Warrior Cats: Alone in the Sky

Chapter Five

Berrypaw's jaw dropped. "Oh, my, StarClan," he breathed. "It's so big."

Salmonpaw nodded. "It is, and very beautiful too. "

They stood on a ledge over looking the valley, and Berrypaw gazed down in awe.

"That's the Thunderpath," Salmonpaw told him, nodding at a distant black figure that snaked its way past a clump of Twoleg dens. "Over there is OakClan territory-" here the handsome tom nodded at the flat, treeless, grassy expanse that was the 'moorland.' "-And right over there is the High Falls," Salmonpaw finished, gesturing with his tail at a tiny (from this distance) waterfall crashing into the river below.

"Isn't that where my mom meets with StarClan?" Berrypaw asked.

"Yes," Salmonpaw replied. "Brackenstar- my father- meets there every full moon with OakClan's leader, Snowstar."

"Will I ever meet an OakClan cat?" Berrypaw asked.

Salmonpaw shrugged. "It depends. They usually hunt at night, so it's rare to come across them when the sun's out. "

Tommy laughed manically somewhere behind them, and Otterclaw giggled.

"Knock it off!" Rowanbranch hissed.

Berrypaw stifled a laugh. Rowanbranch sounded so done, like a tired dad babysitting his kids and tired of their chaos.

"Oh, joy," Kestrelpaw mewed sarcastically. "That's just what I wanted."

Berrypaw turned around and saw a caterpillar crawling on Kestrelpaw's face.

He snorted, and Kestrelpaw scowled at him.

"What's so funny?" They meowed.

"Nothing," Berrypaw lied.

Kestrelpaw ran a paw over their face and sent the poor caterpillar flying into the valley below.

"You've killed it," Salmonpaw joked.

Kestrelpaw rolled their eyes. "Can we go nowwww?"

Tommy slipped and tumbled down a little path that clung to the mountain.

Rowanbranch sighed. "Yes, let's go."

Tommy shook his battered body and stifled a groan as the rest of the group caught up to him at the foot of the mountain.

"You dummy," Otterclaw teased. "You're supposed to walk down, not slide down. "

Tommy laughed. "It was an accident, 'cause I'm a dumbass."

"That you are," his friend agreed.

"Stop swearing in front of the apprentices!" Rowanbranch hissed.

Otterclaw and Tommy gave him identical looks of displeasure, and Rowanbranch groaned.

"Don't you dare-"

"He's kinda bitchy today," Kestrelpaw whispered loudly.

"Language!" Rowanbranch snapped.

"Tommy, you're bleeding," Salmonpaw pointed out, interrupting Rowanbranch's growing anger.

Tommy looked down. Sure enough, the scratch he'd given himself when his mother had tried to talk to him had reopened, and was currently dripping onto the ground.

"It's fine," he said. "Let's keep going. " he didn't want to make a big deal out of it

, especially not right now, during Berrypaw and Wolfpaw's first time out of camp.