CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN

"The Clan was able to hold them off, for now."

Smokepaw listened to the story with keen interest.

Just a few days ago there had been a terrible battle between ShadowClan and another Clan known as WindClan. Russetstar had taken an apprentice from WindClan hostage, but that had ended in miserable failure. In the end, ShadowClan was able to hold it's own in battle.

Her new mentor, Briarheart, was listening to the whole story as well. She had been busy showing Smokepaw around the territory at the time. From the Twoleg house to the marshy area where they caught frogs and lizards. Smokepaw hadn't realized just how big their territory was.

"Alright, we should start with some basic training," Briarheart meowed after leading Smokepaw away from camp. They were now in a training area where the clearing had been trimmed of trees. The ground underpaw was spongy and covered in dry moss. Smokepaw almost felt like a kit again as she kept pressing her paw against the springy moss, until Briarheart almost cuffed her over the ear again in annoyance. "Pay attention. Russetstar doesn't normally give rogues a chance to become warriors, so you have to prove yourself even more than most apprentices," she scolded.

I didn't even want to become an apprentice! Smokepaw wanted to retort, but she kept her mouth shut. She was lucky enough they had kept her alive. But she doubted that luck would hold if she started acting defiant.

Smokepaw watched as Briarheart performed some kind of upper paw strike. She was aiming for what Smokepaw guessed were the shoulders, and managed to strike upwards with her front paws while kicking out with her back legs.

"Normally you wouldn't have to kick out your back legs, but it's good to use if there's an enemy behind you as well," she explained after noticing Smokepaw's look of confusion. "For now, I want you to focus on using your front paws as if they were a weapon. Use them as if I was the enemy, but keep your claws sheathed."

For a moment, Smokepaw hesitated before trying her newfound attack. One minute she was trying to raise her front leg through the air, and the next she was crashing down head-first on the ground. Her mentor only flicked her tail in amusement as Smokepaw struggled back to her paws.

"I did everything you asked me," she grumbled crossly. Yet she could already see what she had done wrong. She moved too quickly without realizing it. Briarheart was standing a few inches away from her, and she had misjudged her distance. "Can I try that again?" she suddenly asked. Briarheart blinked in surprise before nodding in approval.

She tried performing the move one last time before finally getting it right. With quick and precise movement, Smokepaw was able to jab her paw at any direction Briarheart was standing. Her paws scored a hit each time with almost perfect landing. Smokepaw restrained a purr of excitement as she realized how much farther she had gotten in just a short amount of time.

"Well done," Briarheart purred once she was finished. "Even I couldn't learn that move on my first try. And you acted fast as a snake, striking without fear." Smokepaw wasn't sure whether she should take that as a compliment or not, but she took it nonetheless. "Come on, I want to show you how we hunt as well."

Smokepaw narrowed her eyes at the thought of hunting lizards and frogs. The first time she had seen them, she recoiled in disgust. Snowpaw had tried claiming that they didn't taste bad, but she highly doubted it. Instead she usually went for prey such as mice and voles when they were available. Sometimes that wasn't always often.

Briarheart led the way towards the marshy area where water lapped at Smokepaw's paws. Her fur bristled slightly from the contact, but eventually she got used to the weird feeling as Briarheart explained what they would be doing.

"Now, frog hunting is a little different from hunting mice and voles," Briarheart explained. "When you're hunting frogs, you have to leap before they hop away."

Smokepaw watched for a few seconds before getting bored. There weren't any frogs out today. Instead she was forced into watching Briarheart perform a few jumping tactics to get the best frog before it hopped away.

"You know, when I joined the Clan, I thought things would be a little more exciting than this," she sighed in frustration. "This is just downright boring."

"Training isn't just about excitement," Briarheart snapped, sounding exasperated as she glared at Smokepaw. "And if you don't like my style of training, you can take it up to Russetstar."

Well, that is tempting, Smokepaw thought with a roll of her eyes. But she knew better. The Clan was kind enough to take her in and treat her like a normal Clanmate. Some of them were still angry that Russetstar had taken her in, but she had learned to ignore them for the most part.

She was still resentful that Russetstar expected her to act like any ordinary apprentice. Considering the fact that she had barely begun to learn the ways of a warrior, he was lucky she listened at all. She never wanted to stay in the Clans in the first place until her mother had practically forced it upon her.

"Is the Clan in trouble?" Smokepaw suddenly asked after Briarheart had started hunting again. The older she-cat stiffened in surprise at Smokepaw's question, and looked at her warily. "I mean, there was that battle and Russetstar claimed that you were able to hold the enemy off but... everyone seems to be on edge since than."

"Russetstar just wants to make sure WindClan gets the message," Briarheart sighed once she took a deep breath. Her eyes were narrowed thoughtfully, and for a moment, Smokepaw wondered why. Clearly there was something else going on here.

Just the other day she had picked up a strange scent resembling the pale brown apprentice she had seen the day of the battle. It was so close to the border that she suspected something was up between the two Clans. Russetstar had managed to fight off WindClan for now. That didn't mean they wouldn't stop trying to invade the territory.

...

Smokepaw returned to camp with Briarheart later that day. By the time they were finished, her shoulders were getting sore again. Scorchheart had warned her that overusing her shoulder would only make it worse. The infection had finally cured, but that didn't mean her injuries were fully healed.

"Smokepaw! How'd your first day of training go?" Snowpaw asked as Smokepaw limped towards the apprentice's den. Smokepaw shot her a look that said everything about how it went. Smokepaw just rolled her eyes and sat down beside the older apprentice, feeling a bit annoyed and uneasy with what was happening all around her.

"It could have gone better if my mentor wasn't so distracted," she muttered crossly. Snowpaw only looked at her sympathetically.

