The Dawn of Night | A Warriors Fanfiction ✔

Chapter 5

"Hey Emberfur, what is in that other wrap?" she asked.

"Oh! Those are borage leaves. They help bring down fevers, and also help queens produce more milk. Speaking of which, take one to Littlerose as well as the poppy seeds, and tell her to eat the borage, then the poppy seeds," Emberfur instructed her carefully.

"Yes Emberfur, I'll be right back to tell you if she says anything." Bluepaw said, and Emberfur nodded.

Bluepaw picked up all the herbs and walked out of the den towards the nursery, where she found the tortoiseshell queen in a dark corner suckling four tiny kits in a mossy nest. She looked up as Bluepaw walked in.

"From Emberfur," Bluepaw mewed, her voice muffled from the mouthful of herbs, and set them by Littlerose. The queen simply nodded and Bluepaw padded out of the nursery. Walking back to the medicine cat den, she remembered something. Entering through the brambles, she called out, "Can I ask you something?"

"Certainly," Emberfur replied.

"It's my sister," she meowed quietly. "Moonpaw. She's always tired now. She's really behind on training too. There's something wrong, isn't there?"

Emberfur paused. "I am not quite sure. I would have to see her." She stood on of the rocks, putting another leaf wrap on one of the shelves. "You know what happened to your brother, Sparrowkit, correct?"

"Not exactly," Bluepaw murmured, shifting her weight on her blue-grey paws. "Vinestripe just told us he wasn't strong enough."

"Indeed," mewed Emberfur, nodding. "But he also had a certain condition. His lungs were so weak and small he was not taking in enough air." She sighed. "It's a shame. Now go with the other apprentices, I have work to do."

"Okay, thank you!" Bluepaw turned and ran out of the den toward the fresh-kill pile, where the other apprentices were. She felt a little better knowing it, even though it was sad news.

"Well?" Sunpaw asked brightly, "How'd it go?"

"She said she would consider it," Bluepaw mewed.

"You'll be the next medicine cat, Bluepaw," Fogpaw grinned.

"Definitely," Moonpaw agreed.

* * *

"Sunpaw. Sunpaw, get up."

"Yeah?" Sunpaw lifted her head wearily. It was Stormshadow again. The sun was just beginning to rise on the horizon.

"I'm going to need you to do the dawn patrol," he said. "I've already picked some of the warriors to go with you."

"Sure thing." Sunpaw bounced up. She stretched and padded to the middle of the clearing and joined two other warriors, Weaselnose and Sandfur. They slipped through the gorse tunnel and and into the dense forest. When they reached the river, they passed the dusk patrol, which included Oakleaf, Lavenderpelt, and an apprentice named Falconpaw, who headed toward camp.

"How long do we patrol?" Sunpaw meowed.

"Around sunhigh. We have to follow the borders, remove scent marks, all those things. Then we can head back," Weaselnose replied. "Feel free to hunt along the way, as long as you stay near us - and don't forget to renew the scent borders. It's very important."

"Of course," agreed Sunpaw, rubbing against a tree where the ThunderClan scent had begun to fade.

Sunpaw caught three robins and a mouse. She buried them near Twolegplace, intending to take them back later. The Twoleg nests were enormous, oddly shaped structures and it made her wonder what sort of creatures would want to live there. Sunpaw sniffed the air and smelled something strange... the smell of cat.

"Sandfur?"

"Yes?

"Are there cats that live in Twolegplace?"

Sandfur scoffed. "Yes," he said, "if you could call them cats. Kittypets have no honor, and no warrior code. They even live with Twolegs, and eat their nasty food. Avoid them if you can." He rubbed her paws over the ground at the edge of the forest, while Weaselnose rubbed against the trees, so the border scent was very strong. Then the patrol headed towards the Thunderpath. Sunpaw had never seen a kittypet, or even heard of one. She wondered how any cat could live without some sort of code to live by. Finally sunhigh arrived, and they walked back to camp carrying fresh-kill for the Clan so they could eat.

Sunpaw noticed that the prey she and the others had caught were not as fat as usual. Surely, she thought as she carried a thrush to her den, leaf-bare could not be coming yet...

"Sunpaw! Sunpaw, guess what!" A grinning Bluepaw and Fogpaw ran over.

"What?" Sunpaw said.

"Emberfur said I could be her apprentice!" Bluepaw meowed happily.

"That's great!" Sunpaw exclaimed.