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Bearpaw let out a yowl of grief, while Sablepaw marched up to Whitebark while the rest of the Clan stood frozen in shock. Mouse-brains.

"Who was it?" Sablepaw growled, her eyes flashing with anger hot enough to start a forest fire. Without even thinking, she unsheathed her claws and scratched the surface of the dusty camp floor. Whitebark's eyes were wide and terrified, and he had a few cuts on his muzzle, oozing droplets of blood. "Who did it?!" Sablepaw screeched, nose-to-nose with the tomcat.

Whitebark scrambled backwards. "I-I think - I don't know!" he wailed, and Sablepaw instantly felt bad. "All I know was that they were rogues, maybe? They smelled kind of like us, but they were fighting dirty." The whole Clan had come out of the shock and clustered around him. Ashenpoppy whimpered.

"They were aiming for our eyes," she moaned. Proof of this was on her face, and Sablepaw felt an eclectic tingle underneath her skin as she saw the wound above her mother's eye, dripping blood but luckily leaving her vision unharmed for long term. "While we all w-were distracted with trying to block blows, they dragged him off. I could see out of the corner of my eye, and - and then left - !" She broke off, breathing heavily. "They were going to slit his throat, I saw it!"

Bristleburn forced her way between the throng of cats, impatiently shoving them out of the way with her muzzle. Frail little Snailpaw followed as best he could, clutching herbs and cobwebs.

"She needs thyme, for the shock," Bristleburn directed Snailpaw. "Yeah - that's the one. And poppy seeds, so she can sleep. The little black seeds." Snailpaw nipped a leaf so that it held a couple poppy seeds and some tiny bunches of leaves.

Valleystar bounded up, his eyes flashing. "Are you saying it might have been a Clan, if they smelled like us?" he hissed at Whitebark.

Whitebark nodded, and there brown and white leader growled unintelligible things under his breath as he let Bristleburn pass to give the white warrior thyme and a poppy seed.

"I don't need that," Whitebark insisted, gulping down the thyme with a grimace and glowering at the poppy seed. "I want to fight and get Acornrustle back."

Bristleburn sniffed in disdain but withdrew the herbs from the white warrior.

Mousescramble stepped forward. "We need to have a temporary deputy." Valleystar nodded. Sablepaw was shocked.

"Replace Acornrustle?!" she protested, her shoulder fur bristling.

"Only for now," Valleystar muttered without looking at her. Sablepaw nudged Bearpaw, who was gazing at the Clan fearfully, and looked for her mother to see what she thought of this. But Ashenpoppy was being led to her nest by Snailpaw, her head down.

"For now, the deputy will be Fadingwave." The light brown tomcat with dazzling blue eyes nodded. He was one of the quietest cats in the Clan.

He must be crazy to have that cat give us orders, Sablepaw thought dryly. She'd never heard him speak in her life. But still, this wasn't the time to be picky. Her father was in danger.

"I'm taking a patrol to see these cats," Valleystar announced abruptly. The Clan gaped at him in unhidden astonishment.

Bristleburn scowled. "Just one good-sized patrol would practically be our whole Clan, Valleystar. Who will protect the camp?" She lashed her ginger tail angrily, pacing in front of the Clan leader.

"I'll go with a peace offering and try to work this out peacefully. Now, the cats coming with me will be Ravenstare, Fawnpath, Sablepaw, and Whitebark." Sablepaw gasped. She was being chosen? Maybe it was to make amends . . . ? "Please choose the biggest and juiciest piece of prey from the fresh-kill hollow, Sablepaw. You will all follow Fadingwave's orders until we come back."

Sablepaw gave a tiny shrug inside. She probably was just chosen because she was fast, plus she was Fawnpath's apprentice. Practically leaping to the pile of prey at the bottom of the hollow, out of the corner of her eye she saw Bearpaw's disappointed face. She tried to ignore it, digging eagerly through the prey.

Dragging out a plump rabbit that wasn't even cold yet, she clamped her jaws tightly over it and heaved it to Valleystar. She set it down at her paws, hearing Bunnyear meow wistfully, "There goes my dinner." But this was more important.

She, Sablepaw, was chosen for the mission to rescue her father from filthy rogues. She puffed her chest up proudly. Fawnpath nudged her sharply.

