THREE.

TWO MOONS LATER

The first change Firepaw noticed since joining ThunderClan was that his accent was slowly becoming that of the forest.

The lingo around the Clan had been a bit weird to get used to - for instance, calling the house he came from "Twolegplace" and the passage of time "moons" - but as he adapted to the language that everyone around him spoke, he noticed that the way he talked was starting to change. In the city, words with "r"s were especially crunched and made the tongue flap all the way up to the roof of the mouth. Now he was doing that less and less, though the city-specific curses he sometimes mumbled to himself definitely still came out as though he walked the streets.

Yet it didn't feel like he was losing anything, which was a relief. As a matter of fact, Firepaw's induction into ThunderClan was going quite smoothly now. Bluestar was an excellent mentor to him, taking into account what he was already good at and retooling it. Though sparring was definitely a point of contention with the gray leader saying that he was "fighting too dirty," she said time and time again how bringing him along was an excellent choice. Hearing that from the leader that exclusively chose to personally train him made him feel vindicated. Powerful . Firepaw finally felt like he was finding his full potential.

But time in camp was certainly less fun for him than being out with Bluestar. For one, many of the warriors still gave him weird looks for what he did to Longtail the day he arrived and not all of the fellow apprentices were keen to accept him as someone they were glad to train again. The bracken-colored apprentice - Dustpaw - was particularly snobbish about it and quick to call him weird or crazy, with the she-cat apprentice Sandpaw also joining in on some of the jabs. The jet-black apprentice Ravenpaw still seemed deeply upset about Firepaw and elected to keep his distance, despite the efforts of the other mentors.

But surprisingly enough, Firepaw had taken quite a liking to Graypaw. Despite them getting off on the wrong paw, the exhibition of his ruthless desire for victory had seemed to do nothing but garner admiration from the gray apprentice. Within that first moon alone would he talk about how he wished he could fight as good as him, which was annoying after the first few days but soon wore off. There was something earnest about Graypaw, how he never really seemed scared of him or just trying to use him for protection. He reminded him of Smudge - well, if Smudge could actually provide for himself. Was Graypaw the smartest cat in the Clan? Probably not, but he definitely was honest and made an effort to get to know him.

Graypaw was the one to introduce him to the art of gossip, something that Firepaw actually enjoyed and used quite a bit. It was all about the mentors, who were quite the diverse bag of individuals. Lionheart definitely had all of Graypaw's admiration and respect - often he would talk about how cute he and Whitestorm - Sandpaw's mentor - were as a couple when they were sharing tongues and cuddled together. Bluestar was, well, Bluestar. She was pretty much off limits from any talk because Graypaw was too scared of the consequences of him spreading a false rumor about her.

The others? Oh, did Graypaw have a lot to say about them.

"I was talking to Ravenpaw the other day about training, since everyone's supposed to have started climbing training," said Graypaw one day as the two were walking on border patrol, "And I was telling him about that bird I caught. You know, the really big robin? Anyways, I'm telling this to him and I ask Ravenpaw if he's caught anything in a tree and he says no. Obviously I ask way and he's really, like, trying to change the subject and all that, but finally after he makes me swear to never tell anybody - you're fine, Firepaw, I'm sure he wouldn't mind you knowing - he says that apparently when they started climbing training he fell from a pretty high branch. But instead of Tigerclaw helping him back to camp, he yells at him, calls him clumsy and makes him walk back to camp! And that's why he hasn't gone out from the den that much because he doesn't want anyone to notice he has a limp!"

Firepaw's eyes widened in disgust. "Are you kidding? That's horrible."

"I know!" said Graypaw exasperatedly, "I keep telling him to talk to Bluestar about it, but he's always like 'it's fine, I just need to make it through the end, I'm almost done…' Like, Tigerclaw is going to kill him before he's done with the way he's getting trained? He's got a limp now because of him and he won't see Spottedleaf about it because it's 'no big deal!' I just wish that he could see that the way he's being treated is not okay and that he needs to stand up for himself!"

Firepaw did not like Tigerclaw. Not one bit.

He had a hunch the feeling was mutual, specifically from the skirmish with Longtail. Ever since then, Tigerclaw had always made a point to try and chide him for everything he could get away with to get a rise out of him. The tabby tom was particularly venomous in everything he did, especially with what he was hearing with Ravenpaw. Unlike what Graypaw had said, Ravenpaw was likely not okay with him hearing the gossip, but Firepaw couldn't help but feel a little bad. The dark part of his brain told him how sometimes Ravenpaw behaved exactly how he had been expected to behave as a kittypet, but he didn't dare bring that to light.

