Cool, light rain slid down Scarpaw's glossy pelt as she padded wistfully through the woods. She was somewhere new, not the familiar marshy forest she was used to; here, the grass was lush green, and large maple leaves crunched under-paw as she trekked on. Raising her head to the sky, she noticed the grey clouds parting to reveal the brilliant star from before, casting silvery light down upon her; the voice of the strange cat who had visited her seemed to ring off of the rain, mewing,
"Look up, and you will find me."
A large raindrop splashed into her eyes, and Scarpaw jumped back, alarmed, as the rain began to pelt even harder. The soil at her feet churned to mud, and she could feel herself slipping, far, far into the ground. She gasped out, yowling for help, but the pelting rain only filled her lungs with water, preventing her from making any sound. She shut her eyes, her head ready to collapse, as the mud swallowed her whole.
Blinking water out of her eyes, Scarpaw found her muzzle pressed up against Leopardpaw's back, who's snoring almost matched the booming thunder from her dream. Rain dripped onto her head from the bramble shading above, and she made a mental note to cover it with more growth as soon as possible.
The other apprentices were asleep, and the camp outside was dark to signal it was still night. Woodpaw rested not far from Scarpaw, curled against Maskpaw, and she sighed with relief that he was here in the den; no cat should be out in this storm.
"Couldn't sleep?" The soft mew of Sparkpaw whispered from across the den, and Scarpaw blinked at his bright gaze.
"Not really; bad dream."
"Me too," he stretched his neck around to smooth a wet spot on his back, "and this storm sure doesn't help, either."
Leopardpaw's hind leg kicked out as she dreamed, and Scarpaw huffed with annoyance, avoiding her friend's kicks. Sparkpaw's whiskers twitched in amusement.
"You can come rest over here, if you'd like; my nest is big enough for two cats." Blinking, Scarpaw glanced at Leopardpaw's snoring form before warmly looking back towards the blond tom.
"Only if that side of the den has less leaks than over here."
"Not really," Sparkpaw mewed, "but there's less painful company."
Scarpaw smiled, padding carefully around Leopardpaw to settle close against Sparkpaw's pale pelt. He was warm, and his comforting pelt held her steady on one side, and she was pressed close to the bramble wall on the other. She rested her head on her paws, weariness hitting her like a sudden black wave. She could feel Sparkpaw's gaze on her as she drifted off once again, into a dreamless sleep.
"Wonderful," Leopardpaw mumbled, casting a dark frown out into the camp. The storm was still pouring harsh rain onto the forest, and not many cats were eager to rush out to their duties. Patchnose and Sagefur were sharing a miserable mouse under an overhanging branch closest to the warriors den, Suntail had emerged from the den as well, saw the rain, and went right back inside; the apprentices were all told that today's training was going to be put on hold, and now they all sat miserably inside their den, watching the muddy camp like young toads, anxious to hop around and begin their training.
"At least we have time to rest," Woodpaw mewed light-heartedly, "Venomsight's battle training has been rigorous."
"His training is always rigorous," Maskpaw growled, "and you're always complaining. I can't stand sitting in here all day; my fur's going to crawl right off."
"You're welcome to go run around in this storm," Scarpaw mumbled, "some lightning would do you good." Maskpaw cast her a venomous glance, but said nothing.
"We could always find something around camp to do?" Sparkpaw tried to ease the tension.
Leopardpaw twitched an ear.
"In this weather? No, thank you. If you all want to clean mud out of your pelts for the next moon, then by all means, have at it. I'm going back to my nest." Scarpaw let her friend pass, inching closer to the den entrance, where Sparkpaw was gazing out.
"What did you have in mind?" Anything seemed better than lying around in the musky den all day.
"We could always see if Webear needs anything," Sparkpaw mewed, flicking an ear towards the rocky den closest to the Half-tree. "She's usually quite busy, not having an apprentice and all."
Scarpaw thought of the scrawny medicine-cat, always working effortlessly to make sure the clan was healthy and cared for. She had only spoken to Webear a pawful of times, but from those few encounters, she didn't seem to be a dislikable cat by any standards. "Yeah, sure. I don't mind."
"Great," Sparkpaw stood, shaking some droplets from his crooked whiskers, "let's go."
The entrance to Webear's den reminded Scarpaw of Snowstar's den in a way, surrounded by ancient, mossy stones and overgrown reeds. Pushing past, the two apprentices were greeted to a large stone cave, going far back into an earthy resting space with ragged stones for holding herbs, a small pool of fresh water, and thick growth to protect from any sort of invasion.
Scarpaw approached the entrance to the cave, calling, "Webear, are you there?" She could hear a quick welcome mew from deep inside, and quickly rushed in, escaping the cold rain.
Webear was busy making poultices near the end of the earthy cave, too wrapped up in her duties to turn and properly greet the apprentices.
"Yes, hi. You can drop them right by the rock, there."
Scarpaw and Sparkpaw exchanged a confused glance, and Sparkpaw stepped forward, twitching his whiskers. "Er, we weren't brought here by anyone or with anything... We actually came to see if you needed any help."
Webear blinked, stopping to look over at the two apprentices, surprise shining in her eyes. "Oh, my bad; I thought it was Woodpaw again, bringing more herbs. Venomsight sure has been keeping him busy." Scarpaw narrowed her eyes, curiosity pricking at her paws, but she stayed quiet as Sparkpaw continued to speak.
"Not this time."
"What was it that you needed, again?"
Sparkpaw blinked, "Our training for today has been delayed by the storm, and we were curious if you needed anything from us before we spend the rest of our day hiding from the rain."
