Chapter Four, I guess. I hope everyone enjoys it and leave a comment too. Here it is:
Sparkpaw shifted restlessly in his nest in the apprentice den; he was dreaming. Thunder was rumbling in the distance, the dark grey clouds blotting out the sky. Sparkpaw squinted; he could hardly see where to put his pawsteps. He stumbled into one of the marsh puddles that made up ShadowClan territory, and when he got up the Carrionplace fence was there. But why? He was too far out to be near it! Lightning flashed, blinding him. Now the stump was back, with the same greyish cat. Only it was darker, more smoky-like. The same bright yellow eye stared at him. Sparkpaw's pelt felt hot, as if this eye was staring into his very soul. A bolt of lightning lit up the sky, and the figure jumped off the stump, and ran towards him. Sparkpaw braced himself for an attack, but the cattish-grey flew right through him, and back into the darkness it was gone. Sparkpaw turned, trying to see where it went. Thunder rumbled again, and Sparkpaw felt the wetness of the rain. He licked some from his pelt; it was salty and…..wait. It wasn't rain. It was blood. He shook his pelt, trying to get it off him, but it was no use. The 'rain' just kept coming. He yelped, stumbling onto the ground in a desperate attempt to get the sticky substance off. He turned back to Carrionplace, which was now alight with flames. He gasped; how could it be on fire while rain poured down? But this was blood rain, maybe it worked differently. It was still liquid, so it had to be able to put out fire. But it wasn't; the flames were only getting closer towards him. Sparkpaw rose to his paws. The rogue! Surely that cat knew it was coming. He followed the same path the smoky cat took, narrowly avoiding the falling trees and roasting marshlands. "HEY! HEY!" the thunderous cloud roared. Sparkpaw looked up, and then tripped on a tree root, falling face first into a boiling marshy pit.
"Hey! Wake up!" Sparkpaw slowly opened his eyes. His fur felt sweaty. He bolted his body up; was that a dream? Something was hitting him in the head
"Where, where am I?" he yowled
"In the apprentice den, silly." Marshpaw answered, slapping the top of Sparkpaw's head with his paw.
"Oh.." Sparkpaw shook his head. Marshpaw was right. Slowly, the feelings of fear evaporated from his fur.
"What were you dreaming about? Your fear-scent woke me up!" the other apprentice asked
"N-nothing," Sparkpaw lied. "It was just a nightmare. But it's over now."
"Dreams aren't nothing!" Marshpaw argued, "Dreams connect us with StarClan! We should go tell Palefoot!"
"Palefoot doesn't need to know." Sparkpaw shook his head. No cat, except for Splashpaw, knew about his nightly journey to try to catch the cat in the Carrionplace. It ended in failure, as per usual, and it was likely that the dream was nothing more than that: a dream. A nightmare that just happened. At least that's what Sparkpaw told himself. He rose from his nest, and shook out the bad dream from his thoughts. The rain would've removed any scent of the rogue, but it was still likely that cat was hiding out in the Carrionplace still. At least, if Sparkpaw didn't scare him away already.
The sky was cloudy, but only the white clouds lazily trotted through the blue pelt above. Sparkpaw yawned, he felt tired from the night and from the nightmare. Nightwing was up, and walking towards the elder's den. Towards Shaderock, Littlepaw and Adderpaw were meowing to each other. They saw Sparkpaw and began to giggle. Probably because of my dream last night, he thought unhappily. But today was certainly not the day to get down due to a couple of bullies. Jaguarpelt and Flarestripe were in deep conversation, their mews quiet to a whisper. Perhaps they were talking about their apprentices; Splashpaw and Bristlepaw could become warriors any day now. He had mixed feelings about that, but for now he pushed them down. A growl retaliated against this; he was starving. He was up for half the night and running for the rest. He saw Marshpaw bounding for the medicine den, looking as excited as a squirrel with a nut. Sparkpaw smiled and shook his head. Spotting a vole, Sparkpaw took it from the stocked fresh-kill pile and headed towards Splashpaw, who was sharing tongues with Bristlepaw. Splashpaw was mewing away happily, while Bristlepaw looked interested, but also anxious. Her fur kept bristling, then resting flat again. Splashpaw looked over to see him.
