Warriors: Rising Storm - Book Four (Completed)

Chapter One

The moonlight took over silverpelt. The light from the moon shined through the brambles covering the nursery entrance. Shadowkit bounced around the clearing alongside Brindleface's kits. Brindleface's kits were much larger and ready to become apprentices.

Fernkit leaped onto her brother, Ashkit. Ashkit squealed then rolled around, toppling over her and pinning her to the ground. Shadowkit watched with amusement and kneaded the ground below him.

"Shadowkit." Meowed Frostfur. She padded up behind him and batted his ear softly. "You know you're not supposed to be out of the nursery at this time of night. You aren't quite big enough to play rough outside the nursery."

Shadowkit hissed and reluctantly followed Frostfur back inside the nursery. "It's not fair." He mewed. "I want to be an apprentice with Fernkit and Ashkit!"

"I know." Frostfur licked Shadowkit between the ears a few times. "You'll be an apprentice before you know it." She added, curling her tail over his tiny body and pulling him closer to her.

Shadowkit stared out between the brambles and watched the two kits wrestling just outside the nursery. Waterlily then padded past the nursery and was heading towards the elders den. She had some herbs in her mouth. "Can I go to the medicine den to see Waterlily?"

Frostfur softly sighed then nodded her head. She lifted her tail and let the black kit bound out of the den. He ran up to Waterlily and greeted her with a purr. "Hi Waterlily!" He exclaimed, louder than he had intended. The medicine cat smelled of sweet herbs.

Waterlily couldn't respond to him from all the abundance of herbs she was carrying, but she let him follow her inside the elder's den. There was nothing wrong letting a kit see the elders.

One-eye rasped her tongue over her shoulder, then down the side of her back. She glanced up at Waterlily, dipped her head, then kept going back to cleaning what the old she-cat could reach. Waterlily dropped the herbs and turned to Shadowkit. "Shadowkit, can you bring me some comfrey from the medicine den?"

Shadowkit's eyes brightened and he bounded away towards the medicine den. Yellowfang was sitting back awkwardly on her haunches, counting poppy seeds when Shadowkit skidded to a halt at the entrance of the den. "Waterlily asked me to fetch some comfrey." He mewed, looking up at her with big round eyes.

Yellowfang looked up at the kit and blinked a few times in confusion before responding. "Of course." She heaved herself up and padded over to the herb store. Shadowkit bounded over to her and watched her scan through all the herbs. There must have been over a million kinds of herbs! His eyes widened with amazement.

"How do you remember all those kinds of herbs?" He mewed, his eyes still wide and round, which had made his head look small. 

Yellowfang gently took a few leaves of some comfrey roots and placed them in front of Shadowkit before answering him. "It takes lots of training." She purred. 

Shadowkit could sense that she really didn't want him to stay and ask more questions, "Thanks." He purred, then took the comfrey roots in his tiny jaws before bounding back to the elders' den. The herb almost scraped across the clearing as he tried to carry it all by himself. Waterlily greeted him just outside the elders' den and purred  with amusement as she watched him carry the bundle of herbs. "I got them!" He mewed, dropping the herbs in front of Waterlily. He watched Waterlily intently as she teared the comfrey into small pieces and then chewed it into a poultice. 

Once she was done, he followed her back into the medicine den. "Can I help you with anything else?" He mewed, curiously. 

Shadowkit only heard the unsatisfying answer, "I'm sorry, Shadowkit, but I have nothing else to do tonight."

Shadowkit flattened his ears, then began to pad away in sadness. His tail dragging behind him as he walked with heavy steps. 

"I promise to come and play with you tomorrow around sun high." She promised, hoping he heard. 

Shadowkit stopped in his tracks and his ears and tail stood straight up and he managed to let out a soft purr rumble from his belly. "Okay!" He called out, then bounded back to the nursery. Frostfur would be worried if he didn't come back soon. Frostfur was grooming her chest as he trekked inside and circled the nest Frostfur was sitting in. She stopped grooming and gave him a couple licks, then returned to cleaning her chest. 

Shadowkit purred, then settled down to sleep. He couldn't wait till sun high tomorrow. His fur bristled with excitement. Frostfur settled down beside him and curled her tail around him. She pulled him close to her belly, and let sleep take over the both of them. 

Shadowkit found himself not able to sleep. He didn't know if it was from excitement or jealousy. He longed to go out exploring the camp, but knew that Frostfur would feel him getting out of the nest. He slowly forced himself to close his eyes. He curled his fluffy tail over his nose and began breathing heavily with sleep. He could hear his mother, Frostfur snoring softly. It calmed him and he was finally able to let dreams take over his mind.

Dawn couldn't come fast enough. Shadowkit woke up, and stretched out his paws, then opened his jaws into a yawn. Frostfur was still sound asleep, snoring a little louder. He got to his paws as silently as he could and leaped out from the grasp of her. He quickly looked back to see if she woke up, but she stayed sleeping.

He softly sighed then padded to the entrance of the nursery. The brambles hung low over his head, but he was still small enough to sit comfortably without the brambles bothering him from above. He watched as the sun beamed through the trees and have way to the dawn light at last.

Whitestorm emerged first out of the warriors' den. His white coat shined almost golden from the dawn light. Fireheart padded out just after him and stretched out his forepaws. His pelt glowed more ginger than before. It was almost blinding.

"Whitestorm, will you assemble the first dawn patrol?" Meowed Fireheart. His eyes pleaded.

Whitestorm nodded, "You'll have the rest of today's, I presume?" The old white tom meowed, licking a paw and brushing it across his ear.

"Of course."

Whitestorm dipped his head then padded back into the den to grab some warriors for the dawn patrol. Shadowkit saw Fireheart pad past the nursery and he stared deep past him. Shadowkit flinched, thinking maybe he had done something terribly wrong by watching, but when he turned his head, he saw only a pair of amber eyes staring back at the ginger tom. Shadowkit looked back at Fireheart, but made sure to not show any signs of confusion in case he was able to read his expressions from where he was at. The kit he was looking at was Bramblekit. Thoughts clouded his mind. He is just a kit, why is Fireheart so fearful of him?