Sky of Thunder

Chapter 10

Surgepaw above!

Emberpaw blinked open her eyes to see Amberleaf sighing in front of her. "What's wrong?" She asked.

Amberleaf huffed, "You! That's what."

Emberpaw stared at her.

"You need to sleep by the Medicine Cat Den. You're the Medicine Cat Apprentice, don't forget."

Now it was Emberpaw's turn to sigh. "But I don't want to be Medicine Cat."

Amberleaf rolled her eyes, "Suck it up. Starclan chose this path for you, accept it and get to work!"

Once Amberleaf had left, Emberpaw sat up and realized she was the only apprentice in the Apprentice's Den. They get to go hunt and patrol while I'm stuck working with plants! She thought angrily. She got up and dragged herself to the Medicine Den. Inside, Amberleaf was waiting for her.

"Your first task today is to separate these herbs."

"Okay. Which one is which?"

Amberleaf pointed out Sorrel, Daisy, Dandelion, and Chervil. "Make a pile for each and then come find me."

Emberpaw nodded and turned back to the leaves in front of her and started dividing them. Mainly, she was just matching them together, but in the end, she knew the names of them. Sorrel had smooth, long leaves with a red-ish vein in the center. Daisy had jagged, uneven leaves and a white, many petaled, flower at the end. Dandelion also had jagged leaves but they were slightly different and a little bit greener. Chervil had tiny white flowers and tiny, jagged leaves and long stems.

When she was done separating the plants, Emberpaw headed deeper into the medicine cat den to find Amberleaf. Amberleaf was satisfied with her work and put her up to another task. Emberpaw sighed. This is going to be a long day.

By sunset, Emberpaw had separated herbs, cleared sticks and thorns from Amberleaf's and the elders' beddings, learned how to make herb poultices, and learned half of the territory. She was drained to the bone.

The cheery voices of her littermates made her look up from her final task for the day: building her own nest in the medicine den.

Sparkpaw scampered over to her and burst into questions about Emberpaw's day.

When she stopped, Emberpaw's only reply was: "It was busy. Goodnight." And she climbed into her newly built nest and fell asleep.

* * *

Surgepaw awoke to his mentor's paw jabbing him in the flank. Grumbling, he got out and followed his mentor. "What are we doing so early?"

Doestep glanced back at him, "Dawn Patrol."

Surgepaw rolled his eyes. He hated patrols. He'd rather be hunting for his clan or in a battle party.

The mentor and apprentice renewed scent markings on the Thunderclan border and headed back toward camp.

"Can we do something actually interesting today?" Surgepaw muttered.

"Be patient," Doestep retorted. "And yes, we'll go to the grove today."

The grove was a clearing in Skyclan's territory. Trees surrounded it, filtering the sunlight into dappled patterns. Surgerpaw raced ahead of Doestep and came skidding to a stop in the middle of the grove.

Doestep followed more slowly, "Attack me."

"Wake up Silverpaw!" A voice rang through the den.

"What?" She grumbled.

"Strange cats are here. I thought you'd want to see what's up." Now Silverpaw recognized the voice of Surgepaw.

Springing up in curiousity, she poked her head out of the apprentices den. Looking around the camp, she saw her mother and father talking to a dark tabby, a golden pelted cat, a dark ginger cat, and a light grey tabby.

Pricking her ears, she padded closer and the reek of Thunderclan bathed her tongue. Thunderclan?! "What are Thunderclan cats doing here?" Silverpaw whispered to her brother.

Surgepaw just shrugged.

Silverpaw saw the golden tabby look around camp until his eyes rested on Silverpaw and Surgepaw. He gasped and whispered to the dark ginger she-cat. The she-cats eyes widened and she turned their way too.

Fernstar stopped talking and followed their eyes to see her two kits. "This doesn't concern you two!"

The dark tabby turned too. "Lionblaze, I think we found one of them."

Silverpaw thought she saw Fernstar's eyes flicker with panic, but it was gone too soon to be sure. She padded over to her mother, Surgepaw next to her. "What's going on?"

"Nothing that concerns you!" Fernstar snapped.

"It does the black one." The dark ginger she-cat mewed.

The golden nodded. "He looks like Hollytuft."

Fernstar and Reedthicket shared a glance. "What are you talking about, Lionblaze? Surgekit is my kit!" Reedthicket meowed sharply. "Bramblestar, we don't have Hollytuft's kits."

Lionblaze was still staring at Surgepaw, so Silverpaw got in front of her brother in a protective stance.

"I can protect myself!" Surgepaw hissed in her ear. He walked forward. "You mean, I'm from Thunderclan?"

"Yes." Lionblaze and Bramblestar at the same time Fernstar said, "Of course not!"

Surgepaw glared at Fernstar. "One of you is telling the truth and one of you is lying to me! Tell me the truth!"

Silverpaw flinched at his harsh, demanding tone. She looked up expectantly to Fernstar, waiting for her to clarify that he's Skyclan.

But to Silverpaw's horror, Fernstar hung her head in defeat. "Okay, fine! Surgepaw is not mine." The Skyclan leader turned away with her head and tail down and walked to her den.

Silverpaw looked at her father with wide eyes. "Am I from Thunderclan too?"

"No." Lionblaze and Reedthicket mewed.

"Where's the other one?" Bramblestar demanded.

Reedthicket glanced at Silverpaw, "Go get all your littermates and Finsplash." He looked at Surgepaw. "You stay here."

With the wheels turning in her head, she dashed off finding all her littermates and Finsplash.

"What's this about?" Emberpaw asked her.

"You'll find out." Was all she said.

When they got back to the Thunderclan cats, Finsplash was shaking in fury and panic. "You can't take my kits away from me!" He yowled.

All the apprentices and nearby cats turned to him in shock. Some of us are Finsplash's kits?

"You were Hollytuft's mate?" Lionblaze mewed, astonished.

"Yes. And they're my kits. I took them into Skyclan because their mother died."

"They belong to their mother's clan!" Lionblaze argued.

"Wait!" Surgepaw burst out. "Who are my other littermates then."

Reedthicket looked at Finsplash. "You know who your other kit is."

Finsplash nodded and nudged Sunpaw to his feet.

Sunpaw widened his eyes. "Finsplash is my father?"

"Yes." Reedthicket mewed.

"But he's my mentor!"

"Reedthicket let me mentor you so I could be closer to at least one of my sons." Finsplash explained.

Silverpaw watched in horror as Lionblaze picked Sunpaw up by the scruff while Bramblestar did the same to Surgepaw.

"We're not kits!" Surgepaw hissed angrily.

"Where are you taking us?" Sunpaw squeaked out.

"Home."