Chapter 3- A Little Follow the Leader?
MossStar woke up the next morning with someone prodding her in the side.
"Okay, I'm up, I'm up." she said sleepily.
"Lets go hunt, I'm starving." BrambleFern mewed.
"Alright, lets go." MossStar replied.
"Wait, I hear something." SwiftTalon said quietly. Follow me. he gestured with a flick of his tail.
They walked a few tail lengths ahead into the tall grass and made a surprising discovery.
"NettlePaw!" MossStar yowled.
"Yeek!" the little apprentice shrieked as she was awoken by the frightening yowl. She was so scared that her fur rose and she jumped up the nearest tree. Once she realized what had happened, she hopped down, knowing she was in trouble.
"What do you think you're doing?" SwiftTalon asked furiously towards the little apprentice standing before him.
"Why did you follow us?" MossStar questioned angrily.
BrambleFern just stood there in shock, not knowing what he should say.
"I didn't know where you were going, but I wanted to go on an adventure too and I knew you were leaving so I snuck out right after you left and followed you and your scent. I was really gonna miss you guys." NettlePaw said innocently as she pawed the ground.
"Well that wasn't a very smart thing to do, now was it?" SwiftTalon spat.
"You could've been hurt, or if we hadn't found you sleeping, you would've been left behind. By the way, how to you think the queens are feeling right now? Knowing the apprentice they've raised is missing?" he asked very angrily.
"I don't know, I never thought of that. I'm sorry, really sorry! I just wanted to be a good warrior like you guys. I thought maybe if I came back a hero with you guys, they would stop looking at me in shame or pitty because I have no mother or father!" she cried.
"I don't know guys. We cant take her back home. We've gone too far. What should we do?" BrambleFern asked anxiously.
"Alright. You can come with us, but don't think you're no longer in trouble." SwiftTalon hissed.
"Lets hunt now, I'm still hungry." MossStar meowed, relieved that they had everything under control again.
"Okay, I'll catch a vole!" NettlePaw exclaimed.
They all defused to find their prey.
(later around sun-high)
"Okay, we're at Tigers Claw River now, and I don't see any other cat." yawned NettlePaw as she stretched.
"And how did you know where we were going? Or what we were doing exactly?" SwiftTalon growled.
"Well, when I was hiding I was listening as well. I kinda thought it would help my warriors skills too." she said, so matter-of-factly.
"So you followed us AND eavesdropped?" SwiftTalon yelled.
"I was only trying to be a good warrior! Stop yelling at me because all I wanted was to make you proud of me! I just wanted to be there…." NettlePaw cried. Then she ran off over the stones protruding from the river. She kept running and running until she stumbled upon a rabbit hole and hid there.
"Stupid furball she pouted as she cried, trying to get some sleep. She then realized she couldn't sleep and sat up, stopping her tears, believing she had more dignity then that. She knew she had overreacted but she was tired of being treated like that fromSwiftTalon.
With the rabbit scent all around her, she realized she was hungry again.
"Will the rabbit be back?" she thought to herself. "No, the scent is stale. Its been long gone. I guess I could go hunt, then I should probably get back to the others though." she sighed.
Then NettlePaw ran out of the rabbit hole and scented a mouse and a squirrel near by.