Warrior Cats SERIES 1: North and South (Book 1)

Chapter 11

A weight dropped in his stomach like a monster plummeting into the lake. It exploded as the shecat's breathing shallowed. Fur shuffled around him and the scent of his mentor and leader was strong, yet odd as it mixed. It was distinctly RiverClan. But the apprentice before him struggled and she seemed to have given up, though her heart kept beating and StarClan kept refusing to take her in. She was having her very own war with the stars and reality.
          "I ask my warrior ancestors to look down upon this apprentice. She has learned the Warrior Code and has given up her life in service of her Clan. Please let StarClan receive her as a warrior. She will be forever known as Crownedfur. RiverClan mourns her death and is grateful for her strength and persistence." Coralstar meowed in a calm voice, though Northpaw could sense her fear and grief. Northpaw hated the shecat for her taunts and chants, but he never hoped she died because of it.
          "Crownedfur is a lovely name. She would suit it very well, and would have been a fantastic warrior, though her attitude is rather straightforward." Meltedfur's tail brushed his back and reached over to Coralstar's.
          Crownedfur's body lay on the moss bed, clots of blood covering her stomach. Her breathing faltered and was seldom. Northpaw leant forward and checked her pulse with his muzzle - faint. It suddenly stopped and her breathing hitched in her throat. Dead. Her now-lifeless body relaxed and a tiny speck of light danced through his vision. It was in the shape of a star, then twisted and shifted into the shape of a cat. She had thinned-out fur that was well-kempt and Northpaw guessed it would have been beautiful in colour.
          "Northpaw, are you okay?" Coralstar's light blue eyes prompted him. He nodded. Even with his leader's comfort and support, he still refused to tell her about the sign that Crownedfur appeared in.
          "Well, I suggest you go train with Runningpaw. You're supposed to be battle training today, but I think I'm going to rest. Last Gathering was quite a pawful." Meltedfur calmly ordered. She turned around and curled up on her flat moss bed.
          "Of course. Should I take some moss back with me, too? It looks like we need more, and I need to clean out the Nursery. Eagle-eye is complaining her belly hurts because the moss is too thin." Northpaw questioned.
          Meltedfur's tail flicked in response. "Yes. Thank you, Northpaw."
          He dipped his head and spun around, bidding his goodbye to Coralstar and slipping out of the den. There he trotted across camp to catch up with Runningpaw, who was walking over to Starlingwing. Northpaw flitted his eyes around and saw Sharpenedclaw following his pawsteps.
          "Hello, Northpaw. Ready to begin battle training?" Starlingwing mewed from behind him.
          "Yes. I'm going to train with you instead of Brokenbranch today. He's been upset since Cottonpaw went missing." Sharpenedclaw halted beside the patrol. Northpaw nodded, accepting that he couldn't always have his mentor around, or a warrior he particularly liked. He'd come to know that Sharpenedclaw wasn't all that bad - he was simply brought up like it, his mother being Splashingbreeze, who was very grumpy at times.
          "Alright." Northpaw shrugged. "Are we going?"
          "Yes, let's get going." Starlingwing flicked his tail and padded ahead of them, leading the way to the Lake Shore.
          It was a dry day and the air was light but bitter. He opened his mouth to let any scents reach the roof of his mouth. He hoped there would be prey around, because he had hoped to bring some back for Meltedfur. She hadn't eaten yet, instead she had been rushing around helping Sparrowheart with greencough and checking on the kits and queens. He suddenly remembered that him and Runningpaw were practically the only apprentices, as Crownedfur had unfortunately passed and Cottonpaw had been taken hostage in WeatheredClan.
          His cream fur brushed twigs as he slipped through the bush, which had lost a few leaves since leaf-fall. Hope glimmered in his chest as he saw the lake wasn't iced over yet, even though sprinkles of snow had already fallen that morning. Tiny spots of white covered the ground, but not yet thick enough whatsoever.
