Chapter 16
"Tigerpaw from this moment on, you shall be known as Tigerlily. Starclan honors your spirit and compassion as we welcome you as a full warrior of Windclan!" Hawkstar finished, looking down at the new warrior. Tigerlily had a wide smile on her face. Sparrowflight raised his muzzle to chant "Tigerlily! Tigerlily!" Tigerlily flashed Sparrowflight a warm smile before trotting over. "Thank you Sparrowflight. You trained me well." Sparrowflight tilted his head "I barely trained you for a moon. Shouldn't you be thanking Blazefire?" Tigerlily smiled mischievously and leaned in to whisper "Don't tell Blazefire, but I liked you a lot better." Sparrowflight couldn't help but let out a chuckle. Icesplash dashed over to her daughter and nuzzled her affectionately as if she was still a kit "You're finally a warrior!" She purred "All grown up. And Tigerlily is a beautiful name." Tigerlily smiled and squirmed away from her mother "Mom stop it!" She laughed. Icesplash smiled "I'm just so proud of you." She then looked up at the sky "I just wish Antfoot and Gingerpaw could be here too." Icesplash sighed. It looked like the queen would turn sad with grief before Falconkit came bounding out of the nursery. "I wanna be a warrior too Mama!" He squeaked. Icesplash smiled and shook her head "Falconkit you're not old enough to be a warrior." She chuckled. Falconkit frowned "So? I can fight like a warrior!" The kit then leaped onto his mother, clinging onto her side with his tiny claws. Icesplash smiled and let out a dramatic wail "Oh no, you've got me!" She then fell to the ground "Falconstar is too strong for me!" Falconkit smiled and jumped off of his mother and onto the ground. "See? I told you!" The kit boasted, puffing out his chest. Sparrowflight chuckled and padded away, leaving Tigerlily to talk with her family.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sparrowflight waited by the border at his regular meeting spot with Blissnose. He heard rustling and pricked his ears towards a bush. Sparrowflight creeped towards the bush when Blissnose suddenly leaped out, tackling him to the ground. The pretty white she cat laughed "I got you." She purred, touching noses with him. Sparrowflight smiled "You didn't surprise me though. I knew you were in there. Your white pelt always gives you away!" Blissnose let out a mock growl "You mouse-heart!" She hissed playfully, batting at his chest before the two began rolling around in the grass, playing like kits in the nursery. Once Blissnose managed to pin Sparrowflight, she placed her head on his muscular chest and purred softly. Sparrowflight smiled and licked the top of her head. "I love you Sparrowflight." Blissnose whispered. Sparrowflight's smile widened "I love you too." He purred. They both laid there, with their brown tabby and snowy white pelts mingling, along with the scents of their separate Clans as they gazed up at the stars.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Sparrowflight!" Sparrowflight blinked his eyes open to see Blissnose standing over him. He looked around and realized he was still on the border. They'd fallen asleep! Sparrowflight shook his head and got up quickly "It's morning! The dawn patrol will be here soon!" He fretted. Blissnose frowned "We should probably get going." Sparrowflight nodded and quickly touched noses with her "I'll see you tomorrow." He whispered before pulling away and turning to run back towards Windclan territory.
Sparrowflight raced through the moor to try and make it back to camp before running into the dawn patrol. He took long strides through the moor, feeling the dew soak his pads. He felt the wind ruffle his fur, reminding him of how he used to hate running on the moor. Now, it had become natural, and he enjoyed it. Sparrowflight burst through the camp entrance, with his flanks heaving. The cats on the dawn patrol turned to stare at him. "Where were you?" Batfeather asked him. Sparrowflight was lost for an answer. "I, uh.." he trailed off and glanced around. He pricked his ears to a ruffling noise and saw Lilystem emerge from the dirt place. "I had to make dirt." Sparrowflight told them. At least his excuse was reasonable, he thought. Batfeather glanced at Lilystem before shooting a hard glance at Sparrowflight. He felt trapped in his sister's gaze. Did she know? But Batfeather then shrugged "Alright. Would you like to join our patrol?" She asked "I'm leading it." She added with a hint of pride. Sparrowflight nodded and followed the group out of camp.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Once the patrol made it back to camp, Sparrowflight looked around and his eyes fell on Tigerlily. She hadn't noticed him and was sharing prey with Badgerstep. Sparrowflight narrowed his eyes suspiciously. Why was Badgerstep suddenly hanging out with Tigerlily? Sparrowflight shook his head. And why did he feel jealous? Sparrowflight turned to walk away before Tigerlily noticed him and stood up "Sparrowflight!" She called to him with a smile. Sparrowflight turned to look at her "What is it?" He asked "I thought we could go hunting." A small smile formed on Sparrowflight's face "Sure." The two of them turned to walk out of camp side by side.
Once they made it out into the territory, Sparrowflight gave her a teasing look "So, Badgerstep huh?" Tigerlily flattened her ears "What? I'm a warrior. I can share prey with who I want." Sparrowflight chuckled and raised his tail "I never said you couldn't." Tigerlily turned to look at him "He was just being nice." Sparrowflight rolled his eyes jokingly "Yeah, nice." But by the time Sparrowflight had finished speaking, Tigerlily had dashed off into a clump of heather. Sparrowflight tilted his head, but perked up when he saw her re-emerge with a shrew in her jaws. "Come on, I thought we were going hunting!" She giggled through her prey.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The both of them came back into camp after a day of hunting. Sparrowflight had successfully caught two rabbits and a grouse while Tigerlily caught a rabbit and another shrew along with the one she caught earlier. When Sparrowflight looked around the camp, he could tell something wasn't right. Sparkstorm dashed out from her den and towards Hawkstar's when Sparrowflight intercepted her "What's going on?" He asked, tilting her head. Sparkstorm huffed in annoyance "After the battle, Hawkstar came to check on the cats and Sunpelt got him sick!" Sparrowflight's eyes widened "I thought the sickness was dying off?" Sparkstorm shook her head "It is, but Hawkstar is still weak from the battle. He's not as strong as before." She then flashed Sparrowflight a glare "Now get out of my way!" She hissed, barging past him and towards the leader's den. Sparrowflight sat there, questions racing through his head. What would they do without their leader?
Bạn đang đọc truyện trên: Truyen4U.Com