⤴

⤴This Is Pikewing⤴

They had only seen a tiny bit of territory, but Puddlekit was already panting. He wasn't used to travelling long distances, and the walk was really tiring him out. He kept having to stop and catch his breath and could tell that it was irritating Oaksky.  

"Come on," called Pikewing, from the front. "The river's not far."  

"Can we learn to swim?" Carrotkit asked, enthusiastically. "Or fish?" 

"No," Oaksky snapped. "You're too young. We can learn swimming another day." Carrotpaw's face fell.

"There's no harm in learning," Pikewing mewed. "A RiverClan cat is never too young to swim." 

Carrotpaw lifted her head at Pikewing's words. "Come on Puddlekit!" she yowled. "Let's go!"

Puddlekit followed Carrotpaw slowly, Potatopaw beside him. Carrotpaw was standing on the edge of the river, staring into the water. "There's a fish in here!" She swiped at the water.

"Carrotpaw." Oaksky was growling. "Come back here."

Carrotpaw was leaning towards the water, both forepaws outstretched. "No way. I think I've got something!"

"Come back. The bank here is unstable!"

"No! I've got a fi-agh!" The ground below Carrotpaw gave way, and the ginger she-cat fell into the river. 

"Carrotpaw!" Pikewing sped towards the spot where Carrotpaw had sunk, followed closely by Oaksky and Potatopaw. Puddlekit stood, rooted to the spot. He wanted to help Carrotpaw, but he didn't know how to. He shuffled forward towards the river. It looked quite treacherous, from where Puddlekit saw it. Swirling white water splashed at a ginger head, near a small rock. "Grab the rock!" Oaksky yowled. Carrotpaw tried to swim to it but was pulled under by the current. She's going to drown, thought Puddlekit. She's not going to make it to the shore!

Pikewing jumped into the river to get Carrotpaw, but he couldn't reach her. Puddlekit wanted to help his sister, but he was terrified. He crept towards the river until he was three tail lengths away from the bank. It looked even worse now, water faster than ever, tossing poor Carrotpaw around as she desperately tried to swim to the stick Potatopaw was holding out to her. Oaksky was in the water too, trying to grab Carrotpaw. 

"Help!" the ginger she-cat yowled, before being dragged under for the tenth time. Puddlekit stared at the water helplessly. He watched, hoping his sister would reemerge. But she didn't. Puddlekit whimpered in distress. Then he saw something out of the corner of his eye. A flash of gray fur heading down, towards the river.  It's just my imagination, he thought. But it looked like Oaksky had seen it too. The gray she-cat had stopped frantically searching for Carrotpaw and was now staring at the bush the something was behind.

Suddenly the something -it was a cat- rocketed towards the water, and swam strongly towards Carrotpaw. The cat dived under the surface before reemerging, grasping Carrotpaw in it's jaws, then swam to the shore and dropped Carrotpaw, who started coughing up water. 

"Who are you?" questioned Pikewing, who was now standing on the bank with Oaksky. 

"He can't be good," Oaksky snaped. "Outsiders are never good."

"He just saved Carrotpaw's life," Potatopaw pointed out, gesturing to Carrotpaw who was getting up and weakly shaking out her fur.

"I'm Wet." The strange cat spoke for the first time. 

"Well Wet, we'd better take you back to camp," Pikewing mewed to the gray tom. "Let's go."