Chapter 7: Riverpaw

          Riverpaw flew across the territory with Hawkpaw in his heels. Then a scent hit him.
"Fox!" Hawkpaw growled, and they skidded to a halt in a clearing.

 Under the stench of fox, there was the scent of freshly spilled blood. Leafpaw was standing over a small hunched shape. "What happened?" Riverpaw asked. Leafpaw just continued staring. After a second a shudder passed through  Hawkpaw.

"Ahhh. No.No.NO!" he said. He must've read leafpaw's mind. Riverpaw thought. Slowly Hawkpaw nodded.
"What' happened!?!" he repeated, and Leafpaw spoke.

"I-I followed her for a while, to this clearing. A fo-ox waas standing over her, and I drove it off. But she's... she's......"  Leafpaw said, but couldn't go on because she started sobbing. Riverpaw looked at the ground, tears spilling out of her eyes.

"She's dead." Hawkpaw finished softly. "No! She can't be! I saw her future! I was there in her past. She's a cat of the prophecy! She was going to do so much!" Riverpaw said, pressing his nose into her fur. Hawkpaw laid his tail on the medicine cat apprentice's shoulder.

"Let's bring her body back to camp." he murmured.

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Two sunrises later.


Riverpaw found some burdock root, digging it up and putting it in the pile with the rest of them. This was his first time Firestream let him look for herbs by himself, but he wasn't even thinking about it. He was still sad about Bumblepaw. She died too soon.

I wish I could've somehow stopped it from happening. he thought sadly. But there was nothing I could do. He dug his claws into the grass, tearing it up in frustration. Maybe she wasn't meant to be in the prophecy after all... Riverpaw shook his head, realizing that he had walked to the thunderpath. But why did he walk here, out of all places?

He was about to turn around from it, his nose wrinkling in disgust, then he spotted a shape on on the thunderpath. Must've been a squirrel. Poor thing. Then he peered closer. It was a kit! And right on que, a monster charged across. Riverpaw suddenly bolted on, and scooped up the kit. The monster screeched,  , and swerved away from them at the last second, but Riverpaw's heart was beating fast, and he quickly darted back to the forest and ran until he couldn't, and dropped the kit, panting.

It was a tiny she-cat, a tortoiseshell, and she was barely breathing. Her hind leg was glistening with blood from a deep wound, but not broken. He quickly found the nearest patch of marigold and after a few heartbeats he had a poultice and was smearing it on her wound.

"Your gonna be alright. It's gonna be okay." he soothed her, and soon her eyes fluttered open.

"Who...who are you?" she asked slowly. "I'm Riverpaw. What's your name?" he asked.

"Oh, it's Bumble." she said, before falling asleep, and Riverpaw started carrying her to the camp.

(okay, I'm rebooting the stories, and will do this story along with Revenge on the Clans. Hint: Bumble is NOT a reincarnation of Bumblepaw. Not related to them whatsoever. And, three comments for chapter 8 of course)