Thanks for the reviews everybody! I'm glad you like it! Only two more chapters to go before the grand finale, and I bet you'll like the ending. I'll try not to make it too cliche for you. xDChapter 12
After hearing the patrol's news, the WindClan cats were extremely tense. Heatherpaw could tell that Onestar was partially frustrated and partially grateful to ThunderClan, though he tried not to show much of the latter. This was a difficult time for both Clans, and to Heatherpaw it seemed as if ShadowClan and RiverClan didn't exist- they simply weren't part of the problem.
Tornear and Harespring shot death glares at Crowfeather all day, and Crowfeather glared back. Heatherpaw felt uncomfortable around them, and tried to keep herself busy with things that didn't involve them.
"So you killed three foxes?" Breezepaw mewed in admiration as he followed Heatherpaw out of camp to go hunting. "That's amazing!"
"Well,
we killed three foxes," Heatherpaw mewed, laughing nervously, "with ThunderClan's help."
Breezepaw frowned. "That's not Harespring's side of the story," he told Heatherpaw. "Harespring says that ThunderClan only slowed you down in the process, and if they hadn't been there you would have killed the other two foxes as well."
"Never believe everything that comes out of Harespring's mouth," snapped Heatherpaw. "We were outnumbered until ThunderClan came. It was nine against five after they came; they didn't slow us down, they helped us!"
Crowfeather stepped in between the two arguing apprentices before either could say anything more. "No fighting," he snarled. "Just leave it alone." He turned with a snort of discontent.
Heatherpaw broke eye contact with Breezepaw and didn't dare to speak. Breezepaw did the same, but Heatherpaw could tell that he wanted to talk to her some more. She didn't answer his silent plea.
Whitetail sighed. "Okay, here we are," she announced. "Let's do some hunting." She ushered Breezepaw over to talk with him, and Heatherpaw padded up to Crowfeather. "What are we going to do?"
"Well," mewed Crowfeather, "I think we should get started by having a little contest. Don't you think, Whitetail?"
"That sounds fabulous!" purred Whitetail. She smiled at Breezepaw. "Crowfeather's challenging us."
Breezepaw lashed his tail behind him. "Bring it on!" he hissed playfully, crouching down and wiggling his hindquarters.
Crowfeather smirked. "Breezepaw, Heatherpaw, I'm setting you up to a hunting contest. Whoever can catch the most prey by moonhigh wins."
"Moonhigh?" Whitetail echoed. "Isn't that a little long?"
Heatherpaw's paws tingled. Crowfeather was giving her time to visit Lionpaw! "Of course not, Whitetail!" Breezepaw broke in. "That way we get more prey for the Clan."
"And whoever wins," Crowfeather mewed mischievously, "gets their mentor to do their apprentice duties for two days straight."
"Really, Crowfeather?" Heatherpaw teased. "I thought you grew out of those."
"I should be getting ready, then," Crowfeather purred. "You're not going to lose, are you?"
"Of course I'm not going to lose, Crowfeather!" Heatherpaw assured her mentor. "I'll beat Breezepaw by ten fox-lengths!"
Breezepaw's eyes twinkled with competition. "Oh really?" he asked, his voice edged with a challenge. "Let's see if you live up to that promise!"
Crowfeather nodded. "And the challenge is on!"
The two apprentices took off across the moorland, Heatherpaw bounding for the RiverClan border. She would visit the ThunderClan border when it was time to see Lionpaw. Smoky blue eyes raised to the sky and prayed for good hunting. Then Heatherpaw dropped to the ground and stalked a field mouse, getting closer and closer…
With a swift pounce, the mouse was dead. Heatherpaw was extremely proud of herself. Her first catch of the contest! She buried the mouse and scouted for other prey- it was going to be a long time until sunset.
***
At last, Heatherpaw had brought her final piece of prey to Crowfeather before sunset fell. She and Breezepaw agreed to swap hunting spots, and Crowfeather leaned down to murmur in Heatherpaw's ear, "good luck. And don't get caught."
"I won't," promised Heatherpaw. She smiled and raced for the Moonpool. She couldn’t believe that she was pulling this off!