But there was something about Tigerclaw that put him on edge. There were plenty of cats he disliked: Dustpaw, his mentor Darkstripe and Sandpaw to name a few, but the way that tabby tom carried himself and looked around like he was shooting razors at everyone that looked his way…more than once Firepaw thought that if he had been punished with death for his attack on Longtail, Tigerclaw would have gleefully volunteered to deliver the killing blow.

But he rarely had time to think about Tigerclaw outside of his chats with Graypaw. The process of adjusting to the forest had been arduous, with Bluestar having him walk the territory to retrain his scent palette so he could simply make his way back to camp. He hadn't even been in the medicine den because the amount of smells from the herbs there would have probably made him go insane. But slowly he was beginning to grow comfortable in the forest, and his success in sparring had at least neutered the pain of his hunting struggles, for one.

Yes, it turned out the Firepaw wasn't completely an easy train. He had been trained to hunt rats, which there were none of in the forest, so he was forced to unlearn his timing essentials and start from scratch. Dustpaw and Sandpaw took delight in that and made sure to point out the catches that they made every single time. It was either that or bringing out the unfortunate discovery that Firepaw could not mark the borders with people watching because he was embarrassed - he had no idea how that got out and would kill the cat who spread it.

But considering how life could have been when he nearly slaughtered a warrior on the very first day, things could have been a lot worse. Firepaw could definitely live with this.

"Will you two stop running your mouths?" murmured Whitestorm, who sounded exhausted, "What even is there to talk about this early in the morning?"

"Well, I think there's plenty ," said Lionheart, who had quite the energy for it being so early in the morning, "For one, there's this gorgeous scent coming from nearby…I wonder what beautiful creature that's coming from…" As Whitestorm gave a small chuckle and nudge to the amber tom, Graypaw made a silent fake gag to Firepaw who chuckled. Lionheart was quite the tough mentor, but he was just of a mousebrain as Whitestorm was when they were around each other. Most of the Clan found it very cute, even though they were likely the only tom-tom couple in the forest.

They continued their walk around the territory, Firepaw's eyes scanning where their borders ended and the other Clans' began. RiverClan territory began at the embankment of a river that separated the forested area from the marshy soil. At first, Firepaw didn't understand why they needed to mark borders when the river served well enough as a physical border, but Graypaw had told him that not only had they been pushing into their territory to steal prey, but their former deputy Oakheart had killed Redtail - Dustpaw's old mentor and ThunderClan's old deputy - in a battle at Sunningrocks about two moons before Firepaw had arrived. As they marked the territory, Firepaw noticed that Lionheart paused at Sunningrocks to spit across the river to scorn the Clan that killed his predecessor - "He does this every time we patrol past Riverclan," Graypaw told him, "Redtail's death hurt us really bad when it happened."

After walking the river for a while longer, they came to a forested patch that served as the small border between ThunderClan and WindClan, a Clan that lived in the prairie. "They're really fast, faster than anyone else in the forest," Graypaw had told him, "But ShadowClan really hates them and thinks that they're weak, so they've been trying to attack them all the time."

From what Rusty could gather, ThunderClan and RiverClan were at odds with each other the most but everyone hated ShadowClan. Separated from ThunderClan by a long road that the Clan cats called the Thunderpath, they lived in the muddy parts of the forest and were a bunch of self-loving pricks that were proud to be the most ruthless cats in the Clan when it came to battle - For comparison, Graypaw told Firepaw that they "fight like you fought Longtail," which he didn't appreciate but he at least got the message. Even though it had been moons since they had tried to taunt ThunderClan on their territory, even Lionheart and Whitestorm elected to make a second pass across the border just to make sure that the scent was strong.

It was a good thing they did, too. On their second walk through, Firepaw suddenly caught a new scent, something mangy and threatening. "Fox," said Lionheart, gesturing in the direction of WindClan territory, "Get back into the forest."

With no time to waste, the four toms rushed back into the forest, climbing a couple different trees as a massive ginger-furred creature about the size of a dog came roaming past, sniffing the ground around them. " That's a fox, " whispered Graypaw from the branch above him, " They're infamous for killing kits. "

Firepaw could see that, shuddering as the creature dragged its tongue along its teeth, flashing the dangerous fangs. That thing could probably kill him in one bite. Why was this forest full of things that could kill them? At least the city had just cats in gangs and sickness from bad food.

