Chapter 2
Waterpaw stretched in his nest, squinting against the sunlight slanting into the apprentices' cave. The den was empty, but the fresh scent in Fishpaw's nest told him he hadn't been out for long. Waterpaw sat up in his nest and began drawing a paw over his ear.
Waterpaw finished grooming and padded to the cave entrance. He could see his Clanmates gathered around Ravenflight near the Rockpile; though he couldn't hear what the deputy was saying, he knew she must be sorting patrols. A few cats were sharing fresh-kill near the edge of the camp, and Waterpaw could see Snowspots among them, sharing tongues with Mottlefur. He trotted down the zigzag path toward his mentor.
He reached the bottom and was preparing to go over to join them when he heard Duskflower's voice behind him, coming from the medicine den a fox-length away.
"She said one of our Clanmates was involved with a prophecy with cats from the other Clan, where Firestar came from."
Waterpaw stopped dead as his dream from last night came flooding back into his memory. That was him! He strained to hear the rest of the conversation.
"And she didn't say who?" That was Badgerstar's gruff mew.
"No, she said the chosen cat would know who they were. I don't know how, though." The medicine cat's mew was level—in contrast to Waterpaw, who was bursting with anticipation.
"Did she—" Badgerstar broke off. "There's some cat listening." He poked his head out of the cave. "Waterpaw! What do you think you're doing?"
Waterpaw shrunk under his glare; Badgerstar was known as a fierce leader, and he had a bad side you didn't want to see. He gulped. "I'm sorry, Badgerstar—"
"Well, you should be! Nothing about this conversation concerns you!"
Waterpaw took a deep breath. Now was the time to say it. "Actually...kind of it does," he mewed timidly.
"What do you mean?" Duskflower bustled out of her den. "What do you mean?" she repeated, not thinking of anything better to say.
"Well, I had this...dream last night..."
"Out with it," Badgerstar growled.
Duskflower glared at the black-and-white furred leader—something only she could ever get away with. "Let him take as long as he needs."
Badgerstar glared back, but didn't say anything more as Waterpaw nervously continued with his story.
"Well, Owlstare came to me...and she told me I was part of a prophecy. She said I needed to help ThunderClan, and fulfill a prophecy with four other cats." This is no good! Anything I'm saying now, I could have heard from their conversation!
Badgerstar clearly thought the same. "He's just repeating what he heard," he scoffed. "He never had that dream."
"...And she said I had some special power, and so did the other four cats. And that I had to head due north to find them," Waterpaw finished, hoping the new details he'd recalled would convince the leader and medicine cat that he'd really had the dream.
Badgerstar looked at Duskflower, as though looking for confirmation. She nodded.
"That's exactly what she said. I think he's telling the truth."
"If you've got some kind of special power," Badgerstar meowed to Waterpaw, "perhaps you'd be kind enough to show us."
Waterpaw stared up at the leader in dismay. "I don't know what it is!"
"That's alright," Duskflower soothed, shooting a glare at Badgerstar as though daring him to make another remark. Waterpaw marveled at her courage.
"But how am I supposed to fulfill a prophecy when I don't know what my power is?"
"That's what we're going to find out."
"So I can really go on that journey?"
Badgerstar spoke up. "Not yet. It's your first day as an apprentice; you need to learn to defend yourself first."
Waterpaw felt his paws itching as though to march out of camp this minute, but "not yet" was promising. He hoped that it wouldn't be too long—and that Badgerstar wouldn't change his mind. "Okay," he meowed. "So what do I do for now?"
"For right now, go find something to eat. We'll discuss this later."
"Okay." Waterpaw dipped his head to the broad-shouldered leader and trotted toward the pile of prey. Even with leaf-fall approaching, it was well-stocked. They'd had a great season for prey this year. Waterpaw chose a thrush and brought it to the edge of the clearing, thoughts of going out for training completely pushed from his mind.
He tore a mouthful of feathers from the bird to expose the raw pink meat underneath, and took a bite of the juicy flesh. He hoped that the good hunting would keep up for a bit longer. Hopefully leaf-bare wouldn't be too harsh this year.
Then he had a guilty thought. I might not be around for leaf-bare this year. Could he really abandon his Clanmates to go off into the unknown? He didn't even know these cats who supposedly needed his help!
He recalled Owlstare's words: "Your destiny is far greater than your role in the Clan." But what could be greater than his loving Clanmates, his duty to SkyClan, the vast territory that was now his to explore?
