"If anyone can bring me some catmint, I would be very grateful." Fawndapple said. The shadows behind her eyes had only grown in the past few sunrises. Her apprentice, Pondpaw,  stood by Raggedclaw's nest, tending to the elder's needs.

Sunpaw scoffed. "I could find some with my eyes closed!"

Fawndapple didn't look impressed. She turned back to her duties, leaving the red tom glowing with over-confidence.

His brother narrowed his eyes. "Bet I could find it before you do."

Sunpaw rolled his eyes. "Sure. Want to join the competition, Willowpaw?" She looked over at the tabby, who was standing in the entrance of the medicine den. She had just come in to see Frostpaw.

"What's going on?" She asked.

Both brothers stumbled over each other to explain.

Fawndapple reemerged from the herb stocks. For the first time in a long while, her expression was light. "Whoever can bring me back the most catmint gets a comb of honey." She chuckled at the apprentice's astounded faces.

"Honey! I wish I could participate; I would have kicked your tails." Frostpaw raised her head from where she lay.

"I'll be giving you honey anyway. It helps a sore throat." The medicine cat brushed past the cats again to the rear of the den.

"Not fair!" Sunpaw cried. He lashed his tail in frustration.

Frostpaw glared at him. "Would you rather be sick, mousebrain?"

That shut him up.

Willowpaw jumped at the idea of trying honey. She could vaguely recall when she was a kit and had been given the sticky stuff to help her cough. But the taste eluded her.

She finished visiting Frostpaw before meeting the toms in the middle of camp. They had their heads bent together.

"Are we going to work together?" She asked.

Sunpaw gave her a condescending look. "What do you think? I don't know about you, but I want to win."

Willowpaw frowned.

Woodpaw's fur raised at the slight tension. "Uh, I'm going to go inform Birdpaw." He slipped away.

Willowpaw raised her head. "I hope you know that I'm going to win. And then I'm going to split the honey with Frostpaw."

Sunpaw's reaction was priceless. His mouth dropped. "But she already gets honey! That's not fair!"

But she spun on her heel and padded off, waving her tail. She would win. If nothing else, then to rub it in that cheeky tom's face. And to cheer Frostpaw up. She would get a laugh out of Sunpaw's defeat.

After a short training session about disguising scent, Willowpaw returned to Frostpaw.

The two sat next to each other, discussing possible catmint niches. Frostpaw used her claw to scratch out a rough map of their territory.

"You see, I'm sure it would grow in a nice shady patch of grass." She studied her sketch.

"Actually, they like full sun." Pondpaw mumbled through a bundle of leaves. Her sudden appearance made Willowpaw jump. The black she-cat laid down her burden and from it, gave her sister two poppy seeds.

Frostpaw licked them up without comment.

"Really?" Willowpaw asked. She looked at the map. "So, by the old twolegplace would be a good place to start?"

Pondpaw shook her head. "We've looked in the obvious places. Everything we find is already dead."

Willowpaw sighed. This won't be easy.

The following day, Willowpaw kept an eye out for the plant. Pondpaw had described its appearance as thoroughly as she could and gave her a few pointers.

Sharp smelling leaves once you're up close.

You're going to want to eat it, but don't.

Chances are they aren't blooming, but you might find bright flowers on the stem.

Repeating the advice in her head, the apprentice checked every mouselength of the ground.

"Willowpaw, it doesn't look like you're hunting." Brightblossom observed, coming over.

"Er, I'm helping Fawndapple look for catmint." Willowpaw felt her eartips redden.

"A noble project, but we're on a hunting patrol. Your duties come first."

Willowpaw nodded and scented the air for prey.

She felt stupid for being caught like that. The leader himself was on this patrol! If he saw her off task, she couldn't imagine his disappointment. After all, any chance she got in Badgerstar's presence was spent trying to impress him. It was irrational, but somewhere in the back of her mind, Willowpaw felt like he would make her a warrior sooner if she performed well.

The apprentice brushed past a fern and opened her mouth to pick up more scents. She froze when she picked up something that was...different. It smelled faintly of twoleg, but it was smothered. Not natural.

Her heart began to pound against her chest. Something's not right!

She dashed back to where everyone had initially branched out and looked around for a warrior. Beeflight and Ashpelt were padding towards her, carrying a scrawny crow between them.

"I smell something weird." She stated, attempting to control her fear.

Ashpelt dropped the kill and lifted his nose to the air. "Twoleg. But old. I wouldn't worry."

Willowpaw nodded, but her spiked fur did not flatten.

"Warriors! I found something worth examining." Badgerstar's voice came from just beyond a wide oak.

Brightblossom stepped out from the trees and joined Ashpelt and Beeflight.

Willowpaw assumed she could go see too, given she was part of this patrol, and followed the warriors.

They met up with Badgerstar by a juniper bush. A dead mouse lay atop a bed of dried leaves. He was craning his head over the animal, sniffing it deeply. 

"I don't see any visible injuries on it. Poison maybe?" Beeflight suggested.

Badgerstar narrowed his eyes.

Willowpaw squinted at the dead mouse. She couldn't be the only one with a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. But a quick glance around told her that she was alone.

She leaned to Brightblossom and spoke quietly, "this doesn't look right. It smells funny."

Her mentor cast a worried glance at the leader. Realization dawned in her eyes.

Everything then happened too quickly to react.

Willowpaw studied the mouse closer and saw a shiny glint from the surrounding leaves. While her mind worked to put the pieces together, Badgerstar took a tentative step forward.

Snap!

Two smooth bars sprung from the leaves and clasped around Badgerstar's neck. The tom squawked in surprise and tried to jump away, but wasn't fast enough. He crumpled to the ground.

"Badgerstar!" Brightblossom yowled, just a moment too late.

Willowpaw froze, her blood turning to ice.

Trap.

Badgerstar.

Blood.

-----

Okay, author's note here. So I've been thinking, and I believe that I'll wrap up this story line in one or two books... I originally had over 6 pages of plans for this thing (that involved tragedy, rogue cats, and some meandering...). But its just not juicy enough to hold people's attention. Sometimes I even think this is getting boring to the readers.

When I go back and re-edit this, polish it, etc... I think I'll cut some scenes for reading-interest purposes.

So what does this mean for the story?

Basically, I'm going to start cutting to the chase. About time, right? Besides, I have another book I'm dying to begin writing. Oh, but that doesn't mean I'll be skimping on the rest of this.

Maybe one day I can rewrite this to be just as amazing as I had first envisioned.

What are your opinions? I'd love to hear what you, the readers, have to say. :3