Riverpaw raced.

He wanted to meet up with Zinnia as fast as possible.

I miss her. He thought with a pure rumbling in his throat.

He started to imagine her orange-red tabby pelt and beautiful golden eyes.

An urge to go to her increased as he leapt over the stream practically bordering him from the rogues.

It has almost been another moon.

His love for this she-cat grew stronger and stronger. Unlike RiverClan right now.

He ran through the grass and everything was a blur until he stopped suddenly, finding himself face to face to Stripe's blazing Amber eyes.

Next to him was the orange-brown pelt of Kelp who looked at him in amusement.

The younger tom's Amber gaze seemed to mock Riverpaw in a way.

"Hello there, Paws of the River! What's up?" Kelp purred friendly, a mischievous glint in his oculus.

Riverpaw's happy expression turned in to one of disappoint upon seeing the Orange-brown tom.

"Where's Zinnia?" Riverpaw asked, trying to peer past the two for the familiar golden yellow eyes.

He found himself disappointed when he Couldn't find them. She must be inside the Horseplace.

"Why do you want to know, Kit? Got a crush on her, eh?" Kelp asked bluntly.

Riverpaw knew enough slang of these cats. That was their word for mooning. Pearl had told him.

Riverpaw's ears flattened.

How does he...

"It's sooo obvious! I don't see how any cat wouldn't be able to tell." Kelp blurted, his tail curling in amusement.

It seems he would have a new thing to mock Riverpaw over besides his name now.

I can't wait until I'm able to beat him in a fight.

Stripe just stood there, but his sight was turned towards the grass; it was also looking tempting for Riverpaw as well.

He doesn't take taunting and teasing very well.

"If you want to find her, I'll take you to her. She's not doing well, though. Just a fair heads up. Neither is Gecko. While you've been away a different clan has been attacking us. I'm...unsure why."

Kelp pointed his tail towards Riverpaw to indicate for him to follow the other tom.

Riverpaw was very excited to see Zinnia, but was still very nervous and worried about her.

Some other clan...? The only other clan by them is WindClan.

Riverpaw's ears flattened and his eyes flashed darkly.

Why does it have to be them? Those mouse-brained fools! They already took much from RiverClan, and now they're taking away from poor rogues too! That's unfair!

Riverpaw wanted to do something about it. But he didn't know what he could do. This was beyond an apprentice's powers anyways.

Riverpaw supposed he should put this at the back of his head for now.

His heart pounded in his chest as he followed closely behind Kelp.

The two went past all the beds. The beds were filled with moaning cats and Riverpaw could smell the metallic scent of blood in the place.

Yikes! It was definitely WindClan! There's this one tom in the clan who doesn't obey the code. I wish the leader would kick him out. He's just causing chaos at this point.

Some of the cats glared at him like he was a part of WindClan himself. Others ignored him. Some gave him friendly glances.

"I was fortunate to be the fighter I am," Kelp told him flicking his tail, not turning back to address Riverpaw's presence.

"I wasn't nearly hurt as bad as the rest. Those cats in that other clan that border us were really brutal." Kelp continued.

"Why did they attack you?" Riverpaw asked curiously.

Kelp snorted at his question.

"They attacked us because they didn't want us around. I don't understand why. We haven't interacted with them much. Maybe one of our cats accidentally crossed the 'oh forsaken' border."

Riverpaw accepted that as an answer, not wanting to have a whole rogue society on his tail for accidentally asking too much.

"You know you're real quiet today. Is it a shock that the other clan attacked us? They do this more often than you think. RiverClan, this WindClan, they attack us for no good reason. You don't know as much about the clans as you think you do, Riverpaw. I'm sorry to tell you that."

Kelp finally used his name.

"It's just...I wouldn't have expected any of the clans to want to brutally hurt any cat like this. I've never seen this many wounded, not even after battles. I was shielded from most of it, but I've seen the lasting impact the wars the other clans had on each have made. They're still in war." Riverpaw meowed breathlessly.

Kelp nodded grimly.

The two continued their march in silence.

The only thing keeping things completely silent was their footsteps, the birds outside, and the moans and groans of the cats in the barn.

It didn't appear there were medicine cats either, so most were just writhing around in their own filth and blood.

It was disgusting.

Some were still bleeding.

Others weren't breathing too, so that shocked Riverpaw. The bodies seemed fresh too, so some of them must have just died recently.

