Chapter Five

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Meanwhile, Graypaw was thrashing around in swirling, cold, black water, being forced downstream of the river that served as the border between MoonClan and IceClan.

"Help!" he gasped, but he knew no one would answer his desperate call. His own mentor was also drowning, even more downstream than he was. He couldn't expect the cold, hostile IceClan cats to save him.

The thrashing of his paws kept him above the surface as he tried to drag himself through the water to land. However, MoonClan cats tended to not be the swimming type, what with their thick pelts and muscles not fit for kicking and stroking. Soon, Graypaw felt himself sinking; his mouth filled with the water, then his nose got clogged, and his eyes started to sting.

How did I end up here? he groggily asked himself.

He closed his eyes, sinking deeper and deeper, as it all came back to him.

*************

Graypaw was running along MoonClan territory at Hazelfur's side, tail high, ears perked, eyes shining. The fading pink glow of dawn had passed, being replaced with light blue sky and a shining sun. Morning dew glittered on the leaves of a few bushes here and there, soaking into Graypaw's fur when he brushed past.

Ah, newleaf. The perfect time of the year...

"Look - a mouse!" Graypaw suddenly hissed, gazing wide-eyed at the small creature crouched in front of a bush nibbling a nut. He sprang forward noisily, startling the mouse so that it quickly scurried to the other side of the bush.

"Foxdung!" he muttered. "I could've gotten it!"

Hazelfur purred with amusement. "I think not. You haven't been trained to hunt yet." She smiled. "Here, let me demonstrate."

She gestured for her apprentice to follow her, before she dropped into a hunting crouch and crawled stealthily to the other side of the bush, where the mouse was nibbling at the rest of its nut. Its back was turned to her, and the wind was blowing towards her, giving her a good chance that this plump mouse was going to be dead prey soon.

Graypaw watched behind a clump of long grass as Hazelfur glided forward, her tail tucked low, her ears flattened in concentration.

Then she leaped, neatly killing the mouse with one bite to the neck.

"Ooh, ooh!" Graypaw exclaimed, jumping up and down enthusiastically. "Can I try hunting something now?"

Hazelfur buried the mouse near the bush so they could come back for it to take to their Clan later. "Sure!" she answered. "Let's go find something to catch first, though."

Graypaw took off immediately, with Hazelfur at his paws.

They raced through the undergrowth until it started to thin out, turning into hard stone ground that sloped upward, then down. At the very edge of the downward slant lie a wide, churning river, and Graypaw shuddered at the thought of what would happen if he was flailing in that water, choking on the waves, unable to breathe...drowning.

"That river is the border between our Clan and IceClan," Hazelfur told her apprentice.

Graypaw swallowed the lump in his throat and replied, "Well, I guess that's a good bordermark." He forced a laugh. "No more IceClan cats will invade into our territory!"

Hazelfur's eyes darkened. "Actually, we can't invade their territory. We'd drown if we'd try to cross the river, but they can swim across it easily - it's their ability, just as it's our ability to hunt, fight, and do just about anything in the dead of night."

"But that's horrible! And totally unfair that we can't cross into their territory but they can cross into ours! And anyways, can't we just learn how to swim? There's a river right here - can't we put it to use by practicing in here?"

"I wish, Graypaw. But we could just as easily drown."

"The IceClan cats would help us then, wouldn't they?"

Hazelfur shook her head. "They're cruel and hostile cats. They wouldn't help a starving kit." She smiled and lowered her voice. "But if you really want to know a way to cross the river, I can show you. You have to promise not to tell anybody, though."

She led Graypaw to a thick, lush forest a little way from the hard stone ground. Under the trees, Graypaw had a feeling of immense compactness, and felt like the thick undergrowth was going to swallow him up any minute. He started to hyperventilate, flattening his ears and curling his tail in discomfort.

I can't take this enclosed space. I need to be able to see the sky!

Hazelfur, a few foxtails ahead of Graypaw, looked at ease, gliding through the undergrowth elegantly. It was obvious she was used to this place.

She looked back, and anxiety flashed in her blue eyes as she saw Graypaw's claustrophobic state. "You okay?" she asked, dropping back so that they were walking side by side.

"How can you put up with being compacted like this?" Graypaw muttered.

Hazelfur shrugged. "I don't know. But your fear is common among the MoonClan cats. That's why most of them don't come into this forest, and that's why nobody knows about my secret place." Her tail twitched, and pointed forward at where the forest ended, revealing the churning river. "There it is!"

Graypaw rushed into the open, and collapsed with relief as the familiar white clouds that dotted the sky came into sight. Now that his senses weren't muffled by the thick undergrowth, he could clearly see the same swirling, black river that separated IceClan from MoonClan. This time, though, stepping stones dotted the water, leading the way across.

Excitement rushed through Graypaw. "Let's go across, Hazelfur!!!" he cried.

"Hey, I wouldn't do that if I were you-" Hazelfur started, but Graypaw had already leaped onto the first stepping stone.

"Whaaat?" he yelled, unable to hear his mentor over the loud roaring of the water.

Hazelfur stepped forward. "I only brought you here to show you the pathway! Not let you cross!" she hollered loudly.

"Too late!" Graypaw responded just as loudly. I'm having too much fun! he thought, soaring across the water onto the next stone, and then the third one.

"This is just wonderful," Hazelfur muttered, irritated. She leaped onto the first stone and pushed off the slick surface of it onto the second one.

"You can't catch me...!!" Graypaw purred, landing onto the soft grass of IceClan territory.

Hazelfur's eyes widened. "Graypaw, seriously, get back over here. If the IceClan cats see you on their territory, they will rip you to pieces."

Graypaw laughed. "Really?! What do they do, eat pieces of cats in their meantime?!"

"Don't make me come over there to get you," Hazelfur warned, scrambling onto the third stepping stone.

Graypaw really has no idea that he's ruffling my fur the wrong way, does he? Hazelfur thought indignantly. What kind of cat does he think he is, not obeying his mentor like he's supposed to?!

In the midst of her fury, she slipped. She didn't realize it until she was in the water, swirling away into nothingness.

Meanwhile, Graypaw sat at the edge of the river, eyes wide, as he watched Hazelfur stumble into the river. I went too far, Graypaw realized, much too far.

He dived in after her, thinking that he could fight the crashing waves, the strong currents, and be able to save his mentor.

He was wrong.

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