Warriors: Into the Forest

Chapter 6

Reedleap's dreams were odd.  All she could smell was blood, and she could only hear yowling, but could see nothing.  One voice rose above the others.  "The falcon will guide the Clans to victory, guided by reeds, and find shelter on stony banks, or else peace will drown in the flood of blood."

Reedleap awoke scrabbling in her nest.  Sandears' ears twitched, but he rolled over in his nest, and Reedleap soon heard the older tom's faint snore.  She quietly slipped past him into the hollow rock.  She looked through the herbs and realized that there was high need for catmint, especially with leaf-bare approaching.

She leaped across the slim river and bounded through the camp, where the only cats up were Quailstrike and the dawn patrol, and Crowpond, who was on watch at the camp entrance.

"Hi, Reedleap!" she meowed to her sister when she slipped out of camp.  "Where are you off to?"

"I'm going to collect some catmint." she replied.

Crowpond nodded and Reedleap set off towards the stepping stones.  For some reason, catmint grew from the crevices in the rocky shore of the river.  After gathering many of the plants, Reedleap began to pad towards camp.

She heard Plumpaw before he appeared, but she wasn't prepared for what happened.  A thrush burst of the bushes and ran past Reedleap.  As she was staring at it, she was struck from behind.  She fell to the ground and a great weight landed clumsily on her.

"Sorry!" a voice came from on top of her.  Plumpaw.

The black tom was very clumsy, and this was not the first time something like this would happen.  Just the other day, he had almost tripped Eaglefish while chasing a ball of moss.

The two cats rose and Plumpaw helped gather up all the catmint.

"Sorry, again." Plumpaw mewed.  

"It's okay." Reedleap mewed.

Plumpaw sped off again, towards the river this time.  A moment later, Cypresswish padded out of the trees.  "He's doing his final assessment." Reedleap's mother meowed.  "As expected, he's lost about a quarter of the prey he's tried to hunt, but, well..."

"That's Plumpaw for you." Reedleap finished her mother's words.  "The clumsiest soul in ChannelClan!"

Cypresswish nodded.  "Well, you best get back to camp.  Besides, Plumpaw's coming.  Goodbye, my sweet."

Cypresswish bounded off as Plumpaw appeared with a silver fish in his jaws.

"Look at what I caught!" Plumpaw exclaimed.  "This is definitely going to get me to pass the assessment!"

Reedleap nodded.  "Well,  you better go get the rest of your prey, and head back to camp." she meowed, picking up her catmint again.

Plumpaw nodded then bounded off, leaving Reedleap alone yet again.

...

Reedleap finished wetting the catmint and set it all out to dry.  She padded back to her nest and saw that Sandears hadn't moved since the morning.  It was sunhigh, and Reedleap was getting worried.

Reedleap padded over to her mentor.  "Sandears?" she asked, nudging her mentor's pale ginger flank.  Sandears acted as if she hadn't touched him.  Reedleap nudged him again, and his fur was cold.  "Sandears!"

Reedleap raced out of the den and leaped across the river, her paws skimming the stepping stones.  "Sandears is dead!" she yowled.

At once, cats looked up from their prey, and appeared from the dens, there eyes filled with shock at the elderly medicine cat's death.  Stormstar gazed at the Reedleap, looking as if he thought she was crazy.