Hollypaw, MoonClan
It was morning, as bright as ever. Everyone else was still asleep, so I took my chance and went outside the camp to smell the fresh flowers covered with dew. It always relaxed me. I stayed there a while, rolling in the fresh grass tickling my fur. Until I heard it. An eagle. I knew it was bad news, they always were. I ran to the camp as fast as possible, the branches from the trees slapping my face. When I came back, everyone was awake. The kits were with their mother in the nursery. There were a lot of them this year. I saw the scared look on their faces, so I knew I wasn't wrong about the eagle. I ran to her siblings at the Apprentices den. Currently, it was only us three, but one litter should be 6 moons old soon enough.
„Hollypaw! Where were you?" shouted Stonepaw, my brother, as I approached them.
„The place I always am", I said, casually, „But I heard the eagles from there."
„Hollypaw!" shouted Icywind, the medicine cat. I walked over to her. Her gray fur was dancing in the cold wing, and her icy blue eyes were fixated on the skies above, as if she was expecting an eagle to land right on the face. I ran inside the Medicine Cat den with Icywind.
„We can help them fight it, but not much, eagles are strong animals, so are we, but they live in the sky."
„But Lenpocs can fight too", I meowed. Lenpocs were one of the... Things... That we could be. They had wings, all sorts of them. There were only 4 of them in my clan, me being one. I didn't use my wings much, I wasn't a good flyer, but my sister's mentor is a Lenpoc too, so sometimes I came to her and practiced flying. Lenpocs were living in all of the four clans, unlike most who are at just one.
„Lenpocs wings aren't strong enough to sustain a wind this strong, the eagles would kill them the second they were in the sky." I just frowned to that. Icywind made something from the herbs she had and gave it to me. „You know what to do."
„Yea", I meowed and ran outside, carrying the herbs in my mouth, carefully holding it not to lick it, else ways it would put me to sleep.
„Here it comes! "Shouted Spottedstar, our leader. They probably made a plan while I was gone, that's okay, I know what to do. The eagle came at us with magnificent speed, almost like thunder. Spottedstar jumped on the eagle as if it was prey. He put his claws deep in its wing, blood pouring from it like a fountain. Morningwind, a Lenpoc, flew up to the eagle, grabbed its other wing and took it down to earth, even though it wasn't far from it.
„Hollypaw! Now! "Shouted Icywind from the Medicine Cat den. I ran to the grounded eagle and put the herb mixture in his mouth. As quick as you said mouse, the eagle fell in a deep sleep, as if dead. But then I realize it was dead. Morningwind cut its throat and it choked to death. Well, it's for the better. I ran back to the Medicine Cat den and saw Icywind smiling with pure admiration.
„You were great, Hollypaw", and as she said that, she put her forehead on mine. „You'll make a great Medicine Cat one day."
„The herbs didn't do anything though..."
„It doesn't matter, you came when your help was needed, that's all that matters, now, why do-" she began to speak, but a screech interrupted her. I went outside to see what was going on. I couldn't believe my bloody eyes. I stared, and stared, my mouth fell and my eyes grew. I looked like I saw a Twoleg. But it was worse than that. I look outside. Into the sky. All I see is brown patches. So many.
Eagles.
Eagles.
Coming to kill us.
„Icywind! Come outside!" I screamed to her, and when she came, she looked even worse than me.
„Oh StarClan..." And she just froze there. Then she shook her head. „We must prepare for the injured. Hollypaw, come with me."
I followed her to the Medicine Cat den and helped her prepare all the herbs we will need. I wasn't surprised when a poultice fell down from my mouth. I was scared, shaking. Then I heard the battle starting. I thought of my brother, my sister, are they gonna be okay? Of course they are, they are good apprentices. I went outside. I saw Willowstream fighting an eagle with Stonepaw and Fawnpaw. Its talons were caught in Stonepaws back. Willowstream bit its neck and it let go. I ran as fast as I could, feeling the cold wind pushing me away, not letting me get my brother and help him. But I managed to get there. I dragged him across.
