Chapter 17

"Vagabonds."

3/26/17 - 3/27/17

Nightpaw

Traveling down the small Thunderpath in dawn's early light is met in silence, as a small group of towering trees on both of the outside of the hard path brought homesickness to Nightpaw and Snowpaw. The traveling herbs were working to keep their minds off of hunger and fatigue.

They weren't the only ones who were homesick. Nightpaw hasn't missed the forlorn look on Spiderpaw's face before he parted ways with his sister nest the Horseplace.

Nightpaw knows that Beechpaw left behind his brother, mother and father, but any signs of grief he has he isn't showing. As for Owlpaw…

Something's changed with him. Nightpaw looks at the light brown tom in the back. Owlpaw keeps his eyes on the ground as he keeps up with Snowpaw.

The ShadowClan apprentice wasn't exactly the bravest tom, or the most argumentative, but he wasn't even expressing his opinions on anything. Something inside Owlpaw is broken. So badly that he doesn't know how to function.

She remembers how he feels upset about not knowing who his father was.

Did the truth change him?

The trees became scarce as the Thunderpath goes down to a much bigger Thunderpath that blocks them from the grass and fences on the other side.

"What now?" Nightpaw asks Beechpaw. The RiverClan apprentice looks at the big road before him.

"I smell something over there. It doesn't smell like a cat, though-."

Owlpaw crosses the big thunderpath and stops on the grass, looking over his shoulder. "Aren't you coming over?"

"Owlpaw, we don't know who lives over that fence." Calls Beechpaw.

"So why don't we check?"

Owlpaw doesn't wait for a reply as he runs out to the field. Nightpaw lashes her tail. "We need to make sure he doesn't get into trouble."

As soon as Nightpaw crosses thunderpath, Spiderpaw crosses it to make it beside her.

"Wait! We don't know who lives there!" Beechpaw watches his fellow chosen vanish behind the fence. Snowpaw places her tail on his shoulder.

"Let's follow them then."

Owlpaw looks at a Twoleg den, nicely shiny and white, with a smaller dog den next to it. He slowly pads to the front of the den, and tries to identify the scent Beechpaw was talking about. Owlpaw pads toward the Twoleg den, and hears a deep growl.

A black and white dog rushes out of his den and barks at him. Owlpaw jumps back and falls on his back as the dog prepares to bite.

Fishpaw

"Fishpaw." The deep blue tom looks at Driftcloud. "Could you wake up your sister and cousin for me? It's almost time for dawn patrol."

Fishpaw pushes his mouse away and pads inside the apprentices den; the nests were empty, including Nightpaw and Snowpaw's nests. Fishpaw frowns, and he pads toward Driftcloud.

"She's not there. Neither is Nightpaw."

"What?"

"Their gone."

Driftcloud pads past Fishpaw and looks inside the den, and backs out with narrowed ice blue eyes as Thrushwing pads to him.

"Snowpaw's not here. Nightpaw, too." He told Thrushwing. Nightpaw's mentor blinks with confusion.

"Are you sure?"

"Their scents are still fresh. Where could they have gone?"

"I'll tell Darkstar, you follow their scent."

Driftcloud nods and follows the scent trail while Thrushwing goes inside Darkstar's den. Fishpaw almost thought Thrushwing looked too calm about her apprentice's disappearance.

Fishpaw is left with confusion.

Where did you she-cats go?

Softpaw

"Spiderpaw? Spiderpaw!"

Softpaw blinks open her eyes to the sound of her mother's voice. She braces herself and leaves the rock crevice to see Duskcloud looking around the camp as cats took notice of her frantic behavior.

She looks at Creekstar leaving his den. "Spiderpaw is gone!"

Brackenfall asks, "What do you mean?"

"He's not in the fox burrow or anywhere else! He's gone!"

"Good riddance." Cheetahpaw sneers, earning a glare from Hollyclaw that made her wince. Duskcloud starts to tear up.

