Chapter Text
Pawsteps padded along the ground, still slightly damp underpaw from the morning dew.
The pawsteps, as it so happened, belonged to a RiverClan dawn patrol.
“Ugh, why did Reedclaw assign me to the dawn patrol?” Willowheart thought angrily, ”I was on the dusk patrol last night, I feel like I could fall asleep on my paws!”
As the patrol continued to the next border, Willowheart couldn’t help but let out a little mrrow of laughter at how Streampaw and Shellpaw were squabbling over something from what she assumed was last night, but she wasn’t sure. It was a surprise to no cat that the siblings were fighting again, they always did. Usually their sister, Nightpaw balanced them out. But fortunately for her, and unfortunately for every other cat on the patrol, Nightpaw wasn’t picked.
“Quiet you two!” Stormfoot snapped, “You’ll scare of every piece of prey from here to Highstones with all that chatter!” The two apprentices quickly mumbled apologizes to the senior warrior and dipped their heads in respect, but Willowheart couldn’t help but giggle to herself seeing the fur bristling on Shellpaw’s neck.
As the patrol approached the next border, Willowheart was again lost in her thoughts once more. She couldn’t help it! The wind was so cold and it wasn’t her fault that all she could think of was her warm nest, so cozy and inviting, “I can’t wait till we get back,”
”Aren’t you glad that crazy storm didn’t do too much damage to the forest, we can thank StarClan for that!” Mistflower said, snapping Willowheart from her thoughts. Willowheart nodded her head absentmindedly, only later realizing that the other she-cat was waiting for a reply. Oops. “O..oh yeah,” She managed to stutter out, her pelt burning under her fur.
“Will you two quiet down?” An angry meow came from Reedclaw, the patrol leader. “And keep up will you! StarClan, what are you two, lazy kittypets?”
“N…n.no Reedclaw, sorry Reedclaw.” The she-cats muttered, speeding up their pace.
The tom in front of her suddenly stopped in his tracks, causing Willowheart to run, muzzled first into his flank. A sharp nip of pain shot through her face, “Hey! Watc–“ She was promptly cut off by Rippletooth’s tail smacking her muzzle to shut her up.
“I smell something, a squirrel.” Rippletooth said slowly, “May I go catch it, Reedclaw?”
”Suck-up” Willowheart thought bitterly, Rippletooth always sweetened his words when he was talking to Reedclaw, like honey on his tongue, and Willowheart hated it.
”It’s new-leaf, we don’t really need leaf-bare prey. But, with the recent storm and bad fishing, you may try Rippletooth.” Reedclaw replied. Rippletooth nodded then quickly and quietly slunk away toward the riverbank, and Mistflower marked the border.
“I think that’s about all we need to cover this morning,” Reedclaw announced, “Finally! I get to settle down! Now all we need to do is wait for Rippletooth and the fresh-kill,”
Willowheart’s thoughts were once again interrupted by Rippletooth’s sudden yowl of “Guys! There’s something here I think you’ll want to see!”
The rest of the patrol quickly hurried towards Rippletooth’s uncharacteristically exited mew, and when they got there they saw, nothing? Nothing at all in sight out of the ordinary. “What is the meaning of this? Have the rats come back?” Reedclaw exclaimed, voice teeming with annoyance at the, well, nothing before them. “No, worse, the smell of a filthy traitor.“
Willowheart inhaled deeply, letting the forest seep into her mouth and nose, “No, nothing, blackbird, pine sap, there!” Her nose was pricked with an all-too-familiar scent that soon washed over Willowheart like a wave to the shore. The scent of a warrior that the Clan had mourned deeply, that Willowheart had mourned, like a sister! But she was alive this whole time! Willowheart’s fur bristled and she felt like every hair on her pelt was boiling, in a fit of pure rage, all she could yowl was one sentence,
“Blackspot. That. Filthy. TRAITOR!”