Hey! Happy Thanksgiving! sorry about the delay, like I said before, I had to help paint the basement, then help finish unpacking, cleaning, and move things around so that my family could use it.
REVIEWS!
"xXBlizzardNinjaXx"- Thank you! and really, when I first thought of making a story, I thought it would maybe be 20 chapters, I was very wrong.
"Bookworm45669"- Yeah, painting that stupid basement SUCKED! we used that stupid water sealing paint that was all gritty, and because I painted the bottom while my mom painted the top, it was like sand was falling on my hair and face the entire two hours it took just to paint one stupid wall!but enough with my complaining, I was thinking I'd use Crowpelt as Graycloud's mate, because he was the cat she sat next to when she was made a warrior, and I thought I could just use that, but I'm still not sure.
"Song of falling feathers"- Yes, they will be okay, for now. And I really needed luck in painting the basement, I only had to help with one wall, but we were painting the concrete, so it took 2 hours! it was horrible, and I have blisters on my hands to prove it.
"FoxXxOfTheNight"- Thank you!
"warriorcatsrock"- Hehe, I couldn't have said it better!
Snowstorm487- Very interesting idea, but it would compromise some of my ideas, and I really want to do them. But it would make a great storyline, its just not for this story, sorry. But if I decide that my things won't work, I'll definitely consider that idea!
Hey people! last chapter I asked if we could do better then 7 reviews, last I checked, 6 is not an improvement!
Chapter 36
Blueshadow sat up and shook the snow carefully off from her thick fur, she looked up, right into Foxtail's amber eyes. Startled, she stumbled backward and cried as she landed on her injured shoulder. "Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry!" Foxtail mewed in embarrassment as he nudged her to her paws.
Rolling her eyes, Blueshadow stood up slowly and shook Foxtail off, "Blueshadow, I-I need to talk to you," Foxtail mewed. "I'm right here, talk," she answered irritably, Foxtail flicked his tail in annoyance, "I need to talk to you alone," he mewed again.
Blueshadow sighed, "look, Foxtail, I can't talk now, I have to see Darkflower," she jerked her head at the sleeping medicine-cat. "But, after she's done with me, we can go out into the forest and you can talk your head off," she mewed in slight annoyance.
Foxtail twitched his tail in impatience, but nodded reluctantly before turning around and trotting out through the fern tunnel. "What was that all about?" a voice spoke behind her, spinning around, she faced Darkflower, "what was what all about?" she echoed stupidly on purpose.
"About Foxtail?" Darkflower prompted, her green eyes searching hers, "well if you were listening you should know," Blueshadow answered, feeling flustered. "I didn't understand any of it, why was Foxtail cross with you? I've never seen him like that with you," Darkflower mewed.
"I don't know either, so drop it, and do your job," she snapped angrily at the medicine-cat. Darkflower's eyes flashed with annoyance, but she stood up and disappeared into the cracked rock where she kept her herbs.
She came out a few moment later with her jaws full of herbs, setting them down on the snowy ground, she started chewing comfrey into a pulp and putting it on her sprained paw. After that, she felt along her shoulder, looking confused for a moment before mewing. "I don't think your shoulder is broken, but it isn't just wrenched either, it's somewhere in between the two," Darkflower mewed slowly.
Flicking her ears impatiently, Blueshadow mewed irritably, "well? How long until I'm healed?" Darkflower hesitated before answering, "as an estimate, about two moons before you're are completely healed, but after one moon you can probably carry out some light warrior duties. But until that first moon has past, I want you to stay in here with me."
Blueshadow gaped at her, "what! But I was just here for two moon! And now another moon? I could rest just as well in the warrior den as in here!" she snapped angrily. "Maybe, but I want to keep an eye on you because I'm not sure of your condition," Darkflower mewed quickly, dropping her eyes to her paws.
Growling in her throat, Blueshadow heard the lie in the medicine-cat's voice, "now, what is the real reason?" she growled quietly. Darkflower's green eyes flashed in panic, "I-I don't have another reason," Darkflower stuttered.
Blueshadow rolled her eyes, "if your going to lie, you might do well to try not to stutter, and also, to lie convincingly, you have to look like you mean it," Blueshadow mewed in annoyance. Darkflower sighed, "I really meant that I wanted to make sure you didn't disobey my orders while it could hurt you," Darkflower mewed flatly.
Blueshadow looked away before she clawed the medicine-cat's ears, how dare she accuse me of that! I know I would lie to her, but how dare she have the arrogance to say it to my face?! She stayed silent as Darkflower put comfrey on her shoulder and secured it in place with some bindweed.