"I don't understand… He looked fine yesterday but I should have paid more attention…"

"We'll find him, Duskcloud." Creekstar promised.

Duskcloud continues to cry, and Softpaw's heart broke seeing the black she cat so grief stricken. Hazelheart moves past her to comfort Duskcloud while Softpaw tries to ignore the tugging feeling in her stomach when she leaves the den.

Mosspaw

Mosspaw licks her maw and gives a big yawn as she raises her head. She sees Swiftpaw sleeping on his back, kicking his back legs in his sleep. Dewpaw and Poolpaw left her dawn patrol while they were sleeping.

Mosspaw looks at Owlpaw's empty nest and frowns. She pads out of the den and goes inside Kestrelwing's den. Owlpaw usually stays in his den when Frostpool and Marshfoot's kits' teasing becomes too much.

The brown and white she-cat doesn't even see his light brown pelt in the shadowy medicine cat den.

"Splashpelt? Oh, Mosspaw!"

Mosspaw turns around and sees Kestrelwing looking at her curiously.

"Where's Owlpaw?"

The mottled brown medicine cat frowns. "I'm not sure. I was certain he was in the apprentices den with you…"

"Well he's not."

"Calm down. Just ask Patchflower if she's seen him."

Ugh. Her. Mosspaw resented the dark tortoiseshell for mistreating Owlpaw. She reluctantly nods and finds Patchflower grooming herself near the nursery.

"Patchflower! Did you send Owlpaw out by himself?"

Patchflower narrows her eyes. "What are you accusing me of?"

"It's just a simple question."

Patchflower glares at her before saying, "No. I haven't seen him, wake him up for me."

Mosspaw's heart plummets. She races toward Kestrelwing, who was talking with Heatherstar when she skids to a halt.

"Owlpaw's gone!"

Bearpaw

Bearpaw didn't think much of Beechpaw's absence, neither did RiverClan. Beechpaw was given permission to leave the camp to practice swimming and fishing by himself.

The morning sun warms Bearpaw's back when he picks out a trout. He sees Applefoot resting outside, her belly swollen from the kits, Bearpaw thought she would explode before they arrive.

Bearpaw suddenly hears his mother and father from the stream. His ears perk up to hear what they were saying…

"Are you sure he's not in the den? I could look inside and-."

"No, Silversnow, I checked it myself. Beechpaw isn't there."

Bearpaw looks over his shoulder. Silversnow stares at Darkwater with intense worry.

"Where could he have gone? I don't understand."

"Relax, love." Darkwater told her. "You're the deputy. Tell Olivestar and I'll take some cats with me and look for Beechpaw. It might sound awful, but I hope that he's taken by Twolegs, at least that way we can get him back."

Bearpaw watches Silversnow nod and leave to go inside Olivestar's den, and Darkwater goes to the warriors den.

Maybe he got lost somewhere? He's been daydreaming a whole lot more lately.

Bearpaw sees Darkwater's search party leaving camp with Silversnow and Olivestar close behind, making the other RiverClan cats look on with concern.

Bearpaw feels his own concern filling his thoughts.

Beechpaw. Where did you go?

"Move, Owlpaw!"

Nightpaw and Spiderpaw threw themselves onto the dog, knocking it on the ground. Beechpaw and Snowpaw arrive and watch the chaos unfold. Beechpaw attacks the dog's back legs as Spiderpaw and Nightpaw climb on the dog's belly.

The dog barked and barked and barked, until-

"Get off me, you stupid sharpclaws!"

The Prophesied Five stop attacking, and stare at the black and white dog in shock. Nightpaw and Spiderpaw climb off of the dog as it got up, and glares at the cats with yellow eyes.

"Did this dog just speak cat?" Owlpaw asks Beechpaw.

"I'm just as shocked as you are." The dog retorts. "Sharpclaws like you don't stick around long enough to know."

Nightpaw stammers, "But, how?"