„Is Fawnpaw ok...?"
„She is... Don't speak, you need to rest..." I said, not completely believing my words, so I took a look. Willowstream was flying around the eagle, and with her speed and agility, the eagle only became confused. It was the perfect time for Fawnpaw to strike. She left a fatal claw mark on its neck and they together left to help fight another eagle. Now I knew I could believe my words. I bumped into the wall of the den, surprised I'm there so early. I took Stonepaw inside and began treating his wounds immediately. I licked the part where the eagle clawed him and a part on his tail, probably from rolling on a sharp rock, I said to myself. Next, I applied cobwebs into the wounds. I chewed up some Goldenrod and Marigold to make poultice. I applied it to the wounds and gave him some Poppy Seeds. More cats were coming. I wasn't sure we could win against the eagles, but we can try. More and more cats were coming. Until it became silent. Just the sound of wind messing my black and white fur, letting it dance freely. I treated all of them well, then went outside and looked at the sun. It was sunhigh. Then I look down onto the ground. The mushy mud and the fresh blood made it look like a minefield, not a camp. Who's going to clean all this!? The blood of cats is mixed with the blood of eagles. The smell was horrible. I saw the all the eagles lying down, dead. There were only a few cats still out there, Spottedstar being one of them. They were hurt, but not so much as the ones that were in the Medicine Cat den.
"Are they gone?" I asked, quietly, as if I'm not even there.
"We got all of them…" Spottedstar said heavily breathing.
"I sure hope so…"
It passed some moons since the eagle attack. Everyone recovered, even though my brother would feel pain in him back every so often. I told him it would go away soon. It was time for the Apprentice Ceremony! A time to be happy! Brambleclaws kits were finally 6 moons old! I couldn't wait until the clan me-
"All cats old enough to catch their own prey, gather under the Moon-tree!" Spottedstar shouted, and to that almost all the cats gathered. I tried to be as close as possible, I loved the little kits, I always played with them in my free time.
"Today, I wanted you all to gather here, so that together we can see these kits become apprentices! We are a bit late, but it was to assure everyone is back in shape from the eagle attack. Not all of us are in great shape, but most are, and I hope the others will be soon enough. Berrykit, Whitekit, Brownkit, step forward!"
The kits stepped forward as soon as he said their names, being all bubbly and happy like they usually are.
"Berrykit, you have reached the age of six moons, and it is time for you to be apprenticed. From this day on, until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Berrypaw. Your mentor will be Morningwind. I hope Morningwind will pass down all she knows on to you. Morningwind, step forward!"
Morningwind steps forward, her orange fur dancing on the wind, almost as if it's smiling, like she is.
"Morningwind, you are ready to take on an apprentice. You had received excellent training from Wildeyes and you have shown yourself to be honest and trustworthy. You will be the mentor of Berrypaw, and I expect you to pass on all you know to Berrypaw."
Morningwind and Berrypaw touch noses, almost as if they were kits, jumping from happiness.
"Whitekit, you have reached the age of six moons, and it is time for you to be apprenticed. From this day on, until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Whitepaw. Your mentor will be Swiftstep. I hope Swiftstep will pass down all she knows on to you. Swiftstep, step forward!"
Swiftstep jumps up, exiting to have an apprentice, unlike Morningwind, this is her first time.
"Swiftstep, you are ready to take on an apprentice. You had received excellent training from me and you have shown yourself to be generous and intelligent. You will be the mentor of Whitepaw, and I expect you to pass on all you know to Whitepaw."
Whitepaw touches nose with her mentor, a sparkle blinking in her eye. Same as I was when I just became an apprentice, I thought.
"Brownkit, you have reached the age of six moons, and it is time for you to be apprenticed. From this day on, until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Brownpaw. Your mentor will be Gorseclaw. I hope Gorseclaw will pass down all she knows on to you. Gorseclaw, step forward!"
Gorseclaw walks to Brownpaw and sits beside him, while his apprentice was jumping up and down from excitement.
