Book 1 - Warriors: The Shadow Outcast

Chapter Nine

"Mysticpaw, how did he do during the night?" asked a soft, yet somewhat harsh voice. A small cat stirred near his side, yawning as she woke.

"He didn't seem to be in much pain," said the cat next to him whose name Rainpaw knew as Mysticpaw. "He did seem to be having some happy dreams, though. He kept laughing and running in his sleep as if he were a kit." The first she-cat seemed to laugh at this, but then the sound stopped.

"How are the kits, Silverdew?" asked Mysticpaw. "Did they make it through the night?" It was quiet for a few seconds, making Rainpaw want to wake up faster. He'd been waiting quite a while to hear about the kits. Well, he wasn't awake all that time, but still.

"Yes, they're all happy with Reedfeather at the moment," said Silverdew, the first she-cat who'd spoken. "The runt, the golden brown one, nearly died but he's happy now. They need constant watching, however. You never know when they might take a turn for the worst."

"That's good," said Mysticpaw as she seemed to stand and walked a few steps away from him. "Those kits were really cute. I just wish I knew who their real mother is. It must have been a sibling or something for this tom to have come so far considering his wounds and the blizzard."

"It's not a sibling," said Silverdew. "I actually think it's his mentor. You know, the long-haired black she-cat he had with him last time he came here? I think that she finally had her kits, but for some reason she couldn't keep them."

"But why bring them here?" asked Mysticpaw then. "Couldn't his mentor just give the kits to another nursing Queen, or maybe to WindClan or ShadowClan?"

"Why would he do that?" snapped Silverdew. "ShadowClan is probably unfamiliar to him, since he's a loner, and I heard WindClan didn't want him. For all we know, his mentor could have told him to bring the kits to another Clan and, feeling that we were the best place, brought them here. It was just his luck that got him caught up in a blizzard with those wounds."

"He must be unlucky then," Mysticpaw decided. "After all, do you think any other nine moon old apprentice has walked in on a fox while carrying three kits during a blizzard?" Silverdew chuckled a bit at this.

"No, Mysticpaw," said Silverdew. "I don't think that's ever happened before."

Rainpaw finally started to wake up then, after listening to their interesting conversation. His eyes flickered open while his body seemed to tense up a bit. Mysticpaw and Silverdew both grew quiet, both of them look at him. Rainpaw did his best to sit up, though after a few seconds he just decided to lay there on his belly where he felt most comfortable.

Both she-cats in front of Rainpaw were obviously medicine cats. The youngest one, Mysticpaw, was a white and grey tabby she-cat with deep amber eyes that reminded him of fire. Silverdew, the older one, was a silvery grey she-cat with sharp yellow eyes.

"D-do you feel okay?" asked Mysticpaw with uncertainty. Rainpaw shrugged.

"I've felt worse," Rainpaw muttered, "but I'm feeling better than I did yesterday, that's for sure." Mysticpaw seemed to smile then, happy that she'd done a good job on healing him. Silverdew, however, seemed a bit more cautious.

"You must be insane, carrying three kits like that through a blizzard," Silverdew sneered. "Do you have any idea how much danger you were in?"

"Yep," said Rainpaw simply. "And don't worry, a ShadowClan dawn patrol already gave me that lecture. I was doing it for a friend of mine—yes, my mentor—and I wasn't worried of dying. If you want, you can call me crazy, because in a way, I did go insane yesterday."

"I heard of that from Cloudpaw," hissed Silverdew. "Exactly how crazy were you?" Rainpaw growled lowly for warning then, but just sighed to get his anger down.