The Mystic Warrior

Chapter 1

When I was first born in the nursery, I remember hearing voices, and sounds. And the smells, all new, all strange yet exciting.

Every thing was dark, but after about a moon I started seeing shadows, then figures, then colors.

My mother was so gentle and sweet. Her voice was like thousands of starclan whispering to me. Her name was Millie.

My father on the other hand, had a strong firm voice, but around my mother he had a kinder, gentler tone, like he wanted to be more of a father, then the clan's eldest warrior.

Well, it wasn't more than a moon and a half when I couldn't breath, Couldn't, eat, or anything. Just constant pain.

I would doze in and out of consciousness. I would remember a tomcat's voice saying, "It's ok Skykit, Its ok." He was a bluish color and they called him Jaypelt.

He kept feeding me this delicious smelling leafy plant. He told me it would help. He also fed me a sweet purple plant.

I slept alot. I had many dreams. One dream was very real. I kept seeing cats that weren't solid. They weren't real, I never smelled them before.

Another dream I was walking in a large fog. I was surrounded by smells of cats, and plants, but all I saw was white.

It was about three moons until I was able to walk around and explore. Jaypelt said I would be just fine.

I started to look around the cave I've been in for moons. In the back was a little pool of water for the sick cats to drink. The sand is really soft, and the entrance there's some hanging Bramble tendril's to keep the cave hidden from unwanted guests.

Do you remember that delicious smelling plant Jaypelt always fed me? Well, I learned it was called catmint. Also, that purple plant he fed me is called lavender.

Jaypelt also told me that I had green-cough, and I was lucky to survive. He said it was a severe chest infection that could kill kits and elders.

I kept asking him questions about all the herbs and all the duties of a medicine cat. We would talk for hours. I would watch him care for cats all day, and sometimes help him out. I never noticed he Jaypelt was blind until one day when Sandstorm (an elder warrior of the clan) came in late at night and woke Jaypelt up.

"Jaypelt, Jaypelt!" she yowled pawing him. Instead of calmly waking up, like he usually would, Jaypelt sprang to his feet, yowled, and swung, claws out at Sandstorm.

Luckily, Sandstorm jolted back. Jaypelt kept swinging wildly.

"Get away from me you fox-dung!" he yowled.

"Jaypelt, It's just me, Sandstorm!" she tried to calm him. I was watching from my nest in the corner of the den. Jaypelt was my hero, and he was going mad!!!

I stared shocked at the scene.

"Jaypelt!" Sandstorm yowled. Suddenly Jaypelt stopped, paused, and then put his head down in shame.

"I'm sorry, Sandstorm…I didn't…I couldn't..." he stumbled.

"It's ok Jaypelt, I know I shouldn't have snuck up on you like that." She replied.

"Why did, you wake me?" he asked, he raised his head as if he could sense something.

"Oh! Firestar wants to see you right away." Sandstorm seemed urgent. I was frightened, and confused.

"Right, would you stay here and watch over them?" he asked, as he padded toward the entrance.

"Sure." Sandstorm replied and sat down, her shoulders were pricked with some panic. Suddenly Jaypelt paused and it seemed as if he was staring directly at me.

"Skykit…I'm sorry we disturbed you, get some rest," he said, before padding out into the clearing.

Sandstorm was looking at me suddenly with confusion. I just sat there staring at the bramble tendrils of the entrance where Jaypelt disappeared into the sparkling clear night.

I hadn't noticed Sandstorm pad over to me until she sat down beside me. I looked up at her pale green eyes, which were full of understanding and motherly love.

"You don't know, do you?…Jaypelt is blind," she said as she wrapped her tail around me, as if to shelter me from my many troubles.

I shook my head, still unable to speak from the new shocking awareness of Jaypelt's blindness.

"He was born that way," Sandstorm begun to explain. She told me of Jaypelt's apprenticeship and every thing that had happened to him.

I was stunned to realize everything Jaypelt went through. He was clearly a wise and noble cat, even if he was no older then Hazeleyes, a new warrior in the clan, she was held back in apprenticeship when she injured her leg.

I also hadn't realized how heavy my eyes were becoming. Sandstorm really was warm and I curled up next to her feet. I think Sandstorm realized hoe tired I was, because she lay down at my side, and once again covered me with her protective tail.

It took me a moment to figure out what that noise was, coming from Sandstorm, but I then realized she was purring, as loudly as she could. The loud purring was enough to put me to sleep.

That night I had a very peaceful dream of me playing with my brothers, which didn't happen often. We ran and chased butterfly's, stumbling over one another and splashed in the stream.

As I stared into the stream I saw a snowy-white cat staring up at me with pink eyes, and he said, "Help, I need help."

Then, as the morning's light was touching my face, I herd a great chatter in the clearing, and I woke quickly, still shocked by the white cat.

Jaypelt was nowhere to be seen, neither was Sandstorm. I became worried, and I headed for the entrance. As I padded out through the entrance the sun hit me so fast it took a sec. for my eyes to adjust.

Most of the clan was huddled together under the highledge, as Firestar watched them from above. His fiery orange pelt was glowing from the morning's light. Firestar is a legend, and I'm so lucky to have him as leader.

I saw my brother's snuggling around my mother on the far side of the clearing. I quickly padded over to them.

"Skykit!" my silly brother, longkit squealed as he saw me. Smallkit also looked over to me and smiled. My mother, Millie seemed so tense and scared, but she looked at me nonetheless and smiled.

"Hi everyone!" I wheezed, it was hard for me to breath when I ran, so it took me a few seconds to regain composure. Longkit stared at me, obviously confused.

"Why are you so out of breath, Skykit? You only ran a few tail-length's." he asked me. Smallkit whacked him over the head.

"Shut-up you mouse-brain." He hissed at Longkit. I lowered my head in shame; I would never be able to keep up with my brother's in a race, because of the green-cough, I had bad lungs.

"Quiet!" I herd Firestar's loud, strong voice and immediately looked up at him. Suddenly all was quiet in the clearing, and Firestar began to speak,

"Blackstar is not a reasonable cat, we all know that. If he wants a fight, he'll get one." Mews of disapproval came from the clan.

"But Firestar!" that was my father's voice, "our warriors aren't as strong as we used to be…some of us are getting old."

"I am aware of that, Greystripe, but there are strong one's as well. We've had four warriors named not so long ago. Have you all forgotten Hazeleyes, Honeyclaws, Cinderheart, and Lionpelt! We also have two apprentices who are almost ready to be warriors! Foxpaw, and Icepaw! We are a strong clan, and a loyal one! We are now stronger then ever. Yes, Blackstar may have more warriors then us, but we have more courage, and loyalty to our clan then any!" Firestar pointed to were I and my brother's were sitting and said, " Look at Millie's kits."

All of the clan stared at us. I could feel longkit sink beside me, and I saw Smallkit shrink near our mother. Instead of being intimidated by the clan staring at us, I lifted my head high, and sat there proudly.

Firestar seemed to notice, and he watched me. I didn't look directly at him, but I could still feel his green eyes gazing as he spoke,

"It's time that they be named as apprentices! By naming apprentices we show that Thunderclan is strong! We already have four strong apprentices, Blackpaw, Icepaw, Foxpaw, and Greypaw!" The clan cheered as Firestar named the apprentices. "It's time to give these kit's their new names!"