Okay, Frostpaw and Brackenfur1 have pointed it out already- I MADE A MISTAKE. (gasp!) Smokepaw does die in Dawn, but I wrote that last chappie late at night and grabbed Dawn instead of Starlight to look up an apprentice I could use. Sorry!
That last chappie wasn't my best work, anyway. I like this one a lot better. Brambleclaw's POV. Hope you like it!
A few suns after the Gathering, Brambleclaw rose from his nest around sunhigh. He had taken out the dawn patrol and then returned to the warriors' den for a nap. Now he was awakening again, feeling refreshed and ready for another patrol. He had promised that he would take Sunpaw out.
There was much about the new apprentice that he didn't know, but he was oddly fond of her. She was a good hunter and fighter, and already was starting to feel the fire of ThunderClan loyalty. Brambleclaw liked her keenness, her stubborness, and her shrewdness, all of which reminded him ironically of Tawnypelt. Graystripe was her official mentor, though Brambleclaw took her hunting or patrolling often.
As he passed the nursery, he saw Ferncloud and Sorreltail standing there, conversing quietly. Sorreltail looked up when she saw him, and he was surprised at the nervous glee that swam in her eyes. "Hey, Brambleclaw!" she meowed excitedly. "Guess what?"
Before he could say anything, she blurted out, "Cinderpelt says I'm due to have kits!"
"Congratulations!" he mewed, bounding forward to nudge her in a friendly way. He reminded himself to congratulate Brackenfur as well. There was no question as to who had fathered these kits.
Ferncloud nodded, and she looked fondly towards where Birchkit was, across the clearing. Goldenflower was playing with him, tossing dry leaves into the air for him to chase, purring when he made a catch. "He'll be an apprentice before too long," she meowed. There was pride in her voice, but also a bit of sorrow as she thought of finally letting her last surviving kit go.
Sorreltail pressed her side against Ferncloud's, and the two queens set off together, possibly talking energetically about their kits' futures. Brambleclaw watched them go, and then was distracted as Sunpaw came leaping across the clearing to his side. "Are we going, Brambleclaw?" she meowed, and then sank down into a playful crouch, her white tail-tip twitching in the air. "Or do you want to gossip with the queens all day?"
"Words catch no prey," Brambleclaw returned. It was a quote that he had heard long ago, from the mouth of ThunderClan's old deputy Whitestorm. Then he reared up. "Come on, then," he meowed. "I'll race you to the old Thunderpath!"
&&&
Brambleclaw was panting as he skidded to a halt near the fallen Thunderpath. He had enjoyed his race with Sunpaw. There was something about running that made it possible for him to forget all his troubles, which had been piling up since the Gathering. Hawkfrost...rouges...ShadowClan. Tigerstar. Though Brambleclaw had had no more dreams about his father, the lingering memory of that one visit was still clear in his mind. He and Hawkfrost hadn't spoken about it during the Gathering, but Brambleclaw had seen in his half-brother's icy blue gaze that he did not completely believe the stories of his father's evil. But did that mean that he would take Tigerstar's advice seriously, and embrace the ambition that Brambleclaw stoutly pushed away?
No, Brambleclaw told himself. I'm thinking like Squirrelflight. Hawkfrost isn't like that. He saved my life!
Squirrelflight. At least he didn't have to worry about his ongoing quarrel with the she-cat anymore. She seemed to have forgotten all the bitterness she had felt towards him. But there was still a rift between them, a snag. Brambleclaw wasn't sure what it was.
"Brambleclaw?" mewed Sunpaw, prodding him. "Are you paying attention at all?"
"Yes," Brambleclaw mewed defensively, lifting his head.
"Oh, okay," she meowed, rolling her wide eyes. "So you're teaching me a new way to hunt, then? Trodding on the mice instead of pouncing on them? I'm sure you'll have them all scurrying into their burrows, fleeing from your mighty paws!"
Brambleclaw couldn't keep his whiskers from twitching in amusement. It amazed him that Sunpaw was able to make so many jokes, after such a long time spent in the dreary place of Twolegs. Perhaps, he conceeded, you needed a sense of humor to survive such a place.
Egged on, Sunpaw twitched her white tail-tip. "Of course," she went on, "You might run into a bit of trouble when you trip over a fat one. Or don't look where you're going, and get your paw stuck in a mole-hole."
Brambleclaw swiped at her ear. "Fine then," he meowed. "Let's see how you hunt, Mighty Apprentice."
Sunpaw gave him a withering look from bright eyes, and Brambleclaw felt his fur stand on end. She had such odd eyes. They were green, but not merely green. There were undertones of blue, of brown, of everything in between. A forest of color, if you looked close enough.
Of course, she's seen a forest of things to go along with it, Brambleclaw thought, crouching down to watch as she crept up on a vole. Graystripe was teaching her well, and she used the right stalk as she neared it, and killed it quickly and cleanly. He expected her to come trotting back, pleased with her victory, but she kept sniffing at the ground, her golden fur beginning to bristle.
"Brambleclaw," she meowed nervously. "Brambleclaw, I think there's rogue scent here!"
Brambleclaw leaped over and began to scent the place too. "There is," he meowed, after a moment. "Fresh, too. They must have moved out of WindClan."
"And back here," Sunpaw added, falling back into her crouch, claws extended. "Shall we follow the scent, then? Chase them out if we can?"
"We should follow it," Brambleclaw meowed. "But I doubt we could chase them off if we found them. Not by ourselves, anyway. We'll need a patrol for that. Still, it wouldn't hurt to see if we can find out where they're hiding." He was about to take the lead, then decided this would be a good time to see how well Sunpaw's training was coming. "All right," he mewed, taking a pace back. "Lead on."
Sunpaw leaped forward without hesitation and began to track the scent. Brambleclaw hovered behind her, making sure she was still on track but not helping her hold the scent. She was doing well, so close to the turf her whiskers brushed the dust and a look of intense concentration on her young face. Brambleclaw made a note to tell Graystripe how well she was doing. Clearly the Twolegs had done nothing to dull her claws.
After a while, though the trail was still clear, she came to an abrupt halt. "There's an odd scent here," she mewed uncertainly. "I don't know all the Clan scents well...is that RiverClan?"
Alarmed, Brambleclaw came forward, rubbing his cheek against the nettle stem she indicated. A scent flooded his glands, and it made his spine stiffen. It was several heartbeats before he could figure out what to do, several more before he could compose himself enough to turn back to Sunpaw.
"It's only more rogue," he meowed. "And we'll have to stop here. It gets pretty boggy up ahead, and we won't be able to follow it through there."
"Oh, okay," Sunpaw meowed, clearly disappointed. She stood upright. "I need to get my scents straight," she commented. "Confusing RiverClan with rogue!" She looked suddenly thoughtful. "For a moment I thought it was your scent, Brambleclaw. Sure smells like it!"
Brambleclaw swallowed painfully and quickly thought up a response. "Are you saying I smell like a rogue?" he asked, feigning disgust.
"Well, you never know..." Sunpaw mewed teasingly, and she ducked as Brambleclaw swiped at her again and set off back for camp, mumbling something about getting Graystripe to take her on a tour of the territories so that she could get her scents figured out.
Once he was sure she was gone, Brambleclaw carefully added his own scent to the area, so it would be easier to find later. He felt bad, for he had lied to Sunpaw. Not once, either, but twice. First off, there was no bog ahead, and they could have followed the scent with relative ease.
Secondly, the scent before him wasn't rogue, but RiverClan. And it was not just any RiverClan scent, but Hawkfrost's.
DUN DUN DUN...what'll happen next?
Reviews are appriciated!