In this chapter you get to meet Caramel and Mars, the sisters(because I seem to unconciously having a lot of those.) Yeah, these guys look like Squirrelflight and Leafpool but their characters were actually spurred by a picture of adorable kittens on !
Sharpclaw turned his head towards Flarestrike, his eyes shining because Flarestrike was yowling as loudly as his throat would allow him.
"Sharpclaw! Sharpclaw!" However, Flarestrike couldn't help but cringe at the name.
It was such a strong sounding name, he wondered if the actual cat holding it would be able to live up to the meaning.
"Intruders!" Jayheart's cry went up into the air and the celebration halted.
Standing at the entrance to the camp were two young she-cats, their eyes stretched wide. One was a light ginger with dark amber eyes and the other was a brown with black tabby along with green eyes. Their ribs were showing, though they smelled of fresh-kill.
"Hello there."
Cinderstar greeted them warmly, even though most of the clan was hissing with hostility. Flarestrike had to stifle a mrrow of laughter because Sharpclaw was looking at them interestedly, his ears pricked.
"Uh..."
The ginger cat looked around, and then ducked behind her sister, staring at them from between her legs.
"H-hello. We smelled cats and... Well we were abandoned by our housefolk and... We're lost."
Cinderstar sniffed the air, "Kittypets? Have you eaten recently?"
The ginger one stood up, nodding. "I caught us two mice!"
She announced proudly, and then shrank back as her sister turned to glare at her.
"Would you like to join us?"
Cinderstar asked casually, and a few of the warriors hissed, but most knew the clan needed more warriors, and she-cats. With no kits or apprentices, the clan would collapse eventually.
"To eat? Sure, I'd love another-"
The brown tabby began, but Whiteleaf cut her off, "No. Join the clan."
The sister's exchanged glances. "What's a clan?"
They asked in unison. Cinderstar beckoned them and her deputy and all four padded into her den. One they had disappeared, the clan burst into exciting whispers.
"Kittypets!" Lostfur scoffed from the elder's den.
"Did you hear that? Two new apprentices and pretty ones at that."
Sharpclaw turned to him and purred. They were the only toms in the clan that didn't have mates, or had, in Jayheart's case. Sharpclaw continued, waving his tail about wildly.
"I don't know..." Flarestrike murmured uncertainly, "They seem a bit too young for me..."
The black tom snorted, "Awh, just because you can't have Brightdream you give up? You're a tomcat!"
And he turned around and waggled his hind-quarters in Flarestrike's face.
"Oh-oh, thanks a lot!"
Smacking him on the hip with a claw-sheathed paw, he bounded out of the way for the next attack as Sharpclaw whirled, hissing with fake-anger.
"Oof!" The ginger tom bumped into something as he back-stepped.
"Oh, mouse-dung!" Cloverspirit growled, looking at him with a frown.
"Is that mouse-bile? Where are you taking that disgusting stuff?"
Flarestrike said, picking up the bundle wrapped in strands of grass and giving it back to her.
"The elders den then to see Ashfall. She says she inherited a tick cleaning out bedding the other day."
Ashfall and her brother Rayshine both has luxurious long fur they inherited from their dead mother Goldenheart, a queen who died during the very beginning of the Great Move, when fire tore through their whole forest. Flarestrike hadn't known her, but Jayheart spoke very fondly of her. Ashfall had never made her presence very well known in the clan besides for her excellent hunting skills and taste for varied foods.
She always seemed to duck into hiding when Flarestrike was around. Gazing around, he caught sight of Rayshine and Brightdream and seethed. Those crow-food faces!
"Why are you looking at my brother that way?"
A voice said behind him and he whirled to face Ashfall, her orange eyes wide with concern. He didn't know if it was for Rayshine or himself.
"No reason." He lied smoothly, and she almost looked like she believed him. Almost.
"Flarestrike, the clan isn't blind. We know you like Brightdream very, very much. And the fact that she and Rayshine have been more than friendly is also a known."
So, Ashfall was an observer. Maybe that's what she doing all those times he'd slipped and failed to notice her!
"Your point is?"
Flarestrike mewed, feeling dejected that he had to hear the truth falling from a clanmate's mouth. Brightdream wasn't his. But, the strange feelings around Cloverspirit were starting to grow. Was he falling for her sister?
"Flarestrike?"
A fluffy grey tail waved in front of his face. "You keep cluing out? I understand if you have a lot on your mind."
The tail traced along his chin and she tipped her head, eyes soft. His toes tingled as she trotted away towards a certain spot along the camp wall and sniffed around before disappearing into it. A moment later she came back with stuff clamped in her jaws.
Dropping the little red and purple berries by the fresh-kill pile, she picked out a squirrel and began stuffing them into it. Her father walked by and said something about it, making her smile. Sharpclaw bumped into him.
"Oof. Sorry. They're going to join the clan!" He nearly squealed like a kit.
Just having his ceremony a few sun-twitches ago certainly didn't make him nobler, especially around pretty she-cats. Cinderstar climbed back onto her rocky pile that made up her den as Whiteleaf padded out of it followed by the two sisters.
"Today, it seems, Starclan has sent a blessing of two new apprentices and a warrior. Clan, I would like to introduce Mars and Caramel."
As each of their names was said, they dipped their heads.
"Amberclan will be accepting them as full members of our family. Mars, will you please step forwards?"
