Chapter 3

Firepaw quickly scrambled away in the direction Tigerclaw had pointed towards. The wind whipped at his face as he dashed as fast as he could towards wherever Fourtrees was. The leaves blocked out most of the light, but Firepaw managed to catch a few glimpses of the sun. It was steadily rising, but it was still about a quarter way up in the air. He had some time, but not much.

He had never traveled outside of the clan camp, let alone outside of Thunderclan territory. The new experience was exhilarating, even with the impending thought of never becoming a warrior ever again. The nature filled Firepaw with energy and he pelted faster through the trees.

Suddenly, the trees disappeared as Firepaw burst out of the forest and onto some rocks where a couple of the elders were bathing on the rocks in the sun.

Firepaw stopped to gather his thoughts, his heart pounding and his mind racing. "Okay, okay. Calm down, Firepaw. Pace yourself. He said Riverclan was surrounded by a big river, so this must be it. If I follow it, perhaps I can find Fourtrees, and then the landmarks!"

Firepaw dashed past the elders in a flurry, his breathing already getting heavy. The elders gave him a confused look, watching the overwrought apprentice dash away.

Firepaw followed the river until he came across a narrow land bridge that stretched across the gorge between himself and Riverclan's territory. "This must be one of the landmarks. Okay, one down, two more to go." He continued his way up the gorge. Four massive trees slowly came into view, and Firepaw couldn't believe his luck. If the Fourtrees was close by, then he should be able to find the other landmarks easier!

As he split away from the gorge and circled around Fourtrees, the wind had begun to pick up stronger and stronger. The trees thinned out, until there were no trees at all and moors stretched out before him. The extra wind pressed against him, the additional force straining his muscles. He passed between one of the massive trees at Fourtrees and the Windclan moor beside him, and found an old badger's den. He studied it carefully: the old badger smell, the deep crevice within the den, and how the den was big enough to hold multiple cats.

Once all the information set in, Firepaw dashed away towards Fourtrees and for Shadowclan territory. However, his body was screaming for relief, and he definitely had to stop, or he would collapse somewhere on the way. He managed to reach Fourtrees and fall on his side. He had never run so much in his life, and the sudden strain on his lungs and muscles caused severe soreness around his body.

Firepaw took a moment to catch his breath. He flipped onto his back and stared directly into the sky, it's light blue speckled with white clouds. "Tigerclaw.. why.. are you… making.. me do… this?" meowed Firepaw to himself in between breaths. "This… is ridiculous!" Despite the words he was saying to himself now, Firepaw couldn't help but feel a sense of pride for getting this far on his first day. Graypaw and Ravenpaw were still doing a tour, while he had already visited three out of the four clan territories!

His heart lurched, however, when the sun had begun to come into view from the trees above him. It was almost sunhigh.

"What?! I thought I still had some time left! There's not even a quarter of the way left before the sun reaches Sunhigh! I need to find Shadowclan fast and hurry back!"

Firepaw heaved his sore muscles from up off the ground and headed towards the only direction he hadn't come from. His senses had gotten significantly duller since his departure, and his pace had decreased a considerable amount.

Firepaw was beginning to panic as the sun crept up higher and higher. "What if I don't make it back before Sunhigh? Will I remain an apprentice forever? What if Graypaw and Ravenpaw become warriors and I'm stuck as an apprentice? I'll be the clan's laughingstock!" The pressure against him was building. His breath was getting faster and his focus was deteriorating. "Where's Shadowclan?!"

Firepaw was pelting towards the pine trees, but all he could think about was not becoming a warrior. With his mind distracted, he tripped on a root that stuck out and tumbled forward. He sat upright and shook his pelt of dirt and dust. He began thinking, "Is this assessment really even possible? Had Tigerclaw purposefully designed this assessment so he could set me up to fail?" Was there something Tigerclaw had resented about Firepaw so much to the point where he wanted him to fail?

However, even if he couldn't make it back before Sunhigh, he wanted to return to him as quickly as possible. He wanted to show both the clan and Tigerclaw that he could truly become a warrior. Firepaw was determined to the clan he had not only a purpose, but ambition.

Firepaw took deep breaths, his heart rate falling. His focus was redrawn into the situation once again, and he thought up a plan. Shadowclan's border is nearby, so the landmark should be as well. Returning to Fourtrees and following the river would also take too long, so his only option was to cut straight across Thunderclan territory.

