Warriors - Burnt Skies

Chapter 11

Nightpaw dumped a pile of Twolegs scraps at Blizzardpaw's paws. She noticed that his wounds seemed to be healing nicely - surprising considering they were in a place where Dawnpaw said that infection was very likely.

"When do you think you'll be healed enough to go?" Nightpaw asked. Staying right next to where they were captured made her uneasy, as well as the fact that they were staying in a Twolegplace.

"I don't know. Ask Dawnpaw - she's the medicine cat," Blizzardpaw grunted.

"Dawnpaw is off finding cobwebs and herbs," Nightpaw sighed. "Surely you must have some idea."

"I don't, hence why I said 'I don't know'," Blizzardpaw responded, irritated.

Nightpaw flicked her tail and went to find Shadow, annoyed but not entirely surprised. Blizzardpaw had became even more irritable than before he had gotten injured and Nightpaw just hoped that it was because he was feeling like an open target.

Nightpaw located the smoky black she cat in the far corner, telling some sort of story to Spirit. The usually quiet tom seemed quite lively and was begging for more.

".....And we'll have to stop there because Nightpaw is coming over with some scraps," Shadow meowed, licking her lips.

"Pleaseeee," Spirit begged. "I need to know if you defeated the foxes or not."

Nightpaw dropped their share of the Twolegs scraps at their paws. Shadow started ravenously tucking in whilst Spirit delicately nibbled on them.

"So, how's it going over here?" Nightpaw asked.

"Shadow won't tell me if she defeated the foxes or not," Spirit whined quietly.

"If she hadn't defeated them, she wouldn't be here now, would she?" Nightpaw pointed out and Shadow gave her a friendly glare.

"You just spoiled the fun!" Shadow complained, but with a light hearted tone. "Making Spirit wait brings some entertainment to kit sitting."

"I think you enjoy spending time with Spirit anyway," Nightpaw teased. It was true as well - it was actually Nightpaw's turn to look after Spirit but Shadow had offered to do it anyway.

Shadow licked her lips. "Got any more scraps?"

Nightpaw narrowed her eyes. Shadow always changed the topic when she was in an argument she knew she couldn't win.

The black she cat rolled her eyes. "Not any more for you."

"Well, since you're finished, you can continue the story!" mewed Spirit excitedly.

Shadow grunted and continued the story, describing how she had defeated the foxes. Spirit squeaked once in a while, getting overexcited at the prospect of the great mighty Shadow attacking some foxes.

Nightpaw purred and turned around; Dawnpaw was back. Nightpaw trotted over to where she was removing cobwebs to Blizzardpaw's wounds.

"You are healed enough to start travelling again," the light brown tabby was saying.

"Perfect!" Nightpaw meowed. "We've already been here a quarter moon and we need to follow that prophecy StarClan told us, remember?"

"I wouldn't exactly call it a prophecy. More like an order," Blizzardpaw growled.

"Well, whatever it is, we need to do it," Nightpaw responded.

"Do we though? We follow StarClan's orders blindly because we have grown up with the message that StarClan protects us. But answer me this - if StarClan cared about us, why did they let the Twolegs destroy the Clans without any warning?" Blizzardpaw asked, his tail lashing angrily.

Nightpaw didn't know what to say. Anger filled her from ear to tail tip, but part of her wanted to agree with Blizzardpaw. Why did StarClan give them no warning? She looked at Dawnpaw for an explanation.

"They might have been unable to communicate a message to us," Dawnpaw insisted. "Or they didn't see it coming. It was a Twoleg act after all, not something done by cats."

Blizzardpaw opened his mouth to respond, but was thankfully cut off by Emberpaw.

"How are you today, Blizzardpaw?" The calico tom asked. "Are your wounds healed yet?"

"They are," Blizzardpaw growled. "So yes, we can start travelling again."

"Great!" Emberpaw purred. "We can continue our mission."

Nightpaw glanced over to Shadow and Spirit. They would have to bring Spirit along with them, unless...

"I have an idea," the black she cat announced. "Let's be honest, Spirit is a burden to us all, and is slowing us down. But Shadow is in our debt, which means we can ask her to take care of Spirit for us, just until we complete our mission."

"That could work," Dawnpaw murmured.
"Who wants to ask her?"

When no one replied, Nightpaw volunteered herself. It's not like she wanted
to do it, but clearly nobody else was going to.

She trotted over to Shadow, trying to look calm and collected.

"Hey, Shadow," Nightpaw meowed cooly, flicking an ear in greeting.

"Hello, Nightpaw," the smoky she cat narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "What's going on?"

"Well I-," Nightpaw cleared her throat. "We were just wondering if we could ask you a favour."

"You can," Shadow meowed, still looking suspicious. "Spit it out then - what is it?"

"We were sent a mission by StarClan to go on a journey but we don't want to drag Spirit along on the journey with us. So we were wondering if you could look after Spirit for us, just until we finish the journey," Nightpaw said. "He likes you way more than any of us anyway."

Shadow paused, considering the offer. Then she looked at Nightpaw, her green eyes sparkling in the dim light.

"I will," Shadow meowed eventually. "Take it as a 'thank you' for getting me out of that StarClan accursed place."

"How did you even manage to get there in the first place?" Nightpaw asked, studying the she cat's huge claws.

"Even I can't fight off five cats armed with poison and dog teeth," Shadow growled, lashing her tail at the memory.

"Dog teeth?" Spirit squeaked. Nightpaw had completely forgotten that he was there.

"Yes - in that group's hierarchy, the better fighters that contribute more to the group seem to get the reward of dog teeth to fight with," Shadow spat.

Nightpaw meowed a quick goodbye before trotting back over to Dawnpaw. As she left, she heard Shadow muttering something about flea pelts, and realised she would probably have to tell the older she cat to mind her language around Spirit.

"All went well," Nightpaw told the others when she reached them. "Shadow has agreed to take care of Spirit."

"I guess we'll have to set out tomorrow then," Dawnpaw mewed, a hint of sadness in her voice. "Shadow was a legend in ThunderClan - I just wish I got to know her more."

"A legend!" Blizzardpaw snorted. "I can't imagine her being that great."

Dawnpaw fixed Blizzardpaw with an icy glare and said, "she came to ThunderClan as a kit whose mother had died. She stayed for a few moons and when she was about 7 moons old, she went out of camp to find a group of kits who had went missing. She saved the kits from a group of foxes, and the elders used to tell that story to young cats to show that not all loners are bad."

"Cool!" Emberpaw meowed. "I always thought the cats in the elders' stories were long gone."

Nightpaw nodded in agreement. It was pretty cool that they had stumbled across a cat who had an entire story about themselves in the ThunderClan elders' den.

She looked towards the opening in the dark alley, as Shadow has once told them it was called. The sun was setting, turning the sky into a mix of reds, oranges and purples. A few StarClan warriors were now appearing in the sky. She wondered if one of them was Breezeflight, and if her mentor was proud of how far she had came.