Warriors AU: Skyclan's Destiny

Chapter 28

Author's Note: No uploads the last two days because I was out of town for Independence Day but I am back now!

"When we're tracking prey, we follow a scent trail," Poppystar mused, tasting the kit's strong Twoleg scent. "Is there any way to lay one for the Twolegs?"

"There's no point," Harleymoon pointed out. "Twolegs have enormous noses, but their sense of smell isn't worth a mouse-tail. Otherwise they'd know we were here!"

Poppystar admitted that the daylight warrior had a point. 'Then how can we let them know where their lost kit is?"

She wasn't expecting an answer, but just then an excited cry came from Frecklepaw, who had been scrambling among the rocks at the foot of the cliff. "Look what I've found!"

His voice woke Patchfoot, who blinked and stretched her jaws in an enormous yawn. "That was the best sleep I've had in moons," she meowed. "Poppystar, what's going on? Are the kit's parents coming?"

Poppystar explained what had happened in the Twolegplace while she padded over to Frecklepaw to see what the apprentice had discovered.

Patchfoot stepped carefully out of the Twoleg's grasp and followed, her whiskers twitching in disappointment. "Poor little kit," she murmured. "We have to do something."

"Look," Frecklepaw repeated as the two she-cats approached. He pointed with his tail at a bright blue object lying between two rocks.

"What is it?" Poppystar asked, stretching out a paw to give the object a tentative prod. "It looks as if it's made of Twoleg pelt stuff."

"It's the kit's backpack," Frecklepaw told her. His eyes shone with pride at being able to help. "Twolegs use them to carry stuff."

Poppystar nodded. "I see. Like a very big leaf wrap."

She gripped the edge of the backpack between her teeth and tugged it up onto the surface of the nearest rock. Several smaller objects fell out of it, scattering across the cats' paws.

More of the Clan cats were starting to gather around, murmuring among themselves as they saw what Frecklepaw had found. The apprentices wriggled to the front, their faces alive with curiosity.

"Twolegs are weird," Nettlepaw mewed, dipping her head to sniff at a scrap of white pelt. "Why do they want to drag all this stuff around with them? What's it all for, anyway?"

"That's a hanky," Frecklepaw told her importantly. "Twolegs wipe their noses with them."

"Wipe their...?" Nettlepaw's eyes widened and she took a pace back. "You mean they don't just lick it off? Yuck!"

"And what's this?" Birdpaw asked, nosing at a round green thing that looked a bit like the backpack, but much smaller. Something inside it jingled when he moved it.

"Sorry, I don't know," Frecklepaw replied, his sense of importance suddenly deflating. "But this is a hair ban," he added, snagging his claws into a long pink thing and holding it up. "Twoleg females tie up their head fur with them."

Egg gave the hair band a nervous sniff, while Nettlepaw exchanged a glance with her brother.

"Hey, you should try that," Birdpaw suggested, giving her a friendly shove. "Tie some bindweed around your head fur."

"My head fur is fine as it is, thanks," Nettlepaw snapped.

Meanwhile Snookpaw had approached, carrying something long and glittery in her jaws. "Here's her necklace," she mumbled around it. "I guess it came off when she fell."

"And what's that for?" Nettlepaw squeaked.

Snookpaw shrugged. "Dunno. My Twoleg female puts them around her neck. I thought maybe it was to stop her head from falling off."