It's time for Burningpaw's first day as an apprentice! What shall happen to him now? (dramatic music plays)
Dedicated to dear little Rodin, who died a few weeks ago from the stomach flu. You had so much to learn. I hope God gives you a better chance next time.
--
The Lay of the Land
"ASLEEP?!" A loud roar broke the morning tranquility like an earthquake. Burningpaw awoke to dull gray light gently filtering through the web of reeds that covered the apprentices' den.
Must be almost sunrise, he thought. A little groggy from his disturbed sleep, the small cat got up and out of his bed. Burningpaw sniffed the bedding once and was instantly jolted awake by the foul odor. "Ugh!" he recoiled, wrinkling his nose. "I need to get some fresh bedding."
"What kind of excuse is that!?" The same voice shouted.
Burningpaw stretched once and cautiously padded over the sleeping Littlepaw, off to hopefully discover the curious disturbance of the normally silent dawn.
Nearby the entrance of the clearing, Burningpaw could see Bluedawn glaring down at Crystalshard, her blue fur in rigid spikes dangerously across her back. The deputy's eyes were glowing with hate, even though the white warrior seemed to take absolutely no notice of her hostility.
"Let me get this straight," Bluedawn softly snarled, "You were tired on guard duty, so you fell asleep."
"Please," Crystalshard meowed, swishing his white tail beneath Bluedawn's chin, "I prefer the term, 'quietly observing the insides of my eyelids'."
"QUIETLY?! I've heard Firethroat be quieter than you!"
"Well why are you so grumpy?"
Bluedawn yowled with anger, looking like she was just about ready to tear Crystalshard in two. With a hiss of rage, she roared, "WHAT THE HECK IS WRONG WITH YOU?!"
"What's going on?" Dreamstar approached the bickering warriors.
Bluedawn breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm so glad you're here, Dreamstar. This… this frogspawn," she spat, "fell asleep on guard duty!"
Burningpaw walked towards them, his dark eyes shining with confusion. "What's so bad about falling asleep?"
There was an awkward silence.
At last, Dreamstar sighed, "My apprentice, you have so much to learn." She turned to Crystalshard. "Is Bluedawn right in telling me you fell asleep while you were guarding the camp?"
Crystalshard nodded, "Yeah, but queen burrfur here wouldn't let me say anything." The tom cleared his throat. "I asked Venomfang to replace me on guard, which he ever-so-generously did."
"Really?" Dreamstar meowed, a tint of uncertainty in her shimmering eyes. "Bluedawn, will you check with Venomfang about it?"
Bluedawn rolled her eyes and grunted in irritation. The deputy quickly spat at Crystalshard's feet, and with one final glare she stalked away, her wispy blue tail swishing against the solid, stone ground.
Dreamstar murmured, "Please forgive Bluedawn, young warrior. She may not be the easiest cat to get along with, but she has a good heart."
Crystalshard only nodded as Dreamstar padded off after her irritated deputy.
"What was that all about?" Burningpaw asked. "For MoonClan's sake, Crystalshard, stop setting her off!"
"Hey!" Crystalshard retorted, "Bluedawn was always innately hostile towards me, for unfathomable reasons…."
"Could it possibly be because you once put a drowned mouse in her bed?" Burningpaw meowed dryly.
"Oh yeah…"
Burningpaw sighed with part respect and part exasperation for his forgetful friend. "Never mind. I'm off to go on a tour of the territory."
Crystalshard purred, "Have a fun time!"
Burningpaw smiled, but said nothing. Without another word, the young apprentice walked to the front entrance and began to wait.
--
"Terribly sorry about that," Dreamstar mewed. Though she had told Burningpaw that the tour of the FrostClan territory would start at the crack of dawn, her deputy's argument with Crystalshard delayed it until the early morning, where the sun was almost in the center of the sky. Burningpaw's new mentor looked a little embarrassed.
"No worries," Burningpaw replied, his tail swishing excitedly against the ground, "I just can't wait to start! Where are the borders? Are we going to the river? Who's this 'Firethroat' cat? What is—?"
Dreamstar laughed, "All in due time, Burningpaw! At this rate, we won't leave the camp until sunset."
"Oh…" The new apprentice drooped his ears a little. "I'm sorry."
The silver tabby only purred, "Just come with me and I'll show you around." With that, Dreamstar flew into the bushes and disappeared from sight.
