As you can see I changed the title of this story. Since it isn't just about Blazepaw but other cars I decieded to call this series the Legends of the Warriors. Book 1 here will be about Blazepaw entering the forest and changes that happens when she does.
When Flinfang opened his eyes, he could see the Right eye of the Mother shining down through the top of the bramble bush that made the Warriors Den. Yawning he stretches out a bit but blinks when he feels someone besides him. Looking down he sees the small form of Dawnpaw. The pale ginger molly was curled tightly against him, her tail covering her pink nose while her eyes were shut tightly.
Blinking in surprise, Flintfang gently nudges her, but Dawnpaw quickly shoots up, her blue eyes widened in fear. Flintfang quickly shushes her, licking her ears as the fur on her spine prickle in fear, "Dawnpaw, its ok..everything is ok,"
Dawnpaw sobs, her body wracking with grief, "I miss Mom and Dad..I miss Mosspaw," she whimpers, tears streaming down her face, making Flintfang's heart tighten in guilt. She was only 5 moons old and had already seen so much death. Her father Blizzardwing died during Leaf-Bare while her mother, Amberleaf died during a raid on the Carrionplace. Flintfang shudders remembering how Blackfrost had dragged Amberleaf's body back..or what was left of her body after they were able to get the rats on it. It was one of the reasons why Timberstar made her along with her siblings Mosspaw and Volepaw Apprentices so early.
"Now she lost Mosspaw," Flintfang thought sadly before shaking his head.
"I'm..I'm sorry," Dawnpaw whispers, kneading the soft moss that made Flintfang's nest, "For coming into the Warrior Den," she explains when she saw Flintfang's confuse look, "I..I had a nightmare of Mom's death..and of Mosspaw..and I woke the other Apprentices up..Volepaw snap at me for being weak...that death is part of being in a Clan and if..if I couldn't handle it..I should go and be a Toy.." she mutters, shame shining in her eyes.
"Well Volepaw can go drink some Mouse Bile," he cheers inwardly when Dawnpaw snorts, "Its normal to have nightmares after losing a family member, even two moons after," he states just as she opens her mouth. "And it's alright that you came in here looking for comfort," he smiles gently knowing that she did so because he slept in the Apprentice Den after Badgerfang's death. He knew Littlepaw, Wavepaw and Ratpaw appreciated it.
"Dawnpaw!" both cats looked up as Blackfrost came in, his yellow eyes glaring at his Apprentice. Flintfang was shocked to see anger shining in his brother's eyes, "What are you doing in the Warriors Den?!" he growls, making the pale ginger molly shrink into herself, "Get out and wait for me at the entrance. We're doing battle training with Clawstrike and Littlepaw,"
Dawnpaw shivers, and Flintfang couldn't blame her. Clawstrike was ruthless in battle training, Littlepaw already had so many battle scars for only being 4 moons old. Dawnpaw meekly nods her head, quickly standing up and running out of the Den. Flintfang narrows his eyes as he slowly gets up, "You should go easy on her..she already lost so much,"
Blackfrost scoffs, "Lost is a part of life, she should be able to adapt. If Dawnpaw picked up things as quickly as Volepaw, she'd be a credit to me instead of an embarrassment," he spats angrily making Flintfang gape at him.
"Blackfrost, you of all cats know how all cats learn at a different pace. Give her time, she'll probably be better once her body grows," Flintfang rolls his eyes when Blackfrost gives him a look, "What is up with you anyway. Ever since those three were born you have done nothing but glare at them or be mean to them," Flintfang points out, noticing that Blackfrost shoulders stiffen.
It was true that he glared at Dawnpaw and her siblings as much as he had once glared at Blizzardwing, it became even worse once their mother, Hollyflower died.."Which is Timberstar's fault for exiling the Elders from camp,"
"It doesn't matter.." Blackfrost grunts, "Since you decided to not train an Apprentice anymore," he eyes Flintfang in disapproval, "You are going to be on a Rat Raid,"
Flintfang shudders at that but Blackfrost ignores him, "Prey is scarce but we don't have any time to actually hunt, so it will be easy pickings to just kill the rats. With any luck, we'll catch enough to feed the whole Clan..Scorchtrike is leading it," with that Blackfrost quickly pads out of the Warriors Den, heading to the entrance where Clawstrike, Dawnpaw and Littlepaw were waiting.
