Chapter Twelve is up! Woop! It's not massively interesting but anyway. It's not too long either, but anyway, read and review. :)
FlyingOranges76 - he he, they are really cute together. ^^
Icefire- I just had to put that in. xD I killed Blackstar because he was ancient, he was born and made a warrior in Yellowfang's Secret you know? And Rowanclaw is quite old too so I killed him as well. xD I feel evil. I lived Lionheart and Mousefur was awesome. :)
Raggedstar 3 - Ha ha! I knew everyone would love me if I put Lionheart in.
And yup, Ivypool and Toadstep are cousins, it says on Warriors Wiki. Cherryflower and Molespots are Poppyfrost and Berrynose's kits. Toadstep and Rosepetal are Daisy and Spiderleg's kits.
Kenzie12 - Coincidentaly, in a few chapters there will be a battle... I'll say no more.
Hannah - I lurved Lionheart, he was awesome! And there's no particular reason that she saw him, I just wanted to bring him in.
"Greetings young one, my name's Lionheart."
Amberpaw stared up at the starry golden tabby tom with wide amber eyes, "The Lionheart? The ThunderClan deputy? Greystripe's mentor?"
Lionheart chuckled, "Yes, that is I, but changing the subject, why have you sought out StarClan's guidance?" he asked, green eyes clouding with concern, "Is it about the prophecy?"
Amberpaw nodded, "Yes," she meowed, "Dewpaw refuses to admit he's part of it and me and Snowpaw have no idea what it means," she continued with a sigh.
Lionheart rest his tail on her shoulder, "So you've worked out it involves you, then?"
The grey-and-white apprentice nodded, "Yes, but apart from that we need to return to the forest, we haven't been able to uncover what the prophecy means," she let out another sigh, "Why can't you just tell us what to do so we can fulfil it?" she blurted out. She instantly regretted her words, "Sorry"-
Lionheart interrupted her, "Don't worry. You have a lot of pressure piled on you for such a young age, but don't lose faith," his green eyes briefly clouded with knowledge, before he spoke again, "And as for what it means, you must discover your own destiny. You must forge your own path."
Amberpaw gazed up at the former ThunderClan deputy for a second, "But what about Dewpaw?" she asked, tilting her head to one side.
Lionheart chuckled, "Yes, he's a stubborn old thing. But he will realise his destiny soon," he glanced over his shoulder, "You must be going now. Your clan will be wondering where you are."
Amberpaw nodded reluctantly, opening her jaws to speak again, but found Lionheart gone. Why do StarClan cats have to be so secretive?
The next thing she knew, Amberpaw was waking up by the Moonpool. She blinked in confusion for a few moments before realising what had happened.
Yawning, she rose to her paws, "Did that just happen?" she muttered to herself in disbelief, "Did I really just meet a StarClan warrior?" she blinked away the thoughts.
I'd better get back to camp.
A lot of time had passed since she'd left camp and so she set off at a quick pace, but she soon slowed. Her paws ached, despite her having done almost nothing that day and she soon stopped for a rest.
Amberpaw still couldn't believe that Lionheart had visited her. She'd heard about the great golden tom in many nursery tales and now she could tell everyone she'd met him!
Sitting under an old oak tree, she briefly ran her paw behind her ears in an attempt to look more presentable when she eventually reached camp. Her grey and white pelt was all ruffled from when she slept by the Moonpool and she didn't want any of her clanmates getting suspicious.
I'd better catch something, I have been "hunting" after all. She paused to admire her surroundings; she had found a rather nice spot, just by the WindClan border and a small stream trickled past.
"I'll have to come here again," she muttered to herself. Wild jasmine grew up from amongst the roots of the great oak and ivy twined around its trunk.
"Right, better get moving."
Amberpaw clambered to her paws, all of her senses alert. Under the cover of the trees, she could scent a squirrel. She swiped her tongue around her jaws in anticipation of the kill and skulked forward into the shadows, "Squirrel, prepare to die," she muttered.
The apprentice's grey-and-white pelt was swallowed up by shadows as she stalked forwards, ears pricked and being sure to tread lightly. The squirrel came into focus up ahead and Amberpaw took a deep breath, before continuing to tread closer.
She regulated her breathing, stepping ever closer to the oblivious brown-furred creature. The squirrel was nibbling at a small acorn by the looks of it. It was only when a blur of grey and white flew towards it that it finally looked up.
But it was too late.
Before the squirrel could run, it was dead in Amberpaw's paws. She purred, licking the blood from around her jaws.
"Nice catch."
The grey-and-white apprentice jumped, heart racing. But when she looked up, she let out a sigh of relief and let her neck fur lie flat. It was Molespots.
"T-thanks," Amberpaw meowed shyly, staring down at her paws.
Molespots stepped forward and sniffed the squirrel, amber eyes glittering, "I'm sure Cinderheart would appreciate this," he meowed, prodding the limp body, "Or one of the elders."