With his goal set in mind again, Firepaw picked up the pace until he reached the Pine forest, where Shadowclan resided. Their smell wafted over Firepaw and made him cough and sputter. "Great Starclan! This smell is horrible! It's like old mushrooms and rotten fresh kill." Firepaw shook his head. "Come on, focus. What's something that could resemble a landmark?"

Firepaw tried his best to search for a landmark, but it was near impossible. There was hardly anything that stood out. The only thing he could see were dense pine trees and marshy lands that stretched beyond his viewpoint. He padded away from the direction of Fourtrees along the border of Shadowclan territory.

"Well, if it isn't a Thunderclan apprentice?" meowed a voice from beyond the pine trees.

Firepaw stopped dead in his tracks. The bushes rustled and two cats stepped out from the shadows and into the light, revealing a smaller, gray tom and a big white tom with black paws. They slowly padded towards Firepaw until they stopped right at the edge of the border. The bigger white tom was merely inches away from Firepaw's face, and Firepaw's heart began to beat faster again.

"What do I do? I haven't received any training, nor do I have any protection from any warriors nearby. Okay, act coolly," thought Firepaw.

The white tom bent his neck down to give Firepaw a sniff. "Hello, young one," whispered the white tom near Firepaw's ear.

The deep voice sent a shiver down Firepaw's spine. Though he didn't know this cat at all, his senses were telling him that the white tom was bad news. He was also running out of time, so he needed a way to leave quickly. Firepaw instinctively took a couple steps back from the two. The smaller gray tom got into a battle stance, while the big white tom lifted his head up high with a sly grin.

"My, my, where are our manners? My apologies. This one here is my apprentice, Wetpaw. And I'm Blackfoot. You seem to be a long way away from camp," meowed Blackfoot.

"At least I'm still on my side of the territory," retorted Firepaw.

"I bet you were trying to sneak across to steal our prey, weren't you? You Thunderclan cats are all the same!" exclaimed Wetpaw.

"Be quiet, Wetpaw," scolded Blackfoot calmly. Blackfoot turned his attention back onto Firepaw. "What are you doing so close to the border, with no border patrol or mentor around?"

"I'm not telling you anything!" meowed Firepaw.

Blackfoot gave a deep chuckle. "Then perhaps you could at least tell me your name. It's common courtesy, you know."

"It's Firepaw," meowed Firepaw hesitantly.

Blackfoot's eyes flashed a hint of surprise.

"Ah, I see. Come, Wetpaw. This apprentice seems to have been in a hurry ever since he came to our border, so let's leave him alone."

Wetpaw growled at Firepaw once more before bounding away and disappearing into the Pine forest, while Blackfoot followed more slowly. He stopped just before he passed the treeline, and turned his head back to Firepaw.

"I hope we'll meet again soon, young Firepaw."

The duo left Firepaw and padded back into the pine forest and marshland, leaving a stunned Firepaw at the side of the border. Before he had any time to contemplate what Blackfoot had just said, the sun's glare drew his attention back up to the sun. It was Sunhigh.

Firepaw's heart sank. He unsheathed his claws and scratched away at the grass he was standing on. "I was so close! Will this mean I won't become a warrior anymore?"

Firepaw gathered himself and began padding away from the border. "Well I suppose I should at least hurry back, so I don't make Tigerclaw wait any longer." He padded slower now that he wasn't in a hurry, and enjoyed the scenery and anything else while he still could. He only realized now that he was at the far edge of Shadowclan and Thunderclan territory. It seemed that he had padded further than expected, but at least the rest of the way was Thunderclan territory.

"Ah! What is Tigerclaw thinking? Does he want me to remain an apprentice forever? It's not fair! How is any of this fair? When I get back, he's just going to make me clean the elders for the rest of my life! What will my friends think of me? Dustpaw and Sandpaw are just going to pick on me for the rest of my life! I was supposed to prove to Tigerclaw that I could become a warrior, but he gives me such an impossible task! This is rid-"

Firepaw's thoughts were cut off as he looked up. He thought he had been going the right way, but it seemed that while he was distracted, he somehow managed to end up in a different part of the forest he wasn't aware of. The trees were not the familiar oak trees he grew up around. Instead, these trees were significantly bigger. Their branches were interwoven, making a net in the sky that nearly blocked out all sunlight. Firepaw decided to continue padding forward, wanting to search for a scent marker to see if this was still Thunderclan territory.

