Patchpaw's stomach churned when she saw the grief on Snakepaw's face. The apprentice was horrified to see his mentor in such an injured state.
Mintpaws muttered something to the nearby Adderthorn. The large tom lowered his head and forced his head under Rednose's flank.
The deputy rolled over onto Adderthorn's back. The russet tom stood up, keeping Rednose balanced on his shoulders while padding toward the medicine den.
Mintpaws was following close behind with Snakepaw at her tail. Patchpaw watched helplessly as Snakepaw disappeared with the others inside the den.
Twigrush was still standing near the clan entrance, taking deep breaths to steady herself. She eventually made her way across the camp, her tail nearly pinned between her legs as she pushed her way through the thicket that lined the medicine den entrance.
Small drops of scarlet lined the path that the cats had taken. The scent of the blood made Patchpaw's nose sting. She nearly jumped out of her fur when she felt some cats pelt bristle against her tail.
"Silvercloud!" Patchpaw gasped, turning her head to see him over her shoulder.
"Sorry if I scared you," The tom apologized with a friendly glance. Silvercloud gave a wary look toward the other side of camp where his former mentor was being treated for her wounds.
"You're fine!" Patchpaw piped, pivoting on her paws to face the larger tom, then lowering herself to sit in front of him.
"Crowwatcher still needs to gather the dusk patrol, right? With us and Laurelpaw?"
"That's right." Silvercloud shook out his long, silver fur and sat next to Patchpaw.
She watched his fur light up in the dimming sun, flowing gently in the warm air the start of newleaf carried. His green eyes lit up when he noticed she was staring at him.
He tapped her front paw gently with his tail, his whiskers twitching in amusement. Patchpaw hopped up on her paws, feeling her ears go warm. She shook out her fur in embarrassment, readjusting to sit next to him instead. She rapidly changed the subject.
"Snakepaw is in the medicine den with Rednose. Do you think what Twigrush said is true, that they were attacked by ThunderClan cats?" asked Patchpaw.
"What reason do they have to lie?" There was a hint of accusation in the tom's tone. "Those cats have been crossing our border for moons now and Elmstar refuses to do anything about it until blood is spilt."
Patchpaw lowered her head, trying to appear friendly. I never said they were lying. "Do you think Elmstar will do something now?"
"He better!" Silvercloud bellowed, louder than Patchpaw expected. He shook out the fur on his head, forcing his fur to flatten. He stood on his paws and brushed past Patchpaw toward the clan entrance. "Come on."
Patchpaw hurried to catch up to the tom. She squeaked at him as she trotted. "We have to wait for Crowwatcher!"
"Warriors can leave camp when they choose." Silvercloud looked at Patchpaw over his shoulder, a glint of rebellion in his eyes. "If we get started early, we can catch more prey. Crowwatcher will have no reason to complain then, will he?"
Patchpaw couldn't come up with an argument. "..no, I guess not."
Patchpaw followed Silvercloud through the dense pine forest. She struggled to keep up with him, her paws sinking into the mud with each frantic step she took.
"You know, it's quite easy to hunt in the marsh if you know what you're looking for." Silvercloud didn't stop to see if Patchpaw had heard him. His tail swayed over his ankles as he walked, picking up chunks of mud and flinging them to the side.
"Isn't it just frogs?" Patchpaw muttered, wincing when a fleck of mud flew across her muzzle.
She shook her head aggressively, unable to use her muddy paws. Silvercloud looked back at her, letting out an audible snort as she struggled to get the mud off her face.
Patchpaw continued to shake her face until she ran into Silvercloud. She let out a squeak, falling back into a sit.
She opened her eyes to see Silvercloud had sat down without her noticing. Deep in the territory, many small streams of water split up the ground, turning the usually solid ground into the marsh ShadowClan knows well.
Silvercloud's focus was on one of those streams of water that flowed in front of his paws between the cracks in the mud.
Patchpaw stood and made her way next to him, sitting. She cringed when her flank hit the mud beneath them, despite already being caked in it.