One tree over, Whitestorm was whispering to Lionheart, who tersely nodded and dismissed him to leap down the tree and head back to camp once the fox was out of sight, probably to warn the Clan about the fox. "Come along," said Lionheart to the other two apprentices, "We're late for training."

The three descended down from the branches, but as they turned back to camp, Firepaw saw something out of the corner of his eye and whipped back around to look in the direction of ShadowClan territory. At first there was nothing but the faint shine of dew on the marshy grass across the Thunderpath, but a couple seconds later and the ginger tom swore he saw some figure flash up from the grass. Something was out there, but he couldn't tell what.

"Firepaw?" said Lionheart, "Let's go, the fox can still come back."

"I saw something," he murmured, "Something across the Thunderpath." Instantly, Graypaw was at his side trying to look as well before Lionheart sighed and turned them both away.

"What, a ShadowClan warrior? I'm glad your senses are getting better, but they're in their territory. I'll send a patrol later to give a second look, but if they're not on our territory, they're not your problem." Firepaw didn't feel comforted by that. With how much of a bad reputation ShadowClan had in the forest, the ginger tom had a feeling that they needed to be taking this more seriously. After all, how much prey could a ShadowClan warrior catch before that second patrol came in and checked?

Firepaw didn't try to make a move to slip away, but he did make a note to try and take a look back there just to see for himself.

The sun was fully in the sky by the time the three of them returned to camp, with the rest of the apprentices and mentors - save for Whitestorm who was telling of their discovery to Spottedleaf - waiting for them expectantly. "There you are, Lionheart," said Tigerclaw impatiently, with an extra glare to the apprentices in tow, "I hope you taught those two a lesson on being punctual when on patrol?"

"Relax, Tigerclaw," retorted Lionheart with an eyeroll, "We saw a fox on patrol, that's all."

"A fox!" said Dustpaw, "Did Firepaw try to beat it up?"

"If he did, he probably would have won!" snapped back Graypaw before Firepaw could fire back a much more scathing response, "You probably would have just made dirt in front of it in fear."

"You're one to talk, Graypaw," said Sandpaw with a raised eyebrow, "Would've ran off the same way the prey runs off with your stomping."

"For your information, Sandpaw ," shot back Graypaw, "I've caught more prey than you have in the past moon. Five more, last time I checked."

"You know that two comes after one and not five, mousebrain?"

"Quiet, please," said Lionheart with a sigh as the rest of the mentors - Bluestar, Darkstripe, Tigerclaw and Whitestorm drew to attention alongside him. "We'll be splitting up across the territory to do individual hunting. Each of you are going to try and make two catches before sunhigh, this time without our assistance. You miss a catch, you tell us what went wrong."

"And if you don't make two catches by sunhigh," interjected Tigerclaw, who seemed to be directing his jab right at Ravenpaw, "You're on cleaning duty for the elder's den until the next Gathering." The other mentors, save for Darkstripe, seemed more than a little bothered by the tabby's extra policing but didn't object.

"Sandpaw and Dustpaw, you two will go to the RiverClan side, Ravenpaw can go to WindClan, Graypaw can hang back near Tallpines," said Lionheart, doling out assignments, "and Firepaw, you and Bluestar will be headed out to ShadowClan territory so Bluestar can make sure that no one's jumping the border."

"Maybe they'll mistake Firepaw's stink for a ShadowClan cat and take him in instead!" jibbed Dustpaw.

As Sandpaw and Darkstripe snickered, Firepaw whipped back, fully intending to tackle him before Bluestar stepped in, glaring at the dark brown tabby and making him wilt under his gaze. Fuming from that, Firepaw glanced around to see Lionheart quietly berating Darkstripe for being so quaint with Dustpaw's disrespect and Tigerclaw, who held in a laugh, giving a vicious sneer right at him. His eyes burned with satisfaction, almost daring him to try and say something about it.

Firepaw bit his tongue, but it wasn't easy. Bluestar had been the one to tell him to keep his mouth shut when someone tried to elicit a response, since she had a feeling that anything he said or did would turn to violence. And it was a good thing the apprentice knew better than to go against the wishes of his own leader, because otherwise someone else would have had to go through the same traumatic process as Longtail from Firepaw's claws.

