Warriors: The Cycle of the Night Flower
Book 1: Budding Moon
Chapter 5
Lilyshadow rubbed her arrow-like head against the rough, but sweet-smelling bark of the large tree has she wound her lean body around it, her icy blue eyes glistening in the darkness with silverpelt overhead being the only thing to guide her eyesight.
"Blood is boiling with deception, Lilyshadow," came the ghostly meow, sounding so close that it made the tiny hairs inside her ear tickle. She whisked herself around in an instant, only to meet darkness.
"You need to hurry...before ice blankets the forest!" The black she-cat's ears shot up again and once more she pivoted towards the source of the meow. This time, shocking emerald eyes met hers, far too close for comfort. In an instance she realized she was snout-to-snout with a cat the color of midnight. She squeaked and jumped back, blinking a couple times before she recognized Ivystrike. For a moment, words caught in her mouth. Then they started sputtering out.
"Ivystrike! It's you! I need to know who the prophecy is about! What is the deception? What is 'the four' and 'the six'? What is -"
"StarClan can not give you the answers you seek," the starlit cat cut off the young ebony feline before stepping behind a tree and bounding off into the night.
"What?" she shrieked. "No! Wait up!" Scrambling to her feet, she bolted after the StarClan warrior. Her powerful hind legs pumped as she practically flew through the forest, dodging trees this way and that. Scent told her that his tail was just beyond her nose, but his pelt blended into the night despite the starlit footprints he left in his wake.
"Ivystrike! Wait!" she yowled out as she sped after him, weaving between the trunks of the mighty trees. She could practically feel the hairs on the tip of his tail brushing against her nose but he wouldn't slow down, and he was just out of her reach. "Wait for me!" she screeched.
"I'm sorry. I can't help you."
"Lilyshadow!" came the sharp meow in her ear. Her eyes flashed open and she shot up from her curled up position in the throng of cats in the middle of the ThunderClan camp. The fur along her spine was bristling angrily and she took a deep breath, willing her fur to lie flat. She looked to her right to see the cat who had hissed at her, Stripedshadow.
"What?" she meowed back, lowering her head as if it would make her voice any quieter to keep herself from waking her friends.
"You were mewling in your sleep," he mumbled, flicking an ear at her. "Why does Ivystrike have to wait on you?" he asked in a matter-of-fact tone, as if he had witnessed her dream himself.
"Because..." she began but was cut off by a yawn. "...he knows about the prophecy!" The black tabby furrowed the fur above his eyes to give Lilyshadow an inquisitive look. "The dream that Patterenedflower and I had!" she exclaimed and batted softly at his ear, slightly agitated for having to explain. She hadn't ever told Stripedshadow that she had had the same dream as the ThunderClan medicine cat, until now, but he looked at her as if he had known the whole time. If he hadn't, he didn't let on. The tom shook his head before blinking at her.
"You mean the one about Spiritpetal?" he questioned. For a moment, Lilyshadow's disposition seemed to falter as her ears drooped slightly.
"Yes..." she replied in a distant voice. Knowingly, Stripedshadow flicked his tail.
"You don't think it's about Spiritpetal?" he pressed.
"I don't know!" the black she-cat groaned, hiding her face beneath her paws. "But what I'm wondering is, why would StarClan send me dreams if the prophecy is about another cat?"
"Ssh! You two could wake up the whole forest!"
Lilyshadow looked over her shoulder to see a groggy Lionfang poking his mane-like head up over Moontalon's sleeping body to glare at the two shadowy felines. Lilyshadow stifled a 'mreow' of amusement as the ginger tom settled back into sleep and she exchanged a look with Stripedshadow. He rolled his eyes and blinked once at her as if to say 'let it go' and wisped his tail over his nose to return to his own dream land...if that cat ever actually dreamed.
Carefully, the black she-cat got to her paws. There was no way she was ever going to be able to get back to sleep. Instead, winding her way around the mass of her sleeping friends, she made her way to the front of the camp. Not really sure where her paws were taking her, she tiredly looked up to realize that she was standing beneath the Highledge. Blinking at it a couple times with her tired, cold eyes, she neared her nose to the entrance of Hollowstar's den without thinking. She was about to push her way inside when a voice stopped her paws mid-step.
