In The Dark - Warriors.

Chapter Eleven

For now, Lostpaw decided, she would talk to Pebblepaw. She knew that the apprentice would probably be wondering where she had went. She had also noticed that Pinepaw's patrol had came back - whatever, first she needed to talk to Pebblepaw. She flicked her tail, padding over to her best friend whom was currently discussing with another she-cat apprentice, one Lostpaw didn't recognize.

Pebblepaw must've heard her walking, because as soon as she approached, Pebblepaw had already turned to look at her friend. "Hey, Lostpaw," she mewed. "Come on over." She mewed as if nothing had just happened. She quietly padded over, gazing at the she-cat apprentice warily, as if she couldn't trust her. "This is Breezepaw, one of the other she-cat apprentices in this Clan. She's new here because she was a kittypet before she joined."

"Kittypet? Why would she give up the easy life to join MapleClan? I can understand it with any of the other Clans, like CloudClan or WolfClan, but when it comes to this Clan, well, no, not really ... " she said.

"I actually believe in this system," the apprentice Breezepaw said. "She-cats are, truly, inferior to toms. In all three, intelligence, speed, and strength." Breezepaw stated. Now both Lostpaw and Pebblepaw were staring at her with a blank look.

"Really?" Pebblepaw asked.

"Seriously?" Lostpaw asked. "Your way of speaking is actually more intelligent than any of the toms in MapleClan." Lostpaw pointed out. Pebblepaw snickered quietly, flicking her ears as she knew it was true.

"Besides, the kittypet life was too easy." Breezepaw said. "I like being given a challenge. It wouldn't be fun without them." Breezepaw mewed.

"That's true," Lostpaw admitted.

"But the challenge for you now is to act meek, submissive, and totally mouse-brained in front of toms. Think you can handle that?" Pebblepaw asked.

"That does not sound too hard. I like the harder ones." Breezepaw said.

"Then maybe you shouldn't have joined. That's the only challenge you're going to get in MapleClan and there is no way out unless you're killed or exiled." Lostpaw meowed. It was true. She-cats in the past often escaped from MapleClan by disobeying a tom's orders and getting exiled, all on purpose. However, sometimes, it turned out wrong - the Clan leader would instead kill them, though that didn't happen often. It was a rarity, but had happened before. Ever since Lostpaw was born, none of the she-cats had tried to escape in that way, however.

"Oh," Breezepaw mewed. "Well, I still do not regret my decision. We she-cats clearly need to be put into our places ... " Lostpaw studied her some more and decided that she didn't look like a former kittypet. For one thing, if she had only joined recently, then her belly would still be plump from all of the free food that tastes like rabbit-droppings the twolegs would be giving her ... instead, her stomach wasn't flat, but wasn't plump, either - as a matter of fact her stomach looked exactly like what a cat from one of the other Clan's would look like right now. She also acted older than she apparently was.

Lostpaw decided to shake it off. It was probably nothing. She was simply jumping to conclusions. "I do not see why you do not regret your decision. You have no free-will here in MapleClan." 'You also act much too humble,' Lostpaw added in her mind thoughtfully.

Just then, a voice rung out above the clearing. They all looked up to see that Froststar was calling for the newcomer, Breezepaw. "Yes, sir!" Breezepaw meowed, walking over. "I will humbly serve you whenever you ask ... " then she disappeared inside of the Clan leader's den, Froststar in the front.

Lostpaw shook her head as she watched the apprentice. "So what took you so long?" Pebblepaw finally asked as Lostpaw had expected her to sometime or another.

"I heard the mewlings of an injured kit, so I had to go check it out. Turns out, it was one of Sunflare's kits, Seedkit. She had a wound in her side. Toadleap is taking care of her now." She responded.

"Oh," Pebblepaw responded. "Hmm ... that's strange." She finally declared. "I take it you should go talk to Toadleap about that now?" She asked.

"Oh, yes!" Lostpaw perked up, then raced towards the medicine cat's den. She had forgotten about her promise to Toadleap because of her experience with the much-too-humble Breezepaw. She was sure that the she-cat would be creeping the toms out by the time they had realized how humble she acted.

"Toadleap?" Lostpaw called as she entered the large den. Currently there were no sick or injured cats besides Seedkit, whom was still getting treated by Toadleap. Toadleap looked up. "Oh, yes." He mewed. "Please tell me how you found the kit."

"Right," Lostpaw cleared her throat, sitting down and shuffling her paws before beginning. "Can I ... can I tell you a secret?" She asked.

"Of course," Toadleap said.

"Do you promise not to tell anyone?" Lostpaw asked.

"Yes," Toadleap answered.

"Okay. Well ... I ... I snuck out of camp earlier." She wouldn't mention that both her and Pebblepaw had snuck out. If Toadleap decided to tell Froststar she wanted the blame to only be on her and not Pebblepaw.

"Yes, I noticed." Toadleap responded.

"Wait a minute, you did?" Lostpaw asked.

"Of course," Toadleap said. "I haven't told anyone about it, though."

"So you saw Pebblepaw go outside of the camp with me as well?" Lostpaw asked.

"That's right," Toadleap mewed. "I saw both of you leaving the camp. Wasn't that hard to spot from where I had been standing at the time. Luckily nobody else had saw you leaving, I don't think, 'sides me." He finished.

"Okay. Well, anyway, the way I found Seedkit was when Pebblepaw had done went back towards camp, I heard mewing. So I decided to follow the sound. And when I reached it, I realized that it was Seedkit, daughter of Sunflare. She had a large gash in her side at the time and I had no idea why, so I picked her up and brought her back to camp towards you, which you should obviously be able to tell right now." Lostpaw finished.

"I see," Toadleap responded. "Well, all I wanted to know was how you had spotted the kit in the first place. You may leave now, if you wish to do so. Or you could stand and watch, I don't mind." He said.

"I'll leave." Lostpaw answered. "I don't want to be a bother." Toadleap was about to protest about her not being a bother, but Lostpaw ignored the medicine cat and then left the den.