"Gorseclaw, you are ready to take on an apprentice. You had received excellent training from Nighttears and you have shown yourself to be humble and forgiving. You will be the mentor of Brownpaw, and I expect you to pass on all you know to Brownpaw."
Gorseclaw touches noses with his apprentice and whispers something in her ears, to which she immediately nods and follows him.
"Berrypaw! Whitepaw! Brownpaw!"
"Oh, I also want to say Nighttears will be moving into the nursery, since she is having kits sooner or later."
Faint whispers were heard in the crowd of cats that soon faint as Spottedstar leaves Moon-Tree.
I walk over to the new apprentices, together with their mentors.
"Congrats!" I say in pure happiness.
"Thank you, thank you! I'm so happy!" shouts Brownpaw.
"Hollypaw, the new apprentices and me wanted to go look at our territory, to introduce them. I wondered if you wanted to come, I can help you collect some herbs on the way" said Morningwind.
"I'll be glad too, if I can, that is."
"Of course! Apprentices, let's go!"
Morningwind led us across the whole territory, I mostly flied around because my legs got tired pretty soon. Morningwind could do the same, but she told me it would be unfair to the apprentices. They were all Sharpteeth, which meant that at a full moon or if they do it from angriness, they could change into beasts, big as mountains, well, not literally, but you get the point. It would only last a little while, with the exception of the full moon, at which they stayed like that the whole night. On full moon nights, all Sharpteeth would go out on a hunting patrol, catching anything they can, as if on a rampage. Sharpteeth only lived at MoonClan though, unlike Lenpocs.
"Do you know who Nighttears is having kits with? I didn't see her friendly with anyone, in that way at least", I asked Morningwind.
"Funny, I wanted to ask you too. No one knows", she answered.
"Could she be breaking the Warrior Code?" I asked again.
"As in having kits with someone outside the clan? Could be possible, many cats broke it, even the legendary Graystripe", she said and turned around to explain more to the new apprentices.
"These are the main training fields, and that over there is a place where we usually hunt, because there is many animals there", Morningwind explained. I knew all of this, but still enjoyed it. I found a lot of herbs, which was good.
We came back to the camp soon. I was still thinking about what Morningwind said. Could it be possible? I would have to check, and I know just how! The second I got out of everyone's sight, I ran to the Medicine Cat den, where Icywind was.
"Icywind! Icywind!"
"Hey, Hollypaw. You need something?" she meowed nicely.
"Actually, I do."
"What can I do for you?"
I whispered something in her ear.
"I was planning to do something like that myself, actually, I didn't wanna drag you into it", she said.
"It's fine, we can do it together now."
"When are we going?"
"We can do it right now, if you want."
"Suits me", I meowed and went out of the den. I ran as fast as I could to the Nursery, where Nighttears was supposed to be. But she wasn't there. Fireclaw and Swiftwind were there though.
"Have you seen Nighttears, Fireclaw or Swiftwind?"
"We were wondering where she is. We only saw her once since she was pregnant", answered Fireclaw softly. Her gray fur was long and nice while touching my paw, and she was looking at me with those amber eyes of hers. Swiftwind more of an angel looking cat, she had light gold and white fur and her light blue eyes were so nice.
"Well, by any reason, if you see her, please tell me."
"Sure, Hollypaw", Swiftwind said grinning.
Where could she possibly be? I went to the first cat I saw, Whitetail. She was sharing tongues with Morningwind. They were talking about Nighttears. Whitetails' white fur was dazzling in the wind and her angelic blue eyes were carefully looking at Morningwinds fur, until she saw me.
"Oh, ahem, hey Hollypaw!" cheeringly said Whitetail.
"She knows, don't worry", Morningwind meowed.
"So has Whitetail seen her?" I asked.
"I saw her this noon getting some fresh-kill and then walking away, but-"
She cut off her sentence as if she saw something. I turned around, and there she was standing, all alone, Nighttears.
"Thanks", I meowed and walked to Nighttears.
