The chatter of excited kits hummed in Scorchclaw's ears as he blinked open his eyes. A small, brown face was right in front of him, yellow eyes wide and twinkling, and Scorchclaw scrambled back in shock, not expecting to have awoken to this. But, even as Scorchclaw backed up, Harekit pursued him.
"I'm going to be an apprentice today!" Harekit squealed before Scorchclaw got the chance to ask him what he was doing. "Can you believe it?" The pale brown tom kit hopped on his paws, surround Scorchclaw with the speed of a WindClan cat. Scorchclaw's head was dizzy as he tried to follow Harekit's quick movements.
"You've reached your sixth moon?" Scorchclaw asked. "Seems just like the other day you were trying to escape camp."
"But you told me to wait, and I did wait, and now it's here!" Harekit exclaimed. "Briarkit and Seedkit are acting like they don't care, but I know they do!" The tom bounced up and down. "I want you to be my mentor, Scorchclaw!"
"Well, we'll see," Scorchclaw said, amusement making his whiskers twitch. He wondered how he'd be able to handle an energetic mound of fur like Harekit, but he needed an apprentice. His father promised him Harekit, and his father always delivered on his promises. Scorchclaw watched Harekit hop away to the nursery, where his mother, Patchshine, was waiting. His sisters, Briarkit and Seedkit, met Harekit with excited purrs.
Hmm. Scorchclaw clicked his tongue. He had to admit that Briarkit and Seedkit seemed like calmer apprentices to train, but there was something about Harekit that intrigued Scorchclaw. Harekit was excited, rowdy, and energetic – of course, that was a quality usually all apprentices had, but it also signaled the prospect of a good warrior. I'll make him into the best warrior I can, Scorchclaw thought to himself.
The scent of dying heather and cool marsh drifted through Scorchclaw's nostrils. He breathed in the frigid leaf-fall air, a shiver running through his pelt. Leaf-fall again, huh. The morning sun rays illuminated the WindClan camp, and the golden shafts dappled on Swiftstar's pelt as Scorchclaw's father left his den. He braced his shoulders, his amber eyes scanning the camp, and then he leaped on the Tall Branch, yowling out, "Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather under the Tall Branch for a Clan meeting."
Yes! Excitement flooded Scorchclaw's paws, and for a moment he wondered if he was more excited than Harekit. But he doubted any cat would be able to surpass that young kit's energy. Steeling his resolve and waving his tail back-and-forth, Scorchclaw padded to the root of the tree that made Swiftstar's den sat down, bracing his shoulders and facing his cats as their Clan deputy. The snow was cool to the touch under his paws, and he could see his own prints trailing after him. The other cats started to gather. Sandfall, WindClan's newest queen, poked her head out of the nursery. Aspenstep, her mate, padded over to her and urged her back inside the nursery. Lightningpaw glanced at his former mentor, and then followed Larchcloud, his current mentor, who had taken over his training after Sandfall moved to the nursery.
Cloverwhisker, who had retired to the elders' den with Deerheart, watched the nursery with soft eyes. Sunleaf stood at the foot of the Tall Branch, gazing at her mate with love in her eyes. Scorchclaw could see Russetstripe sitting next to Gorseflight at the edge of the camp, where Gorseflight was telling her something. Russetstripe's face was fraught with worry, and Scorchclaw wondered what was going on between them.
But Scorchclaw's worries ebbed when Wildheart slunk through the crowd and approached Scorchclaw. A low purr rumbled in Scorchclaw's chest and he nuzzled her. "We're in the middle of a Clan meeting!" he whispered to her.
Wildheart rolled her eyes. "That means I can't see you?"
Scorchclaw gulped. Not with my father watching. He tilted his head, and Wildheart sighed, giving him a lick on the cheek before she went back towards the cats. Dovewillow and Songbreeze sat together near the medicine den, and Violetheart and Heathercloud watched the proceedings from one of the rocks in the camp. Smokebelly sat down in front of the elders' den, growing too frail to move any further. Buzzardpaw padded over to him, pushing a rabbit in front of the elders, but Smokebelly shook his head. A flash of worry crossed Buzzardpaw's face.
