Finpool's Frustration

Ch. 2

Finpaw felt his throat vibrate in a low growl as he slipped through the reeds and into the open camp. Heading the the fresh-kill pile, he observed the fairly crowded camp. No sight of Firepaw. He furrowed his nonexistent eyebrows, dropped his catches off at the fresh-kill pile, and tottered towards the apprentices' den to greet Mothpaw, Stonepaw, Weaselpaw, and Redpaw. Finpaw narrowed his eyes. Firepaw was nowhere in sight. He cleared his throat to gather the apprentices' attention spans. "Have any of you seen Firepaw today by ay chance?"

Stonepaw and Weaselpaw shook their heads, while Redpaw and Mothpaw shuffled around in response. Stonepaw parted his jaws in order to speak. "Nope. Not at all. She hasn't been in camp all day." His tail whipped against the floor of the den. "You could even ask the warriors. She hadn't stepped foot in camp ever since the 'Jaypaw incident'."

Weaselpaw grunted while Mothpaw slid her paws forward until her belly met with the ground. Mothpaw puffed a sigh through her slightly parted jaws. "I'm worried for her, y'know? I don't want to lose another cat in my life. I couldn't handle losing her too," the speckled she explained. She winced when Redpaw settled her dark ginger tail on the pale she's back.

"We're all worried, besides Jaypaw, of course," Weaselpaw grunted.

Finpaw shook his head. "I'll try to find her," he sighed. "Let's hope I'm back by sundown. Finpaw spun on his heels to turn away, and slithered off with a flicking tail. He'd make his way towards Antstar, who was chatting with Russetbee in a hushed murmur. When he approached Antstar, the fairly large leader jolted as if he were startled.

Antstar huffed as his tail curled neatly around his paws. He made eye contact with the smaller apprentice amongst his presence. "Greetings, Finpaw. Do you need something from me?" He casted a swift glance towards his deputy.

"Well," Finpaw began, "Firepaw hasn't returned to camp ever since she had gone out, and I was going to ask if I could look for her outside of camp."

Antstar nodded understandingly. "Hm. I'll allow you to go, but under one condition." He eyed the apprentice, causing him to flinch. "You mustn't go alone because of the dangers lurking around. How about you bring.. Frosteye along with you. He is Firepaw's mentor, after all."

Finpaw nodded before spinning on his heels and trotting away, tail lightly dragging against the ground.

Approaching the silver tabby tom, Finpaw greeted him with a flick of the tail. Frosteye peered over at Finpaw as if he were startled, tail tapping the ground. He cleared his throat. "Finpaw. What do you need?"

Finpaw huffed a sigh, eyes trailing off towards the exit of camp. "Antstar ordered for you to come with me on a hunt for Firepaw. She hasn't returned ever since you had allowed her to go out."

Frosteye's eyes widened. "But.. I never gave her permission to leave camp alone.." He observed Finpaw's now fearful expression. Actually, it was complete terror.

"Oh no.. We've got to hurry up before she either gets stranded, attacked, or even killed. C'mon, Frosteye, we need to go." Finpaw spun around and sprinted outside of the camp, Frosteye just behind him. Obviously, the two were trapped in a searing panic. It felt like they were two worms about to be pecked to bits by a hungry robin. They both halted at the outside of the entrance.

Frosteye glanced worriedly around the terrain surrounding them, as if that would clear as help their search. He huffed. "We will start at the border of the territory, then work our way inwards. The two tabbies then began to trek off, tails held high.

***

Finpaw frowned as he and Frosteye approached the camp. There hadn't been any sign of the Riverclan apprentice at all. Well, at least larger patrols existed and can cover more ground. The only thing they found was fur, mouse fur, but it had been leftovers from an early hunting patrol. They squeezed into camp and trudged over to Antstar, who was chatting with Bateyes in the middle of the clearing. Apparently the little discussion wasn't meant to be kept discreet because, well, they were out chatting in plain sight. The two tabbies approached.