The arrival of the two she-cats surprised Dewpaw and he decided very quickly that he didn't like them. The pale tortoiseshell stared at him her first morning in camp and Dewpaw assumed she was judging him for his stunted back leg. The other one, though not directly rude to him, was just loud and seemed bossy, neither of which were characteristics Dewpaw enjoyed in others. As such, he attempted to steer clear of both of them.

    He didn't need to worry about the former much, as Mothpelt and Lily had kept her in the medic's den so far. She was separate from those sick with greencough, but the medics had deemed her unfit to join training so far. Dewpaw half-wished the same were true of her littermate, Beetlepaw.

    The thought of the medic's den made him half-guilty, as Cinderblossom continued to get more sick with each passing day. Killian had been visiting her less and less but had been strangely close with both Sprucetail and Roxanne ever since Dewpaw followed him during their hunting patrol, though the trainee could not figure out why. Coupled with the fact that he and Gannet were clearly up to something, Dewpaw's trust of the tabby tom waned daily.

    As he padded out to join his patrol, he swept his eyes over the camp to see if the former loner was present. He only spotted Gannet and Cobalt arguing over something or other, and Bronco and Sprucetail having a conversation over their freshkill, Bronco's whiskers twitching in amusement over the she-cat's comments.

    Condor, feeling better now that his coughing had subsided, stood waiting for the rest of the patrol, Leo at his side. To Dewpaw's surprise, Shard, one of the alley cats, also stood with them.

    "Just waiting for Webpaw now," Condor said by way of greeting. Leo huffed in annoyance. Dewpaw was glad to see Leo getting back to his usual self after the death of his littermate.

    Webpaw arrived in a flurry of fur, having clearly just gotten out of her nest.

    "Sorry I'm late," she said unapologetically, giving her chest one quick lick. It did little to improve her dishevelled appearance.

    "You better be," Leo muttered and the she-cat shot him a glare.

    "Let's leave the lovers' spat for later, shall we?" Condor intervened, and the two younger cats did not speak again.

    As they walked to the edge of the fences, Dewpaw took up his usual position in the middle of the patrol. Condor and Shard walked up ahead of him, the alley cat thanking the second-in-command for allowing him to join the patrol. Condor, in turn, thanked Shard for offering to help in day-to-day happenings at the camp. Dewpaw preferred not to know what Webpaw and Leo were fighting about this time and ignored them to the best of his abilities. For once, his crumpled ears were useful.

    The edge of Twolegplace looked more or less the same as when Dewpaw last saw it, though the fields beyond were now covered in sparkling white. The scents rising up from around it were stronger now, too, but Dewpaw found he did not recognize all of them.   

    "They're marking this border more strongly," Condor commented. "I haven't smelled this much DarkClan stench in a while."

    Shard wrinkled his nose. "Do you think they're giving us a warning?"

    "One can only hope they do not know of Nightchaser's plans to attack," Condor replied dryly. "Best thing to do is mark our side just as strongly and hope they get the message."

    The patrol split off into smaller groups to mark the edge of the territory, and Dewpaw was assigned to Webpaw. They worked silently for the most part, until they reached the final leg of their portion.

    "I heard you helped Crowpaw become Mothpelt's apprentice," Webpaw said.

    Her neutral tone gave Dewpaw no clue as to how she felt about the development. He shrugged.

    "He helped me, I helped him. He didn't belong as a warrior's apprentice."

    Webpaw sighed. "No, he didn't. He would have made a truly terrible warrior."

    Although Dewpaw half-yearned to tell her off, he had basically told Crowpaw the exact same thing.

    "Thank you for helping him," the she-cat said after a moment. "I doubt he would have had the courage to stand up to Jaystrike on his own."

    Dewpaw twitched his whiskers. "You're welcome."

    Webpaw nodded, a sad expression crossing her face. "Ever since Fiero's death I've been wondering what it would be like to lose my littermate. I can't imagine losing Crowpaw, ever. He's safer now, as a medic's apprentice."

    "And a lot more useful," Dewpaw pointed out, marking the last of the border.

    Webpaw purred in amusement. "Yes, I suppose he is."