Burningpaw gasped, "Hey, wait up!" As he pelted after his mentor, his small paws thudding against the ground and scratching against the dead underbrush. He glimpsed at the barren trees against blue skies, marveling at their contrasting colors. The bracken beneath his feet was just as brown as the rest of the area, smelling of dirty slush and decay.
I wonder if everyone's right? Will this whole place really be green someday?
"OOF!" The completely unaware apprentice rammed right into Dreamstar, his dark eyes watering and his flank rising and falling with quick, shallow breaths. "What… was… that… about…?" Burningpaw panted, his pink tongue lolling out with each puff for air.
"Well, if we are to fit in our whole touring of the territory, then we should make some haste, shall we?" Dreamstar teased, batting her tail lightly against Burningpaw's nose. Burningpaw, a little uncomfortable, shied away a pace or two.
"Do you recognize this place?" Dreamstar asked. Burningpaw padded through the trees to view rolling hills into moors, a river flowing slowly by melting ice, and a long stretch of scarce scrubland on the other side.
Burningpaw gulped. "Yes…" he breathed, feeling his fur grow hot. This is where he ran away not but a few days ago, when he had an impulsive breakdown on the outskirts of the FrostClan camp.
"I can smell your embarrassment," Dreamstar meowed. She quickly sat down and wrapped her silver tail around her white paws. "It is here, at this ridge, where our territory separates into the neutral lands between us and TreeClan."
A little puzzled, Burningpaw asked, "Why do we have to have neutral territory when we're on this side of the river? And why is TreeClan called 'TreeClan' when they live on… on…." The apprentice struggled to find the correct word to use. "…On flatlands?"
"You aren't the first apprentice to ask these things. We have neutral territory because we do not want to risk an argument with our neighboring Clan." She paused, "My knowledge is a little sketchier on the latter query, young apprentice. From what my mentor told me, a long time ago, that that moorland was a dense wood filled with many pines, much like DarkClan's forest. But Firethroat decided to remove the trees and coated their land with liquid fire, scorching away all tall shrubbery. They remain to be TreeClan in honor of the place it once was, I think."
Burningpaw impatiently remarked, "Who is this 'Firethroat' you and Bluedawn keep talking about?!"
"Not who, but what, young Burningpaw." Dreamstar breathed. A sigh of wind whispered through her fur as she murmured, "Firethroat is a mountain we believe was enchanted by our ancestors. It symbolizes our protection by sending signs to the sky when we are doing something wrong, and many a prophecy involves its interference somehow. It is also, however, a mark of danger, for Firethroat rains its inferno from the heavens when it is angry, destroying every living thing in its path."
The young apprentice didn't quite know how to react to this. Quite baffled at the idea of a fire-breathing mountain, he burbled, "W-wow…."
Dreamstar only nodded. "It has been so long since Firethroat erupted. It has never happened in my life, but I'm sure that someday it will grow restless again." She turned towards mountains in the FrostClan territories. "Come now. We must continue our tour."
Burningpaw proceeded to scamper after Dreamstar when she began running again. Darn it… what's with all the running? he growled internally. His paws pounded hard against the ground, breaking the sticks and kicking up the moss.
As he scampered farther into the woodland, he noticed that the trees were sparser here than near the camp. Nearly tripping over his paws, the apprentice bowled right into Dreamstar again as he stumbled into a small space filled with smelly humus.
"Yeuch…" he gagged. Burningpaw opened his dark eyes. They widened as he saw an astounding structure unlike anything he had ever seen. Tumbling rocks draped in lichen formed little caves barely big enough for a cat to crawl through. Trees split in two and mossy logs were all around it as if they were nothing but debris. The whole place smelled of insects and dirt. In the warming leaf-bare sun, it looked like a small, tattered mountain.
"Be wary when you are sent to hunt or patrol here, young Burningpaw," Dreamstar cautioned. "These are the Spider Caves. In those winding tunnels are many dangerous rocks that are just waiting to fall and crush you. When you are sent here, do not make any noise louder than normal speaking. The Spider Caves are prone to rock falls from the nearby mountain, which we are standing right by the edge of.
"Thankfully," she continued, "this place is not nearly as dangerous to tread as Boulderplace in StormClan territory. Even so much as a whisper could cause the whole peak to crumble."
