The Barn Cat

Chapter Four

Palepaw trotted next to Toadpaw, the light brown tom with a gray stripe starting to his muzzle and ending at his gray tail. They were practicing their tracking skills, and they were tracking Streampaw and Pebblepaw. "We're headed the right way," Toadpaw mewed, "I can smell Streampaw's crow-food scent." Palepaw let out a little snort, Toadpaw always teased his brother, and Streampaw did the same. "Him and Pebblepaw are probably loving this," Palepaw mewed, "it's clear they like eachother." Toadpaw nodded in agreement, "they're not too good at hiding it." Palepaw stopped in her tracks and flicked her white tail to get Toadpaw's attention. The light-brown tom stopped and stared at her, focussing his green eyes and perking his ears. "Their scents are really strong this way," Palepaw muttered, "they must be close."

"Yeah, well, they'll see us before we see them. Your bright white pelt doesn't really do you really good, and your sand-colored stripes don't help too much either. The closest thing you have to make you fit in with your surroundings is your hazel eyes." Palepaw flicked her tail across his mouth, "you're not helping."

She led the way, following the other two apprentice's scents. Toadpaw followed closely behind her as they crouched their way down the trail. Palepaw saw a glimpse of a gray pelt in the corner of her eye. Next to that gray pelt was a light gray tabby tom's pelt. Got you. Palepaw glanced at Toadpaw, then flicked her head a tiny bit, pointing out the other two apprentices.

"I wonder when we'll find them," Toadpaw whispered, trying to sound oblivious to the apprentices hiding behind bushes. "I can smell their scents, so they can't be too far," Palepaw turned around and stopped. "They're also not very good at hiding," Palepaw mewed, staring at the two apprentices. "How did you see us?" Pebblepaw stood up and padded out of the bush, her gray pelt leaving the gray tabby next to her, "I thought it was a great spot." Streampaw stood up and followed her out of the bush. "You were shuffling too much," Palepaw snorted. "You guys didn't even disguise your scents, so it was really easy to find you," Toadpaw padded up to join the group. "Why didn't we think of that?" Streampaw looked at Pebblepaw.

"You're just not used to hiding," Toadpaw grunted. "And I suppose you could do better?" Pebblepaw retorted. "Of course I can," Toadpaw boasted, "Burningheart trained me how to." "Fox-dung," Streampaw frowned at his brother, "you were trained to hide." "Burningheart thinks of everything," Toadpaw sat down, pleased. "You two should have known more though," Palepaw mewed, "don't Brightsky and Browntail teach you anything?" "Not all of us have two mentors like you, Palepaw. Our mentors can train us by themselves" Pebblepaw sat down too. "I don't have two mentors," Palepaw glared at her, "Swallowflight is a great mentor." "And what about Brightshade?" Streampaw sat down next to Pebblepaw, "is he a great mentor too?" "He's not my mentor," Palepaw spat. "Calm down, Palepaw. We're just teasing you," Pebblepaw mewed. Palepaw flattened her pelt, "you're just mad that I was given a quest and you guys weren't."

"It's not a quest," Streampaw grunted, "you just had a stupid dream." "Thats what we decided it was, remember?" Pebblepaw mewed. "I don't think it was just a dream," Toadpaw mewed, "but that doesn't mean it wasn't." Palepaw growled, "you'll see. It wasn't a dream and I have to help the clans." "Yeah, yeah," Streampaw yawned. The meeting at half-moon was after tomorrow, it was tomorrow night actually. Palepaw had only told her fellow apprentices about it, if she told any of the warriors, they would stop her because nine moons was too young to go on an adventure without clanmates. She glared at her fellow apprentices, she thought that maybe they would have understood that it was a quest and not a dream, but clearly they didn't. She locked eyes with Toadpaw, his green eyes staring with disbelief into hers. His tail and whiskers twitched, clearly wanting to say something but keeping it to himself. Palepaw turned her angry gaze away from his, glancing at Streampaw and Pebblepaw who were chatting quietly.