After Darkflower had finished, Blueshadow spoke up, "Darkflower, what do you know about the prophecy?" she mewed quietly as she listened for paw-steps in the tunnel, which would signal an eavesdropper .
Darkflower looked down at her paws while she absently plucked at the extra herbs on the snow, "what prophecy?" Darkflower mewed stupidly. "I know you know, or you would have been more excited," Blueshadow mewed irritably.
Darkflower closed her eyes and breathed in deeply before opening her eyes and staring at her. "I don't not know what the prophecy means, but I know that it concerns you, I don't know if it means you're going to save the clans or destroy them. I've seen reasons to believe both," Darkflower mewed in a low, intense voice.
Blueshadow flicked her tail, I already knew all that! she thought angrily, sighing, Blueshadow rolled carefully on her back, "anything else?" she mewed. Darkflower shook her head, "does Silverstar know?" Blueshadow asked, Darkflower shook her head again. "Good, " Blueshadow mewed, getting carefully to her paws, "keep it that way," she mewed, Darkflower nodded.
Limping out into the clearing, Blueshadow was met by a long line of cats wishing her to get better and giving advice on how to keep her strength up, almost half the clan was wishing her luck on her recovery, including Graycloud. After the cats had dispersed, she limped on to the fresh-kill pile and picked out a rather scrawny mouse. Turning back, she settled just outside the fern tunnel to eat her prey in silence.
But Lightfoot bounded over to her with some prey of her own and sat down beside her, "would you mind if I ate with you?" the pale red she-cat mewed shyly. Blueshadow nodded, at first feeling irritated, but then enjoying the silent company.
After they had finished their meal, Blueshadow groomed her fur and Lightfoot laid on her belly with her paws tucked under her and her eyes closed as she dozed. "Blueshadow?" Lightfoot mewed softly, "what?" she answered.
"I'm sorry I didn't visit you more, but every time I did visit you, you seemed so upset, I thought I'd just leave you alone until you were back to normal. But now I realize you're never going back," Lightfoot mewed, almost sadly.
"And how have I changed?" Blueshadow mewed, keeping her voice calm, "you are just different, you never seem happy and act as if you're always defending yourself, when you're not," Lightfoot replied. Blueshadow looked at her paws, her ears burning with shame that she let her clan-mates know what she was feeling so easily. "I feel like I'm always defending myself, and I'm not happy," Blueshadow mewed.
"Why?" Lightfoot mewed, "I don't know, I just feel… trap," she answered, "by what?" Lightfoot pressed on. Blueshadow hesitated, why do I feel trapped? It's not because I'm stuck in camp, or at least not all of it. "I'm not sure," Blueshadow whispered, staring out of camp, over the tops of the trees.
"You're not thinking of leaving, are you?" Lightfoot mewed, sounding alarmed, Blueshadow purred softly, "no, I have to much here, though sometimes I wish I could," she mewed. Lightfoot nodded, her amber eyes seemed to hold an understanding wisdom, when did that happen? Last time I was with her she was hardly more then a warrior.
Thinking back, she remembered, last time I was hardly more then a warrior, and I still loved Greyear. So much has happened since then… Looking up, Blueshadow spotted Lilypool, the ginger patched warrior was sharing tongues with Darkclaw, and she spotted love in both her friend's and brother's eyes.
She also saw Blossomcloud, Lilypool's almost identical sister, whispering to Stoneheart, and she saw happiness and excitement flash in both pair's of eyes. Getting a weird suspicion, she looked at Blossomcloud's belly, sure enough, it was large for early Leaf-bare. So much has happened, and I've missed out because of injuries and kits, well not anymore!
A fierce determination came over her, I will not let my injury keep me back! standing up, Blueshadow shook herself and asked Lightfoot. "Which cat's are together now?" Lightfoot looked up in surprise then slowly stood up, favoring her twisted paw.
"Well, as you can see, Blossomcloud and Lilypool love Stoneheart and Darkclaw, while Dawnmist and Quickfoot are kind of together, though they're a little young to have kits," Lightfoot mewed. Blueshadow nodded, "thanks," Lightfoot nodded in return before padding away to join a departing patrol.
Sighing, Blueshadow padded over to the apprentices den to see Redpaw sitting in her nest, silently brooding. "What are you doing Redpaw?" she mewed sharply, Redpaw looked up, her green eyes flickered with annoyance.
"What does it look like I'm doing? I have the day off of training again, and it's only my second day!" she mewed angrily. "Where's Graycloud?" Blueshadow asked. "I don't know! She said she had something important to do, and then she joined a hunting patrol!" Redpaw mewed.
