warriors: in the trees

chapter fifteen, moon ten

"Briarpaw! Briarpaw! I have to tell you something!" Floweringpaw wailed as she burst into the den. Briarpaw looked up at the entrance, annoyed at Floweringpaw's sudden appearance, disrupting the previously peaceful atmosphere surrounding the apprentices' den. The gray she-cat stood in disarray, her messy fur sticking straight up. Briarpaw sighed. Oh, so NOW you want to talk to me? she thought.

Briarpaw turned back to her vole. "What is it, Floweringpaw?" she asked with an exhale.

Her sister hopped further into the den and plopped herself down opposite Briarpaw. "This is urgent! I promise!" she insisted. A fly buzzed around Brairpaw's head and she swatted it off with her paw.

"Then spit it out!" Briarpaw snapped, growing exasperated by her sister's drawn-out delivery of (apparently) very urgent news.

"Owlhaze and Ivylight are planning to kill Applestar!"

Briarpaw choked on a scrap of fresh-kill, raising an eyebrow at her sister's accusation. From her nest, Puddlepaw turned up her head to look at Floweringpaw. Oh my stars, what is she going on about?

"Ok, Floweringpaw," Briarpaw meowed in a slightly patronizing tone. She licked up the last of her vole before lowering her head, pleading that Floweringpaw wouldn't continue this preposterous conversation this late at night. Sunclaw needed Briarpaw bright and early, and the brown apprentice knew better than to starve herself of sleep before a training session.

"No, I promise, I'm not making this up! I heard Owlhaze and Adderfur and Ivylight talking and-"

Briarpaw snorted. Her sister was crazy. "Ivylight? Definitely not." She had heard enough to know that Applestar was under no important threat (the only one being Floweringpaw's descent into insanity). She's hanging out with too many MoonstoneClan cats.

"That's what I thought too! But no, I distinctly heard her!" Floweringpaw insisted, lowering her voice to a persistent whisper, just loud enough for Briarpaw to hear her. And apparently, Puddlepaw from across the room.

"But why would anyone want to kill Applestar?" Puddlepaw meowed. "I don't get it."

Of course, you don't, Briarpaw snarked inside her mind. But the she-cat had a point. She trusted Ivylight. Of course, she had her ideas about certain things, but she never outright challenged Applestar's decisions as the leader.

Floweringpaw paused for a moment. She's making this up, Briarpaw knew she was. But something inside of Briarpaw tugged at her to keep listening.

"Adderfur mentioned something about a Quailkit," Floweringpaw offered. Wow! Perfect evidence!

"Floweringpaw, what does that-"

"Quailkit?" Puddlepaw questioned, cutting off Briarpaw. "I remember Quailkit." Her blue eyes were soft, and she spoke with a whisper. "He was Ebonyheart and Owlhaze's first kit. He died a few days after you two were born."

Floweringpaw looked like the gears were starting to turn in her head. Briarpaw lay, still confused, waiting for Floweringpaw to reply.

"How did he die?" She asked, lowering her voice so much Briarpaw could barely hear her speak.

Puddlepaw shook her head. "I don't remember. Morningpaw and I were only, like, three moons old."

"Maybe we can ask Thistlefang?" Briarpaw offered. "But what does this have to do with anything?"

"I think Applestar killed Quailkit," Floweringpaw whispered.

What? No way! Applestar? Kill a kit? Briarpaw thought about the regal leader; who had smiled softly at his only son when he became an apprentice, who had welcomed a loner fully into the clan.