AN: I hope you liked the last chapter, and thank you to Niah, and .Amberleaf. the ONLY people who reviewed. If you could, please take the small amount of time needed to review. They even have the nice, pretty, big green button now. Hope you like this chapter!
"Now, how about we practice stalking?" Foxheart asked as Fawnpaw returned her attention to him.
Fawnpaw's eyes brightened, "Yes!"
Foxheart's whiskers twitched before he meowed, "The first thing you need to know is a rabbit will smell you before he sees you, but a mouse will feel you pawsteps before he smells you. So when you hunt rabbits you...?" Foxheart trailed off, waiting for an answer..
"Stay downwind?" Fawnpaw guessed after a few heartbeats.
"Very good.." the red tom nodded "And mice?"
"Light pawsteps." Fawnpaw replied with out hesitation.
"Exactly. Now try it."
The light ginger apprentice dropped into a hunting crouch, her belly fur touching the sandy ground as she began to creep forward and across the hollow. Her pawsteps were light and silent and she was delighted when her muscles responded smoothly to the action.
"All of your weight is on the right, Fawnpaw." Foxheart meowed to her. "Try to balance it."
She tried to do as Foxheart told her before he called her back over to him.
"Well done." her mentor purred. " That's enough for today. Why don't you and Birchpaw go see if Lostear has anything for you to do."
Fawnpaw dipped her head, and she and Birchpaw left the sandy hollow together.
When they got to the camp, the two apprentices went directly to the hollowed out log that served as the elder's den.
"Well, hello young Birchpaw, Fawnpaw," Dappletail mewed as the two apprentices come towards the elders.
"Hello Dappletail." Birchpaw meowed respectfully. "Do you have anything that you need us to do?"
"Now that you mention it, I could use some new bedding." Lostear said in his gruff voice.
"I'll get you some!" Fawnpaw spoke up and dashed out of camp. When she got back, her mouth full of moss, Birchpaw was gone.
"Thank you, Fawnpaw." Lostear meowed as the ginger apprentice lay down the moss.
"Birchpaw's out hunting." Dappletail told her. "Tell me, have you ever heard the story of how Ashstar became leader?"
Fawnpaw shook her head before laying down to listen.
Later Birchpaw arrived with three mice and a vole for the elders, and Burntpaw came with him. They too listened.
The three apprentices left the elder's den when the story was finished, and the evening patrol was just coming back.
Burntpaw and Fawnpaw shared a mouse by the tree stump outside their den.
"So, did you and Duststripe meet any other cats?" Fawnpaw asked her friend.
"We met a RiverClan patrol," Burntpaw mewed brightly, "They weren't too friendly, but Duststripe said it was because I told them that they smelled funny."
Fawnpaw let out a loud mrrow of amusement. Leave it to Burntpaw to tell a patrol of RiverClan warriors that they smelled funny.
"Foxheart and I met a kittypet on the edge of Twoleg place. Her name was Scout," Fawnpaw meowed.
"I couldn't imagine living like a kittypet." Burntpaw shuddered at the thought. "All those twolegs..."
"That's not even the worst part!" Fawnpaw exclaimed, excited to share her new-found knowledge on kittypet life. "Foxheart told me more about it..."
Almost a week later, Fawnpaw was in the Training Hollow with Foxheart, Duststripe, and Burntpaw.
"Now, before I show you any 'real' fighting moves, I want to see how much your instincts tell you." Foxheart said as he sat a few tail lengths away from his apprentice. "So attack me."
Fawnpaw blinked slowly before crouching down and beginning to study Foxheart's posture. The muscles in his fore-legs were tensed as if he was ready to spring onto his hindlegs. The most obvious thing to do would be to leap on his shoulders, but if she did that, she would fly right into his waiting paws. If she leaped at his chest however...
Foxheart's eyes followed hers, and Fawnpaw looked directly at her mentor's shoulders before launching herself at him.