She wanted to blurt out, "What are you going to catch, tadpoles?" but Patchpaw kept her maw shut. She knew better than to squabble with a warrior, even if it was Silvercloud, who was barely moons older than her.
Deciding to look closer, Patchpaw copied the posture that Silvercloud had, narrowing her eyes and focusing on the contents of the shallow water. Between the fast-swimming tadpoles and miscellaneous bug larvae, there was an occasional shape that was much larger.
Silvercloud quickly swiped a claw into the water, disrupting the mud that surrounded it. A wiggling fish was hooked on his claw.
Minnows!
Silvercloud had a boasting look on his face when he saw how surprised Patchpaw was. "I didn't know we had fish on our territory!" The calico she-cat squeaked with wide eyes.
Fish were a prey exclusively to RiverClan. At least, that's what Patchpaw thought up until now. She wasn't sure ShadowClan cats would even eat fish. They can't be picky now.
"Most cat's don't look close enough. They're too stuck up to eat them, though."
Within the time the two were talking, Silvercloud had added three more minnows to his pile. The steam he'd been fishing from was nearly dissolved into the mud from the force of his swings.
"These are for us. No other cat will eat them." Silvercloud was already chewing on one of the small fish as he spoke.
Patchpaw's fur stood. She knew she'd be breaking the warrior code by allowing herself to eat, but her mouth had started to water at the smell of fresh-kill. "We aren't supposed to eat before the elders and queens."
Silvercloud squinted. "We will feed the elders and queens after we eat. We will be able to hunt better with full bellies, don't you agree?"
Once again Patchpaw couldn't find the words to object. She leaned down into a crouch, biting into the small slimy fish at the top of the pile.
The minnow split apart in her maw with a satisfying crunch. She sat up and licked her maw, her tail flicking rampantly in the mud.
"I can't see why any cat would refuse to eat fish when prey isn't running well. It tastes just fine!" The she-cats eyes were wide with innocent confusion.
Silvercloud drew a paw over his face, licking the mud from it and straightening his whiskers.
"The cats in our clan use fish-breath as an insult. Eating fish is just as bad as sharing tongues with a RiverClan warrior, as far as they're concerned."
"..yeah," Patchpaw hummed, biting into a second minnow. She was barely able to get her bite swallowed when Silvercloud pushed her.
She stumbled on her paws. A piece of the fish hung from her maw as she gave him a stern but confused look.
"Get in that bush!" Silvercloud whispered, still pushing the she-cat toward a nearby alder bush. Patchpaw stiffened herself as to not slide in the mud against the tom's powerful paws.
"Why?" Patchpaw swallowed the last of the minnow in her mouth.
"Now!" Silvercloud hissed. Patchpaw recognized the urgency in his tone. She hopped onto her paws and ran, sliding under a nearby bush and covering herself in slick mud.
She struggled to see, trying frantically to wipe the mud from her eyes. She forced herself to sit still when she heard another cat's voice.
"Where is Patchpaw?" The voice belonged to Adderthorn. "She was just here. I can smell her on you."
"I sent her away. I told her to return to camp so she'd be there for the dusk patrol." Silvercloud's voice was calm and level. Patchpaw couldn't believe how easy it was for the tom to lie.
Finally able to blink the mud from her eyes, Patchpaw lowered her head enough to see the tops of Adderthorn's paws.
"You're not doing any better. You need to be at camp, too. You just became a warrior. You need to prove to the clan that we can rely on you. That I can rely on you." There was an unforgiving coldness in the tom's tone.
Silvercloud met the tom's gaze, his whiskers twitching.
Is he amused by this?
"You know you can rely on me, Adderthorn. I'll find Patchpaw and meet you and Laurelpaw at the lakeshore."
Patchpaw waited to emerge from the bush until Silvercloud gave the all-clear. She flung the mud from her pelt with a gentle shake.
She wasn't sure what to say. She was repulsed by Silvercloud's deception, but if he hadn't lied, she'd be in deep trouble with Adderthorn, and for that she was thankful.