"You say you had it again just recently?" Hollowstar's mew said in a slightly surprised tone.
"Yes, but this time Spiritpetal said she had a similar dream as well," came another, gentle meow. Patterenedflower?
"Wait! What dream?" Lilyshadow thought. "My dream?"
"She says she feels in her heart that it's not her," she heard the medicine cat go on. Something caused a shiver to run through the black she-cat's pelt as she heard this. Spiritpetal wasn't the cat in the prophecy after all! She was right!
"Then who do you feel it is?" Hollowstar meowed.
"I wish I knew..." Patterenedflower said with a saddened tone. Lilyshadow imagined her head hanging.
"I believe I have a feeling..." she heard Hollowstar muse. "Come in, Lilyshadow." At the leader's beckon, the black she-cat's ears flattened against her skull and burned madly as she pushed her way into the leader's den.
"Sorry for eavesdropping, Hollowstar," the ebony cat meowed in a humble tone, bowing her head.
"I'm sure you didn't have that intention," chuckled the leader in an amused voice as she flicked her tail. "What's on your mind?" Lilyshadow looked up at the medicine cat and then back at Hollowstar.
"I've had the same dream, Hollowstar!" the black cat meowed immediately and for a moment, she was surprised at how easily the truth burst from her muzzle. "And I just had another one. Ivystrike says we're running out of time!" The leader and the medicine cats exchanged concerned looks at Lilyshadow's anxiousness.
"Whose Ivystrike?" Patterenedflower asked softly. Now that she thought about it, Lilyshadow realized that she knew very little about the tom that walked in her dreams.
"A StarClan cat. He has a pelt just like mine and his eyes are green," she replied. Once again, Patterenedflower and Hollowstar looked at each other with knowing eyes. Lilyshadow blinked rapidly back and forth between the two she-cats. She felt so unknowing in their presence, and they were making it worse! As usual, she was lost.
"What do you think it means by 'the four'?" she asked quickly before the two high-ranked cats could think of something else before she could.
"We're not sure," Hollowstar mewed, shaking her head solemnly.
"We're not really sure of anything," added the medicine cat with a tired shake of her head. "But we do know this: the prophecy says 'before ice blankets the forest'... That must mean before it snows," she explained, getting to her paws as if that added something to her statement or it helped her think. "Which means we have until leaf-bare to figure this out." Leaf-bare? Lilyshadow tilted her senses to the air around her. It was still warm enough to be called greenleaf, but the colder nights hinted that leaf-fall would be on its way soon.
"Then we have plenty of time to figure this out," Hollowstar meowed suddenly with a flick of her tail. "There is no point in fretting over it now." With that the white-and-bark-colored leader rose to her paws and pushed her way out of the entrance of her den, beckoning with her tail for the other two she-cats to follow. With an ache in her paws, Lilyshadow lifted herself up and followed the ThunderClan leader. Was there really nothing to fret? Then why did she feel like there was?
She felt the pelt of Patterenedflower brushing against her tail as the medicine cat stepped out of the rock crevice behind her, but almost immediately the ears of all three she-cats perked up as a streak of white blurred across the clearing and skidded to a stop in front of them, rustling several cats awake as it did.
"Patterenedflower! It's Lizardclaw!" exclaimed Thornpaw as she gasped for breath. "You have to come!" The medicine cat apprentice was practically prancing in place on her paws, waiting for her mentor to follow. Without word or question, the almost all-white she-cat bounded off after her apprentice.
"Tell Berrypelt and Snowpaw," Hollowstar meowed softly before quickly making her way after her medicine cats. Lilyshadow gave a curt nod before turning towards her throng of cats and scanning for her cream-colored friend. It wasn't long before she found him waking up next to Adderstorm and Dirtface. Before she even spoke, Lilyshadow could see the distress on his face as if he already knew something was going on.
"Berrypelt, it's your dad," she meowed quickly, stopping in front of him and not even bothering to put a paw down she was so strung up on anxiety. His fur bristled before his ears folded back against his head and he got to his feet quickly.
