Chapter One
Ancestors?
Hawkpaw slowly slid his ice blue eyes open. He winced slightly at the sunlight flowing into the apprentices' den. He shifted slightly, and turned his head when he heard a sharp hiss besides him. His eyes focused on the white fur of his brother, the white being a slight contrast to his blond fur, who sat up slightly turning to look at him. His brother glared at him with red eyes
"What the hell Hawky? Why would you wake me up so freaking early" the white tom meowed. Hawkpaw glared at the other as he got to his paws and stretched.
"Whitepaw, don't call me that. My name is Hawkpaw, not 'Hawky', we are apprentices now" he pauses for a moment, mouth stretching into a large yawn.
"And I doubt that Browndapple would be happy if he had to come and wake you up again, bruder." Whitepaw rolled his eyes and stood also stretching, his tail fluffing out slightly and claws flexing. He let out a snicker and smirked turning to the blond tom.
"You'll always be my Hawky even when you're a warrior, lil' bruder" Hawkpaw glared at him frowning, before sighing and moving out of the den, and threw the tall grass shielding the entrance of it into the clearing of the clan's camp.
He took a deep breath, taking a moment to enjoy the sun on his fur. He reopened his eyes to look around the camp. The camp itself wasn't much but a small clearing surrounded by dense trees and high brush, the ground being both dirt and flat stones. The apprentices den was made of tightly packed brambles with layering of branches on top of it.
He could also see a few of his clan mates milling about. Iceshard, a large ashy beige tom with darker brown markings, was lounging in the clearing grooming his long fur. Hawkpaw didn't dare take a step towards the warrior, he was rather intimidating without even trying, and he would rather not deal with it this early in the morning. He glanced over to the fresh kill pile as his brother came up next to him. At the pile was Softdawn, the clan's medicine cat. His fur was white with orange spots; he also had folded ears and green eyes. Most thought the tom to be rather crazy, he was almost always muttering to himself and if one stood at the entrance to his den they could hear him talking to someone, though was never another cat there with him.
At the moment Softdawn was eating, his tail swishing slightly as he did so, almost as if he was playing with a kit. The other tom lifted his head to look at them frowning. Hawkpaw dipped his head down in respect, while the other was rather crazy he was good at his position as medicine cat. His brother huffed as Softdawn went back to eating.
"Why is he swishing his tail around like that? Have you heard his muttering the last few days? He's been more crazy then normal. He has been keeping an eye on you also" Whitepaw muttered in his ear. Hawkpaw frowned slightly; he had heard some of the recent mutterings but hadn't cared realized that the other had been watching him.
Hawkpaw shook his head, tail flicking and softly murmured back.
"Care to explain?" his brother nodded, padding a bit to the side of the clearing. When both Brothers got there Whitepaw pushed him down gently and started helping his younger brother groom, and Hawkpaw returned the favor, licking at his brother's fur. As the two of them groomed, the white tom began to murmur softly.
"Well, ever since a few weeks after we became apprentices Softdawn has kept an eye on you, though I doubt you noticed, you have been so wrapped up in your training. He has been doing it more lately. I'm not sure what this means but he also says a lot about 'Our ancestors' when you come back with Blackfeather after battle training, hell if I know what that means though. I asked Browndapple but he looked just as confused about it". Hawkpaw's ear twitched and he paused in grooming the white fur. He was surprised to hear this and didn't quite know what to think of it.
"Well, look who is actually up this morning" came a meow from behind him, he heard Whitepaw give a soft hiss. Hawkpaw turned to look behind him. Standing there was Browndapple, his brown fur perfectly groomed as it always was. As Whitepaw got up he did also and dipped his head to the warrior, his brother didn't bother to. The warrior looked at the both of them for a moment a frown set on his face,
"The three of us are going hunting. Let's go" he meowed and promptly turned his back to them and started to pad to the entrance of the camp. Whitepaw gave a louder hiss this time but moved to follow Browndapple at a slower pace. Hawkpaw shook his head he never knew why those two never got along.
As the three of them moved threw the forest's brush they didn't talk. Hawkpaw was uncomfortable in the tense atmosphere that the other two had around each other. After quickly telling the other two that he was going to hunt by himself, Browndapple gave a curt not and his brother gave him a 'don't leave me look', but he left anyways.
He moved along doing his best to not make a sound, he didn't want to scare off any pray. He paused to scent the air, he could clearly smell mice and squirrels and what might have been a rabbit. He frowned and did it again. There was also something else; he couldn't quite place the smell. It seemed like another cat, definitely not one from his clan and that meant that they were either a stray or one of the other clan's cats. He had never met one of the cats from the other clan, even though the two leader met on the full moon each bringing a few warriors and rarely an apprentice. The medicine cats always went also, though they also met when there was no moon in the sky. He moved closer to the scent, either way, he was going to have to chase them out of the territory should they be in it.
Hawkpaw crouched in a bush, his pelt concealed by it as he came near were the scent was strongest. It was definitely within MindClan's territory, but just inside of the border he could see the large rock that showed the edge of the territory. He flexed his claws, blue eyes searching for the cat. When he caught sight of the cat he was slightly baffled, the light brown fur with darker marks on a small slender body made him wonder what a she-cat would be doing on their territory. But after another sniff he realized that the cat was a tom, something he was surprised about. He quietly took a step out of the bush his claws still unsheathed as he walked towards the other tom, which he could now see was nosing around in a bush.