As Fawnpaw had expected, Foxheart stood on his hindlegs, waiting for her. But instead of landing in his paws, like he expected, Fawnpaw barreled into his belly. The two cats wrestled in the soft sand for a few heartbeats, before Foxheart pinned her down.
"Excellent, Fawnpaw. Truly excellent." the red tom meowed, slightly winded. "I wasn't expecting that at all."
Fawnpaw stood and shook her pelt free of sand. "Really?" she asked, tail twitching.
"Yes." Foxheart responded just as Duststripe turned to Burntpaw.
"See? Now it's your turn."
Burntpaw did well also, leaping unimaginatively at Duststripe's shoulders, but putting up a good fight.
The two mentors and apprentices practiced more before hunting. Burntpaw was turning into quite the hunter, Fawnpaw almost as good as her friend.
A moon and a half later, Birchpaw, Burntpaw, and Fawnpaw were sitting outside the apprentice's den just before sunhigh, sharing a rabbit.
"So what happened at the gathering last night?" Fawnpaw asked Birchpaw. The light tabby tom had gone, unlike she and Burntpaw.
"Nothing much." Birchpaw shrugged. "Heatherstar, the old WindClan leader died. Larkstar is the leader now, and she seems nice enough. Ashstar confronted Featherstar, the RiverClan leader, about prey-stealing. Of course she denied it, and Russetstar stood by her."
"You call that 'nothing much'?" Fawnpaw snorted.
"Russetstar is the ShadowClan leader, right?" Burntpaw asked and Birchpaw nodded.
"Did you see that Wolfsong moved into the nursery?" Fawnpaw questioned.
"Yes, I wonder when her kits will come." Burntpaw said.
"Well, do you two want to go hunting, or sit here gossiping like a couple of elders all day?" Birchpaw asked as he stood and began to make his way to the gorse tunnel.
Fawnpaw and Burntpaw scrambled to their paws and chased after their denmate, not wanting to get left behind.
"We were just curious," Burntpaw sniffed. "I'm no elder."
The three apprentices pushed out of the gorse tunnel, racing each other up the ravine, heading towards sunning rocks.
Suddenly, Burntpaw stopped and the other two blew past her before turning back.
"What's wrong?" Fawnpaw asked
"Do you smell RiverClan?" the dark brown she-cat demanded.
"It smells funny, alright." Burntpaw meowed solemnly, then purred.
"Yes." Fawnpaw mewed seriously after tasting the air, flicking Burntpaw on the shoulder. "But we're nowhere near the border yet."
"ShadowClan too." Birchpaw hissed, "But not as strong. Maybe only three or four cats."
"What if ThunderClan is under attack?" Fawnpaw hissed anxiously, peering through the trees to where she could just barely see a large patrol of cats slinking stealthily in between trees.
"Back to camp." Birchpaw ordered quietly. "We have to warn Ashstar!"
The three nodded and launched themselves back towards camp as fast as their paws could carry them. Burntpaw blew past the other two apprentices, her paws pounding the earth much faster than Birchpaw or Fawnpaw could go. Once Fawnpaw had leaped down the ravine, Burntpaw had already broken into camp, and was relaying the disturbing message.
"RiverClan." she meowed quickly, "and Birchpaw scented three or four ShadowClan cats."
Ashstar nodded gravely. "Well done, all three of you. Burntpaw, see if you can find Nightflame's patrol, as quick as you can."
Burntpaw dipped her head before dashing back out of camp.
Only heartbeats after the dark brown apprentice left, the RiverClan patrol pushed through the tunnel. Ashstar let out a fierce battle cry and lept at Fishpool, the RiverClan deputy.
For this to be her first glimpse of the other Clans, Fawnpaw had to admit, she wasn't that impressed. She lept at a large gray cat, hissing.
The tom was ready for her and swiped his claws at her chest. Fawnpaw avoided his attack and lept onto his back, clawing at his shoulders, her teeth sinking into the side of his neck.
