CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

"Come on, Sprucepaw, keep up!" Wildheart's yowl only made Sprucepaw roll her eyes. She had been running for most of the morning to practice for when she would go hunting. Now Wildheart wanted her to go on another run for battle training. These afternoon runs were a good way to warm up though, especially on a cold leafbare day like today. Soon it would be newleaf. She had overheard the elders commenting that the first signs were already there. Robins were singing more vibrantly, the trees were starting show early signs of life. Sprucepaw couldn't wait for the day it started getting warm out, and she could see the flowers blooming on the fields. "Sprucepaw, watch where you're going!"

She hadn't even noticed that she ran so far into the territory until her paws touched icy cold water. With a yelp, Sprucepaw jumped back and blinked in surprise. She found herself on the border between WindClan and ThunderClan. A clearing with a stream was what marked the border, and she could already scent them. Her nose wrinkled at the stench as she backed away fearfully, already knowing that there was tension between the two Clans.

"Sorry, Wildheart," she apologized after catching her breath. "I wasn't paying attention and got... distracted." She fumed at her own pathetic excuse. If she had been more careful, none of this would have happened.

"It's okay. You haven't crossed the border, but I'm sure they'd look for any excuse to start a battle," Wildheart meowed after catching up with her. He pressed his muzzle against her shoulder comfortingly. "Besides, you're not the only one who did that." Sprucepaw looked at him in surprise, and Wildheart looked amused by her expression. "Your father and I were always getting ourselves into trouble, and one day we ended up playing in this very stream when we were apprentices. It was a hot day in greenleaf, so we had every excuse. But the ThunderClan warriors didn't like that excuse."

"Did they hurt you?" Sprucepaw asked, wondering if they would be cruel enough to harm innocent apprentices.

"No, but Petalstar, who was Petaltail at the time, made a good show to make sure we'd remember her name," he explained with a shrug. "Wildheart dared not cross the borders after that. He was so afraid he'd face her again that he decided it wasn't worth the risk."

I always thought ThunderClan cats were softhearts, Sprucepaw thought guiltily. Maybe they've changed over the moons, but that doesn't make what they did right.

"Thanks for sharing that with me," she sighed after imaging the look on her father's face. Wildheart and Larksong had described him enough times that she had a perfect image of her father.

Sprucepaw often found herself wondering what life would be like had her father lived. She might be an entirely different cat if he had taught her what he knew. Maybe she would be closer to Olivepaw and Antpaw as well. Though something told her that her siblings would always act the way they did.

"Well, I was wondering when we'd find some WindClan trespassers on the border." Sprucepaw stiffened at the sound of a she-cat's voice. She spun around to see a light gray she-cat with white paws and underbelly staring at them with cold blue eyes. "Why is it that they always seem to appear during leafbare?"

The she-cat sounded almost bored as she looked down at what Sprucepaw realized was another apprentice. Her heart nearly skipped a beat when she saw a reddish tom with brown stripes running along his tail. His eyes were narrowed in annoyance as he glared at the WindClan cats.

"We weren't trespassing, Petalstar," Wildheart reassured the ThunderClan leader. Sprucepaw's eyes widened in shock when she realized this was the ThunderClan leader, the very one who gave her father and Wildheart a nasty shock all those moons ago.

"Don't tell me you expect me to believe that nonsense?" Petalstar snapped, her eyes narrowing as she caught sight of Sprucepaw. "Perhaps your apprentice there needs to learn a lesson, just like you and your brother."

Sprucepaw flinched at that, and Wildheart didn't miss it. He only shot Petalstar a glare and stood protectively in front of Sprucepaw. If this turned into a fight, Sprucepaw wasn't sure who would win. The ginger tom looked as if he had moons of experience compared to her. And Petalstar had nine lives, as far as she was aware.

"What, you need a mentor to defend yourself?" the ginger tom spat as he caught Sprucepaw's expression.

"Petalstar, that's enough. Neither of us were crossing the border," Wildheart repeated himself, sounding serious this time. "If you do anything to hurt my apprentice, I'll make sure it's the last thing you remember."

Both Petalstar and the ginger tom looked shocked by his words. Wildheart led Sprucepaw away from the border. Sprucepaw sent a silent prayer to StarClan that these cats wouldn't cross it and make things worse. She was already embarrassed by the way she had acted in front of them. If it came down to a fight, she wasn't sure if she would last long.

"Just keep on your side of the border," Petalstar hissed as she stalked away, leaving the ginger tom staring at her in confusion.

Sprucepaw held back sigh of relief once she was gone. It seemed as if everyone was looking for a fight these days.

"Come on, lets get going," Wildheart meowed once she was gone.

For a moment, Sprucepaw was tempted to follow him, when she saw the ginger tom looking at her curiously. Sprucepaw narrowed her eyes when she found herself suddenly feeling uncomfortably awkward.

I bet I'll see you at the Gathering, she thought as he dashed away into the thick undergrowth.

With that thought in mind, she followed Wildheart deeper into WindClan territory. The tension from earlier had faded away almost at once. Sprucepaw narrowed her eyes when she saw a WindClan patrol running down one of the hills, oblivious to what just happened.

"Why was she acting so tough?" Sprucepaw asked with a roll of her eyes as they headed back to camp. "It's not like we did anything wrong."

"True, but ThunderClan has been under a lot of scrutiny over the last few seasons," Wildheart explained. "Do you remember the legend of Firestar?" Sprucepaw only nodded at that, having remembered the stories of how WindClan was brought back from the verge of destruction by Firestar. "Well, some cats resent what he did for them. For everyone in the forest, for that matter. WindClan especially, because everyone thought we were weak fools who couldn't fend for ourselves. Onestar tried to undo what damage was caused by Tallstar, but that still wasn't enough. Since than we've turned our backs on ThunderClan, and now their just another Clan we need to watch out for."

Well, that made sense, in a way. Sprucepaw was still annoyed that everyone wanted to fight. There had to be better ways out of it. Maybe she could find an alternative to all the fighting that often took place over the borders. Maybe that would put her one step ahead of becoming a warrior.

As they returned to camp, Sprucepaw saw Antpaw and Olivepaw playfighting outside the apprentice's den. Owlpaw and Sootpaw just rolled their eyes in annoyance at the sight as they shared a rabbit together. Sprucepaw bounded over to her siblings when she heard what the fight was about.

"I'm the better fighter, admit it!" Olivepaw meowed as she pinned Antpaw to the ground. Admittedly, Olivepaw was twice the size of her brother. But seeing them argue over who was stronger only made Sprucepaw roll her eyes in annoyance.

"Don't you guys have anything better to do than fight?" she asked with a huff of frustration.

"No!" Antpaw retorted and suddenly pushed his sister off with his back legs. "I'll be the best warrior anyone has ever seen! And you're not getting in my way!"

Sprucepaw held back a sigh of annoyance as the two continued fighting. She often wondered how she was related to these two. They were nothing like her, and to make things worse, all they ever cared about was proving who was the best.

I wish everyone would stop thinking about themselves and enjoy life for once, she thought longingly. Something told her that would never happen as long as there was territory to fight over. This was just how the Clans always acted, and it seemed to grow on kits and even apprentices. And she had a feeling that sooner or later she would feel the same way as her brother and sister.