Chapter 13
"I'm sorry Wetpaw. You just aren't ready to learn that move." Bluetail mewed gently. Wetpaw sat in front of her, tail lashing back and forth in anger. The two sat in the center of the training clearing, surrounded by some of the other apprentices and mentors practicing battle and hunting techniques.
"But Blackpaw's learning it!" Wetpaw complained.
"She's bigger than you." Bluetail sighed. The cat young tom needed to know that there were limitations.
"I'm older!" Wetpaw countered.
"She's stronger! And ready!" Bluetail had had enough. She turned away, but Wetpaw didn't notice.
"I'm ready! I'll prove it to you!" Wetpaw shouted. He then pulled an extremely hard move and landed on his paws panting. But Bluetail had been looking away and had missed the dramatic show.
"Wetpaw, I know your upset, but please go blow off your steam in the forest hunting. Every piece of prey counts with Leaf-bare approaching." And with that, the conversation was over. Bluetail turned to help Sparrowpaw with an especially hard move, and Wetpaw glared after her.
"She didn't even watch me. I practiced that for weeks and she didn't even watch me..." Wetpaw felt tears stinging at his eyes. "But I'll show her. I'll show her how much better I am than her." He choked down his sadness and let his anger rise in his throat. I'll show her...
Blackpaw noticed Wetpaw angrily stalking out of the clearing. "Wetpaw!" she called out. But he didn't even acknowledge her. "What's got his tail?" she muttered to herself. She turned back to where Jaggedtooth was waiting. Her mentor flicked his ears impatiently, waiting for Blackpaw to respond to something.
"Sorry, what?" Blackpaw shook her head, bringing her mind back to the here and now.
"A good warrior is always alert and ready," Jaggedtooth scolded in his firm, but not harsh way.
"Yes, Jaggedtooth. It won't happen again." Blackpaw bowed her head.
Jaggedtooth flicked his ears again. "Yes. Now, back to the question. You are confronted with a fox in dense undergrowth, and you know that there is a wounded cat nearby. Do you A.) Take out the fox first and then . . . " Blackpaw answered questions like this for the next hour, catching the occasional trick question. When she got the answer wrong, Jaggedtooth, instead of telling her which was right, questioned her why she thought that way. For every point Blackpaw made, her mentor would have a counterpoint, and tested her logical thinking abilities to the fullest. Blackpaw was starting to realize why Snowstar had chosen this cat as her deputy.
Finally, Jaggedtooth announced that today's training was over. "You've answered your questions very well today, weighing out the consequences from the rewards and choosing difficult paths in life or death situations. But there is one element to this equation that I cannot teach you. The pressure will be immense, and you may have to risk losing those who love you. I can only warn you to keep a clear mind and focus on the goal at task."
"I understand." Blackpaw dipped her head and turned to leave. Jaggedtooth watched his apprentice step into the forest, head cocked to one side.
She followed the winding path down to where the camp entrance was hidden beneath a dense clump of ferns. When she rounded the corner into the main clearing, she found an escalated feeling of excitement. Cats had assembled around the medicine cat's den, making it impossible to see the entrance. She found Halfear sitting on the log at the edge of camp and decided to ask the content elder what was going on. "Hey, Halfear!" she called.
"Oh!" The elder swiveled his ear and a half over to Blackpaw. "Blackpaw! And how are you today, younglin'?"
"Great, actually," Blackpaw smiled back at the grinning elder. He was always happy when the younger cats came and visited him, and always knew what was going on. "I just wanted to know what in the world is going on here?"
"Oh, didn't you hear? Oakpaw found a hefty snake in the woods and took it down by himself." Halfear seemed proud. "He's in the medicine cat den, if you're wondering. Ha! Of course you're wondering." It was easy to see that Blackpaw wanted to take off running to the den, but stayed put as so to not disrespect Halfear. The elder sensed this and smiled again. "Now go, shoo. An elder like me needs my all the sleep he can get." Blackpaw blinked gratefully and dashed to the medicine den. She had to push her way through all the cats, but soon found herself by Oakpaw.
"... it's giant eyes locked with mine and I felt the fear of a thousand warriors shiver down my spine. But I knew what I had to do! I had to defend my Clan! I shook off my fear and clawed out it's eyes. It's head writhed in pain and hit my ribs with a bone-breaking crack I felt all my weight shift to my front paw and heard a sickening crunch. Then I finished it off with a loud hiss and a killer scratch. The snake didn't stand a chance." Oakpaw said proudly to the small group around him. Blackpaw saw that one paw was bound up with a sticky poultice and there were cobwebs stuck on the worst of his scratches.
"Wow!" She was impressed. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, just a few scratches. But Cinderheart thinks I sprained my paw, so I won't be back training for a few days." When Oakpaw saw the look of horror in Blackpaw's eyes, he laughed. "Don't worry, it's only for a little while. I'll be up and hunting in about three days."
"And now you must go to sleep." Cinderheart said as she shooed the crowd out of the den. The cats grumbled, but left, all except Sparrowpaw. Cinderheart opened her mouth to tell Sparrowpaw to leave, but something in the apprentices eyes seemed to stop her. Blackpaw knew exactly how her friend felt. She nodded and found Leafpaw outside the den.
"Oakpaw sure did tell a great story." Blackpaw commented to Leafpaw.
"Yeah, but I bet you Wetpaw could of told it better. He seems to have a gift for that." Leafpaw said.
