Dapplepaw blinked his eyes, wishing the images of cats hissing and fighting would go away.
"Silvermoon! He's awake!" A familiar voice mewed.
"Ok Robinpaw, please take a step back," a female voice purred.
Dapplepaw forced open his eyes, and a weak ray of afternoon sunlight illuminated the den wall in front of him.
"Dapplepaw, can you hear me?"
"Yeah," he croaked.
"How do you feel?"
"Ok…" the apprentice mewed, struggling to sit upright, "my head hurts a bit though."
"That's expected," Silvermoon mewed, "Robinpaw will help you back to the apprentices den. Send Duskpaw over if you need anything."
With that, Dapplepaw struggled to his paws, and Robinpaw was right beside him, letting his tail drape over his brother's back. The two cats walked across the clearing, and Dapplepaw asked,
"How long was I out for?"
"Only about half the day. It's almost sundown now, but now that those clouds are gathering you can't really tell."
There were no cats lounging in the clearing, or sharing fresh-kill. The camp felt abandoned, but Dapplepaw knew it wasn't.
Both apprentices reached the den, and Dapplepaw mewed a goodbye. As he stepped inside, Robinpaw reminded him,
"If you need anything, just send Duskpaw."
The tired apprentice nodded, and then continued into the den.
"It's about time!" Duskpaw mewed, jumping to his paws.
"Yeah," Dapplepaw pushed past his brother and settled in his bed of moss, then closed his eyes.
"You were unconscious for half the day and you want to sleep?" Duskpaw asked impatiently.
"Yes," Dapplepaw sighed, flicking his ears, "let me sleep."
"But don't you want to go talk to the river cats and see what they want us to do for them?"
"Not tonight," he muttered.
"What?! Why not?"
Like someone had bit his tail, Dapplepaw jumped to his feet and hissed, "I just got knocked out for half the day and there was a battle and we got caught leaving camp the night before! So no, I'm not going to the river. "
"Fine," Duskpaw grumbled, "I'll go by myself."
Dapplepaw watched as his brother squeezed through the break in the den wall. With that, his brother was gone, and Dapplepaw wondered what he should do. He could chase after and potentially get caught by a LeafClan warrior on guard, or he could stay in the apprentices den and act like he had no idea where his brother was. This time, Dapplepaw decided, Duskpaw was on his own. His head was throbbing, and it would only get worse if he declared chase. Before closing his eyes, Dapplepaw wished his brother luck, and then curled up and rested after a long day.
As always, thank you for taking time to read this chapter. If you have any suggestions or comments, please review, it makes my day to read those reviews and encourages me to keep writing.