"Oh hey! Sparkpaw!" Splashpaw beckoned. "C'mere!" Sparkpaw padded over, the vole hanging from his jaws
"So, did ya catch the vole?" Splashpaw asked. It was nice of him to keep the adventure he had last night a secret. Bristlepaw cocked her head in confusion
"Almost. I was a mouse-lengths away from it, then it darted in the opposite direction! Perhaps I stepped on a stick or something." Sparkpaw replied
"Don't you have a vole in your jaws?" she asked, "Did you catch that one?"
"No, this is a different vole."
"Oh…you sure?" she asked again
"Yes, I'm sure." Sparkpaw affirmed
Bristlepaw shrugged, and went back to eating her squirrel. Sparkpaw ate a portion of the vole, and stared out towards the entrance
"Are ya gonna try catching it again today?" Splashpaw's question caught him off guard for a moment.
"I guess." Sparkpaw shrugged, "I just hope I didn't scare it away."
"There are plenty of other voles in the marshes," Bristlepaw commentated
"Yeah, and if ya didn't catch it yesterday, it'll likely still be hanging around today." Splashpaw added
Sparkpaw nodded. What they were saying was true. And even so, if he simply chased it off the territory, it was better than it sticking around.
"Splashpaw! Border patrol!" Jaguarpelt called for his apprentice.
"It seems I must go." he dipped his head towards Bristlepaw. "I'll catch ya later Sparkpaw! Tell me if ya catch that vole!" he called out before joining his mentor.
Sparkpaw and Bristlepaw looked at each other for a moment.
"That was sort of weird." she observed, finishing the squirrel
Sparkpaw nodded and pushed the half-eaten vole away with his paws.
"I think I'm done with this. You can have it if you want." he told her
She grabbed the vole with her paws. "Thanks, Sparkpaw. Are you sure though?"
"Yeah, I'm sure." he replied, trotting away to be closer towards the entrance of camp. "Let all cats old enough to lurk in the shadows, gather around the Shaderock for a clan meeting!" EagleStar's call reluctantly brought him back into the centre of camp.
"It has come to my attention that there are rumours about a rogue living in Carrionplace." he announced.
"Finally." Sparkpaw heard Houndheart mutter. He was sitting next to Birchfur. Splashpaw was right: the lack of sleep DID make him look dead inside. But Birchfur wasn't to be concerned of right now.
"After concurring with Flarestripe, I have decided to send out a patrol to chase it off." EagleStar decided. This could be my chance!, Sparkpaw thought.
"If necessary, I grant you full permission to kill it. We can't have rogues using our territory as a base for their ticks!" he continued scornfully. "That shows weakness! We cannot let this cat stalk our grounds any longer!" The crowd of cats cheered at their leader's words. "Now, would any cat like to volunteer-"
"I will!" Sparkpaw said the words, nearly automatically. His ears felt hot; he had just interrupted his leader.
"I mean, I-I'd like to join it." he mumbled. EagleStar looked at him in surprise. Then he laughed
"What an enthusiastic apprentice! ShadowClan needs brave cats like you! Frostfang, you are Sparkpaw's mentor; what do you think?"
Frostfang shrugged. "Okay." they agreed. "I'm on the border patrol with Jaguarpelt anyways."
"Alright. Thank you, Frostfang. Houndheart, since you and Marshpaw found the scent first, I'm letting you lead it. Since Sparkpaw so readily volunteered, he's to come with." EagleStar decided. Sparkpaw looked over; Marshpaw was flicking his tail in excitement.
"Meeting dismissed!" EagleStar finished the meeting, going back into his den to the left of the Shaderock. Sparkpaw looked back at the rock. Flarestripe was beckoning him with her tail.
"Alright! Patrol call." she started, "Jaguarpelt, Splashpaw, Frostfang, and Birchfur: you are to go watch the border near ThunderClan." she told them. The cats headed out towards the destination. "Hunting patrol: Clawleap, Hornetclaw, and Foxfire. Stay away from the Carrionplace as much as you can. Houndheart, Marshpaw, and Sparkpaw." she finally called his name, "You are to go to the Carrionplace and drive this rogue out. Only attack if it attacks you first. We don't want unnecessary injuries. I'll be practising battle techniques with my apprentice right outside camp if you need me." She finished and walked off towards Bristlepaw.