The RiverClan apprentice yowled in rage before rolling onto his back, crushing Fawnpaw into the hard-packed sand that made up the camp floor. The tom then pinned her, his fangs dangerously close to her throat. Fawnpaw clawed at his belly frantically until he screeched and finally let her go. Almost at once, however, a RiverClan warrior pinned her under one huge paw.
Fawnpaw began to hyperventalate, attempting to move the warrior's paw off of her as his claws dug into her belly. The tom then picked her up by the scruff of her neck and shook her violently. The terrible sting in her neckfur was enough to make her yowl in agony, her limbs flailing uselessly at the air.
The camp, filled with chaotic battles flashed before her eyes, and Fawnpaw just knew that this warrior was going to kill her.
Then, suddenly, the warrior's fangs vanished, and she fell to the ground. After a few heartbeats, Fawnpaw's head cleared, though it and her neck wound throbbed to her heartbeat. She hobbled to a standing position and saw the light brown tom laying a few tail lenghts away, turned and looked for the cat that had saved her, but strangely, the only ThunderClan cat anywhere near her was Cinderclaw, who was locked in a vicious battle with a dark ginger tabby ShadowClan tom.
The ginger tabby had sunk his teeth into Cinderclaw's throat, so Fawnpaw lept in to help despite her own pain. She pulled the ShadowClan warrior's head back, and away from her Clanmate's throat. Cinderclaw scrambled to his paws and found another cat to fight with, that wasn't quite so dangerous. Something in the back of her mind had told Fawnpaw not to attack this cat, but she did anyway, clawing at his sides. The dark ginger tom hissed and shook her off of his back and onto the ground, pinning the light ginger apprentice under two of his massive paws.
But as soon as he saw her, the ShadowClan warrior's eyes widened in surprise and fear, and his paws lifted off of her swiftly, claws sheathed. One of the paws that had pinned her down not two heartbeats ago, now gently pushed her away. The dark ginger tabby then lept back into the heart of the fray.
Fawnpaw stared after him, confused, amazed, and surprised. Those feelings were cut off abrubtly as a loud wail exited the nursery.
Fawnpaw bounded over to it, weaving in between fighting cats to reach the brambles that protected the nursery entrance. Burntpaw met her there, apperently having found Nightflame's patrol.
Inside, Spottedwing and Cloudflight were fighting two RiverClan warriors, while Wolfsong and the elders were protecting Stormkit and Sunkit near the back. Fawnpaw rushed to fight at Spottedwing's side while Burntpaw went to Cloudflight.
Fawnpaw tried to land her claws or teeth in the she-cat's throat that she was fighting, but the anguish of her wounds was over-coming the adrenaline. It didn't help that the light gray warrior was fast, and she avoided all of Fawnpaw's attacks, until Spottedwing sank her claws into one of her legs and Fawnpaw was able to leap onto the RiverClan cat's neck. The she-cat hissed, shook Spottedwing off, and threw Fawnpaw across the nursery. The ginger apprentice's landing was hard, but thankfully the floor was soft. Before she could even scramble to her paws, Spottedwing screeched furiously and slashed her sharp claws across the warrior's face.
The she-cat yowled in agony and raced blindly out of the nursery.
"Stay here, Fawnpaw," Spottedwing mewled hoarsely. "You're too hurt to fight anymore! You shouldn't push yourself!"
Fawnpaw was about to shake her head at the spotted golden she-cat's words, but just then, Ashstar yowled to summon the Clan. Fawnpaw stood and limped out of the nursery with Burntpaw at her side when they heard Ashstar yowl.
All of the RiverClan and ShadowClan cats were gone, but there were holes in the camp wall where they had made their escape. Ashstar was on the Highrock, staring out at his warriors.
"You all did well today." he meowed. " No doubt that RiverClan won't attack us again in the near future." His pale blue eyes fell on Birchpaw, who was sitting off to one side, wiping one paw over a bloody ear.
