Mistystar’s Omen

Even though we’re still hungry? Mistystar wondered. What will they say when we lose one of our medicine cats at the next full-moon?

“There was one thing I wanted to talk to you about,” Duskfur went on. “I found Curlkit up to her belly in mud yesterday by the stream, and I wondered if we could put up some sort of barrier to keep kits away from the edge of the water. I know it’s inside the boundary of the camp, but I’d hate for there to be an accident with a very small kit.”

Mistystar nodded. “That’s a good point. The recent rain has made that bank very slippery, and I’ve nearly lost my footing there myself. I’ll ask Grasspelt if he can sort something out. He can get the apprentices to help.”

“He’ll be lucky,” grumbled Pouncetail, getting up from outside the elders’ den. “Our bedding was supposed to be changed today, but there’s been no sign of any apprentices.”

Pebblefoot looked up from the shrew that he was chewing unenthusiastically. “Really? I definitely told Rushpaw and Hollowpaw that they had to do it before we did battle practice after sunhigh.”

“Well, you’d better check their hearing,” grunted Pouncetail.

Pebblefoot pushed the remains of the shrew away from him and stood up. “If you haven’t seen them, where are they?” he pondered, looking troubled.

“They could be collecting fresh bedding first,” Mistystar suggested, not wanting the apprentices to get into trouble unnecessarily.

Robinwing crossed the clearing and dropped a bundle of moss on the ground outside the warriors’ den. “I didn’t see them when I was gathering this,” he remarked.

Troutpaw and Mossypaw padded into the camp, dragging a wet, dark-furred creature between them.

“Is that a rat?” squeaked Curlkit. “Gross! There’s no way I’m eating that!”

Duskfur flicked her daughter’s ear with her tail. “Then you’ll have to go hungry,” she snapped. “This isn’t the time to start being fussy.”

Mistystar went to greet the apprentices and their mentors, Graymist and Minnowtail. “Have you seen Hollowpaw and Rushpaw? They were supposed to be clearing out the elders’ den, but no cat has seen them.”

Graymist frowned. “They weren’t on the marshes. Did you see what Troutpaw and Mossypaw caught? That should feed us for a while!”

Troutpaw looked proudly over the spine of the bedraggled corpse. “It took ages to drag it back!” she declared. “My teeth ache now!”

Privately Mistystar shared Curlkit’s feelings about tucking into a rat—that was ShadowClan food, not RiverClan. But she nodded and mewed. “Well done! Now, where else might Hollowpaw and Rushpaw be?”

Mossypaw shrugged. “I don’t know. They were muttering about something last night when I was trying to go to sleep, but I didn’t hear what they were saying.”

Mistystar felt the ground dip beneath her paws. Was she losing control of her entire Clan? No fish, prey scarce on land, a medicine cat who didn’t believe in StarClan, and now half the apprentices gone missing?

Just then, the brambles behind the medicine cats’ den rustled, and Rushpaw and Hollowpaw emerged, looking triumphant and somewhat ruffled. They were each carrying a tuft of moss.

“Where have you been?” demanded Pebblefoot. “The elders’ den should have been cleared out ages ago!”

Hollowpaw dropped his mouthful of moss. “We were collecting fresh bedding!” he protested.

Pouncetail prodded the dusty moss with his paw. “From where? Some other cat’s manky nest?”

“You can use what I’ve collected,” Robinwing meowed. He narrowed his eyes at the apprentices. “I don’t know where you found that, but stick to our usual supplies in future, okay? There’s no point in refilling a den with moss that is going to be uncomfortable, especially for the elders.”

“Whatever,” Rushpaw muttered. “We were just trying to help.”

Mistystar studied the apprentices closely. From the state of their rumpled fur, they looked as if they had traveled a long way in search of bedding for the elders. Exceptional commitment, or had they been looking for something else as well? She felt a flash of fear that they might have been trying to fish on their own. With the lake this full, that was strictly forbidden for younger cats. She’d have to warn Pebblefoot and Reedwhisker to keep an eye on them during future patrols.

The apprentices clawed out Pouncetail’s and Dapplenose’s old bedding and replaced it with Robinwing’s fresh supply. Then they joined their Clanmates at the fresh-kill pile, as the cats divided up the prey. Mistystar noticed that Hollowpaw and Rushpaw only shared a tiny minnow between them. Were they feeling guilty for not pulling their weight properly that morning? She sighed. Whatever they had been up to, she didn’t want any of her Clanmates punishing themselves with further hunger.