Disclaimer: I DO NOT own the Warriors series.
Chapter 3
"Wait up, Squirrelflight!" Dovewing panted, forcing her legs to carry her faster until she reached the side of the fluffy ginger she-cat. Foxleap, Molepaw, Rosepetal and Cherrypaw, the other members of the patrol, were waiting by the lakeshore, their tails flicking impatiently and their jaws parted to drink in the air.
"Come on!" Cherrypaw bounced around in a circle, her ginger tail stuck straight up in the air. The patrol was to assess the two apprentice's skills, and if they were exceptional, Bramblestar would make them warriors at moonhigh. Molepaw paced beside his sister, just as impatient, but not as enthusiastic to show it.
Squirrelflight nodded to Cherrypaw. "No, you're right. We should get a move on. I want to get back to the hollow before the sun sets, so we can report to Bramblestar how well you did." The dark ginger she-cat seemed confident in the apprentices' abilities, Dovewing realized. She must have been expecting them to pass.
Hollyleaf dipped her head to the she-cat and meowed, "I thought we'd split up; I will go with Cherrypaw and Dovewing, and Squirrelflight, you will go with Icecloud and Molepaw." Dovewing shifted her paws across the leaf mold on the ground. She didn't care who she ended up with, she just wanted to get moving and warm herself up. With green-leaf fading and leaf-fall approaching, the forest was being slowly plunged into the coldness of the leaf-bare season.
"Alright," Squirrelflight's voice cut into Dovewing's thoughts, and the pale gray she-cat's fur bristled slightly as she felt a tail on her shoulder, then she relaxed as she realized it was only Hollyleaf, beckoning for her to follow. Dovewing smoothed down her ruffled fur once she caught Hollyleaf's curious gaze, and swiftly changed the subject.
"So, where are we going?" Dovewing asked, flicking her long, bushy tail. Hollyleaf eyed her for a moment longer, and then turned back to her apprentice, flicking her tail for Dovewing to join them. "I think we should try near the river, we might find a water vole or two." Cherrypaw bounced on her paws, pelt fluffing up in excitement.
"Okay!" the energetic apprentice dashed off without another word, before Hollyleaf could tell her to start. The black she-cat sighed, and started after her apprentice, calling back,
"Well, I guess we'd better follow her." Dovewing scampered after the older she-cat, her hind paws kicking up leaves as she skidded across the forest floor. After a while of hurtling through the forest, keeping as quiet as possible, Hollyleaf flicked her tail, motioning for Dovewing to stop and crouched down behind a blackberry bush, peering through the withering leaves. There, a few fox-lengths away, was Cherrypaw, positioned in the hunter's crouch, her eyes fixated on a water vole a few paw steps away. Dovewing watched as the ginger apprentice rocked her haunches back and forth before leaping, taking the mouse down with one swift bite to the neck. As the mentor and pale gray she-cat watched the ginger cat stand up and bury her prey, Dovewing's far-reaching senses picked up movement on the border, and an unfamiliar scent washed over her.
"Hollyleaf," she hissed in the she-cat's ear, fear stiffening every hair on her pelt. Hollyleaf turned her leaf-green eyes on the younger cat and whispered back in an evidently annoyed tone, "What?" while still keeping one eye on her apprentice.
"I can hear something…someone, on the border." Dovewing was reaching her senses as far as they would go, trying to detect something about the cat; fur, features, anything. But she got nothing.
"A cat?" Hollyleaf asked in a low voice, her black fur standing on end. An alarmed look seeped into her leafy eyes, and her tail stirred the leaves behind her.
"Yeah," Dovewing murmured, nodding. She furrowed her brow in concentration. "I can't sense anything else about them." Hollyleaf sighed.
"Then let's go," she mewed, standing up, with a last glance at Cherrypaw's retreating form. Dovewing blinked open her eyes.
"What?" she hissed, scrambling to her paws as Hollyleaf started to pad away. "What about Cherrypaw?" Hollyleaf didn't glance back once as she leaped over a fallen tree.
"She'll be fine," the black she-cat murmured, focusing on where she was placing her paws. "We'll find her right after we check this out."
"But…" Dovewing was forced to pause as she skittered over the log, panting from the effort. Why can't I be tall like Hollyleaf… she thought grudgingly, nearly tripping over her own paws. "But what if the assessment's over once we get back?"
"Then we'll say we were checking out a scent we picked up, one not from the clans." Hollyleaf assured her, though she sounded uncertain herself. Dovewing blew out a sigh and picked up her pace, pulling up next to the older she-cat.
"There," Hollyleaf hissed. The two she-cats crouched down, shielding themselves with the dark green leaves of a blackberry bush. Standing outlined on the horizon, muzzle down and tail bushed up, was another cat, a female from the looks of it, sniffing at a fallen bramble thicket.
As if she heard the other cats, the stranger lifted her head sharply, her teeth baring in a snarl. Hollyleaf hissed softly and ducked down lower. Dovewing took the silent hint and pressed herself further against the ground.
It was then that she got a better look at the other cat. It was a slim silver tabby she-cat with rippling darker stripes and darker paws. Her eyes could easily be seen from this distance; they were an electric green, speckled with darker hints. Hollyleaf could say only one thing;
"Who is that?"
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~xoxo WinglessAngel
