Reedpaw of all cats! Larkpaw raised her flews in disbelief. She could only suppress a growl with difficulty. I can't stand her and she can't stand me!

The light brown apprentice stroked around her and then jumped onto a root. "I suggest you stay here, don't move and don't make a sound." Her tone was as poisonous as deathberries. "Then I have a chance of catching something."

Larkpaw felt the fur on her back stand up. "I can't do that! Fernpool rates me!" she protested. "We have to work together." The thought of having to rely on Reedpaw was as inviting as touching mousebile. Still, she realised that she had to do it.

"Who cares?" Reedpaw looked at her paws disdainfully.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Doesn't she want me to pass my training?

With an elegant leap, Reedpaw was at Larkpaw and pushed her against a tree. "You would become like her anyway. Disloyal. Disrespectful. Evil."

Something inside Larkpaw seemed to explode. She hissed and pushed Reedpaw away from her. "Fernpool is none of those things! She's an honourable warrior. You're the one who should be showing her respect."

Was Fernpool around? She had to report back. How could she do that if she wasn't watching her?

"Of course you think so," Reedpaw meowed sardonically. "But she was born during the time of PrickleClan. All cats born during that time can't be trusted. There's bad blood in their veins."

Larkpaw couldn't believe her ears. Until now, she had always thought that PrickleClan had existed much longer ago. And even though Fernpool seemed like an experienced cat to her, her muzzle wasn't white yet and her body was still strong.

"That means absolutely nothing!" Larkpaw contradicted energetically. "Do you even realise that the elders must have lived through this time as well? Do you think that they are also evil?"

Reedpaw stayed quiet.

"It's better if we both go hunting now." Larkpaw huffed. "Or do you want me to tell Flamedash that you insulted your Clanmate?"

"Don't you dare!" Suddenly Reedpaw rushed forward and hit Larkpaw with her claws unsheathed. "No one likes snitches."

Larkpaw's face burnt. She felt the blood dripping down on her whiskers. What have you done?

A growl rose in her throat. "Why did you hurt me?" she screeched shrilly. "That's not what Clanmates are supposed to do."

The expression in Reedpaw's blue eyes was devoid of any remorse. "You will never be my Clanmate," she spat.

"What in StarClan's name happened here?"

Sunbrook showed up behind a bracken. Larkpaw's heart felt like it made multiple rotations. He might have acted like a badgerheart towards Larkpaw and her sister in the past, but surely her own father would stand by her.

"I've heard someone screaming, so I came to look," Sunbrook meowed.

When his gaze fell on Larkpaw's face, he twitched his ears in surprise and hurried to her. "What happened to you?"

Just as Larkpaw was about to explain, Reedpaw intervened, "She tried to attack me! For no reason!"

Larkpaw gasped. "That's not true!" she contradicted. Oh, I see. Reedpaw is not only a big pile of mousedung, she's also a stupid liar!

"Really?" Sunbrook looked at Reedpaw doubtfully. "You still look all right to me."

"It's all a lie! Reedpaw was the one who attacked me for no reason! Please, you have to believe me." The words bubbled out of Larkpaw.

Slowly, Sunbrook looked from one she-cat to the other, but said nothing. His hesitation made Larkpaw nervous, almost frantic. Why don't you finally say something?, she spurred him on in her thoughts. Who will you stand by: your own kit or a mean lying cat?

Finally Sunbrook pushed his golden head forward and flicked the drops of blood from Larkpaw's whiskers with one forepaw. "It doesn't look too bad," he stated, almost purring. "It'll be completely healed in a few days."

Larkpaw tried not to let it show, but she was glad that Reedpaw hadn't hurt her fatally. I'm not really keen on not getting my first scars in a fair fight.

"She's being punished, isn't she?" Reedpaw meowed hopefully, as if she was getting a reward for her nonsensical behaviour. "And banished for it?"

Sunbrook narrowed his light green eyes slightly. "At the moment, it's only clear that Larkpaw was actually injured. It's not for me to judge who started it. You'll have to make that clear yourself." He stood at Larkpaw's side. "But your behaviour has often attracted bad attention in the past."

"Does that mean you're siding with her?" Reedpaw sounded incredulous.

"Yes. At least for now," Sunbrook replied. "I'd suggest you'll go back to camp now and wait there."

Reedpaw hesitated. "What are you going to do?"

"Go back to camp," Sunbrook repeated. "I have to talk with Larkpaw first."

For a heartbeat, Larkpaw thought she had seen a mischievous glow in Reedpaw's blue eyes. Then she disappeared between the trees.

Larkpaw breathed a sigh of relief, but immediately afterwards, doubts arose in her, making her paws feeling itchy.

"I don't know if this is a good idea," she said. "I'm supposed to get rated by Fernpool." The apprentice looked around. "Weird, I thought she'd be nearby."

Sunbrook sniffed, his expression getting worried. "No scent of her. Fernpool was never here."

No wonder that no cat except for Sunbrook had found us! "This isn't normal, right?"

"Of course it isn't!" Sunbrook retorted fiercely. "We better look for the rest of the patrol now. Maybe they have seen her."

With an uneasy feeling, Larkpaw followed Sunbrook in the direction he had come from.

All kinds of feelings were racing in her head: fear, worry, anger, confusion. Like a dense system of tendrils, they surrounded every thought and prevented Larkpaw from expressing or even grasping them.

"What really happened between you and Reedpaw?" Sunbrook asked soon after.

