Warriors: Skytail's Reckoning (COMPLETED)

Chapter 2

Sky flexed her shoulder as Bluepaw watched, her eyes interested. The bite stung, but it didn't feel too bad and she let out a sigh of relief.

"How is it?" Bluepaw asked, her head tilted to the side.

"Better," she purred, looking up at her friend. In the days since she'd been brought into WindClan's camp, she'd made friends with Bluepaw, Darkfeather, and Wisppaw. Apparently, Darkfeather was Bluepaw's mother and Wisppaw was the sister of Greenpaw, the other warrior apprentice. According to both apprentices and Darkfeather, they all were apprentices under moor runners.

Moor runners were the main warriors of WindClan and hunted and patrolled above ground. They were known as the "regular" warriors, who fought off invaders and protected the moor. Bluepaw, Greenpaw, and Wisppaw were the only apprentices, apart from Shadepaw, who was Softear's apprentice.

"We're lucky we aren't training to become tunnelers," Wisppaw had commented the day before as she visited Sky and Bluepaw in Softear's den. "I don't know why any cat would want to spend their time in darkness without the sun and clouds above their heads."

Tunnelers had the most dangerous job in the Clans. With their abilities below ground, their apprentices trained twice as long as moor runner apprentices. Cave-ins, floods, deaths, and injuries were common, despite having their most experienced Clanmates among them. Apprentices were keenly fought over and it was up to whoever was leader to decide who would be above ground chasing rabbits and who would be digging below.

"There hasn't been a tunneling apprentice for moons!" Remarked Wollyfire the same day Wisppaw had explained what tunnelers meant to Sky. "Redstar ought to have bees in his brain if he thinks we can dig alone with no younger blood."

"Redstar has his reasons for giving apprentices to the moor runners," argued Driftbird, another tunneler. "Besides, with kits in the nursery and more destined on the way, we'll have more paws in the tunnels in no time."

Sky wasn't so sure if any cat would want to be underground. Like Wisppaw had said, the sun and clouds are supposed to be on a cat's back, not on the backs of mud-soaked tunnelers. After all, a cat was supposed to be above the ground without fearing if something was going to collapse on them.

"Hey," Bluepaw meowed, touched her tail to her shoulder, jerking her out of her thoughts. "Are you okay?" Her eyes glittered with concern as she shifted closer.

Sky nodded, a sad jerk of her head. "I'm just thinking about going back home," she lied, faking a bright smile. "I can't wait." Real excitement fizzled in her paws as she thought of the comforting, familiar musty scents of hay and mice.

"You must be homesick," Bluepaw said, her voice half-hearted as she lowered her ears. "When do you want to leave?"

Sky noticed that her friend didn't look particularly happy that she was going home. Maybe she wants to get out of Softear's den, like me. She rose to her paws and gave a long, luxurious stretch, her tail arching above her back. "As soon as possible," she answered and looked at her friend. "Are you coming? I want to see if Darkfeather will escort us to the border."

"Us?" Bluepaw glanced up sharply, her blue eyes flashing with alarm. "What do you mean?"

"Are you not going to come with me to the border so I can go home?" Sky tipped her head to one side as she watched her friend. Was Bluepaw not going to wish her luck on her way home? As her spirits fell, Bluepaw nodded.

"Of course I'm coming with you," she meowed, rising to her paws with her injured forepaw dangling in the air. Sky suspected it still hurt bad enough to not walk on. "I don't think Softear has cleared you for going home yet."