"Clanmates!" Swiftstar yowled. "Today, I will perform a ceremony that is one of my favorites. Harekit, Briarkit, and Seedkit have reached their sixth moon, and so it is my honor to appoint them as apprentices in the eyes of the gods." His amber gaze drifted to the nursery, where Patchshine was pushing Seedkit and Briarkit out. Harekit trotted in front of them, his pale brown pelt sleek in the sunlight. Briarkit's brown fur, dappled with specks of white, was short and well-groomed, while Seedkit's tortoiseshell striped pelt still had a strand of grass in it. Patchshine seemed to notice it as she walked, for she jerked her head out and pulled the grass away with her jaws.
Thrushwing watched his second litter with pride, while Gorseflight gave his siblings a curt nod, but didn't say much else. Scorchclaw wondered how he felt about them. Brambledusk was very close to his siblings, a second litter from Spottedwing, but he hadn't seen Gorseflight interact much with his younger siblings. For a matter of fact… he hadn't seen Gorseflight very much in the past few moons. His appearances in camp were sparse – he went on a hunting patrol every day, but Scorchclaw couldn't remember putting him on any border patrols, as he didn't see the tom in camp. I wonder if he's all right.
"I'm ready!" Harekit declared in the middle of camp. Scorchclaw's eyes widened at the tom's outspokenness, and he wondered if Swiftstar would scold him. Patchshine gasped, and even his siblings stared at him as if he had grown a second head. Gorseflight winced, and Thrushwing gawked at his son. But Swiftstar's whiskers twitched in amusement.
"I'm sure you are," Swiftstar said. "Harekit, Briarkit, and Seedkit. You three have reached the age of six moons, and it is time for you to be apprenticed. Briarkit, step forward."
Briarkit was trembling with excitement as she padded over to the Tall Branch. Swiftstar looked down at the speckled kit. "From now on, you will be known as Briarpaw. Wildheart, you will be Briarpaw's mentor. You received excellent training from the late Spottedwing, and I expect you to pass all you know onto Briarpaw."
Wildheart's yellow eyes gleamed with joy as she stepped forward and touched noses to the new apprentice. Briarpaw's brown tail waved back and forth with happiness, and Wildheart gently urged the she-cat back into the crowd. Swiftstar nodded to Seedkit, who took a few steps below the branch and looked up at her leader with wonder.
"You will be known as Seedpaw," Swiftstar meowed, "and your mentor will be Blackdove. Blackdove, your mentor was the late Oakcloud, and he was a strong warrior that you learned from. Pass that onto Seedpaw."
Blackdove nodded and touched her nose to Seedpaw's. Seedpaw looked up at her, purring loudly, and then followed her mentor in the crowd. That left little Harekit – although he stood alone, below the Tall Branch, his eyes were shining with resolve and excitement as he stared expectantly at Swiftstar.
"Harekit, you will now be known as Harepaw," Swiftstar told the pale brown kit. "You will have the honor of being apprenticed to the Clan deputy – my son – Scorchclaw." The WindClan leader glanced at Scorchclaw, and Scorchclaw tried hard to conceal the purr that was threatening to rumble in his chest as he walked over to Harepaw. Harepaw raced up to him, touching noses with his new mentor.
"I'm so glad!" Harepaw exclaimed, his amber eyes glowing. "Briarpaw wanted you, but I got you instead!"
"Hey now," Scorchclaw purred, tousling the tom's brown head with his paw. "That doesn't mean I can't help her in her training."
"Well, yeah," Harepaw said, "but you'll help me the most!"
"Of course I will." Scorchclaw lifted his tail to urge the tom to hush down, and he looked up at Swiftstar. From the way the tabby opened his mouth, he assumed that he meant to say more. But, instead, Swiftstar gave a small nod and leaped off the Tall Branch. For a moment, Scorchclaw felt a jab of sympathy, glancing at Russetstripe and Gorseflight. They were the two cats signaled out from their age group signaled out to not receive an apprentice. But there were only three kits, not five. And Swiftstar had been having a hard time dealing with Russetstripe lately, while Gorseflight had barely been in camp. He studied the expressions of the two cats, but Russetstripe's face was unreadable, and Gorseflight seemed as if he could care less, rolling his shoulders and padding away. I'm glad he isn't offended. But is Russetstripe? Scorchclaw was about to approach her, but he was stopped by Harepaw nudging him in the side.
"So?" Harepaw asked. "What are we gonna do? Fighting? Hunting? Border patrols? Oh, can I show you the move Thrushwing taught me? It's—"
Scorchclaw's head spun as Harepaw talked endlessly. Oh, boy, it's going to take me a while to keep up with this one. "Let's do one thing at a time, all right, Harepaw?"
