Thanks for the reviews, I appreciate it. I have been busy lately with homework and school and more homework... e.c.t. I'll try update when I can.
"All cats old enough to catch their own prey gather beneath my den for a clan meeting." Maplestar yowled. Darkkit's pelt tingled with excitement. Finally she thought. Now people will respect me. Darkkit looked around her, eager find out who her mentor will be. She glanced at the warriors. She would like Whisperingbracken as a mentor she decided. She was fair and a really good fighter.
"Swallowkit, Darkkit, Lionkit and Tinykit. This is a proud day for ForbiddenClan as by naming apprentices we show StarClan that we will survive and remain strong. Swallowkit, from now on until you receive your warrior name you will be known as Swallowpaw." Maplestar meowed clearly. He sister gazed up at Maplestar, waiting patiently.
"Mistystream, you are ready for another apprentice, you will be Swallowpaw's mentor. I know you will pass on your wisdom to Swallowpaw, and teach her the skills that will make her a brave warrior and a fantastic hunter."
Swallowpaw bounced towards Mistystream and met her half way she touched noses with her. Darkkit stared enviously at her sister's mentor. Mistystream was deputy and the best hunter in the Clan, no wonder she got her.
"Darkkit" Darkkit stood up straighter; her gleaming eyes surveyed the Clan. "From now on until you receive your warrior name you will be known as Darkpaw. Please be Whisperingbracken oh please be Whisperingbracken she pleaded silently.
"Sunleaves" Darkkit stared in horror at her chosen mentor who looked equally appalled. "You are ready for an apprentice; you will be Darkpaw's mentor. I know you will pass on your…" Maplestar faltered searching for a word "err….determination" Maplestar seemed satisfied "to Darkpaw, and teach her the skills that will make her a brave warrior.
Darkpaw touched noses with Sunleaves less enthusiastically than Swallowpaw and as she looked into her eyes, her worry and fear reflected back at her, but then she did have the worst possible mentor in the whole of Starclan. Darkpaw told herself that she was just being silly and that Sunleaves was probably going to be great and was a brilliant hunter and fighter. Yeah and mice will fly she thought bitterly.
Lionkit, now Lionpaw got Dustclaw as his mentor. Darkpaw snorted at the arrangement. I wonder who came up with that idea she thought as she watched her brother touch noses with her father both pairs of eyes where shining in anticipation of the coming moons.
"Cats of ForbiddenClan as you know I will not be around forever." Rabbitear spoke up from the entrance of his den "So it's time I took an apprentice. I have chosen a cat for her intelligence and willingness to learn new things. Your next medicine cat will be Tinypaw" he announced. Tinypaw stood taller and puffed out her chest in pride.
"Do you accept the post of apprentice to Rabbitear? Maplestar asked Tinypaw.
"Yes, I do" Tinypaw breathed.
"Then at the half-moon you must travel to Moon clearing to be accepted by StarClan" Rabbitear meowed.
"Swallowpaw, Lionpaw, Tinypaw" the Clan cheered. Darkpaw looked gloomily at her paws trying not to show how hurt she was when her Clan didn't cheer her name.
"Darkpaw, Darkpaw" a quiet voice chanted. Darkpaw looked up and saw her mentor cheering her name; she gave Sunleaves a small smile. Her mentor made her way towards her but Darkpaw went straight to the apprentices den. Swallowpaw and Lionpaw started chatting immediately to Honeypaw and Sagepaw, trying to arrange sleeping places. Inside the den Darkpaw scraped together little bits of moss that was lying on the outside and made a loose nest at the back of the trunk where no one would bother her.
"Darkpaw" Sunleaves called. Darkpaw looked back at her nest. She could fix it up later. Grumbling, she walked out.
"Have fun with your mentor, I'm sure you'll have a great time" Raggedpaw sniggered as she passed him. Sunleaves was notoriously known for being exceptionally bad at everything. Darkpaw trudged to her mentor who was waiting impatiently for her near the entrance. Darkpaw saw Lionpaw, Raggedpaw and Swallowpaw leave the camp with their mentors.
"Are we going to train with them" she asked Sunleaves hopefully. Sunleaves followed her gaze to the three young cats.
"No" she meowed "I am going to show you how to hunt, but first I will show you the territory" when Darkpaw started to protest Sunleaves hit her sharply with her tail.
