Chapter 1: Paw
Dust clouded around brambles and glittering blue eyes poked through the dull colour. White patches like snow or clouds were seen through the dust and a small cat leaped through the dull-coloured cloud. She skidded around a clump of bramble and tumbled over and over and until a voice yowled into her ears. "Hazelkit!"
A large, grey rock hung on the path and Hazelkit abruptly stopped with a grunt. A brown cat with a white underbelly stood on what seemed like the sky and her mouth was curved into a smile. Hazelkit's body flung onto the ground and she scrambled onto her tummy. At first the world spun around her; as it stilled, she saw Skypath looking down at her. "Yes?" she asked innocently. "I just groomed you!" hissed the queen.
"So … ?" Hazelkit mewed, scuffling her paws on the ground. A orange-and-black butterfly fluttered across her eyesight and Hazelkit crouched. She pounced, but flopped onto her belly with another grunt as Skypath grabbed her tail. She let it go and Hazelkit turned and sat down.
"So, you won't look nice for your ceremony!" hissed Skypath. "Fox dung!" Hazelkit whispered under her breath, scraping the ground satisfyingly with her unsheathed claws.
"Let all cats old enough to-" Hazelkit bounded out of the nursery. She looked around. Cats were gathering. She squealed ad raced through the group to skid to a halt in front of the Highledge. Lightningstar stood on the top.
"Hazelkit, you have reached the age of six moons, and it is time for you to be apprenticed."
Titus should be with me, thought Hazelkit. She saw the same statement in the Clan's eyes, too. "From this day on, until you receive your warrior name" My warrior name! I can't wait! "you will be known as Hazelpaw." Hazelpaw! Hazelpaw! Hazelpaw chanted in her mind.
"Your mentor will be Rosefern." Lightningstar nodded towards the light ginger she-cat. "I hope Rosefern will pass down all she knows to you." Hazelpaw bounced.
She hardly heard anything else Lightningstar said. Felt a wet nose touched hers and fur brush her muzzle. She pushed her head up a little bit and the Clan chanted her name.
"Hazelpaw! Hazelpaw!"
Hazelpaw! Hazelpaw thought. But then all at once, it seemed, everything stopped. Hazelkit fell onto her belly. "Ouch!" she heard a mrrow of laughter from the cave that formed the apprentices' den.
She looked up and saw Stonepaw and Birchpaw laughing hardly at her.
She bounced to her paws but slipped on a patch of mud created yesterday when it had rained. The two apprentices laughed harder and harder until their breath came in jagged gasps.
Hazelpaw growled and zipped past her new denamtes and they onto their bellies but quickly got back to their feet without one shuffle or scramble.
Hazelpaw faced them, teeth bared and back arched. "Relax, mouse-brain!" Hissed Birchpaw. He padded over to Hazelpaw, his body slightly curved as he faced the new apprentice. Then, planting his forepaws on the ground, Birchpaw pounced and forcibly hit Hazelpaw hard with his strong head and paws. Hazelpaw fell onto her side and Birchpaw lashed his tail on her muzzle.
Hazelpaw whimpered and curled into herself, shrinking into the rocky floor.
"Hazelpaw! Come on!" That was Rosefern. Hazelpaw jumped to her paws and ran. Birchpaw's tail whipped her flank as she fled, and pain soared through her. Hazelpaw only just stopped herself from crashing into Rosefern.
"You seem to be excited," The light ginger she-cat commented, and turned. "Follow me." She bounded off, and Hazelpaw followed. "So, what are we doing?" asked Hazelpaw. Rosefern meowed, "Going through the territory" but didn't stop walking. Ripping her mind off of the two fox-hearted bullies back at camp, Hazelpaw brightened up.
After a while, Rosefern stopped and Hazelpaw crashed into her. She skidded backwards and shook her head. Then she got to her paws again and followed Rosefern's gaze up an amazingly tall oak tree where faint chattering erupted.
"This is the Sky Oak," meowed the light ginger she-cat, and Hazelpaw's brown-and-white body almost quivered in feeling so small.
"Squirrels like to nest here, and there used to be a rabbit burrow over there until Weedclaw – an apprentice back then – kicked dirt over it by accident." Rosefern nodded at a small, half-filled hole in the roots of the Sky Oak. "Whoa! Can I hunt something?" Hazelpaw mewed. Rosefern purred in amusement. "Yes. This is the hunter's crouch." She ducked down, her belly fur brushing the ground. She crept forward, one paw after the other. Hazelpaw's bright blue eyes were wide with admiration.