Amberpaw nodded, picking up the squirrel in her jaws.
"I was hoping I'd find you," Molespots meowed, gazing at her with warm amber eyes.
The apprentice's heart skipped a beat, he was looking for me! Collecting herself, she took a deep breath and tried to meow "Really?", but instead it came out with a muffled, "Rully?" embarrassed, she dropped the squirrel, spitting out the fur and cleared her throat, "I meant, really?"
Molespots laughed, "Yes, Squirrelflight and Snowpaw were worried, so they asked me to come looking for you, but I can see that you're fine," he meowed, looking her up and down.
Amberpaw's heart sank. He hadn't really missed her or been wondering where she was, he'd just been told to come and look for her. Taking a deep breath, she managed to stop an "Oh" slipping out.
She picked up the squirrel, dipping her head to the young warrior before leading the way back to camp. Molespots fell in beside her, "You okay?"
Amberpaw nodded, but didn't bother speaking. The squirrel would have muffled any words she had to say anyway, so there was no point.
Tail drooping and ears flattened against her head, it was probably hard to believe that Amberpaw was all right, but Molespots sensed she didn't want to be pestered and instead changed the subject, "Just a few moons or so until you're a warrior, then?"
Amberpaw stopped. She hadn't really been keeping track of how long she'd been an apprentice, but thinking about it, it had to have been about three moons ago now, which meant she only had three more moons of training.
They arrived at camp just over five minutes later. Amberpaw quickly dropped her catch on the fresh-kill pile, her amber eyes briefly glancing over at Molespots before looking away.
The brown-and-cream tom had bounded over to his sister Cherryflower and was talking with her. The light ginger she-cat looked very pleased with herself for some reason.
Amberpaw shook away the thoughts and padded over to greet her own brother, Snowpaw, who was talking with Dewpaw. The dark grey tom looked very unimpressed and Amberpaw guessed that Snowpaw had been trying to persuade him he was one of the prophecy.
As soon as the grey-and-white she-cat approached the two, Dewpaw darted away, probably having decided he'd had enough of the prophecy for one day.
Amberpaw watched as he stormed off, something which he seemed to do a lot, in the direction of the Thorn Barrier. Silence hung in the air for a few minutes before Snowpaw spoke, "So, where were you?"
Amberpaw glanced around to check if anyone could hear their conversation, "I went to the Moonpool," she hissed under her breath, "I asked StarClan about the prophecy."
Snowpaw's pool-like amber eyes widened, "Really?" he meowed, raising his voice, before realising he'd been a little too loud and clamping his jaws shut, "Sorry."
Amberpaw chuckled before letting her expression fall solemn, "Lionheart spoke to me, you know, Greystripe's mentor."
"WOW!" Snowpaw burst out, trembling with excitement, "What did he say?"
Amberpaw shot him a glare, "Shhh! Or someone might hear us," she cast a glance over her shoulder at Cherryflower and Molespots, who were now sharing tongues, "He told me that we are the ones mentioned in the prophecy, but he couldn't tell us what it meant. Oh! And he said that Dewpaw would realise his destiny soon, which is good," she meowed with a smile.
Snowpaw cocked his head to one side, "Definitely," he paused, "We'll have to try and talk with him tomorrow, the sooner we get him in on this, the better."
Amberpaw nodded, amber gaze a little distant. She was lost in thought when Cherryflower bounded over, amber eyes gleaming, "Guess what?"
A little dazed, Amberpaw stared blankly at the ginger she-cat for a second. She wasn't particularly interested in what the warrior had to say as she had much more serious things on her mind, but she played along, "What?"
Snowpaw was watching the ginger warrior with excited amber eyes. The snowy white tom was probably still getting over the fact that the legend that was Lionheart had spoken to his sister.
"I'm expecting kits!" Cherryflower squeaked, amber eyes dancing with excitement.
Amberpaw's eyes lit up, "That's great news!" new kits meant more warriors for ThunderClan, which was great.
Snowpaw purred, "Who's the lucky father then?"
Cherryflower suddenly fell silent, her amber gaze dull, "Well, uh, that doesn't really matter does it?" a little put off she meowed a farewell, before disappearing off in Berrynose's direction.
Amberpaw raised an eye, "I didn't know Cherryflower had a mate."
Snowpaw stared at her for a few seconds, "Perhaps he's like a loner or a super evil cat!"
Amberpaw shot her brother a glare, "I doubt it," she meowed before changing the subject, "So, we'll try again with Dewpaw tomorrow then? There's only so long he can ignore the prophecy for."
Snowpaw nodded, "Yup. Perhaps after training?"
The white-patched grey she-cat smiled, "You can't outrun your destiny, Dewpaw must come to realise that sooner or later."
Well, thanks for reading! I wonder who the father of Cherryflower's kits is and I wonder why she's hiding it. Hmmm... xD Read and Review, you know I love it!
Leafsplash, over and out.