Burningpaw gulped, "Well if the Spider Caves are so dangerous, then why do we hunt here?"
Dreamstar paused for a moment, as if she were searching for the right words. "When the short seasons of newleaf and greenleaf arrive to grace our forest with bounty, much prey hides in these tunnels and many wild herbs grow. Medicine cats and warriors alike find plenty here, even though the risk can be high," she phrased carefully. "When you are ready, you will be sent here to hunt on your own, for that is one of the tests for you to pass to become a warrior."
Staring at the tall place, so beautiful and so ominous, Burningpaw felt a pang of dread claw his stomach. "So… can we move on now?"
Dreamstar jolted upright, as if she were suddenly snapped into reality. "Yes. Follow me." She swished her tail upright and began to sprint through the woods.
With a snort of irritation, Burningpaw charged right after his mentor, his aching paws tearing through patches of decaying thorns. "GAH!" he cried as he smacked his nose right into a low-hanging branch of a tree. Stunned by the force of the blow, he staggered back with a moan of pain, barely restraining tears from his eyes.
The bushes ahead of him rustled. Dreamstar emerged, her blue eyes wide with fear. "What's wrong? Are you okay?"
Burningpaw licked his muzzle. No blood, he thought and replied, "Yeah, I'm fine."
"Then come along. You had me worried," his leader firmly replied.
"Geez," he mumbled. The tom got back to his paws, his head still drumming with pain. He blinked his dark eyes open, only to find that Dreamstar had disappeared.
"What is up with THAT?!" he roared. Frustrated at his mentor, he curled his lip and took a deep breath to calm himself down. On the breeze he caught her scent leading into the bushes.
Wait… he thought. Does this mean she wants me to track her to our next destination? The apprentice placed his paws on the moist earth and took another breath. Dreamstar's scent, sweet and strong, almost lead its own path through the undergrowth and beyond.
Burningpaw nodded and began to follow the scent trail. He was surprised to find that beyond the small bushes was a clear stretch of land that spread along the base of the nearby mountains enclosing the valley. The path looked as though it were treaded on by so many generations of paw-steps that it had been reduced to a flat trail cleared away for easy travel.
Dreamstar's scent led Burningpaw along the trail. The tom found himself bounding along effortlessly, like the breeze over the moors. No sticks, roots, or leaves dared stray in his path as he ran. His pounding head quickly vanished to be replaced by a young, beating heart, repaired by the free feeling of soaring with the wind.
"WOOHAH!" he whooped. He leapt over the minor holes in the road, slamming his paws into the ground and continuing running. With a rush and a meow of delight, he scurried through a small thicket—
…And ran into Dreamstar again. His leader turned around with an amused smile on her face. "You seem to have a habit of bumping into things, Burningpaw."
Humiliated, Burningpaw looked up awkwardly at his mentor and laughed, "Well why do you always sit right on the path I'm running?"
His leader disregarded that question with a flick of her tail and murmured, "Just as you have been guided here by your scent, you must use it again. Tell me, what do you smell?"
The apprentice inhaled deeply, drinking in the air hungrily. A strong, overpowering smell burned his nostrils like sulfurous fumes, stinking horribly of rotting wood, decaying food, and death itself. Coming over his scent glands were the smells of many cats, lurking in the shadows of the wood beyond.
"I smell cats."
"Very good," Dreamstar praised. "We are very near the DarkClan border. There is a hill only a few fox-lengths away which lead into the lowlands of their territory. It is a dark place where little light comes through the trees, but the cats who live there are actually not too bad once you get to know them.
Burningpaw couldn't help but stare at the dark forest ahead. Wasn't Bloodstar born in DarkClan? The tom wasn't surprised. Though could hear sounds of birds echoing from the gloom, he could almost feel the torturous red stare of the vicious leader coming out of the darkness to hunt him down and kill him.
Dreamstar meowed, "Remember, Burningpaw, unless the situation is dire, a FrostClan cat should never go down the hill into the DarkClan forest. Our place is here; it was their choice to live in the dark."
For the first time that day, Dreamstar began to walk slowly with Burningpaw treading closely behind. The smell of DarkClan mingled with that of FrostClan at the border, which created something sickeningly sweet. Burningpaw looked at the comforting patchy light of home. I'm very proud to be a FrostClan cat, he thought. The young apprentice honestly couldn't imagine how scary it must be to survive in those shadows every day.
