Nightsong shook herself. She couldn't sleep, and the moon was high in the sky. But she wasn't on watch, she was padding around the camp noiselessly. As she did, she heard a rustle, and spun around, fur bristling, as she saw Stormstrike appear. She let her fur lie flat. The camp was half covered in snow. She couldn't guess what he was doing out, so she waited as he came to her. He simply sat next to her.
"I can't believe we lost Sunningrocks" he said.
"It was bound to happen." Nightsong sighed. "And sooner or later we will win it again, and lose it, and win it…it has happened as long as anyone could could remember, and it will stay that way unless StarClan themselves come down and tell us." She shook her head. "It would be so helpful if that happened."
"Then cats won't have to die." Stormstrike paused for a bit before saying,"like Creamfur." The deputy had died, and Mistfall had been appointed deputy in his place. She didn't look pleased, but she accepted anyway. Pouncestream had been heartbroken, and his kits were still mourning him. "I also saw Owlstar lose a life.
"He's losing lives to fast." Nightsong said. "That's the third life he lost. He only has six left."
"And I don't think Mistfall wants to be leader anytime soon." Stormstrike said.
"She looked so unhappy when she was appointed deputy. But she does know how to give out orders." Nightsong pointed out. "She was always hard on me on training whenever Tinderfoot couldn't."
"You're lucky she wasn't your mentor. I never had no fun!" He complained.
"Quiet!" Nightsong scolded as she heard a soft mew of annoyance.. "Let's get away from the dens." The two walked away and sat near the entrance. "Now you can complain." She told him.
"You actually had fun!" He said. Nightsong shrugged.
"Tinderfoot was fun to be with." She said with a shrug.
"That was not Mistfall." He said.
"What do you think Yellowstar is going to say about it tomorrow?" Nightsong said, reminding him that tomorrow was the Gathering.
"Sunningrocks wasn't worth Creamfur's life." Stormstrike spat. "The kits were heartbroken, and so was Pouncestream. And not to mention Icepaw." He looked at his paws. "I know how it is to lose a father at such a young age." Stormstrike's father had died when he was only one moon.
"I never met my real father." Nightsong said, but she remembered the grey tom that had almost killed her when she was five moons old. Something told her that it might have been him, he looked a little like her.
"You had Flamepelt." Stormstrike said.
"Had would be correct. You still have Robinwing. I lost both Silverleaf and Flamepelt. It's like losing two sets of parent." Nightsong sighed. "And you have Oakpelt, Leaffall, and Fernheart. I have no kin here."
"Well, Fernheart isn't really enjoyable." Stormstrike said.
"Non-enjoyable kin is better than no kin." Nightsong said bitterly. "Especially when the Clan don't like you."
"Lots of cats like you Nightsong." Stormstrike tried to reassure her.
"And lots of cats don't." Nightsong spat. Stormstrike must have not know what to say, because he was silent. But Nightsong heard a noise that made her freeze. A scent she recognized drafted over to her, and her fur bristled.
"Fox!" Nightsong spat. She swerved her ears backwards to try to pinpoint it, and she heard steps in the camp, and she stepped forward towards the sound, and with dread, she realized that the sound was coming from behind the nursery. As she stepped forward, the scent of fox had grown stronger, and she was to busy stalking to notice that she was in danger until she felt teeth snap around her neck
Clawing blindly, she thrashed around, trying to scratch whatever had her, but she was thrown into the nursery. Luckily, she didn't land on a queen or kits, but she gave them a good scare as she landed with a thump. She heard their screams of surprise, but didn't hesitate to jump out into the clearing. Other warriors were already scaring off the fox, but Nightsong realized that there was more than one fox. And, one fox had a cat in it's mouth. Without thinking, Nightsong ran over to the fox and scored her claws against its muzzle, and it dropped the cat. But it grabbed Nightsong, and flung her onto another fox, which also bit her, and flung her to a random direction, and that happened to be the Highrock. She saw Stormstrike and Leaffall fighting off the fox, before it tried to bite Leaffall, she quickly darted out of the way. As Nightsong tried to get up, pain seared through her, making her stop. She could only stare at her Clan trying to fight off the foxes. Before long, they had managed to fight the foxes off, but other warriors were also hurt. Mistfall was the cat that was bitten by the fox, Smokefoot had a nasty cut on his leg, Owlstar was lying still, Tinderfoot had a cut on his neck, and more. She saw Swanfeather and Frostpaw hurry from cat to cat, treating them. Tired, Nightsong closed her eyes and fell asleep.