          "Here we are," Starlingwing meowed. "We'll do some battle training, then teach you some hunting skills before leaf-bare. If it's going to be cold, then we'll need skilful hunters in our Clan."
          The light brown tomcat walked over to the grassy patch of ground. They uncomfortably neared ShadowClan territory as Starlingwing showed them his best hunting crouch for catching thrush, which were fairly abundant in RiverClan territory. The blue bird he was stalking didn't suspect a thing as the warrior pounced and easily flung it up with his claw and silenced it with one sharp bite. Northpaw paid full attention, as he was never very good at hunting. "Northpaw, your go." Starlingwing meowed ahead of him, after placing his thrush down.
          He flicked his tail in response and stood up, sniffing the air and opening his mouth so any prey scents would reach the roof of his mouth. Thrush. Northpaw realised they must have found the nest, as the scent lead him to a mother bird trying to silence a baby bird on the ground. He quickly fell into his hunter's crouch and attempted to copy Starlingwing's technique. Thankfully, he was downwind, but as he pounced the mother bird flew up with her chick.
          "Tough luck," Runningpaw meowed from behind him.
          "Tough luck indeed." Starlingwing repeated. "You would have caught that if you pounced sooner, you gave her time to get her baby. Besides, even if you hadn't, she was on guard already. She might have even left the baby on the ground to escape, but a baby would barely feed a kit!"
          "Sorry," Northpaw shook himself, icy anxiety hands grabbing his paws and working their way upwards. "I should have chosen a different prey."
          "Not at all! Any prey is worth tracking down, especially in this weather." The warrior blinked, surprised that Northpaw had blamed himself. Maybe he really did have hope in the young apprentice, unlike Coralstar. Or maybe he was just pretending to be sympathetic because Cottonpaw had gone missing. He shook the thought from his head.
          "Runningpaw, there's a frog over there. Mind catching it?" He glanced at the shecat, who immediately followed his orders. Runningpaw's crouch made his seem like a lumbering badger, as she silently, skilfully yet swiftly crawled up to her prey. She pounced and caught the frog off guard. For the first pounce, she missed, and gave the prey a decent chance, but the frog was slow and a heartbeat later was hanging from Northpaw's friend's maw. Awe struck him like a lightning bolt.
          "Fantastic! Nothing less expected from my apprentice." Starlingwing purred, obviously pleased with his apprentice. "Northpaw, want to have another go? We've plenty of time before Verastep orders some patrols - it's not yet sunhigh."
          "Okay." He smiled. This was his chance to prove himself worthy. A few moments later he scented rabbit. Rabbit weren't so common in RiverClan territory, but did appear on occasion. Meltedfur had had a hunting session with him a moon back, saying that rabbit would most certainly smell you before it heard or even saw you. He dropped into a crouch, becoming level with the long grass, which covered his cream pelt. The wind blew in his face, and he praised himself silently for remembering to be downwind. Northpaw slid closer, allowing his paws to move fluently across the ground.
          Rabbits were a lot easier to hunt than birds, because you could give them a real chase, unlike thrush which flew away. Unfortunately, Northpaw didn't have wings, though sometimes he wished he did.
          He pounced swiftly and pinned the prey down with his paws, and biting its throat without mercy. I got my kill! he screeched with excitement on the inside, adrenaline flooding his veins. Northpaw turned around and faced Starlingwing, who looked very proud.
          "Well done. It was done with such skill." Northpaw flinched at the praise, but had come to like the light brown warrior. He was very caring and a good mentor, too. No wonder Eagle-eye liked him and had kits with him. He gazed at the bright sky. "It's sunhigh - should we go back to camp?"
          The two apprentices nodded, and followed after Runningpaw's mentor. As Northpaw carried his prey, he remembered Cottonpaw. She had been taken by a cat from WeatheredClan and supposedly held hostage, but no cat had any idea if she was alive or not. He sighed through the rabbit's fur, worry washing away the adrenaline that once jolted his body awake.