    By the time they returned to camp, the other trainees were gathering for a training session. Jaystrike, Beaver, and Roxanne were attempting to divide them into three groups.

    "There you are!" Roxanne said as Webpaw and Dewpaw approached. "Webpaw, I want you with Jaystrike. Dewpaw, you're with me. Let's head out!"

    Dewpaw fell into step beside Soren and Crisp, the other two members of his training group.

    "We'll be doing some more advanced moves today," Roxanne said excitedly. Soren perked up at this, and the ever excited Crisp bounced higher with every step. Behind them, Jaystrike's group – Hazel, Webpaw, and Oats – and Beaver's group – Finch, recently cleared by the medics, Robin, and Beetlepaw – seemed just as enthused at the prospect of tougher training.

    Dewpaw, however, felt a certain dread. He had yet to master the basic moves, especially when it came to balancing his stunted back leg. How would he ever be able to even attempt a more advanced move?

    When they arrived in their usual training spot, the snow trampled by multiple sets of paws, the trainees took up their place in a line, Beetlepaw shuffling awkwardly into it. Their mentors set up before them, Jaystrike in the centre and Roxanne and Beaver on either side.

    "We'll be working on defending ourselves when you are facing two attackers," Jaystrike announced. "If you're alone and you have one enemy attacking your back and one your front, it's important to keep yourself aware of your surroundings. Always distract or attack your frontal opponent first: they have access to your throat. Like so."

    Beaver wasted no time in slashing at Jaystrike's chest, but the grey tom batted his forepaw away quickly. With his other paw, he hit Beaver's face, pushing him aside. He whipped around, facing Roxanne now, and dodged her attack by leaping over her. She rushed forward, hitting a recovering Beaver rather than Jaystrike.

    "Nice," breathed Crisp, seated beside Dewpaw. The tom's eyes were wide – how would he ever have the strength in his back legs to jump over an enemy?

    They split off into their groups and Dewpaw, unluckily, found himself between Crisp and Soren.

    "Rebel versus alley cats," Soren said, squaring his shoulders.

    "It's a friendly training practice," Roxanne reminded him with a flick of his ear. The grey bengal looked annoyed.

    Dewpaw faced Soren first. He was the larger of the two, so if he managed to take him out, he would be easily able to leap over Crisp. The tom was about twice his size, however, and had a heavy paw.

    The small trainee was not ready for the first swipe and stumbled to the side from the blow. He heard Crisp coming at him from behind and felt her paw narrowly miss his tail. Soren went in for another blow and, this time, Dewpaw met it. The strength behind it still left him unbalanced and, before he knew it, he had fallen over.

    "Done!" The victory cry came from Beetlepaw, standing over a very confused Finch and Robin. Beside her, Beaver stood with his mouth open.

    "H-how did you do that?" he managed to stammer out.

    Beetlepaw puffed up her fur. "I've done it before."

    Jaystrike cocked his head. Roxanne stepped forward, looking slightly shaken.

    "What other moves have you been taught?" she asked nervously.

    The black she-cat shuffled her paws, suddenly looking modest. "Nothing much harder than that. The basics, obviously, and some partner fighting. Maybe leap-and-holds. We were pitted against each other during training a lot."

    "And how often did you train?" Jaystrike asked. Dewpaw noticed Beetlepaw's eyes skim over the scars on Jaystrike's shoulder.

    "Almost every day," she admitted.

    Dewpaw's brows furrowed. It sounded like the DarkClan apprentices far outmatched the rebels and alley cats. If they could hardly fight off their apprentices, what would battle with the warriors look like?

    "Let's try it again," Roxanne decided after a pause. "Everyone should get a turn in the middle."

    "My turn," Soren announced to their group. He looked determined to beat Beetlepaw's time.

    By the end of the session, only Soren and Webpaw had had any success with the move. Beetlepaw looked rather smug as they walked back to camp. Webpaw, seemingly in awe of the black she-cat, tailed her, asking her questions about her technique. The former DarkClan cat had only been here a few days and already she was acting as if she owned the place.

    "She was so fast," Robin told them as the trainees settled down with some freshkill. "She had us both on the ground before we could blink." Dewpaw glanced over at Finch, sitting on his own a couple tail-lengths away. He looked rather dejected. Further off, Hazel glared at Webpaw and Beetlepaw, who were sitting near the medic's den.

