Chapter 35:
Rosepaw woke up and stretched leisurely in the morning sun. Beside her, Owlpaw's and Nightpaw's nests were already cold. Her stomach growled. Maybe the hunting patrols have already come in. She thought hopefully, padding out of the den.
"Rosepaw!" Owlpaw bounded up to her. "Mosswater is giving me my first assessment today!"
"Wow, that's great!" Rosepaw purred. "Hunting, or fighting?"
"Fighting!" Owlpaw stuck out his chest proudly. "I bet I'll be a warrior in no time."
"I bet so!" Rosepaw touched his shoulder with her tail-tip. "Where's Nightpaw?"
"He went to go see Snowbelly. He had a stomach ache." Owlpaw mewed, and ran to his mentor as Rosepaw headed for the medicine cat's den.
"Snowbelly?" she asked, hovering uncertainly outside of the den.
"Come in." came the mew from inside.
Rosepaw pushed through the bracken leaves covering the entrance, and entered into the den.
In front of her, Snowbelly was counting out one juniper berry to give to Nightpaw. To the left, Cassie was shivering in her nest, despite the warm greenleaf breeze.
"Rosepaw!" Nightpaw exclaimed when he saw her. "Jaggedwing and Hollowfur are taking us to fight with Owlpaw while Mosswater assesses him."
"Cool!" Rosepaw replied as Nightpaw forced down the bitter juniper berry, making a face at the flavor. To Snowbelly, she asked, "How's Cassie?"
"Nightpaw, why don't you go wash down those berries with a warm mouse? And I don't know if you should be doing battle practice if your stomach is upset."
"It's fine now." Nightpaw assured her, quickly exiting the den. "Thanks!" he called over his shoulder.
Snowbelly turned to Rosepaw, lowering her voice. "Cassie isn't doing very good. She vomits everything up that she eats. I can't heal her if she won't eat the herbs." Snowbelly sighed. "I think I'll go to the Moonpool tonight and ask StarClan what to do."
"Rosepaw!" some cat yowled outside of the den.
"Go." Snowbelly urged.
"Bye!" Rosepaw dipped her head, and burst into the camp. "What?"
"Hollowfur wants you to eat before we leave." Nightpaw announced, plopping a squirrel down in front of her. "And hurry, because I want to get in as much practice as possible today, and maybe then we'll have our first assessment!"
Rosepaw began to eat the squirrel in gulps, unaware of how hungry she had been.
"Hollowfur and Jaggedwing are already at the training hollow, helping Owlpaw with his assessment." Nightpaw continued.
When Rosepaw finished, she stood up, shaking her pelt to get the dirt out.
"Okay. Let's go!" Nightpaw kneaded the soft dirt eagerly.
Rosepaw, rolling her eyes at her brother's enthusiasm, raced after him out of the camp.
"I win!" Nightpaw crowed, panting, as they reached the camp once they had finished their battle training.
"Oh, that's okay, I let you win." Rosepaw huffed, padding over to the Halfrock and throwing herself on the ground beside the boulder.
Owlpaw bounded up to them with a rabbit in his jaws. He had left early after finishing his assessment, while Rosepaw and Nightpaw practiced a new fighting technique. "Did you hear?" he asked.
Nightpaw shook his head, while Rosepaw replied, "No. What?"
"Cassie died." Owlpaw replied, sitting down in front of them, setting down the rabbit. "Want to share?" he asked, nudging it towards Rosepaw and her brother.
"Sure!" Nightpaw said, taking a bite.
Rosepaw waited until Nightpaw had finished taking his mouthful before sinking her sharp teeth into the still-warm rabbit's flesh and ripping off a mouthful of her own. After chewing, she asked, "When?"
"Just after sunhigh." Owlpaw replied, taking a bite of his own. "Dawnstar said there won't be a vigil, because she's a rogue and no cat knew her anyway."
"When are they going to bury her?" Nightpaw asked.
Owlpaw shrugged. "I don't know. Dawnstar probably won't bother the elders with burying her; she'll probably ask warriors instead."
"I wonder why she died." Nightpaw mewed.
"Well, Snowbelly said that she kept vomiting." Rosepaw reasoned. "Maybe she died of hunger."
"Maybe." Owlpaw said. "Hey, look, they're carrying her out of Snowbelly's den now."
The three apprentices watched, taking a bite of rabbit every so often, as Clawfoot, Voletooth, and Specklenose carried the rogue's dead body out of camp and into the forest to be buried.
*Huge thanks to Irish Nerd, Mudsky, and Flamepelt 11 for reviewing! Keep it up, I love hearing your thoughts!* Sorry this chapter is so short, but I will hopefully add another tomorrow to make up for it :) Thanks for reading!