Chapter 4: Dark Forest
The training in dreams were tiring, but she learned a lot. Dawntail now knows that the training grounds were called the Dark Forest, otherwise known as The Place of No Stars, which is where evil cats go after being rejected by StarClan when they die.
She was startled by the discovery at first, but she was becoming a great warrior there, and the cats weren't too bad. They have grown... sort of, nice, after endless seasons of wandering there.
Dawntail even pitied the Dark Forest cats sometimes. They did do bad things, evil, perhaps. But it's a bit cruel to have them spend the rest of their afterlife in that foul forest.
She had changed some of the moves she had learned in the Dark Forest and taught them to Spottedpaw. Her apprentice, under her better battle training, can now overpower the other two apprentices easily.
During the warriors' trainings, Dawntail sought greater challenges. She often chose to take on a fierce double-attack and came out unscratched with her attackers panting and batted.
Bluebelltail seemed to notice her changes. Good. Then she should know well to stay out of my fur.
The other warriors looked at her with new respect now, with her great skills improving every day.
She sometimes suffered injuries from Dark Forest trainings, but with a medicine cat as a close littermate, she had some basic herb knowledge to help her cover her wounds and smooth the pain.
It's a quarter moon after her first visit to the Dark Forest. She now was walking through the dark woods with Nightslash.
"We are going to meet the others tonight" was what he had told her. There are others here, probably training to be better warriors, like me.
They approached a clearing. It was bigger than the one they have been training in during other nights. There were other cats here. All training in pairs.
"Ah, Nightslash, you came." Snakedusk greeted them, "You are better than last time, I hope?" She asked Dawntail.
"I'm ready to take on tougher cats," Dawntail lifted her chin, "I can overpower all of my clan-mates now, the training was almost boring there."
Snakedusk narrowed her eyes, "Really?"
"She has been training hard." Nightslash said, "Like you said, she's talented. She's a lot stronger than the first time."
"Well then, let's introduce you to other cats." Snakedusk led them to the closest cat.
Dawntail recognised him at once, "Tigertail?" The ShadowClan tom's green eyes glistened with interest.
"Yes, this is Tigertail, my apprentice." Snakedusk told her.
"You are training here too?" Tigertail was curious.
"Why do you think I'm here, then?" Dawntail tipped her head to one side. Still don't have brains. She sniffed.
"Come on, there are other cats to meet." Nightslash beckoned her over with his tail.
A brown tom with grey patches approached them, "New apprentice, huh?" He examined Dawntail with his eyes, "A bit small, but you look strong. I'm Lightningface, by the way."
Lightningface. The name fitted him well. His face was divided by a line that looked like lightning, brown on one side, grey on the other. His apprentice was Reedpelt from RiverClan.
His littermate was here as well, he had told them. Mudpool was a brown tom with darker dapples like pools of mud. He was training Birchclaw from WindClan, who was also their other littermate's kit.
A thin black tom named Ravenpool was training Needlewhisker from ShadowClan, and Dawntail strongly suspect that Needlewhisker would teach some of the moves to her apprentice, Maplepaw, just like she did.
Acornfoot of SkyClan was trained by a grey she-cat with white stripes called Ivyfall.
That's at least one cat from each Clan!
Nightslash finally introduced her to Morningglow, the only cat without an apprentice. Morningglow was a pale sandy-coloured she-cat, her pelt was ruffled and scarred, but her green eyes blazed.
"I heard you wanted to take on some tougher cats, yes?" Morningglow gazed sideways at her.
"Yes." Dawntail replied clearly. She trusted her skill now to not to have fear.
Morningglow narrowed her eyes. Dawntail was used to cats here "examining" her now.
"Let's have you against Ivyfall, shall we?" Morningglow mewed after thinking for several heartbeats, "Let's see what you can do against a cat of your size."
Ivyfall came to them, as if being summoned. She dropped into the battle crouch as she saw Dawntail, understanding in her eyes.
"Begin." Morningglow called.
Dawntail and Ivyfall rounded on each other. The other cats in the clearing all stopped to watch them, interest glowing in their eyes. Morningglow and Nightslash backed to the edge of the clearing to give them space.
Ivyfall looked undersized, just like Dawntail. But she noticed the muscles and scars under Ivyfall's fur. She seemed strong, and fast, judging from her size.
"Remember to use your surroundings." Nightslash has taught her a few nights ago. Ivyfall's tail doesn't seem long, and there's a limp at the tip, it will drag her balance. Dawntail had an idea.
She focused on defending as Ivyfall sliced her paws at her. She kept dodging and backing away towards the trees. Ivyfall was sneering at her cowardly reaction and charged closer.
Dawntail hit a tree with her back, she leapt on the trunk and reached the lowest branch. She had always been great with tree fighting, that's her advantage, not speed.
Ivyfall arrived the tree shortly after. Dawntail swung her body with claws extended towards the small cat. Ivyfall dodged it, only just.
Dawntail pulled herself back up to the branch and climbed higher, urging Ivyfall to follow. She could see the slight panic in Ivyfall's eyes, though she was hiding it well.
Ivyfall climbed the trunk after her. She may be a little lack of balance, but she was a fast climber. She thought as she reached a branch and decided to face her opponent there.
She turned to face Ivyfall. She could see the she-cat was forcing herself to not to look down. She lashed a paw at her and hit her chest with her claws. Ivyfall backed away a little, unable to do much as she struggled to grip the branch and keep her balance.
This is my place now. Dawntail thought with satisfaction.
