Sorry it too me so long to update, I've just been busy lately. Here is the chapter...
Chapter 3
Tallpaw stared at his leader with glimmering eyes. "I can't belice you chose me to be your mentor, Breezystar! Thank you so much." He mewed.
"Well, I find you to be quite a special cat. Starclan has something great in store for you. I can sense it." Breezystar whispered into the young apprentice's ear.
Tallpaw skipped around his leader excitedly. Suddenly Pinefur approached Breezystar and dipped his head. Tallpaw stopped his skipping and hid behind his leader. Breezystar quickly glanced at the young apprentice then she turned her head towards Pinefur.
"What do want Pinefur?" she asked.
The large dark brown tom cleared his throat. "Riverclan has sent a messenger, he'd like to speak to you." He mewed.
"Very well, bring him in." she replied.
A tom led the young Riverclan warrior into the Windclan camp. The pale warrior was trembling nervously as he looked up at the Windclan cats. Tallpaw stared at the young warrior and cocked his head. The Riverclan tom soon straightened up, Tallpaw noticed he had a crooked jaw.
"Greetings Br-Breezystar." He stuttered. "I am Crookedjaw from Riverclan, and I came here to send you a message."
"First task as a warrior?" she purred with amusement. The young tom nodded. "Well then, go ahead and tell me the message."
"Longstar would like to take half of the moor. He said that he'd fight for it if you didn't let him have it." Crookedjaw meowed.
"What!" Pinefur hissed aggressively at Crookedstar. His claws were sheathed and his fur was raised. Tallpaw thought he was going to tear the poor Riverclan tom apart. Luckily, Breezystar stepped between Pinefur and Crookedjaw.
"Stop!" she ordered. Pinefur's claws remained sheathed for a few moments, then he calmed down and let his fur rest on his body again. Breezystar turned towards Crookedjaw and sighed. Tallpaw noticed the young tom trembling with fear.
"Tell Longstar that I'm not a foolish leader! I won't give him part of my territory, us Windclan cats need all the territory we can get. Longstar will have to fight for it, or he could just leave us alone. Is that clear?" Breezystar twitched her tail impatiently as she stared into the young warriors eyes.
"Yes Breezystar. Thank you." Crookedjaw mumbled. He gave Pinefur one last, fearful glance and dashed out of Windclan camp.
"Make sure he doesn't hunt in our territory." Breezystar yowled to a dark gray tabby tom. He nodded and followed the Riverclan warrior out of camp.
Breezystar paced around impatiently. "Longstar is too ambitious for his own good." She growled to Pinefur.
"I agree." Pinefur nodded. "You seem to be under a lot of stress, I'll send the apprentice back to the apprentices den." Pinefur glared at the young apprentice.
Breezystar nodded. The two cats began to walk towards the apprentices' den. "Wait! Actually, Pinefur, could you do me a favor?" the silver she-cat meowed.
"Yes Breezystar?"
"Could you take Tallpaw out with you and show him the borders? It's his first day, I wash I could go but I'm just too busy. I have to organize patrols and I'd like to patrol the Riverclan border to see if any of those Riverclan cats have been snooping around in our territory." Breezystar mewed.
"Okay." Pinefur muttered. "Be careful." He said uncomfortably. Tallpaw gulped at Breezystar's words. He'd have to be stuck with Pinefur for the whole day. "Come on apprentice, I'll show you the borders." He mumbled without even looking at Tallpaw. The black and white apprentice reluctantly followed the large tom out of camp.
"And this is Thunderpath. Do not cross it or else the monsters will try to kill you." Pinefur explained vaguely. Tallpaw was looking out onto Thunderpath, his eyes focused on the fascinating path, it was so unnatural. "Are you listening apprentice?" Pinefur asked.
"Quit calling my apprentice! I have a name and its Tallpaw." The young apprentice snapped. Suddenly he realized that he had just snapped at the Windclan deputy. He quickly closed his mouth and backed away from the large tom in fear.
Pinefur's furious green eyes glared at Tallpaw. "Fine, Tallpaw, I'll call you by your name." he grunted and walked off. "Come on, I'll show you the other borders." He mumbled. To Tallpaw's surprise, Pinefur didn't threaten him in any way.
It was Sunhigh, the two cats were standing by the edge of the river right across from the Riverclan border. Pinefur sighed as he stared out into the water.
