Bloodshed

Chapter Twenty Three

"You're finally free." Shadepaw commented when Echopaw entered the cave. Several clumps of fur were missing from around her pelt. "You look like you've been in a battle."

"Shut up!" His sister snapped. "I know, it's so funny. I'm starved!" She bolted away, towards the fresh-kill pile.

Snowpaw dropped a vole beside Shadepaw. "I'm becoming a warrior today." He flopped down, "I won't be sharing a den with you anymore."

"I can't say I'll miss you." Shadepaw grumbled.

Snowpaw rolled his eyes. "I'll have to share a den with Sunflower. That'll be awful." He went on. "She's my mentor, but also my mother, so she's extra annoying."

"Yeah." Shadepaw was only listening to half of what he said.

"What do you think my warrior name will be?"

"Snowsnow."

"That sucks!" Snowpaw hissed. "I think something like.. Snowfall, or-"

"You're not a she-cat." Shadepaw interrupted, "That sounds like a name for a she-cat."

"Then what?" He demanded.

"You're about to find out." Sunflower was approaching them. "If you'll stop your bickering, you'd see that Stripedstar has just called a Clan meeting."

Shadepaw scrambled to his paws and joined the other apprentices. Rainpaw glanced at him, "Hey."

"Hi. Aren't you glad that Snowpaw is finally leaving?" Shadepaw laughed, "He's been so grouchy about Blurrypelt and Redshade becoming warriors before him."

"Yeah." Rainpaw agreed with a yawn.

"Today we gather to make Snowpaw a warrior. He is the last of his siblings to become a warrior, but he is not the weakest." Stripedstar glanced at Redshade and Blurrypelt. "I, Stripedstar, leader of MudClan, call upon my warrior ancestors to look down on this apprentice. He has trained hard to understand the ways of your noble code and.."

Shadepaw stopped listening. He began to fall asleep, only jerked awake when the Clan began to chant. "Snowstorm! Snowstorm!"

"Snowstorm." Shadepaw murmured to himself, "Good name."

***

"You're a mess, Shadepaw!" Frozenstar yowled one night. "You failed your warrior assessment. Your mentor wants you to wait MOONS to become a warrior! You can hardly keep your eyes open!"

"That's Featherfur's fault! It's his fault I never get any sleep. I'm always training." Shadepaw defended himself.

"And what about Spark? How do explain how much time you're spending with her, when you could be sleeping?" The dark forest leader demanded.

Shadepaw shivered. Spark was on their side! Why did it matter that he was spending time with her? He narrowed his eyes, anger burning in his fur. "I like her. It doesn't matter."

"Stop spending time with her!" Frozenstar spat, "You should be sleeping!"

"You can't tell me what to do!" Shadepaw arched his back. "You're dead!"

"I could kill you if you wanted." Frozenstar leaned back, her eyes glittering. "Let's fight."

Shadepaw allowed all of his anger to push him forward. He plummeted into Frozenstar, knocking her off her feet. Slamming his paw against her head as she tried to roll away, Shadepaw couldn't stop. He clawed and clawed at her pelt, feeling the skin tear at his claws. He felt powerful. He felt like a warrior.

Frozenstar kicked out with her back legs to push him away, but he held onto her with his claws. He hardly felt the pain as her hind claws tore at his belly fur.

Suddenly, he jerked awake. Frozenstar had escaped. He pulled himself to his paws, staggering when he felt a pain in his belly. His nest had small droplets of blood on it.

"What happened?" Echopaw asked with wide eyes. Rainpaw glanced at her, but said nothing.

"Must have been cut by a thorn while I was sleeping." Shadepaw said quickly. "Maybe I accidentally put one in my nest."

Owlpaw was entering the den. He froze when he saw Shadepaw, "StarClan! What happened?"

"There was a thorn in my bedding." Shadepaw lied. His paws were trembling. Rainpaw clearly didn't believe him; would Owlpaw?

"You should see Brownfur." Owlpaw suggested, "That looks like it needs cobwebs."

Shadepaw nodded and limped out of the den. Jaytail stopped him on the way to the medicine cats' den.

"You look like you've fought a fox. What happened?" His mentor demanded. Shadepaw sighed.

"Thorn. I'm seeing Brownfur." He wobbled off into the medicine den before Jaytail could say anything else.