"Next up is the Nursery! Then finally, I'll show you where we sleep- the apprentices den!" Quickpaw meowed excitedly.
Fleckpaw stretched, padding after his friend. Quickpaw had shown him around camp, introducing him to the many cats of the clan. There was a lot to learn, but Fleckpaw was looking forward to it.
So far, Quickpaw had shown him the Elder's den, the Warrior's den, the Medicine cat's den, and the Leader's den. Now he was being taken to the nursery, the place where the queens of the clan raised their young. Fleckpaw saw Quickpaw duck under a large bramble bush. Fleckpaw followed his friend inside, eager to see Thunderclan's future Warriors.
The warm, milky scent of the nursery hit his nostrils, soothing him instantly. Inside the cozy den, five queens were curled up in soft moss nests. Two of the queens, a fluffy gray she cat and a white she cat with ginger and brown patches, had kits at their bellies. The two oldest kits that were nestled next to the gray queen were just starting to wake up.
"Welcome to the nursery, Fleckpaw. This is where our kits live until they turn six moons old and begin their warrior training." Quickpaw whispered, so as not to wake the younger kits, who were still dozing. "The queens without kits are Daisy, Blossomfall, and Cinderheart. Cinderheart and Blossomfall are expecting kits soon, so they've moved into the nursery. Daisy's kits are all full grown, but she stays here to help care for each new litter of kits. The two queens with kits are Daypool and Dovewing. Dovewing is the gray she cat with the older kits, Hazekit and Falconkit. Daypool is the queen with the three younger kits, Mistkit, Blotchkit, and Lightkit." As Quickpaw said her name, the young queen looked up at him.
"Hello." Daypool mewed softly. "You're Fleckpaw, right? Welcome to Thunderclan."
Fleckpaw purred with happiness. "Thank you. You have beautiful kits." He meowed.
Daypool's eyes shone with gratitude. "Thank you. It must be difficult for you, being so far from home. And Starclan knows that not all Clan cats are welcoming to outsiders." She said sympathetically. "I understand how it feels. I wasn't born here either."
"You weren't?" Fleckpaw mewed, startled. The queen looked right at home amongst the other Thunderclan cats. But now that he thought about it, he did remember Squirrelflight mentioning that Daypool had not been born in Thunderclan. "So you were a loner or kittypet before joining the clan?"
Daypool hesitated. "Not exactly. Let's just say I came from very, very far away. It's a long story, one far too long for now. It'll be moonhigh soon. And you must be tired."
Hearing the queen's words, Fleckpaw realized just how exhausted he was. He suddenly felt like he couldn't walk another step. "I guess I am." He yawned.
At that moment, the two kits sleeping at Dovewing's belly started to stir. "Uh oh. Hazekit and Falconkit are waking up. We'd better go. If they catch sight of us, they'll be on us like flies. We'll never be able to leave!" Quickpaw meowed in amusement. "Come on, I'll show you where we sleep." The Ginger and white apprentice ducked out of the den and bounded off, somehow still full of energy. Fleckpaw padded slowly after him on weary paws.
After what seemed like hours, Fleckpaw arrived at an overgrown tree stump with Quickpaw. There was foliage growing all around it, providing a well sheltered den. Upon closer inspection, there were small branches amongst the undergrowth, holding the shape of the den.
"This is where we sleep. The apprentices den." Quickpaw meowed proudly. "Make your nest anywhere."
Fleckpaw padded into the den, his eyes adjusting to the slightly darker area. He could just make out the pale brown speckled pelt of Lynxpaw and the spiky ginger fur of Sunpaw. Their flanks were rising and falling softly in a steady pattern. Fleckpaw raked some of the extra moss into a nest near Quickpaw and Lynxpaw's nests. Lucky for him, Sunpaw's nest was further away. He had the feeling that if he'd tried to make his nest near hers, he'd have gotten his ears clawed in his sleep.
As he and Quickpaw settled into their nests, a thought struck Fleckpaw. It was something he had heard earlier, when Bramblestar had been addressing the Clan. "Quickpaw, what was the danger that Bramblestar mentioned earlier? It seemed to shake a lot of cats up." He asked, curious.
At once, Quickpaw's eyes darkened. "Since you're a Thunderclan cat now, I suppose you deserve to know." He sighed.
Fleckpaw noticed the fur on the ginger and white apprentice's back prickling. What was it that had scared his friend so much? He leaned forward, intrigued.
"You remember how the border patrol attacked you, right? How aggressive they were? Well, it was with good reason." Quickpaw took a deep breath. "There's a cat, somewhere in the forest, who's been killing Warriors from all the Clans for the past three moons."
Fleckpaw felt his blood run cold. "What? But why?" He whispered. "Hasn't anyone tried to stop them?"
Quickpaw shook his head. "That's just it. We can't catch them. We can't even track them. Whoever it is that's been killing Warriors leaves nothing behind. No fur, to footprints, not even any scent. We just find the bodies. It used to be that cats were only dying on the borders. But in the last moon, whoever's doing the killing has grown bolder. We've been finding our clanmates dead deep within our territory as well as on the borders. The murders are quick, too. Cats that get split up from their patrols are found dead. The Clan cats have been calling the murderer the Lightning Rouge." As if on cue with Quickpaw's speech, a flash of lighting lit up the sky outside, and rain started pouring down from the sky, battering the roof of the Apprentice's den.
"That's horrible." Fleckpaw shivered, but not with cold.
"It is." Quickpaw agreed. "And it's getting worse. No one has any idea who's behind the killings, but tensions between the Clans are high. At the last gathering, Windclan accused Riverclan of being behind the killings. Some cats think it's a rouge. Some even think it's a Dark Forest cat."
Fleckpaw nodded with understanding. While they'd been visiting the Warriors den earlier, Quickpaw had explained to him about the last great battle the clans had fought, against the spirits of fallen warriors who had no place in Starclan. They'd tried to recruit Clan cats, and had succeeded with some. But most of the cats decided to fight for their true clans.
"But most of the cats blame other Clan Warriors. But no one knows for sure who-" Quickpaw was cut off by an angry hiss.
Fleckpaw's head whipped around, still scared from the dark tale Quickpaw had been telling. Had the Lightning Rouge come to kill them in their own camp? Luckily, this was not the case. A small ginger she cat with unkempt fur was looking up from her nest, her amber eyes, though still bleary with sleep, were blazing with rage. It was Sunpaw.
"Can't a cat get some sleep around here?" She growled. "In case you two bee-brains hadn't noticed, SOME of us actually need our rest! If you two want to gossip like queens, go do it somewhere else!" With that, Sunpaw whipped her head back around and curled her tail over her nose, done with her short tirade.
Quickpaw shared a meaningful look with Fleckpaw. "We'd better go to sleep too, or Sunpaw's going to flay us." Quickpaw meowed, curling up in his own nest.
Fleckpaw followed his example, closing his eyes and waiting for sleep to come. But he could not manage to shake the unease Quickpaw's tale had caused him.
Hi guys! Sorry I haven't updated in so long. I'm in highschool, and I've been really busy preparing for my final exams. But they'll be over soon, and I had time to work on a new chapter of Ravenpaw's Legacy. So here it is! I hope you enjoyed it! I'll be posting a lot more once summer's here, so wait just a bit longer!