Warriors: The Darkness Within

Chapter 15

Pinepaw stretched his sore limbs as he got ready to go out for his first patrol of the day. It had only been 2 days since the gathering but there had been no sightings of any rogues. They had been training and hunting mostly for the last couple of days, Rockpaw was ahead of his siblings and has started his final assessments. Pinepaw was envious but excited for his friend, they had all crowded around him to discover what they were like.
He had only finished his hunting assessment and was due to do his battle assessment tomorrow so he said he needed to practise and went down to the training hollow with Crowpaw and Tidalpaw. Birdpaw had dissappeared with her mentor for training and Firepaw was on a hunting patrol. Pinepaw meandered across camp, observing his clan mates, the elders sunning themselves happily outside the medicine den, the warriors sharing tongues and meowing in casual conversation.
"Pinepaw! Hurry up!" Ambercloud hissed at him impatiently, she seemed to be getting more and more snappy these days. Pinepaw picked up his paws and trotted over, noticing the other members of the patrol gathering around.
"Ready? The senior warrior called out."
They all nodded and followed as she bounded out of camp falling in behind her.
Pinepaw snuck one last glance at the peaceful camp and bounded out of camp behind the rest of the patrol. The sweet, crisp air washed over his face as he ran, watching the leaves of the trees rustle as they danced with the gentle breeze. Pinepaw hardly felt his paws touching the ground as he bolted through the forest, he felt as free as a bird.
The soaring feeling he had had soon subsided as they reached the border they shared with animalclan.
"Pinepaw, Branchfall and Quickfox will go one way, Lionfur and I shall go the other. Meet here just after sunhigh." Ambercloud announced slightly out of breath, which didn't surprise Pinepaw, she had put on quite a bit of weight.
The cats nodded and Pinepaw flanked his Mother as she lead their group back down the border, he felt Branchfall's quick paw-steps behind him, stopping and starting as he remarked the border.
Pinepaw assisted in their task as his Mother kept a watchful eye out for danger.
"Pinepaw, swap positions with Quickfox." Branchfall instructed him as they moved down the border, Pinepaw nodded and padded to his Mother's previous position, picking his ears to listen for any sound of movement. He padded along with their group, marking and watching, he detected a slight hint of a nearby patrol and alerted Quickfox. The three cats stood rigid, watching the undergrowth a few foxlengths away on the other side of the border.
Suddenly a Red-Brown she-cat emerged, followed by a mangy grey tom and a ginger tabby she-cat that Pinepaw recognised as Lizardpaw.
"Redtail, Foxtail, Lizardpaw." Branchfall acknowledged them politely.
"Branchfall, Quickfox... who's the apprentice?" The Red-brown she-cat that Pinepaw assumed to be Foxtail meowed sourly, cocking her head to the side.
"My son, Pinepaw." Quickfox replied, stepping forward to stand beside him.
"Oh... I thought he was another one of those rogues you constantly take in..." she remarked with a smug look in her eyes.
Quickfox stiffened and Pinepaw heard a faint hiss from his mother.
"He is a pure blood clan cat I assure you." Branchfall practically snarled. "Now unless you want something, you can move along." He finished.
Quickfox held her head up, staring down the other clan's patrol, disgust and defiance lighting up her narrowed eyes. Pinepaw tried to show the same amount of confidence and defensiveness but struggled as he knew he must look like a young kit copying his mother.
They slowly moved along the border, watching their patrol with accusing eyes, Branchfall and Quickfox watched their patrol disappear back into the undergrowth before turning around to each other.
"We should follow them, they looked quite skinny perhaps bad hunting, they might try our territory." Quickfox said quickly and quietly, just loud enough for Pinepaw to hear.
"Ambercloud could do with less prey..." Pinepaw muttered, louder than he anticipated for his mother whipped around to face him.
"Pinepaw, don't let her hear you say that." She scolded him, he flattened his ears as she continued to tell him off.
"Don't you know?" Branchfall interjected.
"Know what?" Quickfox asked.
"Ambercloud is expecting Silverwater's kits! She is moving into the nursery in the next few days." He said joyfully.
Pinepaw watched his mother's face light up at the prospect of new arrivals.
"That's wonderful!" She exclaimed.
The patrol continued along the border, their noses in the air to detect any sign of a breached border, they found none.
"Look!" Branchfall said, racing over and suddenly stopping. "Mouse dung!" He muttered.
"What?" Pinepaw trotted up to his clanmate, the strong scent of the border filled his senses, they were standing right on it.
"There, catmint... our stores are running low, but it's on their territory." He explained flicking his tail to the tuft of leaves that sprouted from the ground a few fox lengths into their territory.
"Can't we use that plant that grows beside the pines." He asked, tilting his head questioningly.
"No, it's dead." He said, turning and padding away.
Pinepaw turned his gaze back to the catmint and sighed, if only it grew in their territory, his gaze locked with the plant and he felt a jolt in his body, suddenly the plant jerked and tore itself from the ground, flying swiftly to him and landing at his paws. Pinepaw jumped back, his eyes wide with shock, had that plant just flown over to him? How was that possible? Maybe it was a sign from Starclan.
He approached it and leant his head down, sniffing at the leaves, his mouth watered at their scent. His shock was still making his heart pulse wildly against his ribs.
Did he do that? Did he just move that? He heard his name being called and quickly decided that he would say he went looking and found another plant of catmint.
He picked up the plant and raced back to the patrol.
"Pinepaw! There you are..." Branchfall said then trailed off when he saw the catmint in Pinepaw's jaws, "For Starclan's sake please tell me you didn't go over the border to get that."
Pinepaw didn't know what this meant but he felt like he shouldn't tell them what had happened, he dropped the catmint at his paws and replied, "No, I found it in our territory." He lied.
"Are you sure?" Branchfall questioned.
"Yes." Pinepaw replied. No.
"Ok... why did you take the whole plant out? You are only meant to take some of it." Branchfall came to inspect it.
"Let's get it back to camp and perhaps Pebblespot can replant it." He muttered and swiftly sent Pinepaw back to camp with his plant.