"But which one is it?" Harepaw pressed.
"Border patrol." Scorchclaw let the first thing in his mouth fly out. Harepaw hopped up and down on his paws in excitement, his yellow eyes shining. Then, in seconds, he was on his paws once more, and his brown body was streaking out of the clearing.
Scorchclaw watched, gaping as his apprentice left him behind. "Wait up!" he yowled, racing after the young tom, approaching his heels and keeping pace with him. "You've got to wait for me, Harepaw. I'm the mentor. You're the apprentice."
"Sorry!" Harepaw exclaimed, but from the glow in his eyes, it told Scorchclaw that Harepaw wasn't sorry at all. "I'm just so tired from being stuck in that nursery. I'm glad I can finally run! It feels good to stretch my legs."
Scorchclaw purred. He couldn't argue with that, necessarily. He had felt the same when he was an apprentice – confined to the nursery for so long, and then finally allowed to glide across the moorland when Berrysplash had taken him on his first patrol. But as Harepaw ran, his paws kicking up soft white snow, Scorchclaw realized that his paws were taking him to the north of WindClan territory – into unclaimed wilderness. Where Scorchclaw had spotted Habu for the first time. Scorchclaw shuddered and turned his paws, urging Harepaw to choose a different direction. Harepaw said nothing of it, instead following Scorchclaw as the two cats made for the ThunderClan border.
This had been the destination Scorchclaw had traveled to on his first patrol. He had met Peartuft here, a conniving, sneaky ThunderClan warrior. Peartuft had mentioned that WindClan would raise a useless generation of warriors – but Scorchclaw was the Clan deputy, Gorseflight was powerful, Wildheart was fast, Blackdove was determined, and Russetstripe was headstrong. We're unstoppable, together, Scorchclaw thought to himself. We could beat Peartuft in mere seconds. Scorchclaw glanced at Harepaw as the wiry, long-limbed apprentice glided over the moor, as if he had been running since birth. And we're about to raise another generation of warriors.
Scorchclaw's gaze traveled across the stream where WindClan's territory still continued onto towards a gnarled oak. After that was ThunderClan territory. They won this strip of land in a battle, long ago. It had been the battle where Hollyfrost died. My arranged mate. Scorchclaw gulped. Swiftstar hadn't said anything about that to him lately. Had he forgotten? Wildheart was his mate now. There was no changing that.
"Can we cross the stream?" Harepaw asked.
"Are you ready?" Scorchclaw countered, glancing at the stream. The leaf-fall waters should be calm enough for them to cross.
"Yeah!" Harepaw's tail waved in excitement.
"All right. I'll go first, so you can follow me." Scorchclaw stepped in front of his apprentice and hopped onto the first stone. All WindClan cats hated water, and Scorchclaw had his own run with it before. He would never get used to the noisome feeling of water lapping at his paws. Wanting to be as far away from the stream as possible, Scorchclaw hopped from rock to rock. He looked behind him to see Harepaw leaping over two rocks at once. Scorchclaw's eyes widened.
"What are you doing?" Scorchclaw asked, landing on the other side of the stream.
"It's faster!" Harepaw exclaimed.
"Gods, please don't let him drown, please don't let him drown, please don't let him drown," Scorchclaw prayed under his breath repeatedly as he watched his apprentice leap over multiple rocks at once until he reached the bank. Scorchclaw felt his fur fluff out as his heart stopped racing. "You could've been hurt!" he snapped at his apprentice.
"But I wasn't!" Harepaw meowed, bouncing around Scorchclaw.
Scorchclaw blinked twice. This apprentice was going to work him to his limits, he knew that. But he was always up for a challenge. "All right, let me tell you about the Clans," Scorchclaw meowed as they slowed their pace to recover from the run and headed through the very edges of WindClan territory. "Right now, we're at the ThunderClan border. ThunderClan is led by Rootstar, and his deputy is Brookfeather. Now, they're—" Scorchclaw's voice cut off as he realized that Harepaw seemed much more interested in chasing a butterfly than listening to him. Annoyance flooded in Scorchclaw's paws. "Harepaw!"
Harepaw didn't even move. "Yes, Scorchclaw?"
"Were you even listening to me?" Scorchclaw lashed his tail.
"I was!" Harepaw chirped, still staring at the butterfly.
"Who's the leader of ThunderClan and their deputy?" Scorchclaw quizzed him, irritation bubbling up in his blood.
"Brookstar and Rootfeather! I heard it!" Harepaw reached his paws up and batted the butterfly.
