rest of the patrol to where Firestar was sharing tongues with Sandstorm.
"Firestar," Brambleclaw said. "May we have a word with you?"
"Of course," Firestar replied. His voice was shaky, and his eyes were tired.
What did he see at the Moonpool? Talonpaw wondered. The same look of worry was on Flowerpaw's face as well. Sandstorm nodded in acknowledgement and padded over to the warriors den. There was a flash of concern in the ginger she-cat's eye as she left, leading Talonpaw to believe she shared their thoughts.
"Let's talk in my den," Firestar suggested. Without waiting for an answer, he stood up stiffly and bounded up the Highledge to his den.
Brambleclaw and the other cats started to follow him, but Flowerpaw cut them off. "Can I come too?"
The deputy shook his head. "No, there's no need to bring all of you." He gestured to the rest of the patrol to stay out as well.
"Aw, why not?" Flowerpaw asked indignantly, scraping up the grass with her claws.
Talonpaw wondered why she couldn't just accept that she was wrong sometimes and not argue. He rolled his eyes.
"Because he said so," Berrynose told her firmly.
"You're just mad because he told you to stay behind as well," Flowerpaw taunted her mentor.
Bad plan! Talonpaw thought. He was just about to shut Flowerpaw up before she said any more, but Berrynose was too quick.
"That's it," he huffed. "You're going to be cleaning out the elder's bedding and getting out their ticks until sundown!"
Flowerpaw's mischievous gaze melted into surprise and anger. "You can't do that!" she spluttered.
"Flowerpaw," Brambleclaw meowed. "Give it a rest."
Flowerpaw sighed and walked over to the medicine den with her head down.
"Did you need to be so harsh with her?" Mousewhisker asked the cream-colored tom.
"She needs to learn her place," Berrynose replied. He whipped around and stalked his way over to the fresh-kill pile, where he violently ripped a vole from the bottom, getting an irritated snort out of Mousefur, who was about to grab the same prey.
"Er, see you guys later," Talonpaw said. He wanted to go and see how Flowerpaw was doing after seeing her run off like that. He first padded his way to the medicine den, and peeked his head inside.
"What do you want?" Jayfeather asked him. The gray tom's sightless eyes burned into his fur, making him shift around uncomfortably.
"I came to see if Flowerpaw was here," he replied.
"She just came for some mouse-bile, but now she's gone to help with the elders," Briarlight explained, scooting over to Talonpaw.
He dipped his head in thanks and bounded over to the fallen tree and weaved his way through the twigs until he reached a part in the branches where the elders had their nests.
"Make sure to get the one down by my rear, young 'un. I can't reach it myself," Talonpaw heard Purdy instructing.
Flowerpaw groaned audibly.
"You'd better respect your elders, Flowerpaw," Talonpaw told her, padding over.
Flowerpaw straightened up a bit. "Oh, hi Talonpaw. I was just about to start going through Purdy's ticks."
"Want me to help?" he offered.
"Sure!" Flowerpaw chirped.
"You may have just made a mistake, Talonwhatsit. Mousefur's gonna be back soon, and she seemed like she was covered in ticks," Purdy told him.
Talonpaw suppressed a shiver. "I think I'll be able to handle it."
He and Flowerpaw set to work applying the mouse-bile to the ticks. "I feel like I'm going to vomit!" Flowerpaw announced.
"It's like that every time," Talonpaw replied as he pushed the repulsive stick up to a large tick by Purdy's hindquarters.
"Thanks, young 'un. That one was really bothering me," Purdy mewed. He shifted around in his nest, getting a squeak from Flowerpaw.
"Did you really have to do that? Now I've gotten bile in my chest fur!" Flowerpaw asked indignantly. She rubbed her chest roughly against the sandy floor of the den.
"Sorry," Purdy mewed, unphased by the angry apprentice.
"This is mouse-dung," Flowerpaw muttered. She tried to lick the bile off of her chest, but pulled back immediately and broke into a coughing fit. "That's vile!"
"Hey, at least it's better then getting assigned to it for a quarter-moon. Mousefur told me that happened to Firestar all the time!" Talonpaw mewed reassuringly.
"Really? I can't see him doing anything bad at this point!" Flowerpaw said wondrously.
Talonpaw shrugged. "It happened, that's all I know."
Flowerpaw's gaze changed from frustration to content. "Thanks, Talonpaw."
I know, I know, hold your applause! I hope you enjoyed that chapter, and stay tuned for the next one!