Warriors: Lost

Chapter 6

"We need to gather moss for elders and kits, Nightpaw. Do you want Tigerheart to be walking up to the middle of the territory with no one to help him? Don't forget, the elders' den is nearly empty and he's the only one left."

Nightpaw let out a loud hiss at her mentor. It had been only a few hours since her apprentice ceremony. She knew she was irritating her mentor. Good.

"Come on. Carry it like this." Foxfeather grabbed a mouthful of moss and tucked it under his chin. Nightpaw couldn't help but burst out laughing at the fox-colored warrior. It looked funny with moss being under his chin like that.

"Not funny," Foxfeather hissed. "You'll have to do this."

Nightpaw scowled at him and grabbed the moss the same way he did. I feel like a ThunderClan cat!

"Nice job. Now let's take it to the elders and kits. You go to the kits." ordered Foxfeather.

The kits!? Ugh!

Nightpaw, struggling not to step over the kits as she trotted into the nursery when they got back to camp, slowly, and carefully, applied moss to their nests.

One of the queens had a huge litter. Nine kits were born; named Rabbitkit, Volekit, Birdkit, Thrushkit, Squirrelkit, Frogkit, Mousekit, Fishkit, and Featherkit.

"Hey, Nightpaw!" squeaked Rabbitkit, a she-cat with dark gray leopard-patterned fur. "How is your first day as an apprentice? I can't wait til I am!"

"It was nice," Nightpaw lied.

"Hello, Nightpaw," purred the nine kits' mother. "How is Shrewfall doing?"

Shrewfall is Nightpaw's mother. A pretty she-cat with fur that looked like a lion's mane. "Shrewfall's great. I think she really wanted to get me out of the nursery." mewed Nightpaw.

"I'm glad to hear it," the nine kits' mother, named Birchclaw, sighed of relief. "How's your father?"

Has she got bees in her brain? Nightpaw looked at Birchclaw with a puzzled look. "Sorry," sighed Birchclaw. "I should have remembered that your father died in the battle against RiverClan."

Nightpaw sighed as she remembered the miserable look on her mother's face once Foxfeather came into the den and told her and Nightpaw that her father Toadtail was dead. He was drowned by a RiverClan warrior named Dawnfur.

"It's not your fault," Nightpaw hissed. "Now, I've got to take the rest of this moss to Raindrop."

Nightpaw padded across the clearing. Raindrop is their medicine cat, a kindhearted and gentle she-cat who is a joy to be around.

"Nightpaw!" Raindrop beamed at the sight of her. "Greetings! Oh, that moss! That'll last for a couple hundred moons! Such great news! Hey, Pinepaw, come look at what your cousin got!"

Her cousin, Pinepaw, a blind, tortoiseshell tom who looked like the ancient ThunderClan cat Spottedleaf, trotted out of his nest. "I can't look at it," Pinepaw spat. "But nice moss. That'll last a couple hundred moons."

Nightpaw had also realized that he looked like the ThunderClan medicine cat before him, Jayfeather, with the tabby patterns and splashes of gray fur.

"Go and put this up," instructed Raindrop, then turning to Nightpaw. "You're going to be amazing as an apprentice, I can already see it."

Nightpaw nodded to her and trotted out of the medicine den to go to the apprentices' den, when suddenly she paused and had a vision of Nightstar before her.

Nightpaw almost jumped out of her pelt at the sight of the dead relative of which she was named after.

"Heyyy— Nightstar—" Nightpaw whispered awkwardly.

He didn't respond, except saying something Nightpaw didn't expect. "Five cats, one from each clan, will go on a journey of self-discovery. They will find a sixth, lost and unsure, and help this clan find the way home."

Nightpaw froze. "Five cats... one from each clan— sixth... holy bird feathers, you're saying there's a sixth clan?!" She yowled.

"Go to the Gathering," hissed Nightstar. "Be on your best behavior, Nightpaw. The other four will be waiting."

Nightpaw nodded to her ancestor as the vision ended. She was back in the apprentices' den in her nest. "Hey, Nightpaw! How was training?" asked another apprentice, Clearpaw.

"It was nice. Prey's running well." She mewed.

"That's great! Y'know, I remember my first battle as an apprentice, it was so amaz—" started another apprentice named Bluepaw.

Nightpaw curled up to sleep with her tail over her ears, blurring out all of Bluepaw's explanation. The Gathering is in two days. MUST be on my best behavior!