Congratulations to xScarclawx! Enjoy Chapter 8, and sorry it took a while.

Chapter Eight

"I like Fireblaze!" Jewelpaw blurted. Someone tapped her shoulder. She turned around.

Sunfur.

"What did you say about Fireblaze?" He asked. Jewelpaw bit her lip.

"I said, I uh, want my, er, assessment for, er Fireblaze!" She meowed, mixing the words. Sunfur squinted at her in confusion and shrugged.

"O-K?" He meowed turning around. Arrowpaw padded out of the herb store. When he saw Jewelpaw he smiled.

"Hi Jewelpaw! Sunfur said you were acting weird, so you must be tired. Here are some poppy seeds. They'll help you sleep." He meowed. Arrowpaw placed three seeds beside Jewelpaw. Jewelpaw nodded and remembered.

"I'm here because of a stupid dream I had." She meowed, popping one of the seeds in her mouth. Arrowpaw just shrugged.

"Maybe Sunfur thinks that it was a prophecy or something." He suggested.

"Or something." Jewelpaw repeated. Arrowpaw padded away from Jewelpaw, leaving her to think. Jewelpaw started to get tired, and figured that the poppy seeds were at work. She yawned and tucked her nose in her paws as she slept.

*passing time*

"Jewelpaw wake up. Fireblaze told me to come get you." Maplepaw's voice sounded. Jewelpaw blinked away sleep at the mention of her mentor.

"Okay, tell him I'll be right there." She meowed. Jewelpaw stood and padded out of Sunfur's den. Fireblaze was waiting in the camp entrance. Jewelpaw raced over to him. He smiled when he saw her.

"Hi! Ready for your to go?" He asked. Jewelpaw nodded.

"Yes." She meowed.

"Okay, just wait, I need to go tell Cougarpelt something." He meowed, padding over to the ginger she-cat. Jewelpaw's jaw clenched in jealousy.

"I can't like him. It'll blow over me. I could love another tom." She meowed to herself. Jewelpaw padded out of camp, not following Fireblaze's directions. The sunlight must've been blocked by a cloud, because it started to darken. Suddenly, a bush rustled. Jewelpaw looked over her shoulder and saw a she-cat pad out from behind a bush. A tom followed her. The strange she-cat gazed at Jewelpaw, who was shaking in fear.

"I am Silentdawn. This is my friend Blackfall. So you'll come with us!" She meowed, demandingly. Jewelpaw followed her instincts, and sprang at Silentdawn. Blackfall leaped at Jewelpaw at the same time, which sent her flying backward. Jewelpaw landed on her side, scrambling to her paws.

"I don't know why you're here but you'll regret it!" Jewelpaw growled. Before she could move, Blackfall pinned Jewelpaw down, claws unsheathed.

"Lay a claw on her..." He hissed. Jewelpaw flinched. Blackfall and Silentdawn stiffened. Blackfall leaped off of Jewelpaw. Silentdawn motioned him back to the bush.

"Let's go. Someone is coming." She meowed. She and Blackfall raced behind the bush, and the forest lightened up. Fireblaze was padding towards her.

"I was calling your name. I had thought you went hunting alone." He meowed. Jewelpaw rolled her eyes.

"I was hunting alone. Peacefully, until you came along and scared off my thrush!" Jewelpaw lied. Fireblaze seemed offended.

"Sorry! Well maybe you should take slower steps. Maybe you scared it off with your own clumsy paws." He teased, with a hint of humor in his voice. Jewelpaw whipped around angrily, taking it as an offense.

"Maybe you should go back to camp and stay to talk to Cougarpelt since that's all you ever do anymore!" She hissed. Fireblaze flinched. His gaze hardened and his lips drew back in a snarl.

"It's not what I do! It's you staying in Sunfur's den for one of your kiddish dreams, because, oh, you're scared of some cat. Like I said, some terrible excuse, it's your own clumsy paws!" He growled. Jewelpaw unsheathed her claws.

"Oh yeah? Because I inherited it from my mother right? And you're proud of yourself for this aren't you? I'll bet you are, because you think you're the best mentor in the forest right?" Jewelpaw snarled at him. She ran away from her mentor angrily, in the direction of the river. It took her a little while until she got there. When she did, Jewelpaw burst into tears, falling before her paws. Her jaw clenched.

So much of a mentor. And to think that I loved him... Jewelpaw sank her claws in the earth. Silentdawn's scent drifted around her. Jewelpaw turned around.

"What do you think now little apprentice? Come with us? You don't need a mentor like Fireblaze. I can train you, better than Fireblaze ever will. Now, just come with me to a more open area." She meowed. Jewelpaw smiled.

A real mentor. She thought. Jewelpaw and Silentdawn faced each other. Silentdawn shook her fur.

"Now I'll show you a cool fighting move." She meowed. The she-cat jumped and unsheathed her claws in midair and slashed as she landed on the ground. She stood up straight.

"Whoa! I want to do that!" Jewelpaw meowed. Silentdawn smiled proudly at herself.

"You just have to learn to unsheathe your claws in the air." She meowed. Jewelpaw jumped and tried to unsheathe her claws, but it threw her off the aiming of her target and she fell. Jewelpaw got up, pretending that it was nothing. Silentdawn looked at her sternly.

"Are you okay? That wasn't a good landing." The she-cat meowed. Jewelpaw shook her head.

"Oh trust me, it's nothing." Jewelpaw lied, muscles burning. She stretched and flexed her claws. Silentdawn gasped. Jewelpaw turned attention to the she-cat. Silentdawn was still.

"I've got to go. Meet me here at dawn tommorrow, and practice!" Silentdawn meowed padding away. Jewelpaw decided that her new mentor was too cool to say goodbye, so she turned around, and tasted the air. Fireblaze's scent was getting stronger, each pawstep. Jewelpaw was on alarm, every moment. She backed away from Fireblaze's smell, and started to hunt. A squirrel was scurrying up a tree. Jewelpaw figured that it must be the same one her mentor scared off.

He's not my mentor anymore. Silentdawn is. Jewelpaw thought. She leaped at the squirrel, and in a second, it was in her jaws. She turned around, only to find herself nose to nose with Fireblaze. She flinched, and leaped away from him.

"What do you want?" She asked harshly. Fireblaze flattened his ears.

"Listen, I'm sorry okay? I didn't mean the things I said-"

"Sorry doesn't cut it! I don't care what you say!"

"Well you'll have to do what I say, because I'm your mentor!" Fireblaze meowed, his neck fur rising.

"Some mentor you are." Jewelpaw meowed sadly. She turned around and headed to camp.

"Jewelpaw! Wait!" Fireblaze called from behind her. Jewelpaw rolled her eyes, and flattened her ears.

"I'll be a better warrior, without his help." Jewelpaw meowed to herself.

You likey so far? HMM? Well i hope you do, because the next one will be jaw dropping! Hooray to xScarclawx! WOOHOO!