"Who are you, and why are you on MindClan's territory?" he hissed, showing his teeth. The brown tom whipped around eyes wide, letting out a shriek of shock. The tom's eyes were a bright golden brown he noted, but kept his eye narrowed at the smaller tom. Said tom shrunk back, belly on the ground and tail curled around him trembling.
"I-I'm sorry! I d-didn't realize I had c-crossed the border. I'm l-looking for herbs! I-I'm the M-medicine C-cat apprentice in HeartClan. P-please don't hurt me!" he whimpered out, and Hawkpaw let himself relax a bit. If it was true he really had no reason to attack a medicine cat apprentice. He gave a curt nod to the other apprentice, tail lashing threw the air.
"Well, I suppose I can let you off with a warning then" he meowed. He watch the other blink up at him and his trembling cease, he stood up. Hawkpaw raised an eye brow as he had to look down at the tom still, who was now smiling his eyes closed.
"Thank you! I'm Brightpaw~. You must be a warrior from MindClan" he purred.
To say Hawkpaw was baffled by the others complete 180 personality change would probably be an understatement. The smaller had gone from a whimpering trembling cat to a very… seemingly annoying and loud cat. He was even more confused when the other called him a warrior.
"I'm Hawkpaw. And I'm not a warrior yet, just an apprentice". The other then looked at him wide eyed and mouth slightly open.
"But your so big! You look like you have been a warrior for a few moons now! How old are you?". Before he realized it, the golden tom found himself answering,
"I'm nearly 7 moons. I have been an apprentice for a few moons" Brightpaw let out a shocked meow,
"oh wow, we don't start being apprentices till we are at least 6 moons, I'm nearly 7 myself ~!"
That just gave Hawkpaw a reason to believe the rumors within his own clan that HeartClan cats were weak. If you didn't start training at an early age, you will have a huge disadvantage against someone who does. The smaller tom's ear twitched
"My mentor is calling me." He paused for a moment
"maybe I will get to see you at the full moon meeting tomorrow~!" he picked up the leaves he had dropped, then moved closer to Hawkpaw for a moment and much to the shock of the blond tom touched his nose to the larger tom's cheek in a show of affection. Brightpaw then turned around and started to prance off after calling a loud
"May your ancestors light your path!" before disappearing into the brush on his side of the territory.
Hawkpaw was dumbfounded as he stared after the HeartClan apprentice. Had the other tom really just touched him? In an affectionate manor no less! He had never had that happen, unless it was his brother, but even Whitepaw wasn't quite that affectionate and they were brothers. It was rather expected between the two of them. But for a random cat that he didn't even really know to do that, it was baffling. Sighing He turned to walk back and paused midstep... 'May your ancestors light your path' there it was again, ancestors! Why would Brightpaw have said that? He shook his head and huffed. It was best he didn't think about it he supposed. His eat twitched, and he spotted a squirrel and then dropped into a hunters crouch with ease. He should hunt; it was what he was there to do anyways.
Hawkpaw came back to camp more confused then when he had left and a jaw full of pray for the fresh kill pile. He set the various small critters down and looked back at his brother who also had his jaw filled by pray. The blond tom was unhappy to note that his brother had caught more then he had. The white tom also set his catch down and looked at Hawkpaw a grin set on his face.
"Well! Looks like I caught more pray then you did today!" he snickered tail swishing happily. Sharp blue eyes looked at him, un-amused.
"The two of you take a bite to eat now. We are doing battle training in a bit" Came Browndapple's call from behind them, Whitepaw giving a soft hiss again and turned to glair at the older cat.
"I still cant believe you left me with him!" he mumbled and snatched up a large mouse from the pile.
Hawkpaw shrugged it off and grabbed a squirrel and followed his brother to the spot they had gone to that morning. The two of them started to eat in silence, the only sounds being the soft chattering of other cats and their movements threw camp.
"So, Hawky what's eating you?" the blond was startled by his brother sudden comment and looked up at him eyes slightly wide.
"What makes you think there is something wrong?"
"You mean besides that I came back with more pray then you? You just seem distracted is all" Whitepaw said and took another bite of his mouse. Hawkpaw paused to consider if me should tell his brother and decided that I couldn't hurt to tell him could it?
"Well, Bruder, when I went off on my own to hunt, I came across another cat-" He was quickly cut off by Whitepaw
"What! Like a cat not in our clan?" he hissed eyes wide. Hawkpaw glared at him
"Yes. But anyways…" He gave his brother a quick version of what had happened with the other tom
"He turned to leave and said 'May your ancestors light your path' then ran off"
Whitepaw looked even more surprised.
"so your telling me that you met a medicine cat apprentice from HeartClan, and he apparently knows about what ever 'Ancestors' means" Hawkpaw gave a slight nod, his tail twitching nervously now. The white tom sighed and sat up tail curling around himself and Hawkpaw became more nervous now.
"Maybe it's a medicine cat thing. Though the only way to find out if it wasn't would be to talk to other HeartClan cats, because clearly no one here knows what it means. And the likely hood of either of us getting that chance is what? Slim to none."
Hawkpaw's ears slicked back,
"so we should just forget about it?" he meowed softly , but was startled by a snort from Whitepaw.
"Like hell. We'll just have to do our best to find one of them and ask" The white tom gave his whiskers a quick lick then stood up.
"looks like Browndapple is coming, meaning its time for training. We'll talk about it more after."
It was hard to believe that his brother was so focused on finding out the answer to something that didn't involve himself, Hawkpaw mused as he stood up also his own claws flexing with slight anticipation for the training.