He didn't like the hypocrisy of being encouraged to stand up for himself when he joined but then being told not to as an apprentice. Didn't anyone have any faith that he could resolve any problem without physical conflict whenever he liked?

"Why won't you let me at least tell them off when they say that stuff to me?" complained Firepaw as the two of them walked towards ShadowClan territory, "I at least deserve to defend myself!"

"Sure you do," said Bluestar calmly, "But your primary method of "defense" involves sparring, and you are the best at sparring among the other apprentices by quite a large margin. I feel there are more effective ways of training you for combat than starting a fight every time someone says something you don't like."

"So Graypaw can get away with hitting Dustpaw when he says stuff like that but I can't?"

"Graypaw," Bluestar paused to jump to the lowest branch of a nearby tree, "is not my apprentice. You are, and I'm telling you that you need to have better control over your emotions."

"I have control!" protested Firepaw, "I haven't attacked anyone else in ThunderClan since I became an apprentice!"

"Like you attacked Longtail?"

"Well, yeah! But I haven't since then!"

"If the bar is that low, I might as well make you a warrior now," said Bluestar, a glint of humor in her eyes as Firepaw huffed, "Now go hunt. I'll be keeping watch."

Putting the conflict to rest, Firepaw turned and swept his eyes across the landscape. The Great Sycamore was to his right, Thunderpath to his left and Snakerocks ahead of him. He would probably be safe venturing into Snakerocks since Bluestar said the adders didn't come out until greenleaf, but it was a flat and rocky terrain with not a lot of places for prey to burrow. He eyes the Great Sycamore again - probably not a great place to start since it stood alone and didn't give much cover - before he turned back towards the direction of camp and starting gently padding. He had the process memorized by now - make the paws light, move against the wind if there is a gust, keep the eyes moving at all times. The problems would just come in execution.

Soon enough, he caught the fresh scent of vole and narrowed his eyes towards a bush between two trees. There was a tiny rustle underneath - Firepaw slowly lowered his front half to the ground and slowed his breathing, eyes narrowing to that spot. Second after second passed as he waited for the vole to shimmy out of cover and into the open…

And the vole did just that, but instead of defenselessly moving, it darted across at full speed. Firepaw mistimed his jump and landed about a pawlength behind where the prey had been, cursing under his breath as the vole retreated into the bushes.

"Well?" said Bluestar from the branches high above, making Firepaw jump, "What happened there?"

"I had the spot right…" said the ginger tom, "I just…didn't think it would run. It's like it knew I was here."

"Because it did," said the ThunderClan leader, coming down to a lower branch, "You were onto the vole, so you didn't have to wait to jump, but your tail wasn't high enough. The higher your tail is, the better you'll feel the changes in wind. And you waited so long that the wind changed and brought your scent right over."

Firepaw groaned. "I don't get it…I was a fine hunter in the city. Why is everything so difficult now?"

"You say you caught rats?" said Bluestar, "Well, rats are much larger, less coordinated…If you're hunting for them, they're quite the easy catch, especially if they're isolated. You have the fundamentals, it's all about the timing."

The ginger tom rolled his eyes at that. He always had the fundamentals right and the timing wrong - at this point, he'd heard it so much that it sounded like a nursery rhyme. "So what do I do? There's clearly something I'm missing…"

Bluestar gave a witty smile. "You're not going to like my answer."

Firepaw deflated. "'Do it until I get it right?'"

"Well done! Now you're thinking like a warrior," chuckled Bluestar, "Come on, off we go."

Firepaw stood up and sighed, giving his pelt a shake to get the grass off. He repeated the same process again, though with a less serene thought process than before, and slowly walked parallel to the Thunderpath towards WindClan. Scents were harder to come by now, but just when he was about to take out his frustration on a tree, he caught something - the scent of a mouse.

This one was going to go better. Firepaw zoned in on the mouse, which was nibbling on a berry bushel without a care in the world. He pointed his tail straight up to feel the wind. Nothing, just a couple lone gusts moving from right to left. Claws were out and his eyes were on the target. Now all that was left to do was…

He jumped. This time the prey had no chance, Firepaw pinning it down with his paws and giving the killing nip on the back of its neck. Elation ran through him, and though Firepaw had the sense to not celebrate loudly, he gave the ground a few whacks in satisfaction. It really didn't seem that difficult to fix now that he'd done it. Maybe he was finally on his way to becoming a good hunter.