"Is he worse?" came the soft meow just beyond them. They turned to look at Snowpaw as the smaller, cream-colored she-cat glided towards them on white paws, clumsy from sleepland.
"Yes," Lilyshadow said sadly but curtly. "You two need to come on," she added, pointing towards the medicine den with her silver tail-tip. The two pale cats shot off effortlessly, leaving Dirtface and Adderstorm to groggily pull their eyes open. Lilyshadow's icy gaze glared at the pair of them.
"What's going on?" Adderstorm meowed sleepily, yawning loudly to show his teeth.
"None of your business!" the black she-cat hissed. "Go back to sleep!" She didn't give the toms a chance to say anything else to her because she was already working her way towards Patternedflower's den. She heard ebbing voices as she walked away.
"What's her problem?" Dirtface grumbled out, followed by the sound of a paw whizzing through the air and smacking a cat's face.
"Be nice!" Lilyshadow heard the voice of Cloverfur and smirked to herself, grateful to the white, orange-pointed she-cat.
When Lilyshadow reached the alcove that made the medicine den, she arrived to see Spiritpetal standing between Berrypelt and Snowpaw and the entrance.
"I'm sorry! But I can't let you in! Patterenedflower says he's highly contagious!" she meowed frantically, her ears swiveled sideways to show her regret.
"Well you guys are in there!" Snowpaw exclaimed, stomping a snowy front paw.
"We're medicine cats. We have an immunity," the brown-and-white she-cat explained.
"You're no medicine cat!" bit back Berrypelt, his lithe tail lashing back and forth angrily. For a moment, Spiritpetal looked taken aback and her whiskers quivered slightly. Lilyshadow lowered her arrow-like head as she approached; she could already feel the bristling ebbing from her friend's pelt.
"No need to snap..." she meowed quietly as she flanked him. The small tom said nothing and brushed his gaze away from the medicine den. That was when Patterenedflower emerged from the crevice, a mingled scent of sickness and herbs wafting from her.
"He has a terrible fever. I've never seen a cat get something like this in the middle of greenleaf!" she exclaimed. "Feverfew's not working. We need something stronger."
"Lavender?" Spiritpetal piped up, looking at the almost all-white she-cat. If the moment had been nicer, Lilyshadow would've been pressed by her brown-and-white friend.
"Exactly," Patterenedflower nodded. "Problem is, I'm out and the only lavender that I know of grows in ShadowClan territory." Lilyshadow felt the fur on the back of her neck stand up at the sheer mention of ShadowClan. "We'll have to ask Whispernose for some..." Lilyshadow guessed that Whispernose was the ShadowClan medicine cat.
"I'll go!" she heard Berrypelt volunteer at once, rushing to stand on his paws.
"Me too!" Snowpaw added almost immediately only to be turned on by her older brother.
"It's too dangerous. Stay here," he meowed in his more usual gentle tone. At once the young she-cat's whiskers furrowed with resentment.
"But I want to-"
"Your brother's right, Snowpaw," Patterenedflower interrupted. "The fewer cats the better. It'll look less like a raid party that way." She looked directly at Berrypelt. "I'll send Thornpaw to go with you. She knows the ShadowClan medicine cat and his apprentice." He gave a quick nod. "But you'll have to wait 'til morning..."
"What? My father can't wait 'til morning!" the cream-colored tom shot back.
"Rest up... And go in the morning!" meowed the medicine cat dominantly, narrowing her green eyes at the small tom before turning and pushing her way back into her den, quickly followed by Spiritpetal. Berrypelt let out an exasperated sigh and flattened his ears. Lilyshadow nudged Snowpaw away, telling the young she-cat that the best thing she could do now was get some sleep, before turning back to her tom friend.
"You should eat something. It'll be sunrise soon," she meowed. At first the small tom didn't say anything. With a frustrated growl, Lilyshadow nudged him to his paws and towards the fresh-kill pile. "Go. Eat," she demanded. He glanced at her over his shoulder and cast her a look. She wasn't entirely sure if it was a glare or not, but the slap upside her head with his tail assured her it couldn't have been ill-meant. Convincing him to eat a mouse, she settled down next to him and crossed her paws, glancing up at silverpelt as her friend next to her ate.