          "Northpaw, are you okay?" A meow made him flinch.
          "Of course. Why?"
          "You just seem a little off. Is it because Cottonpaw's gone missing?" Runningpaw walked beside him. Northpaw glanced at her and thought of Cottonpaw wistfully.
          "I suppose so." He paused. "We're the only apprentices now. Yolktail's kits are only three moons and Eagle-eye has a while before she kits. We will have to finish all of our duties like before, only there are a lot more of them." His tail swayed side to side as he walked with more meaning. Runningpaw matched his pace but not his energy, green eyes flickering with uncertainty.
          "It'll be alright. At least I hope so. Coralstar has this under control, though I never exactly trusted her." She meowed, trying to reassure him. "And remember: Cottonpaw is a strong cat, I doubt she'll..."
          "It's okay. But thanks, anyway." Northpaw nodded, understanding that she didn't want to finish the sentence. Cottonpaw had been missing for some time - at least a few quarter-moons. It was believed that WindClan had taken her, but it could have been the rogues. "Do you suppose WeatheredClan will get their own way?"
          "What? The rogues? They were never a Clan in the first place. If it were up to me, I wouldn't have let it happen. I just hope StarClan doesn't accept them..." Runningpaw growled quietly, as if she were frustrated at herself for what was happening.
          "Hey, it's not your fault." He halted and gave a swift lick at her ear. "And they won't be able to share tongues with StarClan nonetheless - they have no idea where the Moonpool is, or that it even exists."
          His friend glared at her with worried eyes, hackles slightly raised. Northpaw blinked at her, confused at why she was so paranoid. WeatheredClan had no access to StarClan or the Moonpool. Did they?
          "Northpaw," Runningpaw paused. "You do realise that the rogues joined with WindClan..."
          "Oh."
          She bounded ahead as she spotted Verastep sitting in the clearing, once they returned back to camp, surrounded by some warriors. Patrols. Northpaw was rarely asked to go on patrols, as he was training a different way to regular apprentices. The only patrols he were usually asked on were hunting. Meltedfur was expected to take him out for battle training and extra hunting, not to mention his regular medicine lessons.
          "All cats old enough to swim the rapids join here beneath the Willow Tree Stump for a Clan meeting!" Coralstar yowled from the clearing. They hadn't had a meeting for quite some time, as Coralstar had been very busy.
          All the warriors in camp gathered around, including Eagle-eye, though she looked like she was to explode any second. Northpaw watched Runningpaw sit down without a word, and he sat next to her. What did Coralstar have to say?
          "Cats of RiverClan, as you all know, the rogues have joined WindClan to create WeatheredClan. Unfortunately, the battle was harsh and we had many wounds." She eyed her warriors. "Cottonpaw, a young apprentice, was taken hostage during the battle. We've no idea where she is, only that she's stuck in WeatheredClan camp. WindClan didn't participate in the Gathering last sunrise."
          "We should fight them and get Cottonpaw back! She was a fine apprentice." Waterwave snarled from the back of the clearing. Cats turned toward him, but only one voice replied. Northpaw flinched as he realised it wasn't Coralstar.
          "Waterwave, there isn't much we can do for Cottonpaw. RiverClan lost many warriors before Northpaw and Cottonpaw were apprenticed. We can't risk more cats to get an apprentice back. Cottonpaw is strong. I'm sure that if she wants to, she'll find her own way back." Meltedfur reassured every cat from the base of the Willow Tree Stump, next to Verastep.
          "I'll hold you to that, Meltedfur." The tomcat glared.
          "Now, RiverClan, no need to fight among ourselves." Coralstar chimed in, tail swishing gently, her blue gaze calm. "Verastep has appointed patrols - I hope you see to them. And if our two apprentices aren't training, I expect them to be doing their duties. Then, and only then, you can join our meal at moonrise tonight." She glanced at Runningpaw and Northpaw. She hopped down from the Willow Tree Stump to indicate the meeting was over, and retreated to her den where she was planning on sleeping.
