Clans Reunite

Chapter 3

The familiar, damp, musty smell of the cave floated on the cold morning air. Silverpaws nest did not feel as familiar as the rest of the camp this morning; she was used to sleeping close to her mother, but now she slept in a den that rested in a hole in the camp wall. The whispering of the stream that ran through the centre of her camp was sweet and calming, and seemed to be trying to sing her back to sleep; but Silverpaw forced herself to get up from her nest, stretch, and wash.

Images of her apprenticeship ceremony from the night before flew through her mind. The feeling of pride when the clan chanted her new name. The excitement that had pulsed through her when she heard that her mentor was Batwing, the large, dark brown tom with the long shaggy pelt and pale green eyes.

Silverpaw finished stretching and bent her head to lick her fur. She used her rasping pink tongue to brush out the moss from her bedding that clung to her long silver pelt. Then she picked her way over her sleeping denmates carefully, eager to begin her first day of training.

"Hello little one! Ready to begin your first day of training?" the voice came from Batwing, who was washing himself in the clearing outside the warriors den.

"Yeah! I'm wide awake and ready to get started!" Chirped the exited Silverpaw.

"Well, we can join the dawn patrol, and show you around the territory."

"Woo hoo!" Silverpaw squealed.

Silverpaw was super excited to go on the dawn patrol with the other cats! She was waiting at the entrance to one of the tunnels the cats used to travel around their territory, watching the camp wake up. It was winter, and cats were waking early to being repacking the tunnels.

Because of the snowy layer that had built up on the ground above, cats had to go into each tunnel every winter and pummel at the walls to stop it from caving in under the surface weight. Cats from the warriors and apprentice dens were all emerging and heading for the tunnels to begin work, and Silverpaw was keen to get out of camp before the tunnels they needed to use became clogged with cats. She glanced up at her mentor inquisitively, and he looked into her pale green eyes apologetically, clearly feeling just as eager to leave camp.

Eventually, the cats they had been waiting for arrived, Dewdrop and Cloudsky. Cloudsky had a thick, white, puffy pelt, and yellow-green eyes, Dewdrop had a long, grey and white pelt, with deep green eyes. Both were she-cats, and they came trotting over, looking well washed and ready to go. So they set off.

They traveled along tunnels, twisting and turning. Silverpaw had no idea how the warriors knew where they were going, but she did know that one day she would know every single path and where it lead.

"Just two more turns, and we will be out of the tunnels." Batwing told Silverpaw.

They turned one corner and then the next, now the cats could see the daylight at the end of the long tunnel, but there was a outline of a little creature curled up at the end or the tunnel.

"What's that?" Silverpaw asked her mentor.

"It's most likely a rabbit; sometimes they come into the entrance of our tunnels to shelter." Batwing replied.

"I don't think it is." this time the voice came from Cloudsky, "I can smell another cat."

"Me too." Dewdrop agreed. "And not from Peakclan!"

Batwing and Silverpaw both lifted their heads and opened their mouths slightly to taste the air.

Silverpaw could smell cat indeed!

"I can smell it now! let's go and see who this stranger is, and what their doing on our territory!" Batwing exclaimed.

As they approached the pitiful cat, huddled in the end of the tunnel, Silverpaw had two questions: Why would a rogue be here in the snow, and how could this scrap of a rogue still possibly be alive? After all, it had to be a rogue. Didn't it? There was no other clans for it to be from!

They were only a couple of tail-lengths away from the cat when it started to stir. It lifted it's head and stretched, then it turned around and jumped straight to its paws as it saw the patrol. The cat wasn't any smaller than Silverpaw herself, and looked as if it had travelled a very long way. It's fur bristled, and the tunnel began to reek of it's fear scent. This cat was obviously a she cat, and, judging by its size, probably no older than six moons.

"Wha, what, d-do you want." the small cat stuttered.

"You are on Peakclan's territory! You must go home!" Batwing announced firmly, trying not to be mean.

"I-I don't know how to get h-home." The poor helpless cat looked like she thought she was still dreaming.

"You can come back to our cave, and tell us where you came from. Then we can give you some warriors to escort you home" Batwing decided.

"Warriors?" The small cat echoed, as if the word had stirred something, and finally woken her up.

"Yes warriors, what about them? What do you know?"

"We have warriors, too..." The cat mewed, deep in thought. "And elders. And kits and queens and... apprentices..." The last word made the small cat burst into tears. "I was gonna be one! And then... talons! Sharp, sharp talons!"

"Come on, we will take you back to our camp and you can explain more there, ok?" Batwing sounded impatient, but interested.

"O-ok." the small cat looked lost in thought as she followed the patrol home.