✔️ Warriors | On the path | Book #1

Chapter 5

"And then he had to go, I was so sad and disappointed..." Brightpaw said sadly, her cheerful meow was replaced by a sad one. Darkpaw sighed to himself, Foxtail didn't speak and Dustpelt looked incredibly bored. "Brightpaw no offense but can you stop talking about Badgerpaw?" Darkpaw asked, Brightpaw blinked at him apologetically, she didn't realize that she was talking too much about Badgerpaw. Badgerpaw just seems like a nice cat, his black and white fur looks smooth and his green eyes smile like emerald. Brightpaw shook her head to clear herself away from her thoughts, she was zoning out. "But Badgerpaw is a nice cat and he's very interesting and funny." Brightpaw protested, her ears twitched in annoyance. At her words Foxtail looked at her with surprise, and Dustpelt seemed to stiffen.

Did she say something wrong? "Only you see him like that, he's shyer than a rabbit." Darkpaw snorted and Brightpaw stared at him with annoyance, Badgerpaw isn't shy all the time. It's true that he can be embarrassed from time to time but he's a nice cat. "He's not! You're being a mouse-brain." Brightpaw mumbled to herself but Darkpaw heard it, he looked a little worried but he said nothing more. Brightpaw suddenly saw a squirrel on the grass, she nodded over towards it. "Should I catch it?" Brightpaw asked, looking up at her mentor Foxtail. Foxtail only shook his head before he spoke. "We're on a border patrol, not on a hunting patrol. Leave it alone." Foxtail said and Brightpaw gave him a nod.

Walking beside Darkpaw, Brightpaw kept quiet but her thoughts were on Badgerpaw and she couldn't shake them away, she's not sure why. "Hold on." Dustpelt stopped, the cats behind him stopped as well. "Do you smell that?" Dustpelt asked, Brightpaw opened her mouth to scent the air, her Clanmates doing the same. Brightpaw could smell something, but she couldn't guess what it is. After a few seconds, her eyes stretched wide at the realization, she was about to open her mouth to speak but Darkpaw was first to talk. "MoonClan!" Darkpaw yowled, Brightpaw could smell the scent of a cat she never knew before, but it's no doubt it's a MoonClan cat. And by smell of the scent, it's strong which means the cat is still around here somewhere.

"Let's go after the scent." Foxtail said, Dustpelt nodded and began to lead the patrol towards the scent, Brightpaw followed behind Dustpelt. It didn't take them long to reach it, Dustpelt stopped and Brightpaw stopped beside Dustpelt, she saw a small kit with mottled gray pelt and green eyes, his eyes stretched wide at the cats in front of him. "DawnClan!" The little kit yelped, he make a small jump of surprise and faced the cats in front of him, getting in position to attack. But his eyes were wide with fear, even if he tried to look fierce. "It's a kit." Darkpaw meowed with surprise, Brightpaw just nodded. What's a MoonClan's kit doing at their border? It's a little strange. "What's your name?" Foxtail asked the kit. The kit hesitated, looking at the cats in front of him before he answered. "Echokit."

"Did you get lost?" Brightpaw asked, maybe Echokit got lost but why would he even leave the camp? Echokit's been in his camp surely, every kit knows their camp and it's not easy to her lost. Echokit's fear was gone by now and he was standing straight, looking up at the cats in front of him. "No... I wanted to explore..." Echokit meowed, he looked down at the grass and shifted his paws nervously. Brightpaw felt bad for him, he's only a kit and kits curiosity always gets the best of them, in the end - kits are kits. "We need to get Echokit back in his camp." Darkpaw said, he looked at his father hopefully. Dustpelt twitched his whiskers thoughtfully, he seemed to be thinking deeply before he spoke. "We need to let Flowerstar know." Dustpelt said and Brightpaw stared at him with confusion.

Why does Flowerstar need to know? They can just bring Echokit back and THEN tell Flowerstar about it. "But why?" Brightpaw asked, Foxtail looked at her and opened his mouth to answer. "We have to know does Flowerstar want us to return the kit, we can't just return it if Flowerstar didn't want that. Then it would be our mistake." Foxtail explained, Brightpaw twitched her ears in annoyance but didn't say anything more. Gesturing with his tail, Dustpelt told Echokit to follow them and doing as he's told, Echokit fell in beside Darkpaw and together, the patrol began to go back to the camp. Brightpaw kept quiet, but she heard Darkpaw and Echokit talking, Echokit was asking a lot of questions. He seems like a talkative kit.