Chapter 8
A paw prodded Heather's side. She opened her eyes, and looked up. Reed was standing over her, poking her side.
"C'mon! You're gonna be late!" She meowed, then scampered out of the den.
Heather blinked, and stood up, stretching. It was the first time in awhile that she had slept without nightmares plaguing her sleep. She licked her paw, and drew it over her ears, trying to remember what was special about today. She stopped abruptly, remembering. Today was the day she was to become an apprentice! She quickly washed herself before running outside. Reed, Wolf, Tiger, River, Flame, Flash, Grass, and herself were all to become apprentices. Even though Reed, Wolf, River, and Tiger were all older, Falcon and Blossom decided that they would allow all of them to become apprentices at the same time. As she strode out from the Nursery, she could see that the other cats were already gathered. She hurried to her spot beside her brother, who flicked his tail at her late arrival. She ignored him, turning her attention to the tree.
"Today we celebrate eight new apprentices for Leafclan. Reed and River, please step forward."
Reed and River stepped forward nervously.
"Cloud, step forward."
The grey warrior stepped forward.
"Cloud, you will be the mentor of Reed and River. Teach them well. Reed and River, you will be the apprentices of Cloud. Listen to him well, and serve the clan as best you can."
This went on for quite a bit. Wolf and Tiger got Bear, Flame and Grass got Creek, Flash and herself got Briar.
When Blossom and Falcon finished assigning mentors, they jumped down from the tree, and touched them all on the head with their tail-tip.
"Reed! River! Wolf! Tiger! Flame! Grass! Flash! Heather! Cloud! Bear! Creek! Briar!" The clan chanted.
Heather faced the clan nervously, holding her tail high. She swept her gaze over all the faces. It was kinda odd, however. She knew she should feel excited, or happy, or some type of joyous emotion. But despite this, she found that she only felt a creeping dread. Something big was going to happen soon.
When the clan finished chanting, they all broke up into little groups, talking amongst themselves, or asking to go on patrol.
Cloud bumped Reed and River. "Hey, how about we go outside camp? We could have little competitions."
Reed lit up. "Ooooo! Yes!"
"Can we all go?" Tiger asked Bear. The big cat nodded.
"Whoopie! Let's go!" Flame exclaimed, bolting off.
The other apprentices dashed after her, except for Heather. She walked with the mentors. They arrived into a sunny clearing. It was quite large, with trees surrounding all the sides, and a river cutting through the middle. Next to the river was a large rock, jutting out from the ground.
Flame was in the middle, kneading the ground impatiently. "C'mon slowpokes!"
Briar chuckled. "Oh, don't worry. We're coming." She then deliberately slowed her pace to almost a crawl.
Flame flattened her ears. She sighed, rolled her eyes, and plopped down to wait.
When Briar finally made it into the clearing, Flame jumped up. "What's the first competition!?"
Bear purred. "Calm down there, little missy. They aren't going anywhere."
Cloud nodded, and curled his tail. "However, the first one is to see who can run to the edge of the clearing and back first."
Creek dragged over a straight stick, and put it on the ground. "This is the starting line." He meowed. "Line up."
The apprentices lined up. Heather found that she was in the middle.
"Alright, on your marks, get set, GO!"
Heather shot off. She quickly pulled ahead of the other apprentices. Heather made it to the other side of the clearing a few moments after the others crossed the three-quarters point. She raced back to the stick, picking up speed. Her paws hit the stick, and she stopped abruptly, her heart pounding. She turned to see the others cross the stick a little while after she did.
"Wow. Heather, you are really fast." River meowed, panting.
The rest of them nodded.
She smiled shyly. "Oh, c'mon….It's no biggie…"
Flame nudged her. "No biggie? You were like wind!"
"Alright, alright, settle down. Heather is the winner of this round." Bear meowed, flicking his ear. "I'll let you all take a break."
Heather started to clean herself. She wasn't sure why everyone was praising her. True, she won, but it could have easily been any other cat. She didn't even think herself that fast.
"Alright, break's over." Cloud meowed, stretching. "Next up: Swimming. Whoever can stay in the river longest wins. Creek and Briar are excellent swimmers, so you shouldn't be in any danger."
The apprentices lined up at the shore.
"Three...Two...One...Go!"
They all jumped in at the same time. Flame got out almost immediately, followed shortly by Wolf and Tiger. Reed and Grass stayed in a little longer, but got out soon as well. It was down to River, Heather, and Flash. Heather was focusing on keeping her head up above the water, but Flash looked perfectly comfortable. He swam as easily as a fish, even paddling around the other two apprentices. River gave one last attempt to stay afloat, but failed. He began to sink when Briar leaned out and grabbed him by the scruff, putting him onto shore. That was enough to send Heather frantically swimming to shore. She shook out her fur, and looked back at Flash, still swimming comfortably. He seemed to spy something at the bottom of the river, because he suddenly dived down. A few tense moments later he came back up with a fish in his mouth. He swam over to shore and dropped it.
"Did I win?" He asked coolly, looking up.
Creek nodded. "Well done."
After they all dried, Cloud instructed them to go back in the river and come back out, so they were all equally wet.
"Okay. Now, see that rock over there? Whoever can stay on in the sun longer wins."
The apprentices all went over to the rock, picked places to lie down, and closed their eyes, one by one. Flame won that contest, taking on the heat like a champ. In fact, she stayed on so long that Bear had to make her get off, in worry that she would fry. The next and final contest was to see who could climb a tree the highest. Grass won that, scaling the tree all the way to the top. When all apprentices were on the ground and counted for, they set off, back to camp. When they arrived, Heather took a mouse for herself to eat from the prey pile, and went to find a quiet place to eat. As she ate, she watched the rest of the clan. Moss and Dream were deep in conversation, as always, Feather and Daisy were gossiping, and she was a bit surprised to see Dusk and Briar giggling together, but she pushed it aside. She finished her mouse, then went into the Apprentice's Den to sleep for the night. She curled up in her nest, breathing in the leafy smell.