Warriors: The Trail of Centuries

Chapter 28

     Spottedpath sat close to Nightstream at the edges of the camp. An overhanging root provided shade from the cold evening sun, and though it chilled Spottedpath to the bone, it was the only shelter they had from curious eyes and judgemental glares. Mouseberry sat a few mouse-lengths away from Spottedpath, his ears perked curiously as he listened to the chatting mollies.

     At first, Spottedpath had been certain that Harestar would have Nightstream imprisoned instead of accepting her help—the NightClan leader was furious, and rightfully so. All of the Clan cats harbored justified anger toward the Gorge cats, but Spottedpath knew that Nightstream's words were genuine. She'd stepped forward and vouched for her, and when she did so, Fishstar eased up and convinced Harestar to accept Nighstream's offer.

     "I've never been the target of so many glares," Nightstream whispered, shifting awkwardly in the shade of the oak tree. "They look so . . . I don't know, accusing. Like I've done something wrong." 

     "That's an automatic perk of being from the Gorge," Spottedpath responded sarcastically, though feelings of empathy for the pretty she-cat rose inside her chest. It's hard, knowing you've done nothing wrong but being faulted for what happened, she thought, remembering how poorly the cats of BlazeClan treated her at first. "They'll learn to trust you with time, don't worry."

     "What about him?" Nightstream nodded toward the curious Mouseberry. "You're one of the only ones who hasn't given me the same withering look as everyone else."

     Mouseberry twitched his whiskers and shrugged nonchalantly. "Hey, if Spottedpath trusts you, then I trust you."

     Spottedpath blinked gratefully at Mouseberry, relieved that he hadn't said anything to make Nightstream more uncomfortable than she already seemed. She turned her gaze back to her friend, starting to grow a bit interested in what had happened since they last spoke. After a moment of hesitation, Spottedpath decided to get her own curiosity off of her chest.

     "So, you and your siblings earned your warrior ceremonies?" she murmured softly, watching Nightstream's expression closely. The grey molly cringed a bit at the question, but it was so slight that Spottedpath wondered if she had even truly seen it.

     "After the, er . . . raids on SwiftClan and BlazeClan, Deadeye granted us our names," Nightstream mewed, her eyes glittering guiltily. "He said we earned it by stealing the kits—but Rabbitflight and I didn't even steal them. We were going to say the queen was too strong for us, but Greyheart showed up and finished the job for us. Pearlstep seemed really proud of it, though."

     "Of course she did," Spottedpath muttered sourly. "She and Dustleap threatened to kill the kits if I tried to stop them. Can you even imagine?" 

     Nightstream shook her head sadly, letting out a soft sigh. "They're both so cruel. I knew that when Riverdash didn't come back, Dustleap had to have killed him. I saw him follow Riverdash, and I was going to follow him, but Pearlstep stopped me and I didn't want her to know about it." Her tone carried a hint of guilt on it, and Spottedpath frowned a bit.

     "Nightstream, about that . . . ." Spottedpath reached a paw out to her friend. She needs to know about Pearlstep and Brownpaw, she decided.

     "Spottedpath, I was so scared that he had hurt you, too," Nightstream interrupted her, leaning forward and inspecting the fresh scars on Spottedpath's face. Spottedpath twitched her whiskers, surprised at the sudden lack of distance between them.

     "Well, I'm okay now, right?" she murmured sheepishly. "A-Anyways, Pearlstep already knew—she must have eavesdropped on your conversation with Riverdash, because she's the one who told Dustleap. She's also the one who told Deadeye about—" Spottedpath reminded herself of Mouseberry's presence and lowered her voice "—my dreams."