Sighing, Flintfang pushes through the den and out into the camp, hopeful tension filling the air. The whole Clan was hoping for a good feed tonight. To actually fill their bellies. "Even with WindClan territory belonging to us now, we still don't have enough prey..probably because no one can catch a rabbit,"
Padding up to the crowd, Scorchstrike was giving directions, "I'll lead one while Rockclaw will lead the other one. Cinderwing, Frogtail, Nutwhisker, Russetfang, Lizardstripe and Flintfang will be with me. Rockclaw you will take Wolfstep, Newtspeck, Fernshade and Spiketail along with your apprentices; Wavepaw and Ratpaw,"
As Scorchstrike named the cats, they stepped out of the crowd and bunched together. Frogtail swiped their tail against Cinderwing's flank, purring in congratulations, "Three beautiful kits, I'm so happy for you and Ashpetal, Cinderwing," the dark gray cat then gave him a confused look, "But did you too have a fight? Ashpetal seem upset,"
Flintfang decided to ignore this, knowing that Cinderwing was afraid of what would happen to his and Ashpetal's kits if Timberstar was still Leader, "Probably become Apprentices once they reached three moons," Flintfang thought to himself as he sat next to Russetfang.
"What about me?" Volepaw snarls as they walk over, "I want to go too!" they demanded but Scorchstrike shakes his head, ignoring the snarling brown cat as he leads the patrol out of the Camp.
As they follow Scorchstrike and Rockclaw, Flintfang blinks as Russetfang was walking beside him, "We both know that this is wrong.." she mutters, her green eyes boring into his amber eyes, "We're only doing this because no one knows how to hunt..Timberstar is only focusing on fighting..and sooner or later we're going to catch the Carrion Disease,"
Flintfang mutters in agreement but shrugs, "What can we do..Timberstar is our Leader..his word is law.."
"True..but if we had another cat to follow…" Flintfang glares at the molly, his tail lashing.
"And who is that cat? Blackfrost?" Flintfang shakes his head, "My brother is eating out of his paw, wrapped around Timberstar's tail. Marshnose?" he shakes his head, "No offense to your mate's brother but Marshnose is so afraid of Lizardstripe now that Yellowfang is gone he will roll over and do whatever Timberstar wants. He is even allowing him to be called Runningnose,"
"I'm talking about you Flintfang," amber eyes widen at that and he quickly turns to the dark ginger molly, "Everyone who was at the..battle..saw you standing up to Timberstar..you are the first one to ever do so..some cats think you will be doing the Rite of Leadership,"
Dread filled Flintfang's belly. The Rite of Leadership was a cause in the Warrior Code..made after a Leader almost completely destroyed their Clan..no one knows who that leader is, having their name completely removed from Clan history. But it allows any cat to challenge their Leader if the Leader was cruel..for the best of their Clan. But..the cat who challenges it..if they win they become Leader..if they lose..death or exile only waits for them.
Flintfang gave Russetfang a cold glance, "I don't want to talk about it," he mewed before he bounded ahead until he was walking beside Fernshade, giving Russetfang no chance to reply.
"Me?! Do the Rite of Leadership..there..there's no way..sure I don't like how Timberstar is making kits into Apprentices..or," he shakes his head, "Right now I'm just Flintfang..I need to concentrate on getting some prey for my Clan,"
The breeze carried the scent of rats and many cats of the patrol scrunched up their faces as they came upon the Carrionplace. Flintfang hasn't been here since Mousewing had shown him the territory, on his first day as an Apprentice. The heaps of Twoleg rubbish look even more disgusting this close. Bulging black pelts, or Rockclaw had called them, bags, were piled up, some of them were with gaping that let the foul stuff spilled out from inside onto the ground. Mixed in with them were unfamiliar things made of wood, soft pelts in strange twoleg colors, and sharp objects made of metal, all held together by the rotting crow-food. Beyond the fence mounds stretched into the distance, more and more of them as far as Flintfang could see.
