Warriors
Ha-ha hope the last chapter gave you something to hold on to for this chapter!! It was a major cliffy if you ask me!! Thanks for reading this far and enjoy this chapter.
Chapter 5
"My daughter," The unfamiliar cat squeaked as she rubbed her head against me. I jumped back in alarm, my fur bristling and my teeth bore. The other two bent down as if about to lunge at me, but the stranger flicked her tail and they stood up instantly. "Do you not recognize me?" The cat asked and I backed away further and luckily Willowtail came up beside me her tail lying gently upon my shoulders.
"She is not your daughter, she belongs to Shadowclan and I am her mentor and you will do good as to leave now," Willowtail said firmly and the cat looked at Willowtail, but then at me and her gaze became soft like a mother's did for its kit.
"Not without my daughter," The cat said and I growled angrily.
"I am not your daughter you mouse-brain, I am part of Shadowclan as my parents were, my mother died giving birth to me and my father died when a tree branch hit him…I would know I remember the vigil we sat for him," I snapped angrily and the cat purred soothingly and made towards me, but I lashed out with my claws and she scrambled backwards.
"Don't you dare hurt her," One of the other cats, a tabby tom hissed rushing forward and stepping protectively in front of the female.
"Leave all of you, or we will force you out," Willowtail hissed and her tail lashed angrily.
"Let me talk to your leader, he will see sense in me taking my daughter away," The she-cat said, she was black and white and had emerald green eyes.
"You may see Puddlestar, but you are not taking Twigpaw away," Willowtail said firmly and she turned and started to pad away and I instantly followed her and the three cats padded calmly behind us.
"What a terrible name, Twigpaw back with me your name will be Blossom, like it always was and always will be," The she-cat said loudly and I lashed my tail angrily and Willowtail glanced at me.
"Twigpaw, run ahead to the camp and warn Puddlestar of their arrival," Willowtail hissed and I nodded and started to race away.
"Eiffel, follow her and don't let her out of your sights," The she-cat hissed and the light gray tom started forward, but I spun around and glared at him.
"You three will stay with Willowtail," I hissed and the tom glared back, but stayed with the others as I raced on ahead. I raced until felt like could no longer and I was nearly greeted by running into Sunstreak and Nightpaw who were slipping out of the tunnel followed by Honeyclaw.
"Three loners are on their way here to talk to Puddlestar," I panted and Honeyclaw nodded and she nodded to me and the three of us followed her back into camp. "One of them, a she-cat thinks I'm her daughter," I explained to Honeyclaw as we hurried to Puddlestar's den.
"Impossible," Honeyclaw whispered and she disappeared inside and then Puddlestar padded out of his den followed by Honeyclaw and he looked at me and was about to speak, his eyes soft and comforting, but their was a yowl of surprise and disgust from Mosspaw. Willowtail calmly padded into the camp followed by the two toms and the she-cat who looked around mystified by it all.
"Who are they?" Birchkit bounced out of the nursery, staring wide-eyed at the three loners.
"Birchkit not now," Robinpelt hissed and gently shoved her kit back towards the nursery as she raced hurriedly towards Cinderwing's den. Both cats came racing back nad they glanced at the loners, but ducked into the nursery seconds later.
"A queen must be expecting kits," The she-cat commented and Puddlestar lightly nodded.
"Yes, Iceclaw is the pregnant queen and Robinpelt already has Lionkit and Birchkit," Puddlestar explained and his gaze whipped around to the elders den as Leafpool and Ferncloud slipped out. They growled at the loners, but after a stern gaze from Puddlestar they stopped and sat down, but Ferncloud must have spotted the she-cat watching me (which she was of course) and she flicked her tail.
"Twigpaw, Nightpaw come sit by us," Ferncloud beckoned and I nodded thankful that Ferncloud felt protective over me. Nightpaw and I hurried over to Leafpool and Ferncloud and we sat in between the two she-cats and we watched as Puddlestar stood and strode towards te she-cat.
"What business do you have on our territory?" Puddlestar asked firmly.
"We were just passing through back to our own…um…clan as you may call it," The she-cat replied.
"A clan of loners, not living by the warrior code? How incredibly disgusting," Ferncloud hissed loudly and the two toms looked over.
"We have heard stories, from the so called loners, who have wandered over here that you are vicious creatures that will rip us to shreds if we cross into your territory," The light gray tom, named Eiffel said calmly.
