The Battle of the Grove Part Three
by Audrey Smith
(Columbus, OH)
Please see, part one and part two….Robinpad has just learned about the controllers from Nettlestar.
The bushes around the clearing shook. An apprentice burst into the clearing. His orange eyes were wild, and his pelt stood up in clumps.
“Nettlestar! Thank goodness!” He gasped, collapsing onto his side.
“Swiftpaw! What happened?” Nettlestar asked. “Tawnyfoot and I were in a rescue mission, and… and… who’s this?” Swiftpaw suddenly noticed Robinpad. “Oh… Oh-no,” His eyes widened, and he stared at her green eyes. “Is she a controller?”
“No, no. This is a current clan cat. Her name is Robinpad,” Nettlestar explained. “So what happened?”
“We were on a rescue mission, when a group of the controlled attacked. They captured Fernwhisker-another cat in our patrol-but we managed to capture who used to be Blacknose and Fallowmint. I still can’t believe they captured a medicine cat. Well, anyway, we thought we’d found a way to turn them back,” Swiftpaw paused to take a breath.
“How’s that?” asked Robinpad.
“By having them rolling in catmint. we noticed that they always avoided the catmint patches, so maybe it was for a reason. we tried it and it caused that big boom you heard. But… but when the smoke cleared Fallowmint and Blacknose were… back,” Swiftpaw panted.
“Why is that a bad thing?” inquired Nettlestar.
“It’s not,” Swiftpaw replied cheerfully.
“Then why were you panting and scared-looking when you burst in?” Robinpad was confused.
“Well… I really wanted to tell someone, and I thought you might be bad, so I was scared,” Swiftpaw casually lapped at his tail.
“He was a young apprentice when he came here. Very young,” Nettlestar whispered to Robinpad. That explains it, thought Robinpad. But she still didn’t get one thing.
“How am I supposed to stop them?” She pondered out loud.
“You have to pretend to be a controller and discover their secrets from the inside,” Nettlestar answered.
“Oh. That will be easy,” Robinpad muttered”
“Oh, I just remembered something!” announced Swiftpaw. “Tawnyfoot wanted me to ask you to come and talk to her. That’s also why I was glad it was you; I was getting tired.”
“Probably about battle plans,” Nettlestar mused. “Why don’t you come with us?” he asked, turning to Robinpad. Robinpad shivered. If she went with them, she would officially be a part of this. She looked at Swiftpaw. With a jolt she reliazed he looked just like Nightkit, Whisper-ray’s kit.
“Were you from MoorClan?” she asked him, saying her own Clan’s name.
“Yes. How did you guess?” He answered.
“You look just like another kit there.”
“I am not a kit!” He said crossly.
“Of course not,” Nettlestar soothed him. “You just have the same… eyes, right?” he turned to Robinpad.
“Right,” she answered.
“Okay, enough chit-chat. tawneyfoot really wants to talk to you,” Swiftpaw was already toward the bushes. “Are you coming?”
“Robinpad took a deep breath. “Yes.” (to be continued in “The Battle of the Grove Part Four”)