"Naw, Wetpaw never has anything exciting happen to him. He has to make up all his stories." Blackpaw rolled her eyes.
"What about the chickens? And when he tried to fish?"
"That's not exciting. It doesn't involve any danger at all!" Blackpaw said. Leafpaw gave her a Those-had-lots-of-danger-and-you-know-it stare. "Ok, so they were a little dangerous but did he get seriously hurt? No! Not exciting." Blackpaw huffed.
"Ok, I can tell I can't win." Leafpaw said teasingly. "But seriously where's your brother?" she asked all serious again.
"Probably off somewhere trying to cheat his way into being a warrior quicker. I'll keep an eye on him while I'm on hunting patrol, 'k?" Blackpaw knew Wetpaw was okay, but Leafpaw seemed to be a little on edge. Leafpaw nodded, then turned to go back into the medicine cat's den. Blackpaw turned to go meet her hunting patrol around the fresh kill pile.
Wetpaw leaped onto the tiny vole and killed with a quick bite to the neck. He buried it next to a tree then continued deeper into the forest. He had decided to catch so much prey that Bluetail would have to teach him the move. (Fire: Yeah, immature, I know. But, hey, it's Wetpaw! Give him a break!) Wetpaw was about to leap onto an unexpecting pigeon when it fluttered away. Wetpaw growled then immediately became curious. What had scared the pigeon? Maybe it was a badger! Or a fox! If I could kill it Bluetial will worship me forever! Wetpaw thought excitedly. He heard rustling on the other side of the bush and crept forward, as if stalking prey. At first he was dissapointed. Then the realization of what he had seen hit him. Treepaw was talking to none other than Treestar on Iceclan territory!!!!!!!!!!!! (Fire: Ok, that needed tons more exclamation points but I got lazy. Dawn: Yeah, I know, what's the big deal, but here under Silverclan, this is averyserious crime.)"Treestar!" Wetpaw breathed. Wetpaw decided to break up the party and to tell Treestar to go home. Little did he know how involved he was going to be.
"Hey Treestar! In case you didn't notice, you're on Iceclan territory. I'm gonna have to ask you to exit the premises." Wetpaw said trying to sound all official. That's a little hard when you're about half the offenders size.
First Treepaw just stood there with his jaw on the ground, but Treestar didn't seemed fazed at all. He smiled slyly and asked, "Did you put it together?"
"Uhh, put what together. I don't recall you giving me a puzzle or anything." Wetpaw stated stubbornly.
"Think about it Wetpaw. Me and Treestar look exactly alike. What does that mean?" Treepaw said smoothly.
"How should I... You guys... You're..." Wetpaw started. Treepaw nodded, encouraging him to go on. "You're... brothers!" Wetpaw gasped. Treepaw slammed his head against a tree a couple of times. Treestar dropped his head suddenly, as if a kit just told him he was Gustclan.
"You're right, Treepaw. He is extremely stupid." Treestar muttered.
"Oh! I get it! You're Treepaw's dad!" Wetpaw said excitedly. "You're Treepaw's father?!?!?!?" Wetpaw repeated dumbfounded.
"Yes, Shadow." Treestar said as his claws slid out.
"Shadow? My name's Wetpaw!" Wetpaw said confused. This cat either had extreme memory loss, or he had just made an annoying nickname for Wetpaw.
"You know we can't have anyone telling about this meeting." Treepaw said craftily.
"You're absolutely right!" Wetpaw agreed. "Snowstar would kill me if she found out that I was conversing with the leader of Gustclan. She'd probably kill you too, Treepaw." Wetpaw added.
"No. I mean that we can't have you blabbing to Blackpaw or anyone else in camp for that matter." Treepaw said.
"Oh, I get it! I swear I won't tell anyone." Wetpaw said.
"But can we trust you to be quiet?" Treestar asked. Wetpaw nodded vigorously, but Treestar shook his head and said, "Sorry. We can only trust you if you can't talk at all."
When Wetpaw looked confused Treepaw added, "When you're dead."
"Wait, you mean you want to kill me?" Wetpaw asked. The other two cats nodded. "Whoa, you can't seriously kill me. I mean, my sister would notice if I dissapear or something."
"Scary things happen in the forest. Little apprentices shouldn't be running around without mentors." Treestar growled.
"Y-y-you can't!" Wetpaw stuttered. The young tom shuffled back a bit as Treestar stepped forward threateningly.
"You're right. I can't," Treestar said with mock concern. "Snowstar would tear me to pieces." Wetpaw didn't seem to catch onto the sarcasm and breathed out a sigh of relief. "But Treepaw can!" Wetpaw's face registered complete fear.
Wetpaw turned to Treepaw and shouted, "You wouldn't!" In his slow, backwards retreat, Wetpaw tripped over the root of a tree.
Treepaw's eyes went all steely and he smiled cruelly. He then pounced on Wetpaw. Wetpaw tried to defend himself, but his paw was twisted in the root, rendering him helpless. The last thing he saw before drifting off into darkness was Treepaw's curved claw coming into contact with his head. Pain was the only emotion present as his senses numbed and his mind went blank. Treepaw then turned to Treestar and said, "The deed is done."
"Hurry back, son. Before Snowstar notices you're gone." Treestar said then walked off toward Gustclan territory. "Now we have nothing to worry about..." Treestar said before dissapearign into the forest. Far off, muffled in the dense forest, a stifled cry startled a pigeon and sent it fluttering above the trees.