Then Rosefern sat up and turned to face the brown-and-white apprentice. "Okay, your turn. Over there," Rosefern's voice was barely more then a whisper, and she pointed with her towards a grey squirrel sitting up near the roots of the Sky Oak, content on cracking open a small nut.
Hazelpaw nodded and crouched down. She let herself relax as she stalked forward slowly.
Suddenly the squirrel looked up. Hazelpaw froze. But then it turned back to its food and Hazelpaw almost sighed with relief 0 when she remembered that that would alert the squirrel. She stepped forward quietly, and then pounced. She was a whisker-length away from the squirrel when it fled up the tree.
Hazelpaw leaped into the air on only just pulled the prey down from the tree, grabbing its tail with her teeth. Then she slipped her paw onto its fluffy, grey tail and nipped its spine. It immediately fell limp.
She turned to Rosefern.
"Clumsy, but good for a first-timer." meowed Hazelpaw's mentor. Hazelpaw's blue eyes glistened. "Now, let's go." Rosefern hadn't even got to "go" before Hazelpaw was bounding off and over a hill. Rosefern stood and rolled her eyes.
Embarrassed, Hazelpaw popped her head over the hill's top again. "Uh … heh heh … Where' the next landmark?" she mewed. Rosefern shook her head slightly but padded over and told Hazelpaw to follow. They padded past the Sky Oak when Rosefern twisted her body towards it. Hazelpaw followed her mentor's gaze and saw her catch from before. "Oh!" The brown-and-white cat backed away, picked up her squirrel, and bounded after her mentor.
A thrush warbled somewhere away, but the sound sounded higher then normal, which meant it was in a tree, and Hazelpaw didn't know how to climb yet, and was uncertain about the treetops – besides, she didn't know how to catch birds and it sounded too far off.
Soon they came to a sandy clearing. "This is the clearing, where we will learn battle moves." Rosefern meowed. Hazelpaw looked around before following her mentor into the trees.
They padded through the bushes and sudden;y a dove flew from a patch of ferns Hazelpaw had jumped into. "Hazelpaw, you have to be more alert if you want to hunt!" Rosefern scolded. Hazelpaw hung her head. "Sorry, Rosefern." she meowed. Rosefern sighed and padded on. Only her drooping tail showing her shame, Hazelpaw followed. Then a glistening collection of clear, glittering blue water peeked through the trees.
Hazelpaw gasped. "The lake!" she ran on ahead. Breeze ruffled her fur and her gaze blurred. "Hazelpaw, wait!" the calls of her mentor where the only things Hazelpaw heard, other then the lapping waves on the shore of the lake.
Finally, Hazelpaw skidded into the muddy shore of the lake where it lapped at her leg fur. "Wow!" Hazelpaw whispered.
"Hazelpaw!" Rosefern burst through the bushes and barred her way between Hazelpaw.
"Don't ever do that again!" Hissed Rosefern. Hazelpaw nodded and both cats turned to pad back into the trees. Rosefern suddenly picked up the pace and Hazelpaw followed, quicker too. Soon they were racing through the trees and burst through some bushes into a clearing. Rosefern carefully crept into it and Hazelpaw asked her why she was so worried. "Well, ShadowClan used to have this as their territory and Twolegs come here at greenleaf," replied Rosefern.
"Really?" Hazelpaw hissed, her fur bristling. "I don't like this place at all!"
"Don't worry. We'll go." With that, Rosefern plunged away and Hazelpaw followed quickly. The two cats ran through the undergrowth and then an acrid, foul scent hit Hazelpaw's scent glands. "What's that?" she hissed, slowing the pace. Rosefern slowed too. "The old Thunderpath. We'll take a quick peek and then leave." Rosefern meowed and the cats poked through the brambles. A hard, rough, black surface spread along the ground, cutting off the grass and surrounded by blue thing-a-ma-bobs. Suddenly a glittering light blue creature with round, black paws sped past and buffeted dust and grass up in the air.
"Ick! Smells horrible!" Hazelpaw hissed, taking a step back. "Alright, let's go." Rosefern mewed and turned away Hazelpaw followed and they padded back to camp. The sun was low by the time they padded through the gorse tunnel again.
Hazelpaw had forgotten about the brutes that shared her den. She padded inside and curled into her nest, tail tucked over her nose. Then sharp teeth pricked her back and she sprung to her paws. She turned to the dark grey cat in front of her and jumped, hind legs planted on the ground, and pushed Stonepaw's chest and, with every scrap of strength in her body, pushed him to the hard cave floor.
In an instant Birchpaw was on my paws and the slight prick of claws touched my fur. I collapsed to the ground and Birchpaw bitterly hissed in my ear, "We're doing apprentice jobs, so you are too!"
