Bloodpool's Whispers

Chapter 5

Bloodpaw waved a farewell with his tail as Vulturestar and Roseclaw left the camp. He hadn't known how kind the other Clans were. Especially since those nursery stories that the queens and elders told the kits make the other Clans sound as if they're fox-hearted rouges.His littermates were running up to him excitedly. "Did you actually get to see WindClan?" Sandpaw asked him."Did you actually save them?" Blazepaw asked."You actually spoke with their leader?" Sparkpaw questioned."I bet they were big and mean!" Firepaw meowed with excitement."They actually weren't," Bloodpaw responded. "They were cats just like us, except they were lean and muscular. Built for the moors," he explained."I don't believe that for a second!" Firepaw scoffed."Firepaw, stop bothering Bloodpaw," Goldensun scolded. "He needs his rest."Firepaw lowered his head with shame of being scolded like a kit."It's alright, Goldensun," Bloodpaw replied. "I got plenty of sleep."Goldensun hesitated for a moment before nodding, and calling Firepaw along for battle training."Everyone thinks your so great, Bloodpaw!" Blazepaw sneered."I'm not rea-" he tried."You're still just an apprentice! Just like us! What makes you so special?" Sandpaw asked."I ju-" he started."Yeah!" Sparkpaw chimed in. "Why do cats pay so much attention to you, when you've been an apprentice just as long as we have?""Shut up!" He yowled. His littermates fell silent and stared at him in shock, and all the cats in the camp turned to look at him. "J-just be quiet!" He added, softer this time. "You don't know what I've had to do in the few days that we've been apprentices! I've had the pressure of taking care of cats—not just from our own Clan, but from others as well—and there is something coming. Something that can destroy all the Clans. I'm the only cat who has the power to stop it! You guys don't understand what it's like to have such a great destiny on your shoulders! So just shut up and leave me alone!" He yowled before racing out of the camp.He could feel shocked stares following him. His littermates' words echoed around inside his mind as he ran. He let his paws carry him where they may. Blood pounded in his ears as he ran.Finally, he skidded to a stop. He looked around. He was in the grove of trees that Nightmist had shown him on his first day as an apprentice. He climbed up the rock and laid his head down. He felt as if he couldn't contain his frustration any longer. He let out a yowl that caused the birds to flee the trees that surrounded him. He put his paws over his ears and tried to shut out the sounds of his own thoughts. Maybe walking in someone else' thoughts would calm his nerves. He closed his eyes and focused on entering somecat's mind. Any cat's mind! He just needed to be free from his own.When he opened his eyes, he was standing in a field dappled with stars. Where in the name of StarClan am I? He asked himself."Bloodpaw!" A voice called behind him.He turned around to see a gray tom with pale blue eyes racing over to meet him. "Who are you?" He asked."Rivereye? Your mother and mentor's brother?" He replied then stopped as a worried look crossed his face. "They have mentioned me, right?""Of course! It's just I hadn't ever seen you before, so I-I just didn't know it was you!""Well, anyways," Rivereye added. "We need to talk about something.""Hold on a second!" Bloodpaw interrupted. "If you're in StarClan, and I'm not dead, where am I?" He asked."StarClan," Rivereye replied. "You're a medicine cat. You can talk with us."Bloodpaw gave his chest fur a couple of embarrassed licks before meeting the starry cat's eyes. "So why did you want to talk to me?" He asked.Rivereye padded forward. His gaze was serious. "The whispers of the night are nearly here. You must be ready for when they are," he told Bloodpaw."What? B-but I can't control my power!" Bloodpaw replied."You will be, Bloodpaw. You will be."Rivereye started to fade in front of him, along with the starry moor."No!" He yowled. "I need your help!"When he lifted his head from the rock, it was nearly sunhigh. He stood up, and stretched before leaping down from the rock. He slowly walked towards camp, dreading the stares of his clanmates.Soon, he padded through the entrance to the camp. His father was pacing worriedly at the edge of the camp, while his littermates exchanged anxious words with each other, and his mother was calmly washing her fur.Firefoot paused his pacing to look up at the entrance. Confusion lit his gaze for a heartbeat, quickly replaced with relief. He raced over to Bloodpaw, followed closely by Sandpaw, Blazepaw, and Sparkpaw, but his mother just gazed over towards him, her expression blank.I guess Firepaw is still out training, he thought, as his littermates and father ran up to him, and started to tell him how worried they were. And Beechscratch still hates me... He added silentlyHis father started to scold him about how he had the whole camp worried, and how he should never do that sort of thing again, and his littermates were telling him how sorry they were. But he barely heard him. Thoughts were pushing Firefoot's words away.Why does Beechscratch still hate me? It's been long enough, she should be over my decision by now! He thought, a wave of sorrow washing over him."Thanks, Firefoot," he meowed in reply. "You guys too," he said pointing his gaze toward his littermates. "Apparently I needed