"You think Hollystep's up there?" she asked out of no where. He glanced up with his dark blue eyes, a muzzle-full of meat in his jaws. The tom blinked a couple times before swallowing and glancing at the swath of stars.
"I guess..." he mused. Lilyshadow lowered her face. "Maybe your dad will be up there too." Her mew was soft and attempting to be gentle, but she convinced herself it didn't work as he took another bite of mouse, probably so he wouldn't have to say anything back.
It felt like just moments later the nudging of a warm, silver paw was prodding him awake. He slowly opened his dark sapphire eyes but had to rub a paw over them a couple times to get them working. Letting out a humongous yawn, he glanced sideways at the she-cat next to him.
"It's sunrise," she muttered softly. He flatted his ears at the word, not really wanting to get up. "Thornpaw will be waiting on you." Then he remembered... He would be fetching lavender from ShadowClan today. He lifted his chin up off his paws only to dig his claws into the earth beneath him because he could. Pushing himself up, he forced himself into a back-arching stretch before shaking his pelt. Next to him he heard an amused giggle from a certain black she-cat and gave her a tired look. She jumped up next to him, appearing as if she had been awake for quite a while already.
"She probably never went to sleep," he thought.
"You think you're going to be okay today?" she asked.
"She stayed up worrying about me..."
"I suppose..." he replied as the pair made their way to the camp entrance.
"I wish I could go with you," Lilyshadow meowed under her breath. He cast her a sideways glance, forcing himself to shrug.
"Yeah, me too," he thought quickly.
"You ready, Berrypelt?" asked Thornpaw, swiveling her white ears towards the calico patch on her forehead.
"No."
"Yeah, let's go," he meowed, standing as tall as a small tom could.
"I'll see you when you get back," meowed Lilyshadow as she gave him a friendly nuzzle. He felt the fuzzy hairs inside her ear tickle his whiskers as she flicked them when she pulled away. His eyes blinked a couple times before he turned and pushed his way through the bramble tunnel.
Outside camp, he shook the thorns from his creamy pelt and listened as Thornpaw slid out behind him.
"Don't worry," she beamed, prancing ahead. "Most ShadowClan cats may seem like foxdung, but Whispernose and Slenderpaw are nice!"
"Slenderpaw must be the ShadowClan medicine cat's apprentice," Berrypelt told himself.
"I just hope they give us some lavender," he claimed as he followed the apprentice's pawsteps, thoughts of his father back in camp flooding his mind.
"As long as he has enough, I'm sure he will," Thornpaw gleamed.
"How can you be so sure?" the cream-colored tom shot back quickly, and he only just now realized how quickly he had come to judge other Clan cats.
"Medicine cats usual aren't held to the same standard as warriors. We promise to take care of all cats as well as our Clan," the medicine cat apprentice explained. Berrypelt's ears twitched at the thought. Now he saw what Spiritpetal saw in the job. No confrontation.
As they wove their way through the green trees of the forest, Berrypelt shut his muzzle so they could travel in silence but he found it difficult with the energetic apprentice by his side. She bounded this way and that, zigzagging across their path and causing a crunching sound wherever her paws landed in the dirt.
Thornpaw was going on about some kind of strange herb she had heard about when Berrypelt broke the threshold of the wood and stuck his head out into a clearing. He immediately recognized it as the one he, Lilyshadow, Adderstorm, Icestripe, Foxface, Flamefoot, Ashpaw, and Rippedpaw had visited on his first border patrol. By now he wasn't as tired as he had been when he reached this clearing the first time. His paws had got used to the trekking so now his only tiredness came from his slight lack of sleep last night. Despite that, the sun gazing down on the open area warmed the grass and some part of him wish he could curl up in the center of the clearing and take a nap.
"Do you want to rest?" Thornpaw asked suddenly, popping out of the brush next to him and trotting into the clearing. It was a nice, mature offer from such a young cat, but as much Berrypelt wanted too, he knew that they'd make better time otherwise.
"No. We should keep going," he replied, trudging through the open area, wishing he could make every pawstep on the warm grass last.
