Sandclan's Destiny Book 4: Shatters of the Moon

Chapter 11: Turning Tides to Dark Waters

When Berryclaw woke Dustpaw up to attend a hunting patrol, the apprentice groaned and lashed her tail at her to go away. She was used to doing that to Autumnpaw and her mother, but when she remembered she had a mentor now, she popped her head out from the den and mewed, "Sorry! Just a moment."

Berryclaw chuckled and flicked a small ear, "Sure."

Dustpaw was nervous for her first day of training. Last night she dreamt in the Darkforest again and it was exhausting. What she hated most was recognizing more and more cats she knew. Smokepaw was even in the Darkforest. Dustpaw could barely bring herself to think about Icepaw and Slashingclaw either. Though strangely, the SandClan warrior was no longer seen training in the Darkforest; perhaps he was too far away.

Finally Dustpaw met Berryclaw for the patrol after grooming herself to be more presentable. The ruddy she-cat mewed, "Greyfur, Icepaw, Rockshade, Midnightheart, Meadowflower, and Smokepaw are attending the hunting patrol. It's a large one, and it's your first, and we're all here to help."
Midnightheart. Smokepaw, Dustpaw thought in fear. Icepaw, too. She shuddered, wondering if Midnightheart would hurt her alone in the forest. 

Greyfur led the patrol, guiding Icepaw beside him. After their warrior ceremony, Greyfur and Iceface, a BirdClanner, immediately took Icepaw into the territories to tour him around. Greyfur told everyone how brave the white apprentice had been, which embarrassed Icepaw.
Iceface took a liking to him, since she enjoyed cute, young apprentices. They also had similar names, which made her fond of him even more.

Smokepaw padded along next to Meadowflower. "Can I try swimming?" Smokepaw asked her, and the grey tabby BirdClan warrior turned to Greyfur. The thick-furred grey tom purred, "Maybe. Fireclaw the other sunrise tried swimming but I had to go save him. Are you brave enough, Smokepaw?"
The grey tom, who was almost a warrior, flicked his ears, "In that case, no thanks. I think I'd rather watch."

Dustpaw absentmindedly kept her eyes on Icepaw ahead of her. Greyfur kept leaning against the apprentice, hoping to guide him, but the younger tom kept shaking him off. She wanted to know why he was like this and why he had to train in the Darkforest despite being blind and so young.

The group padded across the clearing and eventually past the pond, which made Smokepaw furrow his brows disappointedly. They stopped just before they entered the forest. A large tree stood away from the rest, and Greyfur mewed, "Here's a popular training ground. We mostly battle train here, but this is a good place to meet up after we hunt."

Berryclaw lashed her feathery tail, "Greyfur, Meadowflower, should we check if the forest is safe for hunting?"
Meadowflower flicked an ear, "Why?"
Greyfur nodded, "Midnightheart, stay back and watch Icepaw, Dustpaw, and Smokepaw."

The three warriors bounded into the forest, disappearing past the ferns. Dustpaw sighed and sat away from Smokepaw and Midnightheart, who were making quick friends with Icepaw. The white apprentice was comfortable with the two of them, possibly because they trained together in the Place-of-no-Stars!

Icepaw's ears flicked in the direction of Dustpaw and Dustpaw mewled, "Hey!"
"What?" Midnightheart turned around.
"Not you. I- I meant Icepaw."
Icepaw didn't answer, but his pink eyes stared approximately at Dustpaw. There was no malice in his eyes and no negativity whatsoever, but Dustpaw still felt fear tingling in her paws when she sat surrounded by enemies.

The cat that recognized her in the Darkforest that one night was Icepaw. He was the only one who knew, but before he could ask her anything else, more warriors urged him to run through the darkness. Dustpaw had no choice but to follow him and wake up.

"Why so flustered, Dustpaw?" Midnightheart asked, padding over. Her dark face came close to Dustpaw's, concern ebbing throughout her amber eyes. Dustpaw recoiled in fear.
Midnightheart lashed her black tail, "Afraid to start hunting?"
Dustpaw unsheathed her claws. The black she-cat noticed, "Dustpaw?"