Hey! I'm back with chapter 1! I really hope I get a lot of reviews for this story, because I think, even though a warrior mates an apprentice that's about a year younger than him, that this is a good idea. But I won't say who Hollypaw mates!!! Hopefully, you'll find that out later on in the story. Okay, on with chapter 1!!!
CHAPTER 1
"Hollypaw." The black apprentice turned to see her brother Lionpaw trotting up to her, his golden tabby fur gleaming in the late green-leaf sun. "Want to go hunting with me? Ashfur said that our training lesson today was canceled, since he has a bellyache."
'Oh yeah,' Hollypaw remembered. 'I saw him limping to Leafpool's den. I hope he's alright.'
"So, will you go with me?" Lionpaw flicked his ears impatiently. "If we go, we'd better leave soon. We have to be back by moonrise." Hollypaw nodded, her bright green eyes glinting. "Sure!"
Lionpaw flicked his tail and dashed to the thorn entrance. "Hurry up! You're slower than a hedgehog just waking up from hibernating!" Hollypaw hissed playfully and bounded over to her brother, who was already darting up the slope to get to the top of the towering rock walls that surrounded the ThunderClan camp.
Suddenly, Hollypaw collided with something painfully. She stumbled backwards, her nose throbbing, and she glanced up with watery green eyes. Thornclaw was standing at the top of the slope, panting. "Watch where you're going!" the golden brown tabby hissed, flattening his ears. "Even a newborn kit wouldn't run into someone so blindly!"
Hollypaw felt taken aback at Thornclaw's temper, but he shouldered the black apprentice and disappeared behind a thorn bush without a word. "What the heck was that all about?" Hollypaw hissed, rage rising up her throat. She clawed at the sooty ground angrily before catching up to Lionpaw, who was a few fox-lengths ahead of her.
"Nice catch!" Lionpaw's loud voice interrupted Hollypaw's concentration on stalking a starling. The bird squawked and flew off the ground. Hollypaw leaped into the air and clawed at the bird, but missed poorly, and watched with a scowl of frustration as the bird flew into the tree above her.
"Lionpaw!" Hollypaw hissed at her brother angrily. She felt like clawing an ear off of him. She usually wasn't this temperamental, but after the run-in with Thornclaw, she was ready to claw off even a helpless kit's ear.
Suddenly, something ran through Hollypaw's mind that confused her. "Wait, what? I didn't catch anything yet."
Lionpaw looked puzzled and dropped the rabbit he was holding, the light brown creature's fur matted with blood. "Yeah, there's a vole, right there. You didn't catch it?"
Hollypaw shook her head and followed Lionpaw's gaze to the large tree where the starling had flown. At the base of the tree was a freshly caught vole.
"What?" Hollypaw was confused. "I didn't catch that." Suddenly, Lionpaw sniffed the air and wrinkled his nose. "Something smells like…crowfood." Hollypaw parted her jaws slightly to let the scent reach the scent glands on the roof of her mouth. Yes, the smell was unmistakable; the sour smell of crowfood hung in the air loosely and made Hollypaw want to retch, but she held in the urge to cough.
"Should we follow the scent?" Lionpaw asked Hollypaw as if his sister were to make all the decisions. "Well, of course we should, you badgerbrain! For all we know, the scent may lead to anything that could harm our Clan!" Hollypaw pointed out. She flicked her tail for her brother to follow her and she flared her nostrils for any stronger scent of the crowfood.
Hollypaw tracked down the scent quickly, while Lionpaw stayed behind, keeping guard for any warriors that might want to send the exploring apprentices back to camp. "Hollypaw!" Lionpaw meowed loudly. "Shh!" Hollypaw hissed at her brother. "We have to stay quiet! Whatever it is, if we're near it, it may hear us and come after us!"
Lionpaw ducked his head embarrassingly. "Sorry! I just wanted to say; I think I found a scent! But it's not crowfood. It's a ThunderClan cat!"
Hollypaw noticed for the first time that a scent of a ThunderClan cat hung in the air. Suddenly, a clump of bracken waved wildly, and a loud crash followed by a startled hiss soon made Hollypaw think that whoever it was, was having a tough time in the bracken.
"Hello?" Lionpaw called out hoarsely. "Who's there? Show yourself!" Suddenly, a tortoiseshell and white she-cat plummeted out of the fronds of bracken and bowled straight into Lionpaw. The golden tabby tom, startled, hissed in surprise and scrabbled to his paws, panting. "Poppypaw?" Hollypaw snarled. "What are you doing here?"
The tortoiseshell and white she-cat shrugged. "Well, I just came out here because Mousefur was complaining that her nest was too damp, and Ferncloud wanted me to get more feathers for her nest because she was uncomfortable, and so I just…" Poppypaw's voice trailed off.
Finally, the tortoiseshell and white apprentice meowed, "What are you two doing?" Lionpaw and Hollypaw exchanged glances. "Have you killed a piece of prey and left it here to rot? Because I smell crowfood."
"We smelled that too," Lionpaw mewed, "and now we're trying to follow the scent and see whatever it is. We want to protect the Clan!" Hollypaw despised the hint of arrogance in the young tom's voice, but she curled her lip but didn't say anything about it.
"Do you think I could come along?" Poppypaw's green eyes lit up. "I want to protect the Clan too!"
Hollypaw shrugged. "You'll have to be much more quiet than you were when you were trying to 'creep' up on us in the bracken. Otherwise saying you can't trample along the bracken. And you have to whisper, and keep low to the ground."
Poppypaw nodded eagerly. "That doesn't sound too hard. And I wasn't trampling in the bracken; that was my best hunter's crouch! I guess I need to work on that a bit more with Thornclaw." Poppypaw pouted.
Hollypaw pictured the image of Thornclaw in her head. The stubborn tom had gotten off her mind, and now that Poppypaw was bringing him up again, she felt even more aggravated with the warrior! Hollypaw hissed as she thought of the quarrel she had had earlier with him.
Lionpaw and Poppypaw watched, puzzled, and finally, Lionpaw flicked his tail. "Let's go now."
Jeez, this is a long chapter! Wow, poor Hollypaw! Meanie Thornclaw! Okay, well, to tell you the truth, I haven't really gotten to The Sight or The Dark River yet, so please don't claw my fur off if I get personalities wrong. Please help me out with telling me what all the apprentices' personalities are like, because I haven't gotten to read that far. I'm only on Twilight! –Sob, sob- Okay! Bye bye! Please please please PLEASE review!!!
Peaceoutyall,
Amberstar
