Hidden Mysteries (A Warriors Fanfiction)

Chapter 14

A loud shriek rang from the camp.

Maplepaw awoke with a jolt. She gazed out of the medicine cave with wide eyes. The nursery!

She scrabbled to her paws and rushed out of the den. Panic welled inside of her. What happened?

She ducked into the nursery. Crowfur was already there. Maplepaw came to her side. Her breath caught in her throat as she looked down. Palekit was lying on her side, blood oozing from her neck. Crowfur's forepaws were covered in blood as she tried to stop the flow.

"H-how did you get h-here so fast?" Maplepaw panted.

Crowfur whipped her head around. "Get cobwebs!" she ordered, ignoring the question.

Heart pounding, Maplepaw zoomed out of the den. She skidded to a halt beside the herb store. She scanned the clefts, fear clouding her thoughts. Cobwebs... cobwebs... There! She reached out and pawed some cobwebs out of a cleft and grasped them in her teeth. Without stopping for a moment, she raced back out of the cave.

Maplepaw faltered into the nursery, her blood throbbing in her ears. Yelloweye was standing over her kit, the scent of fear rolling off her like waves. Her fur stood on end. Maplepaw crouched beside Palekit and began to press the cobwebs into her neck. Come on! Don't go! She pushed harder as her breath quickened. She can't die now!

Crowfur laid her tail over her shoulder. "Maplepaw," she murmured.

Maplepaw didn't listen. She snuffled Palekit's pelt, bringing heat to the little kit's body. She lapped at her fur. Don't stop breathing! She silently willed the kit. Don't give up now!

"Maplepaw!" Teeth grasped Maplepaw's scruff and she was pulled back. Crowfur stood over her. "Palekit's already gone."

Maplepaw shook her head in disbelief. "B-but she c-c-can't be!" She scrambled to her paws and turned her gaze back to the kit, who was lying motionless on the ground. Grief wrenched her heart. No!

"H-h-how could sh-she be..." Maplepaw's voice quivered. "But sh-she's s-s-so young..."

Crowfur lifted her head to the sky. "Some cats die young," she murmured.

Yelloweye let out a loud moan and curled herself around her dead kit. She pressed her nose into Palekit's fur, whispering something to her. Nettlestripe watched the two in despair and lowered her head, grieving.

"What happened, Mother?" Twigkit squeaked from behind Nettlestripe.

"Why is everything so quiet?" Mothkit whimpered. "It's scaring me!"

The three kits began to circle around their mother to see the commotion, but Fernpool herded them toward her with her tail.

"Stay with me," she said, voice thick with grief. "This is no time for games."

Maplepaw watched as Yelloweye drew Speckledkit close to her. The queen cuddled tighter with her kits, one alive and one dead. Maplepaw's legs trembled and she flattened herself to the ground. The kit that had been barely a moon old, the kit that she had witnessed coming into the world, was dead. Palekit is dead...

Paw steps sounded behind her and Riverheart burst into the den, followed closely by Runningflake. The gray tom hurried to Fernpool's side, sniffing at her pelt.

"What's going on in here?" Riverheart demanded. He froze as he spotted Palekit. His body quivered.

"No!" Brightpaw rushed into the den and crouched at his mother's side. He nuzzled Palekit, his dead sister. "No..." He closed his eyes, pressing against Yelloweye.