Warriors: A New Beginning #1: The Beginning

Chapter 26

Wavepelt awoke in the medicine den to see Flamefur's head above her, his gaze anxious.

"Wavepelt!" His face brightened as soon as he saw her awake. "Mintleaf, she's awake!"

Wavepelt sat up, groaning. She noticed that her light grey pelt had poultices of herbs all over. Her muscles didn't really hurt anymore, they just ached.

Mintleaf appeared next to her, pushing Flamefur aside.

"I need to check your belly wound," he meowed. "This Bloodclaw cat was skilled, and so was Berrytail." Seeing Wavepelt's look, he added: "Flamefur told me what happened. How could Berrytail do such a thing?"

"He was the one who killed Wolfpaw," Wavepelt sighed. "And Goldstar." And Dustwillow.

She lay down and showed her belly so Mintleaf could examine it.

"All your wounds will heal well," the medicine cat continued. "You should be able to hunt, but don't even think about participating in a battle. I don't want the wounds to re-open."

"Okay," mewed Wavepelt. "Hopefully there won't be any battles." Then she left the den, and saw that it was dawn.

"How long has it been since those two rogues attacked?" she asked Flamefur, who was at the medicine den entrance.

"Only since dusk," the ginger warrior replied. "Will you be okay?"

"Yeah." Then memories of Tussledstorm came into Wavepelt's head and she sighed.

"What's wrong?" Flamefur asked. Then he seemed to think for a heartbeat. He finally said: "When you and Tussledstorm were talking yesterday...when Tussledstorm came into camp, I had never seen her so angry. What exactly happened?"

"She just rejected me," Wavepelt said sadly. She explained all that had happened. "I don't get it! Tussledstorm thinks I'm perfect, but I'm not. Now I don't know how to get her friendship back," she meowed after she had finished.

"I'm sure that it'll work out eventually," Flamefur assured her.

"But what if it doesn't?" Wavepelt gazed desperately at her friend. "I've been friends with her since we were kits!"

"She's just troubled, that's all." Flamefur licked her between the ears. "I'll try to ask her why. She is my sister, after all."

"Thanks, Flamefur." Wavepelt smiled at him.

Flamefur smiled back, then he headed to the fresh-kill pile, where Spottedstripe was sending out patrols.

"Let's see..." the replacement deputy was mewing. "Flamefur, how about you lead a border patrol to Sunningrocks? It's been a while since we took those rocks, and RiverClan hasn't even fought for them yet. Take Barkstripe, Treetail, Curlyfur, Greenpaw, and Smokepaw."

The ginger warrior nodded and began to gather his cats.

"Speckledfur, you can lead a hunting patrol with Waterfall, Bushpaw, Splotchpelt, and Silverpaw to the WindClan border." Wavepelt's old mentor dipped her head.

"And Sunfur can lead a hunting patrol with Wavepelt, Ashpaw, Wheatwing, and Dapplecloud. Take them wherever, just not Snakerocks. I don't want Ashpaw to get bitten."

Sunfur immediately saw Wavepelt. "You should get Ashpaw," he meowed. "She's probably still sleeping."

"It is only her second day as an apprentice," Wavepelt pointed out. She padded over to the apprentices den and stuck her head inside. Sure enough, both Smokepaw and Ashpaw were sound asleep in their nests. Whitepaw's nest was empty; Tussledstorm had probably woken up as soon as she woke.