Mintfeather's Secret

Chapter 4

Mintpaw sorted through the herbs laying at his paws, organizing them into piles and picking out ones that didn't match the specific scent. Speckledfern padded into the den from the small crevice that served as the den for their nests.

"Good work Mintpaw. You're doing well." He mewed as he grabbed some of the herbs at his apprentice's paws and carried them towards their normal place in the den.

"When should we go out and get more marigold? We're running low." Mintpaw mewed. Speckledfern purred and turned back to his apprentice with amusement.

"You're already figuring out which herbs we need? You're farther along than I thought." He commented. Mintpaw purred and opened his mouth to say something, but a yowl of alarm sounded outside the den, making him jump and whip around with alarm. Speckledfern scurried out of the den with Mintpaw at his heels and his eyes widened when he saw an unknown dark brown and black tom being led into the camp with a small light brown and white tom right beside him, looking nervous.

"What's going on?" Speckledfern asked as Dawnstar padded out of his den.

"Russetfoot, who is this?" He asked his deputy, narrowing his eyes at the unknown tom, who's stared up at him with emotionless amethyst eyes.

"We don't know. We found these two on the outskirts of our territory." He responded, staring them down. Robinpaw's head poked out of the apprentices' den and his amber eyes landed on the small light brown tom and lit up with interest and curiosity.

"What's going on?" He asked Antpaw and Redpaw as he padded over to where they were watching by the elders' den.

"I don't know. I don't care either." Antpaw snorted as he continued rebuilding the elders' den. It had been five moons since a fire had destroyed most of the camp and three moons since Flamepaw had drowned in the lake that Ravenkit and Speckledkit had drowned as well. Robinpaw glared at him before turning back to see what was going to happen.

"Who are you?" Dawnstar asked, narrowing his eyes at the dark brown and black tom.

"My name is Nightshade. I am, or rather was, a warrior of a clan named WaterClan. This is my apprentice and son, Thrushpaw. We ran away from our clan." Nightshade mewed. Thrushpaw stared down at his paws and Dawnstar looked both cats up and down.

"What business do you have on our territory?" He asked.

"We are just looking for a new clan to join. That's all." Nightshade mewed, staring up at Dawnstar. He seemed to be thinking about something before flicking his tail.

"Keep him under strict supervision until I come to a decision." He mewed. Snakefern hissed down at Thrushpaw, who flinched and tried to hide behind his father. Nightshade rolled his eyes and shoved Thrushpaw forward towards the DuskClan warrior. He stared up at him with wide emerald eyes and Snakefern snorted down at him before turning and escorting Nightshade towards Dawnstar.

"What do we do about the apprentice?" Russetfoot asked, glancing from Thrushpaw to Dawnstar. The leader stared at the light brown tom as he stared at him with wide, terrified emerald eyes.

"I don't think he'll be much of a problem. Leave him be." Dawnstar purred with amusement when Thrushpaw visibly relaxed slightly. Robinpaw purred and rushed over to him.

"Hi! My name's Robinpaw! What's your name?" He asked. Thrushpaw seemed a bit taken aback by his friendly attitude before a small smile appeared on his face and he purred.

"I'm Thrushpaw." He mewed. Robinpaw purred and glanced at the other apprentices that stared at them with confusion.

"Come on, you should meet the others!" Robinpaw mewed, leading Thrushpaw towards them. Speckledfern purred and looked down at Mintpaw, who looked confused.