Silently fuming, Blueshadow padded out of the apprentices den and headed back to the medicine-cat den, I'll heal more when I'm asleep. Curling down in her nest, she rested her chin on her paws and flicked her tail to cover them. Staring past her fluffy tail, she watched Darkflower reorganize her herbs until she fell asleep.
...
Blueshadow stretched carefully and got slowly to her paws, she nodded to Darkflower and padded into the fern tunnel where she was met by Foxtail. Uh-oh, I forgot to go with him into the forest, shrugging, she padded past Foxtail and signaled for him to follow with a flick of her tail.
Limping slowly out of camp, she paused at the bottom of the ravine and waited for Foxtail to speak. "As you may have noticed, I don't love you anymore," he mewed steadily. She nodded, though she felt like he had clawed her, its not easy to lose him so soon after I lost Greyear. But she kept her face calm and didn't react with a twitch of her whiskers.
"And I need to ask you if your kits are really mine, because I don't think you ever loved me like I once loved you, so I don't think they are my kits," he mewed quietly. Panic swept over her for a moment, then she felt calmness flood her. "No, they are not your kits, what are you going to do?" she mewed calmly, with a hint of a challenge.
Foxtail hesitated for a moment before answering, "nothing, I'm sure you have a good reason to keep the real father a secret." Blueshadow breathed out a sigh of relief, "why would you keep my secret?" she asked curiously, "because, even if we are not mates, we can always be friends," he mewed warmly.
She nodded in thanks, "I'd like to be friends, StarClan knows I could use them," she mewed happily. Foxtail purred and nosed her injured shoulder gently, "how long until you're healed?" he asked worriedly. "Darkflower say's about two moons," she mewed darkly.
Foxtail flicked her shoulder with his tail, "its not as bad as it could be, if it was broken, it could have been three or four moons," he mewed lightly. Blueshadow nodded in agreement, but didn't feel any less impatient to be a warrior again.
"We need to go back to camp," Blueshadow mewed after staring up at the purple sky for a few moments with Foxtail. Foxtail nodded and led her back into camp, where they met the Dusk patrol about to head out into the frozen forest. They all nodded warmly at her, all but Berrypool, who just ignored her, at least she's not insulting me, I like it when she ignores me.
Limping heavily, she made her way to the medicine-cat den and laid down on her belly with her injured leg splayed out in front of her. She watched Darkflower through narrowed eyes as the dark brown and black striped cat hurried around, putting herbs in their places.
After a while of watching the medicine-cat, she mewed anxiously, "are you sure you it will be two moons before I'm back to normal?" Darkflower shot a sympathetic glance at her from where she was sorting out some marigold.
"Yes, there's nothing that will heal it better then rest," the medicine-cat mewed, Blueshadow flicked her tail in frustration. "I'm sure that if I carried out my warrior duties, it would help me heal faster by becoming stronger," she mewed hopefully.
Darkflower shook her head firmly, "no, if you overwork it, you might have a permanent limp, and then you would never be a warrior again." Blueshadow let out a low growl, "so I'm going to be useless for two moons?"
Darkflower shot her a sharp glance, "there is plenty for you to do in camp," Darkflower mewed reproachfully. "Like what?" Blueshadow shot back irritably, "like you can help me, I'm really busy getting ready for Leaf-bare and all the colds and sickness that will come with it," Darkflower mewed.
Blueshadow snorted, half in scorn, half in interest. "If you don't know, I'm not a medicine-cat," she mewed pointedly. Darkflower flicked her ears in impatience before answering, "you may not be a medicine-cat, but I think you're clever enough to match leaves together."
Blueshadow pushed down her annoyance, "well? What do you want me to do?" she asked, forcing her voice to be calm. "You can finish sorting out these last few herbs, and throw the withered ones out of camp while I go get something to eat, as I haven't had time to eat yet today," Darkflower mewed.
Blueshadow nodded as the black striped cat trotted away, Blueshadow watched her and noticed that Darkflower had a slight limp on one of her back legs. Shaking her head, Blueshadow worked on a pile of tansy, tearing off rotted leaves and throwing rotted stalks into a pile of other shriveled herbs.
Blueshadow worked until the moon was high in the sky, getting through the tansy, chamomile, burnet, yarrow, and water mint that had been left. Setting the cleanly sorted herbs in a neat pile by the mouth of the split rock. She grabbed the old herbs and carried them out of the den and out of camp, throwing them into a bramble bush out of sight.
Limping back into camp, she stumbled as Stoneheart appeared suddenly in front of her, falling back on her haunches, she looked up at the massive tom. "What?" she mewed, trying to keep her voice friendly, despite her annoyance.