"Let's go." Houndheart called the two apprentices. The three of them waited for the parties to leave, and then headed out.
"Aren't you excited?" Sparkpaw asked Marshpaw, his fur bristling with excitement. This was his chance!
"Yeah. It's cool." Marshpaw simply replied. Sparkpaw slowed down his pace
"Are you sure? You looked more excited in camp." he questioned
"It was only because you were gonna come," he explained. Warmth tingled Sparkpaw's tail. That was certainly nice of him to say. Pretty soon they were close to Carrionplace.
"Alright." Houndheart's mew became a whisper, "We are going to fan out. Sparkpaw, there's a hole by the side of that stump." he flicked his tail towards a strange hole in the middle of the fence. That must've been how the cat escaped! "I need you to stay here and see if the rogue runs in it. Me and Marshpaw will enter through the front. If it runs through the hole, tackle him and yowl for us, alright?" Houndheart went over the strategy. Sparkpaw nodded in agreement. Marshpaw looked at him, his face grim. He nodded his head as if to say, 'Good luck', and went with his mentor.
Sparkpaw waited anxiously for this cat to show, if it was going to show up anyways. Perhaps Houndheart and Marshpaw already drove it off. Would he get part of the credit for helping? Hopefully. He strolled a bit around the spot he was supposed to wait at. How long has it been? It felt like a moon. He looked up at the sky and saw it was hardly half to Sunhigh. He groaned. He looked around. Maybe he could catch something while he waited. Smelling the air, the horrendous scent of the Carrionplace filled Sparkpaw's senses. He cringed at the smell. But there was still hope. A small wave of vole lingered its way towards him. He turned; it was a vole! A rather fat one too. It was scurrying by one of the pine trees on the territory. He dived into a hunting crouch. Crawling quietly, he made sure he was at least a fox-length away from him. He wiggled his haunched, his tail radiating in anticipation. He lept and pounced, but the vole ran away before he could kill it with his unsheathed paw. It was away, towards the Carrionplace, blood dripping from the wound he inflicted upon it. He sighed. Another disappointment. But something did come out of the Carrionplace. The cat! The vole practically ran into it, and the cat killed it in one blow. The rogue was here!
He was a tom. With the light of the sun, Sparkpaw could fully see what the cat truly looked like. He was indeed small, but bigger than Sparkpaw, only barely. His front pelt was a medium grey. The back half was red like rust. Black stripes covered the fur. His left shoulder had a few small scars on it, but that wasn't the worst of the injuries the cat had faced. Most of the left half of his face was tattered with scars and scratch marks. The left eye was seemingly blinded by a claw mark. The red ear had bits torn off it. The tom turned; the right side of his face looked completely fine. It was strange indeed. But that bright, yellow eye bore into him. Picking up the dead vole, the tom leapt onto the same stump where Sparkpaw saw him the night before.
"Hey," the tom dropped the vole and spoke. His accent was strange and coarse, but not deep.
"Uh…hi." Sparkpaw replied, feeling a tad confused. The two looked at each other for a while.
Sparkpaw looked around. "So…what're you doing here?" he asked the stranger.
He shrugged. "Nothing much." he replied.
"Uh…okay…" Sparkpaw was confused by the rogue. Why was he even here then?
"Why are you here, then?" he asked his thought
The tom blinked…or did he wink? "You want me to explain?" he asked defensively
"Yes."
He sighed. "Alright, fine! I got kicked out of where I used to live, okay?"
"Oh. What happened?" Sparkpaw became interested. But he shouldn't be asking; he was meant to drive him off.
"Oh, I don't know," he complained. "I did something, I guess, and they threw me out."
"That's too bad…" Sparkpaw started, "..no! I have to drive you out!" he said determinedly.
"Why?" he cocked his head to the side
"B-because EagleStar said so! You're a rogue living on ShadowClan territory!" he tried to explain.
