Wolf's Dream
Chapter 4: The First Gathering
Wolfpaw's POV
-ooo-
I woke up, yet again, early. I slept peacefully, and I imagine that the fresh air must have done me some good. The other apprentices were still sleeping, so I started grooming my fur.
Once I finished with that, I went outside and felt the sunlight hit my silver pelt. I found my mentor near the entrance and walked over to her. She was eating a piece that she ripped off of a finch. I sat down in front of Leafstar and greeted her.
"Hello, Leafstar. What are we going to do today?" I asked her.
"We are going to do some more hunting and I'll teach you some battle moves. Before we go though, have a piece of the finch," my mentor responded.
I nodded and took a piece of the finch that lay in front of her. I quickly ate it and hurried Leafstar. She laughed at me and ate the rest of the finch. We walked out of camp and went to an area full of prey.
"Hey Leafstar," I said, remembering what Shadowpaw said to me yesterday, "am I going to the Gathering today?"
"Well, if you do good today then you can go!" Leafstar responded.
We continued walking, but I suddenly stopped. I caught the scent of a rabbit. I told Leafstar, but she said that it was too fast.
Me, being the me I am, ignored her and ran after the rabbit. The rabbit spotted me and started running, but my paws were sturdy and I was actually pretty fast. I caught up to the rabbit and pounced on it.
The said prey almost escaped, but with a quick bite to the neck, it died. I sat down and took a few deep breaths; running tired me out.
I heard Leafstar's paws running toward me and I turned around. Sure enough, Leafstar was there. She started talking, but in the middle of the lecture, Reedleaf trotted up to us.
"Good morning, Leafstar and Wolfpaw!" She said cheerfully. Leafstar nodded and I copied her.
However, when Reedleaf turned her eyes on me, her voice became soft and turned into a whisper, and she said, "The five clans are in danger - the ones with the gleaming eyes and red fur are ready to come. There is only one beacon of hope; the one who runs with them…"
When she finished talking, she looked at me weirdly and walked away. I dismissed her behavior (isn't every medicine cat like that?), but I kept thinking about what she said. I was, by no means, daft, yet I couldn't figure out what she meant.
Leafstar turned to me, and apparently forgot her lecture, because she walked away and flicked her tail for me to follow.
"Since you caught a rabbit, - with sheer, dumb luck - we'll just start practicing battle techniques. Get the rabbit and we'll bury it near the training clearing."
I nodded and did what my mentor told me to do.
-ooo-
After a few hours or so, I finished training. Leafstar taught me some SkyClan battle skills and some that she was taught by other cats. I trained until I was a bit above average and Leafstar praised me.
So, I asked her the same question I asked her in the morning: "Leafstaaaaaar, I started, dragging out the 'a', "May I go to the Gathering?"
"Well, you did catch a rabbit, and you did good on the battle moves so, yes, you are going to the Gathering. It is almost sundown, so sleep for a bit and eat."
I nodded, happy that I was going to the Gathering. I went to the spot where I dug my rabbit and dug it out. I picked it up and followed Leafstar back to camp.
Once we arrived at camp, I dropped the rabbit on the top of the fresh-kill pile and got a thrush. I walked over to a spot near the apprentice den and sat down.
However, before I could bite into the thrush, two cats appeared in front of me. I looked up and saw Softpaw and Slatepaw.
"Hello, Wolfpaw. Would you mind sharing that thrush with us?" Softpaw asked me.
I shook my head and the two cats sat down in front of me. I ripped two pieces off of the thrush and gave one to Softpaw, one to Slatepaw, and the other to me.
We all started eating and Slatepaw asked me, "Are you going to the Gathering today, Wolfpaw? Softpaw and I are. Gingerpaw and Stormpaw aren't, though."
"Yes, I'm going," I said shortly.
Slatepaw nodded and we went back to eating. While we were eating, we got acquainted and learned a bit about each other.
For example, I found out that Softpaw isn't as soft as she looks, Slatepaw is very clumsy, and Softpaw was originally called Marigoldkit.
We finished eating and went inside the apprentice den to sleep for a little bit. I reached my nest and went to sleep.
My head got foggy and all I saw was pitch black, but then I appeared in a pretty clearing. It was a clearing with soft grass and red and yellow flowers. Dandelions and poppies, I think. I did research on flowers for science class.
There was also tall trees surrounding the clearing and ferns. I looked around, and saw a pretty she-cat. She had soft, sleek, pale ginger fur and a slender body with pale leaf-green. I quickly recognized her as Firestar's mate, Sandstorm.