I struggled but that only planted his paws firmer onto my pelt. Stonepaw had got to his paws. He pushed his muzzle into my face. "You do our jobs with us, and we'll let you nap." Stonepaw hissed. Birchpaw softened his grip and I nodded.
"Then first you'll pick the dirt out of the dirtplace with Birchpaw, and after that you'll help me with the elders' ticks." As Stonepaw spoke, Birchpaw jumped off my back and we raced into the dirtplace tunnel. With large, green leaves we dug out the disgusting stuff.
What seemed like a moon later, Birchpaw padded to his nest in the apprentices' den and curled up, as Hazelpaw helped Stonepaw with the elders' ticks – using mouse bile, of course.
Then the two apprentices washed there paws in the lake shore. They padded back to camp and curled up.
Dawn broke and thick clouds covered the sky. Hazelpaw blinked open her eyes. She almost bristled at her sleeping denmates, but managed to calm down. She yawned but sat up in her nest.
Hazelpaw lifted a paw and licked it. She spread her brown-and-white tail out in front of her and began grooming that. Suddenly Crowpelt's voice sounded; "Stonepaw! We're training!" it hissed. Stonepaw shot out of the den as if he was never asleep. Birchpaw peacefully lifted his head.
He blinked and glanced around. "Ah, Hazelpaw," he growled. "Go and get moss for the elders."
Hazelpaw sighed, but, although she wasn't even intending on rejecting, Birchpaw hissed before she could reply, "I'll be watching you go!" and she sped out of the den.
Sure enough, as Hazelpaw started to exit the thorn tunnel, Birchpaw sat a tail-length away.
Suddenly a voice sounded. "Birchpaw? Are you two going out for moss for the elders?" And, surprise surprise, it was Darkclaw. Birchpaw's mentor.
Hazelpaw suppressed a chuckle as the conversation went on. "Oh … uh … yeah. Yes, um, of course." Birchpaw stammered. Darkclaw replied, "Aren't you going with her?" Birchpaw's frustrated flooded Hazelpaw's senses. "Yes! I'm going right now." In a moment, Birchpaw's dusty brown fur and dark green eyes were next to Hazelpaw's.
Hazelpaw purred in amusement. "Ha! The `greatBirchpaw' ordered to do dumb apprentice jobs by his mentor and obeying? Now that's a first!" Birchpaw bristled and snarled. His hairs were like thorns pricking Hazelpaw's skin and he hissed, "Shut up, crow-food! I have to do this." The tom whipped Hazelpaw's side his his sharp, long tail before pelting past her and bursting into the trees. Hazelpaw winced, but followed.
Soon the two came to the Sky Oak and began to sniff around for moss. By the time they got back, They had gathered a large ball of moss – it was the slightest bit damp, but the elders didn't mind. As Hazelpaw padded out towards her den, Rosefern padded up to her and told her they'd be training.
Hazelpaw nodded and they bounded out of camp. When they got to the clearing, Rosefern told Hazelpaw about their lesson. "Okay, first, let's see what you know already. Let's pretend you're in a battle and I'm a ShadowClan warrior." Hazelpaw nodded and ducked into a crouch.
She pounced, but Rosefern sidestepped and Hazelpaw plunked onto the ground. "How did you know where I was going to pounce?" asked Hazelpaw in awe.
"Your eyes give it away," Rosefern replied. "Okay, try again." she meowed when Hazelpaw was in position. Hazelpaw fixed her eyes on Rosefern's legs. She jumped low, and Rosefern sprung into the air, but just as she did, Hazelpaw struck out with her hind legs and jumped onto her mentor. They plunged down, but Rosefern softened Hazelpaw's fall.
Hazelpaw jumped off as Rosefern began to roll around and she purred approvingly. "Good work. Now, let's get back. I think we've done enough for today." Hazelpaw nodded and the two cats padded back through the forest.
Rustles surrounded Hazelpaw and finally she had to stop and crouch. She silently turned toward a bush and crept forward. As soon as she caught the brown fur she jumped and nipped the mouse's neck.
Returning to her mentor, Hazelpaw's eyes glittered. Rosefern nodded with approval and the cats setted off again. Soon they caught sight of the thorn tunnel and walked through. Hazelpaw ran to the fresh-kill pile and dropped her mouse.
"Go and rest," meowed Rosefern meowed, and Hazelpaw nodded. She padded towards the apprentices' den, but as Rosefern turned, veered away and quickly squeezed through the cave to the back of it. Brambles pricked her and she was bruised by the stone; it hurt on either side of her. But the bruises didn't matter. The brambles didn't feel like anything.
It would be much worse to feel claws and teeth in her flesh at dawn.