          Northpaw glanced over at his friend, who was standing up and washing herself. She turned back to him and blinked.
          "See you, Northpaw. I'm going on the hunting patrol." Runningpaw announced, fur ruffled from Webbedeye, who had greeted her with licks and brushing of pelts.
          "Good luck! Bring me back some mouse, will you?" He let out a mrrow of laughter at her sarcastic expression.
          "Most certainly not! I will get myself some juicy water vole, though." She trotted away with her patrol: Webbedeye, Starlingwing and Sharpenedclaw. Patrols were ordered by Coralstar to consist of at least two warriors, no matter the circumstance, as she was paranoid WeatheredClan would attack and invade yet again.
          Northpaw turned around and trotted over to the medicine den, where he was expected to meet Meltedfur for training. He pushed himself through the honeysuckle vines and padded further into the cave. Eventually, he spotted his mentor sorting out herbs that needed drying by the overhang into the stream. It was a fairly warm, sunny day and the water levels had gone down since the last quarter-moon, so the herbs wouldn't get drenched by the river.
          "Hello, Northpaw. You're here, at last." Meltedfur spun on him and frowned, then dropped some wood. "This is alder bark. Since it's coming to leaf-bare, I thought I would teach you many herbs easiest to find under snow and ice. Alder bark eases toothache, and is easy to find because of the abundance of trees in our territory."
          "Okay." He acknowledged her.
          "These are raspberry leaves." She meowed, placing down green leaves with ragged, sharp edges, though they were soft on top. "You've seen these before, but I'm just making sure you know these, because Eagle-eye is going to kit soon. I'm sure she'll have quite a big litter! What are they used for?"
          "Raspberry leaves are used for easing pain or stopping bleeding during kitting." Northpaw responded, voice fluent and easy. He made sure he memorized each plant he learnt, sometimes even staying up all night or begging StarClan for help. Meltedfur looked taken aback.
          "Well done. I didn't expect you to remember that." She meowed. She dropped another large herb. It had a thick green stem with long, yellow buds at the top, called a sap. "This is sweet-sedge. Thankfully, it grows during leaf-bare and is most common in our territory, because of the water. What are they used for, do you know?"
          "I'm not sure. Are they used for pain?" He admitted.
          "Close. They are used for infection, and a cat must swallow the sap." Meltedfur corrected him politely, her whiskers twitching. He nodded, making a mental note. "I have one more herb for you," She paused and dropped a yellow, round plant that had a very sweet and strong smell rising from it.
          "I've seen that somewhere before. You've used it on the elders and kits, haven't you?"
          "Indeed I have. This is tansy. It can prevent a cat from catching greencough and cure any cough. Sometimes, it can be used to cure wounds and poisons. It can be used for sore throats, but can be very dangerous to shecats expecting kits." Meltedfur eyed him. Northpaw thought about Eagle-eye, making sure to remember to never give it to her until she had kitted.
          "But does it grow during leaf-bare?" He questioned, curious.
          "It doesn't grow during leaf-bare, but it can be found beforehand. I have collected a lot of tansy, but no cat has dared collect more catmint, after Cottonpaw's accident." Northpaw suddenly became aware of how stiff his legs were, and how eagerly he wanted to leave camp.
          "I can go, if you want. I haven't been out of camp for a while."
          "I suppose you could, but you need to take two warriors with you, or Coralstar will want to know why." She turned away and put the herbs back in their places, before handing him a lavender-coloured plant. "This is rosemary. Rub it on Crownedfur, will you? It covers the scent of death and prepares for burial. The elders are waiting outside for her. Coralstar wishes her an honourable burial."
