Warriors: The Trail of Centuries

Chapter 9

     Spottedpaw purred as she shared a thrush with Nightpaw. The two of them watched Brownpaw play with Rabbitpaw, the two toms tumbling around outside the apprentices' den. Over a half moon had passed since Brownpaw had fallen at Boulderdrop. Frozenleaf determined that he merely had a wrenched shoulder and a few scrapes, and the tabby tom healed quickly enough. However, the apprentice had only grown more skittish than ever. Every time Spottedpaw noticed Rabbitpaw go to flip him over, his brother visibly panicked and tried to keep himself from being overturned.

     Spottedpaw glanced at Nightpaw, noticing how closely the grey molly was watching her littermates. Brownpaw's newfound anxiety was obvious to every cat in the Gorge, especially to his sister. Spottedpaw gave her friend a gentle nudge.

     "He'll be fine," she murmured softly. Nightpaw shot her a grateful glance and returned the nudge somewhat playfully. After a few moments of silence, Nightpaw rose to her paws and padded off to her brothers. Spottedpaw watched her friend leave and finished the thrush. Now that Nightpaw had left her alone, her thoughts flooded her mind. 

     Ever since Brownpaw fell at Boulderdrop, she started to get more nightmares; Shadestar haunted her dreams nearly every night, though now his words were hazy and incomprehensible. She told herself it was due to Molestrike's delirious ramblings. The elder had since fallen ill with whitecough. It was the first illness of leaf-fall, and according to Frozenleaf it was early for anyone to be falling ill.

     When cats around the Gorge started to fret, the healer insisted that since it was only whitecough, it was nothing to worry about, but Spottedpaw couldn't keep herself from doing exactly that. Molestrike was growing frailer by the day, and she was certain she'd heard one of Deadeye's kits catching a cough. Spottedpaw might just be an apprentice, but she knew that the illness was especially dangerous to elders and kits. Even worse, if Frozenleaf and Shortpaw didn't properly manage it, it could ravage the entire camp.

     "Spottedpaw, are you listening to me?" Spottedpaw's thoughts had consumed her so much that she hadn't noticed that Hawkscar approached her. "We'll be going out to train at moonrise. I want to make sure you get some proper nighttime practice in." 

     Spottedpaw gave her mentor a hasty nod as he trotted off. The cream tom joined Mudwing and Fireclaw by the fresh-kill pile, each of the toms grabbing a small piece to eat with one another. Movement from the nursery demanded Spottedpaw's attention. One by one, Deadeye's kits came tumbling out into the bigger cave. Dapplekit looked just like her mother, Blackkit like their father, and Sunkit looked like a weird mixture of the two. She was almost entirely black with some orange tabby splotches dotting her body.

     Spottedpaw had to hold back a purr of amusement while she watched the three kits tumble around in the clearing. Suddenly they broke apart as Dapplekit gave in to a fit of coughing. She stopped almost as soon as she started though, and Spottedpaw assumed that it was just caused by the dust that the kits had stirred up. What if they caught whitecough, though? she wondered. They're nearly big enough to be apprentices now—it would spread through the camp like wildfire. The apprentice tilted her head as she watched the kits, finding herself desperately hoping that they stayed healthy.

     "Deadeye told me about what you've been doing with those BlazeClan cats." Spottedpaw nearly jumped out of her fur when Greyheart spoke to her. The tom had approached her so quietly that, if she didn't know better, she would say he appeared out of thin air. She turned her gaze to her father hesitantly, immediately growing uncomfortable when she saw how curious he looked. His greyish eyes held an odd glint that she wasn't sure she trusted.

     "Yeah," Spottedpaw responded slowly. "I really felt bad about what happened at the border, you know? I just wanted to make it up to Deadeye somehow." She held the scarred warrior's gaze and willed herself not to shake in his presence. Until now, her father had shown next to no interest in her activities. I can guess what changed, she thought bitterly to herself. Of course he's interested now that he thinks that I'm doing Deadeye's bidding. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes when her father seemed to glow with pride.