A Clear path (book 1)

Chapter 11

BluePaw padded towards the patrol, the sun was sinking behind the trees, and dusk patrol would soon need to set out. "Hey BluePaw!" She flicked her gaze over to whoever called her name, it was SnowWing. "Have you gotten HoneyPaw yet? It seems like she's not coming." SnowWing murmured. BluePaw shifted her gaze around the clearing before the though soon caught up with her, *I forgot to tell her!* "oh.. uhm.. I'll go get her." Without waiting for a response, she bounded off towards the apprentices den. She poked her head through, by the den was empty with stale scents of prey and cats. *Where is she?* BluePaw pulled her head back out, and her gaze descend rapidly around the clearing for HoneyPaw before she soon caught gaze of her. HoneyPaw was emptying prey she caught on the fresh kill pile, *she was out hunting? This late?* she raced across the clearing for  HoneyPaw before she slowed down when she was near. "HoneyPaw.." she panted, trying to slow her heart. HoneyPaw looked up from the Fresh kill pile, "yes BluePaw?" "IvyWhisker... Needed you to... go.. on dusk patrol." She panted, hardly being able to get out her words. "Oh alright." HoneyPaw meowed before passing her to head over to the patrol. BluePaw steadied herself, and turned to the patrol. "We must leave now, we don't have all Night." SnowWing grunted impatiently. "Alright, we'll go now." ThrushTail replied. Soon, the patrol's hard paw-steps thumped against the earth floor as they disappeared out of camp. BluePaw made sure to keep her pace fast enough but not too fast to where she got overly tired. After getting, many fox-lengths from camp, the patrol slowed down. "We should check Steep-Stepping stones first." ThrushTail flicked his tail towards the direction of the stepping stones that were farther away from where she was. Without any conflict or other suggestions, The patrol took off towards Steep-Stepping stones, the ShoreClan border.
"Seems normal here." BluePaw looked around, checking for anything suspicious, But The borders were right and ShoreClan's scent stayed in there territory. "Everything's alright here," IceNose murmured, "now let's go check the Oak-Trail." BluePaw followed the patrol across the territory, dodging pine trees and stones as she bounded through the forest, the cool air brushing against her fur. The patrol arrived at Oak-Trail. "I know DarkClan has done something shady." SnowWing growled lowly, padding past her. BluePaw glanced around the clearing, surprisingly everything here seemed normal enough. "Yuck! What is that?" HoneyPaw hissed from behind an Oak tree with IceNose standing next to her. "It Looks like Crow-Food." IceNose hissed. ThrushTail bounded over, the Tom lowered his muzzle to inspect the prey, "it is Crow-Food, and.. it's a snake?" A gasp sounded near BluePaw, "we don't hunt snakes?" "Then why is it hear?" ThrushTail asked. BluePaw narrowed her eyes in confusion, *Ive never seen a snake near The Thunder path?* "Could DarkClan have done this?" HoneyPaw mewed worriedly. BluePaw glanced over at ThrushTail who seemed uneasy, "I'm not sure, but we must get rid of this Crow-Food before it leads an owl here." ThrushTail picked up the snake by the tail, then padded over to the Thunder path. BluePaw watched as the Tom threw the Snake over the Thunder path as far as it could go. "Retreat back to camp!" ThrushTail yowled the the patrol. IceNose and SnowWing were the first two to pick up the pace back to camp, Then HoneyPaw picked up her pace, then ThrushTail. but BluePaw hung behind, she glanced back at the Thunder path, into DarkClan's territory and their tall pines that covered the edges. *Crack* a twig snap came from DarkClan territory. BluePaw's eyes widened as she stared across the Thunder path. She was sure across the thunder path, in DarkClan's territory. She could see a angry cat with dark fur hissing at her as it backed away. Her ears shot up in alarm, and a moment later, she found herself racing back towards camp, *what in StarClan's name was that?* Her paws beat against the ground as her heard beat heavily in her chest with fear. She raced back to camp, No sign of the patrol anywhere, and the Moonlight barely peered through the trees, so everything was mostly dark. at last she burst into camp, panting heavily as her fur rose against her. "BluePaw! What happened?" IvyWhisker padded towards her from the patrol who seemed shocked and worried. "DarkClan.." she panted, "I think.. there planning something." She sunk off of her paws, her belly pressed against the ground. "How can you be so sure?" IvyWhisker asked, her eyes shown with worry. "Cat... There was a cat spying on the patrol.." she panted, "they were angry and.. they had dark, tabby fur." BluePaw searched for the deputy's gaze, and she was shocked when she found, fierce shock and anger in the deputy's eyes. "But..I think there gone back to DarkClan now." BluePaw added, though she felt unsure. "I—" IvyWhisker glanced back at ThornStar who appeared out of the den. "ThornStar, I must speak with you." IvyWhisker padded towards ThornStar who then began to murmur in a whispered tone. By then, more cats were appearing from their dens, including FernLeaf. "What's going on?" RobinPelt asked, the elder's eyes gleaned with worry. "I'm not sure?" BlackFace grumbled, the elders eyes scanned the clearing. BluePaw rose onto her paws, her limbs hurt from running and her belly stung with hunger that was appearing, but all she could think about was sleeping, for moons.
She collapsed into her nest, the moss was cool since she hadn't been in it all day. Just as she was about to close her eyes and seep into sleep, a cat burst through the entrance. "BluePaw! What happened on the patrol?" It was BirchPaw. BluePaw sink when head deep into her pelt, she didn't feel like answering questions especially when she still was unsure if the cat she saw was a hallucination. "BluePaw?" BirchPaw mewed. After a moment, BirchPaw's paw-steps padded away, and a tail thumped against the ground in disappointment. BluePaw felt a bit bad that she hadn't answered BirchPaw's question, but she was tired, plus, she'd need extra energy for the upcoming journey, *with MousePaw and HawkClaw..* After a moment of silence, she found herself descending back into sleep, soon, she was drifting off at last.