Aww! I only got two reviews. :( I'm hoping I'll get more this chapter- and maybe I will. You guys should make my dream come true. Haha, well I'm sure you're wanting the chapter by now, right? I won't be a mean teacher (my science and math one…) and make you wait or hate me. I'm nicer than that.
Am I a Liar?
"It's not lying," Hawkfrost explained, "It's just not the truth. Sometimes you kill to get what you need, others you don't."
Robinpaw awoke up from her first training session, utterly sore. Hawkfrost had been harsh on her to see what exactly she could do. Fighting with her strong (Timberpaw) and smart (not Timberpaw) siblings had taught her to at least defend herself. Robinpaw supposed she could now be called… stealthy.
The Stealthy Robinpaw climbed from the apprentice den, and ended up running straight into Lionblaze.
"Oh, hi Lionblaze." Robinpaw stared up at the almost-legendary-tom. She envied him perhaps even more than her siblings. Lionblaze was, after all, the best fighter from all the Clans. Robinpaw heard no one had ever seen a scratch on him- not even after battle.
"How'd you get those nasty scratches?" Lionblaze looked her over, his eyes narrowing in suspicion. Robinpaw had no idea what he knew, but she wanted to make sure he didn't find out anything. Hawkfrost's words of wisdom flashed through her mind as started to answer.
"Last night I…" Robinpaw started, and then paused to look at something, or someone, else. Molepaw was walking towards her, and Robinpaw smiled at him, opening her mouth to say something when he passed her. He walked to Bluepaw, who was eating a mouse. Robinpaw's gaze fell to her paws, completely forgetting the lie she was about to tell Lionblaze.
Lionblaze noticed how Molepaw had affected Robinpaw and laid his tail on her back, "It's alright. Cinderheart didn't notice me at first either, she and Hollyleaf were best friends, she didn't have enough time for me. But then…" Lionblaze's went blank, and a second later a flicker of pain, then back to normal.
"Are you suggesting I kill Bluepaw?"
Lionblaze …...
"What?" Lionblaze spluttered, staring at Robinpaw like she was crazy, "No! That's not at all what I was saying. Why would you even-?"
Robinpaw laughed nervously, "I'm just kidding! How would you think I'd even think that?"
She's already thinking like them…
Lionblaze's gaze became even more suspicious, but then he decided it'd be better he didn't suspect anything so she'd tell him what was going on. He opened his eyes to normal size and looked over to the nursery, seeing Cinderheart. He waved his tail, smiling at her, then went back to looking at Robinpaw.
"So what were you saying, about the scratches," Lionblaze asked, curling his tail around his paws and sitting down.
"I'm clumsy- it's embarrassing, really." Robinpaw looked down at her paws once again, licking the wounds on her side. "Alright, well I snuck out of camp last night so I could hunt. On patrol last dawn I didn't do so well. I thought maybe if I hunted and caught more Bluepaw and Timberpaw, well, mostly Timberpaw, wouldn't be able to brag."
Lionblaze nodded, now half believing the story, only because it seemed Robinpaw felt so badly that she needed to fit in. And to do that, she thought she could just be better than her brother and sister. It made sense.
"I was chasing a squirrel, not watching the ground, and I tripped and fell into a bramble thicket. Please, Lionblaze, don't tell anyone," she pleaded, "It's bad enough I didn't catch anything, but to trip over your own four feet… Timberpaw and Bluepaw would laugh at me forever."
"It's alright," Lionblaze assured her, "Anyone could do that. Now where were you going?"
"I'm on dawn patrol," Robinpaw answered, "They've probably already left. I should get-"
As she started to trot away, Lionblaze stepped in front of her, "No. Go to Jayfeather, I'll ask Cherrypaw if she'll go for you."
"Thanks, Lionblaze," she sighed, then a barely audible whisper came, so quiet he thought he might've mistaken it, "Hawkfrost, I hope Jayfeather doesn't know your claws."
Robinpaw-
That was close, Robinpaw thought as she trotted away from the suspecting Lionblaze and towards the medicine cat den. Lionblaze had clearly thought he knew something at first. After she had talked and talked, it seemed he believed her enough. Enough, she supposed, for him not to be suspicious today.
The apprentice walked into Jayfeather's den, "Hello? Jayfeather are you in here?"
Brightheart appeared from the back of the den, the smell of herbs on her fur. Briefly, she cleaned herself off and stood up, "Jayfeather's gone herb hunting with Dovewing and Ivyleaf. I'm afraid he just left, but whatever's wrong I can help you with."
Robinpaw nodded, and turned over on her side for the she-cat to see the wounds on her side, "I fell into a bramble thicket."
The half-blind Brightheart gazed at Robinpaw's scratches, "That was one nasty fall, Robinpaw. A lot of cats seem to be falling into brambles these days. Are we not teaching them to stand upright?"
Half-heartedly, Robinpaw laughed along with Brightheart, then asked, "Can you heal them?"
"Of course!" Brightheart was incredulous. "They're simple scrapes! One gash, but never mind that either. Do you think only Jayfeather could heal those?"
"No, no, of course not. I just-"
"I'm just joking, Robinpaw. Lighten up!" Robinpaw's gaze fell the warrior's mauled eye and wondered how she could be so optimistic. Wasn't half of her face completely ruined? Didn't she care? Then again, she did already have a mate that loved her for her.
Brightheart didn't notice Robinpaw's stare. She disappeared deeper into Jayfeather's den and came out with a bundle of herbs in her mouth. The apprentice didn't ask what they were in case Brightheart might think it a questioning of her healing skills. She kept her mouth shut as Brightheart applied the herbs to her wounds and told her to chew a few others.
"Now go rest," Brightheart commanded. Robinpaw left, her fur slick and sticky at the same time from all the herbs smeared onto it. She went to the apprentice's den an curled up in her nest, closing her eyes, hoping for sleep to come so she could train some more with Hawkfrost.
A quiet voice hissed from the outside of the den, "She's with them! I know she is."
"Don't be mouse-brained, Lionblaze. Robinpaw just became an apprentice, she just wants to prove to her Clan she's good enough," a sharper voice hissed back to Lionblaze.
"Exactly! She doesn't think she's good enough. To be good enough she has to fight better and hunt better than her brother and sister. Come on, Jayfeather, don't you get it?"
"I do! But you can't be sure, can you? Now's not the time to go around accusing apprentice's of aligning with the Dark Forest."
The Dark Forest, Robinpaw thought sarcastically, thinking about the fog and dark shadows of the place she went to train, so that's what it's called. I wonder why?
"She said she hoped you didn't know Hawkfrost's claws, with scratches all over her sides! Those weren't from a bramble thicket." Oh, so he had heard her say that about Hawkfrost. "Robinpaw is with the Dark Forest, and even if she doesn't think it's bad to be there we have to stop her."
"Get Dovewing and Ivyleaf," Jayfeather sighed, "We'll talk more with them. If she is with the Dark Forest, we'll find out."
As they passed, Robinpaw feigned sleep.
I'll have to throw them off my trail.
I think this is one of my best chapters ever! Maybe it was really boring, but it's gonna help to develop the plot in this story. I really hoped you liked it! Did you? Review and tell me PLEASE!