"So this is our border between Riverclan territory?" Tallpaw asked. The large brown tom didn't answer, his gaze remained on the running water. The young black and white tom looked over into the water but saw nothing interesting. "What're you looking at?" he asked with curiosity. Still, Pinefur did not respond.
Pinefur remained still. Tallpaw wondered if he was frozen. "Pinefur? What's in the water?" there was still no reply. The young impatient apprentice went to go take one more look at the water. He leaned over to look. Suddenly he slipped into the water.
The apprentice splashed around, trying to get a hold of something. "Help!" he mewed. Finally Pinefur turned his head. He sat there staring at the drowning apprentice. His eyes wide with shock…but there was a slight sadness in his eyes too.
"Help Pinefur!" Tallpaw yelled helplessly. The water was pulling him down farther and farther. Pinefur stared at the young apprentice nervously. He's going to let me die! Tallpaw thought.
Suddenly Pinefur dove into the water and began to swim towards Tallpaw. With a few strokes, the large tom caught up with the small apprentice and grabbed his scruff. With a few more strokes the brown tom lifted one of his massive paws and managed to get a hold of a clump of grass. Pinefur tossed Tallpaw onto the hard ground, and slowly pulled himself up.
"I thought you weren't coming after me." Tallpaw panted.
Pinefur bared his teeth. "Do you think I'm evil or something?" he snarled.
"Well you were just staring at the water! What was I suppose to think?" Tallpaw snapped. Pinefur gave a long menacing stare at Tallpaw then turned away.
"Kits like you never understand." The large tom muttered.
"Understand what?" Tallpaw growled.
"That there is more to a warrior's life than just fighting and hunting!" Pinefur growled. "This is where…" he paused for a moment. "This is where I lost my son." He meowed. Tallpaw suddenly felt a pang of sympathy for the deputy.
"You lost your son here?" Tallpaw mewed.
Pinefur nodded. "It all started a few moons before you were. My son was a newly named apprentice, Whitepaw was his name. He was small but strong and he was all white with green eyes like me. He very enthusiastic and had a lot of energy. He reminded me of you." Pinefur mewed. "Things were going well, he had a great mentor and I was happy and so was his mother."
"Then what happened?" Tallpaw asked curiously.
"One day, I took him out to see how his hunting was going. He cat two mice and a vole. As we were returning to camp, the newly named warrior, Rockfur, approached us. He told us that Riverclan was attacking. The three of us went to help. Whitepaw was fighting well for his first real battle." A glimmer of pride was shone in Pinefur's eyes. "Then...things took a turn for the worst."
Tallpaw's eyes widened. "It couldn't have been that bad, could it?"
"It was horrible." Pinefur meowed coldly. "Riverclan was winning. I noticed that three apprentices were attacking my son, I wanted to help but another warrior attacked me. I threw the large warrior off of me and he rolled down the hill, right towards the apprentices. Two of the Riverclan apprentices fled but one was still fighting with Whitepaw. Whitepaw noticed the tumbling warrior and quickly pushed the Riverclan apprentice away from him. A heartbeat later, my son was hit by the warrior and fell into the river. The Riverclan warrior reached out a paw but couldn't reach Whitepaw. The apprentice he saved, Crookedpaw, ran along the edge of the river, trying to keep sight of Whitepaw, but sadly Whitepaw drowned."
Tallpaw sat there with his mouth gaping open. "Is that why you keep on staring at me, because I remind you of your son?" he asked. Pinefur nodded.
"I never had a chance to say good-bye to him. He died too soon." Pinefur muttered.
"At least he died a hero." Tallpaw mewed. "You should be proud of him."
Pinefur sighed and stood up. "Let's go." He turned away from the river and walked back to camp. Tallpaw followed him. Pinefur wasn't really that bad, he just has a hard opening up to others.
Suddenly Tallpaw noticed something was behind. He quickly turned his head and looked back. He saw a ghostly white cat behind him. Tallpaw had never seen him before, but he had a feeling he knew who it was.
"Whitepaw?" Tallpaw mumbled low enough so Pinefur could hear.
The white tom nodded and disappeared. Tallpaw blinked a few times and sighed. He turned away from the river and followed Pinefur back to Windclan camp.
This chapter we got to learn a lot about Pinefur and his past. I find his past sad and dramatic. Tallpaw now understands Pinefur better, and wishes to befriend the large tom. The next chapter will have a little more action to it. Thank you for reading. Reviews are appreciated!