Warriors Novella Set: She-Cats of the Lake

Chapter 2

"Rockshine," Cedarbranch meows from below the highbranch. "Lead a hunting patrol," he tells Rockshine as she sits in camp.

"Who should I take with me?" Rockshine asks the Clan deputy, hoping he would've said it.

"Oh, right," Cedarbranch responds. "Take Bluepelt, Bramblefur, Finchfeather, and Toadpaw with you," her brother suggests.

"Alrighty," Rockshine meows, looking around camp to find the cats who were chosen to go with her. She spots Finchfeather and Toadpaw chatting near the apprentices' den and pads over to them.

"Are you two up for coming on a hunting patrol with me?" Rockshine asks the mentor and apprentice.

"Sure," Finchfeather responds. "Toadpaw just finished learning a new hunting technique and maybe now he can try it on actual prey," he purrs as he looks over at his apprentice.

"Good, have you seen Bluepelt or Bramblefur anywhere?" Rockshine asks Finchfeather.

"I saw Bramblefur flirting with Dawnbird earlier," Finchfeather responds, not afraid to expose the young tom. "I don't know where Bluepelt is though, she might still be sleeping in her nest, knowing her," he meows. "Young cats these days..."

"Thank you, meet me by the camp entrance soon," Rockshine meows as she hurries off to the warriors' den to see if Bramblefur or Bluepelt are there. She peeks inside once she arrives to see Bluepelt, still asleep in her nest, as her father predicted. Rockshine pads over to the young warrior and gives her flank a quick shove, trying to wake her up. Bluepelt slowly begins to open her eyes as she stretches.

"What?" Bluepelt asks groggily.

"You were chosen to go on hunting patrol today. Plus, why in StarClan's name are you still sleeping? It's almost sunhigh!" Rockshine tells the blueish gray-furred she-cat.

"Sorry," Bluepelt meows as she gets up out of her nest. "I had no idea I was sleeping in this late."

"It's fine, your father doesn't seem too happy about it though. Go ahead to the camp entrance and I'll go find Bramblefur, meet you there as soon as I find him," Rockshine meows as she exits the warriors' den. She observes camp once again and finds Bramblefur and Dawnbird sharing an old, scrawny mouse that was caught the day before. She pads over towards the two warriors, speaking up once she approaches them.

"Bramblefur, would you like to come along with us on a hunting patrol?" Rockshine asks him. "Maybe then we can catch better prey, it's very warm out today, so there's bound to be good prey."

"Of course," Bramblefur responds, standing up from his crouch. He looks over at Dawnbird once he gets up. "I'm going on patrol, I'll be back soon, okay? You can eat the rest of that mouse for yourself. You deserve it," he meows lovingly.

"Thank you," Dawnbird responds. "Come back with lots of fresh-kill, alright?"

"I will," Bramblefur responds as he turns his head to look back at Rockshine. "I'm ready."

"Let's go then, the rest of the patrol is waiting near the camp entrance," Rockshine meows. Then, she pads alongside Bramblefur towards the camp entrance, where Bluepelt, Finchfeather, and Toadpaw are waiting for them.

"Let's go," Rockshine meows once they arrive, making their way out of camp as she leads the way. Once she steps out of camp, she opens her jaws and takes in some air, trying to catch any scent of prey. After she breathes in, she takes in a lot of scents of many different kinds of prey, and the rest of the patrol notices it too.

"Wow, I love newleaf," Bramblefur meows as he seemingly gets the trail of something. Rockshine catches the scent of rabbit and begins to follow it.

What's rabbit doing at this side of the lake? I usually don't find any here, they're more common in the moor. Rockshine thinks as she follows the scent. Then, she spots an already killed rabbit.

"Huh," Rockshine meows as she looks at it. Beside the rabbit is a large paw in the dirt, which increases Rockshine's curiousity, knowing that it definitely wasn't a cat that did this.

"Guys," Rockshine meows. "Come look at this," she tells the rest of the patrol. The other cats then pad over to her, looking at the dead rabbit and pawprint as well.

"This was definitely not done by a cat," Finchfeather observes as she looks at both the pawprint and the bite marks in the rabbit's neck.

"Do you think it was a dog or a fox?" Toadpaw asks his mentor worriedly. "Whatever it was, it got pretty close to camp..."

"It seems like it was probably a large dog," Rockshine meows. "It's too big to be a fox," she tells them, remembering an encounter she had with a fox as an apprentice.

"Right," Finchfeather responds. "You would know, you were attacked by a fox when we were apprentices." Rockshine nods in response to her brother's words.

"We have to be careful," Bramblefur meows. "It could still be in ShadowClan territory."

"We should tell Cherrystar about this," Rockshine meows. "And make sure no cat leaves camp alone from now on until we know that the dog is gone. Be more alert from now on," she suggests.

"This is scary..." Bluepelt meows. "I've never seen a dog before."

"Some dogs can be smaller than us, while others can be ginormous," Finchfeather meows. "But this one, I don't think I've even seen a dog this big before. It could definitely kill a cat."

"I'll go tell Cherrystar about this right now, I'll be right back," Rockshine meows. "All of you can continue hunting, I'll be right back after I tell her," she tells the rest of the patrol.

"Alright, be careful," Finchfeather meows as Rockshine hurries back to camp. Once she pads back to camp, she hurries over to the nursery to speak to Cherrystar. She peeks into the nursery and spots Cherrystar laying in her nest while her kits play in the den.

"Cherrystar," Rockshine meows. "We were on hunting patrol and we found a dead rabbit with a large pawprint in the dirt next to it. We think a large dog must've killed it, the Clan should be warned and told not to leave camp alone from now on," she tells her leader, not realizing how demanding she seemed until after she spoke, suddenly feeling like she's disrespecting her leader.

"Thank you for telling me," Cherrystar meows. "Let me know if you find anything else, then we can go to proper action. It's probably not a big deal as of right now, but please be more alert out there. We need to make sure our Clan is safe."

"I will," Rockshine meows, a little disappointed Cherrystar didn't call a Clan meeting about the dog, but she leaves the nursery anyways and hurries back to the hunting patrol.

Hopefully Cherrystar is making the right decision. Rockshine thinks.