Warriors: Shadows Of The Night

Chapter 1

Ravenpaw let out a hiss of pain as Silverflight chewed some marigold on her jaws before letting the juice spill onto one of her infected scratches. Sharp pain seemed to claw at the wound.

"There, there," Silverflight soothed, giving Ravenpaw's ear a lick, "This marigold will help with the infection."

Ravenpaw nodded, flinching from the pain. She gritted her teeth and dug her claws into the ground.

Her and her brother, Shadepaw, had gotten those scratches a few days ago. The two apprentices had been battle training and had accidentally wrestled themselves into a thorn bush. Ravenpaw's scratches were worse because when Shadepaw was struggling he had accidentally kicked her deep into the bush. She only went to the medicine den for treatment after her mentor, Thornwhisker, made her.

"You should have come to me sooner," Silverflight meowed, setting the chewed up marigold aside.

"I know," Ravenpaw sighed, "I was just busy."

"Ravenpaw, you should know better than to run around with an open wound!" Silverflight scolded with an exasperated tone. "It's dangerous. Especially when your wound gets infected like this." She nodded to Ravenpaw's scratch, which was on her side.

"Sorry," Ravenpaw sighed, twisting around to give the scratch a sniff. Silverflight sat down with a sigh.

"Just come to me sooner next time, okay?" Silverflight sighed, "You're almost a warrior. You should know when to come to me by now."

"I know. I'm sorry," Ravenpaw said with a sigh.

"That's alright," Silverflight meowed softly, sitting down and curling her tail over her paws. "But tell Thornwhisker you can't train or hunt for two days."

"What?" Ravenpaw stared at the silver medicine cat in shock. "Why?"

"Because the infection needs time to heal," Silverflight told her.

"Okay," Ravenpaw meowed with a sigh. "And thanks for healing me, Silverflight."

"Of course," Silverflight purred, "It's what medicine cats do. Just remember what I said about not hunting or training."

"Alright," Ravenpaw meowed, getting to her paws and dipping her head in respect toward the medicine cat. "Bye."

"Goodbye," Silverflight purred as Ravenpaw turned and left the medicine den, which was built within and old rotting log with lots of moss growing on it.

Ravenpaw padded across the clearing to where Shadepaw was sitting.

"Hi Shadepaw!" Ravenpaw purred as she sat down beside her brother.

"Oh, hi!" Shadepaw purred. He leaned over to sniff Ravenpaw's wound and wrinkled his nose. "Silverflight put some stuff on your scratch to heal it?"

"Yep," Ravenpaw said, "marigold, I think."

"Cool," Shadepaw meowed, standing up and shaking his fur out. "Wanna practice some battle moves?" He crouched down and flexed his muscles.

"Er, I'm not supposed to do anything for three days," Ravenpaw told her brother quickly before he could pounce on top of her. "Sorry."

"That's fine," Shadepaw meowed, standing up again with a flick of his tail. "I guess I'll just battle train with Thistlefang."

Ravenpaw nodded, although the thought of her brother training with his mentor, Thistlefang, made her uneasy.

Thistlefang was her own mentor's littermate, as well as Silverflight's. However, he was nothing like the two. His siblings were kind and patient, and Thornwhisker often made a point to make sure everyone kept their claws sheathed while training. Thistlefang, however, was harsher, and Ravenpaw didn't like how he over trained her brother, although Shadepaw thought it was fine.

"Ravenpaw!" A cat called from the warriors den, which was built in the shelter of a few dead bushes on one end of the clearing. Ravenpaw turned her head to see Thornwhisker padding over.

"Hi Thornwhisker," Ravenpaw greeted with a friendly flick of her tail.

"How's your cut?" Thornwhisker asked, "Are you feeling better?"

Ravenpaw shrugged. The pain was still there, but she trusted Silverflight's judgement that she'd heal soon. "I guess. But I'm not supposed to train for three days."

"That's probably for the best," Thornwhisker meowed.

"Shadepaw!" A cat yowled from the camp entrance. Ravenpaw turned to see Thistlefang standing in the entrance. "Come! We're going hunting!" Before his apprentice could respond he turned and ran into the forest.

Ravenpaw held back a hiss of impatience, and thought not for the first time how glad she was that Thistlefang wasn't her mentor. But she still felt annoyed that he was Shadepaw's mentor. He was always shouting orders at Shadepaw.

"Coming!" Shadepaw called to his mentor. "Sorry," He said quickly to Ravenpaw. "Gotta go!" He turned and bounded off after his mentor.

Ravenpaw looked up at Thornwhisker. She was surprised to see a hint of anger in his gaze, and his tail lash back and forth as he watched Shadepaw leave.

"I guess you should rest," Thornwhisker said, his eyes softening when he saw that Ravenpaw was looking at him.

"I guess you're right," Ravenpaw sighed.

"I was going to ask Thistlefang if Shadepaw could keep you company," Thornwhisker said, "But he seems to be in a hurry to take your brother hunting."

"I'll go to the apprentice den," Ravenpaw meowed.

"Good idea," Thornwhisker agreed with a nod.

As Ravenpaw padded over to the apprentice den, which was built among the branches of an elder bush, she wondered if her mentor felt the same way about his brother as she did.