Warriors: The Deadliest Challenge

Chapter Eight

Ambertail lay curled up in her nest, her nose buried under her brown tail-tip. Her pelt bristled with anger as she continued to think about the previous day's events. After the group returned to camp, Streamswirl announced that Waterheart was the winner of the challenge, and Sprucejump had been eliminated. The dark brown she-cat had spent the rest of that day in the medicine den, where Ambertail heard Driftwater confirm that she had indeed torn a muscle in her left hind-leg. Now Sprucejump was talking about retiring to the elders' den! Ambertail knew that the senior warrior still had many seasons left in her to serve as a warrior, but now she couldn't hunt or fight because of the stupid challenges.

And when I try to talk to Streamswirl about how dangerous these challenges are, she just walks away! Why can't she understand that the Clan is turning on her?

The only warrior that seemed to be genuinely enjoying the challenges was Lizardwing, but after coming second-last in the race due to his injury, he seemed angry and more determined than ever to prove how good of a leader he would make.

Ambertail had gone straight to her nest after another failed attempt to talk to Streamswirl when the group arrived back at the camp, and she suffered another sleepless night because of it. Ambertail still cared deeply for the medicine cat, having been good friends with her since she was an apprentice, but she felt bitter every time she looked at the ginger-and-white cat.

Ambertail focused on Pinewhisker's deep breathing as he slept beside her in his nest, trying to calm herself down. She had given a lot of thought to his proposition to be mates, and she felt more compelled to accept whenever she was with him. He seemed to be the only thing that could calm her nerves lately.

Ambertail looked over at the sleeping tom; he seemed to have slept well after the tiring race, and was still in a deep sleep. Ambertail smiled lightly and pushed herself to her paws, giving her tail a shake, and quietly padded out of the warriors' den, carefully stepping over her den-mates so as not to disturb them.

She stepped out into the cool, morning air; it was not yet dawn, the sky still darkened and spotted with a couple of stars. Ambertail could see a faint pink glow on the horizon, hinting that sunup was approaching soon. She shook out her thick pelt against the cold, and slowly padded through the reeds to exit the camp. Weariness dragged at her paws, but she knew there was no point going back to her nest as more worrying thoughts would just fill her mind. She knew a walk would help to clear her head and prepare her for the coming day.

As she padded up to the stream, ready to leap across the stepping stones, a flash of ginger fur caught the edge of her vision. She swivelled her head to look upstream, and saw the small shape of Seedfall further along the stream, sitting by the water's edge and peering down into the flowing stream. Curiosity prickled at Ambertail's paws.

What's she doing up so early? Ambertail wondered.

She slowly padded towards the ginger she-cat, trying not to alarm her. "Hey, Seedfall."

The small she-cat jumped in fright, clearly not expecting any other cats to be out of camp.

"Sorry," Ambertail meowed hastily, "I was trying not to scare you, but I guess I didn't do a very good job."

Seedfall smiled weakly. "It's okay, I just didn't think anyone else would be up yet."

Ambertail stood awkwardly for a couple of heart-beats, before sitting down a tail-length away from Seedfall. "So, what are you doing out of camp this early?" she queried.

Seedfall looked at her hesitantly, her blue eyes pooled with grief. She sighed. "I haven't been able to sleep since Specklepelt..." Her voice choked up with sadness, unable to finish her sentence.