Beyond the stars: Ripple of fire (Book #1)

Chapter - 6

Life in Oakclan has gotten easier since the last moon: prey has been easier to find and the rain has almost completely stopped, but Ravenpaw could not stop thinking about the prophecy and her dreams. She had not had another dream in the past moon, and that was all she could think about — and of course, she was still confused why Starclan would choose to give her a prophecy. She wondered whether she should tell Cloverstar or Sprucetail about her dreams — they would probably believe her since they also received the prophecy, but what would they do about it? Now, Ravenpaw could only wait for Starclan to give her an explanation.

"What do you smell, Ravenpaw?" Maplesky mewed, bringing her apprentice back to reality.

"Uh... Oh okay! I smell..." Ravenpaw replied, sniffing the air, "Well, I smell the Ashclan scent, probably because we are so close to the border! And I also smell... mice and a lot of pinecones! Oh, and there is something strange too, I can't tell what it is though".

Maplesky sniffed the air before stiffening and unsheathing her claws, she gestured for Ravenpaw to follow her as she crouched behind a tree trunk — a moment later, three two-legs appeared from the trees on Ashclan territory, making their way across the border to Oakclan territory. Two of them had dark fur on the top of their heads, while the other one had long, cascading fur that was a strange ginger color; that one was female.

Ravenpaw had never seen two-legs before, but here they were: merrily trotting all over clan territory with no respect for borders. 

One of the two-legs yowled something and picked up a long stick to make long lines on the ground while seemingly explaining something to the other two-legs. The other two nodded in agreement and began to stride in the direction of Ravenpaw and Maplesky, completely unaware that the two clan cats were observing their every move.

"What do you think they're doing here?" Ravenpaw whispered to her mentor

"Shush", the she-cat hissed, sending a glare Ravenpaw's way.

The two-legs disappeared into the trees, sending a wave of relief flooding through Ravenpaw: two-legs were nothing but trouble.

"Why are they in Oakclan territory? Can't they tell that they should not be here? Oh, can we follow them, please, please, please!"

"If you can keep quiet and do exactly what I tell you", Maplesky mewed, sighing in defeat as Ravenpaw jumped up and down excitedly.

"Thank you, thank you! I'll be quiet, I promise! You won't hear a word out of me, my amazing mentor!"

"I'm already regretting this", Maplesky murmured, flicking her tail to Ravenpaw's mouth before gesturing for her apprentice to follow her as she slipped through the trees, close enough to see the two-legs but far enough not to get seen.

The two cats moved in silence, crouched against the forest floor as they weaved through the undergrowth. 

"Why do you think they're here?" Ravenpaw whispered into her mentor's ear.

Maplesky shot her glare as they continued following the two-legs until they reached the river, where the bridge leads to the other side of the river, where Willowclan and Breezeclan resided. The two-legs were talking loudly as they crossed the bridge and started walking towards the Willowclan forest as Maplesky and Ravenpaw watched carefully.

"Let's go! Why did we stop?" Ravenpaw asked, shuffling around excitedly.

"We can't cross the bridge. It's Breezeclan territory! I ought to scold you for thinking of crossing the borders without reason! I know if you were on your own you would have followed them across the border!" Maplesky scolded

"But there is a reason; two-legs are wandering around our territory!" Ravenpaw defended, ignoring the last sentence because she knew it was true.

"Let's hunt something and go back to camp, it's getting late".

"Fine! But just so you know there was a perfectly good reason to cross borders if it meant finding out what two-legs are up to".

"Listen to me, Ravenpaw. If I catch you crossing borders to follow stray two-legs, or anything for that matter, It'll be off with your head!"

"Off with my head? What is that supposed to mean? Can you please demonstrate?" Ravenpaw asked curiously.

"Ravenpaw, I will make sure you will not become a warrior if I see you crossing borders. Do you understand?" 

"Yes, ma'am! I won't get into any trouble, I promise!"

"And hedgehogs can fly", Maplesky mumbled as they slid between the trees.

"They can?!" A voice cut through the forest loudly, making Ravenpaw and Maplesky turn their heads to see Nettlepaw standing to their right.

"Nettlepaw? Why are you out here alone?" Maplesky questioned the large apprentice.

"I'm not alone", Nettlepaw mewed, flicking his tail as his mentor, Sedgewatcher slid through the forest until he was in front of them, "Sedgewatcher's with me".

"Sorry, Maplesky. Is he bothering? We're going hunting and my apprentice decided to go off on his own", Sedgewatcher said, emphasizing the word 'apprentice' as he glared at Nettlepaw.

"Oh, why don't you join us? We're hunting too", Maplesky mewed to the tom, "Oh, and we spotted some two-legs in our territory, they went across the bridge and into the Willowclan forest so we couldn't follow them".

"I guess we should tell Cloverstar when we get back", the silver tom mewed thoughtfully, "Oh, and sure, we'll come with you".

They padded along the forest floor, sniffing for prey as Ravenpaw fell in line with Nettlepaw and shifted her eyes around to spot prey.

"One of the two-legs we saw was female! She had long hair the color of Adderflight's fur; sort of a dark ginger color, I suppose. I didn't know two-legs came in that color! I wish we could have followed them for longer, but Maplesky was a bore and said no, and something about being 'off with my head' if I dare cross borders... I suppose she's not up for an adventure", Ravenpaw mewed to the other apprentice, earning a dark glare from her mentor.

"Two-legs are very strange", Nettlepaw agreed, "I mean, why two legs?"

"I thought they would attack us or something, you know since this was my first time seeing them and all, but they just walked past us like they didn't see us; maybe they didn't see us", Ravenpaw blabbed on as her fellow clanmate muttered something to himself with a confused expression.

"Stop blabbering", Maplesky ordered, stiffening as she spotted movement among the trees

"I think that's a pigeon", Ravenpaw offered, sniffing the air as she caught sight of the pale grey bird, which hopped around on the forest floor like it was unable to fly, "I don't think it can fly".

"Thank you for that insightful reading, Ravenpaw", Maplesky said dryly, before flicking her tail at the prey, "Now catch it".

Ravenpaw crouched, attempting to stay downwind of the injured bird, but the winds changed and the pigeon caught sight of Ravenpaw sneaking up on it, making it squawk and hobble away, fumbling around with its good wing. Ravenpaw sped forward and cleanly sliced the bird's neck and picked it up in her jaws, dropping it at her mentor's paws and brushing some dirt over it.

"Easy prey", Ravenpaw boasted to Nettlepaw as Maplesky and Sedgewatcher led them away.