Warrior Cats: Shadows into Light (book 1)

Chapter 19

Nightpaw awoke next to the lifeless body of Hollypaw, she got up knowing that some of the warriors would remove her to be buried. Nightpaw looked over and saw Oatpelt giving Firewing poppy seeds to help her be relaxed from grief. Smokepaw looked at his sister's dead body, with sadness in his eyes. Nightpaw had heard that Smokepaw refused to eat and take herbs from Oatpelt. Hollypaw stood up to comfort Smokepaw, she lay down and began to lick his muzzle. Smokepaw didn't turn away, he simply would stare into her blue eyes. "She went to a better place," Nightpaw meowed. "But I want her here with me," Smokepaw responded blankly. "I know," Nightpaw meowed and sighed. Nightpaw got up and flicked her tail for the speckled grey apprentice to stay in his nest. She walked to the medicine cat's den and saw that Oatpelt had returned to his post. "No! Loudpaw, you don't use Burdock root for wounds. It's for preventing infection of rat bites," Oatpelt hissed. "I'm sorry," he meowed back. "Can I give something to Smokepaw," Nightpaw meowed. Oatpelt nodded and flicked his tail for Loudpaw to get a bundle of herbs. "Oatpelt, we don't have any Goatweed left," Loudpaw hissed with an impatient sigh. "I can get some. What does it look like," Nightpaw meowed happily, knowing that she can occupy herself from grief. "It should be along the river that borders us between Fern Clan. It is a musty smelling leaf with a small yellow flower at the end," Oatpelt meowed. "I'll go with her," Loudpaw stood up anxiously happy that he could get out of the den and stretch his legs. "Sure, but don't think you'll get out of testing what types of herbs you know," Oatpelt mewed while golden sunlight made his cream and brown pelt glow. They walked out of the camp past the fern like tunnel that sheltered the entrance of the clan. "Were you picked to go to the gathering," he asked. Nightpaw nodded in response as they got down to the river. Loudpaw shown her the Goatweed just in case Oatpelt hadn't given her a good description. They carried the herbs back in silence and went into the den. Loudpaw and Nightpaw placed the Goatweed on the stone floor next to the mossy bedding of the medicine cat's den. Oatpelt took a small amount and chewed into a fine pulp putting in some leaves with poppy seeds. "Give this to him," Oatpelt mewed. Nightpaw carried the little bundle to Smokepaw."Eat these. Oatpelt says it will help with grief," Nightpaw meowed and dropped the bundle between Smokepaw's paw. "Does it have poppy seeds," he meowed irritably. "No," Nightpaw lied and felt the burning guiltyness in her pelt. "Alrigt," he mumbled as he ate the bitter tasting herbs.  Nightpaw pressed her muzzle against his and purred. He responded with a loud purr and sweeped his tail around her as they sprawled out on the grass. Heatherheat walked over to the two apprentices and nudged them up. "Come on you two. We are going with Grassflight for advanced training. You two have trained hard and Foreststar is going to asses you very soon," Heatherheart mewed and twitched her ears. The two apprentices shot up and had joyful looks on their faces. They trotted to a small clearing in the pine forest with many flowers and Juniper bushes. They trained learning new moves and perfecting old ones as the sun faded in to darkness.