"I chase a lot of cats off my Longpaw's territory. I deal with it so much I learned your tongue."

Spiderpaw slowly shakes his head. "Amazing… Our Clan wouldn't believe we met a dog civil enough to talk to us."

The dog wrinkles her nose. "Same with you sharpclaws."

"Why do you keep calling us that?" Beechpaw asks the dog.

"In case you haven't noticed, we're cats." Spiderpaw adds.

"You...cats, are know as sharpclaws to my kind. Because of those." She points her white paw to the unsheathed claws of Spiderpaw, who quickly sheaths them.

Seeing as everyone calmed down, Beechpaw coughs to grab the dog's attention.

"Sorry. We didn't know this was your territory. I'm Beechpaw, apprentice of RiverClan. And these are my friends. Snowpaw and Nightpaw, their cousins from ThunderClan, Spiderpaw, he's from WindClan, and Owlpaw is from ShadowClan."

The dog tilts her head. "That's a bunch of strange names. I'm Jessie, a Farm Dog, but my Longpaws call me a 'Boarder Collie'."

"You keep saying Longpaws. Are they bald creatures that stand on two legs?"

"Yes."

"Twolegs!" Snowpaw exclaims, rumbling in the sky as dark cloud hang over.

"Yes. My Longpaws brought this den back to life with colors, some other dog told me that a cat used to live here long, long ago."

Jessie frowns. "Although, where did you come from?"

"The lake."

The Farm Dog yips with surprise. "My Longpaws took me to that lake! You five must be tired."

"Not really. We're going to the mountains."

"Now you sharpclaws are pushing it. You just happen to have went the opposite direction of where the mountains are, but it's extremely dangerous for young sharpclaws like yourselves to go."

"We know, but we'll be okay." Beechpaw says.

The five cats and dog hear the sky roar, the clouds became dark grey as rain starts to pour down. Jessie looks down on the cats.

"You might as well go in my den. My Longpaws aren't do back for the day, so we won't have to worry about them seeing you."

Jessie herds the cats inside of what she calls a "dog house" as the rain pours down harder. The Farm Dog allows them to lay on her flank for warmth as they watched the rain fall down.

Snowpaw

The rain lasted almost two hours before the Prophesied Five head out to the mountains again, after bidding farewell to Jessie the Farm Dog. The mountains were brutal as she said.

Tall peaks touching the sky. And rugged, uneven pathways with endless pits that they refuse to look down at. Snowpaw feels a rock prick her soft paw pad and winces. She straightens up and follows Nightpaw. Owlpaw and Spiderpaw were behind Beechpaw's lead.

She looks to see where the road will end, but it seems endless. Snowpaw feels a tail jab her in the eyes, and sees Nightpaw smirking as she bounds away.

"Get back here!" Snowpaw yowls, chasing after her.

"Gotta catch me first!"

Two pricked ears twitch at the sound of Nightpaw's voice on the nearby mountainside. Two yellow eyes were glowing in the shadows as the creature's companion gives it a knowing look.

The two cousins run past Beechpaw and start running on a narrow path, where pebbles fall into the abyss from their paw steps.

"Hey, guys, maybe you shouldn't-."

Snowpaw's paw slips on the edge, and falls back before quickly sinking her claws into the edge and kicking wildly with her back legs to get back up.

"N-Nightpaw!"

The small black she cat looks at Snowpaw in familiar horror at what was playing out.

This was my nightmare!

Beechpaw, Spiderpaw and Owlpaw rush in when a big shaggy beast appears from the corner and blocks them.

A wolf. Grey and white fur, with great, big paws with piercing yellow eyes staring at the young cats. Another wolf, a pure white female, comes out and looks at Snowpaw and Nightpaw, and smirks.

"I got the two females. You can have the males."

The grey male nods and growls at the three toms, the she-wolf walks along the narrow path cautiously as Snowpaw continues to struggle. Nightpaw quickly pads across the path and stops near Snowpaw with the white she-wolf became three fox lengths closer.