"Wait, would you be a rogue or a loner?"
"What's even the difference?"
"Well, a rogue lives with other cats, usually hostile, and the loner lives by themselves." he explained
The tom nodded his head in understanding. "And I would be considered a loner to this–ShadowClan–right? ShadowClan." the cat offered
"I guess so.."
"And what am I doing that's so heinously wrong for this 'EagleStar' dude to want me out, huh?" the cat started to sound more confident
"Well, you're on our territory, so you kind of have to go." Sparkpaw explained
"You considered this dump part of your territory?"
"No, but EagleStar sees it as a weakness if we let you stay." Sparkpaw tried to convince the cat to leave. He shouldn't have heard his backstory; now he didn't want to kick him out.
"So, let me get this straight:" the tom began, "Your leader, I assume 'EagleStar' is your leader here, wants to rid his territory of me, a loner living in probably the crappiest part of this here territory. Am I correct by saying this?" he asked. Sparkpaw tried to respond, but the cat continued on without giving him a chance
"I would think, and this is just my opinion, that calling THIS dirthole apart of his territory looks worse than some random cat living on it. Don't you agree?"
"I..I guess…"
"Now, you and those two other cats out in front, did you think I wouldn't notice that?, and they want to either A: kill me, or B: drive me out. Do you think this is fair? Where else am I supposed to go? Did you think about that before deciding to claw my throat out?" the cat reasoned.
"But the vole! You killed it on ShadowClan territory! That is against the warrior code!" Sparkpaw pointed out
"I'm sorry, the what?" The cat was practically laughing at this point. "I do not follow some 'warrior code' or whatever the crap you want to call it. But, just in hypothetical, it left 'ShadowClan' territory, and ended up on my, the 'DumpClan' territory. Sounds perfectly in line with your warrior code, doesn't it?"
"It's actually called the Carrionplace." Sparkpaw corrected him
"Alright. Fine. It was on Carrionplace territory. Not breaking any rules or laws or codes here, okay?"
"But you still can't be here!" Sparkpaw told him. "Houndheart and Marshpaw are still going to drive you out. And I shouldn't even be talking to you!"
"Why not?" the loner asked "You see this vole?" he motioned towards the dead vole.
"Uh..yeah." Sparkpaw responded, confused. Where was he going with this?
"I'll make you a deal. Let me live on this land, and I will teach you how to hunt like I did. I saw your stumble, and you can do better. Let me help you." the cat offered
Sparkpaw was conflicted. This cat was offering to help him become a better hunter, maybe even fighter. And he seemed pretty alright too. Not a hostile rogue like he thought this was going to be. Maybe it was worth considering.
"O-okay." Sparkpaw accepted, "But really, you can't be here right now. You'll be caught if we keep talking like this." he warned
"Fair enough." The cat leapt off the stump and headed towards the left thunderpath.
"Wait!" Sparkpaw called. The cat turned
"Before you leave, what's your name?" he asked
"Ah, yes. My name is Dave, happy to meet your acquaintance. And what is yours, pray tell?" the cat generously gave his name
"It's Sparkpaw." Sparkpaw replied
"Right then. I hope I see you tomorrow, Sparkpaw!" Dave declared before running off like the wind, leaving Sparkpaw to sit there, stunned at what just happened
"Sparkpaw!" Houndheart called, shaking him from his thoughts. Sparkpaw just let the loner, no, Dave, go, and was even thinking of meeting him tomorrow. Was he still a good ShadowClan warrior? "Did you drive it off?" Houndheart asked
"Yeah, yeah. I, um, also caught a vole while I was waiting." he flicked his tail towards the stump with the vole carcass on it.
"Good job." Houndheart praised him, while his chest continued feeling heavy with guilt.
"Where's Marshpaw?" Sparkpaw asked, hoping to avoid talking about the loner
"Oh, he's still in there getting catmint. I don't know why, but he'd better HURRY UP!" Houndheart mewed tiredly, deliberately calling out Marshpaw. Marshpaw hurried out of the fence hole towards the pair.
