"Darkkit, from this moment on until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Darkpaw," Hollyleaf meowed. The black she-cat was sitting upon a low branch, looking down at her two kits. They were outside the den, only about a few fox-lengths away, and the sun was shining down on Dewkit and Darkpaw. Darkpaw gave a nod, excitement flaring in his chest.
For the past six moons, Hollyleaf would teach her kits something new. Most of what she already taught her kits was mostly hunting, which would benefit their survival. "Dewkit, from this moment on until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Dewpaw," Hollyleaf finished. Dewpaw nodded, and Darkpaw felt a little taller next to his brother. Both Hollyleaf and he knew that Dewpaw was pretty small, but it didn't seem to affect him too much. Darkpaw's paws itched to explore more of the territory, like Hollyleaf had told them she would do. They had never wandered far from their den, as Hollyleaf wanted them to be able to escape to a safe place just in case they were attacked by a fox, badger, or the occasional rogue.
"Dewpaw," Hollyleaf meowed, turning to Darkpaw's brother. "I want you to do a hunting patrol while I show Darkpaw the territory. You know where to get some prey near here." Hollyleaf's green eyes gleamed, looking proudly down at Dewpaw. "Also, remember, queens and elders first, so don't eat. Although there are no elders and I am no longer a queen, don't eat until we get back. Once I finish showing Darkpaw the territory, we'll come back and eat the prey you catch."
Dewpaw let out another nod, still being quiet, and went into the forest. His ears were already prepared for the sounds of prey, and he was already sniffing around for the next piece of fresh-kill for the family. Darkpaw watched Dewpaw leave, the small gray tom disappearing in the undergrowth.
"Let's go, Darkpaw," Hollyleaf meowed, jumping down from the small branch she had sat upon to give the apprentice ceremony. "Time to actually show you the territory." Darkpaw leaped to his paws silently, excited to actually see the entire territory Hollyleaf had claimed. The dark apprentice felt ready to actually explore farther than Hollyleaf had originally permitted him to go.
The black she-cat went into the bushes, and Darkpaw followed contently. They began to jump over fallen logs and go through the forest for what seemed like a long time, until Hollyleaf stopped. Hollyleaf had explained a few moons earlier that it was procedure for her to show Darkpaw and Dewpaw the territory when they became apprentices. Although, later, Dewpaw hadn't seemed to care about Hollyleaf's desire to keep the warrior code that they were being taught.
Darkpaw did, he didn't want to let his own mother down for any reason. He probably wouldn't even care if he found out she killed someone, he would follow, because he wanted to be loyal. Darkpaw stopped behind Hollyleaf, and looked on the ground. A small claw mark was on the ground, and Darkpaw wondered why Hollyleaf would stop at such a simple scratch in the earth.
"See this mark?" Hollyleaf asked Darkpaw, who nodded, feeling a little confused. "This shows the extent of our territory, and any cats who cross these lines and our scent markers will be warned." Hollyleaf's green eyes turned dark for a moment, and Darkpaw watched her unsheathe her claws. "If they don't leave, we protect our territory with everything we have." Darkpaw watched with fascination, and Hollyleaf left a scent marker, showing Darkpaw how to do it. "When we get to the next scratch, leave your own scent marker. The scent will let opposing rogues and loners that this is our territory and not to cross it."
Darkpaw followed his mother again, heading left of the first claw scratch. She definitely wants to defend this territory, Darkpaw thought, and noticed the next claw scratch. Hollyleaf let him do his own scent mark, and when he was done, they kept travelling. Then his mother took a turn towards the center of the territory.
Wondering what she was going to show him this time, Darkpaw followed closely. After a few heart-beats, the two dark cats entered a small clearing. Hollyleaf's green eyes landed on Darkpaw, and he felt as if he was going to be the center of attention for whatever was going to happen next.
Hollyleaf turned her body towards him. "This is where we are going to train you and Dewpaw in battle moves," Hollyleaf meowed. A small, challenging gleam entered her eye, and the wind began to pick up. "I want you to attack me," Hollyleaf smiled, "show me what you got."