"Don't question me" she growled.
Sunleaves walked out with Darkpaw trailing after her, her tail drooping.
Sunleaves picked up the pace and raced through the forest along a well-trodden path and Darkpaw had to sprint to keep her in sight. She kept her mouth open and the forest scents rushed in. A musky scent made her mouth water but Sunleaves did not stop to follow it. Soon it was gone, and Sunleaves stopped abruptly so that Darkpaw almost crashed into her.
"You see that tree" she pointed to a great huge oak with her tail, sorting herself out she looked up at the tree, she had to crane her neck skywards to see the top of it.
"Wow" she breathed.
"That tree has been here since the age of time" She mewed and then rushed off, Darkpaw sprinted to keep up with her, the trees a blur. The same smell hit her but again Sunleaves did not stop, she didn't even turn her head and Darkpaw wondered if she even smelt it at all. It wasn't long before Sunleaves paused again, they were on a ridge. Darkpaw peered over; down below she could see cats practicing moves, simple ones. She recognised her brother.
"This is where we train" Sunleaves swept her tail over the clearing, Darkpaw opened her mouth. "No before you ask, we are not going down there." Darkpaw shut her mouth and stared grumpily at her mentor.
"Don't look at me like that" she meowed sternly and took off. Darkpaw followed, her paws growing tired of all the running. Soon the trees grew sparser and sparser until it only a few were dotted around. They halted at the edge of the grass.
"Now this is the border…" Darkpaw was only half listening; she gazed out in front of her. There was no grass, no dirt, no life; it was an endless expanse of yellowness. She walked right up to the border and looked left and right. It was still the same. Darkpaw shuddered at the thought of getting lost in this land. She reached out a paw to dab at the yellow stuff. It moved under her foot and she jumped back, pelt bristling and claws unsheathed ready to face it.
"This is called a desert Darkpaw and the yellow stuff is called sand, its harmless, but can get very hot a sun-high." At her words Darkpaw calmed down and allowed herself to be embarrassed at over reacting. "Very few things grow in a desert and there is hardly any water. It is so hot you could scorch your pelt off, which is why we live in the forest, the trees provide shade, and it surrounds nearly the whole forest apart from where the river comes from, I'll show you" Sunleaves dashed off and what seemed liked moons later they arrived at the river, Darkpaw struggled for breath, her flanks heaving heavily.
"Ok so we just follow this… I think…" Sunleaves said more to herself than Darkpaw, and padded along the bank of the river, Darkpaw followed a fair bit behind, still trying to catch her breath. It was sun high when they stopped."
"Ok, this is far enough" she sat down. "Look over there" she pointed to the river. "Follow it and you reach a mountain, a mountain so big no cat that has ever gone up has ever come back down, they say a pack of cats live up there feasting on each other. Sunleaves eyes clouded over with sadness.
"My mate went up there to prove himself to the Clan… he never came back" she whispered quietly.
"I miss him so much" she gazed longingly at the mountains "Sometimes I think he is still alive, all by himself on that mountain, we were going to have kits and have a happy family"
Darkpaw didn't know what to do, in the end she decided to lay a comforting tail round her mentor's shoulders.
"Im sure he is missing you too and is waiting for you in StarClan" she meowed.
"You're right" Sunleaves meowed. "Now where were we?"
"Ok" Sunleaves began. Darkpaw sat opposite her mentor. "To catch a mouse you must…" Sunleaves prompted.
"Find one" Darkpaw responded sarcastically. Sunleaves glared at her with yellow eyes.
"Yes, you must find one but what do you do when you find one?"
"Catch it" Darkpaw answered. Sunleaves shot her a look that could kill.
"And how do you catch it?" she asked irritably, trying to contain her frustration.
"Pounce on it and kill it?" Darkpaw replied. Sunleaves got up and paced up and down in front of Darkpaw, her ginger calico coat gleaming in the sunlight. She turned to Darkpaw.
"If you think you are so clever Darkpaw go and catch a mouse" she snapped and sat back down.
"You haven't even taught me how!" Darkpaw protested.
"You should of thought of that before you tried to be smart" she answered giving her a smug grin. "Now scram!" she snarled.
