Returning to the Forest - Book 1: Building Back Up

Chapter 5

By the time Birchpaw had reached camp, Flintheart was searching the dens to find his apprentice. Cloudstar was nowhere to be seen, and most of the Warriors were watching the entrance. He hung near the patch to heather he had hid in all those moons ago, trying not to shake so much.

"We must be too late, seems they've already snuck out together." Flintheart snorted to the Warriors.
"Not at all, here he is." Cloudstar' voice sounded behind Birchpaw.

He was lifted off the ground and tossed roughly into camp, in front of the entire Clan.

"You lying dirty piece of foxdung!" Tallpaw yowled at him.

He pinned his ears back, standing up feebly.

"W ... what did I do?" He cried out.
"You snuck out with that Sappaw from ThunderClan." Flintheart snorted.
"No I didn't!" Birchpaw protested.
"We all saw you speaking together, and of course you'd sneak out a day later!" Brokenheart snorted.
"I didn't!" Birchpaw protested.

Cloudstar had climbed onto the Tall Rock while they were arguing. She waved her tail for silence.

"Enough, I think it's just if we figured out what exactly happened." Cloudstar announced.
"What are we gonna do, bring Sappaw over here to see if they did anything?"
"Indeed. Flintheart take somebody with you to go tell ThunderClan."
"Aye. Milkdrop, Tallpaw, let's go!" Flintheart said, racing out of camp with the others at his paws.
"In the meantime, Birchpaw," Cloudstar spat his name, "you can go into the Prisoners den."

Birchpaw let his head drop, and he padded away into the dark, empty den. He laid down and stared outside, wondering what he did wrong.

By the time Flintheart had returned, it was already dawn. Flintheart, Milkdrop, and Tallpaw entered camp with four ThunderClan cats, including Sappaw. He shivered at the thought of them both being slaughtered, here and now.

"Birchpaw, come out!" Flintheart spat.

He sighed and climbed out of the den, his pelt dusty. He avoided the gaze of Sappaw, hoping his Clan would forget that they even knew each other.

"Eaglecaller, who are these cats you brought, and why is Dawnstar not here?" Cloudstar asked.
"Dawnstar said she needed to watch over camp, since this would take a while. I brought Sappaw, of course, Raventalon, our Medicine cat, and Treepaw, our Medicine cat apprentice." Eaglecaller said, flicking his tail towards each cat.
"We have our own Medicine cat." Flintheart snorted.
"Indeed you do, but the more we have helping, the fast this will go." Eaglecaller responded.
"Alright, the Medicine cats Birchpaw, and Sappaw. Go into Silvertail's den."

Raventalon started ushering Birchpaw along into the den and he shivered, once again.

"What's going on ...?" Birchpaw asked,
"Stay quiet and nobody gets hurt. Do as we say and you'll stay a part of the Clan." Raventalon mumbled.
"Okay ..." Birchpaw said, entering the den with Sappaw.

As they entered the dark den, Silvertail looked up.

"Alright. Why don't we get down to business?" Silvertail snorted, turning to the herbs.
"Aye." Raventalon said, padding over with Treepaw at his side.

The three spoke silently, ignoring the two apprentices.

"I'm sorry ... I couldn't get home in time ..." Sappaw sighed to Birchpaw.
"It's fine. There was no way we could avoid this." He sighed.
"You know, instead of being tortured here, we could just leave, now." Sappaw suggested.
"But .. they'd be out for us ... and I can't survive on my own," He hesitated, "yet ..."

Sappaw looked up as Treepaw glared at them. Finally, the other two turned around.

"Alright you two, stay still and you won't get hurt." Silvertail said, padding closer to them.

These chapters are short sorry.