Warrior Cats: The Legacy #1 - The Silver Moon

Chapter 16: Skyshine

Cherrypaw stalked the red squirrel carefully, padding softly on the lush grass, nearly ready to pounce at it and sink her claws into it's soft flesh. After a moment of hesitation, she pounced, grabbing the squirrel in her jaws, blood pulsed from the small creature. Cherrypaw placed it on the ground and covered it with some dirt. There, She thought to herself, before trotting away to find some more prey. She hadn't been assigned to a hunting patrol, but Lakefrost had asked her to come with him to hunt. She looked around for him now, wondering where he could be, when suddenly, Honeypelt burst out from behind a few bushes, her fur bristling, her eyes wide.

"Cherrypaw!" she panted. "Skyshine's giving birth! But it's not going so well! Bring fresh-kill!"

Cherrypaw stared after her as she ran off into the distance, her heart beat quickened. Cherrypaw quickly dug up her squirrel and pelted after her, heading for camp.

As she arrived at the entrance, she saw Marshpaw and Gorsecloud at the entrance to the nursery. Just as she was padding up to them to see what was going on, she heard a screech from inside the den and both cats ran into the den. A small crowd was now gathering, a fox length away from the nursery, Swiftpetal was among them, looking worriedly at the den. Cherrypaw dropped her prey, and sped past them and into the nursery.

She saw Skyshine and four kits, two of the kits lay still alive in Skyshine's nest. Skyshine was completely still, Mintleaf was urgently pressing leaves and pouring juices into her mouth, while Lynxfur was making poultices and organising herbs, handing them to Mintleaf when she needed them. Gorsecloud waited by Skyshine's side, grooming her anxiously. Marshpaw was sitting near her, a tear rolling down her cheek. Cherrypaw sat and stared at the whole scene, confusion and fear making their way into her thoughts.

Cherrypaw gazed at both of them, grief didn't overwhelm her, simply shock. Mintleaf gazed at both cats sadly and sat down, there was nothing she could do for them now. Cherrypaw spotted a tear running down Lynxfur's cheek as she gazed long and hard at Skyshine. Marshpaw rubbed her eyes as tears started to form. Cherrypaw stared at the cats, with no emotion, she felt surprised and upset at what had happened, but she stayed quiet and let her face give away nothing about how she was feeling.

Marshpaw glared at her.

"My mentor is dying! Don't you even care about your Clanmates lives, or is that too much to ask of you?" hissed Marshpaw, just enough for Cherrypaw to hear.

Marshpaw trotted out of the den angrily. Cherrypaw thought about what her sister had said to her, before following her out. Marshpaw was beside the fresh-kill pile, but she got up immediately when she saw Cherrypaw staring down at her.

"Listen, mouse-brain-" Marshpaw stopped mid-way between her sentence, she looked at Cherrypaw long and hard before mewing- "We need to talk."

Marshpaw ran out of camp, not even looking back once to check if Cherrypaw was following her. Cherrypaw sped after her, letting her take the lead by a tail length. Suddenly, Marshpaw stopped, in the middle of WindClan territory

"Cherrypaw, did you kill Flamestar?" asked Marshpaw, her voice filled with grief for the old WindClan leader.

Cherrypaw's heart thudded under her chest, how does she know! 

"I know you did," mewed Marshpaw, slightly angry. "That look in your eye, as if you don't care, as if their just a piece of prey, that you can play around with for a bit, before killing them."

Cherrypaw stared at her with no emotion in her eyes, she relished the slight fear scent coming off of Marshpaw.

"You killed Flamestar easily, you don't care about your Clanmates either, you just play with their emotions, because you know, you know that you can kill them with one claw!"

"Well I'm not going to get fooled!" hissed Marshpaw, unsheathing her claws.

Cherrypaw held Marshpaw's gaze a moment longer before dropping it.

"Listen Marshpaw, your right, I did kill Flamestar, but I care about you, I care about my clanmates, I would never kill you, killing Flamestar was a mistake," Cherrypaw mewed, slightly sad.

"Why did you kill Flamestar?" pressed Marshpaw, sheathing her claws.

"And why is it any of your business?" hissed Cherrypaw.

Cherrypaw's reaction seemed to have surprised Marshpaw.

"Look, I'm sorry you felt like that," continued Cherrypaw. "But I don't go around getting jealous at my sister because she's better at fighting than me!" 

"That was ages ago!" growled Marshpaw. "I thought we forgave each other!"

"Well you haven't seemed to have forgiven me," growled Cherrypaw.

"Listen, Cherrypaw, I'm truly sorry about what happened, and for all the stuff I said, and I forgive you fully for killing Flamestar," sighed Marshpaw, looking down at the ground.

"I'm sorry too," mewed Cherrypaw, staring at the ground.

"Lets go back to camp," meowed Marshpaw, leading the way.

*****

Finally, both she-cats were back in camp, Archstar was on top of the high ledge, he had clearly just called a Clan meeting. Marshpaw and Cherrypaw sat side by side, looking up at the leader.

"Sadly, Skyshine has passed on, she has gone to hunt with StarClan, we have four new kits, two have sadly joined their mother in StarClan," mewed Archstar, his voice filled with grief. "The other two are called Featherkit and Reedkit, but we need a she-cat to volunteer to feed them."

"I will volunteer," mewed Swiftpetal, standing up.

"Thank you, Swiftpetal, Mintleaf will feed you some herbs, so you can produce milk to feed Featherkit and Reedkit," mewed Archstar.

Swiftpetal nodded and sat back down.

"We will grief for Skyshine, but Marshpaw, you will need a new mentor," mewed Archstar. "Therefore, Honeypelt, you will mentor Marshpaw."

Honeypelt looked surprised, but stood up happily and touched noses with her new apprentice.

"Cherrypaw, you too will have to have a new mentor, since Swiftpetal is volunteering to feed Featherkit and Reedkit," continued Archstar. "So your new mentor will be, Petalwing."

Cherrypaw stood up and touched noses with Petalwing, before sitting back down, next to Marshpaw. Archstar jumped off of the high ledge, and the gathered cats split up. Cherrypaw watched as Marshpaw stood up and sat next to Skyshine's dead body, along with Gorsecloud, Swiftpetal and Softstep. Cherrypaw wandered over to the fresh-kill pile, where there were a few leftovers. She took a small mouse in her jaws and crouched near the apprentice den to eat it. After her meal, she stood up and wandered over to the apprentice den, her mind full. She was thinking about Skyshine and Swiftpetal, she knew Swiftpetal would never be her mentor again, she was too close to becoming a warrior. Cherrypaw had barely ever even went on a patrol with Petalwing, never mind talk to her, it was going to be a struggle for Cherrypaw to get used to the cat. Cherrypaw was also thinking about her dream she had had. It had mentioned her and her sister being special or something like that...?

Cherrypaw shook her head and tried to clear the thoughts from her mind, she curled up in a ball and desperately tried to get some sleep, but she knew she would be up most of the night thinking, not only about the dream and her new mentor, but also the thought that.. maybe.. maybe Marshpaw saw her as a sort of monster, for killing Flamestar.