Warriors: The Power of One: Chapter Five
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It was the morning after the Gathering, and Runningpaw had gathered his siblings in the medicine cave to tell them about his adventure. Brightheart had taken Molepaw out to help him exercise his frail body, so the young cats were alone to speak freely.
Toadpaw listened with his sisters to his brother's report of the Gathering in a mixture of jealousy and awe. When Runningpaw explained Heatherpaw's proposal, Toadpaw couldn't help but feel a twinge of excitement, even though he knew it would be totally wrong to go. However, he could see that nothing he or his siblings could say would stop Runningpaw from going.
"You're not seriously thinking of meeting them, are you?" Nightpaw asked, incredulously. When she saw his face, she huffed in disbelief. "You're mouse-brained."
Sunpaw added, "Why do you want to go, anyway? You barely know these WindClan cats. For all you know, they could be trying to catch you on their territory so they can humiliate you in front of their whole clan."
"They're not like that," Runningpaw protested. "Look, I know I haven't known them for very long, and they are older than me. But I really do think they just want to find out what happened to their friend. And maybe we'll be able to tell where the badger went, too. Did you ever think that maybe I could end up helping our clan too?"
Sunpaw actually looked convinced, but Nightpaw still looked disgusted. Toadpaw spoke up, "Clearly there's not going to be anything anyone could say that would convince you not to go." He paused and grinned at his brother. "The only solution to ensure your safety is for all of us to go."
"I'm in," Sunpaw said, looking over to Nightpaw. "Good luck convincing her."
"No, I'll come," Nightpaw meowed. "Maybe I can keep the three of you from doing something even more mouse-brained."
Runningpaw looked pleased, even with Nightpaw's less than enthusiastic support. "Alright," he said. "Be ready to go as soon as the clan is asleep tonight. We'll have to be careful not to be caught by Graystripe. I heard Brambleclaw asking him to keep watch tonight."
"Let's just hope none of the other apprentices notice we're gone, too," Nightpaw added. "I'm not sure you guys realize how much trouble we'd get in if someone finds out what we're doing. And don't forget, this is literally our second day as apprentices. We don't know anything about fighting techniques. And I don't know about you, but I'd like to be an apprentice longer than two days before I get punished with removing the elder's ticks all day."
She was cut off when Brightheart and Molepaw walked back into the cave. "Yes," Brightheart said, "You have only been apprentices for two days. Are you already trying to get out of your duties?" She purred, teasing. "I don't know what you're doing in here, and I don't need to know if you don't want me to, but if you're not a medicine cat apprentice, you need to leave my den now."
Toadpaw nervously glanced at his siblings and quickly followed Sunpaw and Runningpaw out of the cave.
"Didn't your mentors assign you anything productive to do?" Brightheart called after them.
The rest of the day seemed to drag on forever for Toadpaw. He practiced hunting with Ashfur, Sandstorm and Honeypaw for most of the day, but his mind kept wandering to the night's coming adventure. Finally, when it was time for most of the clan to be asleep, Toadpaw met his siblings in the apprentice den. Nightpaw had gotten permission to sleep there tonight, since she usually slept in the medicine cave.
Thankfully, Mousepaw, Honeypaw, Berrypaw and Poppypaw were already sound asleep, so they only had to wait for Cinderpaw and Hazelpaw to sleep before they could leave. Then, the four apprentices slowly slipped out of their den.
Toadpaw took the lead, staying in the shadows. He peeked out the entrance of the camp, but Graystripe had his back turned to them. Quickly and quietly he made his way toward the WindClan border. He turned around once he had made it a distance out into the forest, well out of earshot of Graystripe, and saw his siblings behind him.
He let Runningpaw take the lead, and followed as Runningpaw took them through the forest until they reached the creek dividing the clan territories. "We have to find a better spot to cross it," Sunpaw whispered.
The four cats went upstream and found a spot on the creek that didn't seem too hard to cross. A large, mostly flat rock divided the creek nearly in half and provided a dry spot to land on the way across the border. They took turns going across, and fortunately avoided getting their fur wet.
The land was still forested, Toadpaw noticed. Actually, they weren't too far away from the Moonpool if he remembered Ashfur correctly. He followed Runningpaw until they reached the edge of the forest. There were no cats in sight.
"Great," Nightpaw mewed. "We've been stood up. Either that or your 'friends' are planning a nasty surprise for us."
"More along those lines," said a voice Toadpaw didn't recognize. Turning around, he saw two she-cats coming toward them out of the darkness. He unsheathed his claws, but quickly retracted them as soon as the she-cats stepped into the moonlight. His jaw dropped and he couldn't help staring. Before him was the prettiest she-cat he'd ever seen. Her tortoiseshell fur rippled in the light of the moon and her beautiful amber eyes sparkled mischievously. And her voice! How had he not noticed how wonderful her voice was when he first heard it? It was like the songbirds melodies…Just then he noticed how long he'd been staring.
