Thrushpelt's Tale {Warriors AU}

↠ F i v e ↞

Poppydawn Entered the Apprentice's Den, poking her apprentice and the others. They stirred in their sleep as she tried to poke Dapplepaw again.

"Give me a few heartbeats.." she mumbled, curling her fluffy tail around herself.

With a sigh, the she-cat stood in the middle of the den "ShadowClan, attack!" she meowed loudly.

They all were alarmed and surprised.

"There's an attack!" Dapplepaw rose to her paws, her gaze wild as her claws unsheathed and her fur bristling.

"W-wait, what?" Whitepaw's eyes were wide, her tail bushy.

Thrushpaw and Specklepaw hissed as they leaped up, bumping into each other and falling down.

Tawnypaw just yawned quickly as he looked around "H-huh? what?..who are we attacking?"

All eyes were on Dapplepaw's mentor as she chuckled "Everyone get ready, you'll be on a hunting patrol with all your mentors. Be outside, no sleeping again or maybe RiverClan will come." She winked at them and left them in peace.

Some of them glared at her retreating figure then back at the tortoiseshell she-cat who looked embarassed by her mentor's behavior.

"Wow, she really is a great mentor, right guys?" Tawnypaw meowed sarcastically, making the others snicker.

"Okay I admit..she's annoying."

Tawnypaw rolled his eyes "One day, she'll be worse than what you thought she would be."

All of them swiftly groomed their messy pelts before going outside to meet their mentors. The fresh kill pile was as empty as a beech husk just like it has been for the past days. Doestar was still in her den, not appearing at least once to have a usual conversation with the senior warriors or give battle fighting tips to them.

"Glad that you're all awake, you all look excited." Moonflower observed their faint bloodshot red eyes around their pupils.

"More like surprised," Tawnypaw muttered.

Robinwing heard him and chuckled "Not a surprise if Poppydawn did that. One of the annoying things she does." The red furred warrior looked offended.

"Just kidding," the brown she-cat joked. "You know that all of us love you and your actions."

Not all of us.. Thrushpaw, Tawnypaw & Specklepaw looked at each other and nodded, the same silent response must have been in their minds. Whitepaw was quiet as well as Dapplepaw at their silent aggreement.

Sparrowpelt meowed at the mentors, a few warriors following behind him. And one of those cats, made Thrushpelt's spine tingle.

Windflight.

"Any news?" Stormtail asked.

The big dark brown tom nodded "We overheard that Doesar is ill, so Pineheart is gonna have to act like the leader for now. You all have been relocated to hunt at Snakerocks."

"No one has hunted there for a while ever since Doestar had gotten bitten once," Moonflower commented "Its worth a shot to look there."

"Then its settled, we'll hunt there. Thank you for the news also Sparrowfeather." Stormtail nodded before gathering them all, letting the other patrol go first out the fern tunnel.

Thrushpaw just watched his father look like he's daydreaming only to realize they were leaving. He looked at the apprentices, eyes landing on Dapplepaw.

"Where were you all going to hunt?" He asked.

Dapplepaw stood up straight, puffed her chest as her tail curled and she smiled, her eyes closed."Snakerocks, they said no one has been there for a while. And we'll be hunting there even if there are adders."

The older warrior had looked like he stopped listening to her once he got what he wanted in the question. He was looking now at Poppydawn, who looked back at him.

"Hope you catch prey and may StarClan light your path.." He quickly ran off and left, following the patrol.

"You too!" Dapplepaw had opened her eyes exactly when her father dissappeared the tunnel. She gave Thrushpelt a look.

"Told ya, he notices us..he's just busy," she mewed with confidence. By her side, Whitepaw had seen the exchange and now looked like she was having second thoughts about what the trio had said back when they were kits.

Before Tawnypaw could reply back to his sister Stormtail cleared his throat, getting their attention.

"Apprentices, you'll be only hunting the area that is near snakerocks. No one is allowed at teh actual area except mentors, unless you'll be alerting us about something." he meowed, his voice so deep and gruff it seemed like a growl.

Tawnypaw groaned at his mentor's words "Why can't we hunt there like you guys? We were already taught a few battle moves."

"Its because there are adders there that can poison you with just one bite," Smallear snapped, making them flinch because he was the silent one among them and hated loud sounds "A full grown warrior a few seasons ago had just been poisoned when she got bit, she died immediately."

They listened to the warrior who told them a story that they had heard once an elder used to say when the topic was abput adders. There was a she-cat named Frecklewish who got bitten only once by an adder during a patrol near snakerocks. They had no medicine cat back then because he was killed the night before, so she died. They were surprised that Cloudberry was actually a RiverClan cat that volunteered on helping ThunderClan during that time. Pineheart was born shortly after that, and his father Oakstar had decreased the amount of cats going there.

"Why didn't she dodge the adder or run away?" Specklepaw was interested, especially since he said Frecklewish looked like her, minus the tabby stripes and add the actual dark speckles like Thrushpaw's.

"Adders are hard to kill, you need outstanding reflexes or you'd get bitten. They are also fast despite having no legs or paws, so outrunning them can get you bitten or may give you a slim chance on actually getting away. Climbing trees is the only way to guarantee survival." Poppydawn answered easily.

"Wow, you know so much about adders." Dapplepaw looked at her in awe.

"But what caused the adder to come out and notice her? Or maybe yet, why did she not notice the adder coming out a crack?" Whitepaw asked.

"Not sure about that," Smallear admitted "But Sparrowfeather said that Frecklewish must have been fighting something. Her claws were unsheathed and her fur from every part of her body was bushed twice her size. There was no scent of a fox or badger though."

They kept asking questions as they padded to the tunnel to get outside camp. Thrushpelt was silent as he thought about the story.

What if that something that had fought her was actually 'someone'..?