She's small and fast, Darkpaw assessed his situation. If Hollyleaf wanted him to attack her, he wasn't going to attack without knowing what he was getting into first. I'll have her dodge my first attack and nip her from behind, Darkpaw decided.
"I'm waiting," Hollyleaf challenged. Darkpaw leaped forward, and Hollyleaf sidestepped him. Good, Darkpaw thought, turning around and nipping Hollyleaf's hind leg. He could tell Hollyleaf was surprised, and when she turned around, Darkpaw lifted his paw and tripped Hollyleaf. Hollyleaf rolled to get back to her paws, and she quickly rolled Darkpaw onto his back, and she kept her paw at his throat. "You're fast," Hollyleaf meowed, her smile telling Darkpaw that this was definitely a good thing. "That's good, you're going to need to be fast to live in this world." Hollyleaf got off Darkpaw, letting him get up. "But being fast doesn't mean you're necessarily strong," Hollyleaf continued. Darkpaw felt a little disappointed, and Hollyleaf seemed to have noticed. "Don't worry," she smiled towards him. "I'll make you strong one day, and you and Dewpaw will be the strongest warriors."
Hollyleaf turned around, as if she purposefully turned away and she mumbled something that Darkpaw didn't catch. It's probably nothing, Darkpaw thought to himself, letting out a small sigh. Just follow her orders, it will be best for me and our warrior code that we live by.
Hollyleaf flicked her tail to let Darkpaw know to follow her. He did so, and followed her back to camp. "You're awfully quiet," Hollyleaf commented to Darkpaw. "Something wrong?"
Darkpaw shook his head, and decided to speak. "No, Hollyleaf," he meowed. "You just taught Dewpaw and me that silence can keep us alive." His mother nodded, and Darkpaw felt a little glad she didn't press. It's not like he has problems, it was just that for some reason, he didn't feel comfortable. Shaking the feeling away, he felt his stomach growl with hunger.
His mother glanced at him, then meowed, "We're almost back."
It didn't take long to get back to the den entrance, where Darkpaw noticed a small pile of fresh-kill next to the entrance. Dewpaw was sitting a few fox-lengths away, looking at the pile of prey he had caught, and Darkpaw could hear Dewpaw's stomach growling with hunger. Hollyleaf looked at Dewpaw, then turned to Darkpaw. "You eat first, I'll go talk to Dewpaw real quick and join you to eat."
Darkpaw nodded, and grabbed a piece of prey, and began to eat it. He was about to watch Dewpaw and Hollyleaf's conversation but they had already started to come back towards him, each picking a piece of prey. There was still enough left over for another meal later. Dewpaw really did do a nice job, Darkpaw thought, still eating.
Looking over to Hollyleaf, he realized she was reminiscing in another memory of the clans. This happened quite often, especially lately. He looked over to Dewpaw, who was eating the mouse he caught quickly, trying to satisfy his hunger. I will be better than Dewpaw at everything, Darkpaw thought to himself, silently chuckling. No doubt, I can be better than my brother…
Dewpaw at the last of his prey, and buried the bones at the edge of the clearing when Hollyleaf motioned for him to come over. He went over to the black she-cat, wondering what she wanted. "Follow me," Hollyleaf meowed, and Dewpaw nodded. Hollyleaf padded away, and Dewpaw followed, feeling small compared to his mother. That's because I am, Dewpaw thought to himself, feeling a little angry at his small size and build.
Hollyleaf had brought Dewpaw to the training grounds that she had brought Darkpaw earlier. Dewpaw could smell Darkpaw's fresh scent, and realized the two seemed to have fought here. Then Hollyleaf meowed, "Attack me."
Without thinking, Dewpaw launched straight for his first attack. He kept his claws unsheathed, and as Hollyleaf sidestepped him, Dewpaw reached out with his claws, striking Hollyleaf's shoulder. Hollyleaf turned towards Dewpaw, but the only thing she had to do was laugh. Dewpaw had landed in the small stream nearby, and his entire pelt was completely wet now.
