Warriors: Solemn Wishes (Warrior Cats Fan Story)

Chapter 10

Redwhisker blinked awake, both disturbed by the sunrays filtering into the nest and by his own internal body clock forcing him out of sleep. He frowned a bit, somewhat downtrodden that he had to get up despite knowing that it was something he had to do every day. He kneaded at the nest a bit with his paws, reminiscing about Acorntail.

It'd been about a quarter of a moon since their second ever meeting, and they had met a few times since then. A few were during the night, but most were during the day; Oceanbutterfly accompanied him on about half, but other times he was able to excuse his way out of camp without her. Not that he didn't mind her company, but the she-cat did not seem to have as smooth of a bond with Acorntail as him.

Speaking of today, it was suspicious that he had been allowed to sleep in. Some days, his Clan forced him awake before the sun had even come up so he could do extra work; other days, like this one, they made sure he slept as long as possible, and it was usually so they would not be bothered by his presence. And normally there was a specific reason for that.

So as he stretched out on the ground and slowly hauled himself up, he immediately moved towards the den entrance to peek out and see what the ruckus was about - if anything. Initially he couldn't see much, but as he looked further out, he saw there was some kind of commotion at the center of camp. Squinting, he was able to make out that there were a few WindClan cats, and a jolt of fear buzzed through him as he wondered if there was drama about Acorntail. Has our friendship been found out? he fretted, only to instantly realize that he would be woken up by an angry Clanmate if that was true. Still curious on what was going on, he left the den.

There were four WindClan cats in total, only three of which he recognized from Gatherings; Dustface, Throughsight, and Witherpaw. The fourth was an elderly-looking she-cat he had never seen before; some cats were rare sights at Gatherings, whether by choice or by force. Either way, there were four WindClan cats in camp, and from the way they were such a huge deal, Redwhisker wanted to know more. He left the warrior's den to get a closer look, and to hear what they seemed to be talking about with Bronzestar.

It proved to be a violent error.

The unrecognizable fourth cat snapped their head to see him approaching. Before Redwhisker could even arrive at the crowd, he felt a horribly loud and vicious force barrel into him from the crowd, sending him backwards with overwhelming force. He felt the cat that had attacked him remain on top, and even as he tried to keep his feet, the extra weight and his general imbalance made him topple to the side. He felt teeth and claws dig into his neck, and could not think of anything else to do but scream and kick out at what was attacking.

The fourth cat, an elder by the name of Greenwheat, did not recognize the fox at all, for she had stopped going to Gatherings long ago when Sparkflame was no longer able to. All she saw before her was a strange fox; and although she had heard gossip back at home about the fox warrior of RiverClan, a hostile reaction to any fox was hardwired into her, so much so that it overrode reason. She did not see Redwhisker before her; she saw a ferocious mutt that was, by happenstance, in the center of a Clan's camp - dangerous to the point where she forgot her elder status and transformed back into a warrior.

Meanwhile, the cats behind her were flabbergasted by what had just happened. Dustface, seeing an opportunity to whip around the fox who had exposed Acorntail, and get away by claiming panic, leapt upon Redwhisker as well. Him and the elder began ripping the shrieking fox apart. It quickly turned into a confusing mess, as more cats rushed in, most to force the two to separate from Redwhisker.

Bronzestar stepped in just as the chaos was ending. As Greenwheat and Dustface were calmed down and explained the situation by both their Clanmates and RiverClan members, and Redwhisker was either whispered gently to or yelled at to get up, the leader stepped between the recovering parties, looking to and fro.