"We do what we must to protect our boundaries," Honeyclaw said proudly. I looked around the clearing and noticed that many more cats had come out since word had probably spread of there being loners, Sunstreak and Willowtail were sitting by the warriors den accompanied by Dapplesun, Pebblefoot, Beechfur, and Owlwhisker while Robinpelt and her kits were quietly laying under some protective ferns that gave off some shade and Mosspaw, Brackenpaw, and Hazelpaw, and Smokepaw were laying outside the apprentices den their ears pricked in curiosity and even Rainleaf had crept out from Cinderwing's den to watch these loner be chased off after Puddlestar had talked.
"Is this the food you eat?" The other tom was sniffing in disgust at the fresh-kill pile.
"Yes, we hunt and kill the food we eat, we kill birds, mice, voles, and sometimes even rabbits and pheasants if we are lucky," Puddlestar explained and all three loners wrinkled their nose.
"You certainly have a lot of cats," The she-cat said and Puddlestar nodded.
"I am Puddlestar the leader of Shadowclan, this is Honeyclaw my deputy those are some of our warriors; Rainleaf, Willowtail, Sunstreak, Owlwhisker, Pebblefoot, Dapplesun, and Beechfur and those are our apprentices; Nightpaw, Twigpaw, Smokepaw, Mosspaw, Brackenpaw, and Hazelpaw, that is one of our queens Robinpelt and her kits, Lionkit and Birchkit," Puddlestar introduced and the she-cat nodded.
"My name is Kite, and these are my sons, Eiffel and Callum," Kite said pointing to the two toms who were looking at all of the cats with frightened eyes. Her gaze traveled to me and her tail flicked towards us. "Now, my heart is set on some other task," Kite said plainly and eyes darted towards me, but I ignored them and looked at Puddlestar.
"Twigpaw is Shadowclan born unfortunately her parents have both joined Starclan, but I have three witnesses to prove she was born here in our nursery," Puddlestar said calmly.
"She is too similar to my daughter to not be her," Kite called out and Eiffel and Callum exchanged a glance.
"I am not your daughter," I burst out and Kite stood up and raced to my side and Leafpool and Ferncloud hissed threateningly.
"Please, Blossom recognize me, I am your mother the one who loves you the one who can offer you a life of plain simplicity no hunting or fighting and no deaths," Kite begged her soft brown eyes seemed like little mice with plain white dots.
"No," I said staggered back and Leafpool protectively placed her paw in front of me.
"I was in the nursery when she was born…I have never doubted her loyalty to Shadowclan and no loner who comes in our camp and claims to be her mother can ever break that," Leafpool hissed and Nightpaw and I exchanged impressed glances.
"Twigpaw is one of my best friends, she would never turn down her chance to be a warrior for a loner's life," Smokepaw added as he jumped to his paws.
"She's kind and smart and knows a loner's life is like killing her clanmate," Nightpaw added.
"She is my apprentice and I have always felt a connection between us and I know that she is loyal to her clan and her faith in Starclan will never fade, a loner's life is like turning your back on Starclan and the warriors code" Willowtail added and I stepped forward and Leafpool's paw moved away and my face came really close to Kite's and her eyes reflected fear.
"I know that a loner's life is not mine, I am not your daughter I am a Shadowclan apprentice and one day a Shadowclan warrior and I will never turn my back on the warrior code or my clan especially when I know where my true loyalties lie," I snarled and Kite backed up instantly and the clan started to chant a clan cheer and I joined in as loudly as I could.
"Shadowclan! Shadowclan! Shadowclan! Shadowclan!" The clan, including Puddlestar and Honeyclaw, stopped after a few minutes and then silence fell across the clearing.
"You are a very proud clan," Callum said after his many moments of silence.
"We take pride in our clan," Puddlestar said loudly and yowls of agreement rose and then fell.
"At least let us stay one night with you…the travel back to our camp is a long one and we are tired," Kite said politely and Puddlestar nodded.
"Eiffel and Callum must hunt first," Smokepaw interjected and Honeyclaw glared at him, but Puddlestar chuckled.
"Twigpaw, Nightpaw, and Mosspaw take Eiffel and Callum hunting," Puddlestar ordered and I stood up happily and glanced at Nightpaw. We happily padded towards the entrance and when Eiffel and Callum didn't follow I turned and padded over to them.