    "The rest of us need to practice," Oats said, sounding sure of himself.

    "Kind of hard to put your mind to practice when she just trots into camp and manages to make the rest of us look bad," Crisp pointed out. Dewpaw nodded in agreement.

    "How's Cinderblossom," Robin asked quickly, completely changing the subject. Dewpaw met her eyes and found a hardness in them.

    He shrugged. "Killian's been keeping her company." As he said the tom's name, he scanned the camp and found Killian, not with Cinderblossom, but sharing freshkill with Roxanne. They seemed to be enjoying each other's company as Roxanne told him of Beetlepaw's success in training. Sprucetail sat next to them, listening in with Bronco.

    "Doesn't seem like he's doing that right now," Robin said pointedly. Oats and Crisp were looking between Dewpaw and the tabby she-cat, as if trying to decipher their conversation.

    The grey tom narrowed his eyes. "Maybe you should go visit her then."

    Robin stared at him incredulously. Before she could say another word, Dewpaw got to his paws. He didn't know where he was going, but he moved across the camp anyway.

    As he walked, he realized Killian was now sitting on his own. Curious, he picked up Sprucetail's scent and, cautiously, followed it away from the camp. The trail led him over the camp fence, where the snowdrifts became taller. Their scents were being blown towards him, making him luckily upwind and hard to detect. For once, he was happy about his small form since it made it easier to hide in the snow.

    He stopped abruptly when he saw a black pelt amongst the white and hid himself behind a large tree. Burrowing into the snow to further conceal himself, he listened.

    "We need to step up their training, now," Roxanne was saying.

    "Are you not listening?" The voice belonged to Nightchaser. "We don't have time. The longer we wait the more of our own die. They grow stronger every day – the newest batch of apprentices will be trained in assassination, for StarClan's sake! And if they have the ability to pick us off, one by one, then who will remain to put an end to Dawnstar's reign?"

    "If we go into battle now, we won't survive either," Sprucetail said in her calm, low voice. "Maybe those of us who were raised in DarkClan, but the others don't stand a chance. Not the alley cats, certainly not the trainees or what remains of the gang. The only option is to intensify training."

    "We've only seen Beetlepaw fight, what if Lightpaw is just as strong?" Bronco added, sounding nervous.

    "She's the daughter of Spiderthorn and Dawnstar, after all. I'd be surprised if she couldn't fight." Sprucetail's words were rushed, as if she had cut someone off.

    There was silence. Dewpaw strained to hear the next words, his ears battling the wind and his mind battling the sudden barrage of information.

    "I'm Spiderthorn's kit too," Nightchaser said. "And if Spiderthorn and Dawnstar's kits are so dangerous to us, why are we sheltering them?" The last part came out as a low hiss.

    "We're the only family they have left," Sprucetail said after a moment. "You're their half-littermate, so is Cinderblossom. Casting them out would mean death for them."

    "But what if they've been sent here?" Nightchaser argued, voice rising.

    "Then we have the capacity to subdue them," Sprucetail replied, unwavering.

    "They're spying on us, trying to gain as much information as possible before DarkClan attacks."

    "Then we will have to stop them before they do so."

    "You don't believe me."

    Sprucetail paused. "I - I hear your concerns. But I know that, if they are true, we can stop them."

    "Did you not hear what she did during training today?!" Nightchaser screeched. Dewpaw winced, though he was nowhere near the tom as he unhinged. There was a scuffling sound, as if someone had been attacked or needed holding back.

    "Yes, and I am confident that if anything happens I will be able to do something about it," Sprucetail continued. "I have Jaystrike, Bramblefire, and Beaver on watch too. They're strong enough to handle it. In the meantime, we will step up training for the trainees."

    Nightchaser spat in rage. "Fine."

    The meeting seemed unresolved but, from the shuffle of paws, Dewpaw knew it was over. He stayed hidden until long after they'd gone and the sun had set over the horizon, mind spinning with information he had once again, unknowingly to the speakers, heard.

    One thing stood out: there was something off about Beetlepaw, but he wasn't quite sure what.