

Ruspaw yelped as one of his front legs was swallowed by the snow. He quickly shook his leg free, tiny flakes stubbornly clung to his pelt as he attempted to shake himself off. Rosepaw looked back at him, "Do we need to stop?" She asked. "I'm fine, let's keep moving," Rustpaw said, he tried to push past the older apprentice but Rosepaw ignored him, simply sitting down in the snow to block his path. He let out a quiet hiss, secretly he was glad they had finally stopped. It had snowed heavily the past few days, it had become difficult to even leave camp, let alone go hunting for random items. "What are we even doing?" Rosepaw asked, "Whitestar wanted us to." He shrugged, the task might have been pointless but he didn't care. Whitestar had decided that it was important and that was enough for him. "I mean why though? What's so special about that bone that we have to go drag it all the way back to camp?" She hissed, her annoyance was clear, Rustpaw might have been happy with Hawktalon's explanation but she was certainly not. "I don't know, and it doesn't matter. I'm sure Whitestar has a reason for making us do this." He paused before continuing. "Come on, I want to be home before it gets even colder." They continued silently, taking turns leading each other so that one would take the front carving a path through the snow, while the other followed behind conserving their energy. Luckily, It was not long before they finally neared the Thunderclan border where the bone supposedly laid. Together they had quickly found it before taking another break then turning back towards the camp. "Rustpaw." Rosepaw had dropped the bone and had begun staring off into the distance, following Rosepaw's gaze to a space only a dozen foxtails off from them, Rustpaw saw tracks leading through the snow. "Yeah, I see them, they're probably just from the morning hunting patrol, why are you worrying about it?" His question hung in the air for a moment, as Rosepaw lifted her head. "Smell that? That's no Skyclan cat, not Thunderclan either though, a rouge maybe?" She moved forward, Rustpaw followed her, now that she mentioned it the tracks didn't hold a Skyclan scent. It seemed to be only one cat, but the tracks seemed to be mixed up as if whoever made the tracks doubled back through them. "We need to tell Whitestar about this," Rustpaw said, Rosepaw nodded, quickly turning to the path. Without another word both of them ran back through the trees. The two apprentices busted through the trees surrounding Skyclan camp. Rustpaw quickly ran his gaze across the clearing, finding Hawktalon sitting right outside the leaders den they continued to him, Hawktalon twitched his ears in amusement. "I'm surprised, I doubted even a monster could have made it through that snow, In a strange way I'm almost impressed." he mused,

"We found the bone," Rustpaw forced out through heavy breaths. "I see you have," He purred, "But also something else, tracks near the Thunderclan border, they don't smell like Thunderclan though. It was heading towards one of the hunting clearings, the one near the great pine logs." Rustpaw barely managed to get it all out, his mouth felt dry as if he had just swallowed dirt. Hawktalon's eyes sharpened, and his hakles slowly rose. "I'll look into it, Whitestar will be interested." His voice had turned cold, "Rosepaw, go bring the bone to the medicine den." She nodded before trotting away. "Now you, see me in the leaders den after you've gotten yourself some rest." Rustpaw stared at him, seeing Hawktalon shift his mood so suddenly put him off. "For what?" The question was out before he could stop it. "You'll have to see." With that, the old deputy turned away trotting off towards the leaders den.