Good old Crowfeather, she thought,
always thinking of something. The young apprentice slowed down as she reached the border. She followed the stream all the way to the Moonpool, and gaped at it in awe. She had been here only once, when she had taken the trip with Crowfeather, and the beauty of the sunset reflected in the pool left her breathless.
"Enjoying the view?" a voice asked her, and she caught a flash of golden fur out of the corner of her eye. She laughed and batted Lionpaw's ear playfully.
"It's very pretty, isn't it?" she breathed, staring at the Moonpool again.
Lionpaw purred. "Not as pretty as you."
Heatherpaw's fur flushed with heat. "Lionpaw, I thought you were above silly compliments," she murmured in embarrassment.
"It's true," insisted Lionpaw, sitting down and wrapping his tail around his paws. "Well, how are things in WindClan?"
"They're okay," sighed Heatherpaw. "The whole camp is kind of tense, especially Onestar. He's pretty frustrated." She lashed her tail back and forth uneasily. "What about you?"
"I'm on punishment for talking back to my father," mewed Lionpaw. "I'm helping Leafpool gather some herbs right now. She said that she wanted me to see you tonight."
This didn't come as a surprise to Heatherpaw. If Crowfeather knew about them being together, why shouldn't Leafpool? As long as it was only Leafpool that knew, then she was okay with it. "Where is she now?"
"I'm here," purred Leafpool, standing on the rock overlooking the Moonpool. The small stream trickled into the pool beside her, and it nearly cut out her words.
"Hello, Leafpool," greeted Heatherpaw, leaping up to touch noses with the medicine cat. "I'm sure you know that Crowfeather knows about us, too?"
Leafpool nodded. "I do," she replied, her voice a little stiff.
Lionpaw tilted his head. "Leafpool, I've never got the chance to ask you- what happened between you and Crowfeather?"
The ThunderClan medicine cat tensed, and Heatherpaw inferred that this was a subject that Leafpool didn't like to talk about. "Well," the brown tabby mewed, "a while ago, before either of you were born, when the Clans first came to the lake, I fell in love with Crowfeather. It took a while for either of us to realize it at first, but when Mudclaw rebelled against Onestar, I almost fell off a cliff, but Crowfeather saved me. He confessed his feelings and I returned them."
Heatherpaw's eyes widened. "He never told me about that!" she meowed.
"He's got a good reason not to," Leafpool replied. "We ran off together once, but I insisted on coming back when the badgers attacked ThunderClan. After that, we didn't really speak to each other, and Crowfeather became his normal self- ignorant of the past."
No one spoke for a few moments. There wasn't anything to say. Finally, Heatherpaw spoke up. "Lionpaw, what did you want to talk to me about?"
"Oh yeah, that," muttered Lionpaw, his tail tip flicking back and forth across the stony ground. "We can't keep on meeting each other like this," he admitted. "I still do want to be with you, Heatherpaw, but eventually our Clans will find out about… about…
us."
Heatherpaw nodded curtly. "I agree, Lionpaw. But what else will we do? Our Clans are at war with each other; how can it work out that easily?"
Lionpaw glanced over at Leafpool. "Do you think we could… run away; like Leafpool and Crowfeather did?"
The ThunderClan medicine cat hissed. "Lionpaw, I know it'll never work. I've tried it before."
Both of the apprentices were looking at Leafpool now. Heatherpaw could see pain swirling in her eyes, and she frowned. "Leafpool, it's the only way for Lionpaw and I to be together."
"I don't want you risking your life!" Leafpool protested. "You're only apprentices; who knows what's out there in the moors beyond our territories? There's a reason that the Clans don't go out there, you know."
"Yeah, because they're too chicken," Lionpaw snorted.
Heatherpaw sighed as the sun dropped further down into the horizon. "I'm sorry, Lionpaw, I've got to go," she apologized. "I'll see you soon, if everything works out." As Heatherpaw walked away, she glanced back over her shoulder several times to make sure that it hadn’t been just a dream- no, a nightmare.
And it hadn't been. The nightmare was real.