Blood and Snow

Hidden Enemies

    Snowpaw awoke. The sound of birds chattered around her. Warmer weather had blessed RiverClan with this new-leaf so far. It had kept them strong against WindClan at least. The Clan that they had started a war against three moons ago were no longer taking prey in need of hunger, but they had a grudge against RiverClan and often crossed the border or stole prey for the fun of it.

It had been four days since she became an apprentice, and tonight would be her first gathering. Since her mentor was Pikestar, she was sort of supposed to go. She couldn't just stay at Camp to avoid the other apprentices. Snowpaw was also very excited to finally see all the other clans, especially WindClan. She couldn't wait to see her enemies face to face. She had heard they were small and agile. Snowpaw had so many questions. Such as: How small? How fast can they run? Do they really sleep out in the open?

Countless rumors about the other Clans had been presented to her, and she was anxious to see if they were really true. Snowpaw was tempted to go back to sleep and make the night come faster, but of course, Otterclaw came pounding into the apprentices' den like a fat badger.

"Get up. The dawn patrol has been waiting for you." he hissed nearly instantly, leaning down to glare into her red eyes. Snowpaw's ears twitched in exasperation. She never understood why he had always been so rude to her. Snowpaw had never touched a hair on his pelt. The worst she did was insult him after he insulted her! What was so wrong about defending herself?

"Sorry! I'm still getting used to this." Snowpaw growled back as she hauled herself up. She shook off the tiny moss scraps on her pelt and shoved her way past Otterclaw. The tom gave her a glowering glare but turned and carried on to where the patrol waited. As Snowpaw reached the patrol, she saw Pikestar, Tigerstripe, Sorrelwing, and her apprentice, Duskpaw. She stopped as Otterclaw rose up behind her. She sheathed her claws in and out of the moist soil below her. Pikestar bowed her head to Snowpaw. Her mentor walked up beside her, and the patrol watched.

"Are you ready for your first patrol?" Pikestar asked kindly. Snowpaw just shrugged. She knew the cats on the patrol would be mad at her for doing so, for she was brushing off her leader's words. Though, Pikestar wasn't stirred. She just stared at her for a few heartbeats longer, the same soft expression still on her face.

"Ok then." Pikestar mewed after a brief moment of awkward silence. She turned away and made her way to the front of the patrol. She looked back. "Let's get a move on, shall we?" The patrol nodded curtly and Snowpaw copied. Her mentor then pelted out of the camp through the entrance. The rest of the cats followed at the same pace. As it was Snowpaw's turn to begin running, she found it hard to keep up. All the other cats had longer and more muscular legs than she did. Snowpaw would have to keep a faster pace in order to keep up.

They pelted alongside the river for a while. The sunshine glared on the river and into Snowpaw's eyes making it hard to see. Even despite that, Snowpaw had only been out here so few times. And each one was just as astonishing as the last. Willow trees swayed in the breeze peacefully as the warm new-leaf breezes swept by the cats' whiskers and through their fur. The scents of the river water filled her nose, but the running was painful and it made it hard for her to enjoy these rare, happy moments.

They eventually reached a place where the river expanded and wasn't as rough. The only thing she was still in mystery to her was that she couldn't see any fish in the shallow water. As they stopped, Snowpaw gave Pikestar an unsure gaze, but the light brown she-cat seemed to know what she was doing. Not just her, but the rest of the cats. This made Snowpaw feel a little nervous. Sorrelwing looked to Duskpaw.

"Go to the end of the river. You know what to do." Sorrelwing told her. Snowpaw felt a twinge of frustration. She wished she knew what they were actually doing. Duskpaw went to the deeper part of the river. Snowpaw peered over the apprentice's head. Snowpaw could see the slight silver scales of the fish. What is she going to do? Pikestar walked up next to her.