Fawnleap's Heart [Warrior Cats]

Chapter 2

"Go back to camp." Foxnose commanded.

"But Foxnose I-"

"Go get others. Hurry!"

Fawnpaw dashed away, her claws raking along the undergrowth, wind whipping through her chestnut pelt.

She tore in through the camp entrance, a few brambles clung to her flank.

"Fawnpaw, what's wrong?" Doveglade asked, confusion laced into her question.

Fawnpaw panted, out of breath, but needing to make her command heard.

"Foxnose... rogue.... help!" She breathed out, now feeling a sharp sting in her left paw.

Sharpclaw walked towards them, along with Smokeclaw, his brother.

"What is it?" Sharpclaw inquired, his eye trained on Fawnpaw.

"We scented a rogue by the edge of the territory, it was fresh. It was just the two of us. Foxnose needs us!" Fawnpaw now frantically announced, loud enough for others closeby to flick their ears at in acknowledgement.

Together Fawnpaw, Doveglade and Smokeclaw bounded towards where Foxnose was, their mouths also picking up mixed strange scents.

Foxnose came into view, his fur prickled and his claws unsheathed, across from him a dark brown tabby mimicked his actions.

The brown cats expression changed upon seeing the other three cats join alongside of Foxnose.

Foxnose flashed a grateful glance to Fawnpaw, and she smiled back.

"Who are you?" Foxnose spat, taking a step closer to the unidentified cat.

The tom immediately shrunk down.

"Please don't hurt me! I don't mean any trouble!" He pleaded.

"What do you want?" Smokeclaw spoke, his claws were sheathed and his fur lay flat.

"I was just looking for someone, and I wandered into this area." He stated simply, now sitting upright, looking in both directions.

"Leave." Foxnose hissed.

"But wait, like I said I was looking for-"

Foxnose lunged at him, claws sheathed, he barrelled into him, knocking the brown tom over.

"Okay I'm going!" The brown tom immediately turned and ran into the thick undergrowth.

Foxnose sighed, turning to Doveglade and Smokeclaw.

"Sorry for the false alarm, I just figured it'd be good to have warriors just incase more appeared." Foxnose signalled with his tail towards the camp.

"It's fine Foxnose." Doveglade said in a hushed voice, looking towards her paws as she spoke.

Fawnpaw looked at her curiously, wondering the sudden change in posture, but her thoughts were soon interrupted.

Fogpaw trampled her over by the camp entrance, battering at her with his paws.

"Fogpaw! Get off of me!" She tried to hiss at him but it only came out as laughter.

"Is it true you were in a battle?" Fogpaw's eyes gleamed with excitement and jealousy at the thought of his sister in battle without him.

"No, not exactly." Fawnpaw sighed, dusting her pelt off and continuing through the entrance. The others had already went into camp, more than likely to report to Branchstar.

"Wanna share a mouse?" The light grey tom smiled to her, his eyes still gleaming with curiosity along with his excitement.

Fawnpaw nodded, and found a place by the apprentices den to wait for her brother. In the corner of her eye she spotted Foxnose leaving the leaders cave den, looking around, and then spotting her.

He quickly padded over to her, a soft smile etched across his face.

"Good job today. I told Branchstar about the rogue, and how you got to camp so fast after I instructed you."

Fawnpaw licked her chest, feeling flushed with happiness at the aspect of being a warrior who would in the future excel at serving her clan, although she had a long way to go. She nodded to Foxnose, and he smiled and trotted towards Doveglade and Creekshine.

He stopped suddenly, and looked at her over his shoulder.

"Branchstar said you could come to the next gathering."

Fawnpaw stood to her paws suddenly, itching with excitement and energy.

"Really? What's it like? How many cats are there? What does the Great Stone even look like?"

Foxnose's eyes gleamed with amusement at his apprentice, he chuckled and shook his head, turning back towards the she-cats.

Fawnpaw bounced up and down excitedly, now looking around for Fogpaw, only just noticing the pang of hunger she felt.

She spotted him sitting with Mousepaw, a bird shared between them.

'So much for sharing a mouse.' She thought.

She trotted over to the freshkill pile, picking up a average sized mouse and flashed her brother a sour look. He looked back and mouthed 'Sorry'. She shook her head and walked towards the medicine den.

"It really doesn't hurt that bad! It's fine, I have a high pain tolerance!" Insisted a proud Lionpaw from inside the den.

"Doesn't matter. Take this." Lakeberry's stern meow commanded.

Fawnpaw peaked into the den, still holding the mouse in her jaw.

"Perfect, Fawnpaw is here to talk some sense into you. You can go now, your paw will heal up soon."

Fawnpaw motioned with her tail for Lionpaw to join her. He nodded, and padded alongside of her.

She laid the mouse on the grass and immediately took a bite, Lionpaw then took his bite. Within a minute the mouse had been devoured, and their bellies were now full.

The sky above was turning pale shades of blue and pink, as the sun was setting below the horizon.

"Follow me." Lionpaw got up and padded towards the camp entrance, turning to see if Fawnpaw was following along with him.

She got up wordlessly and followed him, walking alongside eachother through the entrance and out into the forest, new green buds poked through the soil, bringing new life and new promises with them.

They walked for a while, pawsteps in sync, not speaking, just listening to the sound of songbirds. They walked up a steeper slope, which jutted out into a rocky overhang, looking at the land below.

"Stoneleap mentioned you were going to the gathering." He stated simply, not asking for an answer in return he continued on.

"That's the Great Rock." He gestured with his tail to an area that lay in the unclaimed territory in the centre of the three clans.

"Woah..." Fawnpaw fumbled to find more words to express her astonishment in how beautiful the forest below and around them was. She glanced all around the territory, noticing they were the only clan with a higher rocky slope, and that they had the most forest territory.

"That's DewClan territory." He pointed with his tail to the territory to the right of them. Which was mostly river and valley, with a bit of sparse forest. "-and that's AshClan territory." He finished, gesturing with his tail to the left of them. AshClan territory was pine forest and some grassy sloped areas.

"The world is so big." She mused aloud, casting her astonished gaze to the sky, the stars begging to peak through the darkening sky, pink fading away to deep purples and blues.

"Yeah. It really is..." He seemed lost in thought now as well, his gaze joining hers.

"You aren't so bad when you aren't being a showoff." She spoke quietly, looking to him for his reaction.

He looked towards her as well, noticing her eyes flickered with humour.

After a long pause he spoke.

"You aren't so bad either..."