Hello everyone, and thank you for returning to read my second chapter!
I hope the first chapter wasn't too boring, ahah
Hope you enjoy!
- Sheep
Pat. Pat. Pat.
A prod in her flank sent Bluepaw to her feet, staggering as she attempted to regain her balance. It was dark, and the clouds outside were slowly shifting along, creating a serene grey calm above her. Slowly, her eyes adjusted to the pitch black, and she made out the shape of her littermate, Sparrowpaw, who had woken her up with a grin plastered along his muzzle.
"Stormbreeze and Grayleaf told me to wake you, we're about to go hunting!" He explained, nudging Bluepaw out the exit, careful not to disturb the other sleeping apprentices.
"Are you daft? It's practically midnight right now and you're all but happy to go out and do work!" Bluepaw hissed quietly in disbelief, sending Sparrowpaw to flatten his ears slightly along his head. "Don't get fussy with me, and anyway, just because it's dark doesn't mean its night. Stormbreeze said that it's dawn, and the sun is about to come up now." Sparrowpaw claimed, and Bluepaw only shrugged, regretting having yelled at her littermate. She definitely was not a morning person, and she knew that very well.
"Finally, you've come, Bluepaw, Sparrowpaw," Grayleaf huffed lowly, particularly disgruntled. He flicked his tail, stood up as they eventually reached him, and padded off through the crowd of bushes as he drew near to Stormbreeze who had been scouting the area for any signs of life.
"What's she doing?" Bluepaw mumbled under her breath to Sparrowpaw, who shrugged. "She's probably checking to see if there's anything to even catch here," He suggested, stepping closer to his mentor who shot upright when he came near.
"I can't seem to find any prey here, I'm not sure why. Perhaps you two can spot something," She queried, sending Bluepaw to stifle a snort. If Stormbreeze, a skilled well trained warrior, couldn't find prey, she surely couldn't. Sparrowpaw was over the moon, practically bouncing on his paws. Bluepaw could tell he loved a challenge.
He crouched to the ground, his belly fur slightly touching the grass tips as he slithered along, attempting to find any sort of prey in the distance that he could catch. He paused, ears twitching as he opened his mouth to breathe in scents. His eye widened, and he suddenly leapt, landing squarely atop a thrush that had been sitting inside a log, before masking the courage to step out into the open. Sparrowpaw whirled around, holding the thrush in between his jaws as he awaited any sort of praise from Stormbreeze, who smiled pleasantly in return.
"Fantastic! I didn't quite think there was anything here at all, I would've moved on thinking it was a lost cause if it wasn't for this thrush." She grinned enthusiastically, glancing to Grayleaf who nodded in response.
"Want to give it a try, Bluepaw?" Grayleaf asked her, turning to face his apprentice who cringed at the thought of messing up after Sparrowpaw's incredible catch. She had only caught two prey this entire past two quarter moons of her training. She was absolutely terrible, and no amount of training was helping her. Not now, and most likely not ever.
"I guess..." Bluepaw nodded, dropping to the ground beside them as she sniffed the air, copying what Sparrowpaw had done. She couldn't catch any scent, and breathlessly scrawled along the ground till she reached the log where the thrush had hopped out of earlier. She frowned, continuing to receive nothing. No strange smells or noises. She heard and smelt absolutely nothing. Lifting her head slowly, she suddenly heard the patter of pawsteps, quickly against the dark churned up soil. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of a small vole, rushing to the safety of the underbrush. Quickly, she leaped in its direction, but missed by a whisker, her paw landing directly above it as it stood shocked, before tumbling into its burrow. Bluepaw hissed under her breath in frustration, her tail and ears drooping. She could practically feel the tension as Grayleaf grew agitated with her lack of skills. While Sparrowpaw managed to catch three kills in a day, she would barely manage that in a moon by the looks of it.
"How about we hunt elsewhere for now. Maybe it's the area we're in," Stormbreeze suggested, attempting to lighten the mood. Bluepaw nodded slowly, although she knew it was hopeless. Slowly, the four of them headed off to hunt elsewhere, searching about for prey to catch. Bluepaw glanced to her mentor, who sighed in annoyance. He seemed incredibly intolerant of Bluepaw's lack of skill, but she could do nothing about it, and follow her brother as they headed to the field with the most prey in the territory.
Sparrowpaw and Bluepaw scampered into Camp, Grayleaf and Stormbreeze just behind them. Sparrowpaw ducked through a crowd of warriors to drop off the prey he had caught, and Bluepaw sat, empty-pawed, distraught and furious with herself. She was far too clumsy, with every step she scared away more and more prey. She was hopeless. After overhearing the praise Sparrowpaw received from multiple warriors, she dipped her head lower, wrapped her tail around her paws and flattened her ears against her head. Just as Owlstar began to speak from the top of High-Ledge.
"Cats of the Clan, the gathering is being held tonight with the other three Clans. We are to arrive there soon, so we need to head off at midday, when the sun is peaking over the horizon." Owlstar explained, gazing around the area to find the cats he wanted to call on to join him. "Brindlefrost, Goldentail, Jaypaw, Finchpaw, Quailfeather, Grayleaf, Stormbreeze, Sparrowpaw and Bluepaw." He decided after a couple moments, sending Bluepaw to her paws in an immediate spur of excitement. She glanced to her brother, who returned her gaze with a bounce of his paws.
"Both of you can go ahead and eat something, then we'll head out to the gathering-" Stormbreeze had attempted to speak, but was quickly cut off when Owlstar flicked his tail to address something new.
"My apologizes, I've just been notified that the medicine cats would like to speak to the Clan." He announced, before taking a step back to allow the two medicine cats to join him atop the ledge. Rainfeather and Finchpaw padded up to face the Clan, awaiting silence before they spoke.
"We've received a message from StarClan. There has been a prophecy, explaining that multiple cats have the ability to stop what's coming. Specifically, they had said;
Look for the beings that feast on prey,
Long and far, far away
They want the young, the young so small and stray,
But only the young can make them go away.
The thistle, hidden in the wind, can sense when somethings near,
The smoke, buried deep in the shadows, can dodge the hardest punches and be ever so sheer,
The jay, strong and proud, sits on his own, in the thunder of now,
The blue, blue as a sky, can whisk you away on a clouds lullaby, predict the future using the Clan, and figure out a way to make a plan,
The moon, shone bright as can be, sits by the river, moving quickly, hearing the noises, deep in the bushes,
While the finch provides support, brings help when needed most, using StarClan's fiery help, to bring peace forever again.
Only the young may come on this journey, otherwise, no one can help,
Bring the young and only the young, or nothing will be left of the Clans again. "
Finchpaw stepped forward before speaking. "Problem is, we don't know who it is speaking of. We've told the other medicine cats, but once we know we'll notify everyone and get this quest going on as soon as possible."
Once they had finished speaking, Sparrowpaw whirled around to face Bluepaw and she immediately knew he was speculating about who it was.
"Do you know?" He asked her, and she shook her head with a twitch of her ear.
"Are you joking? Why would I know?" She asked with a snort before nudging him off to the exit where everyone was already heading to leave to the gathering.
"Alright, then," He grinned, and trotted off with Bluepaw in his wake.