Warriors: Divided Loyalty

Chapter Fourteen

"What do we do?" Wailed Toadpad as he gazed at the dead bodies of Mottlesong and Blackheart. "We have no medicine cats!"

Tawnywillow raised her head, her eyes glimmering with worry. "What if one of us gets sick or injured?" She asked, tail flicking.

It was sunhigh and Nightpaw was sharing a vole with Reedpaw. The cats who had been chosen by Applestar to find Mottlesong and Blackheart returned with their bodies and the horrible news that almost every medicine cat had been brutally slain.

"A group of cats attacked defenseless medicine cats while they were speaking with StarClan." Scorchtail had reported when her, Marigoldscar, Mistyflake, and Frostgaze returned from the Moonpool.

Nightpaw sat next to her brother, seeing Halfthroat sliding out of the nursery with a blank look on his face. He's trying not to look suspicious. She thought as her mentor padded towards her and Reedpaw.

"Nightpaw," meowed Halfthroat as he neared and Nightpaw rose to her black paws. "Let's go battle training." As Nightpaw began to nod, Frostgaze padded towards them.

"I just got told by Spiderstem to take all the apprentices out hunting," she meowed to Halfthroat, who tensed. "I'll fetch Rosespring and Bravebranch." She paused, looking at Nightpaw. "Will you get Aspenpaw, Dawnpaw, and Songpaw?"

Nightpaw looked to her mentor and nodded nervously to Frostgaze. She had never been taught how to hunt by Halfthroat. It had always been battle training from sunrise to sunset.

As Nightpaw padded away to the apprentice den, a butterfly flew by her nose and she unsheathed her claws on instinct, watching as it did circles in the air.

Nightpaw watched the butterfly for a moment before leaping at it and swatting it out of the air, crushing it with a paw. Looking up from the dead insect, Nightpaw poked her head into the apprentice's den.

"Aspenpaw? Dawnpaw? Songpaw?" She called, looking around for the other apprentices. Aspenpaw's shape let out a cough and sniffled, making Nightpaw perk in alarm. "Aspenpaw, are you alright?"

She padded towards her denmate, worried. "Are you sick?" She asked, tail twitching anxiously. Nightpaw hesitantly took another few steps towards Aspenpaw, her pelt prickling. "Aspenpaw...?"

Her denmate groaned and rolled over, her eyes screwed shut and digging claws into the ground. Nightpaw turned tail and raced out of the den, yowling. "Aspenpaw's sick! Aspenpaw's sick!"

Marigoldscar, Aspenpaw's mother, let out a shriek and raced towards Nightpaw, eyes wide and worried. "Is she okay?" She asked, looking at Nightpaw with wide, distressed eyes.

Nightpaw felt every cat's eyes on her pelt and she trembled. "I-I don't know," she mumbled, looking at her paws.

Marigoldscar sprinted past the she-cat and disappeared into the apprentice den, a wail sounding from inside. As Nightpaw looked up to meet the gazes of her Clanmates, she saw Bravebranch pacing the clearing along with Honeypaw and Littlepaw.

Will Aspenpaw be okay without Mottlesong and Blackheart? She fretted, looking at Halfthroat. After all, if she dies, her death would be on my paws.

**********

"When faced with a topic like death," began Halfthroat in his usual masked expression as he spoke. "You need to block out any emotion that may lead to weakness."

Nightpaw nodded, Songpaw beside her. Aspenpaw was moved to Mottlesong and Blackheart's old den and Nightpaw wouldn't let her fears for the apprentice affect her on the outside.

"If you do," Halfthroat went on without missing a beat. "It gives your Clanmates the upper-paw and makes you look weak and exposed to sensitive occurrences."