Warrior Cats: The Winding Path (Book 1)

Chapter 7 (Sagepaw)

Sagepaw had never seen anything greater than the vast forest that was home to all ThunderClan cats. He padded alongside Nightpaw as they followed their mentors through the thick undergrowth. Now, since the four cats had been walking for so long, his paws began to ache. He glanced over at Nightpaw but saw no exhaustion in his sister's green eyes.

"Why are we heading in the direction of camp?" Sagepaw meowed. The direction the two warriors were taking was confusing him. Were they going to stop at camp first?

Then, Blacknose veered off course and began make a semi-circle that curved around the hollow. Cinderdapple slowed and matched her pawsteps with Sagepaw.

"ShadowClan is on the other side of the forest, it's a bit away from camp but to get there from the WindClan border we must travel around our own camp," the gray she-cat meowed.

"Oh," Sagepaw nodded in understanding.

"Weren't you paying attention when we got to the lake shore?" Cinderdapple narrowed her blue eyes at him.

Sagepaw could feel the eyes of Nightpaw burning into him from the side. Did she want to prove she's a better apprentice? He lifted his head and meowed, "Of course I was listening." He wouldn't let his sister outshine him, especially on the first day of apprenticeship.

"Good," Cinderdapple purred. She hurried her step to match Blacknose's.

"I can't wait to see what ShadowClan looks like," Nightpaw whispered. Sagepaw nodded, he too was curious to see what the mysterious ShadowClan looked like. His tail quivered in anticipation and he hurried up his step.

Suddenly, Blacknose and Cinderdapple halted. Sagepaw peered past them to see why they stopped. A dusty black path cut through the forest, winding up out of ThunderClan territory.

"What is this?" Nightpaw asked as she sniffed at the path's sides. She reared back, her nose wrinkled with disgust. "It smells horrid!" she spat.

"It's an abandoned Thunderpath, but as you could clearly smell, the reek of it still remains," Blacknose meowed evenly.

"A Thunderpath?" Nightpaw mewed, now curious. She set one black paw onto its rough surface. "Will we cross it?"

Cinderdapple nodded, "We have to if we wish to go further into ThunderClan territory. But this path does cross all the way through, it halts somewhere close to camp."

"That's why we didn't see it when we exited camp?" Sagepaw meowed.

Cinderdapple nodded, "Our camp entrance faces the lake rather than the reeking Thunderpath!" The four cats mewed their amusement.

"Come on then, let us cross," Blacknose put two paws onto the wide black path and flicked his tail for every cat to follow. Nightpaw didn't hesitate as she leapt onto the path. Warily, Sagepaw followed as the cats padded across the empty Thunderpath. Sagepaw's heart had been pounding in his chest, he heard stories about monsters that came in late newleaf with odd Twoleg things that were thought to be called boats by some barn cats.

Once they were safely across they dove back into the safety of the undergrowth and continued to make their way through the forest. They snaked past trees and old badger sets that were caved in from the top, leaving no room for anything to live there.

Finally, after crossing a slow moving stream and another small Thunderpath, the four cats reached the ShadowClan border. Across what Blacknose said was the Twoleg Path, was a pine forest with tall trees and barely any cover. Shadows stretched across the ground and pine nettles were strewn everywhere.