Darkpaw ran away from her mentor. I'll show you, I'll catch the biggest mouse ever. Darkpaw paused and opened her mouth slightly. There. The musky scent of mouse drifted towards her and Darkpaw narrowed in on it. Slowly she circled around the mouse, remembering Raggedpaw teaching Swallowpaw how to hunt when they had been kits; the wind was blowing her scent away from the prey. She advanced slowly keeping her paws as light as a feather; she saw her prey and prepared to leap when a loud noise scared it away.
"Mousebrain" she growled. She looked down at her paws; she had trodden on a twig which had snapped under her weight. She stood up; shook her fur and padded off in the direction the mouse had ran in with her mouth open in search of her prey. It wasn't long before she found it again; it was scuttling about in search of nuts. She settled into a sloppy hunter crouch which she knew to be lopsided and advanced. She placed her paws carefully making sure she didn't disturb any of the twigs or leaves. She pounced and landed a kitten step too short, the mouse was startled and ran away swiftly, Darkpaw's paw struck out quickly and she managed to snag the mouse with her claws. It squeaked and struggled and then broke free, but Darkpaw jumped again and landed on it. She quickly nipped the back of it neck, killing it. She held up her prey successfully and trotted back to Sunleaves. It was sloppy but it was a mouse.
Sunleaves looked surprised when she saw Darkpaw carrying her mouse. She dropped her mouse in front of her mentor's paws.
"There, one mouse as you requested" Darkpaw bowed low in mock respect. Sunleaves looked faintly amused.
"Ok, Ok you win. Let me teach you how to catch a squirrel"
Darkpaw watched the squirrel and crawled towards it. She had made sure that wind was blowing the squirrel's scent towards her and was placing her paws quietly; there was no reason why she shouldn't catch it. The squirrel looked up and focused on her, Darkpaw froze but it suddenly took off and Darkpaw chased it. She heard Sunleaves calling her back but she ignored her. She had to catch that squirrel.
It ran up the nearest tree and Darkpaw followed. She gripped onto the bark with her claws and hauled herself up as quickly as she could, without thinking about how high she was going. She advanced closer to the squirrel. It was on the top most branches unable to go anywhere but downwards. She crept up to it and reached out paw to grab it. She missed. She couldn't reach it. It looked at her as if to say you're useless you can't even catch me. Darkpaw was about to give up when she had an idea. She put her paw on the branch the squirrel was sitting on and it wobbled. Darkpaw smiled wickedly. She wobbled the branch some more, the squirrel clung on for dear life. Darkpaw gave the branch one more shake and the squirrel was unbalanced. Darkpaw felt as though moons had passes whereas in reality it was only a heartbeat before the squirrel fell to the ground with a loud thump. Darkpaw tried to clamber down, her paw slipped on the bark and she felt herself slip from the branch to plummet to the ground, the earth rushed up to meet her. She writhed in the air desperate for a paw hold. Her claws snagged on a branch halting her fall long enough so that she could find a better grip. She saw Sunleaves was running towards her and cursed under her breath, the last thing she needed was her mentor here to see this. She hauled herself onto the branch where she sat clinging on, claws digging into the bark. She glanced down and her heart leaped into her throat, she was so close, so close to joining StarClan. That's if they will take you…
"Never. Ever. Do that again do you hear me" Sunleaves yelled. Darkpaw thought that even though she disobeyed her orders she might have been even a little impressed at her catch that was lying on the floor.
"You could have fallen out of that tree and died" she exclaimed. Not like anyone would mind. Darkpaw thought but she was glad she hadn't seen her extremely dangerous fall. Sunleaves finished her rant about how dangerous trees were and finally realised that Darkpaw might need help getting down.
"Erm, Sunleaves I might be stuck" Darkpaw called. Sunleaves gave a hearty laugh.
"You got up there, you can get down" she managed to say between giggles. Darkpaw shot her a murderous glare.
"Help me Sunleaves" she whined. "I'm sorry, I won't ever disobey you ever again, o great one" Sunleaves hesitated for a moment before telling her what to do.
"See if you can make it to the trunk Darkpaw." She meowed "Carefully" she added.
She watched Darkpaw edged her way along the branch to the trunk. She wasn't scared anymore instead she felt thrilled to be up so high; she gazed around at her surroundings.
