Warriors: Divided Loyalty

Chapter Thirty-Seven

A screech of pain roused Nightshrike from her short, dreamless sleep. Voletuft's words from the Gathering last night haunted her, making her skip sleeping at night and pushing her harder and harder to appear the best. If I'm part of the prophecy, I will be the one that will cause the Clans to not see the light of day again. She thought darkly and pushed herself to her paws and forced herself out of the warrior's den. In the clearing was a pacing Timberskip, a nervous Whiteblaze, and a jumpy Leafpaw who was eagerly waiting.

Nightshrike saw Larkflight and Poppybee sharing a mouse next to where Timberskip was pacing and approached them. "Is Echospeck kitting?" She asked.

Poppybee nodded and gulped down her bite. "Timberskip's been pacing since dawn. I wonder when his paws will fall off!" She remarked and took another bite of her mouse.

"How long has she been giving birth?" Nightshrike questioned, glancing at the nursery. A strange feeling wiggled in her belly but she shook it off. Echospeck is only providing the Clan with more mouths to feed and eager kits that are ready to learn. She reminded herself.

"Since the Gathering," answered Larkflight, who was looking nervously to the den. "When we came back, she was complaining about pains in her stomach and Timberskip ran about screaming that she was giving birth." He paused. "Turns out, he was right."

"How many kits have been born so far?" Nightshrike sat down, tail twitching as she looked at the black tom.

"To my knowledge, two, but there's more on the way." Larkflight meowed and rose to his paws and stretched. "I'm going hunting, want to join me?" He asked, looking at Nightshrike and Poppybee.

Nightshrike shook her head and got to her paws. "Since Leafpaw couldn't train yesterday, we'll be battle training until sunhigh. Then, we'll be hunting." She meowed and flicked her ear. "Perhaps you could take Birdwatcher, Tumblewatcher, Pebblewhisker, and Fennelfur with you?"

Larkflight nodded. "Of course," he meowed. "I'll take Poppybee with me as well." He snickered and nudged the pale tabby she-cat, who jerked and fixed him with a confused look. "Let's go get the others."

As they padded away, Nightshrike headed for Leafpaw. "Leafpaw," her apprentice jumped, startled. She relaxed when she saw it was only her mentor. Nightshrike cleared her throat. "We're going to battle train, let's go." She said nothing more and turned away, already heading for the camp entrance.

"Is anyone coming with us?" Leafpaw asked, her meow small and shallow. Nightshrike glanced at her apprentice and met her light blue eyes.

"Sure," she meowed and saw her eyes light up. "You can choose who we can take with us. We'll be hunting after training anyways." Nightshrike watched as Leafpaw bounded away and went into the warrior's den. The deputy sat down and began to wash, her thoughts racing. Why did Voletuft tell me a prophecy when Clearstar and Timberskip are the real cats in charge? Her thoughts fought back. I am the deputy, though. She let out a long sigh and licked her paw, drawing it over her ears.

"Nightshrike!" Chirped Leafpaw's voice and Nightshrike looked up to see her apprentice and Lichenstorm padding towards her. She rose to her paws and dipped her head to the tom before setting off out of the camp with Leafpaw on her heels.

They didn't say much as they headed for a small clearing where they trained. Nightshrike didn't know what to call the place, but Empty Hollow sounded good to her. "Alright," she meowed, turning to her apprentice once they were in the middle of the clearing. "Today, we will be working on the back kick, forepaw slash, and the tail yank." She meowed and looked at Lichenstorm, who was fidgeting with a blade of dead grass. "I will demonstrate the back kick on Lichenstorm, watch closely." At Lichenstorm's nod, she darted forward and leaped into the air, soaring over her Clanmate. Before he could turn around, she landed and kicked out with her hind legs, knocking the tom over with a grunt.