"Oh, I see; that's kind of you both. I would appreciate it if you took this goldenrod poultice to the elders den for me. Coldclaw and Fawneyes have stiff and aching joints."
"Ah, of course." Sparkpaw's tone seemed almost a bit disappointed, but Scarpaw lit up at the chance to go and visit the elders again; she missed Slowcloud's company. Webear's single white ear twitched restlessly as she gathered the herb, dropping the poultice's at the two apprentice's paws. Scarpaw gathered hers quickly, turning towards Sparkpaw with an expression that gave nothing away.
"You go on ahead, I'll be there in just a moment." He simply blinked, thoughts swimming in his brilliant blue-green eyes, but said nothing as he padded slowly out of earshot. She took a breath, looking back towards Webear, who had returned to her herbs.
"What was that you had said about Woodpaw?"
"Huh?" Webear seemed surprised that Scarpaw was still there. "What do you mean?"
"You had mentioned him coming here often."
"Ah, yes. He brings me herbs quite often, always says it was an order from Venomsight; the poor lump always seems so miserable." Her white ear continued to twitch restlessly as she spoke, "I always appreciate more supplies, but it's strange. I've told Venomsight multiple times that if he's trying to give his apprentice to me, he's out of luck. I can manage my own here." She scoffed, almost to herself, shaking her head as she continued packing poultices into wads. Scarpaw rolled the new information over in her head; why would Venomsight put Woodpaw up to such a useless task?
To give himself a chance to slip away.
Neck fur rising, Scarpaw gathered the wad of herbs, padding swiftly out of the den. This storm was the perfect opportunity to find out more information; but first, she had to take care of the elder's joints.
Oh, why did I agree to do this?
"Watch it!"
Scarpaw could hear Coldclaw's angry hiss from the entrance to the elders den, pushing through with a sigh. Sparkpaw was busy rubbing the poultice through Coldclaw's pelt, who was busy complaining as usual. Fawneyes watched close-by with an amused smile, while Slowcloud and Deadmouth were snoozing huddled together near the back of the den. Scarpaw felt a twinge of sadness at not being able to speak to her favorite elder as she mewed a greeting, padding carefully towards Fawneyes, who greeted her with a nod.
"Thank you both for bringing the poultices, I'm sure Webear appreciates it."
"What's to appreciate when this mouse-brain keeps pinching your pelt?" Coldclaw hissed, flinching away from Sparkpaw, who was barely touching the grumpy tom. Fawneyes batted Coldclaw over the ears, twitching her whiskers.
"That mouse-brain is my son, Coldclaw."
"Stormspirit and Venomsight are my sons, but were they excused from making stupid mistakes because of it? Surely not!" Sparkpaw cast Scarpaw a glance of pure regret, and she twitched her whiskers, thinking, don't forget that this was your idea. The blink he gave her in return seemed to say, don't remind me.
Stormspirit, Venomsight and Toadface crouched at the entrance to the apprentice den, their expressions grim and pelts soaked as thunder roared off in the distance. The storm didn't seem to want to let up, yet it was nearly sunset.
"Sorry, you five," Stormspirit sighed, "we'll see how tomorrow looks. The territory could be pretty flooded after all this rain, and we may have to take training closer to the ThornClan border."
Woodpaw blinked, twitching an ear as he mewed, "Oh, that's fine; Venomsight and I have been training there lately anyway." Scarpaw thought she could see a flicker of panic in Venomsight's eyes, but it vanished as quickly as it had appeared. Had I imagined it?
"Yes, well," Toadface mumbled, "hunting will be poor, so we'll want to focus on battle training. Get some rest; you'll need it." He nodded to Sparkpaw, who returned the gesture, and the warriors took the chance to slip out of the rain into the safety of their den. Scarpaw could see Suntail organizing a patrol in the clearing consisting of Nightbreeze, Sagefur, and Owltail, who all looked miserable. No cat wanted to do anything in this weather.
"It's almost like StarClan is weeping," Scarpaw mumbled. Were they trying to warn of another disaster soon to come?
"That's the most mouse-brained thing I've ever heard." Maskpaw's cynical mew rang throughout the murky den, and Scarpaw spun to face him, eyes narrowed.
"What did you say?"
"I said, that's mouse-brained!" He hissed, flattening his ears against his sleek tortoiseshell fur. "Have you run around in that storm for so long that water has clogged your thick skull?"
Flexing her claws, Scarpaw hissed back, standing in a sign of challenge. Maskpaw followed, only to be interrupted by Leopardpaw, who had just risen from a nap, her pelt sticking up in various different directions. "Can you all PLEASE keep your mouths shut long enough for me to get some decent rest?"
Tension crackled in the air like the lightning just outside as Scarpaw stared defiantly into Maskpaw's own deadly gaze, as he snorted, stalking across the den to whisper to Woodpaw. The smaller tom only looked uncomfortable, keeping his gaze towards his paws. The pelting rain hid their voices from her ears, but Scarpaw was certain he was making comments about her upbringing in MapleClan.
What nerve! That battle training couldn't come sooner; just wait till Maskpaw has to face me!
She stalked back towards the den's entrance, watching Stormspirit pad close to his brother's side. Venomsight's expression was unreadable, but Scarpaw could tell that Stormspirit was attempting friendly conversation. Her ear twitched, watching the two, noticing for the first time all of their similarities; even with Venomsight's tabby markings, they shared the same grey pelts, and their long limbs matched eachother stride for stride. Even their eyes seemed similar, and Scarpaw sighed, wishing she could hear their conversation.
Venomsight huffed some words of annoyance, stalking out of camp as Stormspirit watched from the clearing. His tail drooped and his eyes glittered with uncertainty. Did Stormspirit have suspicions of Venomsight's intentions as well?