As they padded along, Burningpaw heard the muffled sound of running water farther away. With every step he took it grew just a little louder, until finally it was roaring in his ears harder than any wind could blow. "Are we at the river?"
"Of course we are. Take a look."
Burningpaw padded over to where Dreamstar halted. Looking out over the short ridge, he could see a river that was churning with murky, black water. The waves roughly beat at an island that wasn't too far away from FrostClan shores. A fresh smell of melting ice filled Burningpaw's nose like a wave of warmth from the approaching newleaf.
"This, as you may have surmised, is the river," Dreamstar meowed. "It runs as a border between us and TreeClan and DarkClan with StormClan. Every full moon we meet in truce at the island in the middle. What is this truce called?"
"The Gathering!" Burningpaw piped up.
"Correct. There we exchange news with the other clans and discuss matters that are important to all four clans. In a time of peace, we even sometimes host special contests for young apprentices such as yourself to compete in to see which young cat in all the clans is the best hunter, fighter, runner, or even climber. Unfortunately," Dreamstar sighed, "I was but a kit when the last one was held and it will take a long period of peace to issue such events."
Burningpaw pondered for a moment and then meowed, "The moon was pretty big last night. Will the next Gathering be soon?"
"Why, yes," Dreamstar purred. "In a few days. If you're good to your duty, you may be able to come."
A proud glow seemed to fill Burningpaw's heart. Imagine, my very first Gathering! He could already hear cheering and welcoming to apprenticeship. In his mind he envisioned the island alight by the full moon, with four regal cats looking down on a mighty band of feline warriors bowing before their leaders. The young cat could see himself among the crowd, sitting tall and humbly tilting his head as Dreamstar mentioned his apprentice name.
He looked up. The sun was starting to get low in the sky, as if twilight were to arrive very soon. "Uh… Dreamstar? Maybe we should go back to camp now."
His leader glanced briefly at him and chuckled, "Very well, young apprentice. You've had a long day, filled with all sorts of new sights and smells. Tomorrow your real training will begin. Although," she gave him a roguish grin. "I do have one more thing I'd like to show you."
"Really?" Burningpaw meowed, his dark eyes glittering with excitement. "What is it?"
"Put your paws really close to the edge of the water and then rear up on your hind paws." She winked mischievously. "Trust me."
Burningpaw looked at the churning water close to the island, slamming hard against the rocks. With a gulp he slinked forward, feeling his toes perched precariously near the edge of the riverbank. Forcing all his weight to his hind paws the tom reared upward, feeling a blast of warm air against his face like the winds of fate blowing him to his destiny. The sunlight glowed on the waterside, making fire of his fur. Burningpaw's eyes flashed bright to the light, challenging it to come and fight him.
"This is amazing!" he shouted. "I mean, I just—WOAH!" Upon Burningpaw's outburst, he momentarily lost track of his balance and tumbled head over heels into the water.
The shock took Burningpaw completely by surprise. The freshly-melted icy water tore at his fur like a chilly blast of winters past. That feeling of warmth he felt as he stood facing the world was completely overcome by the shivering tines of the water stabbing his flank.
All of a sudden, Burningpaw felt like he could breathe again. Spitting out water, he inhaled deep gulps of air as he felt the sun-warmed rocks against his soaked belly. A breezy cackle was heard not too far away. Burningpaw turned to see his leader yowling with laughter at the trunk of a nearby tree. "It works every time! I figured that after a few dozen moons they would learn…."
The young tom gave her a slightly exasperated smile. Rather than a LionClan hero opposing all odds, he was now just a wet apprentice who had fallen victim of a practical joke. Burningpaw snorted, "Very funny. Seriously, though, let's just get back to camp before I freeze to death."
Dreamstar got up, breathing heavily from her laughter. She meowed, "Quite right. Let's head back."
--
I still can't think of any darn lyrics! Geez… if anybody has suggestions, I'd be happy to look into a certain band or song to see if anything would work. But yeah. That won't happen.
This has broken my record for "Longest DreamClan Chapter" so far, with seven pages as a mere Word document. Now let's see if one will ever be forty pages, like my Spyro: Truth or Dares ones are. HA! That will be the day. I think that seven pages are pretty good though.
