The Dawn of Night | A Warriors Fanfiction ✔

Chapter 12

Sunpaw's whiskers twitched as she plodded through the frosty ground, the even chillier breeze ruffling her fur. She hadn't managed to catch anything that frigid sunup except for a tiny shrew. Hunger tore at her stomach. She considered burying it and then coming back for it to bring it to camp.

She dug a small hole in the ground at the root of a tree and dropped the shrew, then covered it with dirt. It was hard to dig in the frosty ground. She scraped with her claws until finally her prey was mostly covered with dirt. Her stomach growled.

"Sunpaw! Find anything?"

It was Falconwing. In front of him he had a small hare.

"Hardly," mewed Sunpaw. "I'm starving..."

Falconwing nodded, picked up his hare, and trotted away. Sunpaw's ears pricked up as she listened intently for a sound - the sound of prey. But nothing came. She smelled nothing except for the stale scent of the long-gone dawn patrol.

About a tree-length away she spotted a silver shape. It was Moonpaw. She looked tired and worn.

"Have you managed to catch anything?" Moonpaw meowed, seeing her coming. "I haven't except for a blackbird I buried back there." She nodded toward a mound of dirt.

"Just a shrew."

Moonpaw nodded. "Leaf-bare's finally setting in. I hope it doesn't get much worse. Snow will fall soon. The prey become thinner. Oh, how I wish I could eat another fat squirrel, like I did yesterday!" She smiled weakly, looking up at Sunpaw. "I hope you fare better than I - hunting-wise, of course."

Sunpaw licked her sister's ear and padded away. Through the half-frozen moss she caught a whiff of something. Ears pricked, she carefully walked through the dirt. It seemed to be coming from the ground. She had gone hunting with Stormfoot until near-sunhigh and had not eaten all day. It would soon be mealtime.

Soon the scent became strong enough to identify - rabbit. Sunpaw's mouth watered. She licked her lips hungrily, hunger clawing the inside of her belly furiously as if trying to escape.

Sunpaw followed the smell to a bush. Digging inside, she found a burrow. She drank in the scent - there were two young rabbits inside. Food. But once the elders, queens, and kits had eaten, surely there wouldn't be enough for her to have her fill.

Do not dare eat it, mewed a small voice inside her head. The Clan must be fed first.

Perhaps, though, if she did choose to eat it, then she would be strong enough to hunt for the Clan and be even more helpful... No one would ever have to know...

The young rabbits stared up at her with pitiful eyes. Sunpaw was ravenous. They could not go anywhere with her standing there over the burrow. They were practically asking to be eaten.

Sunpaw's hunger got the best of her. She gave them each a swift bite to the neck and gulped them both down. A sudden warmth filled her. She licked her lips. Then she could still bring back the shrew and not come back empty-pawed, she thought. She turned around and ran to the spot where she had buried it and picked it up.

Sunpaw dropped the shrew on the fresh-kill pile, not grabbing anything for herself.

She started to pad over to the apprentices' den when she came across Stormshadow.

"Sunpaw, are you hungry? There isn't much fresh-kill, but you may help yourself."

"No need," said Sunpaw, a little too quickly.

Stormshadow looked at her, ears pricked. Then he looked shocked.

"Sunpaw! Have you eaten already? You smell of rabbit!"

Sunpaw flattened her ears. "I-"

Stormshadow closed his eyes. "Follow me, Sunpaw," he mewed.

With horror she realized where the deputy was taking her. Maplestar's den lay inside the Highrock, and Stormshadow was leading her right to it. Stormshadow pushed through the ivy covering the entrance to the den, where Maplestar was, sitting in the corner by her nest, eyes closed.

She opened them when she heard the deputy coming. Her tail flicked.

"What is it, Stormshadow?" her bell-like voice mewed.

"Sunpaw has broken the warrior code," Stormshadow sighed with a sort of forced calmness, the slightest trace of a growl rising in his throat. "I caught the scent of rabbit on her as she entered camp."

Maplestar's eyes widened and she rested them on the apprentice.

"Sunpaw, is this true?"

Sunpaw flattened her ears again and stared at her front paws. "It is," she said quietly. "I was so hungry. I figured if I ate, then-"

"Enough," hissed Stormshadow. "We have no time for petty excuses."

"There is no need to be so harsh, Stormshadow," Maplestar meowed calmly. "She is an apprentice. However, she indeed must be punished."

Sunpaw's blood ran cold.

"You will take care of their elders for a quarter-moon," said Maplestar, "And you will not go to the next Gathering."

Sunpaw did not look up. "What do I do for the elders, Maplestar?" she said softly.

"You will search their pelts for ticks, hunt for them, and clear away their dirt," Maplestar ordered.

Sunpaw's jaw dropped.

"Clear their dirt?" Sunpaw mewed in protest, glancing up. "You can't possibly expect me to-"

"You have broken the warrior code," Maplestar said firmly. "You will do as I say."

Sunpaw closed her eyes. "Yes, Maplestar," she sighed.

The Clan leader's tail flicked. "You may go," she said. "I must speak to Stormshadow. Go tell Emberfur what I have said."

Sunpaw sighed and left Maplestar's den.

Emberfur was in her den, chewing up a poultice. Seeing Sunpaw coming, she spit it out and looked up.

"What do you need?" she asked.

"I - I was put in charge of the elders," Sunpaw replied shamefully. She wished Emberfur would not have to hear that.

"Very well," Emberfur acknowledged. She went over to one of her leaf-wraps and pulled out another wrap full of some yellow liquid.

"Don't get this in your mouth," Emberfur mewed, wincing as she placed it in front of Sunpaw. "It's mouse bile. Put these on the ticks and they'll drop right off."

"Thanks," Sunpaw awkwardly, and walked away with it.

Sunpaw marched over to the elder's den. Littlestripe, Windpelt, and Buttonweasel stood talking together. Buttonweasel must have been the oldest, and was definitely the strangest cat Sunpaw had ever seen. He was scraggly and brown with a very pointy nose, and his eyes pointed away from each other.

"Well, well. An apprentice," Windpelt observed wisely, her roan-colored fur bristling. "Maplestar sent you, did she?"

Sunpaw nodded.

"Oh good," said Buttonweasel. "I think I have some ticks I need taken care of..." He tilted his head backward to lick his pelt.

Sunpaw winced. "Sure," she said. She went over to Buttonweasel, who lay down so Sunpaw could clear his ticks. She placed her paws on his back and spread his fur apart at the roots.

"Back in my day," said Buttonweasel with a slight cackle, "The worst of the apprentices had to eat the ticks. I always say, Maplestar is too soft on you apprentices nowadays..."

Sunpaw wasn't sure how to respond as she dripped some mouse bile on the small insect and popped it between her teeth.

She searched Buttonweasel for some more and then decided she was finished. The other elders did not feel the need to ask, luckily, and were settling down for the evening.