River Of Blood (The Forest In The Sky (book 1))

Chapter 8

Dawnpaw's pov

Dawnpaw trotted back into camp, her first kill ever in her mouth. Her sister Honeypaw was sitting near Moringabelly and Cycloneheart underneath a tree. Dawnpaw gestured her sister to come over to her. Dawnpaw deposited her prey and turned around to be face to face with her sister.

"How's life?" Dawnpaw nudged her. Honeypaw just shrugged and started to walk off. Dawnpaw ran up to her and stopped her. "Wow wow now that's not how you treat your sister." Dawnpaw realised how overwhelming she was being. "Sorry i was just curious, but your obviously not in a good mood, I'll leave you be." Dawnpaw fought down her disappointment and shook her golden pelt. It was the middle of leaf-fall and the air was mild.
Her fur ruffled. She walked over to Orchidfang and Fleurface. She was going to say something but Fleurface stopped her.

"We don't need you here. Go play with your boyfriend if you even have one." Fleurface laughed. Dawnpaw unsheathed her claws and sunk them into the ground to stop herself from jumping on that fox-heart.

She padded off with her tail dragging the ground.

"May i have a word with you?" Cloverferns voice came from behind her. "Come here." Cloverfern gestured leaving Dawnpaw no other choice.

"I'm sorry about Fleurface. Also even Sunflowerstem. They're just.........annoying sometimes." Cloverfern sympathised.

"I don't need sympathy to feel better, i just want a peaceful life." Dawnpaw hissed slightly.

"Who are your friends?" Cloverfern asked, resting her brown and white tail on Dawnpaws shoulder.

"You." Dawnpaw replied simply. "Oh and Oleanderpaw and Tulippaw and Phoenixpaw, Thymepaw and Basilpaw." Dawnpaw sighed when she said Basilpaw.

"Any of your littermates?" Cloverfern pressed on.

"No. I mean Foxkit is somewhat my friend but that's all. All the others like Tilleypaw and Wolfpaw and Ackleypaw and them freaks just annoy me because they're acting so cool." Dawnpaw really just wanted to sleep.

"I know Ackleypaw, he's not stealing anyone's spotlight he's just trying to help others. He doesn't want anyone to make the same mistake he made." Cloverfern explains, leaving a massive hole inside Dawnpaws head, wanting more answers.

"What. Mistake?" Dawnpaw asked, shifting her paws.

"Hmmm. About trust and friendship." Cloverfern simply answered. Cloverfern turned and padded off to the fresh-kill pile.

Dawnpaw padded slowly to the apprentices den. Only Tulippaw was inside. Ugh. I don't want to go in there if someone else is.

She padded over to the fresh kill pile and got an eagle. She padded past Jewelsand, Winterfall and the elders, right past the nursery and into the medicine den. "Hello." She muffled.

"C-come in!" Cinderpaws mew came from deep inside the den.

Dawnpaw put the bird down. "I brought you something." Dawnpaw took a deep breath. The musty earth and herb scent filled the air, making Dawnpaw's nose twitch.

"For me?" Cinderpaw looked up at her. Dawnpaw was growing fast but unlike Cinderpaw.

"Yes, and the others." Dawnpaw pushed it forwards and went beneath the ferns and out into the fresh air. Dawnpaw could hear the rumble of footsteps coming from the back entrance of camp. Shortly after, Cedarpaw, Wolfpaw, Confettibranch, Acaciaseed, Sunflowerstem and Grasspaw burst through the ferns and brambles, tattered with scars. Duskystar and Novapaw emerged from the High-Den. Duskystar cantered down the slope and skidded to a halt just in front of Confettibranch and Acaciaseed.

"What—"

"Rat attack." Confettibranch said, breathing deeply.

"And then a bunch of about five rogues that were watching us. They were about to attack but some random creatures scared them off." Acaciaseeds tail sweeped the ground tiredly. Tufts of fur were hanging off the apprentices and warriors fur. They were still puffing.

"Cinderpaw! Come here!" Saffronspeck was inspecting the cats as Cinderpaw came out with some cobwebs and moringa.

"Any infections?" Cycloneheart asked, checking over them and putting cobwebs on the wounds.

"No. Just a little pain." Saffronspeck reported.

Dawnpaw watched the cats get treated. She heard some cats emerge from the front entrance of camp. It was Tilleypaw, Lunarpaw and Ackleypaw. She huffed and kept watching the cats get treated. She watched out of the corner of her eye, Tilleypaw and Ackleypaw nodding to each other. Lunarpaw and her sister Honeypaw sitting down in a circle. Dawnpaw edged closer to try and hear them. Nothing came from their mouths. She moved a little closer so she was three tail-lengths away from them. They were underneath the fern line at the entrance of camp. She was halfway from the medicine cats treating the warriors and apprentice and Lunarpaw and Tilleypaw. Nothing was coming from their mouth. They were nodding but saying nothing.

That's not................. Dawnpaw thought and her brown pelt shivered slightly. Her green eyes widened. Tilleypaw looked at her. Dawnpaw looked away and looked at the damp forest. The grey sky looked like it was carrying rain. The leaf-fall rain was on its way. No sun was showing through the sky. Dawnpaw looked towards the apprentices den. Shadowpaw and Tearpaw were outside the den, sharing tongues.

"Hey!" A voice sounded from behind Dawnpaw. She immediately knew the voice.

"Hey....Foxkit." She turned around to the little brown kit.

"Do you want to play with Jaykit and i?" She asked, jumping around in circles.

"Umm. Okay." Dawnpaw didn't care anymore. It's not like anyone likes me or anything. She waited for Jaykit and Foxkit to come back with a moss-ball. They threw it to each other and then to Dawnpaw. She caught it in her mouth and threw it to Foxkit. She threw it to Jaykit. It fell out of Jaykits mouth. Foxkit laughed.

"Your mouth is too small." Foxkit teased.

"So is yours." Jaykit threw the moss-ball to Dawnpaw. "I'm tired now."

"Same." Foxkit caught the moss-ball.

"Bye." Dawnpaw waved her tail goodbye and left the kits to go to sleep.

She padded into the apprentices den and lay down, watching Tilleypaw pick up a piece of prey and took it into the nursery. Lindsaystream appeared with Dragonflower at her side. Lindsaystream was holding a piece of prey in her mouth. Tilleypaw ran over to Lunarpaw and Ackleypaw. They sat down a started to eat their prey. Dawnpaw tried to listen to them. Her ears strained for a sound. A mumble, a whisper, nothing. Dawnpaw knew that if they were talking, she would hear at least a whisper of sound. She blocked off the sound from around and focused on just their group. Absolutely nothing. They were nodding, but nothing came out of their mouths, their mouths didn't move. Hmmm....fishy. She clawed the earth in frustration. She looked at the nursery. Cinderpaw emerged from the ferns. That was......unprepared. She thought. Cinderpaw padded slowly over to them. Before she got there she was nodding her head, almost like she was saying something.

Eventually Tilleypaw, Lunarpaw, Ackleypaw and Cinderpaw came into the den.

"Tilleypaw....can i talk to you?" Dawnpaw built up some confidence.

"S-sure." Tilleypaw stuttered slightly. Dawnpaw led her out of the apprentices den. She turned around and stopped Tilleypaw.

"So...........................................what's going on?"