Bluestar did not come down to congratulate him - she often never did - so Firepaw quickly kicked a layer of dirt over his catch and got right back up. This time, confidence was pulsing through him thinking that he finally figured out his problem with hunting that had been irritating him to death over the last two moons. Make the next catch and he would be finished well before sunhigh.

As he approached the Thunderpath, he caught the scent of his next victim: another vole. It probably wasn't the same one that he missed before, but thinking that it was gave Firepaw even more of a kick at the thought of avenging his missed catch. He took to position, measuring the wind and all, and narrowed in on his catch.

The vole flinched and he pounced. His paws slammed down on the prey, but before Firepaw could give the killing blow, the vole shimmied out of his grip and made a break for the Thunderpath. "No, " hissed Firepaw, immediately giving chase. He had that piece of sewage right in his grasp. There was no way that he was going to let it slip away.

He ran at full sprint, so focused on the scampering vole that he didn't even notice the trees fade away into the clearing in front of the Thunderpath. He was so close. He just needed a couple more steps and… now! Firepaw tried to pounce, but the ground he launched himself on was not dirt, but rocky asphalt. Pads slipping, the apprentice landed just a claw length away from the vole and flumped onto the ground on the other side, the vole slithering into the grass and away from view.

This time he couldn't control himself. Cursing loudly, Firepaw slashed his claws across the dirt, his expression further souring as his paws splashed up disgusting mud. It wasn't until he was trying to wipe his forelegs clean when he slowly looked up, glancing back at the forest on the other side of the Thunderpath.

Ratspit. He was on ShadowClan territory.

He needed to get back now before either Bluestar or a ShadowClan warrior found where he was. He glanced down at the Thunderpath, cursing as he saw a monster fast approaching. He knew he couldn't risk trying to beat one out - that was the difference between life and death. As the monster shot by with a deafening ROAR , Firepaw shook off the noise, got to his paws and prepared to cross.

" Trespasser! "

Firepaw had no time to react. A cat slammed into his flank and knocked him flat onto the dirt. The apprentice could only roll around onto his back, trying to get a look at his attacker before paws slammed into his chest. Pain seared through him. Firepaw had no chance to move, but only look up as a menacing black she-cat with wild yellow eyes and a putrid scent held him at her mercy.

" Haha! I knew it!" she snarled right into his face, "I saw you looking over at our territory from the trees this morning…did you really think you could get adventurous with old Yellowfang watching?"

The ShadowClan cat bared her teeth and Firepaw knew that he was dead if he didn't do something quickly. In a move of desperation, he kicked out his hind legs right into Yellowfang's belly. She keeled over, giving an ugly, rough cough that loosened her pin enough for Firepaw to kick himself away and retreat back across the Thunderpath into ThunderClan territory.

Heart pounding, he gave his pelt a shake to get as much mud as possible off. Graypaw was right - ShadowClan really were as vicious as he said. Firepaw tried to relax. He would be safe now that he was back on ThunderClan territory.

He was wrong.

" Raaagh! " screeched Yellowfang as she slammed right into Firepaw and dug his claws deep into his flank, making him yowl in pain. " You think I'd just let a dirty trespasser like you slip away!? " Her jagged claws cut deep, drawing blood as she slowly raked them across him. Almost like it was a luxury .

Firepaw had to do something or else he was dead. With a grunt , he slipped his hind legs underneath until he had stability on the soil and rolled onto his stomach, protecting his belly and making the ShadowClan molly lose her grip. The apprentice shoved her away, stumbling back to catch his breath as Yellowfang got right back up and charged to attack again.

The ginger tom leapt up to meet her lunge, each locking paws on shoulders and tumbling to the ground in an aggressive tussle. Firepaw tried desperately to pull out some of the techniques he had mastered like striking her in the belly to knock her wind out, but he couldn't get a good angle and ended up flailing his hind legs and losing his balance. Now that Firepaw didn't have the element of surprise, there was no advantage he could have against this ShadowClan warrior. He was completely outmatched.

Yellowfang's claws swiped across the side of his muzzle, dangerously close to his eye, and Firepaw let out a yowl of pain, muscles screeching in protest as he tried to fight back. The taste of his own blood splashed across his tongue and the deep cuts along his side were beginning to swell and tamper his movements. By the time the black she-cat backed off, Firepaw was lying prone on his back panting and hissing in pain.