Suddenly an achingly familiar scent wreathed around him. "Oh, Waterpaw," his mother murmured in his ear, "more than you know. The world is far bigger than SkyClan's borders, and it's your job to seek your destiny outside them." Then the familiar presence disappeared all too soon.
"Wait!" Waterpaw called into empty air. There were so many things he had to ask her.
"Who?" The voice sounded behind him, making him jump a mile high.
The pale-furred apprentice spun around to find himself face-to-face with his father. He relaxed. "Mudtail! You startled me."
The brown tabby warrior's whiskers twitched. "I could tell. Who were you talking to?"
"Oh, um—nobody."
Mudtail gave him a 'do you really think I'm that stupid, now what are you hiding' look. "It didn't sound like nobody."
Waterpaw shifted uncomfortably under his yellow gaze. He wasn't sure why exactly, but he didn't feel like it would be a good idea to tell any cat about his dream. But this wasn't the dream, he reminded himself. There's no reason to lie about seeing my mother.
"Owlstare," he mewed.
His father's gaze softened. "I miss your mother as much as you do," he meowed softly, "but she's dead now. We have to move on."
"But she's in StarClan now! I was talking to her!"
"What'd she say?"
"Umm..." I knew it'd be a death trap! What do I tell him? "That's kind of between me and her," he tried.
"Oh. Well, I'm glad you saw her."
Waterpaw couldn't read his father's expression. Did he believe he'd seen his mother at all? At least he wasn't pressing for details. Still, Waterpaw was eager to change the subject. "I need to go find Snowspots."
"Of course. Don't forget your thrush, though," Mudtail added, prodding the half-eaten piece of fresh-kill at Waterpaw's feet.
Waterpaw had completely forgotten about the thrush. He quickly gulped down the remaining meat and bounded over to his mentor, who was chatting with Yarrowflower. She turned her head as the pale gray apprentice approached.
"Ready to go?" she asked.
"Yep."
"Let's go, then." Snowspots trotted toward the zigzag path out of camp, stopping for a moment to make sure Waterpaw was coming. The apprentice bounded up the side of the gorge after his mentor, pausing to scratch his ear with his hind paw.
"How about I teach you some battle moves?" Snowspots suggested, leaping lightly onto the last rocky ledge and out onto the open ridge. "What do you say?"
"Yes!" Waterpaw scrambled up after her, all thoughts of his dream or the looming journey driven from his mind. The meadow was quiet today, the cool air undisturbed by any breeze. He followed his mentor along the ridge, a few fox-lengths from the edge of the cliff.
They reached the forest quickly; the trees closed around them, the sunlight illuminating their bright orange and yellow leaves overhead and dappling the leaf-strewn ground. Waterpaw could hear a starling's distant alarm call. A bush exploded into a flurry of motion as a flock of sparrows heard the cats' movement through the forest.
"Okay, let's stop here," Snowspots meowed after a while. "Attack me."
"Just like that?"
The gray-and-white she-cat nodded. "I'll see what you can do, and then give you suggestions on how to improve your technique."
"Okay." Waterpaw narrowed his eyes and darted for her shoulder, leaping at her in an attempt to hook her fur in his half-sheathed claws, but she darted to one side and lashed out a paw, hooking Waterpaw's paws from under him. He landed face-first and lay sprawled in the dust, coughing.
"You okay?" Snowspots checked.
Waterpaw nodded and scrambled to his paws. "Yeah, I'm—" He sneezed loudly. "I'm fine."
"Good. Now, the main problem is that you were looking right where you were aiming. In a battle, your enemy would know where you're going to attack and be ready. And that's the other issue: don't give me time to think."
The gray-furred tom nodded, trying to take in all the information at once. Okay, I can do that. He looked at his mentor's flank but aimed for her shoulder as he raced at her. Then something occurred to him: This is what she just told me to do. This is what she's expecting. So what if I do the opposite of what she says?
He changed course at the last moment and aimed for her flank, where he was looking. Snowspots had hopped out of the way of where he'd been going, but he slammed into her side and had his jaws around her scruff in moments.
"Good," she panted. "I wasn't expecting that."
Waterpaw beamed. "I knew you'd be expecting me to go somewhere else, since it's what you just told me to do. So I did the opposite."
"That was good thinking. Of course, your enemy hopefully won't already know what you're going to do, so that won't always work."
"I know. But the main point right now is to beat you, isn't it?"
"True," Snowspots purred. "Alright, let's see what else you can do. Here's a move you might find useful..."
