//Un//marked

// chapter 22 //

    Charlie led them deeper and deeper into Twolegplace until Lightpaw lost all sense of direction and Beetlepaw complained about her aching paws.

    "Quit your whining," an irritated Charlie quipped back at her. "We're almost there."

    The den he led them to was small and low to the ground, the surrounding area covered in giant drifts of snow. Lightpaw stared up at its dark openings, the light of the moon glinting off of the surfaces there.

    Charlie did not lead them to one of these openings, however. He snaked through the snowdrifts and made his way to a tall opening near the ground. With one neat jump, he landed on the ledge just outside it. Without a backwards glance, he disappeared inside.

    Beetlepaw followed without hesitation, paws clearly too tired for her to give a second thought as to where she was going. Lightpaw took her time, balancing on the ledge and swiping at the opening with a paw. There was nothing there.

    Within, the Twoleg den was warm and the material under her paws soft. She found herself standing on a floor of leaves but, to her astonishment, none of them moved or rustled underpaw as she walked over them. Thoroughly frightened, Lightpaw dashed off after Charlie.

    He led them up a tall incline, the she-cats scrambling up each small ledge after him. Finally, they reached a flat landing. The room Charlie led them into was dark, only the fragmented light of the moon entering it. Lightpaw again noticed the strange glint of the den openings but had no chance to investigate before a new scent hit her.

    "Who have you brought?" The grey she-cat had dark stripes and looked at the she-cats with narrowed eyes.

    "Two she-cats who have been run out from DarkClan," Charlie explained. "This is the one I've met and told you about." He flicked his tail at Lightpaw lazily.

    "Ah." Her tone was clipped and her eyes flashed dangerously. "Can we trust you?"

    Lightpaw and Beetlepaw exchanged a look.

    "Please, we just need a place to stay for the night," Beetlepaw explained, sounding completely unlike herself. "Tomorrow we'll head out. We heard there are rebels hiding somewhere in the Twolegplace and want to join them."

    The lie came out fluidly and Lightpaw could only marvel at Beetlepaw's bravery. The grey she-cat, though clearly not completely convinced from the looks of her still unsheathed claws, nodded her head.

    "I'm Minerva," she said. "You two can sleep in that bed there." Lightpaw looked over to see a soft-looking nest of strange-looking materials.

    "Thank you," she remembered to say before following Beetlepaw over to their nest for the night. As soon as she fell into it, she realized just how much her muscles ached and how she hadn't had a good night's rest in too long. Perhaps tonight she finally would.

    //

    The silence pressed in on her and her breath came out in short gasps. Her paws ached but she continued to run, pushing herself forward. Her heart raced – but for what reason? All she knew was that it pounded, an erratic beat that filled her with fear and adrenaline.

    She came to an abrupt stop before a cliff face and her ears pinned themselves to her skull. She looked left, then right. There was nowhere to go. But what was she running from? She turned, unsheathing her claws, ready to face it.

    All of a sudden the breath rushed out of her. His golden eyes pierced into her, starlight against his coat of pitch black. He was lithe, smaller than most of the toms she knew. And the white rims around his eyes made him all the more striking.