Warriors - Shadows of Truth (FanFiction)

❄️🌕🥀🫐Chapter 05🫐🥀🌕❄️

Hailstar bowed his head in gratitude to Nightblossom before jumping onto the Moonmound and raising his voice. "I'm at least as shaken as you are. And I too want to know who or what attacked our Clanmates. But in the state they are in now, they cannot give us an answer. And we'll give them time to recover first," he added in a sharp tone as Foliagemist tried to sneak to the medicine cat's den.

"What shall we do in the meantime?" Stripeface asked challengingly. "Not leave the camp anymore? For fear of one of us being the next to be attacked?"

Further back, Stormpaw nodded with eagerness. Larkkit bared her teeth. This morning you were still acting all deprecating and now you're siding with him.

"I never said that," Hailstar firmly contradicted. "The best solution is that from now on no cat leaves the camp alone until we can learn more. Does anyone know where Mapleblossom and Heatherpaw have gone?"

The cats fell silent. At that moment, Blazedew, Willowpaw, Carnationtail, Streamwater and Windheart returned from the hunt. They quickly realised something was wrong and joined the gathering.

"What did we miss?" Blazedew twitched his ears. "Why do all of you look so worried?"

At first, no cat dared to say anything. But when Willowpaw looked around, they became even more nervous. Soon Larkkit understood why. "Where's Heatherpaw? She went out earlier than me. Shouldn't she be back already?"

Poor Willowpaw. Larkkit felt an intense pity deep inside her. The two apprentices shared a strong bond, not only because they were siblings, but also because they were the only apprentices for a long time and had no other like-minded cats. Who will tell him that his sister got hurt so badly that she cannot even stand touch anymore?

It was Barkwhisker who finally had the courage to reveal the truth to Willowpaw. "She and Mapleblossom got attacked," the dark brown tabby tom muttered tentatively.

"Attacked?" Willowpaw's voice was shrill. "Is Heatherpaw hurt? How bad is it? I need to see her!"

Before he could get the chance to run to the medicine cat's den, Blazedew blocked his way. "Don't act too hastily," the light ginger warrior mewed. "Both of them certainly need to rest now. You'll see Heatherpaw soon enough again."

Blazedew looked around, hoping for his Clanmates' support. But they avoided his gaze.

"Willowpaw." Nightblossom took a step towards the dark ginger apprentice. "Her eyes were clawed out. We don't know if she'll survive the night." Her voice was unusually soft and a pitiful gleam glowed in her otherwise so cold eyes. Nervously, she ripped out the grass with her claws and sat back down next to the Moonmound.

Dashkit gasped. "Was it right from her to say that?"

Swallowfern stared grimly to the gathered cats. "I suppose so," she murmured. "It's better for Willowpaw if he knows the truth. Lying to him would lead to him losing the trust in his Clanmates."

Willowpaw stayed silent for a few heartbeats, just staring at Nightblossom with his river-green eyes. Never before had Larkkit seen such sorrow in one's expression. She couldn't imagine what was going on in his mind at the moment. Heatherpaw was fine this morning! She was always fine. How come she might die now? It felt wrong. That was not how things are supposed to be. StarClan must be evil if they take an apprentice away.

Slowly, Willowpaw retreated until he finally turned and fled into the apprentices' den.

"Willowpaw!" Blazedew called after him, but then he seemed to remember the emotional state his apprentice was in and let his tail and head hang.

Brightcloud slid to his side and licked his shoulder comfortingly. "I should have been there," the light brown tabby she-cat murmured in a choked voice. "This should have happened to me."