"Alright," Thornpaw shrugged and bounded after him.
It wasn't long after they had left the clearing when Berrypelt smelt the familiar, moldy, boggy tang of ShadowClan cats tickling his nose.
"Ugh!" he hissed, wrinkling up his nose and jabbing it with a paw.
"Yeah, I know," Thornpaw agreed with a slight hint of disgust as her whiskers twitched at smell. "Come on."
The two cats worked their way down the slope of the forest where the earth beneath their paws gave way from soft moss to boggy ground blanketed with fallen pine straw.
"We're crossing into ShadowClan territory now," the young medicine cat apprentice declared. "We should find a patrol to take us to their camp soon." Berrypelt didn't know how much he liked being drug into a foreign camp by a pact of warrior cats, but then he reminded himself that it wasn't too long ago he had welcomed the situation and he brushed the thought away.
They hadn't been across a border for a few minutes before the sounds of yowling cats made them whiplash their heads in another direction to see marshy-smelling cats bounding towards them.
"Why are you crossing the border?" came the immediate hiss of a familiar cinder-colored tom, his twisted jaw jutting out awkwardly as he growled. Berrypelt recognized him as Brokennose, the ShadowClan warrior he had encountered on his first border patrol. Running up behind him, quickly but not nearly as anxiously, was a white tom with smoky-gray stripes down his back and a jet-black she-cat with unnaturally silver eyes, both of whom Berrypelt didn't recognize.
"Keep your fur on, Brokennose!" Thornpaw bit back, rather calmly and forwardly for an apprentice. "We need to see Whispernose for some herbs." Brokennose's eyes darted between the young she-cat and her companion a couple times, but the white and gray tom next to him almost at once let his fur lay flat.
"Calm down, Brokennose," he meowed coolly, holding his tail up between the ShadowClan and ThunderClan cats. His voice carried through the trees like it demanded attention, as if the leaves even stopped rustling for him to speak, but his calmness let Berrypelt's fur lose its irritated ruffle. "We'll escort you to camp," he said with a nod to Thornpaw.
"He must know she's a medicine cat," thought the cream-colored tom.
"Thank you, Ashstripe," Thornpaw meowed sweetly, politely nodding her head as they made their way further down the slope and into ShadowClan territory and the border patrol made a makeshift circle around them. "He's the ShadowClan deputy," she whispered to him as if he was wondering. He flicked his ear to let her know he had heard but said nothing.
The ShadowClan border patrol led Thornpaw and Berrypelt deeper into their territory where the pine trees hung at sickly angles, dead moss dripping from the bark from strangely low branches. The ground was covered in a boggy softness that clung disgustingly to his paws and dragged him down deep into the mud with every step. He flattened his ears, revolted as he laboriously pulled to uproot his paws from the ground. Glancing at the ShadowClan cats, he watched as they took high pawsteps to keep from getting stuck in the ground. Try as he could, he couldn't keep from getting bogged down and wondered how these cats lived like this. It seemed like forever before Ashstripe stopped them and looked at the other cats over his shoulder.
"Alright, we're about to enter camp," he meowed.
"Yeah so keep your noses to yourself," Brokennose spat, pushing his head through the thorn tunnel ahead of the patrol. Berrypelt felt his fur bristle but he willed it to lay flat and kept his muzzle shut.
"Well hurry up before I sink in all this mud!" Thornpaw grumbled as she followed the cinder-colored tom with the twisted jaw through the thorn tunnel.
"You'll have to overlook him," meowed the black she-cat with silver eyes behind him. "I'm Mooneye by the way," she added before ushering him through the tunnel entrance. He flicked an ear and pushed his head through the passageway of thorns. Through the entrance, Berrypelt caught his first glimpse of the ShadowClan camp. It was something of a clearing, with the same sickly trees around it. The ground had been flattened with pawsteps and made easier to walk on by tons of pine needles. It was encircled by bramble bushes that surely made up all the dens.
