Strength Of A Leopard (BOOK THREE) [ON HOLD]

Chapter Four

Leopardpaw felt a cat crash into his side. He staggered, struggling to stay on his paws. "Watch it!" It was Rosepaw, the medicine cat apprentice.
"Sorry." He mumbled as she rushed past him to Dustpaw, a bundle of herbs in her mouth.

"Dustpaw!" Stormpaw was racing beside the medicine cats. "Dustpaw, no!" She collapsed beside her sister and pressed her muzzle to her bloodstained fur.

"Can you do anything?" Frostytail asked the moon cat, Rainstorm, who was watching on with a look of terror on his face. "You have healing powers, don't you?!"

"I can heal cats when it is StarClan's wish for me to do so. They have said nothing on Dustpaw or Squirrelpaw's death.. They haven't told me anything at all, actually, since we moved to our new territory."

The clan was silent with shock. It was normal for StarClan to sometimes be silent to a medicine cat, but no cat had heard of them ignoring the moon cat. Rainstorm was their messenger, after all. Did they not want LightClan to know about whatever had attacked the two apprentices?

"She's dying, Rainstorm! We have to do something! Please! She's not even a warrior yet!" Stormpaw begged her mentor.

Frostytail was pushing a pile of herbs towards Dustpaw. "Eat these, they will ease your passing." She whispered.

"Dustpaw," Stormpaw cried. "Dustpaw, I'm so sorry!"

"We could perform the dying apprentice ceremony." Rainstorm suggested. "At least when she goes to join StarClan, she will walk among them as a warrior."

Stormpaw nodded, whimpering. "Okay, that's.. Okay."

Rainstorm padded over to sit beside the dying apprentice. "I ask my warrior ancestors to look down on this apprentice. She has learned the warrior code and given up her life in the service of her clan. Let StarClan receive her as a warrior." He only thought for a moment. "She will be known as Dustpath."

The clan did not cheer her name. Instead, they stared on, all too shocked to speak. Only Stormpaw spoke, "Dustpath. That's a beautiful name." She murmured.

The clan was silent as Dustpath left on her journey to StarClan. Leopardpaw's paws were trembling, and he found himself pressing closer to his sister for comfort. Frostpaw had almost gone with Squirrelpaw and Dustpath. She had almost been victim to the same fate that they had.

"Coldwind, Stoneclaw, and Flamefur. Come with me to see what has attacked Dustpath and Squirrelpaw." Owlflight was the first to speak. "We need to know if this was Bloodshed, following us out here. We need to know what kind of danger the clan is in."

Coldwind turned to Leopardpaw. "Come with us."

"Don't! He's only an apprentice, he could die." Cloudpool stopped her mate.

Coldwind snorted. "Like I care. Come on!"

Leopardpaw followed quickly, not wanting to make his mentor even angrier. Frostpaw gave him a sympathetic smile as he left. "Where are we going?" He asked his mentor.

"Following their scent trail." Flamefur replied. "I think."

"Yes." Owlflight confirmed. They were tracing Dustpath's steps, following her fear scent back to the direction that she had come in.

Finally, they arrived at the beach. The sand was streaked in blood, but Leopardpaw couldn't smell much apart from Dustpath. "Can you smell anything?" He asked the others.

"Of course. Don't you smell it? Dog." Stoneclaw said. Leopardpaw sniffed the air again. Oh, it is there. Mouse-brain!

"They must have been attacked by dogs." Owlflight muttered. "Have any idea how many?"

"Probably a lot." Flamefur commented, "I smell a lot of mixes of scents."

Leopardpaw stopped dead as he saw a bloody shape in front of him. He had wondered away from the others and stumbled right into a dead body. It was Squirrelpaw.