"I'll go first," Rockclaw meowed, "Once inside, we'll split up. Scorchstrike, take your patrol that way," he flicked his tail, "And we'll go this way. Let's see who will catch the most!"
"Why the fuck are you ordering us around," Nutwhisker growls, "Scorchstrike is older than you," the brown tom became silent when Scorchstrike eyes him. The reddish brown tabby then smiles and nods at Rockclaw, watching the gray tom squeeze his giant muscular body under the fence, rising on the other side. Fernshade brushed by Flintfang, making his heart squeeze in pain. His sister hasn't said a word in two Moons since Badgerfang's death. Soon Scorchstrike's patrol began to push their way under the fence. Flintfang flinched as he dived under the fence, feeling it scrape across his back, then scramble to his paws with his Battle Claws extended in case a rat leaped at him from the mounds.
"Listen carefully," Scorchstrike order as they gather around him, Rockclaw's patrol doing the same, "Especially you, Russetfang and Flintfang since this is your first Rat raid. Never tackle a rat alone," the Senior Warrior warned, "Work in pairs and do not lose sight of your partner for a single heartbeat. Rats are vicious and cunning, and a rat bite can be very nasty, so do your best not to get bitten, and try to see to it that your partner doesn't get bitten either,"
Heart beating fast, Flintfang was partnered up to Nutwhisker, much to his annoyance. The brown tom's yellow eyes glowed in anticipation, gleaming as they padded cautiously alongside the nearest heaps. A flicker of movement caught Flintfang's amber gaze but it was only Russetfang and Cinderwing slipping between two other mounds.
He then grunts when he knocks into Nutwhisker, who hisses at him to watch where he was going. Grumbling he was about to resort to saying that the tom had stopped when he noticed the huge yellow monster was crouched. "I think its asleep," Flintfang mutters, which made Nutwhisker growl as his whiskers twitched in impatience.
"Where are the fucking rats..I thought.." looking around his eyes widen when he spots a long nose and the hostility in the small beady eyes. His ears twitched as the sound of rustling and squeaking. Flintfang narrowed his eyes as he bounded towards the rat but it drew its head back and all he got in return was stepping into something wet and squishy.
"Yuck.." he mutters before he hears a squeal of pain. He turns to see Nutwhisker having lunged onto the shoulders of a rat, jaws parting to sink his fangs into the neck. He spins around as another rat poking its way out of a gap. Hissing he leaps for it, but mistimed his attack, his Battle Claws fastened near its tail. The rat let out a high pitched squeal before spinning around, sharp fangs snapping at Flintfang's neck. Flintfang reared back in shock, accidentally letting go of the rat.
"Shit!" he yowls as he leaps at it in pursuit. But then a brown blur leaps in front of him. He stops in shock as a kitten with cinnamon brown fur lunged at the escaping rat, quickly biting into its neck. The green eyes stared at him with fear as he held the body of the rat in his mouth before he turned and ran
Flintfang stares, "You idiot!" he flinches as Nutwhisker runs by him, "Don't let the brat just escape!" Amber eyes widen and he runs after Nutwhisker, "Hey! Don't.."
He hears a squeal as he quickly does a turn by a pile of the crow-food to see Nutwhisker having pin the kitten down, his fangs deep into the back of his neck, "Hey! Let him go! He's just a kitten!"
"Not until this brat learns not to steal what is not his," Nutwhisker growls as the kitten wiggles furiously.
"No! It's mine! Give it back!" he squeals in pain as Nutwhisker bites down harder, making Flintfang gasp in shock. Hissing he tackles the brown tom, who eyes him in disgust.
"I said stop it," Flintfang hisses, "He's just a kitten!"