"You guys can't hunt by sitting on your tails all day," I said and they stood up and followed me over to the entrance tunnel where Mosspaw and Nightpaw were waiting. We all squeezed inside and hurried through and then out into the forest and I took a deep breath and then scented the air.
"I scent more prey over here," I said flicking my tail towards the edge of the forest which was dotted with many ferns and undergrowth which was obvious hiding places for mice and voles.
"How do you hunt?" Eiffel asked as we started to walk away.
"Don't you hunt for your food?" Nightpaw asked.
"The humans who live in the town usually leave out food for us since we've caught most of the rats in their barns and their town," Callum replied. I shook my head in disgust and then stopped and the others stopped and Mosspaw and Nightpaw ducked down and Eiffel and Callum followed their movements. I stopped and scented the air and growled with delight and I crouched down and slid forward through the grass barely making a sound as I neared a large fern bush where a large rabbit was apparently hiding. I flicked my tail and Mosspaw and Nightpaw whispered to Eiffel and Callum who stayed put while Nightpaw and Mosspaw crept around to get the bush from different angles.
"now," I roared and as a signal Nightpaw raced forward and the rabbit raced from the bush and undoubtedly ran right into my paws. I jumped up and trapped it with my paws and then killed it quickly and licked the warm blood from my lips with delight as the smell drifted up to me.
"Awesome, no doubt the elders will appreciate that," Mosspaw said padding over.
"no way," Eiffel said racing up and sniffing the rabbit thoroughly and then he made to bite it, but I quickly shoved him away. "Aren't you going to eat it?" Eiffel said and I hissed angrily.
"Apprentices and warriors always hunt first for the clan and only when the fresh-kill pile is full then we may eat, but technically the queens, kits, and elders must eat first," I explained calmly and Callum shook his head.
"If you wanted this then you would eat it right away for many loners would die to eat this delicious meat," Eiffel said and I picked it up and started back towards camp.
"The sun is setting and its almost time to eat anyway," I said and we headed back to camp and my rabbit was taken by Nightpaw and Brackenpaw to the elders who graciously accepted the rabbit and began to share it amongst themselves. I took a vole from the pile and then spotted Eiffel, kite, and Callum all of alone and looking uncomfortable near the elder's den. I grabbed two more mice and padded over to them and dropped them in front of them.
"There is nothing left for you," Kite exclaimed and I saw that she spoke the truth as the fresh-kill pile was bare and I shrugged.
"I've gone many days without a good meal, one night wouldn't hurt and besides, Nightpaw will probably share with me," I said and I padded away to where the other apprentices were sitting and eating. Nightpaw shoved a vole my way and I purred gratefully.
"I thought you might want to eat something," Nightpaw said and I nodded and took a nice large bite of the vole.
"This is our first meal without Grasspaw," Hazelpaw whispered and I nodded.
"Come on, we can't be all sad, you know if Grasspaw were here then she'd be trying to cheer us up and tell us it was okay and that she'll always be here for our evening meal together no matter what," I said cheerfully and then a quiver of fear ravenged through my body and I didn't know why. I glanced at Nightpaw and he looked back at me assuring me that he felt it too and as if an answer Vineclaw crashed through the entrance tunnel. A clump of fur was clinging just barley to her shoulder and a deep gash in her side was bleeding and her ear tip was cut.
"A group of rogues, about 9 attacked our patrol," Vineclaw gasped before collapsing on the ground.
"Honeyclaw, Willowtail, Sunstreak, Pebblefoot, Nightpaw, Smokepaw, Mosspaw, Twigpaw, Dapplesun, and Oakfur go now," Puddlestar shouted out over the murmur of fright. I instantly abandoned my vole and followed Smokepaw and Nightpaw over to Honeyclaw who was racing out of camp with the named warriors behind her. The entrance tunnel was gone instantly and soon we were hurtling through the forest towards the place where we could hear yowls and fights, it was towards the river. The forest flashed by in faintly green blobs and my heart pounded hard as we staggered to a halt at the top of a small hill and down below in a small dip in the land were three cats that looked exhausted and half-dead. Surrounding them were alt least 9 other cats who looked big, tough, and strong and ready to rip them to shreds.
"Shadowclan cats, now," Honeyclaw yowled into the air and the fighting ceased, but not for long as the warriors and the apprentices, including myself, hurtled down the hill towards them and as my heart pounded I hoped this battle would turn out okay, but then a certain thought hit me…Did battles ever turn out well?