"No!" Scorchclaw snapped. "Rootstar and Brookfeather! Harepaw, you've got to focus your attention on one thing, and that's me. Look away from that butterfly."
At Scorchclaw's commanding voice, Harepaw turned his head away from the butterfly and met his mentor's gaze. For the first time, shame clouded the tom's yellow eyes. Scorchclaw went on even as the tom ducked his head. "I know you're excited about being a warrior, but you won't be one if you can't focus your attention on one thing! You—"
A voice cut Scorchclaw's scolding off, and the fur on his back pricked. He would recognize that voice anywhere. Scorchclaw turned his head to glare at the shadows, and a dark gray tabby appeared out of the darkness, and he felt his ears flatten immediately at the menacing yellow eyes. You… But, Peartuft was not alone. Accompanying him was a beautiful, pale tortoiseshell she-cat with dazzling green eyes. For a moment, Scorchclaw found himself captivated by her. Then he shook his head.
"What are you doing here?" Scorchclaw challenged Peartuft, urging his apprentice closer to him. Harepaw stuck close to Scorchclaw's side.
"Patrolling our border," Peartuft meowed, looking at the butterfly that Harepaw had been batting. "Oh, little apprentice, did you want that?"
"N-no." Harepaw shook his head, with no sign of his usual liveliness as he stood under Peartuft's keen gaze.
"Peartuft," meowed the tortoiseshell she-cat kindly. "He's just an apprentice. There's no need to mock him." She ran her tail down Peartuft's side. "Weren't you one once, too?"
Peartuft glanced at the tortoiseshell she-cat, who pressed against him and purred. The hard light died from Peartuft's eyes, and he pressed his lips together, turning to look at Scorchclaw and growling, "You're close to our border."
"This is our border," Scorchclaw growled, flexing his shoulders. He didn't want to fight with Harepaw around, but if Peartuft thought he could trespass and get away with it, Scorchclaw would prove him wrong.
"We'll leave," the tortoiseshell she-cat meowed quickly.
"Mintsplash?" Peartuft asked, puzzled.
"Come, Peartuft." Mintsplash nuzzled Peartuft and led him away with her tortoiseshell tail. "Let's check the ShadowClan border."
"Mm, all right." Peartuft followed Mintsplash, not shooting Harepaw or Scorchclaw a second glance. Huh. If it hadn't been for Mintsplash, I'm sure he would've attacked by now. Scorchclaw looked over at Harepaw, who watched the two ThunderClan warriors with wonder shining in his yellow eyes.
"Well, that was enough of that," Scorchclaw meowed. "Let's cross the stream and see if we can find something to hunt on the way."
Harepaw frowned. "We can't stay?"
"You've seen your first ThunderClan cat," Scorchclaw grumbled, "and I don't want to run into any more of them. They're dangerous."
"But so are we," Harepaw argued.
Scorchclaw's whiskers twitched. "True." Prompting the young tom after him with a twitch of his tail, Scorchclaw crossed the stream again. He looked over his shoulder, thankful that Harepaw was bouncing from one rock to another, unlike the reckless way he had been crossing earlier. I guess I just had to drill it in his mind that he can't just run around when he wants. He's got to be careful.
When the two WindClan cats reached the other side of the stream and the scent of the moor and heather was stronger than ever, they headed through the grassland, with their noses pricked for any trace of rabbit or hare. But something else was drifting on the moorland, too. Scorchclaw tasted the air, scrunching his eye whiskers as he tried to figure out exactly what it was. He shot a glance at Harepaw, who had picked on the scent too and was sniffing non-stop at the air.
"What do you think it is?" Scorchclaw asked his apprentice.
"I don't think it's a Clan," Harepaw replied. "It doesn't smell like ThunderClan, and I think RiverClan smells much more disgusting than this scent is! So maybe it's a rogue."
"Up for tracking it?" Scorchclaw inquired.
"Yes, please!" Harepaw hovered on his paws, and Scorchclaw realized that his apprentice was waiting for him to move. Oh, thank the gods! The ginger-and-white tabby took off, enjoying the chance to stretch his muscles as he dove across the heather blanketed moor. He could hear Harepaw panting behind him as the tom struggled to catch up, and Scorchclaw slowed his pace a tad. Just as Harepaw reached his side, the two cats continued their run at a steady pace, following the scent trail until it disappeared out of the territory.