Nutwhisker scoffs, "Don't be stupid Flintfang. You were the one who was about to catch it..until the brat stole it from you,"
"I was the one who saw it first!" the kitten hisses, wobbly standing up but fiercely hissing at Nutwhisker. Flintfang blinks in shock, "He..he's only looks about 6 Moons old..but he's still standing up,"
"I guess you haven't learn to respect your superiors," Nutwhisker meowed..standing in front of the rat when he noticed the kitten's eyes looking straight at it, "You should only start fights when you're certain you can beat your opponent,"
"Its mine!" The kitten hisses trying to lunge for it but Nutwhisker swipes him away, thankfully with his Battle Claws sheathed. The kitten mews in pain but glares, "I..I can't lose..my brothers need it! I'm taking it back to my brothers!"
"W-what? You're not the only one here?" Flintfang steps in front of Nutwhisker who glares at him, "What about your parents? Where are they?"
The kitten looked down, ears pinned to the back of his head, "Mama..mama got sick..until she stopped breathing..I..I have two brothers..but I'm the strongest!" He looks up, staring at the two older toms with determination shining in his green eyes, "That's why I need that rat..they need to get something to eat!"
"That's still not a reason to try to steal our kill. What you did was thievery," the kitten looked down at the scolding that Flintfang was giving him but then Nutwhisker steps forward, Flintfang couldn't help but admire how brave the young tom was, looking straight at Nutwhisker. To Flintfang's surprise he smirks and gives a chuckle, "Got some spunk in you huh..a waste if we just leave you here to die..but if properly trained.."
Flintfang narrows his eyes at Nutwhisker, "What are you talking about?" he hisses.
"I heard Clawstrike talking about it to Timberstar..we are going to need more Warriors now that we have WindClan territory..the other two Clans won't like it..now that we lost Nightburr, Mosspaw and Badgerfang..ShadowClan needs to bolster its ranks..why not start with this one and his siblings," paw steps sounded behind them and Flintfang turned to see Lizardstripe and Russetfang, both carrying a rat.
Lizardstripe glared at the sight of the kit but Russetfang gives Flintfang a confused look as she places her rat down, "What is up with the kit?"
"Oh by the Great Mother," Lizardstripe snarls, dropping her catch, "You're not really thinking of that stupid plan Clawstrike was talking to Timberstar about? "
Nutwhisker chuckles, his eyes gleaming, "Oh, I think it is always worth the effort, Lizardstripe. And don't let Blackfrost hear you talking that way. You'll get another scolding," he then shakes his head, "Now help me find the other kittens," he leans down, picking the small kitten by the scruff, which made the small tom cry out in pain. Lizardstripe sighed as she followed Nutwhisker, grumbling under her breath.
Flintfang and Russetfang look at each other before following the two. Flintfang gulps feeling that he was falling. He looks up at the night sky, the eyes of his Ancestors looking down at him "Mother..what am I to do?"
It didn't take long to find the other kittens, both so small and tiny that it made Flintfang shiver at the thought of bringing all of them back to ShadowClan. There were two of them, one with the same cinnamon brown fur as his brother but having a white chest and paws, but he was quite smaller than his brothers. The other was a dark gray, his amber eyes glaring at all of them.
"Come on Flintfang and help me!" Lizardstripe snarls picking up the gray one. Russetfang looks at him with her green eyes but Flintfang sighs, walking over and picking up the smaller brown one who was trembling. "Shhh its ok..I won't hurt you," he gently soothes the young tom before gently picking him up by the scruff. "I don't know about my Clan though,"
"I don't think that one will last long," Lizardstripe mutters, eyeing the tom. He's quite small..probably won't last his first training,"
"We'll see," Nutwhisker grunts before he pads away. Flintfang follows, feeling like a dark cloud was covering him.
When they entered the Camp, Flintfang was aware that all eyes were on them and the three kittens. As the others dropped their prey on the fresh-kill pile, Timberstar walked over to them, eyes shining in approval.
"It seems you brought back more than just prey," Timberstar purrs as the three drop the kits in front of their Leader, Flintfang more gently than the others.
The one that had tried to steal Flintfang's rat hisses, standing in front of his brothers, "What do you want with us?!"