Berrypelt watched as ShadowClan cats poked their heads out of dens and rose up from where they rested around camp as he and Thornpaw entered the center of camp. Ashstripe sent Brokennose to fetch their leader, sending the cinder-colored tom bounding towards a bramble bush beneath a low-hanging tree branch. Mooneye was now making her way towards another bramble bush den, probably the medicine den. It wasn't long before a regal-looking light ginger-furred she-cat squeezed her way out of the bramble den beneath the hanging limb.
"That's Emberstar," Thornpaw whispered to Berrypelt under her breath as the ShadowClan leader padded towards them. Her fur was a very light with age, but Berrypelt could tell that it had once been brighter ginger. It was slightly scruffy, but one could tell effort had been put in to try and groom it. Her whiskers were wiry and her ears drooped tiredly, but her green eyes were lively and welcoming like starshine.
"Welcome to ShadowClan, ThunderClan cats," Emberstar meowed in a calm, slow, motherly tone and with a gentle nod of the head. Thornpaw nodded her head politely, as did Berrypelt, but the cream-colored tom swiveled his ears back. She thought he was ThunderClan. Did he carry the forest scent or something? He hadn't realized.
"Thank you, Emberstar," meowed the young medicine cat apprentice next to him. "We're here to get some lavender from Whispernose, if he can spare it," Thornpaw explained. The leader nodded her old head and glanced towards their medicine den as an old, (Berrypelt could tell by the way he moved) snowy-white tom slipped out of his bramble den with a small, skinny, brown she-cat bounding out behind him. "Whispernose," meowed the elder ShadowClan leader. "Fetch some lavender for these young cats will you?" He gave a brisk nod and whispered something to the apprentice next to him.
"That must be Slenderpaw," Berrypelt thought. The young, brown she-cat bounded off towards the den again. "Wow," he said to himself. "These ShadowClan cats are more than welcoming. I don't know why ThunderClan seems to dislike them." It was just then that he noticed the sharp looks he was receiving from younger ShadowClan cats. Maybe it was just the older cats who welcomed them as friends? But why were all the warriors so eager to run into battle?
It wasn't long before Slenderpaw returned with her jaws full to the brim of soft purple flower petals, far more than she should've been able to carry.
"Send Patterenedflower my best wishes. I hope all your patients recover," meowed the old, snow-colored medicine cat in his raspy voice.
"We will," Thornpaw beamed. "Thanks so much."
"And tell Hollowstar that we'll be looking forward to seeing her and ThunderClan at the Gathering," Emberstar added in with a good-natured mew. Gathering? He'd be sure to ask about that later when he had the chance.
"We will," the young medicine cat repeated.
"Would you like to rest before you go?" Emberstar offered sweetly, wrapping her tail around her paws. Berrypelt politely kept his muzzle shut. He couldn't stand to have his paws in this muddy ground any longer.
"No thanks," Thornpaw meowed. "We need to get back to camp."
"Very well," she nodded. "I'm sure you can find your way back." A few shocked murmurs spread throughout the ShadowClan camp.
"You're going to send them back without an escort?" an older black-and-white she-cat hissed from somewhere among the crowd.
"Of course, Whithertail," Emberstar grinned. "Besides, what harm can a medicine cat apprentice and one young warrior do?" With that she turned tail and retreated to her den.
Berrypelt gave Thornpaw enough time to exchange quick goodbyes with her fellow medicine cats before scooping the lavender up in his muzzle. The soothingly sweet smell made him dizzy for a moment and he shook his head softly, blinking rapidly, to push it away.
He eagerly bounded out of the ShadowClan camp with the lavender in his jaws. Now since their mouths were filled, it kept the trip silent. Berrypelt didn't mind. It allowed him to think to himself on the way back to ThunderClan. By the time they had reached ThunderClan territory and were well deep into it, past the small open clearing between ShadowClan and ThunderClan, streaks of gold were just barely visible in the sky. They had almost reached camp again when a sudden rustle of bushes just out of sight made Berrypelt's ears perk up and his paws stop in their tracks. His ears swiveled towards the noise and his deep blue eyes starred off in the distance, scanning for the source of the sound. Ahead of him, Thornpaw stopped and glanced at him over her shoulder to give him an inquisitive stare. He blinked and shrugged, pushing the thought to the back of his mind, and trekked on back towards camp.
