Warriors: The Darkest Shadow [Book 1]

Chapter 2

Shadepaw awoke in a warm den, the sun was just rising in the horizon. "Will she be ok, Nightpool?" She heard a she-cat in the background, "Yes Bluepaw, she is breathing and her wounds are treated." An older she-cat replied. Shadepaw was in the ThunderClan medicine den, she sighed with relief as she heard the familiar cats. "Where is my kit!" She heard another she-cat yowl. "Its ok Bluesky, Shadepaw is right here." Nightpool replied calmly. Shadepaw tried to open her eyes, but her head throbbed with pain, then she tried to speak, her voice was no more than a squeak, "Its ok Shadepaw, Bluesky is here." She heard her mom whisper in her ear. Why can't I open my eyes or speak? Shadepaw thought with irritation, "What happened! What happened to my kit!" Bluesky hissed at the medicine cat.
Nightpool explained what happened quickly and calmly, she didn't seem affected by the old queens harsh tone. Shadepaw felt her anger build up, she finally opened her mouth, "Guys! Stop arguing!" She said with blazing rage, but neither of the cats seemed to hear her. I'm fine! Stop making a big fuss about me! She thought. "Bluesky! She needs her rest!" Nightpool announced to her mother, "Exactly! Which means you can leave me and my kit be!" Bluesky snapped back at the black medicine cat. Shadepaw finally built up enough strength to open her eyes, when she opened her blue eyes, she saw her mother beside her, Bluesky's tail was bushed up and her fur was standing on end, Nightpool looked bout the same, guilt suddenly blew over her. I caused this... Because i can't hunt. She thought.
Shadepaw's legs quivered as she tried to stand up, "You think your such a great medicine cat? If you were, my only daughter would be healed and out there hunting!" She heard Bluesky hiss. The guilt almost knocked her over again, she shook with pain as she stood up. While the she-cats were arguing, she silently padded around to the back of the den, that's where she found a shaking Bluepaw. "Its my fault, I should have escorted Bluesky out before it was too late." She heard the apprentice mutter. Water was falling from her eyes, Shadepaw placed a weak paw on the apprentice's quivering shoulder. "Are you ok Bluepaw?" She croaked, her voice was hardly more than a whisper, "Shadepaw? You need to be resting!" She exclaimed with surprise, "I'm fine. Are you ok?" She asked the apprentice, "Yeah... I'm ok." She replied. "Well I'm gonna go find Sparrowsong." Shadepaw said as she padded off "Ok." Bluepaw said with a tone that sounded like good luck...
"Your just some queen who don't know how to care for your kits!" Nightpool hissed at Bluesky. This time Shadepaw ignored the arguing she-cats, as she swerved around them, she saw a familiar small white tom, "Bluesky! Nightpool! What are you both doing arguing like that!" Smallstar yowled at them. They both twisted their heads in unison, Shadepaw took the time to her advantage and dashed out of the medicine den, her neck and underbelly still felt sore, while her muzzle was covered in dry blood, I don't care how hurt I am. I will learn to be a warrior! Shadepaw thought as she padded to the warriors den, it was a hollowed out tree trunk in the back, with woven grass in the front. Shadepaw poked her head into the warriors den to find a sleeping Hawkfeather, Glorystem and Sparrowsong. She prodded her mentors side gently, Sparrowsong awoke with a snort, "Huh? Shadepaw?" She whispered as her green eyes stared at the apprentice. "Come on Sparrowsong. I want to learn how to hunt." Shadepaw said as she trudged outside of the warm den. A moment later her mentor came padding out behind her, "Ok we can go to the Great Oak and practice your hunting crouch." Sparrowsong said as she began trotting towards the entrance, Shadepaw fell in step with her mentor as they began their journey to the Great Oak.
"Put your tail down. Every prey in the forest will see a tail like that!" Her mentor joked. They had arrived at the Great Oak a little while after they had left, They had passed Lionclaw and Greythroat coming back from a hunting patrol on the way there, Greythroat had a juicy rabbit, while Lionclaw had a starling, in his jaws, Shadepaw couldn't wait to get back to camp and eat some rabbit. Now she was here learning how to catch her own prey, they had been training for about a quarter of the day, "Ready to go catch something now?" Sparrowsong asked as Shadepaw stood up and stretched, "Is that a good idea?" Shadepaw asked as Sparrowsong stood up and stretched as well, "Of course it is!" Her mentor replied as she silently started padding toward the forest, "Sparrowsong? What if I fail again?" Shadepaw asked with a quivered voice. The she-cat twisted around and glared at the white apprentice. "Just because you fail once, doesn't mean your a failure! Take that from me." She snapped. What just happened? Shadepaw thought as she trotted up to her mentor.
"Why do I have a feeling your not telling me everything?" Shadepaw said to the she-cat, she jerked her small head around to glare at her curious apprentice. "I will tell you after you catch something." Sparrowsong sighed as she continued into the deep undergrowth. This made Shadepaw eager to catch something. A squirrel? No. A bird? No way to hard! A rabbit! Yes that will do! To prove I won't lose to a show off rabbit! Shadepaw thought over her options, she was determined to catch a rabbit, maybe even the rabbit that thought it could beat her.
Sparrowsong's light-brown tail was swishing around in her face, making it almost impossible not to laugh as the fur tickled her nose, suddenly the long tail went up, signaling to stop. Sparrowsong aimed her ears toward a scavenging squirrel, Its no rabbit. But it will do. She thought as eagerness began to make her paws twitch. "Ok, crawl silently, tail down, and when you feel close enough, pounce!" Sparrowsong whispered into Shadepaw's ear. The apprentice nodded her head, then started crawling silently toward the squirrel.
Shadepaw was already downwind, so that made for an easy kill. It looked plump and juicy, its fluffy tail was so taunting, when Shadepaw was only a few mouse-lengths away, she pounced.
The squirrel squeaked loudly in pain and surprise, " Bite its neck Shadepaw! Hurry!" Sparrowsong hissed from behind. Shadepaw went for a swift bite to the neck, and as her teeth sank into the warm flesh, she felt a sudden triumph sweep over her. As the body fell limp she felt so happy she could run around the lake for a moon without getting tired.
"Now lets take this prey back to camp." Her mentor said as she began towards the ThunderClan camp.