Vol. 1/6 ✅️
"Your future - it is a path entwined with thorns. They try to grab you, to pull you into the deepest thicket - and they will succeed. You don't have the power to change your destiny completely, Larkpaw. The only thing you can do is not t...
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"Is Cloverleaf here?"
Larkpaw looked up from her morning wash in surprise as a panicked Smallblotch poked her head into the den.
"No, why would she be in the apprentices' den?" Mottlepaw replied.
Without saying another word, Smallblotch whirled around and was gone again in an instant.
Reedpaw snorted snidely. "What's wrong with her?"
But Smallblotch's behaviour had made Larkpaw curious. Shaking the last bits of moss from her pelt, she pushed the fern fronds apart and slipped outside.
The sight that presented itself surprised her. Some cats hurried through the camp, poking their heads under every bush, others just paced restlessly.
An uneasy feeling spread through Larkpaw. She quickly spotted Sunbrook and ran to him. "Has something happened?"
Sunbrook twitched the tip of his tail. "Cloverleaf has disappeared."
"Disappeared?" Larkpaw repeated incredulously.
"Her nest was already cold this morning."
Larkpaw felt a cold shiver shiver through him. "Alone? But..."
"Yes, alone," Sunbrook growled. "Who knows what reason she had for leaving the camp alone."
Dawnbreeze emerged, panting and with ruffled fur. "Some search patrols are about to be sent out. I'm thinking about joining one."
Larkpaw listened up. "Can I come with you?" she asked. Even though Cloverleaf had behaved quite badly during the hunt yesterday, Larkpaw realised that they were Clanmates and that their differences shouldn't matter in an emergency.
"Absolutely not!" Dawnbreeze disagreed sternly. "You're far too young for that. We don't know what we'll find there — or rather, what we won't find. It's better for you to stay in camp."
Although Larkpaw knew that Dawnbreeze only wanted her to be safe, it still felt like an insult. "I'm not a kit anymore! You can't protect me forever. Cloverleaf is my Clanmate too, so it's my duty to look for her."
There was an anxious gleam in Dawnbreeze's amber eyes. She is afraid that she will lose me, just as she has already lost my mother — her sister.
Sunbrook stood between the two of them. "If Larkpaw wants to go, let her go," he said calmly.
Thankful, Larkpaw curled her tail upwards. She didn't even know herself why she was so eager to volunteer for partaking in the search, but she guessed that it was because she wanted to be a loyal Clan cat.
"Fine." Dawnbreeze still seemed reluctant. "Then stay by my side all the time, understood?"
"Yes, Dawnbreeze." Larkpaw nodded.
I don't want to imagine what we might find out there. With the unknown perpetrator around, there's a big chance Cloverleaf was the next victim.
Dawnbreeze and her ran over to the Birchtunnel. "Wait!" Dawnbreeze called. "We'd like to join."
