Warriors: Lost

Chapter 11

Four sunrises until Half Moon.

Nightpaw repeated that until it got too hard. Four sunrises until she leaves ShadowClan behind. She'd tried to be normal around her clanmates, but couldn't shake the trace of guilt out of her pelt.

She could feel the others' anxiousness too. Nightpaw didn't question why she knew what they felt; she assumed that they were linked because of the prophecy.

From what info she could grab from Redpaw's mind, Stormstar died, and from Cinderpaw— Cindertail's mind, she became a warrior far too quickly and was now bragging about it to the other RiverClan apprentices.

Oh, StarClan, please— She begged. Please don't let her be too smug about becoming a warrior on the journey.

Nightpaw was patrolling with Foxfeather, and another ShadowClan warrior named Whitefur. She just caught her first prey; she knew she'd need those skills while on the journey.

After all, they've got a WindClan apprentice, a SkyClan apprentice, a ThunderClan medicine cat apprentice who doesn't hunt, and a RiverClan young warrior who would probably be too lazy to hunt for them.

Her first prey caught was a thrush. When it tried to fly away, she climbed up on a tree and leapt on it from the high branch.

For a moment, she thought she would cripple herself like the late Cinderheart of ThunderClan, but then she landed safely on four paws. She sighed of relief and carried it back to the pile where the other warriors' prey were.

"Great job, Nightpaw. How'd you go from a lazy, grumpy apprentice to one who actually appreciates work?" asked Foxfeather, his whiskers twitching in amusement.

"Me? Appreciating work?" Nightpaw let out a mrrow of laughter. "Look out for flying hedgehogs."

Foxfeather laughed. Whitefur twitched her tail. "Come on, let's go." meowed Whitefur. She led the way back to camp.

Once getting back, Nightpaw deposited her thrush into the fresh-kill pile and trotted into the apprentices' den. Suddenly, somebody shoved her.

"Argh! Daypaw!" Nightpaw hissed. "What was that for?"

"Sorry," Daypaw chuckled. Daypaw was a tom; another apprentice of ShadowClan. He was cheerful, optimistic, and playful. Nightpaw shoved him back.

"That's what you get," she hissed.

"Oh don't be such a grump, Nightpaw!" Daypaw snickered. "I just got away from Sandfall. You know how demanding and grumpy she can be! Do I have to deal with two grumpy girls on the same day?"

Nightpaw let out a mrrow of laughter. "Hey, Sandfall! Daypaw's in here!" She yowled.

"What!?" The senior she-cat yowled. "Daypaw, how dare you sneak off from me while I was talking! I know you love Nightpaw, but you shouldn't be gossiping like a couple of elders!"

Nightpaw and Daypaw exchanged glances. Yes— Daypaw had confessed his love for Nightpaw a couple sunrises after the Gathering. Yes, the Gathering where everything changed.

But they agreed that they were too young to become mates. Besides— Nightpaw was leaving in four moons. She didn't have time to get acquainted and get settled as mates.

"Sorry, Sandfall! Won't happen again." promised Daypaw.

Something tells me that he will never keep his promise. Nightpaw's tail twitched in amusement. Daypaw never kept his promises; never has and never will.

"It'd better not. Or I'll have to ask Rapidstar to delay your warriors' ceremony until next leaf-fall." hissed Sandfall as she trotted out of the apprentices' den.

"Silverpelt is rising. We should sleep." suggested Daypaw as he curled up to sleep in the nest beside hers. Nightpaw agreed and curled up next to him.

Dream~

Nightpaw stalked a mouse; carefully putting one paw in front of the other, she crept towards the puny creature. She leapt, and killed the mouse in one bite. But as she was trotting towards her camp, she smelled someone.

"Redpaw?" She yowled.

"Nightpaw?" Redpaw trotted over to her. "What are we doing in a dream? Did StarClan bring me to visit you?"

"Guys!" Shinepaw yowled as he bounded up to them. "What in the name of StarClan is going on here? Why are we sharing dreams?"

"Uh... hello? Aw, don't tell me—" Luckypaw sighed as he ran up. They were in a deep tunnel—the tunnels between WindClan and ThunderClan— and the caves were sealed shut; there was no way out.

"Are those the cats who ruined my life by meeting them?" Cindertail hissed. "Just went to sleep for the first time after I've  done my vigil, and what do you know!"

"Hush!" hissed Nightpaw. "StarClan could be listening. They wouldn't like you to be grumpy, Cindertail!"

"Speaking of StarClan, where in it's name are we?" hissed Shinepaw furiously.

"We're in the tunnels, genius. Y'know, the ones WindClan used to invade my clan's territory a few sunrises ago, while Snowstar was on the journey to the Moonstone? Those tunnels." snapped Redpaw, glaring at the WindClan apprentice.

"Snowstar hunted in our territory," hissed Shinepaw. "Dawntail said so. She saw him kill a rabbit."

"Dawntail is a fox-hearted LIAR, then!" Redpaw protested. "Snowstar would NEVER hunt in another clan's territory, ESPECIALLY when he's on the journey to the Moonstone...EVER."

"Hey, frog-brains!" hissed Cindertail. "I don't know if you've noticed, but we're in a dream! A dream StarClan sent us! This has to mean something."

"Redpaw, we need a change of plans about where we're going to meet. Fourtrees is too obvious; every cat would guess what we're doing, and besides, isn't Fourtrees the place where medicine cats meet?" hissed Nightpaw.

"You're right. So we're going to meet up here! I'll sneak out of the ThunderClan camp and into these tunnels. Runningpelt shouldn't be too mad... I hope." Redpaw sighed.

"And then we go?" wailed Shinepaw. "Without saying goodbye? But I've managed to impress Ashpelt a few sunrises ago! What if I get my warrior name, and I'm not there to hear it!? Brambletail will kill me!"

"Relax, apprentices have to go through 12 moons of training." spat Nightpaw. Then she turned to Cindertail. "Well, some of us, at least."

"Not my fault you all are losers," hissed Cindertail.

Nightpaw's fur bristled, Shinepaw unsheathed his claws, Luckypaw was lashing his tail side to side, and Redpaw glared at Cindertail.

"Yikes, didn't mean to put ants in your pelts for saying the truth," Cindertail falsely apologized.

Unable to take it, Nightpaw leapt at Cindertail...

~Dream ending

...and ended up falling on top of Daypaw. "Ouch! Watch where you're dreamin', Nightpaw!" He yowled. "Now I gotta go see Raindrop for some chervil!"

"Sorry," she apologized. "I was hunting in my dream."

"Probably becoming a bossy clan leader as well. Oh, Nightstar, leader of ShadowClan, how I bow to your greatness!" Daypaw's tail flicked in amusement. "Let's get back to sleep. The moon's still shining."