Into the River

Into the River Chapter 3

The next day, Lavapaw awoke and suddenly thought of her father; Who was he? And why have we never seen him? And also, why isn't he here in RiverClan? Maybe he's dead or something. But then why have we never heard about him? Streamripple wouldn't talk about him, Lavapaw remembered. Could he be a kittypet? Or could he be a loner or a rogue? He wouldn't be a rouge! Then a thought struck her. Could he be in a different Clan? Her Clanmates didn't seem to know who he was but they were kind enough to let them stay. She decided to find out tonight.

"DAWN!!!" Leafpaw yowled.

Lavapaw opened her eyes, but Clawpaw was still asleep. How is she still sleeping? She's probably pretending or something.

"Lavapaw," Leafpaw hissed.

"What?" Lavapaw hissed back.

"I want to find out who our father was," Leafpaw hissed, "I wanted to sneak out tonight because it's the night of the full moon, and most of the warriors will be at the gathering."

"You know," Lavapaw said, "I had the same thought!"

"So, are you coming then? I'm going to try ShadowClan first," Leafpaw hissed questioningly.

"Maybe I should try SkyClan while you're trying ShadowClan?" Lavapaw replied.

"I think we should go together. If we get caught, we will probably have a longer time cleaning the elder's ticks and bedding," Leafpaw argued.

"Ok, but I kinda like doing the Elder's stuff because they tell me interesting stories," agreed Lavapaw.

"Let's go at moonrise," Leafpaw decided, "The warriors and medicine cats will be at the gathering already, so it won't be too hard to sneak out."

"Meet you at the hole beside the apprentice's den at moonrise," Lavapaw mewed.

At Moonrise, Lavapaw padded silently out of the apprentice's den, with Leafpaw just behind. They skirted the camp, heading toward the hole beside the apprentices' den. A calico she-cat stood at the camp entrance Icewind!

"Icewind is on guard," Leafpaw hissed warningly.

"Okay," Lavapaw hissed back.

They stayed silent as Icewind passed them into the warrior's den. Maybe we are ShadowClan! We are good at being silent and sneaky.

Leading the way, she entered the hole beside the apprentices' den. Once they were far enough away from camp, they raced toward the ShadowClan border. Once they reached it they halted.

"We should roll in the wild garlic patch near here to hide our scent," Leafpaw suggested.

"Okay," Lavapaw agreed.

Rolling in the wild garlic, the sharp scent of the plant immediately filled her nose, "Let's go" Leafpaw hissed impatiently.

As they padded over the border and into ShadowClan territory they heard a voice, "What are you doing here?" the voice hissed, hostility in its tone. ShadowClan cats! Lavapaw thought, alarmed.

"Are you Clan cats?" a ShadowClan apprentice asked. Lavapaw thought she had seen him before.

"Nah, we're loners," replied Lavapaw boldly.

"Yeah," Leafpaw mewed. "Who are you?"

"They stink of wild garlic," One of the ShadowClan cats said to the other, "What should we do with them?"

"Let's just drive them off," The other one replied.

"Stay off ShadowClan territory!" one yowled.

"Yeah, stay off!" The other one agreed.

"Okay, we'll go," Lavapaw mewed, her voice not showing any fear.

They stalked off towards RiverClan territory, heads, and tails held high.

Once they got back, it was almost dawn. Lavapaw and Leafpaw rushed to the river to make it look like they'd been doing early morning hunting practice. Leafpaw quickly caught a minnow. "How do you catch fish that fast?" asked Lavapaw, who so far had been having some trouble with catching anything besides leaves and branches, "Simple, really. You just wait until you see a fish, then swat it out of the water, then kill it. I like to catch it in my jaws for fun, but you don't have to," answered Leafpaw, "Here, let me show you," she offered.

"No, thanks," said Lavapaw, nearly falling into the river to scoop a minnow out. It landed on her tail, and she turned around and grabbed it, killing it with a bite. "Finally! Fishing isn't easy, you know." They returned their prey to camp and put them onto the fresh-kill pile. Leafpaw ate one of the minnows they caught, while Lavapaw ate a big trout, a carp, and the biggest catfish on the pile. After three more giant fish, Lavapaw stopped. She had single-pawedly demolished half of the day's catch.

"How do you eat so much?" Leafpaw asked quizzically.

"I'm competing with Hawkstream," Lavapaw answered, "What do you think?"

"Okay, but that's a waste of fresh-kill," Leafpaw mewed.

"But I was hungry!" Lavapaw retorted.

"Maybe I should call you Lavahungry," Leafpaw mewed teasingly

"No! Please don't!" Lavapaw mewed.

"It's too late for that! You already ate half the fresh-kill pile," Leafpaw mewed, "And I'll tell Clawpaw tomorrow."

"Okay, fine. You can call me Lavahungry, but please don't tell Clawpaw!" Lavapaw was begging now, "I'll never eat anything again! I'll do anything! Just don't tell Clawpaw."

"No, you have to eat, and I've already made up my mind," Leafpaw mewed.

Lavapaw pounced at Leafpaw, but her heavy stomach had unbalanced the attack, and she fell short of her target, "Oof!"

"Maybe I should also call you Lavaclumsy because when you have a giant stomach, you are pretty clumsy," Leafpaw mewed. "You better go get some rest so your belly can get smaller. If Riverecho thinks you ate half the fresh-kill pile, she'll claw your ears off."

Lavapaw obediently padded into the apprentice's den and lay down. She soon fell asleep and dreamed of Clawpaw fishing. She waded in the river and swam through some minnows, scaring them toward Clawpaw. She was used to this now; it was the fifth time she had had this kind of dream where she could walk through things.

Clawpaw almost caught one, but Raincall scared them away. Lavapaw sighed and padded away to see what Leafpaw was doing. She saw her going into the forest and started staring at a sparrow. Lavapaw padded over and positioned herself to scare it. She pounced at it, and her paws went through the sparrow.

However, the sparrow had sensed her and fluttered away towards Leafpaw, who quickly killed it and purred at her good luck. Lavapaw then helped Leafpaw with a thrush, a robin — which Leafpaw didn't get — and a pigeon. As Leafpaw began stalking a mouse, Lavapaw woke up. She saw Leafpaw coming into camp with a mouse, a vole, a thrush, a sparrow, and a pigeon. Leafpaw looked worried and confused.