"We're just scoping them, we aren't going to get your father back yet unless this goes a better way. There are many ways this could go." The warrior molly's gaze darkened.

"How many ways are the bad way?" Sablepaw whispered.

Fawnpath heaved a sigh. "I don't even want to answer that."

♛ - ♛ - ♛

The sun was already at it's peak by the time the patrol had made it over the border and started scenting odd scents of cats.

Sablepaw gazed around in amazement. She had never been past the border, having only been an apprentice for a few days. As the undergrowth grew thicker and harder to get through, she became doubtful of her being on the patrol.

She was a new apprentice, with no battle training whatsoever, she reflected as pushed past a clump of bright green brambles. They snagged her pelt, but she didn't feel it. Panic rose in her throat and made her incapable of speech. They continued on, wrestling with the overgrown flora in utter silence.

At least there was no need to talk. Why give their enemy the advantage of hearing them approach the camp before they even get there. They might think it an invasion, an attack.

Sablepaw shuddered as she thought of being in a battle, untrained and vulnerable. But luckily, she was distracted from her thoughts by bumping into Fawnpath's haunches. She suppressed a yelp of surprise and realized they had reached the rogue camp.

Peering through the hastily stacked twigs and brambles, she saw . . . it wasn't a rogue camp. What rogue camp had a fresh-kill pile and clean, well-groomed cats sharing tongues all around?

Fawnpath's leafy-green eyes reflected her apprentice's own confusion. This isn't a rogue camp at all, it's really a Clan camp! So Bearpaw's dream pal Martineye wasn't lying about there being other Clans. Then a horrible screech hit the air, shattering the calm atmosphere like ice.

The sound made Sablepaw dig her claws into the ground so she wouldn't charge in. The rest of the patrol were snarling silently, and Valleystar lashed his tail.

"Leave me alone!" Acornrustle yowled loudly, drawing the attention from the eight or so cats eating fresh-kill. "Take that! Leave me alone, you mange-pelt!" Valleystar craned his neck, supposedly trying to look for Acornrustle's sleek bengal form. Sablepaw narrowed her eyes. What were they doing, just waiting here, they had to attack and get Acornrustle back!

Bunching her hind legs, getting ready to sprint to her father's side, Sablepaw growled slightly without even realizing. Fawnpath swung her head around angrily, but then her expression softened. She silently touched her nose briefly to Sablepaw's. "Not yet," the calico she-cat breathed.

Her gaze swept over the camp once more and Sablepaw's shoulders sagged. Valleystar waved his tail in the air and without warning the group fanned out a little, curving back towards Valleystar like a protective half-moon. Valleystar ushered Sablepaw to go to Fawnpath, and the she-cat squeezed between her mentor and Ravenstare, whose cold grey eyes gazed unblinkingly at the camp entrance.

Valleystar let out a soft yowl. It didn't have any real words, but it wasn't a battle cry. More like a call just to let them know ValleyClan was here. Fawnpath ducked out for a second before reappearing with the rabbit.

A marbled cream and dark brown she-cat with a flat face, her body slightly plump. "Who are you?" she growled.

"Valleystar! You came!" Acornrustle yowled from the camp. Sablepaw tried to peer past the she-cat but the fox-heart had specifically bushed out her fur.

"Let them through, Dappleslip," a smooth voice cut through Acornrustle's voice. The she-cat, Dappleslip, delivered one last piercing glare through dark brown eyes and backed slowly away, letting the patrol follow.

There weren't too many cats, maybe close to ValleyClan's numbers, but they were glossy and muscled, shining with health. All of them looked up.

"Why are you here?" The smooth voice was sweet like honey, but had an edge like a bee sting. It came from a light brown tabby molly with a pelt as sleek as her voice. The sun was level with her head, making her hairs golden in the dying sunlight as she stood in front of them.

Sablepaw glanced up. Red streaks like blood were spreading across the sky. The pale stars were already beginning to gather. It didn't seem very safe to be kept here at night to Sablepaw. They should get along with their business.

"We want our deputy back," Valleystar meowed calmly, though he had unsheathed his claws just a little so that the last embers of the sun were shining on them and reflecting in the other cats' eyes. The other leader's eyes drifted towards them for a second before snapping back up to Valleystar's face. He motioned to Fawnpath and the warrior set down the prey in front of the she-cat leader.