"Hey, Nighttears!"
"Hey, Hollypaw, how are you?" Nighttears meowed.
"I'm fine, but, hey! Icywind needs to check something, so could you please come with me?"
"Check what?" I saw suspicion in her eyes.
"The Medicine Cat always checks the new queens to see if they are doing alright."
"I've never seen Fireclaw or Swiftwind going to her."
"Maybe you just didn't see them, come on!"
She got up, lowering her ears and still having that bloody suspicion in her eyes. I can't fail now though. I brought her to Icywind, and she immediately sat Nighttears down.
"Are you feeling alright, Nighttears?" Icywind asked nicely.
"Yea, but I still don't get the point of all this."
"Nighttears", I came to her, "I think you know why you're here."
"My partner has no concern with you whatsoever!" she raged at me.
"It does if it's breaking the Warrior Code", Icywind said.
"I just couldn't… He was so handsome…"
"Who was? You can tell me, Nighttears, you can tell me anything", Icywind said, and I really had hope she would tell us who was the father.
"No…"
"Nighttears, please", Icywind meowed.
"It was a kittypet, I ruined myself for him…"
"Where is he?" I asked her.
"East…"
I quickly ran outside and told everything to Morningwind.
"I can go with you if you want."
"If you could, please."
"We have to tell Spottedstar though."
"But Nighttears is gonna be in so much trouble."
"It doesn't matter, he has to know, he is the leader."
"Ok… But you tell him, I'll be waiting here."
So she went, and I just waited.
She came back a few moments later.
"It's done, he approved we can go and see."
"I feel really sorry for Nighttears though", I said sadly.
"I do too, believe me, but it just has to be done."
"I know…"
And by that, we flew off east, which was weird, Twoleg nests are usually south, but I could see in Nighttears' eyes she was telling the truth. She was so scared.
"Look there!" Morningwind meowed and snapped me out of my thoughts.
"One Twoleg nest. Good enough, I guess. You stay here, I'm gonna go see."
"I'm the warrior here, you are just an apprentice."
"Pleeeeease, pretty pleeeeeease…?"
"Fine", she sighed, "but if I see anything, I'm coming down."
I went down and looked around myself, to assure no danger was down here. When I thought everything was fine, I went to the Twoleg nest, carefully, to see if any cats were there. There was. A silver tom with light green eyes was eating that, yucky, Twoleg food. Ewww. I looked around more and saw no Twolegs, they probably left a while before. I went into the house from the window. He still didn't hear me?! Stupid kittypet. I folded my wings, which were black and white, the same color as my fur, so he doesn't see them.
"Hello, kittypet", I meowed and he jumped like he saw a Twoleg. Oh wait, he sees them every day…
"Umm, hello…"
"Do you know a gray cat with black paws and purple eyes?"
"Nighttears? She's here?" he asked, looking around.
"No, she's safe from you."
"What do you mean by that? Also, you don't have to hide your wings, she told me everything."
How could she….
"She's pregnant. And we will not let her leave until she gets kits, but she is forbidden to be with a kittypet like you."
"But I love her. And she loves me."
Oh StarClan….
"I'm Leo by the way", he meowed, waving his tail.
"Wrong move, kittypet, you should never do that. Has your love told you about Medicine Cats?"
"Yea, she did."
"Well do you know what they do?"
"They help other cats", he said, grinning.
"Yea, and just because I'm a Medicine Cat apprentice doesn't mean I can't kill you if I wanted to."
"Wait a second, you said she's pregnant?!"
"Surprised?"
"No, I'm just so happy."
"Listen, what I came to say here was, you stay away from her, or you might get in trouble, ok?!"
"I don't like you threatening me, miss..?"
I sighed, "Hollypaw."
"Hollypaw."
"Yea, nowI'm gonna take my leave and you don't lay a paw on Nighttears, or you're dead."
"Ok, Hollypaw."
I flew out to Morningwind and told her everything. Then we continued back to the camp.
"So he said he will leave her?"
"Hopefully."