"Well, not everyone is like that. Briarheart probably just has a lot on her mind," she meowed.

She was ready to say something in response when Smokepaw overheard something Briarheart was saying to her fellow Clanmates. Her mentor was situated between a pale tabby tom known as Talonclaw and a gray and white she-cat known as Sageleaf.

"... she hardly ever pays attention to anything I say!" Briarheart complained. Smokepaw's fur bristled with annoyance at the whining tone in her voice. "To make matters worse, Russetstar expects me to mold her into the best apprentice ShadowClan has ever seen." Talonclaw looked mystified as to why Russetstar would do such a thing, and even Smokepaw was curious.

Does he really expect me to learn at such a quick pace? she wondered angrily.

"Perhaps Russetstar sees something in her that we don't," Sageleaf suggested, though Smokepaw could hear the laughter in her voice as she said that.

"Oh, please. Like he would put his faith in some rogue that doesn't even belong in our Clan," Talonclaw scoffed.

Smokepaw decided to leave their conversation alone and grabbed a vole from the fresh-kill pile. But as she returned to the apprentice's den, she nearly ran into Barktail in the process. The light brown tabby tom let out an irritated hiss and nearly clawed her ears off in the process.

"Don't you know not to eat until the elders have been fed?" he demanded after she backed away with her hackles rising. "I don't know what Russetstar sees in you, but I'll make sure you never feel accepted!"

Fear wormed it's way into her heart when Barktail snatched the vole away, leaving her behind.

As she watched him disappear, Smokepaw narrowed her eyes hatefully.

Why am I even here? None of these cats even want me around! She wanted to bury her muzzle somewhere let the world swallow her up. But Smokepaw kept her head held high as she stalked away. If Barktail was going to treat her like foxdung, than she would do the same to him.

He was sitting by himself beside the warrior's den, with the vole half-eaten. Smokepaw's hackles rose with outrage as she realized he didn't bother giving the vole to the elders. He was nothing more than a bully.

Without a second thought, Smokepaw suddenly lunged forward and grabbed her vole from underneath him. Barktail was stunned for a few heartbeats as she made a run for it. Then as he recovered, Barktail leaped forward and grabbed hold of her tail with his claws. Smokepaw let out a hiss of frustration as she whirled around and lashed out with her claws unsheathed.

"If you want my vole, you'll have to fight me for it!" she spat, glaring at Barktail venomously. The older warrior just stared at her as if she'd grown wings. Smokepaw didn't hesitate to strike forward with her claws as he tried retaliating, but each time he tried striking her down, she moved out of the way as if this was something she practiced all the time. "I won't let you treat me like I'm some little kit!" she yowled after managing to overtake the senior warrior with ease.

Smokepaw was blinded by anger and frustration as she pinned Barktail to the ground, using her claws to keep him from fleeing. A few cats had watched their tussle in disbelief until finally Russetstar emerged from his den, narrowing his eyes when he saw what the commotion was about.

"An apprentice who doesn't even belong in the Clan just beat you," Smokepaw growled triumphantly, her voice coming out as a sneer.

"That's enough," Russetstar snapped, causing Smokepaw to flinch and loosen her grip on Barktail. He managed to squirm free from her claws and run back towards the warrior's den, fresh wounds now marking his flank. "What happened here?" he demanded, giving both Smokepaw and Barktail a cold look.

"He stole my vole after claiming it should be fed to the elders," Smokepaw replied, her voice thick with anger as she glared at Barktail. "And then he ended up taking it for himself."

For a while, Smokepaw could hear her Clanmates whispering to one another in amazement as they realized he was beaten by an apprentice. And not just any apprentice, but a former rogue at that. Russetstar narrowed his eyes thoughtfully as he tried to piece together what sort of punishment she would suffer from.

"I want to speak with you, in my den," Russetstar growled, ignoring the look of disbelief Barktail was giving him. Clearly the older warrior was expecting some kind of punishment as well. Smokepaw only rolled her eyes at his expression as she followed the ShadowClan leader into his den.

Unease crawled through her as Smokepaw padded inside Russetstar's den. It was actually hidden between two rocks leaning against each other, with moss covering both sides and a curtain of lichen covering the entrance. Smokepaw had never been in the den unless it was something bad.

"I'm sorry, I don't know what overcame me," she murmured after realizing what she had done was wrong. Though truthfully she had been defending her fresh-kill.

"Smokepaw, I am not angry with you," Russetstar reassured her, earning a look of surprise from the young apprentice. "I am merely praising you for finding what gives you strength." Smokepaw stiffened at that, and she wondered exactly what Russetstar meant by it. "As you can see, our Clan was almost defeated by WindClan in that battle. While we managed to hold them off, it is only a matter of time before they decide to attack again. I want you to train in a different way from the other apprentices... I want you to know how to end things."

Smokepaw only blinked in confusion. Whatever he meant by that, she knew it couldn't be anything good. Yet she still felt the lust of battle, and her claws itched to swipe away that smug look off of Barktail's face when Russetstar had called her into his den.

"How would I do that?" she asked.

"There are moves I have learned," he replied in a tone that suggested this was more dangerous than she anticipated, "moves that will not only end the battle, but defeat the enemy warrior once and for all."

Something in the back of Smokepaw's mind told her that she shouldn't agree with his idea. That this was wrong and would only end in tragedy. Smokepaw pushed the fearful thoughts down and realized that in order to survive in this Clan, she needed to accept her leader's word.

"I want to learn," she decided out loud. "I want to know how I can defend myself, and end those who have hurt me."

Russetstar only purred in response. Smokepaw felt something stir in the back of her mind. A flicker of fear and excitement at the prospect of learning something new. She was about to become one of the most powerful warriors the Clans had ever seen. And nothing would stand in her way of achieving that goal.