"Hello, Wolfpaw!" Sandstorm said happily.
"S-Sandstorm?" I asked, kind of nervous because she is one of my favorite characters from Warriors.
She nodded and bounded over to me, giving me a better chance to see the little stars in her pale fur. We chatted for a bit, and she was about to respond to a question that I asked her when her voice became wispy and soft and she said, "The five clans are in danger - the ones with the gleaming eyes and red fur are ready to come.
"There is only one hope; the one who runs with them."
She stopped talking and tried to tell me something. Her voice sounded urgent, but she began to fade away and I ran to her, in hope of hearing what she was saying.
Once she faded away, I woke up, panting. I took a few deep breaths to calm down and thought, "this is SO dramatic. Such a cliché! There's a prophecy from a StarClan cat and before they can warn them, they fade away."
Since I couldn't go back to sleep, I looked outside and saw that cats were lining up. I woke Softpaw and Slatepaw up and we went with the other cats.
Leafstar announced that we were leaving and I let my acquaintances say goodbye to their friends.
We started leaving and made our way to the Gathering. We crossed our territory and went to the Gathering island. The other clans were already there, they were waiting for us. They jumped down gracefully and made our way next to ShadowClan and RiverClan.
It really was a magnificent sight; the five clans all chatting, the full moon and the stars shining, the leaders and medicine cats on their branches.
Softpaw, Slatepaw, and I started walking to the other apprentices. There was about six apprentices in the group, including Shadowpaw. We introduced ourselves and the others did, too.
There was three she-cats and three toms. There was Shadowpaw, Stempaw, and Gorsepaw for the toms, and Nightpaw, Frondpaw, and Eaglepaw for the she-cats.
Frondpaw and Shadowpaw are, obviously, from ShadowClan. Stempaw and Eaglepaw are from ThunderClan, and Nightpaw and Gorsepaw are from RiverClan.
We all chatted for a bit and turned to the leaders when Leafstar started speaking.
"SkyClan is doing very well, and prey is okay. We have five new apprentices: Wolfpaw, Softpaw, Slatepaw, Stormpaw, and Gingerpaw. That is all," she said, and gracefully sat down.
Everyone cheered our name and Softpaw and Slatepaw stuck their head up, while I rolled my eyes. The rest of the Gathering continued, but I zoned out, until Tigerstar started speaking.
He said, "Scorchfur is dead! Grassheart found his body when she was out on a patrol. We think that wolves killed him."
When he said that, everybody started chattering worriedly, including Softpaw and Slatepaw. I, however, was not worried at all.
Frondpaw actually called me out because of it. She said, "Hey, Wolfpaw! How are you not worried?" Very, very loudly.
Everybody immediately stopped talking and turned towards me.
I had no choice but to answer, so I said, "I-I used to live wolves. They are really not that dangerous. Most of the prey can easily outrun wolves, because they are so small. They're like smaller and slightly more dangerous versions of dogs."
Everybody gasped and looked at me as if I was crazy. It was then that I remembered that Bluestar died because of dogs, and many others did, too.
Tigerstar then calmed everyone down and continued talking. After a while, almost everyone forgot about me. Hopefully.
The rest of the leaders talked and after they were done, we were allowed to talk some more before we left.
Slatepaw, Softpaw, and I went over to the same apprentice group we were with and talked.
Soon, Shadowpaw started boasting and said, "I'm the best apprentice in ShadowClan! I'm so good that I can be a warrior!"
Then, Slatepaw loudly interrupted, saying, "If you're so good, why aren't you warrior right now?"
It, in all honesty, sounded so witty, that I was unable to keep myself from laughing. In an attempt to stop laughing, I dug my muzzle in Slatepaw's shoulder. I clearly didn't work, as I could hear it.
I regained my composure and coughed, an obvious attempt to keep myself from getting embarrassed. Slatepaw and Softpaw smiled warmly at me and I smacked both of them with my tail.
"Slatepaw, that was for making me laugh. Softpaw, that was for having such a terribly funny brother," I said, and walked away to hang out with Twigbranch and Dewclaw.
They laughed at me and said goodbye to the other apprentices before following me. We talked with them until Leafstar called us and we left.
We quickly ran back to the camp and when we arrived, I realized how tired I was. I ate a small sparrow with Softpaw and Slatepaw and went to sleep.
Hello, everyone! Sorry it took me so long to update, but I was busy with the guide. I hope you liked the chapter! This chapter is 1,789 words long, 9,734 characters long, and 8,000 letters long (excluding spaces). A.A.-R.P. out!