Sunspots padded from the medicine den leaving Firepaw alone to lay on her side on the stone medicine den floor. She had just gotten treatment for her eye. She had looked into a water puddle the sunrise before, only to find her entire left eye sliced down the middle with a thin pink scar. Her first reaction was sadness, but after a little thought, she figured it kind of looked cool. Like a tough punk apprentice. Yeah...
Firepaw watched Sunspots as he padded from the den and into the clearing to his apprentice who was sharing prey with her littermate, Orangepaw. Firepaw tuned into his conversation, out of pure boredom. "Goldpaw, we need more juniper berries... and horse-tail I believe."
"I know." She swallowed her prey and looked to Sunspots and the glare he gave her. "O-Oh. I-I'll get some!" She purred and stood.
"Take someone." He urged.
"How about Orangepaw?" She nudged her littermate, and Sunspots nodded in approval.
"Near the OakClan border would be fine." Sunspots turned and entered the Medicine den again. He nodded to his patient.
Firepaw nodded back, then just stared past him and out into the camp. She saw her littermate padding about boredly. Ah, Rockpaw. Cheer up.
Firepaw greeted and welcomed the new-leaf breeze that rustled her pelt from the mouth of the cave. She couldn't help but purr.
The sun made its way across the sky, and at its highest point, Firepaw was finally released from the medicine cat's care. She exited to a less stuffy clearing and she stretched out each leg of hers individually. She saw her friend and padded up to him, greeting him kindly. "Hello, Stormpaw."
"Hi, Firepaw!" Stormpaw had a moss-ball between his paws, and was exchanging it between the two. "Wanna play? I was going to play with Orangepaw, but she's collecting herbs. Still." He batted it over to Firepaw who caught it swiftly. She batted it back.
"So, whose your mother?" Firepaw batted the moss-ball. She was curious to know every connection of her clanmates to one another.
"Goldenray." Stormpaw held the ball for a while to jerk his head in the direction of a slightly worn golden pelted cat laying in the nursery, with two small fluffy kits bounding about around her gently sweeping tail.
"Who're the kits?" Firepaw asked, craning her head to look at the small figures.
"My younger littermates!" Stormpaw purred. He stood up and began to pad over. He flicked his tail for Firepaw to follow. "They're really cute." His tail lashed out to show Firepaw the two tumbling kits. "The black she-kit is Midnightkit, and the white tom with the orange tabby stripes is Whitekit." Stormpaw leaned over to whisper in Firepaw's ear, "'Dunno why he was called WHITEkit. I think Orangekit'd suit better."
Goldenray was proven to be asleep now, but the kits' ears flicked to the apprentice's words, however they showed no indication of understanding him.
Midnightkit looked up. "Do you know any new battle training moves we can try?"
"Y-Yeah I wanna know, too. Although I'm no good at 'em..." Whitepaw shuffled his paws.
"Nah, I don't, sorry. Maybe you can try asking the elders for battle stories- learn from those." Stormpaw turned and padded away as the kits then tumbled to the resting elders nearby. Stormpaw lashed his tail. "I never knew gathering herbs took so long! Two patrols have been sent out and came back already!" He looked to Firepaw.
"Yeah... Let's hunt, maybe? Then we can also search for them... they were sent to the OakClan border. Sunspots said, at least."
"Good idea. Besides, I'm getting hungry... And I bet since it's New-leaf we can eat while patrolling, right?" He looked to the deputy sharing prey with Berryclaw. He padded up, Firepaw alongside him.
"Can we hunt?" Stormpaw politely asked.
Cougarfang swallowed his piece of finch and looked over. He took another bite, then nodded.
*~*~*
Everything was always calm and friendly in SandClan- like everyone was family. It was nice, and much better then the set-up of OakClan. OakClan was more like a city, or a bustling government, Firepaw figured. It was unwelcoming when you were in the bottom tier of that setup.
But little flutters of contentment rose in her chest as it was just her and Stormpaw near the OakClan border, searching for prey. Firepaw scented the air. She smelled a robin, its scent fresh. She also caught a trace of Goldpaw and Orangepaw's scent, and in curiosity, followed it. She stopped abruptly as it crossed the border. "Hey, Stormpaw?"
"Yeah?" He stopped sniffing the air to look over.
"Your littermates' scents are here, but disappear at the border."
He padded over and bent down to sniff. "And OakClan." He narrowed his eyes. "How dare they capture my littermates?" He began to tremble as wafts of fear stench drifted from his pelt. "Come on, we need to tell Bigstar, Firepaw! What're you waiting for?" Without waiting for an answer, he bolted off, his lithe grey body rushing across the grass on fleeting paws. Firepaw gulped and went after him.
*~*~*
A large patrol from SandClan met at the OakClan border and began their investigation. Firepaw and Stormpaw were at the back, answering questions that came thick and fast. They all went a little like this:
"Did you see where the two had gone? Where were they?" A warrior would ask a question, similar to this.
"I don't know." She would answer bashfully, giving an awkward shrug.
"We just came and found the tracks!" Stormpaw would include.
Nearly the entire Clan was gathered and in quite a panicked conundrum. Rockpaw was there, standing silently near Firepaw. Goldenray was absent, however, with her two kits. Nobody dared to tell her what was going on, they only mentioned perhaps a disturbance with OakClan but never gave any inklings to the fact that her two other kits were missing.
"This is bad." Bigstar informed her Clan, moving away from the border. "We should follow the tracks into OakClan territory. I know that is trespassing, but we need to find the missing apprentices! OakClan could have definitely taken them."