He had not just lost the battle. He had gotten absolutely embarrassed.

Yellowfang made her pride very clear with a cocky chuckle. "Had enough, you ThunderClan scum?" she hissed, spitting right into the grass before him.

Firepaw wasn't going to give up, even though he probably should've. Slowly, he rolled back onto his flank and hoisted himself onto his four paws, cuts and bruises littering his body and blood dripping from his flank and the right side of his face. He snarled, trying to look as vicious as one could when it was painful to stand, and Yellowfang chuckled.

"You got heart, I'll give ya that," said the ShadowClan warrior in a particularly saccharine voice that made Firepaw's blood boil.

" You…are trespassing…on ThunderClan territory… "

"Really? I beat the brains out of ya and you're still tryin' to kick me out?" said Yellowfang with a pitiful side-smirk, "That's cute, kit. Real cute."

Firepaw took a step forward, then another. His muscles were burning with pain and it hurt to move, but his refusal to simply accept defeat kept him standing. " I…am Firepaw…apprentice of ThunderClan…and I order you…to leave our territory… "

Something changed in Yellowfang.

At first, she blinked, not believing what she said. Her yellow eyes fully focused on him now before her pupils began to slowly dilate into slits. Her expression changed from one of cocky victory to that of dread, of fear. Firepaw didn't know what he had said to her to cause this - but all of a sudden, she looked at him as if he were not an apprentice but something much, much worse. "No…it can't be…" she whispered.

Firepaw didn't understand - she had him beat. She had no reason to fear him and yet she was looking at him as if he had come from the stars. Some divine effigy here to smite her from the earth. It was like dry wood to a flame - her eyes narrowed, her teeth bared and the ShadowClan warrior was digging her paws into the ground, ready for combat. Now her eyes were not that of fear, but something much, much worse. A clear message even kits could read.

Kill. Kill. Kill.

Firepaw felt his stomach drop and eyes widen in terror. What had he said? What changed? It wasn't like it mattered - this she-cat clearly now saw him as a threat that needed to be killed. Outmatched, bloodied, beaten…he had no chance but to run away.

Yellowfang didn't even give him the satisfaction. Firepaw had only turned to run before she was on top of him, pinning him down. The ginger tom yowled in fear as her claws pierced into his upper back again and again, doing everything he could to keep his belly and throat sheltered. "HELP!" he screeched into the forest, "HELP ME!"

Two pairs of claws cut in close to his spine and Firepaw was forcefully rolled onto his back. The apprentice could only kick his legs desperately, bracing for his death as Yellowfang took the weak hits without a flinch, baring her fangs and preparing to rip his throat out…

There was a war cry - an ugly and deep sound that came from the soul - and Yellowfang was suddenly slammed off of him in a blur of blue-ish gray. Firepaw didn't even try to process how his life had been saved. He desperately kicked away from the Thunderpath, slipping and stumbling towards the forest to try and get back to camp, anywhere far away.

"Firepaw!" The voice came moments before he slammed into another cat's body, and he was a blocked swipe away from slashing his claws across the face of a terrified Graypaw, "Firepaw, it's me! What happened!?" The ginger tom's heart felt like it was going to explode right in his chest and the world spun around him as he fell back onto his side, his friend immediately beginning to lick at his wounds. "Lionheart, he's bleeding bad!" he called out.

"Tigerclaw, help Bluestar! Ravenpaw, run back to camp and tell Spottedleaf that Firepaw's been attacked," ordered the deputy, "Quick!" It was a struggle to even hear the words, the pain of his bruises bouncing back and forth through his body like water in a storm. The apprentice could only whimper and mewl in pain, hyperventilating. Stars shot through his vision as he was barely able to see Graypaw and Lionheart trying to tend to his wounds. " Foxdung…they cut him up good. "

" What do we do!? He's gonna be okay, right!?"

" If Spottedleaf gets here in time…press down on this wound here, we need to slow the bleeding… "

A spike of agony drove through the cut in his shoulder right where Graypaw was pressing down, but Firepaw could only gag on his own spit in reaction. The pulse on the other apprentice's paw was hammering, showing his fear as Lionheart began to lick at the wounds he could see down on his lower flank. It was hard to hear over the hammering in his ears, but the ginger tom swore he could hear yowls from the ShadowClan she-cat. There was no way that she could possibly overpower both the ThunderClan leader and one of the strongest warriors at once.

