Warriors: Mistybreeze's Choice (SOB Short Story)

Chapter 7

The sun was setting over the forest, the branches of the pine trees shivering against a cool breeze. Mistybreeze sat beside Revengeheart, watching as Foxshadow dealt the killing bite to a frog.

"Nice catch!" Mottledface purred across from them, his tail swishing over pine needles. Not far from the brown warrior, Amberpaw stared at him in awe.

"Wow!" She exclaimed. "That's the biggest frog I've ever seen!"

Foxshadow's eyes gleamed. "Not bad, eh?" He bent to grab his catch, then padded over to her and dropped the frog at her paws. "You'll need energy. After sundown you'll do some battle training."

Unease twisted Mistybreeze's belly as she watched Amberpaw crouch and eagerly rip a chunk of flesh from the frog. The warrior code says that the elders must be fed first... It had been a couple days since she'd earned her warrior name, and Poisonedsap's kits had been apprenticed. Though Revengeheart, Mottledface, and Blackstorm spent most of the day training their new apprentices, they allowed Mistybreeze to join them.

But the way her friends trained their apprentices seemed... Wrong. They allowed their apprentices to eat what they caught, and focused on battle training. They knew little to nothing about the warrior code. Mistybreeze knew nothing about being a mentor, but remembered how she and Coldpebble had been trained by Stripednose and Song.

What would they say if they saw this? She wondered as Amberpaw raised her head and licked frog blood from her lips. What would Depthstar say if he saw this?

"Revengeheart." Mottledface stepped toward the black legged tom, breaking Mistybreeze out of her thoughts. "How about we take Spiderpaw and Falconpaw to the training clearing and see how they do?"

The apprentices flexed their claws and exchanged an excited look. Revengeheart hesitated. "You can take them. I'll join you later." He turned to Mistybreeze, an unreadable gleam in his eyes. "There's something I need to do first."

Mistybreeze's fur prickled in surprise. "Hmm?"

"Would you like to go for a walk with me?" Revengeheart asked in an unusually soft tone. "I want to talk to you about something."

The way he spoke troubled her. This isn't like him... Is something wrong? Her stomach began to churn with worry. "O-okay."

"Perfect." Revengeheart brushed past her, waving his tail briefly to the others. Mistybreeze watched thoughtfully as he paused between two pines, looking over his shoulder at her. The glow of sunset bathed his white fur in gold and reflected in his glittering amber eyes. "Are you coming?"

Mistybreeze stared admiringly as he stood so majestically in the sunlight. He's really a great cat. She padded forward to join him, and he continued onward.

She and Revengeheart walked side by side through the forest. Neither said a word as they moved through the trees, their shadows casting over them like massive stripes. The silence was broken occasionally by the chirping of a bird. Mistybreeze looked at her companion curiously. What's wrong? What does he want to talk about that the others can't hear?

She was about to voice her concern when Revengeheart paused in a small clearing and turned to her. "You know, Mistybreeze, you're a very special cat to me." He spoke quietly and softly.

Mistybreeze met his gaze, her heart skipping a beat. Never before had she heard him speak so softly. So humbly. What he had to say was not about himself. It was about her. "I-I am?" She was so taken back her voice came out as a squeak, and she flattened her ears in embarrassment.

"Of course." His eyes gleamed. "You're clever, kind, great at hunting. You're the only cat who really knows me." He hesitated and shuffled his paws. "And that's why I have something important to ask you..."