I can probably tell him. Larkpaw tried to ignore the thorns in her head. "Reedpaw didn't want me to hunt with her and then I said I couldn't because I was being judged. Then she said some pretty mean things about Fernpool—" Larkpaw faltered for a moment and wondered if she should reveal the reason why. "I don't know why. And then Reedpaw attacked me. Well, not really attacked, just scratched..."

Sunbrook flattened his ears, opened his mouth slightly and closed it again without saying anything.

"Don't you believe me?" Although he had just stood up for Larkpaw, she could easily trust the golden tabby warrior to have changed his mind after all, according to the way he had behaved towards her in the last few moons.

"Of course I believe you!" Sunbrook disagreed. "You're my daughter!"

Oh, then what was I before? A piece of crowfood, or what?

However, Sunbrook seemed to realise as well how weird it must had been of him to say that, for he avoided looking at Larkpaw, as if he was embarrassed.

Larkpaw was filled with self-satisfaction. Now he realised that he had behaved in an absolutely impossible way. However, that should be fine with her. It was no use having enemies behind every bush, and she certainly didn't want to have a cat as an enemy who was half responsible for her existence.

"There's Pinefur up ahead," Sunbrook interrupted the silence.

Tail twitching in annoyance, the auburn she-cat looked up when she noticed the two of them. "That mouse was already right in front of my paws, but you chased it away with your stomping!"

Sunbrook snorted snidely in reply. "That's not important now. Have you seen Fernpool?"

"No," Pinefur replied confused and turned her gaze to Larkpaw. "I thought today was the first rating." She tilted her head in surprise. "What happened to you?"

Larkpaw didn't feel in the mood to tell the whole story again, so she casually turned her head to the side. "Not that important."

Sunbrook took a step towards Pinefur. "Do you know where the rest of the patrol is?" he asked urgently.

"I think Mothspark and Duskfrost went there," Pinefur said, pointing up into the higher part of the territory with her bushy tail.

The three cats rushed up the mountain, Larkpaw having difficulty following them due to her lack of training.

They were soon met by Mothspark and Duskfrost, each of them carrying two shrews in their jaws.

Surprised by their arriving Clanmates, Duskfrost put down her catch. "What's going on?"

"Fernpool didn't come to my rating," Larkpaw explained as she dropped to the ground, panting and her legs aching.

"She wasn't even nearby," Sunbrook added, his fur ruffled.

Duskfrost and Mothspark looked at each other with a doubtful look in their eyes. "Maybe it's better if we go and look for her," Mothspark finally meowed. The hesitation in the white tom's voice was unmistakable.

Larkpaw gritted her teeth in frustration. She had long since realised that there were cats who distrusted Fernpool, but that didn't give them the right not to treat her like a Clanmate like any other. Filled with new energy, Larkpaw jumped to her paws.

Suddenly there was the rustling of leaves and the cracking of twigs, and the next moment Reddapple almost collided with them.

Staggering, the tortoiseshell and tabby battle strategist shook herself. When she looked up, her pale golden eyes were wide with horror.

Duskfrost, the oldest cat of those present, stepped forward. "What happened to you?" the black she-cat asked calmly but firmly.

Reddapple needed a few attempts to say a word at all because she had to keep catching her breath. "Fernpool," she finally groaned. "Above the River Ravine."

Oh no. Icy cold crept up Larkpaw's legs and spread through her body. She imagined all kinds of different scenarios what might have happened to Fernpool.

The patrol, led by Reddapple, ran towards the River Ravine. The closer they got to the sound of the water, the more nervous Larkpaw became. She didn't know if she was ready to possibly see the worst thing in her life.

Reddapple led them to a ledge above the river. Here, a lone, thin tree clung to the rock, and Fernpool lay at its roots.

If Larkpaw hadn't known it was her beforehand, she wouldn't have recognised her. Deep welts criss-crossed her body. Several tufts of fur were missing and claws were broken off.

Pinefur gasped for air. "Is she still alive?" she asked with trepidation.

Only a faint, barely noticeable rise and fall of her flank showed that Fernpool had not yet joined StarClan, but in her condition it was only a matter of time.

Trembling with worry, Larkpaw slid forwards and held her mouth close to Fernpool's ear. "Can you hear me?" she whispered. "Who did this to you?"

Fernpool remained silent, but her ear twitched, which meant that she had heard Larkpaw.

The next moment, Larkpaw caught a glimpse of her one eye. No. Not her too. Fernpool's left eye was half-closed. But the other one was hidden beneath a stream of dry blood. Distraught, Larkpaw gritted her teeth with all her might to suppress a gag reflex.

She flinched when she felt a touch on her back and wheeled round. "Are you all right?" Sunbrook meowed softly, but when he followed Larkpaw's gaze, he also faltered.

"No scent of a strange cat or another animal," Mothspark reported, who had ventured a few steps closer and sniffed at Fernpool with his muzzle raised. He pinned his ears back. "Not even a whiff. How is that possible?"

Memories of that one night when Heatherleap, then still Heatherpaw, and Mapleblossom had returned to camp. Seeing Fernpool in a similar state like Heatherleap finally gave Larkpaw the rest.

She sank to the ground in despair. "We have to get her to the camp somehow." She didn't dare make eye contact with the other cats. Do you really want me to lose my mentor on the third day?

Finally, Pinefur was the first to make a move and pulled Fernpool away from the abyss. "Come on," the reddish-brown she-cat meowed through a mouthful of fur. "We won't abandon any of our Clanmates."