Gray Skies - Book One

Chapter Seventeen

The scent of a young shrew reached Nightpaw's nose as she stalked toward the roots of a pine. The mole-like creature was scuffling through the pine needles in search of food. Nightpaw bunched her hind legs beneath her, preparing to spring at the prey. 

Just a couple more seconds... now! 

Nightpaw pushed off of the ground and leapt into the air, reaching out for the shrew with her front legs and extended claws. She landed with her paws on the shrew, killing it quickly before it could let out a shriek. It's warm flesh made her mouth water as Nightpaw proudly held up her catch.

"Good job, Nightpaw." Creekfeather padded over to his apprentice. "Your first catch."

"I still caught a frog before you," Hazelpaw boasted, nudging the slimy creature buried beneath a clump of pine needles.

"Both of you did very well with your first hunt," Brokenpad mewed before the apprentices could quarrel. "I'm impressed."

Creekfeather let out a purr of amusement as he looked at Nightpaw. "If it wasn't for all those hunting tips, you probably would've failed that hunt."

"Whatever," Nightpaw huffed, scooping dirt from the earth so she could bury her shrew. "At least I caught it."

Creekfeather and Brokenpad waited for Nightpaw to finish burying her shrew before moving on. Newleaf was still going well for the Clan. Prey was plentiful, everyone was healthy, and Tigerkit and Cottonkit were closer to becoming apprentices every passing day. Wolfpaw and Riverpaw were just nine moons old, but they'd be warriors in no time.

But Eaglefeather had assigned Wolfpaw and Riverpaw to cleaning out the elders den for a quarter-moon. The quarter-moon after that would be Nightpaw's first Gathering. Except the Clan was worried about Spiderstar's health. According to Vineloop, he'd weakened overnight and the goldenrod hadn't done much to help his wound, putting him at a higher risk of infection.

But the Clan was confident that Eaglefeather was a good stand-in for their wounded leader. He continued assigning the hunting and border patrols, but Nightpaw had heard some warriors discussing about how he was too confident. Eaglefeather started sending the strongest of the ShadowClan warriors on border patrols, and the younger, weaker ones on hunting patrols. Creekfeather highly disagreed with this.

Nightpaw had also noticed that Eaglefeather had started calling himself the substitute leader, and that he was calling Talonswipe his substitute deputy. Willowear had tried speaking out against this, but Eaglefeather had only snapped at him, telling him to be quiet.

I never had a good feeling about that cat, anyway.

Nightpaw stopped walking as Creekfeather raised his tail in a signal to halt. He crouched, staring at the roots of a pine tree where a vole sat, scuffling through the fallen pine needles. Creekfeather made sure that the mouse-like rodent couldn't scent him before he began stalking toward it. With a strong leap, he landed squarely on the vole and killed it with a bite to it's neck.

"Good catch," Nightpaw congratulated her mentor as he buried his prey. The chestnut-brown-and-white tom directed his dark yellow gaze to the sun which placed just before the center of the sky. 

"It's almost sunhigh," he mewed, started to dig his prey back up. "Let's head back. We've had a good hunt."

"But it wasn't a long one," Brokenpad argued. "We could've caught more."

But the senior warrior picked up his vole and led the way back to where Nightpaw and Hazelpaw's catches were buried. The apprentices dug up their catches and carried them back to camp. Nightpaw, Hazelpaw, and Creekfeather dropped their catches in the fresh-kill pile where only a robin remained from yesterday.

Crowbark and Sharpbright were sharing tongues in a sunny patch of grass while Flamepath and Coldmask were telling stories to Tigerkit and Cottonkit. Eaglefeather was speaking to Talonswipe, and Wolfpaw was fishing through the fresh-kill pile in search of something to bring to the elders. Nightpaw beamed as Wolfpaw selected her shrew and trotted off to the elders den.  She'd finally done something good for her Clan like she'd always wanted to.

"Nightpaw, over here!"

Nightpaw swiveled her head around to see Vineloop calling her from the bramble tunnel of her den. Nightpaw sighed and padded over to the medicine cat. Was this about the stupid prophecy? 

"Spiderstar wants to speak with us again," Vineloop whispered, leading the apprentice in her den and over to Spiderstar's nest. 

"About the prophecy?" Nightpaw hissed.

"You guessed it."

Spiderstar was curled up in his nest, his eyes opened but cloudy. His wound was wrapped in cobwebs, and a faint sour scent came from the wound.

"Ugh! What's that smell?" Nightpaw scrunched up her muzzle.

"Be polite, Nightpaw," Vineloop snapped. "Spiderstar's devolved a slight infection, but I don't want anyone to know. I tried covering it up with lavender, but that made it worse."

"Have you tried rosemary or mint? Those cover scents up nicely," Nightpaw suggested.

"I don't want to risk creating a more noticeable stench," Vineloop mewed. "But after you left the den to train yesterday, Spiderstar and I were discussing the prophecy."

"So what do I have to do with it?" Nightpaw growled. 

"We think that you're the 'night' in the prophecy." Vineloop exchanged a silent glance with Spiderstar as Nightpaw thought it over. 

"Night and star will soar above the rest," she mumbled. "If I am the night, what is 'star' referring to? And how would night and star soar? I can't grow wings and fly like a bird! Are you sure night isn't the sky?"

"The night and stars do soar above the rest, but I don't know why the night sky would be in a prophecy from StarClan." The medicine cat scraped a claw through the earth below her. "StarClan's prophecies have only ever included cats from the Clans. There has only been a couple of exceptions."

Nightpaw didn't want to admit she was wrong. "Well, have you figured out what 'eagle's talon' means?"

"It might mean something dangerous is coming to harm the Clan." Vineloop looked at Spiderstar who was blinking his eyes sleepily. "An eagle's talon will tear the Clan apart. Eagle's talons are always dangerous and hurt cats."

Nightpaw flicked her fluffy brown-and-black tail in frustration. "But what does it mean exactly?"

Vineloop shrugged. "We don't know yet."

Nightpaw groaned. "Well, discuss this with Spiderstar. If I'm the night, he'd probably be the star."

"That actually does make sense."

Nightpaw stormed from the den. She didn't want to be caught up in this stupid prophecy nonsense. But the sun wasn't shining anymore when she emerged into the hollow from the den. The clearing was dark, and the moon was shattered overhead. No stars shone from above, and Nightpaw could only see two pairs of golden eyes staring at her from the darkness.

Nightpaw blinked in horror at the fiery golden eyes, only for the darkness to disappear, welcoming to sunlight back into the camp. The only thing she heard was the prophecy booming in her ears.

An eagle's talon will tear the Clan apart. Night and star will soar above the rest to fight the everlasting darkness approaching.