Whiteriver's Truth

Chapter 1

   The sky was dark and covered with the bright speckles of the past warriors. There was no cloud in the sky to be seen and it was the night before the full moon gathering. The moonlight shone down, dimly lighting up the clearing of the camp. The ground shimmered as the light hovered over the lightly dusted snow that finished falling only near minutes ago.
   Whitepaw's paws, ear and nose were cold as she sat at the entrance of the medicine den peering over to the crowd of cats that were silently gathered in the middle of the camp. That day had been a devastating day for ThunderClan as many of their warriors had joined StarClan during a battle between RiverClan and WindClan. Among the pile of dead cats were her father and adoptive mother making her lose the two cats that cared for her most and she blamed herself for her father's death. He had sacrificed himself when she was almost killed by a RiverClan warrior and she wish she had been instead of her father.
   As she sat silently staring off into the sad cats, another cat came out from the back of the den.
   "How are you feeling, Whitepaw?"
   Whitepaw turned to face the arrival. "I'm doing fine, Swiftfeather." She responded.
   SwiftFeather sat down beside her and stared into the same place the apprentice was. "They are all heros." She meowed and then rubbed her muzzle against Whitepaw. "Don't worry. Silverdust will always be watching over you." Whitepaw didn't look at her or respond and so she got back up. "You should go get some sleep now." She then said flicking her tail to the nests at the back of the den.
   Whitepaw listened getting up from the spot and limped over to one of the nest. She then curled up not caring about how comfortable she was and closed her eyes. Even though pain shot through her body and the memories of the earlier battle played in her mind, exhausted quickly took over and she succumbed to sleep.

***

   Whitepaw was woken the next morning by a familiar face. The sun filtered in behind him covering the ground to until it just about reached her. The cat placed a mouse down in front of her and pushed it towards her mouth.
   "You need to eat to get back your strength." The cat meowed.
   Whitepaw slowly got up, wincing in pain and started gulping down the mouse.
   "I just got back from a patrol and I found that for you." The cat purred.
   Through mouthfuls of the mouse Whitepaw responded with a thank you. Once all that was left was the bones, she sat back up and groomed herself.
   "How are you feeling?" The cat asked.
   "I'm fine, Bravepelt. You don't need to worry about me." She responded.
   "Well I will worry about you and you can't stop me." He responded.
   Swiftfeather and her former mentor, Mistyeye walked in to the den caring herbs to finish stalking up before the worst of leaf-bare would arrive. Mistyeye took on an apprentice many moons ago as she felt her health declining. She was quite an old cat and her sight had been getting worse. She already had difficulty seeing as she was born with one blind eye and she thought she could use the extra help. Swiftfeather was an amazing medicine cat and had been the one to take care of Whitepaw since the battle.
   "How are her wounds?" Bravepelt asked as the medicine cats walked in.
   "I have to change the cobwebs and apply more marigold, but they should heal just fine." She responded.

***

   Bravepelt stayed in the den and sat beside Whitepaw as Swiftfeather changed the cobwebs on her wounds. Out of all the cats that had fought, hers seemed to be the worst, but she hadn't told any cat all the truth of how she had gotten in such bad condition. One of her ears was completely torn off and she had a broken back leg. There was a huge cut that went across one of her eyes and her muzzle, but she thankfully wasn't blinded. Even with the severity of her wounds, Swiftfeather said she would still be able to be a warrior once she was healed, but her brother would become a warrior before her.
   "All done." Swiftfeather purred as she finished putting the cobwebs over her wounds. The medicine cat then got up and walked over to Mistyeye.
   Whitepaw hung her head low, staring at her paws.
   "Don't look so sad. You'll still get to be a warrior." Bravepelt purred, giving a quick lick to her lasting ear. "And you're still quite beautiful."
   "How could you be so sure." She responded coldly.
   "You can't see yourself." He meowed.

***

   "Can all cats old enough to catch their own prey please gather around." Goldenstar called from the high rock.
   Swiftfeather let Whitepaw lean on her as they made their way over to where cats started to gather. The ginger leader stood proudly on top of the rock and looked down amongst the cats as they gathered. The medicine cat and Whitepaw stayed near the back of the group.
Once all the cats had gathered, Goldenstar spoke put again. "Today we will have a new warrior. He fought bravely in the battle against RiverClan the day before and has shown his strength and loyalty. He has shown the heart of a true warrior and I'm proud to be holding this meeting." The leader stared down into the group of cats at one in particular with a proud smile on his face. "May Birchpaw please step forwards.
Whitepaw's stomach churned with jealousy as she heard her brother's named be called.
"I have seen for myself that you are ready to become a warrior, Birchpaw. Do you think you are?"
"Yes, Goldenstar." The white and brown ticked tabby tom nodded. No nervousness was shown in the way he acted as he sat in front of every cat of the clan. He puffed up his chest and smiled as if this was his birth right. It seemed as he was expecting to be worshipped when all he did was do what was expected of him.
"Well then." Goldenstar nodded in respect and then raised his muzzle to the sky. "I, Goldenstar, leader of ThunderClan, call upon my warrior ancestors to look down on this apprentice. They have trained hard to understand the ways of your noble code and I commend them to you in their turn." He then looked back down on the apprentice that sat in front of him. "Birchpaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect and defend your clan even at the cost of your life?"
"I do." Birchpaw said with confidence looking straight into his leaders eyes not shifting one bit.
"Then by the powers of StarClan, I give you your warrior name. From this moment on, you will be known as Birchblaze. StarClan honours your bravery and strength and we welcome you as full warrior of ThunderClan."
Birchblaze sat tall and proud as he basked in the cheering and praise of his new name. "Birchblaze! Birchblaze!" The cats called out, accepting him as the newest warrior of their clan.
"I wish I was up there." Whitepaw meowed.
"As soon as I know you're all healed up you will be made warrior. Every cat knows you fought just as hard." Swiftfeather responded trying to comfort her.
Whitepaw stared down at the ground and sighed before getting up and limping back to the medicine den.