Lilyshadow shouldered her way into the clearing after Icestripe and Stripedshadow, her muscles sore and aching from battle practice. After today she had learned two things. 1- Icestripe's a pansy and 2- Never mess with Stripedshadow. You will lose.
"You all did really well today," meowed Dawnstorm as she padded in after them.
"Yeah. You'll be fully fledged warriors in no time!" Foxface added with an amused purr as Icestripe dropped to the ground in an exhausted manner.
"Oh, get up mouse-brain!" Lilyshadow teased, nudging the gray-and-white tom with a silver front paw. "You'll live!" That's when Stripedshadow flanked her out of no where, like the shadow that he was. Her ears flattened and she sent him a false glare. "You could've gone easy on us, you know!"
"Since when do I go easy on anyone?" he purred, his whiskers twitching. She scuffed him playfully over the ear before making her way to the fresh-kill pile. Just before she was about to select a sparrow, Moontalon and Lionfang came padding up to her.
"Guess what Lionfang did today?" the silvery-gray she-cat exclaimed, her tone flooded with pride. Before Lilyshadow could even open her mouth she was answered. "He fought and chased off a rogue cat today!" The black she-cat's blue eyes widened slightly and she flicked her ears, impressed.
"Wow.." she said under her breath. Nearby, Mouseear and Ghosttail had overheard and were working their way over to congratulate the ginger tom, who flattened his ears cheekily despite the fact that his chest fur was fluffed up proudly. Wow... Her cats really were fitting in and becoming warriors. Her blue gaze scanned the large, orange tomcat. His muscles had grown since they had been there, like all the others, and his frame was strong and formidable; he looked like a warrior any Clan would be proud to call its own. Just then, the sound of the bramble tunnel rustling shifted Lilyshadow out of her thoughts. She turned to see Thornpaw and then Berrypelt pushing their way inside the camp. Her blue eyes lit up and she bounded over to meet them immediately.
"Hey!" she meowed, not giving the cream-colored time to respond before giving him a half-second nuzzle over his ears. "How was ShadowClan?" He at once dropped the lavender, sputtering purple petals from his mouth. She giggled because he smelt sweet, like the herb he was carrying.
"Muddy," he replied blankly before chuckling at his friend. "How's camp been?"
"Fine," she shrugged. "Lionfang chased off a rogue today." Berrypelt blinked, surprised but somewhere beneath his gaze it looked to Lilyshadow as if he had been thinking. Shrugging the thought away, she looked to the medicine cat apprentice. Next to them, Thornpaw dropped her lavender as well.
"I'll take this to Patterenedflower," she mewed, raking it into a pile with a white paw. "Berrypelt shouldn't be in the medicine den. He might get sick." With that she took all of the flower petals into her jaws and leapt away towards Patterenedflower's den. The small tom's sapphire eyes cast her a frustrated glance as she ran away, but it was quickly replaced with a sigh.
"What'd you do today?" he asked.
"Got my tail beat by Stripedshadow during battle practice," she chuckled as she guided him towards the fresh-kill pile. The two friends quickly picked a couple mice from the fresh-kill pile and laid down to eat, both apparently exhausted after the day. It wasn't long before Stripedshadow had joined them either. Lilyshadow destroyed her meal in a few hungry bites and before she realized it, she had nestled her arrow-like head between her two friends and let her eyes drift close. She could just barely hear the deep chuckle of Stripedshadow next to her, and she couldn't help but to thwack him upside the head with her tail. Suddenly, a caterwaul sounded from the front of camp and Lilyshadow's gaze shot up to look as a frightened Ashpaw threw herself into the camp clearing, her fur on end.
"There's been a skirmish!" she shouted. Lilyshadow, Berrypelt and Stripedshadow jumped to their paws, as did the cats around them. Slowly pushing their way into camp was a distraught Flamefoot as well as Silverpaw and Foxface who were supporting an almost limp Stoneflight between them. The black she-cat's icy gaze widened with fear as she took one glimpse at his speckled, silver fur which had been tarnished with the color of running blood, turning patches of his pelt a disgusting scarlet.