Just as the two cats reached the scent lines, Scorchclaw caught the glimpse of a dead rabbit near a slick boulder, its brown fur stark against the grass. Frowning, Scorchclaw walked over to the half-eaten rabbit and sniffed it disapprovingly. It was reek with the stench Scorchclaw and Harepaw had been tracking. Clearly a cat had killed the rabbit, ate half of it, and ran away. A prey-stealer.
"There's more than one, too," Scorchclaw mused out loud as the thickness of the scent continued to multiply. Scorchclaw dragged his gaze away towards where the scent continued to waft, and the only thing he could see beyond their territory were the hills and the mountains. They must come from there. "Harepaw, we must report this to Swiftstar."
"Okay." Harepaw was trembling with excitement. "Will we have to fight the prey-stealers?"
"Maybe," Scorchclaw said. "But we don't know who they are yet, so we've got to let Swiftstar know and deal with it. Follow me." With that, Scorchclaw took off into the other direction, Harepaw after him. Scorchclaw enjoyed the run through his territory, the sun glittering over the snow-capped moor, and just as the cold leaf-fall wind rushed through his pelt, he realized that rogues stealing their prey in leaf-fall was a genuine threat. There wasn't a lot of prey to go around in leaf-bare, and Swiftstar often made sure every cat had the prey they needed by rationing it so each cat had an equal share. If there wasn't enough to go around, some cats would go hungry.
Just as mentor and apprentice approached the high ridge of the camp, they were met by Wildheart and Briarpaw. Wildheart was wearing a pressed expression, worry clouding in her amber eyes, while Briarpaw's lips were shut together as she glanced nervously at Harepaw, who approached her swiftly.
"What's the matter?" Scorchclaw asked Wildheart, immediately drawn to her by her sweet scent and the glossiness of her fur. But he wasn't comfortable with the grim guise on Wildheart's face. It wasn't fitting of her.
"We spotted some odd scents while I was showing Briarpaw our territory," Wildheart reported, turning to look at Scorchclaw.
"It was really bad!" Briarpaw interfered, wrinkling her nose.
"We found that too!" Harepaw told his sister.
"You did?" Wildheart asked.
Scorchclaw nodded. "Harepaw and I followed it until the edge of territory. We found a half-eaten rabbit – I think, whoever it was, killed it, ate it, and ran away."
"We found the same thing!" Wildheart exclaimed. "It was near the RiverClan border, but it definitely wasn't RiverClan. I would've recognized the fishy scent. It was some other cat."
"Are you three talking about the rogue scents?" The voice came from Blackdove, who approached the cats from behind Scorchclaw. Scorchclaw turned her head and watched the sleek black-furred cat approach. Wildheart pressed her lips tight as Blackdove walked over to Scorchclaw, and Scorchclaw saw a quick lash of her tail. What's her problem with Blackdove?
"Yeah, we were," Scorchclaw told her. "Why? Did you find any?"
Blackdove nodded. Seedpaw bounded over to her mentor, shooting a confused look at Harepaw and Briarpaw. The gravity of the situation was starting to set in, and even the excitable Harepaw had lost his enthusiasm and was looking at the ground with dark eyes. When Blackdove meowed, "We saw dead rabbits too," Scorchclaw winced.
"We all did," Wildheart growled. Scorchclaw shot his mate a warning glance, noticing how Blackdove visibly flinched at Wildheart's tone.
"Okay, whatever's going on, it needs to stop," Scorchclaw growled at the two she-cats. "We have a real situation here, and we've got to report this to my father. You three…" He turned to face Briarpaw, Seedpaw, and Harepaw, who had huddled together, fear making the fur on the back of their spines prickle. "Go to the fresh-kill pile, get something to eat, meet your other denmates."
"We can't come?" Harepaw asked.
"No." Scorchclaw shook his head. "This is too serious for apprentices. Come on, Wildheart, Blackdove." Without waiting for them to bicker, he plunged down the hollow and into WindClan's camp. The two she-cats were hard on his heels as Scorchclaw landed in the clearing, looking around for his father. But camp moved as normal, with no cat having any idea that their peaceful lives were about to be threatened.
Dovewillow was the first cat who caught on. The pointed she-cat walked over to the three cats, watching the apprentices scramble away towards the fresh-kill pile. Dovewillow's eye whiskers shot up as she read the expressions on all three cats' faces. "By the gods, judging from your faces, you'd think StarClan just told you three the world was about to end."
"It's bad," Wildheart said, her tail-tip twitching.