"Ok, now grip the trunk with your claws" Sunleaves called.
"What else am I going to grip it with?" she muttered but grabbed hold of the trunk.
"Now head on down, grip with your back claws as well" Darkpaw slowly made it down to the ground with Sunleaves's encouragement. Sunleaves padded up to her.
"Now listen to me when I call you" Sunleaves voice was strict.
"By the way nice catch, just don't do it again" she finished. Darkpaw grinned smugly and picked up her squirrel and travelled back to camp with Sunleaves holding her mouse.
Darkpaw walked into camp holding up her squirrel proudly hoping someone would congratulate her. No one even noticed her all the cats were gathered around Lionpaw. Darkpaw walked past the group of cats.
"…and then I beat Sagepaw" Lionpaw meowed loudly
"I let you win Lionpaw" Sagepaw huffed.
"Really?" Lionpaw meowed. There was a gap in the cats where she could see her brother scuffling with Sagepaw, the crowd was egging them on. In heartbeats Lionpaw had Sagepaw pinned, but the silver she-cat was back up again ready to continue the fight. A light brown cat walked in-between the two cats, halting the fight.
"Well done for beating my sister" Raggedpaw meowed "Again" he chuckled. "Although she isn't the best of fighters" He whispered loudly. Darkpaw debated on whether to upstage her brother or not by showing her squirrel to everyone but she decided against it, they would probably make up something that proves she didn't catch it. Instead Darkpaw she trotted over to the elders den.
"Hi Ravenfrost, Tangleshade" Darkpaw's mew was muffled by the squirrel. She dropped it down in front of them.
"Here you go, I caught it myself" she said proudly. Ravenfrost stared, impressed at her kill but Tangleshade muttered "Back when I was young, I caught a squirrel three times as big as that."
Ravenfrost thanked Darkpaw.
"Don't mention it" Darkpaw replied and walked out.
She saw her sister walk in through the entrance her silver fur shining; with a tiny mouse in her jaws, she was immediately flooded with praise.
"She caught that all by herself she didn't need any help from me" Mistystream announced proudly.
"She is going to be a fantastic hunter, maybe even better than myself" Mistystream laughed.
Raggedpaw went over to her and started purring, he nuzzled her.
"Well done, I remember what it was like when I caught my first prey."
"I should hope you do it wasn't that long ago was it? A couple of moons I think" Darkpaw meowed sarcastically. Raggedpaw glared at her but her sister looked uncomfortable. Raggedpaw ignored her and deliberately rubbed up against Swallowpaw, challenging her with his eyes.
Darkpaw felt sick she wanted to run away as far from them as possible. But she forced herself to walk calmly over to the apprentices den where she curled up in her nest; she jumped back up quickly with a squeal of alarm. Licking her fur where a thorn had pierced her skin. Searching through her bedding she found the thorn and pulled it out, she search for more and when she was satisfied there was no more she curled back up and closed her eyes trying to sleep and erase the image of Raggedpaw and Swallowpaw from her mind.
She heard two cats come in and recognised them by their scents. It was Raggedpaw and Swallowpaw. Just my luck she thought sourly.
"Oh look Darkpaw is in here" her sister whispered.
"So" Raggedpaw answered "No one cares about her" he sneered. Darkpaw could sense Swallowpaw's awkwardness, and could imagine the look Raggedpaw was giving her, but the thought hurt her so she cast it away.
"I hope she likes the present I left her" he laughed.
"What did you give her?" Swallowpaw demanded the jealousy evident in her voice.
"Calm down, I put just put a thorn in her bedding" he replied soothingly. Darkpaw vowed silently to get him back.
"Oh, that's not very nice" Swallowpaw mewed, not sounding bothered at all.
When Raggedpaw didn't reply Darkpaw opened her eyes a fraction and saw Raggedpaw grooming Swallowpaw. She couldn't get up and leave or they would only accuse her of eaves dropping. When they had finished grooming each other, she watched them climb into a nest and fall asleep. Darkpaw sat up and tried to groom her fur again, she looked over to her sister whose fur fell perfectly into place, envy rising up inside of her.
Exasperated Darkpaw gave up, her fur would always be messy; there is nothing she could do. She laid back down and fell swiftly into sleep.
Please review, it's really nice to see all your comments :D