Chapter9: Beetlepaw

Beetlepaw tried his best to fall asleep. Smokepaw and Harepaw's words kept replaying in his mind. We know more than we should! What did that mean? Beetlepaw figured he should try to remember something, and squeezed his eyes shut.

When he finally drifted off, Beetlepaw found himself in complete darkness. Suddenly, images started flashing through his mind. Images of cats in mountains, hunting and being hunted by eagles. They were traveling, and then they images started to blur.

Slow down! He told the images. I don't understand. You have to slow down. I can't see!

The images flowed how "normal time" would be and he found himself in a battle.

The Great Battle! He thought as he saw ancient and fading cats fighting, along with a badger of some sort. There was a flash of gold, and Beetlepaw decided to follow the cat.

This golden was fighting with all the strength of StarClan, it seemed, as he was covered in blood, but none of it his own. That's Lion's Roar! Or Lionblaze, in this time. He is Blazepaw's father. Beetlepaw suddenly realized.

"Beetlepaw, wake up!" Grasspelt hissed at him. "We are going on a hunting patrol."

Beetlepaw shakily got out of his nest. The memory of what he had seen still fresh in his mind.

"Are you alright? You were shaking in your sleep." His mentor asked.

"Fine." Beetlepaw replied.

When Beetlepaw came up to his patrol, his tail dropped. The patrol consisted of Rushheart with his apprentice, Foxpaw and Mintfur with his apprentice, Fernpaw.

"What? I have to go hunting with him?" Fernpaw complained.

"Yea, wouldn't a hunting patrol be more successful with cats that can scent?" Foxpaw added. The russet tom had recently been made an apprentice, and he has been following Fernpaw around like a lost kit ever since.

Beetlepaw rolled his eyes. "Yea and wouldn't a fishing patrol be more successful with cats who could fish of at least swim." The last comment caused both Foxpaw and Fernpaw to bristle.

"You dare to insult Fernpaw? I'll shred you!" Foxpaw snarled.

Beetlepaw rolled his eyes and the smaller apprentice. "You do that," he muttered.

"Hey, we are all clanmates, aren't we?" Rushheart cut in.

"Yes, and we have other clanmates who need to be fed. So let's get fishing!" Mintfur mewed impatiently.

The patrol arrived at the bank of part of a river with overhanging stones perfect for fishing on and diving from.

"I bet I can catch the most fish!" Foxpaw boasted.

"We'll just see about that." Beetlepaw muttered.

They quickly split up to catch their own fish. Rushheart was teaching his apprentice how to patiently sit and wait for the fish to come to him, while Beetlepaw was diving and catching fish up to two at a time.

By sunhigh, the patrol had caught a fair amount of fish. Grasspelt caught two bass, Mintfur a trout, and Rushheart caught two trout. The warriors didn't catch much because they were teaching their apprentices. Fernpaw managed to somehow catch a bass, Foxpaw caught three trout, while Beetlepaw caught the most with six trout and a salmon.

"No fair," Foxpaw complained. "He cheated!"

"How could he cheat?" Grasspelt scoffed.

"He-he, uh…" It seemed the young apprentice didn't have a reason as to how Beetlepaw cheated; just that he didn't deserve to catch so much.

Beetlepaw rolled his eyes as he set his catch down on the pile.

"Nightpaw and Pebblefoot are out battle training, so Fernpaw and Foxpaw with Mintfur and Rushheart and going to come on a patrol to the WindClan border." Grasspelt informed him.

Beetlepaw sighed. Now he had to spend the rest of the day with the Clan's most annoying furballs.

"I smell WindClan!" Foxpaw yowled when they reached the border.

"Of course you smell WindClan; this is their border, too." Beetlepaw scoffed.

Foxpaw snarled. "No, I mean on our side of the border."

"It probably just drifted." Beetlepaw dismissed.

"How would you know anything about scents?" Fernpaw sneered.

"Where is the scent?" Grasspelt interrupted.

"Over here."

Grasspelt scent where Foxpaw had pointed. "Beetlepaw's right, it's probably just a drifted scent."

Foxpaw snorted.

"Although, we should be careful. They may cross the border if there is a scent this far into our territory." Grasspelt finished.

The rest of the patrol went without incident. They didn't see any WindClan cats to challenge.

Back in camp, Beetlepaw grabbed a small trout to eat by himself. He would be meeting Smokepaw tonight. When he when into the apprentices' den for a quick nap before the meeting, he saw Nightpaw sleeping soundly. His brother looked tired, so Beetlepaw decided to go alone this night.

He silently crept through the territory, quickly reaching the ShadowClan border. Once there, he spotted Smokepaw there, waiting.

"Are you always this late?" She hissed.

"Harepaw says the same thing." Beetlepaw whispered.

"Whatever just tell me if anything is new? Nothing's new with me or Blazepaw." She said.

"Actually, there is something new." Beetlepaw replied. This caused Smokepaw to perk her ears. "I realized that if I try, I can remember certain parts of the Clans' past. I saw cats in the mountains, although the images were fast and blurry. Then it slowed down at the great battle, and I saw Lion's Roar, or Lionblaze, fighting but not getting hurt. At all." Beetlepaw reported quietly.

Smokepaw seemed to be thinking for a moment, and then responded. "I think we should try to focus our memories. I wonder what the cats in the mountains were doing."

Beetlepaw nodded and the two headed back to their camps. Beetlepaw heard rustling, and paused. He looked around with his ears perked, and sighed. This was one of the few times in his life when he wished that he actually could scent, as he didn't know if the sound could be a fox or just a passing mouse. Beetlepaw sighed again and continued.

Suddenly, Beetlepaw was shoved to the ground. "Traitor," the cat hissed.

"ShadowClan spy!" said another.

There were two cats, and Beetlepaw quickly recognized the voices. "Fernpaw, Foxpaw! Get off of me! What are you talking about?"

"You know what we're talking about." Fernpaw snarled as the two roughly shoved Beetlepaw to his paws and escorted him back to camp.

Once they reached the camp, Fernpaw let out an earsplitting yowl, which successfully awakened everyone.

"Fernpaw, Foxpaw, Beetlepaw, what is the meaning of this?" Mistystar asked when she entered the clearing.

"We caught Beetlepaw spying for ShadowClan. We saw him with a she-cat, and although we couldn't hear all of what they were saying, he was definitely reporting to her." Fernpaw said to the Clan.

"Beetlepaw, is this true?" Mistystar asked, shocked. The rest of the Clan appeared to be in a state of shock also."

"N-n-no! I-it's not what you think!" Beetlepaw stuttered. "I-it's just th-that –"

"It's true!" Foxpaw interrupted. "I saw him."

Several cats looked as if they believed Fernpaw. "He has been sneaking out at night, and heading off to StarClan knows were." A couple said.

Beetlepaw had a look of pure terror. His Clan thought he was a traitor.

Mistystar shook he head. "I'm sorry, Beetlepaw, but until we get this settled, you are not to leave the camp."

Beetlepaw flattened his ears and lowered his gaze. He just wanted to disappear. Why did Fernpaw have to ruin everything? He sighed. At least Nightpaw could tell the others what happened. Where was Nightpaw, anyway?

Beetlepaw looked up to see Nightpaw staring at him. His look of terror matched Beetlepaw's, as if he was the one being accused of being a traitor. Nightpaw seemed to mouth "I'm sorry" to Beetlepaw, who nodded. There was nothing that he or Nightpaw could do at the moment.

Beetlepaw was marched to a spare den, and a warrior was put to guard it for the night. Beetlepaw decided to take this time to try to sort out his memory of try to contact the others through dreams. He fell into a restless sleep.