"I'm Lilystar, and this is FallowClan." The she-cat ignored Valleystar and the prey, making the tomcat's claws slide out a little farther.

"Give us Acornrustle and we can leave without spilling blood," Fawnpath growled, stepping a few pawsteps behind Valleystar respectively but baring her teeth. Valleystar nodded firmly.

"Then give us your camp," Lilystar meowed, flicking her tail-tip with either annoyance or enjoyment. Her eyes shined with pleasure as Valleystar's anger built up.

"Never!" Valleystar snarled. He hissed at her, and now she hissed back, her shoulder fur bristling.

"Then come and get him by force!" she screeched, leaping forward with a battle cry and kicking the fresh-kill aside. Sablepaw's breath caught in her chest as warriors thundered forward. A young cream tabby tomcat yowled in rage as he gave a long jump and landed on top of her.

Stunned, Sablepaw was an easy target. She cried out as the other supposed apprentice slashed his claws through her pelt. She lashed out at him, but he ducked and rolled to avoid her claws with ease.

Ducking between her legs and thrusting his body upward, she toppled over and he snaked a paw around her throat. He was obviously trained. Sablepaw watched as he relaxed for a second, then will all her might, pushed up, knocking him off.

He lay on the ground for a heartbeat and Sablepaw grasped her chance. She started ripping her claws across his flank, splattering scarlet blood across the ground.

Then she was down again, and the apprentice's paw was closed around her throat again. He pressed it down, and his face swam in Sablepaw's vision.

So this was how she was going to die. Against an apprentice who was much stronger than she was. Her eyes went dark but then her vision was flooded with colours again and her windpipe suddenly opened back up again, letting her scramble to her paws and take deep breaths of air. Glancing to her side, she saw that Acornrustle had tackled the apprentice.

Clamping his jaws down on the tomcat's tail so that he wailed in pain for a few moments before letting go, the Clan deputy raced towards his daughter. "Let's go!" he shouted over the cacophony of yowling and screeches of pain and anger. The cream apprentice had ran off blindly towards a makeshift den, his tail leaving thin lines of blood in the grass.

Acornrustle shoved Sablepaw forward and she ran for her life, though her claws were aching and her breath wasn't coming. The rest of the patrol followed, and thought it might have looked like a retreat, they were yowling triumphantly upon seeing Acornrustle in their ranks.

While she half-ran, was half-pushed along by her father, Sablepaw gazed at the sky. The moon was pale and eerie, the stars cold. The air had a snap in it, but it helped renew energy into her. The trees were black and unwelcome but there was no stopping as the patrol burst through the thick foliage, raising their relieved and joyous voices to what they once believed were StarClan.

It seemed like only a blink before they reached camp. Slowing down and gasping for breath, Sablepaw and the rest of the patrol were crowded by their Clanmates. She felt a stitch in her side, but it hardly felt like anything. Her heart thundered in her chest, and she was surprised it didn't burst out.

Ashenpoppy wasn't among them, perhaps still under the influence of poppy seeds. Sablepaw's purr when she saw Bearpaw's anxious face was cut short as the wild adrenaline of the run started to wear off. She was suddenly aware of her wounds, and she moaned.

"Well fought," Fawnpath told her apprentice fondly as the she-cat led over Bristleburn.

"But I fought badly," Sablepaw growled through a clenched jaw, wincing as Bristleburn started placing cobwebs and something foul and sticky over her scratches. She heaved a sigh.

Fawnpath shook her head as Bearpaw pressed close to Sablepaw. "You fought badly for an experienced fighter. But as an apprentice who hasn't had any training yet, you fought good. You didn't die. Acornrustle just helped chase the cat off. Oh, I saw out of the corner of my eye when your father slashed Lilystar's muzzle. She'll probably have a scar to remember that." The calico's voice rumbled with an amused purr.

"Lilystar?" Bearpaw mewed, furrowing his brow. "Who's that?" He flexed his claws eagerly, but Sablepaw had other ideas. Licking up tiny black poppy seeds, she shook her head slightly.

"I'll tell you in the morning," she murmured, her voice slurred as she yawned. "But right now, I just want to go to my warm nest."