An Unknown Path- Book 1

Chapter 2

Mintpaw and Kestrelstep began their journey back home, but the whole way she couldn't stop thinking about the message Thrushpuddle gave her. She figured maybe they were just playing some kind of sick joke on her! "But it's starclan! They wouldn't do that! And Thrushpuddle sounded serious!" She exclaimed to herself.

"Mintpaw!" Kestrelstep yelped "Huh- OOF!" Mint had stumbled right into a tree. "Mintpaw, are you okay?" Kestrel called. "Uh yeah... I think so." She answered weakly. "Dear Starclan, would you look where you're going?" "Sorry.." She muttered and they continued on their trek back to Riverclan.

Stars had begun to shine by the time they had made it back to camp. Mintpaw stretched her jaws in a large yawn and headed to her nest. "Finally you made it back!" Slatewatcher exclaimed. "Sorry Slatewatcher." Mint apologized. Kestrelstep padded in after her. He tucked into his nest and Mintpaw did the same.

Early morning sun beamed on Mintpaw's back, causing her to wake up. She stood and arched her back in a large stretch accompanied with a yawn. "Good morning, Mintpaw!" Kestrelstep greeted her. "Good morning Kestrelstep." "I need you to sort these herbs out." Slatewatcher gave Mintpaw a tangle of herbs. "Got it..."

She sorted the leaves into neat piles and took them one by one into the herb storage. After doing so Mintpaw noticed they were running rather low on catmint. "Kestrelstep, May I go gather some catmint?" She asked. "Sure. Do you know where to find it?" "Yes! Near the twoleg dens." She replied, feeling proud she could remember where catmint was. "Alright, be careful!" He called as Mintpaw was already racing out of the den.

Mintpaw approached the large dens, already looking for the gardens. She spotted one and ran over. She shuffled through all of the plants, sniffing each one. She found a large catmint plant and carefully nipped it at the stems. By the time she was finished her whole mouth was filled with catmint.

She was walking back to camp when she heard yowls. Yowls of hurt cats. She pelted to the noises. Thunderclan cats and Riverclan cats were fighting. She gasped. She knew what this meant. The first sign had come true already. And she had failed to stop it! She shook her head and continued running.

"Mintpaw help!" Ivybriar yowled. "I'll get more cats!" She called back to the patrol. She hoped they could understand her through the catmint. Mintpaw shook the thought off and raced back to camp as fast as she could. She dropped the catmint in front of the den. "Maplestar!" She panted.

"Thunderclan- Is- Attacking!" She huffed through short breath. "What!" Maplestar yowled. "Where?" "Sunningrocks!" Mintpaw answered. Maple nodded and immediately hopped on wet rock. "Palewatcher and Sootwhisker! Lead a large patrol to sunning rocks!" She yowled. "Oh please be safe. Starclan please watch over them.." Mintpaw prayed.