Warriors: The Final Sunset ~Series 1 Book 6~

Chapter 27

Nutwhisker's POV:

The explosion could be heard from outside camp as Nutwhisker made his way back from the Starcave with Watersplash and Shinewing.

Nutwhisker saw the dirt fly high in the air and he glanced at Watersplash with a perplexed look on his face. "What in Starclan's name is going on?!"

Watersplash shrugged and took off at a fast run back to camp. Nutwhisker followed quickly with Shinewing at his side.

They reached camp in no time and Nutwhisker skidded to a halt in the main clearing to see a mess of dirt, sticks, moss and leaves where the elders den should have been.

Nutwhisker saw Stormstar laying motionless on his side a couple of tail-lengths away from the mess. He went to help his leader when his gaze caught sight of Clearlight standing in the middle of the chaos, unscathed.

Dawnheart was standing at the fresh-kill pile in stunned silence. The kits crouched fearfully behind the deputy.

Shinewing rushed to Clearlight and began checking him over for injuries. Nutwhisker didn't even bother to look at Clearlight. The grey tom had messed up yet he was not hurt. Then there was Stormstar, who looked like he was unconscious.

Nutwhisker padded towards Stormstar to see he was still breathing. "Thank Starclan he isn't losing a life." As Nutwhisker began checking his leader for injuries, he heard Shinewing and Clearlight talking to eachother.

"So how did all this happen?" Shinewing was asking.

"I don't know..." Clearlight mumbled, "I was kind of angry, I suppose, and I caused this.. explosion. But on the last possible moment, I instinctively created a protective shield made of stone around me so that I wasn't hurt from the explosion."

Nutwhisker felt a growl rise in his throat and he tried to block out their voices by flattening his ears.

Stormstar was still unconscious so Nutwhisker carefully picked up the black tom. Dawnheart saw and rushed to his aid and together, the two cats carried their leader into the medicine den.

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Silverkit's POV:

Silverkit fought her way past Watersplash and Shinewing, who were blocking the way to the medicine den. The two medicine cats didn't want anyone in the den while Stormstar was in there, but Silverkit wanted to see what was wrong with him. Eaglekit followed closely behind her as they pushed past Watersplash's legs and burst into the medicine den.

Silverkit saw Stormstar at the end of the den, laying in a nest. She padded up to the black tom and sniffed his head cautiously. She reeled back when the scent of herbs wafted up from him.

Eaglekit tensed from beside Silverkit, "Nutwhisker's coming!" He squealed and darted behind Stormstar, hiding underneath the leader's black fur. Silverkit dived after Eaglekit and they crouched behind Stormstar as Nutwhisker quietly checked on the tom. He leaned down and sniffed at Stormstar's pelt before sighing, "Silverkit. Eaglekit. Get over here right now before you get in trouble."

Silverkit gasped. How did he know?

"Your scents." Nutwhisker answered her silent question as he headed back to the back of the medicine den. "Since you must come in here and play around, you might as well help me." He disappeared round the rocky wall and appeared again carrying an unknown herb. He placed it at Silverkit's paws as she emerged from behind Stormstar. "Take these to Clearlight. They'll help with his aching joints."

"What are they?" Silverkit asked as she picked them up in her jaws, gagging at the strong, sour flavour.

"Just some deathberries." Nutwhisker muttered. When Silverkit quickly spat out the herbs with a scared mew, the brown medicine cat laughed and flashed Silverkit an amused wink. "Just pulling on your whiskers, they're actually Daisy leaves. Not harmful at all."

Eaglekit bushed out his fur and stalked in front of Silverkit, "They better not be harmful!"

"They're not." Nutwhisker reassured. "Now, while Silverkit delivers the Daisy Leaves to Clearlight I need you, Eaglekit, to clean the dirty bedding."

Eaglekit groaned and glared at Silverkit, "Why did you insist on coming in here?" but quickly after a small grin formed on his lips, telling Silverkit that the light brown tom wasn't angry at her.

She breathed a sigh of relief and padded out of the den, back underneath Shinewing and Watersplash. Silverkit looked around for Clearlight and saw the old grey tom sitting in the shadows at the edge of camp. She trotted up to him and placed the herbs at his paws. "H-Hi Clearlight." She mewed. "Nutwhisker told me to give these to you."

Silverkit turned to leave but Clearlight called her back. "Silverkit. Do you have a moment?"

"Um, sure." Silverkit shrugged and padded back to Clearlight, sitting down by his paws. She tilted her head back to look up at the grey tom and waited for him to speak.

Clearlight sighed softly, "Do you know Silverstar?"

"Erm.." Silverkit wasn't sure if she should tell Clearlight about how Silverstar had visited her before. So she decided to play dumb. "You mean the leader before Stormstar?"

"Yes." Clearlight nodded softly. "Do you know that you look exactly the same as her?"

Silverkit did know. But, again she told a little white lie. "I have been told I look like her. It's true?" She was glad that her lies came out relatively smoothly.

Clearlight twitched his whiskers and looked Silverkit with thick emotion in his eyes. "Yes, it's true. You were born the heartbeat that she died. Did you know that?"

"Um, I think so.." Silverkit stammered, caught off guard.

"Do you have any memories whatsoever that you can't seem to explain? Weird dreams? Visions perhaps?" Clearlight queried.

Silverkit tensed when he mentioned visions and she saw Clearlight's eyes light up with hope and slight happiness. "Visions then? What were they like?"

Silverkit sighed heavily and decided to stop lying. She gushed all her secrets to Clearlight. "A while ago, Silverstar visited me in a dream with a warning or a prophecy or something.." she saw his eyes darken again with a mixture of dismay and spite.

Silverkit heard Clearlight mutter under his breath, "Great Starclan, don't get a kit involved."

Silverkit continued her explanation, pretending not to have heard what Clearlight said, "I've only had two visions. Everytime I was Silverstar and I was sometime in the past.." she didn't go into detail.

Clearlight nodded softly and flicked his tail, "Alright. You can go now."

As Silverkit left, Clearlight whispered after her. "Don't worry, I won't tell a soul about this."

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