Standing, Dewpaw shook his pelt to get most of the water off and he padded out of the small stream, irritated and cold. The wind was still picking up, and it made him colder. Shivering, he looked at Hollyleaf, still feeling proud that he was able to hit Hollyleaf before embarrassingly landing in the water.
"You know," Hollyleaf started, "From where I used to live, a clan called Riverclan had the best swimmers. I'll have to teach you and Darkpaw how to swim at some point."
"But this stream isn't big enough," Dewpaw protested, wondering where else Hollyleaf could teach them how to swim.
"Maybe for Darkpaw," Hollyleaf meowed, making a joke about Dewpaw's small size.
Dewpaw scoffed. "Ha, very funny," he retorted.
Hollyleaf chuckled. "I'm joking, seriously," she meowed, keeping her smile. "There is a river I had to cross just beyond our territory," she explained. "I'll teach you to swim over there." Dewpaw nodded, and looked at Hollyleaf's shoulder, which was bleeding.
"Are you okay?" He asked Hollyleaf. She looked at her shoulder and laughed.
"I'm fine," she purred after a couple heart-beats. "Doesn't hurt too much, Darkpaw didn't even draw blood during our training session." Dewpaw felt a little proud of himself, and then he looked at his white forepaw, and noticed the blood on it from when he scratched Hollyleaf.
That's a deep red, Dewpaw thought to himself. "Looks kind of like the blood of my prey," he mumbled, and realized he said it out loud.
"What was that?" Hollyleaf asked, looking at Dewpaw.
Putting his paw back down after examining it, Dewpaw looked at Hollyleaf. "Nothing," he replied. "Just speaking to myself." Dewpaw wondered if Hollyleaf did hear him though, as she did have pretty sharp hearing. Dewpaw rarely got away with saying something.
Except all Hollyleaf said was, "Alright, I won't press." She began to pad away. "I'll show you the territory, like I did with Darkpaw."
It didn't take long for Hollyleaf to show Dewpaw the extent of their territory. Dewpaw was confused about the claw marks at first, just like Darkpaw was, but after getting an explanation, it made sense to him now. When Hollyleaf wasn't looking, he'd look at his white paw, lost in thought about what he did to Hollyleaf. When they returned to the den, Hollyleaf grabbed some herbs from their small store and cleaned her wound up.
Dewpaw sat next to Darkpaw at the edge of the clearing, and Hollyleaf sat on the small branch she normally sat on, looking towards the sky which was growing darker and darker as the heart-beats passed. Dewpaw flicked a leaf away with his paw, which was white now that the water had washed it all off from his little fall.
"You actually injured Hollyleaf?" Darkpaw meowed, sounding somewhat surprised and impressed. "I take it training went well for you then," Darkpaw meowed, looking back towards the sky.
"Yeah, I heard you didn't even draw blood," Dewpaw meowed. Darkpaw looked a little embarrassed, and Dewpaw meowed, "It's fine, besides, you're probably going to be better at fighting than I will. I'm small, what could I do?"
Darkpaw then looked at Dewpaw with flaring yellow eyes. "You could do so much!" He protested. "You're small, so you're less of a target for the opponent to hit, and you don't have so much weighing you down. You'll be fast and deadly!" Dewpaw sighed, and decided to ignore Darkpaw. His heart told him it was bad to draw blood from a cat he knew, one he loved, unless it was necessary.
Dewpaw was the first to go into the den and into his own nest to sleep for the night. But sleep didn't come easily, and Dewpaw didn't fall asleep until Hollyleaf and Darkpaw came in for the night. The moon was already high in the sky, and Dewpaw's dreams were filled with a horrific feeling. One of dread, guilt, pain, and Dewpaw awoke in the middle of the night with fear gripping at him.
An image in his mind stood out among his dreams. A gray tom floating away in a river towards a large body of water, blood loosely trailing behind him.
And a question entered Dewpaw's mind.
Am I going to kill?
-AN-
Don't forget to comment/review!
Also, this will probably be the shortest chapter in this story, as I like to keep each chapter above 2700 words and I didn't make that goal like I wanted to, but every story has its short chapters, right?