Chapter 8

Lionpaw POV

Lionpaw woke up slowly. He was sore everywhere after his brutal training sessions with Bluefire. She had him run from camp to the lake every morning before they started training. Then they would train for hours in the training hollow. As soon as they finished training, she would send him on a border patrol or out hunting. When he finally finished, the sun had set. He would crawl into his nest and sleep, dreading the next day of this horrible cycle. That was all he had done for the past moon since he had been apprenticed and he was always tired now. Lionpaw was still powerful and unable to be hurt in battle but he had recently discovered that his power did not protect him from getting sore or over exhausted.

Lionpaw cautiously slipped out of the apprentice den, searching the clearing for Bluefire. He caught sight of her disappearing into the medicine cat den. Instead of following her and asking what he should do as a proper apprentice should, he padded over to Cinderpaw. She was talking to Dovepaw near the apprentice den.

As he approached, he heard Cinderpaw talking animatedly, "and we had to SWIM! But that was no problem for me obviously. Ivypaw and Tigerpaw slipped under but their mentors were prepared and carried them ashore."

"When did you have to swim?" Lionpaw asked, startling the two she-cats.

"To get to the island!" Cinderpaw exclaimed.

Dovepaw POV

Later

After Cinderpaw had finished explaining what had happened at the gathering, everyone had dispersed to go and see to their duties. Dovepaw scanned the camp, unsure what to do. She saw Moonstar and Aspencreek in deep discussion. She approached her mentor slowly and froze when she heard what they were talking about.

"-not getting better! I don't know what to do!" Aspencreek mewed.

Dovepaw realized this was probably not a conversation she was meant to hear. She quickly padded up to Moonstar.

Moonstar looked up sharply, surprised by Dovepaw's approach. Her surprise quickly faded to a look of discomfort. "I was just wondering what you would like me to do." Dovepaw mewed softly.

"Of course," Moonstar replied. "Why don't you go hunt for a bit? The clan can always use more fresh-kill. I promise that I will take you out later to work on some battle moves."

"Ok!" Dovepaw mewed quickly and scampered away. Whatever they were talking about, it was obvious that they did not want her to overhear. She padded into the forest and expanded her senses. This was one of her favorite things to do. She felt so free and alive. As she listened, she heard mice racing across the bare earth near the river by the Shadowclan border and shrews scuttling over the damp ground near the Windclan border. She was about to head to the Shadowclan side of the territory, when she heard a cat crunching on the fallen leaves near the Windclan border. She listened hard and recognized the cat to be Ivypaw. Happily, she raced toward the Windclan border to join her sister. Just before she burst out of the bushes, she heard another cat enter the clearing. It was a Windclan cat! And he was on their side of the border! Why wasn't Ivypaw driving him out? She listened to see what her sister was saying.

"Vinepaw! How are you? I haven't seen you since the gathering!" Ivypaw mewed happily.

"I've been good! I was hoping I might find you out here!" Vinepaw relied.

Before she could stop herself, Dovepaw burst out of the bushes, causing the two cats in the clearing to freeze. Ivypaw had a terrified look on her face until she realized who had found them. Her terror rapidly morphed into fury.

"How dare you spy on me!" She screeched.

"I wasn't!" Dovepaw mewed quickly. "I was just out hunting and I… err… heard you." Dovepaw mewed sheepishly.

"Really? You heard me?" Ivypaw spat, rage blazing in her eyes

"I had better go." Vinepaw mewed awkwardly. He quickly padded away toward his territory.

"What do you think you are doing?" Dovepaw scolded. "How could you ever be with him? He is from another clan!"

"What do you care? Let me live my own life! Ivypaw yowled back at her.

"I care because I know how painful it is to fall in love with a cat from another clan and never be able to be with them!" I've been through this, remember? I just want to help you avoid that kind of pain." Dovepaw replied.

"You think you are so wise , don't you? Well you aren't! I can read minds, remember? I know that you think I will betray the clan and get distracted from the prophecy. You don't really care! You just want to live happily ever after with your Shadowclan mate!"

With that, Ivypaw turned and disappeared in the forest, leaving Dovepaw shocked and alone.

A/N - Hello to anybody reading this! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please review about what you thought! The more reviews I get, the more motivated I am to type up more chapters! I love getting all types of reviews so please don't hesitate! Thanks everybody!

~Silverleaf