"It's not my fault!" his voice muffled by the herbs, "The medicine den was getting low on this! I thought I could help!" he explained
Houndheart rolled his eyes. "Well the scent of the cat goes off into the thunderpath. If it's in ThunderClan territory, then it's now their problem. Let's head back." Houndheart reasoned, and signalling them to come with him. Sparkpaw grabbed the vole Dave caught, and followed them back towards camp.
"Nice catch, Sparkpaw." Marshpaw complimented him
Sparkpaw could only nod, thank StarClan.
"EagleStar! The rogue has been driven out!" Houndheart called up towards the Shaderock. Sparkpaw had already given his vole to Bonechill, and Marshpaw gleefully gave Palefoot the catmint herbs. "Wonderful!" EagleStar called, clearly glad they completed the task. "As a reward you three can have the first pick of the fresh-kill pile. I heard the hunting patrol caught a good heaping of prey." The cats picked their prey of choice: Houndheart found a mouse, Marshpaw chomped down on a thrush, and Sparkpaw felt too conflicted to eat.
"Something the matter?" Marshpaw asked him between gulpfuls of food
"No, I'm fine." Sparkpaw sullenly replied. He couldn't bring up this problem now.
"Well, do you want some of this?" Marshpaw slid the thrush over towards him. Sparkpaw sighed, and ate some of the bird. It was unexpectedly good.
"Feeling better?" Marshpaw asked
"Yeah…I think I might be." Sparkpaw replied, feeling a tad calmer now
"See? I can be as much of a medicine cat as I can be a warrior!" Marshpaw exclaimed.
"I never doubted you." Sparkpaw ruffled the top of his head with his paw.
"EagleStar! EagleStar!" Birchfur's yowl echoed through camp. He was on his own, running quickly towards the Shaderock and EagleStar
"What's wrong?" EagleStar looked up
"Th-thunderClan!" Birchfur gasped for breath.
Flarestripe, recently back from training Bristlepaw, looked up. "What's wrong with ThunderClan?" she asked urgently.
"Yeah, it's, um…oh, hey Clawleap." Birchfur looked at the female warrior
"ThunderClan, Brichfur!" Flarestripe snapped him back to the situation at paw. Sparkpaw and Marshpaw looked up, worried. Did this have anything to do with Dave?
"More and more ThunderClan scent marks have been inching towards our territory." Birchfur explained, relieving the pair of apprentices. "And today there has been a skirmish." he continued
"Palefoot!" EagleStar called towards the medicine den. Palefoot slowly walked out, yawning. "Yeah?" he asked tiredly
"Something happened at the border with ThunderClan." Flarestripe quickly explained. "There might be injured cats."
"What happened?" This seemed to jolt Palefoot awake. Marshpaw went to be with him.
"Jaguarpelt's hind leg looked bad before I left to warn you." Birchfur explained, "And Splashpaw's torso has plenty of gashes on it. They should be back soon if it has to be a retreat."
Just as he said it, the three cats stumbled into camp. Jaguarpelt was limping, while Frostfang supported the mentor and apprentice. Splashpaw's normally white pelt was covered with blood.
"We should declare war!" EagleStar called, "No clan has the right to hurt ShadowClan warriors!" The crowd of cats were mostly in agreement.
"Wait a second, EagleStar." Flarestripe stopped the ShadowClan leader. "How about we put them in the medicine den, and hear what they have to say."
"Fine." EagleStar grumbled. "Birchfur, Flarestripe, the rest of the patrol. Head to the medicine den and we'll discuss today's events." EagleStar led the way, the patrol, Flarestripe, and Palefoot in tow. Marshpaw followed them from behind determinedly.
The rest of the day flew by quickly. The good part was that Sparkpaw was given the rest of the day off for his 'efforts' in driving the loner from the territory. But Dave would be back. And Sparkpaw had to make the choice of meeting him. He yawned in his nest in the apprentice den, its rocky walls felt comforting. It didn't matter right now what was going on in ThunderClan, or the borders. Splashpaw HAD to be okay, he wasn't going to die. He couldn't die now! Sparkpaw could only hope StarClan wouldn't take him. He yawned; he was tired. He put the troubled thoughts in the back of his mind, and fell asleep.
Once again, please tell me what you think. Thank you.