          Northpaw dipped his head, grabbed the plant and padded cautiously to the back of the medicine den. A terrible smell entered his nose, but he tried to ignore it. He sat down beside Crownedfur and began gently rubbing the plant over her pelt, some of the flower's petals catching in her muddy pelt. When he had finished he left the plant on her flank so the scent wouldn't fade and trotted out of the medicine den.
          "Featherwhisper," He greeted the elder with a purr hitching in his throat. "Splashingbreeze is still ill, but she's been getting better under Meltedfur's care. Rushingwater is alright to walk now, too. They're ready for the burial. Do you want me to show you Crownedfur's body?"
          "Hello, Northpaw. An awful lot to say in one go, don't you think? Well, go on then. Show me Splashingbreeze and Rushingwater, then Crownedfur. I didn't realise she had got her warrior name. Or at least, Coralstar's said nothing!" Featherwhisper snorted, following him in the cave.
          "Featherwhisper!" Rushingwater's dry, scratchy meow came from the corner and he sat up, flanks heaving as his ribs were still countable. "I'm ready for the burial, though Splashingbreeze is sleeping. Do you wish for me to wake her?"
          "That's alright, thank you, Rushingwater. I'll let Northpaw do that - she still has whitecough, you know." Featherwhisper replied calmly, voice old but reassuring. Northpaw padded over to the shecat on cue, and nudged her flank. Her brown and white body began to move as she sat up, groaning before glaring at him.
          "Why did you wake me? I was having this really good dream where I was tracking down a squirrel, which I haven't done for moons! Then-"
          "Great! And hedgehogs may fly!" Northpaw snapped suddenly, unaware of how much frustration was building up in his paws and hackles. "It's time for Crownedfur's burial. Be respectful, as StarClan should receive her with honour." Even though she was a horrible cat, he added silently.
          "Fine." Splashingbreeze dropped her head and stood up, walking to Crownedfur's body deeper in the den whereas Featherwhisper simply stared at him. Rushingwater padded past and the beige shecat before Northpaw began to speak.
          "Northpaw, where are your manners? Learning from Meltedfur, are we? She's never been a jolly cat! Mind you, she learnt her lesson many many moons ago." Featherwhisper whisked past him and joined the other elders.
          Northpaw shrugged and padded back over to Meltedfur.
          "Can I go collect that catmint now?" He asked, excited to get going.
          "Yes, but remember to take two warriors with you." She flicked her tail, dismissing him quickly. Northpaw bounded out of the medicine den and halted in the clearing, turning around and trotting up to the warrior den, sticking his head inside the brambles.
          "Hello, Northpaw. What's the matter?" Stonepatch spoke up first, looking concerned. Did she think there was trouble in camp again?
          "Nothing bad. Meltedfur has asked me to collect some catmint from the Horseplace, but I need to take two warriors with me."
          "Ah, okay. Well, I've just settled down for my nap. Maybe ask Cloudchasm - she's by the nursery with Yolktail, helping with the kits." The black shecat dipped her head respectfully and began curling up to sleep. Northpaw frowned as she seemed more tired than usual, and heat emitted from her pelt. He shook his head and ignored it. She should be fine.
          "Before you go, Northpaw." Waterwave meowed from behind him. "I'll come with you." He got up from his moss bed and followed Northpaw out of the den and to the nursery, where they would hopefully find Cloudchasm, a beautiful white molly.
          "Cloudchasm!" Northpaw shouted swiftly, eyes spotting her from a fair distance away.
          "Yes, Northpaw?" She perked up, confused but also calm and cheerful, as per her usual self.
          "Can you come with me and Waterwave to the Horseplace? Meltedfur has asked me to collect some catmint, but two warriors must come with me. Stonepatch is sleeping, so she can't come. Webbedeye, Brokenbranch, Sharpenedclaw and Runningpaw are all on hunting patrol. Verastep, Starlingwing and Coralstar are on border patrol." He explained rapidly, words pouring out his mouth like the stream running by camp. Cloudchasm nodded, stretching and padding after him as they left camp.