The next time she opened her eyes she saw Frostpaw looking at her.
"Are you okay?" Frostpaw asked.
"Depends." Nightsong answered.
"Swanfeather!" Frostpaw called. "I found Nightsong!" Swanfeather came running to her. "She has a bite on her neck that is still bleeding!"
"Do you have to yell that?" Nightsong asked. The sun was rising now.
"She was on the other side of the camp." Frostpaw shrugged. "And she specifically told me not to treat you." As she spoke, Swanfeather appeared with the special cobwebs.
"Okay, Nightsong. How bad does it hurt?" Swanfeather said. Nightsong hadn't felt pain, but know that she thought of it she was in a lot of pain.
"A lot." Nightsong said.
"All right." Swanfeather said. She applied marigold on her cut and covered it in cobwebs. After treating her other wounds, she gave her some poppy seeds and led her to the medicine den to sleep.
***Stormstrike***
Stormstrike started to pace around the camp. He had no injuries, luckily. But he didn't feel like resting. The queens and the kits had a good scare when Nightsong got thrown in the nursery. Their shouts had awoken the other warriors. What's more, Owlstar was pretty close to losing another life. But he wasn't worried about that. He saw Nightsong get attacked multiple times. He checked on her, but she was fast asleep, thanks to poppy seeds. Over time, he had developed feelings for her, no matter what he can do about it, but last gathering…Stormstrike shook his head. He had to tell her what happened, about Sparkpaw. He lost his train of thought as he saw Pouncestream kits come tumbling out of the nursery. They all tried to jump on one another, and sooner or later the brown one got stuck in the middle of the two cream colored ones. With a laugh, the brown one wiggled out from the two and jumped on the two kits. And Stormstrike realized that Shadekit was no where to be seen.
He relaxed a moment later when she came out of medicine cats' den. She ran over and merrily flopped on the pile of kits, laughing. The rest of the kits wiggled out from under her and tried to bury her again. Then, the kits started to play some sort of, because they started to roll around in the sand and shaking the dust from their pelts after. After a few moments of this game, they must have decided that they want a story, for they ran the the elders' den. When they did Shadekit hesitated at the entrance, and didn't go in. Instead, she ran over to Stormstrike.
"Hi, Stormstrike!" She chirped.
"Hi, Shadekit." Stormstrike responded.
"Nightsong wants to see you!" Shadekit said, and ran into the nursery. Confused, Stormstrike walked in the medicine den, where he saw Nightsong curled up in her moss bed, eyes have closed. When he walked in, Nightsong looked up.
"Hi, Stormstrike." Nightsong half yawned half said.
"You ok?" He asked. She nodded.
"Shadekit came here and pestered me for a long time about a mouse she caught."
"How did she catch a mouse?" Stormstrike.
"Ask her, she will give you quite a tale." Nightsong said. "Anyway, apparently Hailstorm found Petalkit and Woodkit in the warriors' den. He was not happy." Petalkit was one of the cream colored kit, and Woodkit was the light brown one. "He gave them a good scare." She yawned, and added, "I'm stuck in this den for today and tomorrow." She told him.
"Why?" Stormstrike asked.
"Apparently, I managed to dislocate two of my paws, hurt my spine or whatever, and hurt my neck pretty bad." She said, pointing to her neck, which had cobwebs around it. "Swanfeather wants to make sure I heal correctly." With a good-bye, Stormstrike left and left to join the sunhigh patrol.
****Nightsong****
After Stormstrike left, Frostpaw came.
"Can I go to the Gathering?" Nightsong asked.
"No!" Frostpaw exclaimed.
"Why?" Nightsong said, resting her head on her paws in defeat. "Stupid foxes."
"Your too injured." Frostpaw said, checking her herbs. "If you hadn't managed to get so hurt, then maybe you could have gone." Frostpaw said matter-of-factly.
"But it would be my first one as a warrior!" Nightsong whined.
"Well, you still can't go." Frostpaw said.
"But I can get up!" Nightsong said.
"Prove it." Frostpaw said. As she spoke, Nightsong rose to her paws, and flopped on the ground with a cry of pain.
"Fine. I won't go." Nightsong said through gritted teeth. "I'll just have to wait for the next full moon to go to my first gathering as a warrior."
"Good." Frostpaw said. Nightsong let out a sigh and rested her head to go to sleep. A while later, the moon was rising up on the sky. She looked out the den to see Owlstar with the group of cats who are going to the gathering. A moment later the group went off. Nightsong frowned.