more sleep than I thought!" He purred, trying to push his worries about his mother out of his mind. He decided he would enter her thoughts later, to see what she really thought of him. He was nervous about the answers he might get, but he had to know.Bloodpaw curled up in his nest, and closed his eyes. He concentrated on the image of his mother, and soon, he was walking along the starry path that was her mind. He walked until he found one of her memories from the day he was made an apprentice. He reached out a paw and touched the flickering cat."Let all cats old enough to swim gather to hear my words!" Crowstar's voice carried throughout the camp.Oh great! I have to watch Bloodkit become a medicine cat apprentice! Beechscratch thought as she padded towards the gathering cats. Why has Firefoot been encouraging him? He knows my thoughts on our kits becoming medicine cats!She sat in silence as Crowstar repeated the words of every apprentice ceremony, grief of her brother and worry over Bloodkit crowding out the black leader's words. She was trying to be happy for her kit, but her worry about her kit was stronger. When Bloodpaw's name was being called by his clanmates, she tried to summon her voice, but it wouldn't come. She locked eyes with him for a few heartbeats, and saw the pride in his eyes change to hurt as he saw that she wasn't calling his name.No! Bloodpaw! I want to call your name! I want you to be happy! She screamed internally, but still, her voice wouldn't come. She watched as he turned away from her, and she felt a wail of sorrow rise in her throat, but when she opened her jaws to try to call out to him, she wasn't able to say anything. How was this possible? She had been able to speak the day before! What had happened?She tried to let out a yowl, a whisper, anything, but no sound came from her. Her voice was gone. Grief swallowed her as she realized she would never be able to greet her kits again. She would never be able to tell Bloodkit how she really felt about his apprenticeship choice, or how proud she was of him, of any of her kits!She padded to the warriors den and curled up in her nest. She would never speak again. How could she live like that? What would Bloodpaw think when she didn't speak to him? He knew how she originally felt about his becoming a medicine cat, but her thoughts had changed! She would have to find another way to tell him.Bloodpaw opened his eyes in the medicine den. Was that really how his mother felt? He felt bad thinking that she had resented him for his decision all this time. He decided he would apologize to her. He wanted to do it when no one would be around to hear him. He knew she couldn't respond, but he could focus his power on her to tell what emotions she was feeling. She wouldn't need to say anything.He padded out of his nest, and towards the warriors den, where he silently crept inside, and searched for his mother among the warm pelts. He found his mother's nest and prodded her awake. "Come with me," he whispered as she lifted her head.He left the den, and waited for her to come out of the den. When she was out, he started towards the entrance, which was being guarded by Leafur. He gave a silent nod as Bloodpaw padded past him out of the camp.He led his mother to the edge of the lake, before sitting down and curling his tail over his paws."I know you can't speak, Beechscratch, so just listen, okay?" He said, looking over his shoulder to see if she nodded, which she did."You're wondering how I could possibly know that, right?" He didn't wait for a reply before continuing. "I'm sorry, but I can't tell you that reason quite yet. I'm sorry for not understanding the situation you're in, but when your own mother isn't able to speak to you, after disapproving of a choice you made, it's kind of hard to think that she just suddenly wasn't able to speak," he purred before looking down at his paws. "I just wish I'd known sooner," he whispered, a wave of grief washing over him for all the time he had spent resenting his own mother."You know, Bloodpaw, you need to tell one of us when you leave the camp," Nightmist's voice sounded behind him. "You're still only an apprentice!""Nightmist!" Bloodpaw jumped in surprise."Beechscratch, you should have tried to show us what happened," Nightmist mewed. "If you did, we could have gotten your voice back. It's too late now, though. After Bloodpaw is done talking to you, you need to tell Crowstar-" she stopped herself. "Actually, I'll tell Crowstar that you need to move to the elder's den! I'll tell her in the morning," she meowed, before padding away."I'm glad that I know what really happened, instead of not knowing and going on thinking that you hated me for my choosing to be a medicine cat apprentice," he mewed to her after Nightmist had left. "I really thought you hated me. That's what it felt like at least. But I'm not Rivereye. I'm me. And I have a prophecy to fulfill before I go!" He purred with amusement. "I just don't think I can do it alone," he added, letting his gaze wander around the lake.He entered his mothers thoughts to see what she was silently responding with.I'm sorry Bloodpaw... I don't know how much I'll be without a voice..."You don't need to have a voice to be able to help," he mewed to her, looking over his shoulder, to see her ears pricked in surprise. "You just need to be here," he murmured. "I just need to keep being reminded of what's