"Birchpaw, you have done well in the battle today. Come here." the gray leader beconed the light tabby apprentice..
Birchpaw was missing clumps of fur from his shoulders and sides, and one of his ears now sported a deep nick in a V shape. He padded over to where Ashstar stood at the base of the highrock and sat in front of him, his head bowed.
"I, Ashstar, leader of ThunderClan call upon my warrior ancestors to look down on this apprentice. He has trained hard to understand the ways of you nobel code, and I commend him to you as a warrior in his turn."
Ashstar stared down at the apprentice, "Birchpaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect and defend this Clan, even at the cost of your life?"
"I do." Birchpaw mewed quietly, but clearly.
"Then by the powers of StarClan, I grant you your warrior name. Birchpaw, from this moment you will be known as Birchfur. StarClan honors your loyalty and your courage and we welcome you as a full warrior of ThunderClan."
Ashstar rested his muzzle on Birchfur's head, and the newest warrior licked his shoulder respectfully, before taking his seat next to Leafcloud.
"Birchfur! Birchfur!" the Clan yowled, congratulating the light tabby warrior.
Almost as soon as the ceremony was over, Burntpaw and Spottedwing forced Fawnpaw to Ambertail's den.
The medicine cat scolded the light ginger apprentice for not coming to her sooner as she pressed cobwebs and a poultice of goldenrod and marigold onto the deep bite marks on her neck, and her belly.
All through this, Snowpaw sat back slightly, watching her mentor work. Spottedwing had gone back to the nursery after making sure Fawnpaw was alright, and Burntpaw was waiting for her turn, as were Duststripe, Cinderclaw, Tawnyfeather, and Swiftfoot.
As soon as Ambertail let her go, Fawnpaw went out into the clearing, her injuries still stinging. She thouhgt that she had done well for her first fight, but that dark ginger tabby was still bothering her. Why had he acted like that? Perhaps it was because she was only an apprentice? This thought settled her mind somewhat, but she decided to try and consult Ashstar with it. Fawnpaw padded stiffly over to the leader's den. She poked her head through the curtain of lichen and saw Nightflame, the deputy, talking quietly with the dark gray leader.
"Ashstar, can I speak to you for a moment?" Fawnpaw asked meekly, bobbing her head in the slightest of respectful nods.
The deputy and the leader looked up.
"Of course, Fawnpaw. Come in," the leader meowed beckoning her in with his tail.
"I'll see to the camp walls tomorrow." Nightflame dipped her head as she padded out of the den.
"So what's bothering you, Fawnpaw?" Ashstar asked seeing her troubled expression. "From what I've heard you did well in the battle today."
"During the battle, I was fighting a RiverClan warrior. He had picked me up and was shaking me really hard, but then, he just disappeared. I look up a few moments later and he was laying two tail lenghts away, dazed. The only ThunderClan cat anywhere near me was Cinderclaw, and he was battling a dark ginger tabby ShadowClan warrior." Fawnpaws troubled amber eyes met Ashstar's pale blue.
"A-and that's not all," she continued. "I leapt over to help Cinderclaw, and then this ShadowClan tom shook me off and had me pinned. But all of a sudden he sheathed his claws, let me up and pushed me away from him before going back to the fight. I just don't understand it!"
"And what did this cat look like?" Ashstar asked, almost inaudibly.
" A dark ginger tabby ShadowClan tom." Fawnpaw informed him, picturing the monsterous-sized cat in her mind.
Ashstar didn't say anything for a long time, but when he did speak, it was slowly and carefully as if he was holding something back.
"That warrior was one of the more civilized ShadowClan cats. He doesn't like to fight apprentices."
Fawnpaw dipped her head, thanking the leader, even though she knew he was hiding something from her. She left Ashstar's den and went to her own nest, exahusted after the day's battle.
AN: Well there you have it. PLEASE, PLEASE REVEIW!!!!