"Let us go!" the one that Flintfang carried squeaks, before he crouches down in fright at the stare that Timberstar gave him.
Timberstar chuckles, "Welcome, little ones. Welcome to ShadowClan. This is your new home. It is here you will find the true meaning of being a cat..of being a Warrior," he fixed the three kittens with an intense look with his orange eyes. Flintfang felt his mouth going dry..this sounded like Timberstar practiced this speech. And why wasn't he surprise..
"Oh by the Gods..he knew..that's why he let us go on the Rat Raid..he knew the kittens were there!"
"I am Timberstar, Leader of ShadowClan. You have become orphans and have been rescued. In returned you shall be trained in our ways and fight for us..maybe even with your own life..do well and you will be rewarded with a life that you can only dream of," Flintfang saw that the biggest tom and the gray tom looked interested but the one he carried looked scared, crouching down as low as he could. "You are embarking on an exciting adventure little one," he gives a smile showing broken fangs, before he walked over to the biggest one.
"From this day forward, this apprentice will be known as Nightpaw," Timberstar looks up to Nutwhisker, "Nutwhisker, you will be his mentor. You are loyal and a fierce fighter and you trained Cinderwing well. With that I know you will do well in training these qualities to him,"
Nutwhisker nods his head before he turns next to the confused newly named Nightpaw. Nutwhisker scoffs at this but presses his nose against Nightpaw's, making the young tom blink.
"From this day forward, this Apprentice will be known as Beetlepaw," the smallest tom squeaks his eyes looking frantically around, "Russetfang, you are ready for your first Apprentice. Featherstorm..with your skill and excellent knowledge, I hope you pass this knowledge onto Beetlepaw,"
Russetfang looks down at Beetlepaw, whose blue eyes look at her with fear. Flintfang knew that Russetfang had wanted an Apprentice...but probably not like this. She gently walks over to Beetlepaw and softly mews to him until he shakily stands up. The two press their nose together as Mentor and Apprentice.
Timberstar then named the last one Scorchpaw and had given him to Newtspeck, Flintfang noticed that the dark brown tabby was staring at him as the two touched noses together. He stares back at his Leader but sighs in relief when he turned away without speaking.
"Thank the Gods for that," Flintfang thought. He has been doing his best to avoid the Leader since Badgerfang's death..no that wasn't true..since he gotten that message. The message about the Blaze.
"This is wrong," Rockclaw mutters, distracting him from his thoughts, "When I joined ShadowClan I was trying to escape this sort of thing..all this death.." he shakes his head as Frogtail came over, entwining their tail with his, "Bad things are coming..I'm telling you that,"
Frogtail nods their heads, "Yeah..I was talking to Deerpounce earlier. His patrol scented ThunderClan in WindClan territory..I bet that the next Gathering will be about why our scent and Aura is covering the Moors.." they look down, guilt in their green eyes.
"We shouldn't be worrying about the other Clans..but what the Gods will do to us," Rowanberry whispers in fear, shouldering her way besides Flintfang, "Gwynata will not let us chasing out her Blessing go without punishment..and the fact that so many kits are dying…" she shudders thinking of the retributions that the Goddess of WindClan and kits will give them.
All their heads turned to Timberstar when he leapt up onto the roots of the Rhosyn's Tree. All the Clan gather around without him calling to him, "With our three new members I wish to speak about a problem. Now that we have WindClan territory under our control, it has come to my mind, thanks to Clawstrike," he nods his head towards the scarred tom, "That we are in dire need of more Warriors. While training our kits younger has helped..with the loss of Nightburr, Mosspaw and Badgerfang, it hasn't helped us that much. The other two Clans will not understand why we chase WindClan out and thus they will be going after us. That is why," he eyes them down in his orange stare, "We will be taking kits from the Settlement,"
Muttering was heard, some hard whispers here and there. They all quited when Blackfrost started to growl but Wolfstep walked towards the front of the crowd, glaring at his Clan Leader, "What? You expect us to replace our death kits with Toys?" he snarls, flicking his tail to the side.
