Chapter 11:
Lakepaw's ear twitched as a bee buzzed around it. She had been living in Windclan for a little over a moon now and Darkkit was going to be made an apprentice.
She watched the young kit proudly as she walked to the center of the clearing, escorted by her foster parents, Whitefrost and Fleetwind.
"Darkkit, you have reached your sixth moon and are ready to become an apprentice of Windclan." Flamestar annouced. "From this day forward until you receive your warrior name you will be known as Darkpaw. I have chosen Crowclaw to be your mentor. He is a worthy mentor of a kit such as you and I expect he will pass on all his knowledge."
Crowclaw padded forward to touch noses with his new apprentice.
"Darkpaw! Darkpaw!" Lakepaw cheered with the rest of the apprentices.
The only cats who were silent were Icebreath, Dewmist, and Maplefall. Which was to be expected.
Darkpaw's eyes glowed as the clan welcomed her.
Crowclaw beckoned his new apprentice with his tail and whispered to her.
Lakepaw jumped as Fleetwind padded up behind her. "We're going to do an assessment of your skills." He informed her.
"Already?" Lakepaw asked, wondering who 'we' was.
"It's not your final assessment." Fleetwind flicked his tail. "We just want to check on your progress."
"Okay." Lakepaw nodded.
"Antwhisker, Wolfspirit, Graypaw, and Russetpaw are coming too." He continued.
"Even better." Lakepaw purred.
"First, you should fetch something for Hazelmist." Fleetwind added.
"Of course." Lakepaw grabbed a large rabbit off the pile. Hazelmist had moved to the nursery half a moon ago and Whitefrost was glad of the company.
Hazelmist was stretched out in a cushioned nest when Lakepaw padded in.
"Is that for me?" The sandy she-cat yawned.
Lakepaw nodded and lay it down beside her.
"Thanks." The queen pushed it closer and took a delicate bite.
"Fleetwind taking you training?" Whitefrost asked.
"An assessment." Lakepaw replied.
"I want to be an apprentice." Runningkit complained.
"Me too!" Heatherkit reared onto her hind paws.
"Some day." Lakepaw twitched her whiskers and backed out of the nursery.
~*O*~
Antwhisker still limped from his fall out of the tree but Rosewind said it would be gone in another quarter moon.
"I'm gonna catch more fresh-kill than you!" Graypaw bounded happily around Wolfspirit.
The gray tom cuffed her over the ear with a sheathed paw. "Hush."
Fleetwind purred in amusement. "Alright, you each have until sunset to catch as much fresh-kill as you can. We will be watching and you can't help each other."
"Can we go yet?" Russetpaw asked impatiently.
Fleetwind nodded and all three apprentices took off at once.
Lakepaw wished her friends good luck and headed towards the Thunderclan border. She could catch some rabbits and then squirrels. That would impress Fleetwind.
She scented the air and dove into the taller grass. Lakepaw could see a rabbit munching innocently on grass. She purred in delight and bounded towards it.
The rabbit was gone in flash, Lakepaw stretched her legs forward as she pelted after it.
Just as they reached the woodland by Thunderclan's border, she hooked her claws around its tail and snapped its neck.
Lakepaw stiffened. She felt like someone was watching her. Mousebrain! She thought. Of course someone was watching her. It was an assessment.
Lakepaw shook herself and buried the rabbit, tasting the air for signs of squirrels.
She walked around by the border for a bit until she saw the flash of a furry tail. There were brambles everywhere, slowly Lakepaw down, but she took off after the squirrel anyway. Lakepaw hauled herself up a tree and plummeted to the ground as the branch broke. She caught a glimpse of the squirrel trying to jump into the next tree but it fell right beside her.
Lakepaw's legs collapsed under her as she landed but she recovered before the squirrel did and killed it quickly.
She lay there for a few heartbeats with the dead squirrel and was standing up to leave when she was suddenly pinned from behind.
"What in the name of Starclan?" Lakepaw struggled to stand up but the weight was too much. "Fleetwind?" She gasped, wondering if her mentor was testing her.
"Prey-stealer!" The voice belonged to a she-cat but Lakepaw didn't know who. It wasn't Russetpaw or Graypaw.
"Ivypaw!" An angry yowl sounded close by.
"What?"
Lakepaw rolled away as the weight was lifted. A silver and white she-cat was standing beside her.
"You crossed the border." A black she-cat with a cream colored chest snapped.
"What are you talking about Birdwing?" Ivypaw snorted. "She was stealing that squirrel!"
"What's going on?" Fleetwind stalked over to Lakepaw, his pelt ruffled.
"That squirrel was on the Windclan side of the border since we got here." Lakepaw recognized Snowdust.
"You mean we don't have all the woodland?" Ivypaw looked confused.
"We haven't in seasons, Ivypaw." Birdwing snorted. "You've been an apprentice for over a moon. Didn't your mentor show you the borders?"
Ivypaw looked stunned. "I-I-"
"Come on." Snowdust sighed. She glanced at Fleetwind. "Sorry about her."
Fleetwind narrowed his eyes and nodded. Lakepaw remembered Tinystorm had mentioned Thunderclan were their allies.
"You did good." Fleetwind meowed when they had gone.
"Are you sure?" Lakepaw could feel a clot of blood on her ear but that seemed to be her only wound.
"Excellent. The sun is setting we should go back to camp." Fleetwind gazed at horizon.
"But I only caught two peices of prey!" Lakepaw objected.
"And you fought off a Thunderclan apprentice. Antwhisker and Wolfspirit will be waiting." Fleetwind picked up her squirrel.
Lakepaw just shrugged and decided against pointing out that she had barely touched Ivypaw.