"Blossomcloud's expecting my kits!" The grey tom mewed happily, Blueshadow nodded, she had almost forgotten about that. "I already knew," she mewed, Stoneheart looked surprised for a moment, then a good-humored gleam came to his eyes. "As always, you're one step ahead of every cat Blueshadow," he mewed, she purred in amusement and pleasure.
"When are they due?" she asked curiously, "Darkflower said about one and a half, to two moons," Stoneheart answered. Blueshadow nodded through a yawn, "you look tired, you'll heal faster if you get plenty of rest," Stoneheart mewed, looking concerned.
Rolling her eyes, Blueshadow turned toward the medicine-cat den, but paused and looked back at Stoneheart. "When did you first start getting close to Blossomcloud?" she asked in a soft voice, Stoneheart looked at his paws, "just after I became a warrior," he answered.
Then he looked up at her and continued, "you know it was because of Blossomcloud that I tried to make up with you, she said that you were a good cat and I should give you another chance. And I'm very glad I did," Stoneheart mewed warmly. Blueshadow purred, "I'm glad as well, I was very tired of fighting with my family."
Stoneheart nodded in agreement, then turned away and joined Blossomcloud by the warriors den. She watched him, then turned and limped on to the fern tunnel. On entering the small clearing, she saw Darkflower putting away the piles of herbs she had sorted.
"Good job Blueshadow, but you shouldn't stay up so late when you're injured," the medicine-cat mewed. Blueshadow didn't respond, she just limped over to her nest, the snow crunching softly under her paws as she curled beneath the overhanging fern. She closed her eyes and listened to Darkflower work quietly, late into the night, she dozed off, and she dreamed.
...
Blueshadow stalked quietly through a silver forest, snowflakes dapple her blue fur that glowed in the moonlight. She slunk along the shadows as she stalked a creature, it wasn't a scent that she recognized, and she never got a clear view of it.
She picked up her speed as it broke into a run, it must be a rabbit if I can hardly keep up with it, she thought as she panted from running so fast. When she was only a tail-length behind it, though she still didn't know what it was, she pounced. Sitting up with nothing under her paws, she looked around for where it had gone, but saw, smelled, and heard nothing.
Feeling nervous, she stood up and backed into the shadows where her blue fur matched the blue shadows on the snow. Looking around with sharp eyes, she saw nothing, even though there was no undergrowth, and only a few trees.
Feeling sure that there was nothing out there other then herself, she padded quickly away, heading no where. Then she realized that her shoulder and paw weren't hurting, looking at it, she saw it looked completely fine.
Suddenly realizing this was a dream, she looked around and saw she was suddenly in a snowy clearing encircled by lush fern bushes and tall oaks, casting the clearing in shadows. She noticed with a jolt that the trees weren't moving, even though the wind was threatening to blow her over.
She was frozen in fear and horror as she heard the wind murmur in her ears, Leaf-bare shadows will save the clan from the muddy tangle, of prickly thorns, but remember, shadows disappear with the rising sun.
...
Blueshadow jolted awake, sitting up, she gasped in air as she struggled to keep herself from shaking. She shivered uncontrollably as she looked around fearfully, she tried to remember why she was so scared, but only a foggy, unknown memory of a dream surfaced.
Getting out of her nest, she paced around slowly, trying to calm down, but her heart pounded fast and loudly in her chest, and her breath still came in gasps. After a while, her breathing returned to normal and though her heart still beat fast, it wasn't so loud or heavy.
Sitting down on the silver snow, she looked up at the indigo sky, the stars seemed to dance and the moon glowed down on her. Flicking her ears, she noticed that the sky was starting to turn grey, she remembered what she had been doing two days before. I was coming back from my meeting with Fogeye and Greyear, that feel's like moon's ago.
Settling down in her nest again, she listened for a moment to the steady breathing of Darkflower. Sending her senses past the camp, she heard the hoot of an owl going back to it's nest, and the call of an early bird flying out for food.
Getting the feeling she was being watched, she lifted her head and looked around the clearing. Seeing nothing, she laid her head down again and closed her eyes again. But not before she saw the gleam of twin green eyes in the dim den.
How was that? the next chapter will be really exciting! or, at least I think it will be.
Attention! I just wanted to say that Blueshadow's shoulder is fractured, if you hadn't already guessed.
And I want everyone to send in three kits each in your review, for Blossomcloud and Stoneheart, I will then pick my three favorites and show them on the top of my next chapter. and if I don't pick your kit, don't be upset! Whenever I'm looking for kits for other clans, I usually go back and use kits that had been submitted, and I didn't pick them.
Okay! if you liked this chapter, review!