"What is it?" Dovewillow asked.
"Where's my father?" Scorchclaw asked Dovewillow.
"His wound on his shoulder reopened, he's with Violetheart," Dovewillow replied.
"Oh, boy," Scorchclaw grumbled. "That means he'll be in a worse mood than usual. But, he still needs to hear about this. Thanks, Dovewillow." Giving the tawny she-cat a nod, he turned to face Wildheart and Blackdove. "I've got to tell my father on my own."
"Yeah, good luck," Blackdove meowed, dipping her head respectfully.
"Are you sure?" Wildheart inquired.
"I'm the one who can handle him," Scorchclaw replied. Giving Wildheart a small lick on her cheek, he turned on his heel and walked over to the medicine den, where he could hear his father's grunts of pain, and Violetheart's stern warning for him to stay still. Scorchclaw flinched, immediately knowing that, if his father was in pain, he would react worse than usual to this news. Scorchclaw hovered on his paws, wondering what to say.
"Scorchclaw?" Swiftstar's voice was weary. "Is that you?"
"It's me," Scorchclaw replied.
"Well then, what are you doing there standing like a dumbstruck rabbit?" Swiftstar sniffed. "Come on in."
At his father's grunted words, Scorchclaw slipped through the crack in the rock where Violetheart made her den. The gray medicine cat looked up at Scorchclaw but quickly glanced back towards where she was kneading poultices and slathering them on Swiftstar's shoulder. Swiftstar winced as Violetheart massaged another batch of herbs in his wound, and then glanced at Scorchclaw.
"Well?" Swiftstar asked. "What do you need?"
"When I was taking out Harepaw, we noticed some odd scents," Scorchclaw reported. "We followed them as far as we could, and we came across a half-eaten rabbit. The scents drifted further out of WindClan territory, but I didn't want to go past it. I came back to report it to you when Wildheart and Blackdove told me they'd scented – and seen – the same things that I did."
Swiftstar's amber eyes narrowed into slits, and the fury that started to emanate from him was so strong that it nearly made Scorchclaw jump off his paws. He immediately got to his paws, knocking Violetheart away. The gray she-cat hit the ground, a low growl escaping her mouth as Swiftstar began to pace inside her den.
"Are you kidding?" he snapped at Scorchclaw. "Prey-stealers? In leaf-fall? That is the worst time to come across them! They threaten my Clan's survival when they steal the prey that we so desperately need!"
"I know," Scorchclaw said. "That's why I told you."
"Well, no longer." Swiftstar's fur on the back of his shoulders began to bristle. "I will go and search for these prey-stealers."
"You can't!" Violetheart exclaimed, interrupting them from where she stood, just behind Swiftstar. "Your shoulder wound just reopened. You'll make it worse!"
"I can send another cat," Scorchclaw offered, agreeing with Violetheart. "Maybe Thrushwing."
"Fine." Swiftstar's amber eyes burned, and Scorchclaw was surprised that he didn't argue. "Thrushwing and Heathercloud will go. Grant them permission to leave WindClan territory, Scorchclaw."
"Can I go with them?" Scorchclaw asked.
"No." Swiftstar shook his head. "You will have to stay in camp, as WindClan's deputy. I cannot risk you getting harmed."
Scorchclaw wanted to push back against his father, to insist that he should go, but the fire that blazed in his father's eyes made Scorchclaw think twice about it. He finally nodded to his father. "All right. I'll send Thrushwing and Heathercloud now."
"Good." Swiftstar's growl was low in his throat as Scorchclaw left the medicine den. He searched for the black and gray pelts of the warriors, and he spotted both of them near the fresh-kill pile, sharing a particularly thin, stringy rabbit. Scorchclaw swallowed, examining the rest of the fresh-kill pile. There were only two rabbits on it, and both of them were rather thin. We can't have any prey stealers.
"Scorchclaw?" Heathercloud asked, lifting her neatly shaped gray head to gaze at him. "What's going on?"
"We've received reports of rogue scents towards the north of the border," Scorchclaw explained to the two cats. "My father wants you two to track them down."
Thrushwing swallowed the last of the rabbit and got to his paws, giving Scorchclaw a stiff nod. Heathercloud waved her tail, meowing, "Right away." Scorchclaw watched the two cats finish off the rabbit and then turn on their heels, plunging out of their camp with hardened muscles and a steel resolve.
Scorchclaw could only wonder what news they would bring back.