Book 1 - Warriors: The Shadow Outcast

Chapter Thirty-Four

Mudpaw

Mudpaw shook with fear as the chaos around him finally started to become sorted. The first patrol going into WindClan was quite large, but there were also two apprentices. The RiverClan cats were all so confused, but Bravestar kept them in line.

"Wait, which patrol am I on?" a random tom asked.

"Third, no. . maybe it was second. . ." another cat answered.

"Mama I want to go!" squealed the familiar voice of Nightkit. "I am a good fighter! I could help them!"

"No, Nightkit," murmured Reedfeather. "You must stay here."

There were so many cats going in so many directions. Nothing could explain the number of colours of pelts or eyes or whiskers that passed Mudpaw, making him shake faster and faster with each cat that went by. It was just so confusing, and though he kept his siblings and family in mind, he wasn't exactly thinking correctly.

"Cinderpelt!" yelled a ShadowClan tom. "Rainfur—or at least I think it was him—has entered ThunderClan territory with his patrol. We must leave immediately if we are to be on time!"

Cinderpelt, the leader of the patrol, suddenly yowled loudly to get her patrol's attention. The cats on the patrol went quiet, leaving her to nod silently to herself before taking off out of camp, the others murmuring but running after her. Mudpaw barely kept up, but he managed.

The cats around him shared grave faces, probably accepting the fact that this might be the last time they see this side of the forest. Mudpaw shivered as he thought of what might happen if he didn't make it back. Tigerpaw wouldn't be that sad probably, but Dawnstripe-his mother-and Cloverpaw would be bawling. He could just picture them crying over his dead body, giving their last good-byes.

Mudpaw ran as fast as he could with the patrol heading into WindClan territory. His heart was beating quickly as he felt the feeling of battle beneath his paws. Mudpaw wasn't really happy at all, because even though he wanted to save Robinwing like he'd promised, he was scared. He didn't want to die. He didn't want to fight. He didn't know how.

Mudpaw gave a surprised squeak as he felt the squishy moor beneath his paws. He hadn't felt anything like this before, and with everything going on, his body was becoming exhausted and overwhelmed rapidly. His eyes frantically looked around, trying to find any sign of WindClan cats.

An older apprentice whose name Mudpaw learned was Smokepaw, ran beside him with a determined look in the young tom's eyes. How could this apprentice be so determined? How could he be so fearless while Mudpaw was literally shaking his way toward WindClan's camp?

Mudpaw suddenly tripped, tumbling backward as he watched the patrol speed off without him. Mudpaw's head lowered as he stood but he didn't continue to follow the cats. He couldn't. Mudpaw was clueless when it came to fighting, and he was too scared. How did he even expect to become a Warrior?

Mudpaw looked to the soft ground, small white tears finding their way down his cheeks. He was shaking, crying, and scared. This was not how he thought being an apprentice would be like. This was not what he had in mind. He thought it would mean respect and fame, but no cat or even kit was even caring that he'd fallen behind.

Tigerpaw was probably fighting perfectly, taking down a strong Warrior that was moons older than he was. Cloverpaw was probably outsmarting everybody, sprinting around them as they tried to hook their claws through her small ginger body. But he, poor little Mudpaw, was crying in the middle of enemy territory, awaiting his pathetic death of sadness and depression.

"Mudpaw, why have you stopped?" a curious voice asked. "We need to keep going." Mudpaw didn't look up, but he could already tell the tom was Smokepaw of RiverClan. Mudpaw sighed. Smokepaw was probably just going to laugh at him if he responded.