Warriors: The Rising River Book #1: An Untold Secret

Chapter 8

                     Riverpaw's POV

Riverpaw padded into camp, a fresh wad of moss hanging from her jaws. It had been a moon and a half since her ceremony. Silverpaw was apprenticed to Owlfeather and Icepaw had gone with Hailberry to the Moonfalls to be accepted as a medicine cat apprentice by StarClan. They've all been settling in well and at the moment, Aspensky had tasked the silver apprentice to sorting out the elders' bedding. Which is exactly what she did.

Just as she was padding towards the elders' den, the silver she cat heard two familiar voices from the camp entrance. She stopped and turned around to see who it was and saw a hunting patrol coming in, a few pieces of prey in between their jaws. The cats were lead by Sweetbreeze, an annoyed Owlfeather behind her, two apprentices Silverpaw and Sunpaw, who were the ones making all the noise behind him, and Copperflame taking up the rear.

"If you didn't interfere, then maybe I would actually be carrying that mouse to the freshkill pile right now!" Silverpaw growled angrily at the light ginger tom beside her.

"You sure about that? From what I could hear, you were as loud as a badger in a fit. The mouse would've still heard you and run off anyways", the tom retorted.

"I am not. Even if I was, it definitely was not my fault."

"Oh yeh?"
"You probably would've been louder than that if you had a thorn stuck in your paw."

Riverpaw stared for a moment, only noticing Silverpaw's slight limp which was barely noticeable, if you didn't look closely enough. It was just like her sister to hide her pains. She then glanced at Sunpaw, who had a look of confusion all over his face, before realization set in and his eyes softened. He opened his mouth to say something, but before he could, the amber eyed she cat had already run off to the medicine den as the patrol dispersed. Disheartened, he stared sadly at his paws before making his way to the apprentice's den. On his way, he passed by Riverpaw, and the she cat stopped him with her tail.

"Go apologize", the she cat whispered, after setting her moss down.

The tom only nodded, then continued on his way, tail drooping.

After changing the elders' bedding, Riverpaw went out into the camp clearing, to see Minnowsplash coming in through the camp entrance, Mistypaw behind him. She bounded up to them and meowed a greeting.

"Hi Minnowsplash, Mistypaw!"

Minnowsplash flicked his tail as a sign of acknowledgement at her before turning to Mistypaw and meowing "You're free for the rest of today. Go get something to eat."

Mistypaw nodded then turned to Riverpaw. "Come on." He lead the way to the freshkill pile.

When the two had gotten something to eat, they settled near the apprentice's den.

"So, where is Silverpaw?" Mistypaw asked.

"In the medicine den, she got a thorn stuck in her paw while out hunting", his sister answered.

"Let me guess, no one knew until they got here?"

"From what it looked like, yeh. She and Sunpaw got into a fight earlier. Sunpaw looked pretty confused when she mentioned getting a thorn stuck in her paw."

"Those two..." Mistypaw grumbled. "It would be just like her to hide her injuries."

Riverpaw agreed.

"Mind if we join you?" a familiar quiet voice suddenly mewed.

Riverpaw and her brother looked up to see Aspensky and Kestrelstorm standing in front of them. "Not at all", Riverpaw answered, smiling at her mentor and her son.

The two warriors smiled and sat themselves down opposite the apprentices.

An awkward silence suddenly came upon them as they tucked into their freshkill, most only getting a mouthful of fur or feathers. Leaf bare was almost upon them, which meant that prey was getting scarcer and whatever prey was left to catch would most likely get scrawnier and scrawnier as the days passed for they too, would have problems finding food.

"Riverpaw was about to say something to hopefully ease the awkwardness and start a conversation, when a scene caught her eye. It wasn't anything out of the ordinary, but it did prick her curiosity. Whiteheart was being nudged out of the warriors den by Sweetbreeze, his fur unkempt and his eyes tired.

"How many times do I have to tell you for you to believe me? Thornbriar. Is. Alive. And she is back." the white tom suddenly spat angrily at his cream tabby mate.

This caught other cats' attention, and soon, everyone in the camp clearing was staring at the two, but they didn't seem to notice.

"She isn't. If she was, she should've come back to the clan by now", Sweetbreeze answered, obviously trying to keep her calm.

"She is. I saw her with my own eyes!" the white tom argued.

"If she was, why wasn't there any scent of her around?"

"I DON'T KNOW! WHY CAN'T YOU BELIEVE ME? NO WAIT, WHY DID I EVEN CHOOSE YOU OVER HER IN THE FIRST PLACE?"

Sweetbreeze was stunned. So was everyone else. No one expected that. Whiteheart just stormed back into the warriors den, not looking back at his mate. Everyone just stared a moment longer, before going back to whatever they were doing before the incident.

As Riverpaw bit into the sparrow she was trying to get a meal out of, she couldn't help but wonder "Who is Thornbriar?" As she thought about this more, her curiosity only grew. It reached a point where she could hold it in no longer. She just had to ask.

"Aspensky can I ask you something...?" the silver she cat mewed shyly.

"Of course", the blue eyed warrior smiled.

"Um...Who is Thornbriar?"

Aspensky thought for a moment, before answering. "She is Whiteheart's former mate, and Littlewing's and Crystalear's mother."

"....Why isn't she here?"

"She left the clan when I was still an apprentice."

"...What happened?"

"I don't know, she just disappeared, leaving her kits behind."

Author's Note:
Sun X Silver anyone? No? Just me? Oh well. BTW, sorry this was fairly rushed. I don't know if anything made any sense here...