"But why? Are they that mouse-brained to capture two apprentices and risk a battle?"
Bigstar looked over at Swiftfoot. Her eyes looked as if they were deep in thought. Finally, she answered, "We have Firepaw and Rockpaw. They have Goldpaw and Orangepaw."
Sandstripe lashed her tail. "So, will this be a battle? Or will we just come in with our entire Clan and ASK? They will attack first, anyway. And I doubt they want Firepaw and Rockpaw back. I don't think taking our apprentices is really a reprisal for taking 'theirs.'"
Bigstar thought again. "Part of us will wait in their territory. Part of us will wait on the border. Some will enter the camp and ask. If there's a battle.. Stormpaw will inform you." Bigstar nodded to Stormpaw. "That means you're coming to the camp with us. Along with Firepaw, and Swiftfoot, Sandstripe, and Cougarfang."
Firepaw knew that wasn't a lot. She knew if they were attacked, Stormpaw would have to be quick. At the thought of having to face Birchstar, little butterflies hatched in her belly and attacked the walls of her stomach. She suddenly felt queasy and her ears went back against her scalp.
Bigstar lashed her tail. "Berryclaw, lead a patrol into their territory. Take it anywhere, just close enough to the camp for Stormpaw to get you quickly. Take whomever you like." She lashed her tail back and forth. "My patrol, we're going in."
She passed the border, and so did her patrol, on silent and wary pawsteps.
"Why exactly would they want to capture two apprentices of ours?" Swiftfoot pressed Bigstar.
"They think they found Firepaw and Rockpaw fairly." She didn't look back at Firepaw. "Then we got them back. It was their own decision, but they lost working apprentices, and that's tough on any clan. It is a reprisal, Sandstripe." She suddenly looked to the she-cat, "Just a horribly unfair one... that makes no sense. The kits came from my womb, I lost them, not them."
Firepaw opened her mouth to protest, but Sandstripe already said what she was thinking.
"But they attacked the two! According to their tales, they didn't want them."
"They want them back. Why they attacked them, you'll have to decipher Birchstar's insane nature..." She snorted.
Stormpaw layed a tail on Firepaw's shoulder and they met gazes. He leaned in. "Is it horrible there? Is their camp bad?"
"Honestly, their camp is good... but what does that have to do with anything?"
His eyes twinkled. "Battle tactics." He answered matter-of-factly. "On other matters, why'd they give you that scar?" He growled. "And who did."
"Birchstar."
He silenced for a moment. "If this came to a battle, I was going to battle whoever hurt you. Birchstar? That'd be tough. I will settle with the deputy instead." He sounded as if bragging. "Just kidding." He purred at the end.
The trees around them got taller, stretched higher, as did the grass flattening beneath their paws as they padded into the heart of OakClan territory.
"With all these trees I can probably ambush some OakClanners from behind them!" Stormpaw suddenly chuckled.
"Why so sure it will be a battle?" Firepaw lashed her tail. She had hoped it wouldn't be. She really wasn't looking forward to more scars. Imagine she got another on her other eye. That would be so humiliating- she'd look like a VenomClanner!
"Come on! They captured Goldpaw and Orangepaw, it would make sense for it to become a battle. Knowing OakClan, at least..." He glared at his pacing paws with his dark and stormy eyes, "Plus, if any of them layed a claw on my littermates' hairs, I'll rip all their fur off!"
Bigstar stopped. "This is their camp. Nobody speak, just I will talk, okay?" She was stood near a row of trees. The entrance to OakClan camp was very vast, yet the entrance was far from any busy activity. Everyone muttered in approval.
They entered, and Firepaw avoided staring directly at the figure of Birchstar on his perch high above in an oak tree.
Orangepaw was being guarded by two warriors, and so was Goldpaw separately. The two eyed their clan's patrol with twinkling eyes. It looked as if they were craving a fight, too. One where SandClan will win.
Bigstar announced, "We'll have Orangepaw and Goldpaw back, thank you very much. They belong in SandClan." She flicked her ears to the two.
Birchstar climbed down from the oak tree. His tail curled deviously and his eyes flashed before focusing on the patrol. "And why listen to five SanClan warriors?"
OakClanners slowly padded up to the SandClan patrol. Some were curious, some nervous, but most were preparing themselves for a battle by unsheathing their claws.
"Because if you don't, it will mean consequences."
"Oh? Like what? An attack? Five cats against an entire Clan, you wish." Birchstar scoffed.
"Think about how the other Clans will feel to know you've been capturing cats. I won't hesitate to share this news at a gathering." Bigstar spat.
"Fine. Attack it is! You stole Firepaw and Rockpaw, so why not attack? It would be fair, wouldn't it?"
"Firepaw and Rockpaw were also ours."
"But Skyfeather mothered them, birthed them, raised them. You claim they are yours. And even that lie has a fault. What mother loses her kits at a border?"
"According to Firepaw and Rockpaw themselves, Skyfeather abandoned them by attacking them alongside the entirety of OakClan ranks. The scar along Firepaw's eye is proof. Besides, every cat knows Skyfeather is barren."
"Oh, and Firepaw and Rockpaw cannot lie?"
"My kits would never lie about something. It's the truth, and witnesses are everywhere in your camp. Birchstar, you're just an insan--"
"OakClan! Assemble." Birchstar quivered. "Bigstar, I warn you, do not say that word. We will shred your pelt and skin you alive!"
"That's proof enough that you sent your Clan to attack my kits." Bigstar unsheathed her claws. "And.. you are insane."
"OakClan, ATTACK!"