Bloodshed

Chapter Fifteen

A few nights later, Shadepaw left the camp. "Where are you going?" Brownfur had asked.

"To get a drink." Shadepaw replied. But that wasn't true. He had just remembered the kittypet he had left in the cave; Sparkle. He had promised to bring her prey, but never done it. He wanted to make sure she hadn't starved.

So he snuck away from camp to the cave where he'd left her. He was somewhat surprised to see her there. "Hey. I'm so sorry that I never came back to help you.."

Her ribs were visible through her tangled fur. "It's fine. I'm working on learning to hunt.." Sparkle's eyes were dull, not bright and beautiful like he'd last seen them.

"Want me to help?"

"Will you?" She purred, "Really?"

"Yes. We can make it into a game!" Shadepaw jumped to his paws. "We can play Clan. It'll teach you the ways to be a warrior cat!"

Sparkle's tail tip twitched. "What is that?"

"I'll show you. We can be ShadeClan, named after me. I'll be the leader, and you can be deputy."

"Okay.."

"So first, I need a leader name. Normally, it would end in star, like Shadestar. But how about we're rogue cats? It would make the game more fun!" Shadepaw spun in a circle excitedly. "So my leader name should be something dangerous, and scary.."

"Something like.. Killer?" Sparkle suggested. "Blood?"

"Blood is good." Shadepaw stopped to think. "What about something with blood in it, like.. Bloodbath."

"What about Bloodshed?" She suggested. Shadepaw nodded.

"That's perfect!" Shadepaw said. "Now you need a rogue name. Sparkle is too.. Kittypet."

"How about just Spark?" Sparkle suggested.

"Sure. Come on, Spark, let me teach you how to hunt!" He bounded out of the cave. Spark followed quickly.

"So, leader, what do we do first?"

"We find prey. Let's go to the river." Shadepaw led them out of the cave and down to the river at the far edge of the island, where it emptied into the ocean. This was far enough away from the GreenClan and MudClan camps.

"It's nighttime, so you don't have to worry about your shadow falling over the water." Shadepaw explained to Spark. "But in the daytime, you do. It'll let the fish know you're there."

"That's hard.." She muttered to herself, then said more loudly: "I can do this!"

Shadepaw leaned over the water. "The key to catching fish is just speed. You spot one, you grab it and throw it out of the water. Then you kill it before it can wriggle back in."

"O-Okay. You go first." Spark said, her tail twitching nervously.

Shadepaw found a fish near the surface. As fast as he could, he darted his paw in the water, caught his claws on the fish, and tugged it out of the water. As it splashed out of the water, he killed it with one bite.

"Wow." Spark breathed, "I don't think I could ever do that."

"Here." Shadepaw nudged the fish towards her, "You need to eat."

"A gift from my leader!" She purred.

"Yes. A welcoming gift." Shadepaw purred back, "You are the first official member of ShadeClan."

"Will there be more?" Spark asked, confusion clear in her voice. "I thought this is just a game."

"Well, it is.." Shadepaw shrugged, "Maybe one day my brother Rainpaw could play along."

"I'd love to meet some of the other Clan cats." Spark agreed. She had already finished her fish.

Shadepaw shuffled his paws. "I should head back to camp now."

"I'll go back to my cave." She said, "Come back tomorrow sometime, Bloodshed. My leader." She licked Shadepaw's torn ear. Shadepaw purred louder at the nickname; Bloodshed.