Using her long tail to balance, she charged towards Ivyfall. The silver she-cat swiped a paw at her in defence, but it barely touched her and was soft. With this great discovery, Dawntail gained her confidence and slashed her claws firmly at her while balancing on her hind legs.
Now it's Ivyfall who was backing away. She climbed back down to the ground and stared up at Dawntail.
Dawntail judged the distance and leapt from two fox-lengths above the ground. She landed on Ivyfall with claws clashing claws, and crushed her to the ground. She rolled the silver cat over and tried to pin her.
But Ivyfall had overcome her fear of hights now that she was on the ground. She batted Dawntail firmly with her hind paws, clawing her belly.
Dawntail hissed in pain and leapt off the cat. She slid aside and wrapped her paws around Ivyfall's body, making her unable to move. She rolled her over and dug her claws into the ground, pinning her down with all her strength.
"I win." She mewed, ignoring Ivyfall's angry hisses.
"Well done." Morningglow padded towards her, "Let that useless lump of fur up and you're off for the rest of the night."
"Great strategy for spotting Ivyfall's weakness and using it." Nightslash congratulated her, "Not many cats knew her fear of hights." He whispered in her ear.
Dawntail enjoyed the greetings and approves as cats streamed past her. I'm becoming a great warrior. She thought with pride.
I defeated a Dark Forest warrior.
. . .
"Is it just me, or is the lake bigger than usual?" Sparkflame wondered out loud.
They were walking along the sore. It was the night of the gathering. The following day.
"It is a little bigger, some landmarks were already underwater!" Swiftclaw exclaimed.
"It's Greenleaf, of course it will flood a little," Foxstar called from the front of the crowd, "Now keep up or we'll be late."
They arrived the island under the full moon. Dawntail took her place among the deputies at the roots of the Great Oak.
"How's ThunderClan?" Drizzlebreeze, the WindClan deputy asked. He was the only deputy to chat to her like a friend, as they were both young and small. And more surprisingly, both had a medicine cat littermate.
"Good. How's WindClan?" She answered curtly.
"We're good as well. But one of our warriors was tired lately."
Dawntail knew he had meant Birchclaw, who was training in the Dark Forest. His kin must have pushed him hard. Dawntail's Dark Forest mentor, Nightslash, sometimes leave her in peace for a night or two, for her to get some rest in case her clan-mates notice.
"I guess he's just stressed about something." She suggested carefully. It's Birchclaw's own fault if his clan-mates noticed.
To her relief, Drizzlebreeze seemed satisfied with her answer, he shrugged, "Who knows? He might be jealous of his brother for having a mate and kits." He joked.
"You have tired warriors too?" The ShadowClan deputy, Greyclaw chimed in.
"What do you mean, too?" Dawntail asked, though she knew very well who he was referring to.
"Yes, one of our warriors sometimes have unexplained injuries and another woke up smelling like fox-dung."
The injured one should be Needlewhisker, as she wasn't quite so skilled yet. Dawntail thought. And the foul-smelling one should be Tigertail, he always forgot to lick the smell off before waking up.
"Maybe they sometimes went on a night-strode? ShadowClan was well-known for that." She mewed, trying to cover up for the Dark Forest, "We have a warrior in ThunderClan a bit like that too, but her fighting skills are improving, so we didn't bother." She was careful not to mention it was herself.
"They could be night-training? Or some just happens to have depts with bramble thickets?" Drizzlebreeze's whiskers twitched at his own joke.
"Could be... but some of the marks looked like to be made by claws." Greyclaw pressed.
"Are you suggesting that brambles grew claws, or are you going to explain this?" Dawntail asked.
"I'm saying, that they could be fighting."
Dead silence fell upon the three cats.
"Fighting? All our warriors are in their nests at night, and the guard never reported cats going out." Drizzlebreeze broke the silence, confused.
"Interesting theory there, Greyclaw, but it seemed impossible for cats to stay in their nests and fight." Dawntail mewed coolly.
Greyclaw dipped his massive head, "We're all just guessing, they don't have to be right."
Drizzlebreeze opened his mouth as if wanting to say more, but he closed them as the leaders addressed the gathering cats.
Dawntail didn't bother much to listen as the leaders made their reports. They were all the usual "prey running well" and "apprentices doing their training" and "all is well". No new litters were announced and no weird scents were reported.
As the leaders finished speaking and leapt off the tree, Dawntail hurried to find Tigertail. She spotted the dark brown tabby tom at the edge of the island and padded towards him.
After checking for eavesdropping apprentices, she spoke in a hushed voice, "Tigertail, be more careful when you come back from the Dark Forest. For StarClan's sake, clean your pelt before waking up! Greyclaw had suspicions and I had to cover for you!"
"Okay, okay, but I don't want that smell spoiling my appetite!"
"You should know better!" Dawntail snapped, "Surely keeping the Dark Forest a secret is more important than your appetite?"
"Fine, I'll do it next time." Tigertail scowled.
Dawntail mewed a short "goodbye" before following Foxstar at the yowl of assembling ThunderClan.
. . .
"You are late." Nightslash growled at her as she arrived the Dark Forest after coming back from the gathering and assigning the dawn patrol.
"I've been to the gathering. It's full moon, in case you forgot." Dawntail replied, "I have to go to gatherings as deputy and I can't be in two places at once."
"Are you ready for greater challenges and learn unique skills?" The black tom's eyes blazed.
"It's what I'm here for." Dawntail lifted her chin, her success in beating Ivyfall had earned her some respect among the Dark Forest cats.
"Good," Nightslash gave her a nod of approval, "Follow me."