Oakpaw

"Pantherstrike. How have you been?" Leopardscar asked pleasantly. My mentor rolled his eyes.

I shrank into the shadows. Luckily, Pantherstrike had his back to me when I materialized in the Dark Forest, but Leopardscar was well aware. I could tell from the glint in his eyes.

"I told Ryeleaf the basics of your plan. She still isn't completely on board, especially with Grayfrost's death still fresh in her mind. But she agrees, the Clans do need to change some of their rules."

"Well," Leopardscar smirked, "either get her completely on board or dispose of her." I gulped.

Pantherstrike nodded. "And what of our plan of action? My warriors are growing impatient. They're starting to lose faith in the 'SkyClan martyr'. And we can't possibly let Goldenfoot remain the deputy forever."

"The time will come. Imagine what we can do with your apprentice's abilities. With power such as his, your enemies will fall with ease."

"That depends on the cooperation of my apprentice. I don't know why you had to choose him. He takes every opportunity to fight me and I don't know why."

Behind him, I nearly laughed out loud. Leopardscar shot me what I could only assume was a warning look, and replied, "Maybe, I don't know, be a little nicer to your apprentice. He's not as bad at everything as you believe."

Enraged, Pantherstrike spat, "Don't tell me how to handle my apprentice! It's not my fault he doesn't care about training! If he were a little more cooperative, I would have already taught him to kill. If you're smart, you'd forget him and give his power to someone like Sandwhisker. Or better yet, me."

Leopardscar's eyes flared dangerously. Pantherstrike winced under his gaze, and took a step back. I scrambled to move out of the way quietly.

"I have taken the liberty of creating the foundation of this plan. I have considered every angle, and I know exactly what needs to be done. You, Pantherstrike, have been blessed with the opportunity to carry out said plan. Don't insult me or the plan again."

Pantherstrike cleared his throat. He rasped, "Understood, Leopardscar."

"However," Leopardscar added, "that doesn't mean I don't want your input. Even though you despise him, and don't say you don't, you still know him much better than I do. Try to accommodate the plan to your apprentice's needs. If he doesn't know how to kill yet, teach him or do it yourself."

While I can't say I was surprised that they wanted me to know how to kill, it still felt weird to hear it out loud. Leopardscar must have sensed that I was uncomfortable, because he gave me a reassuring look.

"Now then, what do you-"

I opened my eyes to see Rainpaw, the medicine apprentice, two inches from my face. "Rainpaw! I was having a really-"

"Shut it, Oakpaw. Your dreams don't matter right now. I need all the help I can get, because Silkfern and Wrenflight are kitting at the same time. Now are you going to help me or not?"

Oakpaw

I hate the nursery, especially when it's like this.

Both queens took turns having spasms and shrieking. Even before I left the apprentice den, I could hear the sounds of the two of them screaming their heads off.

Apparently, I slept later than everyone else, because they were all out hunting or patrolling. And Rainpaw made it clear on the way over that he only chose me because I was pretty much the only one left in camp.

On the bright side, they didn't make me do anything for a while. I just stood to the side next to Leafpaw while I watched Poppynose and Rainpaw dart back and forth, bringing water and sticks to the queens.

Their pain got worse. Poppynose walked over to the two of us. "I'm going to need your help with Silkfern. We know she's going to have more kits than Wrenflight. Leafpaw, you help Rainpaw."

Leafpaw gave me a sympathetic smile as she left.

"Now," Poppynose continued, "when the kits are born, you need to lick their fur the wrong way. It warms them up."

"You're kidding," I breathed, making a face, but Poppynose had already turned away to instruct Rainpaw and Leafpaw.

The nursery got louder. Rainpaw tried in vain to talk to Poppynose over the noise of the two queens. Everything was just so unbearably loud.

A few moments later, Poppynose gave me Silkfern's first kit. Once he was "warmed up," I gave him back, only to have another tom-kit thrust into my paws.

When I was still in the nursery as a kit, Poppynose told expecting mothers that they could have anywhere from one to five kits, the greatest and least amounts being the rarest. So naturally, I thought as I went into this, at least it can't be that many kits, right?

Wrong. Silkfern had five kits. Five! I knew it would take me moons and moons to get the slime from five kits off of my tongue. And what's worse, Leafpaw only had to deal with the two Wrenflight had.

As soon as all of the kits were born, things quieted down in the nursery. I turned to leave, but I heard crying behind me. And not from a kit.

"Shh." Poppynose sat beside Silkfern as she looked at all five of her kits, then at Wrenflight next to her mate, Owlfeather. "It's going to be okay."

"How can I do this without him? He died so suddenly and we don't even know how!"

