Chapter #16 The Apprenticeship -
Dewkit stood before Firestar, a grin on both faces. Fogkit, Stormkit, Luxkit, and Flowerkit stood among him and everyone else was below him, just like they were a moon ago. Smokeshade hasn't been seen since and, feeling a rush of pride, today was the day the kits would become apprentices. Flowerkit and Luxkit groomed each other for about a hour in advance.
"Dewkit," The gray tom looked at his ginger leader "until you have been granted your warrior name, you shall be known as Dewpaw." He bowed his head, "Your mentor shall be Rainwhisker, I hope you can pass on what you have learned from Graystripe to this eager apprentice." Then he stood on the left side of the rock, next to Rainwhisker. "Now, Fogkit, Until you have been granted your warrior name you shall be known as Fogpaw. Your mentor will be Blackrose, please pass on all that you have obtained from Sootfur to you young kit." Blackrose nodded. 'My first apprentice!' She thought.
After the small gathering was done, Luxpaw's mentor was Brightheart, Flowerpaw's was Cloudtail, and Stormpaw's was Ravenwing, which was kinda obvious. They all walked out to the sandy hollow to train. Ravenwing tried the Battle move he had been teaching them for a while now. Dewpaw could do it even better than Ravenwing. Fogpaw, because she was so small, could only do half of it without falling flat on her face. Brightheart had the coolest moves to Luxpaw's view because Brightheart, missing one eye, had to do special things to keep her strong and fit. Cloudpaw, being the one who thought her them, was to Flowerpaw, the best mentor. Stormpaw thought he got the best because he got his father. And Fogpaw didn't brag at all even though she got her mother.
No one bothered Blackrose about her prophecy either. Blackrose almost completely forgot about it until, later that day she went to a pool of crystal clear water that her and Fogpaw started lapping up. Blackrose sighed as she looked at her reflection. The scars reminded her every time that she was to be one of the greatest warriors of ThunderClan. No one heard anything else from StarClan from what Blackrose knew. Fogpaw started sniffing the air.
"Mother, what is that smell." The gray she-cat mewed.
"Why, it's RiverClan, we are close to the border."
Blackrose walked over to a tree to mark their territory. She walked farther down till they reached Sunning-Rocks. Once there, she lied down upon a large, flat rock and let the sun kiss her dark fur. Her scared face looked to the blue sky. Her violet eyes gleamed. Fogpaw joined her pretty mother. She also had a dark pelt but, with lighter paws and face. Her eyes were unusually bright blue. She looked to the sky, grinning, white teeth shimmering in the sun light. All her worries went away. She heard a cat approaching but gave no care to i. 'It's probably Luxpaw, she always tries to annoy me.' Fogpaw thought. It was a ThunderClan cat, mixed with blood. 'Fresh kill!' She sprang up and jumped into the shadows where the cat was. She heard Blackrose scream, "No!" Fogpaw looked up at the cat. It was a dark gray tom, his face was silver to white. Fogpaw knew who it was immediately, Smokeshade. She shrank back and hissed. She was small but thought she could hold him off and get help. Her mother appeared at her side and hissed at the large tom. His fur was dirty, soaked with old blood. He had scars and scabs around his body and face. His left ear was only a small morsel now, cut off by Ashfur. He leaped at Fogpaw and hit her full force. She hit into a tree and felt her paw snap. She lied there, the pain shooting up her front leg. Blackrose was on top of the tom biting at his face and clawing his back. He screamed and cried out. Blackrose got of and he lied in a heap on the forest floor, he lifted his head slowly, blood trickling from his fangs. Blackrose's flank was cut open badly. Another cat raced by, 'Stormpaw!' Ravenwing wasn't with him but since he was twice the size of his sister, he lifted her off the ground and brought her to the camp as quickly as he could. When he reached Cinderpelt's den her lied Fogpaw down and started licking her front leg.
Broken.
Fogpaw's eyes started to water as she saw blood sapping out. She licked down her fur also. Stormpaw sighed as Leafstone came over.
"What happened?"
"Smokeshade, he is near the RiverClan border, near Sunning-Rocks. Fogpaw was injured badly, I think her leg is broken."
Fogpaw looked up at Leafstone, "I might be able to fix it, let me get Cinderpelt, also I will send some cats out." She sprinted away while Stormpaw lied down next to his small sister.
'"I'll be Okay, it's our first day, and StarClan will spare you. They must!" He looked up to the sky, the sun seemed to wink at him, 'Fogpaw will be Okay, wont she?'
