Lakepaw opened his eyes. Today, he woke up well. Whitepaw, Snailpaw, and even Burntpaw were still sleeping. It must be very early. He looked from the apprentice den, no one was in the clearing. Lakepaw let out a massive yawn, and deeply stretched. His belly growled, so he got up, and padded to the fresh-kill pile.
There was still prey, but there was less than yesterday. He picked a blackbird, and went to sit beside the tree.

When he finished eating, first cats showed up from their dens. Leopardheart, the deputy, emerged from the warrior den. She began to gather the cats for the patrols.
Lakepaw looked for Robinwing.

When he saw his mentor, he quickly followed him. "Greetings, Lakepaw." Robinwing meowed. He was in unusually good mood. "Hey, i just wanted to ask—could I go on the dawn patrol?" Lakepaw asked. "Sure, why not. I am still tired, I won't go. We will train after sunhigh." Robinwing yawned, and walked over to Lindenbreeze and Hivefoot.

Lakepaw joined Dawnsong and Littlefur, on a patrol to the Sandy bay. Tonight was the gathering, Lakepaw supposed Magpiestar will announce who will go when they return. They made their way in the grass, they began to approach The Squirrel-tree.
"Can i catch some?" Lakepaw asked when they were almost there.
"I suppose yes. Although we're not on a hunting patrol, fresh-kill would be useful," Dawnsong mewed. Lakepaw nodded, and crouched in the grass, preparing for a jump. He leaped, sinking his claws in the wood and he scrambled up the tree.
He was quiet, and after a heartbeat, a squirrel rustled in the leaves. Lakepaw turned his head, and flung himself up, grabbing the squeaking animal in his jaws. He quickly ended her pain and he elegantly jumped from the tree. He dug a hole in the sore dirt, and gently lied the dead prey there. Lakepaw buried the squirrel, and hurried after the patrol.

They were approaching the sea. The sun wasn't burning as in greenleaf. Lakepaw lifted his head, and looked at the cloudy sky. "It's about to rain," Littlefur remarked.
"I know," Dawnsong nodded,"We have to mark the borders first."

Lakepaw ran forward, leaving the patrol far behind, his paw pads touching the sore and cold sand. He felt pebbles and shells in the sand too.

Suddenly, a massive, monsterous twoleg thing appeared from behind the cliff. Lakepaw yowled, and backed away. He never saw that thing before.
He slipped, and fell on the sand. He lifted his head, his eyes open wide with fear. Lakepaw heard Littlefur yowling something on Dawnsong, but he didn't understand the words.
The monster was approaching, it was uncomfortably close. Lakepaw felt as in a while his muzzle would touch the wooden torso. He tried to scramble on his paws, but he fell again.

"Dawnsong!" he yowled. He turned his head, he saw the cats on the high slope, trying to not fall.
A small bridge fell from the back of the monster. He saw high, twoleg boots. Lakepaw crept to the shadows behind the sea-monster. The twoleg was bearded, he gave the feeling that he came from a really cold place. He had cut pelts everywhere, it seemed like he's dressed in it. Lakepaw shivered. He thought how would it be if one of the pelts was his. After the twoleg, some cats stepped on the sand. One white, one black, one gray, and one dark brown. The white tom seemed to be leading them.
"I smell a kitty," he meowed.
Lakepaw pushed himself more into the shadows, hoping they would not see him.
But the wolf-colored tom padded in front of Lakepaw. "There he is." The snowy tom came to him and sniffed. "He comes from a Clan," he hissed. Lakepaw's eyelids widened with fear. "He's young, don't kill him," the black cat joined. "We're the boat-cats," the white one hissed coldly. "And we don't mess with Clan cats. This is now our territory." the tom added.
"My name is Frey, the gray tom is Ulf, the black one Hrafen, and the dark tabby is Einar."
Lakepaw noticed that when Frey said Einar's name, he rolled his eyes and looked annoyed. Lakepaw swallowed and nodded. "We are not staying here, but we will be here for moon or two." Frey continued coldly.
"And we dont care what do 'you' think."
Lakepaw although he felt like his heart will fall out in a heartbeat noticed that Einar looked embarrassed, like he didn't want Frey to say that, but he couldn't do anything. "This is for you to remember us,"
Frey hissed, and swiftly leaped on Lakepaw.

He unsheathed his claws, and swiped them on Lakepaw's cheek. Lakepaw painfully yowled, trying to get out of the bigger tom's grip, but Frey didn't let go. He released him after a while, narrowing his eyes. "Now you will remember," Frey hissed, and padded back into the monster, the other cats following him. Einar went last, looking at Lakepaw. It seemed like he wanted to apologize.
When they were gone, Lakepaw saw that Dawnsong and Littlefur were rushing to him. "Oh great StarClan," Dawnsong meowed, breathing heavily. Lakepaw felt the drops of blood run through his face, drippind on the ground. "I'm sorry Lakepaw, I'm really sorry. We should've came to help," Dawnsong purred. She sounded really guilty. "We should get out of here. They can return," Littlefur meowed, he looked feared. "It's okay Dawnsong. I should've stayed with you," Lakepaw meowed and rubbed against Dawnsong's side. The wound hurt him a lot, it also burned like he had fire in it.

When the patrol got to the camp, all gazes were fixed on Lakepaw. The wound still bleeded.
"Someone call Swanfoot!" Lakepaw heard whispers. "Lakepaw!" Snailpaw quickly ran to them. "What happened?"
"I'll tell you after," Lakepaw whimpered. "I need to the medicine den first."

Just after, Swanfoot hurried to him. "Oh StarClan," she murmured. "Come! Quickly to the medicine den!"
Snailpaw and Dawnsong were with him. "Where's Whitepaw?" Lakepaw asked. " Hunting with Lindenbreeze." Snailpaw meowed.

While the cats were scrambling to the underground den, Swanfoot was already there, preparing herbs. "Some poppy seeds, also cobwebs and horsetail. And dock of course," she was murmuring.
When they were down there, Swanfoot pushed Lakepaw to one of the nests. "Eat this. The wound will stop hurting," she mewed. As Lakepaw ate the seeds, she began to apply the cobweb on the scratch, stopping the blood. Then the medicine cat wrapped the wound in dock and horsetail, as she said. It really stopped hurting, Lakepaw felt much better.
"It will be some scar," Swanfoot meowed uneasily. Lakepaw slowly padded to the small water pool, looking at himself in the mirror-like water. The scar wasn't that big, but it took place on Lakepaw's cheek. Lakepaw felt terrible. He should have defended himself. The scar was very prominent. He would never look the same.

Magpiestar called a meeting, calling all the cats chosen to go on the gathering. All the apprentices were going.

When Lakepaw got on the ground, he didn't feel like going hunting or patrol. He needed to get things straight in his head.
He went to the apprentice den. Burntpaw was sadly there.
"What happened to you, Uglypaw?" he asked gleefuly.
"That's not your problem," Lakepaw snapped. Burntpaw smirked and he reached out to him.

"No one will like you now. Do you think they will be kind to you? Small, ugly, weak kit? I don't think so," he shrugged, "You won't ever find a mate." Burntpaw padded out of the den, leaving Lakepaw alone with his thoughts.

Was he right? Am I really that weak? Am I ugly?

Lakepaw felt terrible. He felt like he doesn't know anything, and he's just a weak kit, although on the last lesson, he was almost better than Robinwing. But he didn't admit it to himself.

He was tired. Really tired. He curled up in his nest, though it was light yet. He closed his eyes and sighed.
Tomorrow will be better.