Nightpaw bites on Snowpaw's scruff and lifts her up. Snowpaw climbs up, and lifts one back leg up. The white she-wolf bares her teeth and lunges. Nightpaw yanks Snowpaw up and rolls back to avoid the she-wolf's bite.

Spiderpaw lunges at the grey male, only for the wolf to bite down on his shoulder, blood spattering out from his snout. Beechpaw rakes his claws on the wolf's front legs and Owlpaw runs around and bites the wolf's tail and yanks it back.

The wolf drops Spiderpaw and bites at Beechpaw and Owlpaw. Nightpaw looks at Snowpaw. "Let's go!"

The two ThunderClan she-cats run under the she-wolf and rush toward the toms. Snowpaw helps Spiderpaw get away as Nightpaw makes a tremendous leap and rakes her claws on the wolf's eye and blinds him temporarily.

"Go, go, go!" She told the two. Beechpaw and Owlpaw follow Nightpaw as she sees Snowpaw's white-silver flecked pelt inside of a small cave, and runs inside with the RiverClan and ShadowClan apprentices close behind her.

They moved to the far back as the wolves snap their jaws through the entrance, but were unable to get them.

"Come out of there, kittens!"

"Don't you dare hide from my belly!"

The Prophesied Five feel their hearts beating with terror as their nightmarish beasts were just outside their hiding place. The wolves barking stop and paws move away as hissing and yowling echo in the mountain.

Are those...cats? Snowpaw listens to the voices, and white paws and grey paws stand in front of their cave. A ginger tom looks inside and sees them shivering.

"There are to-be's in here! That's why Delta and her lackey were so close!"

"To-be's, Weasel?" A solid grey tom looks in, and grows sympathetic. "We won't hurt you. Come on out."

Spiderpaw grunts as the blood continues to spill out. Snowpaw says, "Our friend is wounded. The wolf got him."

"Bring him out, we'll need to get to the Tribe before it gets infected."

Snowpaw makes Spiderpaw lean on her shoulder and pads outside with her friends following. Snowpaw looks at the two toms. A ginger tom with a white chest and paws, and a solid grey tom with broad shoulders.

"Did you say you were Tribe cats?"

The ginger tom nods. "Yes. I'm Weasel Sneaking at Night, and this is Wolf that Howls at Night."

Spiderpaw grunts. "I think I'm going crazy… Do those cats have long names?"

Wolf pads to Spiderpaw. "There's little time to explain until we get that shoulder looked at."

Wolf crouches down. Snowpaw places Spiderpaw on Wolf's back as the grey tom gets up with the WindClan apprentice hanging on.

"S-So, you're really Tribe cats?" Snowpaw asks again.

Weasel nods. "Yes. We're the Tribe of Rushing Water. Stoneteller would want to see you and your friend."

Snowpaw feels a smile curl on her muzzle as she and the other lake cats follow Weasel and Wolf inside of a huge opening cave.

We made it.

Not as long as the monster chapter last time.

I kinda had fun writing the interaction between Jessie and the apprentices. Longpaws, sharpclaws, Farm Dog… All of this is from the Survivors series by Erin Hunter. You know, the dogs?

Oh, which reminds me!

Disclaimer!: I do not own Warriors or Survivors, those books belong to Erin Hunter and Erin Hunter ONLY!

The Prophesied Five have a brief encounter with the wolves, and Spiderpaw ends up injured. He's pretty tough despite being a WindClan cat, I think he'll be okay.

Also, if you wanna give the grey wolf that Delta was with a name, be my guest. You can even make up your own wolves to help out.

The rest of their Clan have already notice that their apprentices are gone, but are already too long gone for them to track them down.

Will they take this as abandonment? Or that one Clan has stolen one of the apprentices?

… There I go again. Asking you these questions when I write the darn book.

Oh well. Until next time. :) ~ Kyubi