Web of Lies

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"Okay, so what cave is he in?"

"I already told you," Wren repeated for the sixth time. "He's in the cave across from the MossClan tunnel, blocked by a boulder. Can't you listen?"

Quailfern sighed and walked from the MossClan side of the cave to the other.

"See? No boulder. Are tricking u-" Quaifern ended his sentence with a scream as he fell through a hole that had seemingly opened up out of nowhere. He landed with an audible 'thump' that echoed throughout the cave.

Robinflight and Reedspeck peered down the hole, Wren joining them. He looked just as confused as them.

"Are you okay?" Wren asked cautiously. "You hurt?"

"No, no, I'm perfectly fine. I have never felt better in my life," Quailfern grumbled. Wren grinned and jumped down to join him, and despite the hole being about seven feet deep, he landed gracefully.

"I've never seen this hole before," Wren murmured. He sniffed around the hole, running a claw along the walls.

"What do you mean you've never seen this hole before? Don't you live here?" Robinflight whisper-shouted. She crouched at the edge of the hole, debating whether or not she should go down.

"I've seen every cave in this place, but this one seems to be new," Wren muttered thoughtfully.

"Hm." Reedspeck leaped down into the hole, landing a bit less gracefully then Wren. She glanced over at Robinflight and beckoned for her to come down. "There's scratches all over the walls, maybe someone was here before us?"

"Probable, but unlikely. If this is the first time I'm seeing the hole then there's a very likely chance that no one has been down here before. At least, not recently," Wren answered examining the scratches.

Robinflight groaned, unable to suppress her curiosity any longer. She  clumsily jumped down into the whole, landing with an audible thud. Quailfur snickered and helped her to her feet.

"Hey, look over here!"

Robinflight, Reedspeck, and Wren glanced over in Quailfern's direction. He had found a small tunnel, big enough to fit an apprentice. It was steep, dropping down at a dangerous angle. How long it went, Robinflight didn't know. The entire thing was engulfed by darkness.

"Well, none of us can fit through it, so we should get going!" Robinflight said quickly, wanting to get out of this cave as quick as possible. The three cats looked over at her, then to each other.

"You can fit," Quailfern noted. "You're pretty small."

"Yeah, Robinflight, why do you want to get out of here so fast?" Reedspeck asked suspiciously.

"I'm deputy, and I should be looking after the clan while Coralstar is missing!"

"I'm sure your clan will understand once they learn you were looking for your leader," Wren suggested.

"Hold up, I'm not going down there. Do you see how steep it is?" Robinflight said frantically, desperate to get out of this situation. "I could like, die, or something.'

"Yeah, yeah, you have good grip. Come on, Robinflight!" Reedspeck pushed. The rest of the cats agreed, and Robinflight had no choice but to go down the tunnel.

Robinflight stuck a paw in the tunnel, fear racking her body. Slowly, very slowly, she slipped half of her body in. She was a perfect fit for the tunnel, really, the walls of the tunnel a few inches away from her fur.

"Come on, deputy, we don't have all day," Wren reminded, giving her a small nudge.

Robinflight nodded, though Wren couldn't see it. She took a deep breath, swallowed her fear, and took a large step.

And then slipped.

"Agh!" Robinflight screamed as she slipped and fell down the tunnel as if it was a slide. She glanced behind her, and saw Quailfern's concerned face grow smaller and smaller as she slipped further and further down the tunnel. She tried to grab onto the sides with her claws, but she only made long, deep scratches.

The tunnel ended abruptly, dumping Robinflight onto a cold, damp, stone floor. Robinflight winced in pain as she pulled herself to her feet, grimacing when she realized she couldn't see anything. The cave she had been dropped in was pitch-black, the little light she could see coming from the tunnel above her.

Her first thought was to climb out through the tunnel, but it was too high up. Plus, even if she could climb back up, the tunnel was basically a straight line. It would be almost impossible for a cat with her strength to claw back up.

She was stuck.

Stuck in a dark, gloomy cave, all alone, with no light.

How fun.

Robinflight shuddered as a droplet of water fell from the ceiling onto her spine. Not only the was the cave terrifying, it was wet. Even worse.

Robinflight glanced back up, and realized what she had to do.

If she couldn't do back up, she'd just have to go forward.

Swallowing her fear, Robinflight walked into the darkness.

a/n: I'm so proud of myself for updating. Thank you all so much.