Chapter 35

"Wake up, Shimmertail, dawn patrol." I nudged the older warrior's sleeping form, trying to rouse her from rest.

She rolled a bit onto her back and blinked slowly. "C'mon, just a bit longer…I had night patrol."

I flicked my ear. "You had night patrol two days ago. Now get up, or I'll have you tend to the elders like an apprentice. It'd do some good; we don't have any apprentices right now."

"Fine." Shimmertail ruffled her gray and white splotched pelt and stood up with a stretch, giving her paws a few licks before following me into the camp.

Fadedpatch and Nettleclaw were waiting by the Earthmound for Shimmertail and I. We joined together and headed out of camp, using the stepping stones to save time. The water levels were higher than usual around the camp, and splattered our paws with mud.

It was only after our patrol was out of camp that I fully saw our surroundings. Snow no longer blanketed the ground, covered the trees and bushes, or draped off of boulders. All around us were the dripping stubs of icicles and muddy lumps of slush. The ground was damp and earthy, covered in exposed brown grass and tiny green shoots.

"StarClan, it's newleaf!" I exclaimed, prancing in a little circle.

Nettleclaw rolled his eyes. "Really? I hadn't noticed." I knew Nettleclaw didn't like me ever since I became deputy. He had been a bit hostile before, but he was that way with everyone. When I became deputy, he became downright bitter. He had spoken up about me not training an apprentice, which I know was against the warrior code, but it was Sparkstar's decision, and the leader's word is the warrior code.

I gave him a disappointed sort of pout and continued on through the wet grass.

The rushing of the river leading to the lake grew louder as we walked, which only meant we were getting close to the mouth. Yet it seemed louder than usual, probably because of the snowmelt.

"Let's head closer to the river," I mewed and flicked my tail, diverting direction toward the noise. The other three cats followed, Shimmertail in the back.

"Something wrong, Frostleaf?" Shimmertail asked, speeding up to get closer to me.

"No, just…worried. The river sounds swollen."

"Alright, let's check it out then." Shimmertail took the lead, moving into a run. The rest of us started to run to keep up with her.

As we trotted along, puddles grew more and more frequent, soaking our paws and legs with icy snowmelt. Soon, a constant flow of water was almost up to our bellies.

Shimmer tail looked back at me, lifting a gray and white spotted paw away from the water. "I can see what you mean."

"Should we tell Sparkstar?" Fadedpatch asked, turning toward the camp.

"After our patrol. We'll have to move fast, though, in case the water gets any higher," I meowed with a nod, starting to walk away from the river.

The other warriors followed, except for Nettleclaw, who moved closer to the river. "Frostleaf," he said.

"Not now, we have a patrol to finish."

"Frostleaf," he said louder.

I sighed and turned back. "What is it?"

"The water is moving a lot faster than usual. We need to tell Sparkstar now."

"But we'll have to finish the patrol anyway, we can just run." I still wouldn't listen to Nettleclaw. Maybe it was because I knew he didn't like me, maybe I was just stubborn.

I turned away from him, but my head quickly snapped back, hearing a tiny shriek over the roaring waters. I almost didn't hear it over the river, but it was just audible. Bobbing in the waves was a tiny blue-gray kit, moving quickly downstream.

I acted fast. "Fadedpatch, you're the fastest. Get back to camp and alert Sparkstar."

The cream tom nodded and started to run over the hills.

"The rest of you, move downstream!"

We all ran as fast as we could along the river, chasing the rising and falling body of the kit. It was moving faster than us still, and we were just barely keeping up.

"I'm jumping in!" yelled Shimmertail. "I'm the fastest swimmer!"

"No!" I yowled, looking from the kit to the older warrior. "It's too fast, you'll drown!"

She shook her head, "Sorry, I have to!" and plunged into the river before I could tell her no again.

Shimmertail went under fast, and didn't come up. But we kept running, and her head broke surface a few pawlengths ahead of us, swept away by the rushing waves. She was flailing hard with her paws, trying to keep afloat and gasping for air.

