Gray Skies - Book One

Chapter Twenty-one

Vineloop's eyes widened. "Bury him? But we can't! The trees on our land are probably devoured by flames! There's probably smoke everywhere, in camp and at the lake."

Ripplestar sighed. "Vineloop, you have to bury Willowear on our territory." Vineloop opened her jaws in protest, but Ripplestar kept talking. "Not to be disrespectful, but no one would like to the scent of or to see a corpse laying around our camp."

"But Willowear can't be buried here!" Vineloop cried out. "He was ShadowClan!"

Nightpaw looked behind Vineloop to see Talonswipe and Eaglefeather coming to stand at her sides. Eaglefeather let out a raspy purr. "Vineloop, Willowear was ShadowClan, but how would he feel to be buried on the land he died on, underneath the trees that killed him? How would he like to be buried on smoke covered land?"

Nightpaw narrowed her eyes as Vineloop responded. "It's an honor to be buried on the land you died on. But..." the ShadowClan medicine cat met Ripplestar's impatient gaze with grief. "I suppose we will have to bury him on your land, if you're okay with that."

Ripplestar nodded. "Very well. Moonfrost, Pigeonstreak, and Duckshade, help Vineloop's cats find a spot to bury their Clanmate." Nightpaw studied the three cats who stepped forward. Moonfrost was a huge orange tom, Pigeonstreak was a plain gray tom,and Duckshade was a large, scrawny white she-cat with yellow eyes.

Vineloop turned to her Clan grouped behind her and spotted out the elders. "Flamepath, Coldmask, and Loudfern, are you three up to burying Willowear?"

"Like we wouldn't be!" Loudfern scoffed, the old, long-furred russet-and-white cat's yellow eyes gleamed. 

"I suspect we'll have to bury Spiderstar soon as well," Flamepath grunted, hoisting Willowear onto Loudfern and Coldmask's shoulders. "That old snoozer's have his finally rest soon enough."

Nightpaw tensed at the elder's comment. Was Spiderstar really that unwell? Hopefully Vineloop would be able to cure him. The elders and the three RiverClan cats walked out of camp, murmurs of the ShadowClan cats praying to StarClan and last goodbyes following them out of the camp. 

"Hey!"

Nightpaw turned around to see a small russet tabby tom with a white belly and legs bounding up behind her. "You're ShadowClan, right?"

Nightpaw nodded silently. This cat already seemed to be the type of apprentice that was young, energetic, and annoying. 

"Well, I'm a RiverClan apprentice!" The small russet tabby purred, unsheathing his claws and digging them into the ground. "I'm Lizardpaw! My mentor is Tanglefrost, and my littermates are Meadowpaw and Snakepaw!"

"That's nice," Nightpaw muttered. "How old are you?"

"Ten moons old!"

Nightpaw sighed. She certainly felt bad for Tanglefrost, having to deal with fuzzbrain of a cat as her apprentice. 

"You have littermates, right?" Lizardpaw mewed, acting like a day-old kit.

"Hazelpaw is my sister," Nightpaw growled. "And if you don't calm down, I'll rip your ears to shreds."

Lizardpaw flopped on the ground, his eyes huge and playful. "Thistlehawk will give me tansy everyday to calm me down, but he just says I'm naturally energetic."

"I didn't ask if you took medicine," Nightpaw snapped. "Why not go off and play with Meadowpaw and Snakepaw?"

"How old are you?" Lizardpaw purred, jumping back up on his four paws.

"Why do you need to know?"

"Because I want to know if you've gone to a Gathering yet!"

"Well, I'm only six moons old, but you're two days old by the looks of it." Nightpaw looked over his small build and sleek fur.

Lizardpaw purred up his chest. "Well, my mom said that I'm going to- ant!" The apprentice's gaze flitted to a small black any crawling in front of his paws. He crouched down and pawed at the ant, squashing it under his white paw. His small white legs and underbelly brushed the muddy dirt below them, making Nightpaw gag as mud spread along his fur.

"Do you swim?" he asked, rolling onto his back to reveal his fluffy white belly fur. Nightpaw knew this tom wouldn't make a good warrior in battle.

"Swimming? No!" Nightpaw shuddered at the thought of cold water seeping through her fur. She'd already had enough of that today! 

"What about fish? Do you eat fish?" 

"ShadowClan sometimes catches small fish in the stream at the ThunderClan border if we really have to," Nightpaw muttered. She'd never eaten one of those fish, which she heard were called minnows, but she hoped she never had to.

"Then how do you survive?" Lizardpaw leapt back to his paws. Nightpaw guessed that he'd gotten into Thistlehawk's medicine supply and eaten all the catmint.

"By eating shrews, voles, frogs, toads, and birds like any other normal cat."

"But don't normal cats eat fish?"

"Weird, ill cats eat fish."

"But didn't you say that your Clan eats fish?"

"Only when it's necessary." Nightpaw was getting fed up with this energetic tom. How did RiverClan put up with him? Her heart ached for the pine forest of ShadowClan and the peaceful apprentice's den where she could avoid cats like these.

"Aren't ShadowClan cats mean?"

Now Nightpaw was growling. She knew what the other Clans said about her birth Clan. The rumors were that the cold winds and shadows chilled their hearts, and that they got no sleep at night because they hunted best in darkness, causing them to be grumpy all the time. They also said that ShadowClan was always battle hungry and blood thirsty. 

Sure, we're sarcastic and rude, but that's mainly to other Clans. No one really sees the true ShadowClan except for ShadowClan. Nightpaw looked back at Lizardpaw who was spinning in circles in an attempt to catch his tail. I'm just glad this mouse-brain isn't in my Clan.

"Nightpaw? Nightpaw?" Crouchbeam's voice called out to her daughter from the crowd of RiverClan and ShadowClan cats. The camp was too small to hold two full Clans, but they were making it work. Somehow.

"Over here," Nightpaw called to her mother, glad to get away from Lizardpaw. She wove through fishy RiverClan cats to meet her mother by RiverClan's fresh-kill pile.

"I couldn't see you when we were escaping our camp!" Crouchbeam touched noses with her daughter. "I thought I'd lost you!"

Nightpaw just breathed in her mother's comforting scent. There was a hint of fish on her, dissatisfying Nightpaw.

Crouchbeam nuzzled Nightpaw's cheek. "But I knew Eaglefeather wouldn't leave anyone behind."

But he gladly left Willowear for the dead, Nightpaw hissed to herself. Now that she said it to herself again, the thought haunted her mind. What if Eaglefeather was out to kill? What if that was how Blackivy and Briarspots died in battle? What if that was how Spiderstar was so badly wounded?

But one particular question stood out to Nightpaw.

What if Eaglefeather is the eagle's talon?