The haunting realization that he had been moments from death was sweeping over him, keeping his green eyes wide open in terror. He had said something to her that changed her from someone who could have walked away victorious to someone who wanted him dead, but he had no idea what it could possibly be.

He had many moments where he thought he might have died - the chase with Graypaw the night they met, seeing the Clan for the first time…but this? This was real. It was very, very real. Firepaw was very nearly slaughtered on his own territory and he didn't even know why.

The grunts from the distant battle grew closer, and Firepaw's eyes darted to the side to see Tigerclaw dragging a beaten and defeated Yellowfang. She was clearly unable to continue to fight, yet if it wasn't for Tigerclaw's pin she would have lunged out to try and attack him again. It was a horrifying sight, seeing someone with nothing in their eyes but the desire to slaughter him.

Tigerclaw, who had taken a few hits from the skirmish but looked relatively well off, was beyond pissed. " Kittypet! " he snarled with venom in every syllable, " Explain yourself! "

Between his almost-killer being a couple paw-strides away and the cuts on his body, Firepaw couldn't produce anything but an undistinguishable babble. "I…I-I…Sh-Sh-She…"

Yellowfang's teeth were still bared, eyes right on on young Firepaw. " You don't understand… None of you understand what you've done- "

" SILENCE! " yowled Tigerclaw, slamming his paw down on Yellowfang's head so hard that it bounced off the ground and made her groan in pain. For a fleeting moment, Firepaw was grateful for the tabby's unending aggression.

"Enough, Tigerclaw," said Bluestar, voice firm with tension as she looked over her beaten apprentice, "We must get Firepaw to Spottedleaf. Graypaw, inform the senior warriors that we are taking Yellowfang as prisoner. Move the queens to the elder's den and make sure the nursery is clear."

"Will Firepaw be okay?" said Graypaw, voice taut and high with concern.

"Spottedleaf is on her way. Go now!"

Firepaw tried to catch his friend darting back into the forest, but he couldn't avoid those yellow eyes staring at him with malice. The pain made his brain foggy, and the voices around him were starting to dissolve into nothing but his own heartbeat. Whimpering, the apprentice could only squeeze his eyes shut and wait.

Vaguely, he could tell of the dissipation of the ShadowClan scent that Tigerclaw had taken Yellowfang to camp. Lionheart and Bluestar continued to talk in quiet, firm voices Firepaw couldn't understand until a firm, feminine voice arrived in the distance - he could scent Ravenpaw's scent nearby as well as a plethora of herbs.

"Do we know what happened?" asked the she-cat.

"Well, all we know is that Yellowfang attacked him," said Bluestar quietly, "Don't know why, but she looked like she really wanted him dead."

"Mm." A third set of paws traced over his wounds, making Firepaw gently hiss. "Only a few of the wounds are deep, nothing looking like they've struck anything inside. If he were to die of his wounds, he would have done so by now, he'll live."

Everyone, including Firepaw, relaxed visibly at that. "Thank StarClan," said Bluestar with an uncharacteristic wavering fear in her voice. Firepaw opened his eyes to see the ThunderClan medicine cat, Spottedleaf, tending to him with a pawful of cobwebs before gently looking down to meet his eyes.

"Hey, Firepaw," said Spottedleaf, her voice and gentle amber eyes washing over him, soothing him, "I'm going to give you some poppy seeds so we can get you back to camp. Just open your mouth for me and you'll go off to sleep."

Firepaw opened his mouth, allowing the tortoiseshell to drop a few seeds into his mouth. With Spottedleaf raising his head just enough so he could swallow, he soon felt sleep slowly overcoming the gripping pain around him.

As he drifted away, he heard Bluestar's worried voice vaguely. "She said that we didn't understand what we were doing…what could that possibly mean? Does she know?"

"StarClan works in mysterious ways, Bluestar. It's likely that they have informed all of the medicine cats."

"Spottedleaf, I have respected your boundaries as a medicine cat…but you have been honest with me about this, correct?"

There was a small pause. "I have been as honest as I can possibly be about what I know. Relax, Bluestar. I know that all things will work out as they should."

Firepaw couldn't make out any more words beyond that. Conversation dissolved into incoherent murmurings until he was finally swept into a tense, dreamless sleep.

a/n: chapter four will be released tomorrow.

any and all feedback is greatly appreciated.

with love,

cj