Warriors: Shadows in the Light - Veiled Stars

Chapter Fourteen

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

SHELLPAW | SHADOWCLAN CAMP

"Shellpaw, Tawnythorn told me not to tell any cat, but if it shuts you up, StarClan didn't talk with any of us. Well, Rosepaw claims some StarClan cat spoke to her." Seedpaw rolled her eyes when she mentioned Rosepaw.

"Rosepaw says lots of things." Shellpaw remembered when he met Rosepaw and the she-cat told him stories that were probably lies. Oh, especially about the ones about how her mentor punishes her. Medicine cats were the nicest cats.

You sure about that? Shellpaw's thoughts took over. Tawnythorn sure has a temper.

Okay, not all medicine cats were friendly. Rosepaw's mentor seemed friendly enough though.

"That's interesting." Shellpaw murmured, responding a little late.

Seedpaw narrowed her eyes. "Don't tell a cat what I just said. We don't need Snakestar freaking out."

Shellpaw snorted. "I'd want to see that though."

Seedpaw threatened him one more time before leaving, entering the medicine cat den.

Why is Seedpaw so concerned about StarClan's silence? I'm sure it's nothing. Shellpaw shook his fur out, looking up at the cloudy sky, which was slowly parting to show hints of the sun.

"Shellpaw, are you ready to train today?" Littlewish meowed, padding up. Her eyes were calculating and her words held a certain caution to them.

Shellpaw had cooled off ever since she yelled at him the day before, so he nodded. "Yeah, I am. What are we doing?"

"You're going to demonstrate simple battle moves to Batpaw and Moosepaw."

Shellpaw's tail lashed, excited to show off his expertise in battle moves. "Okay!"

Littlewish whisked her tail, gesturing for him to follow. She trotted out of camp briskly.

"What about the other two apprentices?" Shellpaw tried to remember their names. They had all reminded him last night when they were making their nests (with some trouble).

"Mousepaw and Bearpaw?" Littlewish replied. "Their mentors have other plans for them I guess. Probably hunting."

Shellpaw nodded, falling silent. It was a tad bit scary walking in this forest again. He stared in the direction of SkyClan's border, whiskers quivering.

"Don't think about that," mumbled Littlewish, noticing how he slowed down and pricked his ears. His nostrils also had flared, showing his discomfort.

"It's hard. We're not going near there, right?"

"No. I deliberately made sure we practiced by RiverClan's border. It is tougher to train there, but you'll do fine. Hopefully Batpaw and Moosepaw can work around the marshy terrain." Littlewish replied softly, halting to let Shellpaw catch up.

Shellpaw stayed close to his mentor the rest of the way, eyes darting everywhere. Were... they here?

"Hey! Littlewish, Shellpaw, over here!" Moosepaw's voice jerked him out of his thoughts.

Littlewish turned sharply, waving her tail to Rootflower, a good friend of hers.

"Hi." Shellpaw greeted Moosepaw and Batpaw. The two siblings practically bounced over, tails lashing enthusiastically.

"Are you going to help us learn battle moves?" Batpaw asked, crouching down and pouncing at his sister's tail.

Moosepaw swished her tail away from Batpaw's paw. "And do some awesome tricks?"

Shellpaw purred, delighted they admired and looked up to him. "I am."

"Shellpaw, get over here." Littlewish ordered, gazing at him. "It's time to show off some moves." She twitched her whiskers teasingly.

"What are we going to do?" Shellpaw asked, padding over.

"A simple swipe. Once they've got that down, which shouldn't take long, you and I will show them how to sweep their opponents off of their paws." Littlewish meowed. "Also, thank Rootflower and Darkspots for letting us teach their apprentices."

"Okay." Shellpaw nodded.

"Moosepaw, Batpaw," Darkspots commanding meow made the two new apprentices freeze in the middle of their playfight. "I need you two to pay attention to Littlewish and Shellpaw who kindly took this day to teach you battle moves."

"Okay!" Moosepaw and Batpaw chorused in sync, sitting down with wide eyes trained on Littlewish.

"We're going to practice a paw swipe, claws sheathed. While it sounds easy enough, you want to hit it in the right place. Under or on top of the head is effective. Clawing their tail isn't the best of ideas - I'd say bite the tail if you want to mess with tails." Littlewish paused, shaking her head disapprovingly. "I'm getting ahead of myself. Shellpaw, demonstrate the paw swipe on me."

Shellpaw barely thought about it as he swung his paw upward, hitting Littlewish's chin softly but just hard enough for her head to jerk back a little.

"Now you try it." Rootflower told them.

Shellpaw began purring when Moosepaw clumsily smacked Batpaw on the nose, knowing he'd enjoy the rest of today.

***

When Shellpaw returned to camp with the rest of the group, the camp was quite empty. Volepounce was sitting by the warriors den, chatting with Yarrownose. Shellpaw noticed cobwebs on Volepounce's paw, remembering a few days earlier when he had hurt it.

Did Seedpaw ever tell me what happened? Shellpaw wondered, guessing Volepounce had stepped on a thorn or misjudged a jump.

The elder, Willowfur, was basking in the falling sun's rays, soaking up whatever she could before the sun disappeared. Wrenheart and Alderleaf were talking with each other as well, affection for each other in their eyes. The pair looked up when Moosepaw and Batpaw bounded over, exploding with information that they learned that day.

"Volepounce is doing a lovely job of keeping cats busy." Rootflower murmured, glancing around the desolate camp. "I had my doubts, believe it or not."

"So did I." Littlewish agreed, eyeing the prey pile. "Shellpaw, you can go ahead and eat. Be ready tomorrow."

Shellpaw dipped his head, walking away. The training session had cleared his mind from Maplefern's death, but now that he had no giggles erupting from the younger apprentices when they messed up or praises from Rootflower, his chest felt heavier.

He picked up a lizard, his appetite fading away the more he thought about it.

Maybe if I pay Seedpaw a visit, I'll feel better. With that, Shellpaw walked to the medicine cat den with his lizard.

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this chapter was hard to write. it wasn't challenging or anything, but i just wasn't motivated to write it.

-artemis