at stake if I can't do this," he added, more to himself than to Beechscratch.Then I'll do my best. I love you, Bloodpaw. You'll always be my kit."I love you too. And that's all I ask," he mewed in reply, feeling as if one of the crushing weights had been lifted from his spine.Bloodpaw padded across the tree bridge to the island where the Clans held a Gathering every full moon to exchange news, and with the elders, gossip. He slowly followed his mentors to the foot of the large oak tree that he neared the leaders spoke from. He watched as ShadowClan slunk through the branches into the clearing, closely followed by ThunderClan, and then right after came WindClan. He waved his tail in greeting to Vulturestar, Silverlight, and Eaglepaw. Roseclaw was glaring at him again, but not as much as before.Maybe because I'm not with his Clan anymore. He padded forward to meet the WindClan leader, and the two medicine cats."Greetings, Vulturestar, Silverlight, Eaglepaw," he meowed dipping his head with respect."No need to be so formal, Bloodpaw," Vulturestar purred. "In WindClan's eyes, you are considered our equal.""Well, not in Roseclaw's eyes," Bloodpaw purred in return."I need to have a talk with her about that. You saved our clanmates' lives for StarClan's sake!" The she-cat sighed. "But she's still a good deputy. She just needs to learn to control that temper of hers.""I'm right here, you know," Roseclaw growled behind the leader."It's the truth," Vulturestar meowed. "And you need to show Bloodpaw a bit more respect!"Roseclaw let out a snort of contempt before stalking away."I swear, sometimes it's like dealing with a fox in a fit!" She shook her head before padding off to talk with the other leaders."So, which leader is which?" Bloodpaw asked Silverlight, as Eaglepaw bounded up to the other medicine cat apprentices."That large gray tabby tom next to Vulturestar is Brackenstar, the ThunderClan leader. The golden she-cat next to him is Beestar, the ShadowClan leader. Then obviously, there's Crowstar, and Vulturestar. I don't know where SkyClan is, but their leader is a tom with short, white fur. He's named Wailstar. I heard that the reason he got his name was because when he was born, he let out a wail that could be heard all the way in RiverClan!" She whispered to him.Suddenly, the branches in front of the tree bridge shook, and out stepped the tom that Silverlight had told him about. He suddenly felt small as the muscular tom passed him."It's okay. Every cat is nervous around him the first time they meet him," she whispered in his ear.Wailstar launched himself up into the tree, and the other leaders climbed their way up after him. When all the leaders were on a branch of the oak tree, Wailstar let out a yowl that shook the branches of the trees. "We will begin the gathering!" He yowled. "We have great news in SkyClan! My mate, Dawnfur, has had our kits! We have named them Vixenkit, Leafkit, and Turtlekit!"The cats in the clearing chanted the names of the kits, and when the cheering died down, Brackenstar stood up and gave his news of good prey, and a branch that had fallen off a tree into the camp, but that it wasn't anything they couldn't take care of. He also announced that one of the Clan's kits, Violetkit, had fallen into a patch of nettles in their camp after scratching her eye on a thorn. Purrs of sympathy rose up from the gathered catsNext, Beestar stood up, and announced that they had found a brand new supply of catmint, sheltered under a patch of brambles."We have five new apprentices today!" Crowstar announced when Beestar finished with her news. "Sandpaw, Sparkpaw, Blazepaw, Firepaw, and Bloodpaw, who has chosen to become a medicine cat apprentice."She waited until the cheers died down to continue. "Sadly, one of our warriors has died," she choked out. Bloodpaw could feel grief washing over him, and knew that the grief of his death was still fresh in her mind. "My mate, Dawndapple, died from loss of blood from a border skirmish." Murmurs of sympathy came from every cat.Bloodpaw could see flickers of sympathy from every cat, and hushed words of how great a warrior he was."He was a good warrior, Crowstar," Wailstar meowed to her quietly. "He was deeply loved by every cat. We all will miss him.""Thank you, Wailstar," Crowstar meowed, her eyes glistening with grief. "It means a lot. Really," she added, dipping her head to the SkyClan leader. "One of our best warriors has retired to the elders den. Beechscratch."Murmurs of confusion came from every cat except RiverClan."She suddenly lost her voice, and our medicine cats didn't know in time to try and save it. Since she can't talk, Nightmist advised to her to retire from the life of a warrior, and she agreed."More murmurs of sympathy came from the other Clans as she stepped back for Vulturestar."I am sorry to hear how many bad things have happened for your Clan, Crowstar." The golden and brown she-cat dipped her head to Crowstar. "We had a bought of sickness in our Clan, and thanks to Crowstar letting us borrow Bloodpaw, we were able to cure it without any deaths. And thanks to the help of ThunderClan, for telling us what caused it, and the cure," she meowed, before continuing with news of good prey."This gathering is at a close!" Wailstar yowled before leaping out of the tree. He gathered his clanmates with a sweep of his tail before leaving, and soon, RiverClan left for their camp as well