"Of course not Wolfstep," Timberstar mews with a rumble. His orange eyes glowing with understanding, "I promise you no one can ever replace Badgerfang. But think of this, we will be saving those kits,"
Clawstrike stepped forward, "We will be saving those kits from the corruption of the Twolegs. They will actually be able to live their lives and not be turned into lazy Toys,"
"But wouldn't they be too corrupted by now?" Appleflower mews, "Their whole blood is corrupted, they were born into that life..their carriers were toys and their sires..will they even survive the training?"
"I heard that the Thunders has brought in a Toy from the Settlement," Clawstrike meows and the whispers started again, "They call her Blazepaw and from what Darkstripe was telling me is that she is doing wonders in training. Taking it like a River to water..if they can make a Toy into a Warrior..why not us?"
"We need more Warriors as soon as possible..to not only protect us from the Thunders and Rivers once they learn we chased out the Winds but also once they learned that mother left,"
"And isn't that your own fault," Flintfang blinks at that and turns to see Honeyberry glaring at her brother. The cream and gray molly who looked a lot like her mother was frowning at her brother.
"I wonder why he says we need more kits," Spiketail mutters, eyeing the Nursery, "We have six kits who are about three moons old..the same age that Mosspaw and Badgerfang were when he made them Apprentices"
Russetfang snorts as she presses her body against Tangleburr, "He won't make them Apprentices early because Darkflower's kits are also Scorchstrike's kits and Scorchstrike is his uncle. Mintkit is related to him through his mother and Poppyheart's kits are Blackfrost's kits..he wouldn't want his loyal bodyguard to be angry for the death of his kits…so what are a few kits from the Settlement who would die?"
Flintfang takes a shuddering breath as Timberstar spoke again, "I will have a patrol go into the Settlement, to spy on which kitten look strong enough that they will make good Warriors. In a few days time we will bring them here! They will be fully accepted as ShadowClan,"
Blackfrost started to yowl in agreement and soon the other members of the Clan joined in. Flintfang takes a shuddering breath before he turns around and heads towards the Entrance. He passed by Brightflower who was keeping Mintkit close to her, "Oh..I just know Mintkit will love a new sibling.."
The fur on his tail spiked up a bit as he pushed his way through the entrance. His heart pounded as he padded through the marshes, moons of training made sure he didn't flinch as he stepped in the wet ground that made the marshes. He didn't stop until he got to the Burnt Sycamore, he gives a smile when he remembers Mousewing took him here to climb and gives a chuckle at the memory of Blackfrost clinging to a branch while yowling at Flinchflight to get him down.
Leaping up he easily claws the bark and climbs up to one of the branches. He stares up at the sky, staring at the twinkling stars.
"Some cats think you will be doing the Rite of Leadership" Russetfang's words echo in his mind and he scoffs, "Me?! No way..I'm..I'm so pathetic," he looks down, guilt shining in his amber eyes, "I'm a coward..how could I stand up to Timberstar? I couldn't say no to him when he made Badgerfang an Apprentice...I couldn't say no to him when he put Badgerfang in that battle..I just rolled along with it..If I couldn't stand up to save my own kin..how could I stand up against Timberstar to save my Clan?"
"Pathetic..you pathetic cat..how can you expect the world to change..if you don't change.." tears stream down his face as he remembers Mousewing's advice to him during his Apprenticeship, "I'm sorry mother..Mousewing...Badgerfang...I haven't change..and..I don't think I can…"
Honestly I love writing Flintfang. I'm actually basing him off of GB from Ginga Densetsu Weed an japanese manga and anime about wild dogs. Flintfang thinks he's a coward and I'm hoping to write more about it but he actually has a heart of gold. His character arc is something special to me.
Also Nightpaw is Nightwhisker, Beetlepaw is Whitethroat and Scorchpaw is Scorchfur..I am really trying my best to fix the incest in this story.
Also Dawnpaw/Dawncloud is no longer the kit of Featherstorm but Amberleaf..that way she won't be related to Featherstorm's kits (Raggedstar and Scorchstrike) anyway I hope you all like this and please leave a comment!