If only they had Sapwhisker. She'd help them.

Riverpaw pitied the rogues and felt bad for them.

To be wanting peace, yet brought into a reckless battle like that was something only barbarians did. It was disrespectful to the code Riverpaw knew.

He heard of only a few codes since he was still Learning the basics of the code. He knew that a warrior didn't need to kill, so why were they killing these rogues?

It didn't make sense to him, that's all.

Riverpaw saw many friends he had made be bedridden and wounded.

Were Stripes and Kelp the only ones who weren't hurt as badly? Is Zinnia hurt?! I hope not. I hope she and Gecko are just fine. I'll make sure they make it out of this. It's so unfortunate this had to happen to them.

Riverpaw's gaze turned towards Gecko's golden ones as she lifted her head—she was obviously in pain as she did so.

"Look what that other clan did to me, Riverpaw." She mewed weakly.

She was squinting at him.

She must be having a hard time focusing on him because she kept flinching in pain.

Her back was split open and blood was pouring.

Zinnia was trying to stop the blood.

She wasn't a medicine cat, but Riverpaw couldn't help but admire her for trying to take care of the sickly looking she-cat.

Riverpaw approached Zinnia as she gave him a solemn look.

"How is she? I've heard what happened. I'm sorry." Riverpaw apologized with his head dipped in respect.

Zinnia seemed to be peeved for a moment before purring.

"It's fine. You've now seen how unfair the clans are to us because of who we are. It's cold it's freezing. We were hungry, but there was no food here, so we searched for it in WindClan territory because it would be a shorter trek. Instead of wanting to help us, they scratched and bit us. We will friendly too. Nothing. We don't even have the medical skill your clan does." Zinnia ranted as she pressed some hay against her mother's back.

The she-cat groaned in pain.

"It hurts." The brown she-cat groaned.

Zinnia's face shown anguish.

"I know, mother. We will get you some help." Zinnia purred gently.

The Orange-red tabby spun around to face Riverpaw.

"Can you bring your medicine cat here?" She asked him with pleading gaze.

Riverpaw flinched.

"I have been going here in secret. I'm not sure how my clan would react. I've seen Sapwhisker put some Cobwebs on a cat before. That stopped their bleeding. I'm no medicine cat myself, but I'll do my best." Riverpaw meowed in a promise.

The she-cat became heartbroken.

"But my mother could die! Countless others died! Are you going to let us die for some stupid clan who judges others and attacks without reasonable reason?" She snapped at him.

She's right. Gecko could die. I could ask Sapwhisker if she could come, but the clan might need her. But...this could just be what we need to show the clan that these cats are peaceful. I have no choice anyways. I won't let anyone stop me from helping such nice cats. They need this help. I'm sure if I ask Sapwhisker or Lilystar we could settle something.

Riverpaw nodded.

"Of course you're right!" He addressed right away.

"I can't let this happen. Even if there's just a chance to save her that's all that counts. I'm sorry, Zinnia. I'll go get my medicine cat no matter the trouble!" Riverpaw meowed.

That satisfied Zinnia.

"Please hurry!" She yowled as he took off.

I will. And maybe, the clan will let you join. Just maybe.

And with that, Riverpaw ran out of the Horseplace.

Kelp followed him.

Kelp stopped him before he could get farther.

"Wait! Let me come with you! It will be more convincing if they see me."

Not wanting to waste anymore time, but still aggravated at Kelp— he was assuming he wanted to go to make sure he did it—Riverpaw ran off with Kelp on his tail.
—————

Authors note: First of all I'm still trying to arrange all the details and all the cats who are being mentored and are mentoring.

I know Gingerbreeze is Bramblepaw's mentor and I'm sure Chargefoot is Loonpaw's. But there will probably be some cats who will have to take a cat like a moon after two cats get to become warriors. Or I can make those warriors get apprentices right away.

I would like to at least be able to get my warriors in check and maybe keep in my mind the cats pelt and eye colors.

Pretty soon there will be a major event that's not this. This might be the beginning of one of the major events.

I won't say much more because I don't want to spoil things, but I am really trying to make this story seem more interesting since it's got a lot more to it than it seems.

Anyways I hope you enjoyed and give me some names I can use for some kits.

I would love to see some comments! Thank you for reading, and until the next update, try predicting what happens. lol