Chapter one:
Flowerpaw raced to Thornpaw.
"How was your first day of training?" She asked, almost bouncing out of excitement.
"Go away." Said the apprentice, his tail lashing angrily from side to side. Sulking, Flowerpaw slinked to the apprentice den and stopped suddenly as she saw a shadow looming over her.
"Flowerpaw?" Asked the figure that created the shadow. Flowerpaw whirled around to see the muscular body of her father, Tallear. "Is that you?"
"Yes." She replied quietly, suddenly realizing what she had forgotten that morning.
"I was looking for you-everyone was looking for you. Did you know that you had training today with Mudclaw?" Flowerpaw cringed as she heard an angry tone in her father's voice. She shook her head, even though she did.
Flowerpaw had promised the day that she was named an apprentice that she would not miss a single day of training. She had broken that promise now and she realized that she'd have to make up an excuse if she wanted to see the sun rise the next day.
"Oh, sorry. I didn't realize that he wanted me to come with him today..." Her voice trailed away as if she were walking far away.
"Well, Mudclaw is going to claw your fur off if you don't go find him." Her father sighed and turned to leave the den. Flowerpaw followed and sat in the center of the disused quarry that they called their camp. She hoped that he would find her so that she wouldn't have to search from one edge of the territory to the other. She eyed a plump vole in the fresh-kill pile and reached for it.
Just as she snatched the vole from the pile, she heard the scrabbling of claws on rock and the rolling pebbles that cascaded down the entrance of the camp. She turned her head and saw her mentor sliding down the slope. She hopped up onto all four paws and jogged toward him trying to look relieved, even though that was hardly true.
"Where were you?" Said the warrior, the wind whistling through his thick tortoiseshell fur. "I looked everywhere for you. I thought that a hawk came and scooped you up!"
"I was looking for you," She lied, knowing that she was just being lazy while he was working his tail off looking for her. "Then I couldn't find you so I decided to just wait for you to come back to the camp." Her eyes wandered to Firestar who was leaping up onto the Highledge.
"May all cats old enough to catch their own prey hather here below the Highledge." Firestar's voice rang out through the camp. Cats emerged from their dens and some kits were tugged back into the nursery as their mothers followed the crowding cats. "I have some news to share with all of you. As you know, I have been sending out partols every other day. Yesterday, one patrol discovered something that may danger us in the future."
"Get on with it!" Cried Thornpaw, emerging from the front of the crowd. "We're getting tired of your stalling!"
Firestar sighed and went on with his announcement. "Yesterday, Brambleclaw scented twolegs by the abandoned twoleg nest." Gasps and stares of awe shot all around the camp. "I have talked this over with Brambleclaw and we both agree that it would be a wise choice that no cat goes near the nest. We don't want a replay of what happened with Graystripe, Leafpool Cloudtail and Brightheart." Flowerpaw hadn't been there when it happened, but he had heard the elders and queens discussing the disappearance of the three cats. Leafpool, Cloudtail and Brightheart had been caught in twoleg traps and Graystripe had helped lead a patrol to get them out. The three cats had been freed, but Graystripe was captured by a twoleg and had spent a moon or two in a twoleg nest. Finally, he escaped and came back to the clan. Other cats from other clans had been caught in the traps, including the Riverclan deputy, Mistyfoot.
Then, Brambleclaw stepped up onto the Highledge with Firestar and opened his jaws to speak.
"It's true, and I think that what we decided is a good choice. If I catch any apprentice without a warrior out of the camp, they will have severe punishment. Also, training will be canceled as long as the scent remains fresh." He stepped down off the ledge, followed by Firestar. The cats dispersed, but some of the queens gathered and discussed the incident.
"Great, what are we going to do with you now?" Growled Mudclaw. He brushed past Flowerkit to the warriors den and slid inside.
"Wait! Mudclaw! I'm sorry!" She chased after him but it was too late, he was in the shadows of the den and she wasn't allowed to go into the warriors den-she wasn't a warrior.
Just then, Flowerpaw began to doubt her future. Would she ever become a warrior?