Dawnberry's Escape

Chapter 4

  Dawnkit was too shocked to utter a single word. Wasn't Spottedkit's wounds treated by Nightleaf? 

  "No!" Bluekit yowled. Morningkit was watching, unable to say anything, just like Dawnkit. Dawnkit found her voice, and yowled her grief to StarClan. Why did you take him, StarClan? He died trying to save us. Why? 

 A reassuring tail tip rested on Dawnkit's shoulder, and she ducked, not wanting any cat's sympathy. Her brother had died without being a warrior, without living his ambition. Dawnkit could only hope that StarClan will grant him his warrior name. 

  "I'm so sorry." Leafpaw meowed, solemny. His eyes were pained too. He was very fond of Spottedkit, teaching him stalking moves and playing with him. 

  "You don't understand!" Dawnkit cried, thorns piercing her tiny heart. "You didn't lose your brother!" 

  Leafpaw dipped his head and stared down at the grass. "I lost my father. To a fox." He mewed quietly. 

  Dawnkit couldn't say a word. The grief was too much for her. She shouldered away to the nursery, ignoring all the sympathetic glances and sorrowful words. She buried her face into the comfy moss of the nursery, not paying attention to Shellflower or Mistpool's gentle voice and let the darkness comfort her for just a few hours. 

***

  Dawnkit opened her eyes. The nursery was unusally quiet. Isn't Spottedkit awake yet? He was usually the first one to wake, hoping to play a game. Then she remembered. 

  Oh. 

  Dawnkit scanned the nursery; all the queens and kits were sleeping. It was dark, a faint gleam of moonlight shining into the cozy den. She wanted to go out, but if Streamlight found out, she would be in big trouble. 

  Shutting her eyes again, she braced herself for more nightmares of the badger taking her life instead of Spottedkit's. 

***

  "Thank you dear." Flowerstem sighed. "That tick was really annoying me!" 

  "Can you tell us the story about TigerClan now?" Bluekit chirped. 

  "After Morningkit comes back with the moss from Nightleaf." Silverfur promised, giving him a lick on the top of his head. 

  "And after you wash your foul-smelling paws in the stream! I don't want to sleep with that stench." Brackenfang grumbled. 

  Bluekit rolled his eyes towards Dawnkit, who sighed inwardly. "Ignore him, dear. He doesn't like being disturbed in his sleep or being woken up from an amazing dream where his moss is soft  and dry all the time and he's young and able to hunt again." Silverfur's whiskers twitched mischieviously. 

  "I can hear you!" Brackenfang snapped, though there was a hint of humor in his mew. 

  "I'll go wash them in the stream then." Dawnkit padded out of the elders' den, and savored the sunlight which she rarely see during her confinement in the nursery. 

  Dawnkit peeked in the medicine den, and saw Morningkit watching Nightleaf as she mixed some herbs in a pile. "Morningkit! Moss!" Dawnkit hissed, and her sister started. Dawnkit soaked her paws in the stream and shook them around, then dried them off by flinging the water off. 

  She hurried back to the nursery, not wanting to miss anything. Her heart felt squeezed when she thought about how much Spottedkit would have liked the story. Dawnkit settled down in the moss just as Silverfur started talking. 

  "Now which TigerClan would you like to hear about? The noble, legendary one, or the terrifying one Tigerstar has made?" Silverfur asked. The other elders, except Brackenfang of course, sat up a little straighter with their ears pricked. 

  "Tigerstar!" Bluekit squeaked. Dawnkit only knew that Tigerstar was a very evil cat, back in the old forest. She didn't know he made his own Clan. "Yes please!" She mewed enthusiastically. She noticed Morningkit was sitting in the corner, deep in her own thoughts. She always seemed like that nowadays. 

  "Now, as you know, Tigerstar was a very evil cat. He was exiled from ThunderClan because he betrayed his Clan: he tried to kill his own leader and killed his own deputy to acheive his ambitions." Silverfur mewed in a dramatic voice. "He gathered a group of exiled ShadowClan warriors and became ShadowClan's leader because they needed one. Tigerstar didn't feel like his ambitions are achieved, so he alligned with RiverClan to form TigerClan..." 

  Dawnkit's thoughts swayed throughout the story. She started thinking about Tigerstar, and felt a surge of anger. How can one cat be so... evil? 

   She knew its from a long time ago, back in the old forest, but it could happen again. From that day on, she vowed to be loyal only to RiverClan, and if she ever feels lost, all she needs to do is think about RiverClan and surge on like the LionClan that defeated TigerClan.