ALDERPAW

They retraced their steps into IceClan territory.

The sky was still dark, even though the black thunderclouds were beginning to roll away toward the horizon.
"Why don't we head straight into SmokeClan territory?" Flarepaw mewed, shaking the last droplets from her pelt.
"We need to pick up Leafeye's scent first," Alderpaw explained.

They headed back over the stream, into IceClan territory. There was no scent of Leafeye until they crossed into the snowy woods close to the camp.

Now that the rain finally stopped, the scents around them were beginning to return. Alderpaw had hoped the rain had not washed away Leafeye's trail completely. He stopped and brushed at a snow-filled fern with the tip of his nose, and recognized the familiar smell. Leafeye's fear-scent prickled in his nostrils. "She came this way!" he meowed.

He pushed his way through the wet snow. Flarepaw and Shinepaw followed. The rain was easing, and the thunder was fading in the distance.
To his dismay, he realized Leafeye's scent was indeed leading them straight into SmokeClan territory.
They arrived at the Thunderpath and halted. Several monsters roared by, throwing up fountains of dirty water. The three cats hung back from the edge of the wide, gray track until there was a gap. Then they raced across the path and into SmokeClan territory.

"Why would she bother to save the kits during the battle if she was just gonna take them away? And what was the point of killing Owlpool?" Shinepaw asked. "I just don't understand why."
"She didn't kill Owlpool!" Alderpaw swung his head in fury that his friend would say such a thing. "I know it..."

"Uh.. guys?" Flarepaw mewed as they padded along. "You might wanna look at that."
They looked over to a clearing full of half-eaten prey corpses with their bones sticking out.
Alderpaw sighed. "Claw's rouges..." They must of been hunting around here, just as Claw said.
Flarepaw wrinkled her nose. "They didn't even bother to eat them fully."

Alderpaw sighed. "Come on, let's continue."
Then there was a new scent. KITscent. "I smell kitscent!" He announced, he sniffed again. "And something else." He flicked his tail down sharply, warning the others to keep quiet. Then, silently, he signaled with his whiskers toward a blackened ash tree up ahead.

Instinctively  the three cats separated, each moving toward the tree, one on either side. They crept over the soft forest floor, using all the tricks from basic training, stepping lightly, keeping their bodies low.
Then they leaped.

Leafeye yowled with surprise as the three cats landed beside her and pinned her to the ground. She struggled free, spitting, and backed into a sheltered hollow at the base of the trunk. Flarepaw and Shinepaw moved forward, blocking her way out.

"I knew IceClan would blame me!" Leafeye hissed, her eyes flashing with hostility.
"Tell us!" Flarepaw snapped. "Where are the kits? Have you harmed them? We can smell their blood!"

"I don't have them," snarled Leafeye angrily. "I've come to find them and take them back. I stopped because I smelled blood too. But they're not here."

"Do you know what happened to Owlpool? She's dead! Did you see anything happen to her before you left?" Shinepaw asked.

Leafeye took a step back, clearly shocked. "Owlpool's dead?" She echoed.
"You didn't know?" Relief filled Alderpaw's mew.
"How could I? I left the camp as soon as I heard the kits were missing."

"She was found dead in the medicine den, someone killed her," Shinepaw said.

After a long moment, Leafeye spoke, "I know who has taken the kits," she mewed, "I smelled his scent near the nursery. And he is most likely the cat who murdered Owlpool."
"Who is it?" Alderpaw mewed.
"Splash—one of Claw's lackeys. And as long as the kits are with Claw, they're in great danger."

"Okay, I'm getting tired of it, so I'm actually gonna ask!" Flarepaw snapped with frustration. "How do you know so much about Claw's rouges?"

Leafeye sighed. "Alright, I guess you apprentices deserve to know." She glanced over the horizon, as if going through painful memories. "You all know how I was exiled from SmokeClan, but that's not the full story. A few moons ago, I was patrolling our borders by myself, but I had a caught a strange scent.. a scent I hadn't smelled ever in my entire life. So I followed it, and it lead me to a strange place. I saw Fireclaw's kits trapped by the rouges and when I tried to go back, I was caught. Claw talked to other cats to see what he should do with me. I thought it was the end for me until a few cats told me everything about Claw.."

Leafeye looked back at the apprentices with a distant look. "Hunting in territories is just the beginning. Claw doesn't want to take over the Clans. He wants to destroy the Clans. He wants to exterminate all Clan blood until not even the smallest Clan kits are alive."
Alderpaw bristled. Claw was a cat that was too dangerous.
Too dangerous to be alive, he thought.

Leafeye sighed, shaking her head. "Then, Claw gave a moss full of blood and ordered me to dip my paw in it. When I refused, he said he would kill me right then and there. I knew I had to warn SmokeClan immediately and I did as he said. When I came back to SmokeClan, though, they accused me of killing Fireclaw's kits faster than I could speak and..." she sighed. "You know the rest."

Flarepaw raised an eyebrow in confusion. "But why would Claw go through all the trouble of exiling you from your Clan?"
Leafeye inhaled a sharp breath. "Because I know where Claw and his rouges live."

"But," Alderpaw mewed, "We don't know enough about Claw. What his weaknesses are, and what his plan is."
"Oh," Leafeye purred. "But I know a cat that does."

Leafeye snorted. "There's probably a patrol coming after me now." She stood up and lashed her tail. "You three go and convince your patrol I'm innocent and I'll go and get our spy. We'll meet back here. And if you dare doddle, I will hunt a rabbit and whack you three in the head!" She snapped.
Alderpaw forgot with amusement that she was still technically an elder.

They then raced off, determined to find this patrol.
And maybe, just maybe...
They had a chance to stop Claw.