The pretty brown tabby did so with her head raised, her eyes gleaming with an insatiable curiosity.
"From this day forward until you earn your warrior name you shall be known as Northpaw. Your mentor will be Embersky; I hope that she will pass down her fiery spirit and passion to you."
Flarestrike's feisty sister looked shocked for a moment, then unbearably happy. She practically hopped forwards to press her nose to Northpaw's. What a curious name. The ancient Shadowclan had their hearts chilled by the cold north winds, but surely this innocent apprentice was nothing like those evil cats.
"Caramel, with you please step forwards please."
The shy ginger she-cat trotted forwards until she could look at Cinderstar her tail flicking uneasily.
"From this day forward until you earn your warriors name you shall be known as Lightpaw. Your mentor will be Dawnblaze, I hope that she will pass down her knowledge and attentiveness to you."
His other sister raised her dark red head and her eyes sparked with excitement as she padded up to Lightpaw and they tapped their pink noses together.
"Lightpaw! Northpaw! Lightpaw! Northpaw!"
Sharpclaw howled, and the rest of the clan joined together. Flarestrike smiled at his cheeky once-apprentice, and then caught sight of his scarred face. As he trotted over to congratulate them, Lightpaw squeaked in alarm and Northpaw had to comfort her sister, seeming not bothered by it. But, Lightpaw's reaction had done enough.
With an expression of pure disgust, he shot Flarestrike a desperate glance before he whirled into the warrior's den. Northpaw left her sister and went up to Embersky and berated her with questions. Lightpaw did the same, only more quietly. A white tail flicked his nose and he twitched away the sneeze and looked over at the sparkling green eyes that met his. For a moment, he was stunned by them, and then he seemed to catch on.
"Hel-lo? Are you in Flarestrike world today? Ashfall said you had been acting weird. Go and fetch Sharpclaw. Warrior or not, you both still need a final check-over."
The white she-cat mewed, her white fur flowing delicately in the wind, as if he touched her she would melt away.
"Roger that." He said and turned towards the warrior's den.
A ball of moss hit him on the nose as he stood at the entrance.
"Silly warriors! You think they would know better!"
His sister's voice drifted through the air, followed by the sound of purring. Sitting inside and throwing dirty nests outside was Northpaw, Embersky, and Sharpclaw.
"I'm just glad I have such a hygienic she-cat come and clean out the dens as I become a warrior."
Flarestrike peered in and lashed his tail as he was hit by another wad. It covered the top of his head and he shook it off and flung it back. It landed on one of Northpaw's sensory hairs and her pelt twitched oddly before she turned to look at it. Her green eyes met Flarestrike's and she giggled.
"Oops." Embersky glanced up to look back at her brother, grey eyes amused.
"What do you want?"
She said, sitting it and licking a piece of moss out from between her toes.
"Sharpclaw. Cloverspirit said-"
But, the black cat had already leaped to his paws, "Again? Why can't she just leave me be?"
He licked at a scratch near his lips, "I'm fine!"
Northpaw looked at him interestedly, then back to a surprised Flarestrike.
"I-I'm sorry... but she said that she had to check your wounds. A final one-over."
The light ginger tom lashed his tail a bit, not used to such outbursts or refusals from his former-apprentice. Sharpclaw lowered his head, obviously not used to that either.
"Okay. A final one-over."
And the scarred black tom trotted out of the den, looking around at the business of the camp. Sunflower, Brightdream and Cloverspirit's mother padded towards the warrior's den and looked in curiously before she was thumped on the head by a large ball of moss. He snorted, never really liking the splotched queen. Crowtalon and Silentstream were trotting out of camp and Flarestrike gave them a quick glance, the air strong with the smell of Silentstream's oestrus.
"Looks like you might have siblings soon." Flarestrike mewed appreciatively.
With the arrival of Northpaw and Lightpaw, and with Crowtalon and Silentstream still eager to have more litters, there might just be hope for Amberclan after all. Lostfur growled as she lay outside of the elder's den, her mangy tail flicking back and forth. She wasn't crabby when she had her medicine, but with the recent events Cloverspirit had been skipping out. As Sharpclaw continued on the medicine cat's den, Flarestrike veered to see what was wrong.
"Hello Lostfur." He purred pleasantly at her, though she obviously had no intention of being pleasant back.
"Well, well, a big strong warrior like you is going to give me my medicine? Why don't you send one of those little kittens over here to do it?"
Flarestrike flicked his ear towards the warrior's den, where Northpaw was. He had picked up the sarcasm in her voice, but was barely stung.
"You might rake them with your tongue." The light ginger tom said, grinning.
"Just go get me my medicine!"
She hissed, and then rubbed at a flea that managed to survive on the few tufts of fur she had. So, Flarestrike swung around and padded towards the den, hearing Sharpclaw's squeaks.
"Ouch! That hurts!"
And Cloverspirit's frustrated meows:
"Stay still! Oh great, you've just stepped in the herbs I'd set out for Flarestrike!"
And so the light ginger tom walked into the den to calm to situation and get his own medicine as long as Sharpclaw didn't step on him first.
Sun-twitches = minutes. They will be referenced to I think maybe one more time. All the cats in this story can get very close to their mentors, ex. Cinderstar & Flarestrike, Cloverspirit & Shadownight(meet him l8er), Sharpclaw & Flarestrike. Yup. R&R. I will be dishing out quite a few chapters tonight, so be prepared. :P
