Book 1 - Warriors: The Shadow Outcast

Chapter Eleven

Rainpaw's legs were aching as he ran, noticing the moon getting lower and lower in the sky. Dawn was coming, and they still hadn't found the kits. He could tell Sweetpaw was getting tired, for she slowed down a lot as they were getting closer.

Robinpaw sped up, then, and picked up Sweetpaw by the scruff. Rainpaw ran up beside her and smiled, knowing that Robinpaw would want to know that they were all with her. Sweetpaw then began calling out instructions on where to go, and everything seemed to be going quite well.

"Stop!" Sweetpaw suddenly yelled, making the three cats skid to a halt as Robinpaw put her down. Sweetpaw sniffed the area and looked back to Rainpaw.

"This was where we found the body," Sweetpaw explained pride showing in her eyes. Rainpaw smiled.

"Good job," he said. "But we're still not done. Do you think you could help us scent the kits out?" Sweetpaw nodded, and then the four of them got to work. Rainpaw was now relying on his friends, because he honestly wasn't a good tracker.

Rainpaw sniffed and sniffed, but nothing had Bluekit or Lionkit's scent on it. There were plenty of rogue trails, but they were all stale. Jayflight's scent was strong as well, and the smell of blood made him wrinkle his nose when he got too close.

He found something interesting. There was a large stone den, small enough only for a few cats to fit through. It had the rogue scent all over it, but that was stale as well. However, it looked as if someone had tried to get rid of the scent.

"I found the kits scent!" Shadowpaw called then, bringing him back to reality. "Come on! Let's follow it!" Rainpaw looked up from what he was doing and forgot all about the rogue scent. He followed his friends, leaving the stone den behind.

Rainpaw ran to catch up with his friends, exhausted yet happy that they'd found the kits scent. It didn't take them long to find the two kits, and when they did Robinpaw seemed really, really happy.

"Bluekit! Lionkit!" Robinpaw called. "Over here!" The two kits looked over to them, and then their smiles turned into frowns. They then began running, making Rainpaw dart forward.

They chased the kits, but not for long. The two found another stone den and crawled in, making Rainpaw narrow his eyes. Robinpaw was much taller than him, Shadowpaw too. Sweetpaw was too inexperienced to go, and so he would have to go through the tunnel first, even if they wanted to.

Rainpaw leaped in front of Robinpaw and crawled under the opening, looking for the kits as he did so. He caught a glimpse of Lionkit's ginger tail before it disappeared, and then he followed it. Their scent wasn't hard to follow, but it was being blended in with the awful rogue stench that was definitely not stale. There were some near, but he couldn't just leave the kits behind.

Rainpaw could hear Robinpaw, Shadowpaw, and Sweetpaw crawling in as he crawled on his belly toward the kits. It was dark and damp, and he was going down. Rainpaw knew he must be going underground inside the tunnel, but he just didn't understand it.

So many things were going through Rainpaw's head as he crawled toward the kits. The rogues were definitely close, and not to mention how dangerous it was to be crawling around in such damp tunnels. It was definitely nerve racking.

Then, just as Rainpaw was about to catch up with the kits, he realised that there was a tunnel right beneath them that literally went down without a slope to catch them.

"Bluekit! Lionkit! Stop!" Rainpaw yelled, but it was too late. They had already fallen. Rainpaw growled to himself and then jumped down as well, noticing Robinpaw and Shadowpaw yell after him.