Bloodshed

Chapter Sixteen

"Can I please go hunting?" Shadepaw cried the next morning. "I'm so bored!"

"You need to rest more." Brownfur growled. "You nearly died!"

"But I'm not nearly dead now.." Shadepaw whined, aware of how much he sounded like a kit. "The other apprentices get to go out!"

"The other apprentices fought well in the battle. Besides Echopaw, anyway." Brownfur said. "You aren't allowed to leave camp until your scratches are healed."

Shadepaw scraped at his bedding in annoyance. He didn't even have any cat to play with; Rainpaw and Snowpaw were training with Spottedfeather and Sunflower, and Echopaw was learning to hunt.

As if reading his mind, Brownfur said, "You can play with Flamekit and Owlkit."

"I'd rather die." Shadepaw growled under his breath.

"Or you can go check the elders for tics." Brownfur said. "I don't care, just get out of my den or quit complaining!"

Some medicine cat he is, Shadepaw thought bitterly. Standing up, he pushed his way out of the den and padded across the cave to the nursery. Inside, Moonbeam was hissing something at her adopted kits.
"But I want to play with Spiderkit!" Flamekit was crying. "Pleeeaaaasee?"

"They're too young to play games. Play with Owlkit." Moonbeam said sternly.

"Owlkit won't play anything." Flamekit said.

"Why not?"

"He says his paw hurts." Flamekit growled.

"Has he spoken to Brownfur about it?"

"He's on his way just now. Oh!" Flamekit had just noticed Shadepaw enter the nursery. "Will you play with me?"

"Whatever." Shadepaw took a ball of moss from Minnowleap's old nest, which still hadn't been moved from the nursery. "Catch." He flung it out into the clearing, and Flamekit chased after it.

"These kits need to be apprentices soon. I can't care for them now that the little ones have come along." Moonbeam complained. She licked Spiderkit between the ears. "I want to mentor Owlkit when he becomes an apprentice."

"Are you allowed to do that?" Shadepaw asked.

"Stripedstar says there will be an exception. You know, because the Clan is so low on warriors. No cat could mentor more than one apprentice, it seems like too much work.."

"That makes sense." Shadepaw shrugged. "Who will mentor Flamekit, do you know?"

"I hope that it will be Blurrypelt. He is a wonderful hunter, and I want to pass that on to Flamekit." Moonbeam said.

"That's smart." Again, Shadepaw felt jealous of his friend. He longed for his clanmates to respect him that way. They will some day. He reminded himself, I'm going to rule the island!

"Are you coming?" Came Flamekit's voice from outside the nursery.

"Oh, yes." Shadepaw turned away from Moonbeam. He cast one last glance at the kits before squeezing out into the hollow.

***

As Shadepaw slipped out of camp, he felt a little bit scared. He felt like something was going to happen, but he urged himself to keep going. ShadeClan was waiting for him!

"Spark?" He called, bounding into the cave. "Spark?"

"Hello, Bloodshed." Spark padded out of the darkness. She looked better than when he'd last seen her; her fur was nicely groomed and she looked like she'd eaten more. "Guess what?"

"What?" Shadepaw thought she was going to say that she didn't want to see him anymore.

"I caught my first prey!" She purred, "I'd show you, but I ate it. That fat old mouse was too dumb even for me!"

Shadepaw purred with delight. "Let's go to the river again. Fish is more filling than mouse."

Once they got to the river, Spark settled down to watch the fish. "Go for that one.." Shadepaw recommended. A rustle on the other side of the river caught his attention, and he looked up, wide eyed.

A pair of dark blue eyes was watching them from the other side. Scared, Shadepaw took a step back. They'd been discovered.

"What's wrong?" Spark asked, looking up. She, too, saw the eyes, and every hair on her pelt stood on end. "Should we run?"

"I'll shred you if you do!" Came a voice from the other side. A cat hurdled itself across the river and leaped at Shadepaw, pinning him to the ground. Shadepaw recognized her at once.

"You again." He breathed. It was Morningpaw of GreenClan.

"I want to know just what you think you're doing with a kittypet." She demanded, "Tell me or I'll shred you. I've done it before, I'll do it again."