The Battle Under the Full Moon

Chapter 4

The next few moons turned into the begining of leaf-bare, when prey would be scarce. None of the apprentices were invited to the Gatherings after that, except Lightpaw, who was invited once and didn't say anything about it.

The other apprentices tried to peer pressure her into revealing what happened, but Lightpaw meowed, "Stress makes a cat's life shorter, and from the stress you're giving me now, I'll be dead by tomorrow." The apprentices stopped after that. But that didn't help Nightpaw's curiosity.

This morning, as Nightpaw pushed his way out onto the clearing of the apprentice den, which was parallel from Flamestorm's den, he heard some sounds in the nursery. It was right next to his den, and he decided to wake up Sparrowheart to investigate. He hurried into the den right next to the nursery, and he meowed, "Sparrowheart?"

Sparrowheart stirred away. Her eyes were foggy with sleep, and she meowed wearily, "Yes, Nightpaw. What is it?"

"Well, the thing is, I heard some noises in the nursery," Nighpaw meowed, and was reluctant to add, "And a bit afraid to investigate on my own."

Sparrowheart looked more amused than worried. "Oh, Nighpaw, I'll come," she said and climbed out of her den and into the clearing. In the middle of the clearing was the HighWillow, where Dewcloud made her den in an old hole at the base of the ancient tree.

As he and Sparrowheart walked into the nursery, Nighpaw paused. He could smell something unfamiliar. Sparrowheart sensed this too, for she stopped and meowed, "Something's not right."

"Help!" a cat meowed from inside the nursery, and Nightpaw and Sparrowheart didn't waste a second as they charged into the nursery.

There, they found a wolf.

She seemed to be frightened to draw so much attention, and she had not laid a paw on any of the queens, but Nightpaw still leaped into the air with a battle cry and slashed at the wolf's neck. However, his claws did little to harm the beast.

With a hiss, Nightpaw leaped back and bared his teeth. He was going to kill this wolf, as revenge for Birchpelt, if it was the last thing he'll do.

☘︎

The first thing Elmpaw noticed when she woke up was that Nightpaw was not there. And then the noise. She had not heard so much noise in her entire life—and they seemed to be coming from the nursery. With a yowl, she woke up all the other apprentices and ran out of the den and into the nursery.

What she saw surprised her greatly: a wolf was standing there as Nightpaw and Sparrowheart attacked her.

And with another yowl, she saw Spottedtail, her mother, bolt into the nursery. After giving birth to Elmpaw, Spottedtail had returned to her life as a warrior. "What's going on here?" she meowed.

"A wolf!" Elmpaw yowled and was knocked off her feet as a huge paw smashed into her chest.

Then all went black.

☘

"Elmpaw? Elmpaw!" Elmpaw opened her eyes. She was lying in Flamestorm's den, and a huge bloody wound was being tended to with cobwebs by Flamestorm.

Nightpaw was there too. "Nightpaw?" she meowed weakly without raising her head.

"Don't worry," Nightpaw said, "everything's okay! We chased off the wolf with a few other warriors, and we gave her a few scars she wouldn't forget...although she gave you a wound you won't forget in a hurry, too."

"I'm fine! No need to worry!" Elmpaw snapped, then regretted that tone as Nightpaw grimaced. "It's not that— Sorry, Nightpaw."

Elmpaw groaned as pain greeted her chest unkindly. Nightpaw looked worried, and she decided her wound couldn't be that bad—could it...?

"Hey, Flamestorm, how bad is my wound?" Elmpaw meowed without thinking. Flamestorm looked startled by the question, but he replied a few heartbeats later, "Oh, it's just a little scratch! I've seen far worse than this! Once, Ashstrip was just a warrior and I was an apprentice, he got into a fight with..."

Nightpaw crouched down and meowed in an undertone in Elmpaw's ear, "Flamestorm's babbling like an elder himself!"

"He ought to be taking an apprentice," Elmpaw meowed in reply.

"Hey! I heard you!" snapped Flamestorm. "And I don't need a break! I'm not tired!" Elmpaw and Nightpaw shared a look.

"...I need to remind Branchpaw to get some thyme leaves for me," Flamestorm was meowing. "And I also need some poppy seeds and catmint—leaf-bare's gonna cause a lot of greencoughs and whitecoughs."

"It can't be that bad, can it?" Nightpaw meowed. "And you won't be that busy, right? If you need help, you know, you can always take an apprentice..."

With a jolt Elmpaw realized that Nightpaw wanted to be Flamestorm's apprentice, while trying to be subtle as possible, but Flamestorm wasn't taking a hint.

"Oh I'll be fine," he meowed, and seeing the expression on Nightpaw's face, added, "Well, I may need some help..."