The WindClan apprentice had already noticed. "Hello? Is anyone home?" She snorted and turned to Runningpaw. "Well, want to introduce us to the guests we never invited?"
His brother squirmed a little. "I thought they could help us," he explained.
The other apprentice waved her tail at her clanmate in acceptance. "Let it go, Sunpaw. It's good to see you, Runningpaw," she whispered, looking around at Toadpaw and his sisters. "Who are your friends?"
Runningpaw introduced them in turn, "These are my siblings, Toadpaw, Sunpaw, and Nightpaw."
"Great. More ThunderClan cats on our territory," the beautiful, perfect WindClan Sunpaw meowed.
Runningpaw continued, "These are my WindClan friends Heatherpaw and Sunpaw."
WindClan Sunpaw spoke before anyone else had the chance, "Yes, your Sunpaw and I have the same name. We've established this and I want you all to know I will soon be a warrior, so this won't be an issue for long." ThunderClan Sunpaw looked shocked at the briskness of her explanation. Runningpaw and Heatherpaw tried not to let their giggling show past the twitching of their whiskers.
Toadpaw noticed he was staring again. He gulped, "Well, should we start following the scent?" he suggested.
"That's the first intelligent thing I've heard a ThunderClan cat say all night," WindClan Sunpaw said.
Heatherpaw led the way, explaining as they walked up a long hill. "Eaglepaw was last scented at the edge of our territory. He was hunting alone there and never came back. He had to have left for a good reason, and none of his blood was ever found. Most of the clan thinks he deserted us, but we know that can't be right."
They walked in silence for a while, and Toadpaw was able to admire Sunpaw's cocky confidence as she climbed the hill in front of him, bantering playfully with her clanmate. The WindClan cats stopped at a large boulder.
"This is where he was last scented," Sunpaw explained. "Since we know his scent best, Heatherpaw and I will track him. You all can keep busy by looking for clues. Fur, blood, you get it."
Nightpaw walked beside him as they searched the ground for evidence, slowly following the WindClan she-cats. "I still don't feel right about this," she said.
"We're doing the right thing," Toadpaw said, trying to convince himself as well as his sister.
Time ticked slowly away, and they found no evidence. Suddenly, Toadpaw noticed Heatherpaw and Sunpaw exchange a glance. "It's getting stronger," Heatherpaw explained.
The six cats found themselves staring at the entrance of a burrow in the side of the hill. "That's where he went. I'm sure of it." Sunpaw said.
They started to go in, but Nightpaw hesitated. "Are you sure this is a good idea?"
ThunderClan Sunpaw agreed, "We have no idea what's down there."
WindClan Sunpaw sighed. "Eaglepaw went down there for sure. We have to find out where he is. And this is a rabbit burrow. Any cat without bees in their brain could see that."
"All the same, this place reeks something terrible," Runningpaw said, continuing into the burrow. The others followed closely behind.
Toadpaw could see about four paw-lengths in front of his whiskers, but beyond that, all was dark. The burrow could fit three of them side by side, and Toadpaw walked between WindClan Sunpaw and Runningpaw through the increasingly overpowering stench coming from the burrow. Before too long, the cats found the burrow widening into a larger space. As soon as they walked into the wider space, a blast of the smell hit them.
"Ugh!" Toadpaw couldn't help but exclaim. He tried to bury his nose in the dirt, but stopped suddenly when he saw it. All the fur on his body stood on end when he realized what he was seeing. He flicked his tail out to stop Sunpaw and the others from going any further. "Guys," he gulped. "I think we should go." He locked eyes with WindClan Sunpaw who had just seen what he had. Blood. On the floor of the burrow. Lots of it.
His head spun as the stench shifted, and he could smell the blood. He didn't want to see anything else. They had to get out.
Just as he was again about to suggest they leave, a sound came from the other end of the space, a shifting of dirt and a deep growl. As a black-and-white face and huge paws with long, sharp claws started to take shape through the darkness, Toadpaw could now put a name to the terrible stench, and to the killer of Eaglepaw. Badger.
"Run!" he yowled. The cats turned and ran out as fast as they could, out of the burrow, back through the trail, past the boulder, and down the hill into the forest near the ThunderClan border without even looking back once.
Breathlessly, they said their solemn good-byes and went back to their respective camps. Not a word was uttered between the siblings all the way back to the ThunderClan camp. They slipped past Graystripe again and plunged into their nests as quietly as possible. One by one, Toadpaw heard his sibling's breathing change as they slipped off to sleep. Toadpaw knew he would not sleep that night. Every time he closed his eyes the same image came to his mind. Unfortunately it was not the image of a beautiful new friend from WindClan. It was the image of Eaglepaw's blood covering the burrow floor, and a black-and-white face.