"He would want you to be strong without him. He would have complete faith in you as a mother."

Right. Poor Silkfern, Grayfrost was the father of her kits. I couldn't imagine how difficult it would have been for her. Especially since she had five kits to take care of by herself.

"You'll have plenty of help. You'll have Wrenflight for support right here, and Rainpaw and I are just across camp. We'll be here for you."

"Thank you," Silkfern sighed.

As I left, I couldn't shake the guilty feeling in the pit of my stomach despite the fact that I knew Grayfrost's death wasn't my fault.

Oakpaw

That night, I attempted to eat a pigeon.

It still tasted like kit slime, but not as much as the hare I ate earlier that I couldn't keep down.

Leafpaw sat down next to me with a sparrow. "So, what did you think of the experience? Would you want to do it again someday?"

"Never again." I gagged. "Hey, you really lucked out. You got to help out with the queen who only had two kits."

"True, true. I can only imagine how terrible the aftertaste is for you right now."

I yawned. "Well, after the excitement of today, I'm beat. Do you want the rest of my pigeon?

"Of course I do."

"Well, see you tomorrow, Leafpaw." I passed her my pigeon and got up.

"Goodnight," she replied. I dragged myself to my nest and collapsed. Sleep took me almost immediately.

But that didn't mean I could have a restful sleep. When I opened my eyes, I saw the dark clearing again, and Leoparscar sat in the middle, staring at me with his cold gaze.

"I'm sure you remember last night, when I kindly let you sit in on a collaboration session with Pantherstrike."

"I sure do."

"But you woke up before we reached the conclusion that I was to train you in battle."

"I've already received battle training, thanks."

Leopardscar's gaze intensified. "While that may be true, your training hasn't met my high standards."

"By your 'standards,' do you mean 'ability to kill'?" I guessed. He frowned.

"Yes. Yes it does. Failure is not an option, and you are going to need these skills for what's to come. Trust me, you'll need it."

"Fine."

"Splendid."

"But only because I want to become a better warrior, and use these skills for defense. Your twisted plan isn't my priority right now."

The black and gray tom laughed. "Just you wait and see, Oakpaw. Now, you remember Mosspaw and Adderpaw. They just became apprentices yesterday."

"Isn't that a bit young to start learning killing moves?"

"No age is too young, Oakpaw." But I looked over at the other two apprentices. Adderpaw looked a little green, and Mosspaw was just as uneasy.

But now that I really looked at Mosspaw, I noticed a notch in her ear. That definitely wasn't there before. Had she been in a scuffle? But it was much too early for her to start battle training.

Which, again, made me think about the awful things that Leopardscar was forcing her to go through. Forcing both of them, I mean. The two warriors were experienced, and even I had enough knowledge to keep me safe. But these were their first experiences with battle training. And I couldn't help but feel bad for them.

Mosspaw noticed my staring and shrugged. "It's nothing big. I wasn't in a battle or anything, I just got in a fight with a mouse-brained apprentice. No big deal."

"Well, it makes you look fearsome."

"Thank you?"

"When you two are done chatting," Leopardscar growled, "I'd like to get on with the demonstration."

Mosskit gulped next to me. Clearly I had to do something, as the oldest here.

"Demonstration? Does that mean you're going to kill one of us?"

Leopardscar frowned even deeper. "You know that I can't do that." Not so subtly under his breath, he added, "But I'm considering it."

"So how are you going to demonstrate how to kill someone?" Mosspaw inquired innocently.

His eyes widened. For a moment, he stood there, contemplating. Finally, he gulped and sighed. "We're not going to start with the big stuff quite yet. Instead, how about we begin with the basics, considering your lack of prior experience. Oakpaw can help me, but…" Leopardscar trailed off. He stared at Adderpaw. Or rather, where Adderpaw was.

"Right. He woke up. It happens. Might even be his first dawn patrol. So let's start with…" But Mosspaw disappeared too.

"One-on-one time. Great. We can now get to the more difficult stuff, I guess. Now-"

I woke up again with a start. This time, I was face to face with Goldenfoot.

"Get up. Now."

"What's going on?" I asked groggily. He rolled his eyes.

"Applestar wants to see you. Clan meeting, right now."

"In the middle of the night? It's just past moon-high, what can possibly be…"

As I walked outside, I saw the entire Clan. Not just those old enough to catch their own prey but the kits too. And they all glared at me with such a fiery intensity that I wondered why I wasn't burned to a crisp on the spot.

"Oakpaw. We need to talk. About your powers."

Thank you to those who reviewed!

Fastbreeze37 - Aww, thank you! That is the nicest comment I have ever received! And I started reading Murder Most Unwarrior Like, you have such a fascinating plot with such amazing characters.

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