Warriors AU: Sandstar's Quest

Chapter 23

Author's Note: This is the longest chapter I've ever written! 6,300+ words! Sorry this took so long.

"Cats who live in a Clan send out hunting patrols several times a day." Sandstar explained, pausing at the end of the line of Twoleg fences. "And we patrol the borders twice, once at dawn and once at sunset."

"So are we on the dawn patrol?" Tiny asked.

"Mouse-brain!" His sister Scratch swiped at him with one paw. "Skyclan doesn't have borders yet. We're hunters, aren't we, Sandstar?"

"That's right," Sandstar meowed. "We'll have borders soon, when I know the territory a bit better, and see how many cats are going to be living here. Meanwhile, this is Skyclan's first proper hunting patrol."

Scratch gave a happy little bounce. "Great! We haven't caught much, though," she added, sounding disappointed. "I can't seem to pick up any scent at all."

"That's because it's wet," Sandstar told her. "Even experienced hunters find it hard."

Fog filled the gorge and stretched over the scrubland on the cliff top as far as the Twolegplace. The rising sun shone through it with a milky light. Every grass stem was bent with the weight of water droplets, and dew misted on the cats' fur.

"But that's no excuse for taking risks." Callum looked up from where he was digging up some fresh-kill they had buried earlier. "I couldn't believe you two. You leaped straight into that garden without looking."

"Sorry," Scratch muttered, while Tiny scrabbled his forepaws on the ground in front of him.

"'Sorry' is all very well," snapped the rogue. "You nearly landed right on top of that dog. If Sandstar hadn't distracted it, you would be dog food by now. And you lost the squirrel you were chasing."

Tiny sighed. "It was lovely and fat."

Callum rolled his eyes and went back to scraping away the earth over their prey.

Sandstar gave him a quick glance. It had been four days since Callum and Patches had come to live in the caves, and Callum's hunting skills were already proving useful, but he had no patience with the two kittypets.

"They'll learn," Sandstar meowed, and added to Scratch and Tiny, "You're coming along really well."

"Can we come and live in the camp all the time?" Scratch begged.

"Not yet." Sandstar was relieved the young cat was so keen to join the Clan, but he wondered if she realized what a huge decision she was making. "What about leaving your housefolk?"

Scratch's tail drooped and her eyes grew more thoughtful. "I like sitting on a lap and being stroked, and I like playing with our housefolk and making them laugh... but I like hunting too. I wish we could have both."

"Well, we can't," mewed Tiny. "I worry about our housefolk missing us, too. If we could just tell them that we'll be okay..." He took a deep breath. "But if we are really descendants of the first Skyclan, we belong in the gorge."

Sandstar blinked at him. "I think you need to take your time before you make the final decision." Callum had been right to scold them for dashing into the garden, even though he could have been more tactful. The kittypets' biggest fault was charging blindly into things. But at least it showed they had courage, a valuable quality in a warrior.

"How much longer?" Scratch demanded. "Can we be apprentices soon?"

Before Sandstar could reply, Callum looked up. "Are we just going to stand around here? I want to be back in the gorge before the mist clears. I've never had anything to do with Twolegs, and I don't intend to start now."