In The Dark - Warriors.

Chapter Ten

Lostpaw looked over at Pebblepaw. She didn't know what they could do now - afterall, she-cats normally could only do things inside of the camp. As Whiteclaw had stated when she was just a kit, she-cats weren't allowed outside of camp. Most had never even see the real beauty of nature. "What should we do now, Pebblepaw?" She asked.

Pebblepaw looked at her with a sly smile, then glanced around the camp before quickly turning back towards Lostpaw. "I have been thinking for awhile that maybe we should ... sneak out of camp. You know, just over to that waterfall on the far east end of the territory and back. Nobody'll ever notice." She said in a quiet, hushed voice into Lostpaw's ear.

Lostpaw perked up at this. "Really? But Pinepaw's patrol is still out there! We shouldn't. I mean, I'd like to see what it all looks like, but I can't. We could get caught, and then what will happen?" She asked.

"Oh, calm down!" Pebblepaw barked. "It'll be fun and you know it. Besides, there's no need to fret if you know that we aren't ever gonna get caught outside of camp in the first place! So, come on." Pebblepaw turned, seeing that the cats in the Clan were all tucked inside of their dens, and then sashayed out of the camp, not bothering to look behind her shoulder to see whether or not the younger apprentice was following.

Lostpaw reluctantly followed behind Pebblepaw, her paws and tail dragging against the ground. "Do we really have to do this?" She complained. Though her next sentence was cut short as she saw the forest - it was beautiful. Thick, woody trees with bright green leaves that towered up high above her and Pebblepaw's heads. Plenty of bushes, plants, and undergrowth covering the ground as well as roots. She almost tripped over a few though managed to stop herself just in time.

Lostpaw and Pebblepaw continued stalking among the bushes. Lostpaw continuously tried seeing if she could find any prey, like voles or threshes, but she couldn't find any. She shrugged her shoulders and then continued following behind Pebblepaw.

Soon, however, she heard a twig snap in front of her, and she jumped inside of a nearby bush with Pebblepaw closeby in a different one. Voices started murmuring. "What if that's prey?" "What was that?" and "That was an awful loud snap to just be prey!" One voice in particular stood out from the rest - Pinepaw.

"I'll check it out. You all stay here." And before came any protests, Pinepaw was already on his way over to the bush, sniffing. What was that ... Lostpaw and Pebblepaw? Two she-cat's? What would they be doing out here?

"Lostpaw, Pebblepaw," Pinepaw growled. "What are you doing outside of camp?! You know you could get caught and possibly even killed by Froststar himself!" Pinepaw pointed out angrily but quiet enough so that the rest of the patrol wouldn't be capable of hearing him.

"I know. Pebblepaw wanted me to go so I did." Lostpaw whispered back to her brother. "Besides, we're only going to the waterfall and back, right?" A nearby bush rustled in response. "Right." Lostpaw replied for her friend, then looked back towards Pinepaw.

"We were just about to head that way, but I guess I'll take care of it. I'll tell that I patrolled the area earlier and that there's nothing there. Be careful, though, Lostpaw." He reached over, liching his sister between the ears before leaving to catch up with the rest of the patrol.

"It was nothing. Probably just the wind." Was what both Lostpaw and Pebblepaw heard Pinepaw saying before he started lying to them about the perimeter of the waterfull and thus nothing having been there when he checked that part of the territory earlier. Lostpaw smiled slightly because her brother had helped her, then jumped out of the bushes along with Pebblepaw.

Quietly, they began moving their way past the undergrowth once again. This time, Lostpaw found herself ahead of Pebblepaw. Soon she began to hear the loud rushing of water. She knew that they could speak without having to whisper now; the waterfall would drown out their voices. "That ... that's beautiful, Pebblepaw. How did you know it was here?"

"Easy. I heard the warriors talk about it after they had finished patrolling. You know, you can find out a lot of things if you actually decide to listen." Pebblepaw pointed out briskly.

"Yeah, I mean, I know that. I just never really bothered to pay attention to a lot of the warriors in this Clan ... for obvious reasons." She mewed. Pebblepaw nodded in agreement.

"I don't talk to a lot of 'em either. Usually just the friendly ones. Anyways I figure we should get going. We don't want the Clan, especially Froststar, to start growing suspicious." Pebblepaw pointed out.

Lostpaw nodded. "Yeah, you're right." Pebblepaw ignored her words of agreement and started trotting on ahead, back towards camp. Lostpaw was close behind her when all of a sudden she started hearing sharp mewling that slowly started growing fainter every single time - Lostpaw perked up her ears and steered away from the direction of camp, instead walking over to where she had heard the distant mewling. Once she arrived, she found a tiny, brown she-kit with bright green eyes and white markings. She recognized the kit as Seedkit - Sunflare's only she-kit of her first litter.

The she-kit was wounded - a large gash was staining her left side crimson. Lostpaw picked up the kit and padded back towards camp. Immediately, she walked over to the medicine cat's den and dropped the kit inside, where Toadleap was standing as if he had been waiting for her. "What happened?" The medicine cat demanded. Lostpaw gulped, pausing. Should she tell him?

Was he a good enough friend to trust him? "I ... I'll tell you later." Finally, she mewed, before padding off back towards the she-cat apprentices den.