The dense forest grew darker and quieter, until not a single sound was made. Firepaw could hear his pawsteps and his breathing loud and clear. It was an unusual experience to be able to hear nothing but himself. He never truly knew how loud he was until all other sounds were gone. The more trees he passed, the further in he seemed to want to go. Something felt like it was drawing him in, pulling him through curiosity. An deja vu moment had passed over him as he observed the trees.

Though Firepaw desperately wanted to explore deeper into the forest, he knew he had to get back to Tigerclaw soon. He decided he would visit the place another time, but for now, he doubled back from where he came. Eventually, the trees returned to the oak he knew and he broke into a run. He eventually passed the Great Sycamore, Snakerocks, and found his way back to the clearing where Tigerclaw had originally gave him the assessment in the morning.

He padded into the clearing, but to his surprise, Tigerclaw wasn't around. He saw a pile of fresh kill left in the middle of the clearing. "Tigerclaw?" Firepaw called out. There was no answer. "Where did he go? Did he leave me here because he thought I wasn't worth his time? Surely he doesn't expect too much out of his apprentice, right?"

"Cool it, kit. I can smell your fear scent."

Tigerclaw padded out into the clearing with a freshly caught mouse in his jaws and added it to the pile.

"It took you long enough," Tigerclaw meowed, looking up at the sun. It was well past Sunhigh. "Can you describe me the landmarks that you saw?"

"Riverclan had a narrow land bridge that stretched across the gorge, Windclan had a big, abandoned badger's den, and Shadowclan had…."

"Had what?"

"Well, they didn't really have much aside from what you had already described. It was just pine trees, marshlands, and the stench." finished Firepaw.

"I see…" Tigerclaw meowed.

"Does this mean I failed?" meowed a worried Firepaw.

"Yes."

Firepaw's hope was beginning to leave him. "Does this mean I won't get to become a warrior?"

"Yes."

Firepaw's heart sank further, his head dropping. Tigerclaw padded over to the make-shift fresh kill pile and tossed him a mouse.

"Here, eat up and rest. We'll be doing another assessment tomorrow for your power. I don't want you dead on your paws," meowed Tigerclaw.

Firepaw looked at the mouse, and then to Tigerclaw in confusion.

"But… but you said I couldn't be a warrior if I failed. Why are we doing more assessments?" asked Firepaw.

Tigerclaw gave a tiny smirk. "I said you couldn't be a warrior. I never said when."

Firepaw's thoughts in his mind began to swirl. "W-w-Wait… what?"

"The point of this assessment was, as I said, to test your physical strength and mental capability in judgement of direction. I gave you basic information on each territory so you could navigate the landscape on your own to find the landmarks. However, when I added the additional pressure of permanent apprenticeship, it was meant to skew your decision making skills and observatory skills. Despite the pressure and the impossible task given to you, I'd say you did relatively decent. You still took your sweet time, but I will only let that slide because it just happens to be your first time out."

"But.. I still don't understand… why?" Firepaw questioned.

"Because during a real battle, there is no time for hesitation. When the pressure of the enemy is upon you, you don't have time to think about one decision or another. You must act on your gut instinct. Otherwise, it could cost either your life, or the life of your clanmates and friends," meowed Tigerclaw. "The moment you panic or hesitate, you lose."

Firepaw contemplated what Tigerclaw had just told him as Tigerclaw headed towards the edge of the clearing with a few prey in his mouth. Tigerclaw briefly stopped to turn towards FIrepaw and said, "Oh, when you're done with whatever you were planning on doing after I left, pick up what's left of the fresh kill pile and give it to the elders. We'll do hunting training after the assessment. And prepare to get up early tomorrow. I like to get things done quickly."

When Tigerclaw left the clearing, Firepaw was still been thinking about everything that just occurred to him. Only after a little did the realization hit Firepaw. "...So this means that I can still become a warrior? I still have a chance!" Joy filled Firepaw up like a flood, and the tension and stress he had built up all day immediately left him. He collapsed onto his side and felt like melting into the ground. "That was the most stressful day of my life! I never want to go through something like that again…"

Firepaw sat up and ate the mouse Tigerclaw tossed to him earlier, and picked up the rest of the prey to bring back to Thunderclan. "Just you wait, Thunderclan. I'm going to become the greatest warrior there ever was!"


Post A/N: Sorry for the delay to this part of the chapter. It got a little longer than I had anticipated, and I wanted to perfect the chapter so I can be happy about it and move on. So far, I think I've been doing okay and I really enjoy writing this story, so I hope you enjoyed reading this story so far as well. Thanks!