Daylight

Chapter 14

Firepaw leapt out of the way of the hissing snake. Its arrow-shaped head swung at him, jaw open, fangs on display, as it bolted forward. Its form was thin and whip-like, and he didn't want to be anywhere near its tail end, either.

Clawing his way up onto a bough of an ash tree, he couldn't help but notice its diamond-patterned back, and he really couldn't help but notice the hole it'd come from. Imagine what Tigerclaw will say when he sees this adder! the apprentice couldn't help but think, and as he tore down from the tree, sinking his own fangs into the snake's... neck? upper back? a warm feeling flooding through him.

"HEY PFIREFAWL," a voice hollered from the trees, and the flame-colored tom turned to catch sight of Graypaw, a starling in his jaws. "Sheck out fwhat I ghaught!" A smile came onto Firepaw's face at the sight of the bird, and he held up his own catch.

"WHOA AN ADDER," Graypaw said remarkably clearly, yellow eyes lighting up with excitement and a bit of envy. "Wish I could catch one of those," he said, dropping the bird at his paws.

The smile spread into a grin and quickly leapt to Graypaw's face, too. "Well, you could've," Firepaw mewed, biting back his own laughter, "if you weren't so loud."

Graypaw snorted, bumping Firepaw with his side. "You've been hanging out with Sandpaw too much."

"Have not."

"Have too."

"Dude, she hates my guts."

"Well spotted," a voice cut through the air, causing Firepaw and Graypaw's heads both to swivvel back to find a sandy she-cat standing on top of one of the larger rocks of Snakerocks. Her light green eyes were somehow icy yet warm, and Firepaw couldn't help but roll his own at her.

"Kind of you to make an entrance just now," he mewed, voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Yes, well," Sandpaw said, a wisp of a smile on her muzzle, "I figured you wouldn't die."

Thank you for that, Firepaw thought to himself, saying nothing. A silence hung in the air, and Sandpaw apparently felt the need to fill it. "And even if you had, Spottedleaf's just a hop-skip-and-a-bound away. It wouldn't have been too hard for her to fix you up."

"Sandpaw, he would've been dead," Graypaw deadpanned, starting off to camp.

Sandpaw gave a harrumph, leaping down from the boulder and walking up to the two. "Not if Spottedleaf worked her magic."

"Yeah, okay," was all Graypaw said, casting Firepaw a look and rolling his eyes at the flame-colored tom. "C'mon, Firepaw."

Giving a glance back at the pretty... sarcastic (Yes, pretty sarcastic is a good term, Firepaw found himself thinking) she-cat, he blinked. "You coming? If we get back sooner rather than later, we'll probably have a better chance at going to the Gathering."

The sandy she-cat cast Firepaw a startled glance, as she'd been staring off into space. "Uh. Yeah, that's true," she mewed finally, nodding. "Probably, that is."

Shaking himself out, Graypaw rolled his eyes once more. "Let's go, already. If you're right Firepaw, we'll be late as it is." This snapped both cats out of their unbroken eye-contact trance.

"Right!"

"Yes."

"Most definitely."

"Indubidably."

With that, Sandpaw bounded forward, smacking Firepaw with her tail as she went. Much more gently than normally, though, which was odd. It seems like the perfect time for a thwack.