"Get out!" I shouted, but she didn't hear me and tried to paddle harder.

The lake was visible just in the distance. We would have to get the kit before it was lost in the large expanse.

Nettleclaw growled, seeing we were falling behind. "We're tiring out, we need to stop."

I grit my teeth. "No!" I pushed myself harder, running faster with water spraying up below me.

Then, ahead of the fast moving kit, a shape leaped out of the bushes and into the water. It picked the kit up in its jaws and deftly swam out with a few strong paddles, dropping the kit onto the shore.

Shimmertail jumped out as well, but with more of a struggle.

Nettleclaw and I moved toward the shape, soon recognizing it as another cat, RiverClan by the scent.

I stopped in front of her. "Moonblossom, where did you come from?"

Moonblossom flicked her tail. "I was hunting." She gestured at the voles half buried in a bush a couple pawlengths away.

"How in StarClan's name did you do that?" Even Nettleclaw was in shock.

My sister flicked her tail again. "I'm strong."

The kit was breathing just barely on the shore, gasping and choking.

Shimmertail heaved heavy breaths, water dripping off of her fur, and moved closer to the kit. "It's Bluekit."

"Bluekit? She's only a few weeks old! How did she get into the river?"

"Must have wandered off." She started to press on Bluekit's side gently, prompting her to cough up a mouthful of water onto the sand.

Nettleclaw picked up the kit by the scruff in his jaws. "We need to get her to Coalflame."

I nodded, and with the other cats, headed for camp. Moonblossom stayed back.

"Aren't you coming with us?" I asked, flicking my ear.

She turned back to her prey. "I'm hunting."

I gave a confused look and turned back, catching up with the rest of my patrol. Ever since our…argument, Moonblossom had been strange with me. Was she really that angry with me? I thought she would come around soon, but she hadn't yet. I was starting to get worried.

We crossed the water slick stepping stones into camp and into Coalflame's den. Nettleclaw set her down on an empty nest, and I walked in back to find my brother.

"Bluekit almost drowned, can you check her over?" I meowed.

Coalflame turned around, some sort of pollen dusting his whiskers. "You found Bluekit? Thank StarClan, Amberbreeze has been frantic all morning."

Coalflame squeezed past me and to Bluekit, prodding her and checking her general wellness.

"She's fine, mostly. I'll give her a poppy seed and some thyme for the shock and she'll be perfectly normal when she wakes up," he reported.

I nodded. "I'll tell Amberbreeze."

With quick steps I strode to the nursery, where Amberbreeze was sitting with Smokewing, who was comforting the worried queen.

"Frostleaf, if you need me for patrol, now isn't a good time…" Smokewing meowed. I hadn't noticed the gray around her muzzle. She had been an older warrior when I was a kit, so it only made sense she was getting older.

"No, we were just on patrol, and we found Bluekit."

Amberbreeze's head snapped up. "Bluekit? Where was she?"

I purred at her happiness. "Almost drowning in the river. The snowmelt overflowed it and she must have gotten swept away. She's in the medicine cat den now."

"Is she alright?" The ginger queen stood up and peered through the entrance to the nursery.

"She's fine, Moonblossom rescued her and Coalflame patched her up."

Amberbreeze sighed with relief and ran over to Coalflame's den to see her kit. Brightkit was sleeping in her nest.

"Sparkstar!" a voice I recognized as Bassfang's called. I exited the nursery to see him and Nightheart standing between a heavily scarred gray tabby. Her body was covered in healing scratches and her eyes were clawed and milky blind.

Shimmertail left the nursery, hearing the Bassfang's call and gasped. She ran up to the scarred she-cat and sniffed her pelt.

"StarClan…it's Rainpool!"

A/N: So you're probably wondering what happened to me/this story. In short, school, stress, and other projects. But the fact I never finished this is nagging at me, and I've decided to complete it. Yay! Thanks for reading!