Contains spoilers...
This is the tragic chapter of Gorsepaw. Warning! I do mention some gore and cats getting hurt badly. I was becoming sad while writing this chapter, you'll see why. Poor Gorsepaw...
Innocent Cry
A young tom sat under the sun absorbing the heat. He opened his eyes and took a deep breath. He got up and shook off the grass that was clinging to his beautiful coat of ginger and white fur. He padded back to his clan camp, and greeted the cats around himas he walked by.
"Gorsepaw, where have you been? I was so worried that you got lost…or..or-" a pretty tortoiseshell queen mewed worriedly.
"Mom." Gorsepaw groaned. "I'm nearly a warrior now, how can Iget lost in my own territory? Quit worrying about me, I can fight for myself now."
Morningflower lowered her head and sighed. Gorsepaw went over and pressed his head against his mother's chest.
"You're growing up so fast. I still think of you as a kit…I'm sorry. You just mean so much to me." Morningflower whispered softly into Gorsepaw's ear. The young tom knew that he was the only surviving one out of the litter. Ever since he was a kit, his mother and him had a very close relationship.
"I know mother, but it's timeyou let me grow up. Onewhisker said that tomorrow he'll test me and see how my hunting and fighting skills are and if I do well my warrior ceremony will be at Sunhigh." Gorsepaw mewed proudly.
Morningflower's eyes gleamed with pride. "I'm so proud of you. I know you'll do well, I'll be sitting in the front and I'll be the loudest to cheer once you're a warrior."
Gorsepaw purred and touched noses with her. Morningflower licked his ear affectionately and watched as he went off to the apprentices' den. The young ginger and white tom settled down in front of the den and began to clean himself.
Suddenly a light brown she-cat pummeled him over and began to pull on his ear. Gorsepaw threw her off his back and got up. His neatly groomed fur was all ruffled and dirty. He glared at the young she-cat and unsheathed his claws.
"Robinpaw!" he hissed. "Don't do that, I just got done cleaning myself."
The young she-cat backed away and lowered her head down shamefully. "I'm sorry Gorsepaw. I just wanted to play."
"Shouldn't you be training? You're not a kit anymore, you should be training to become a warrior." Gorsepaw meowed. "C'mon, you've been an apprentice for a few sunrises, start acting like one."
Robinpaw rolled her eyes and sighed. Gorsepaw shrugged and began to clean himself again, Robinpaw just sat next to him and complained about how her mentor was annoying her.
After a few moments, Onewhisker came out of the warriors den. Gorsepaw's ears perked up as he heard the steps of Onewhisker approaching him. The young tom raised his head excitedly. "Are you taking me hunting?"
The brown tom shook his head. "Tallstar said that he wanted you two to change the elder's bedding and clean their ticks."
Robinwing rolled her eyes and shrugged. "I hate being an apprentice."
Gorsepaw glanced back at her and sighed. "Do I have to work with her? She's just as annoying as Rushtail when he complains."
Onewhisker stared at his apprenticewith amusement. "Yes." He mewed.
"You've got to be kidding me. Onewhisker, I'm nearly a warrior and I still have to deal with the elders?" the young tom groaned.
"Go." He mewed simply before he turned away. Gorsepaw stared at Onewhisker as he went to talk with the WindClan deputy, Deadfoot.
Gorsepaw looked over at Robinpaw. "Let's go."
"I don't want to! I want to hunt." Robinpaw whined.
"It's Tallstar's orders, a loyal apprentice always obeys their leader." The young tom mewed. "Are you saying you're not loyal to Tallstar?"
Robinpaw's eyes widened. "I'm loyal! I'm the most loyal apprentice in all the clans!"
"Then let's go."
The two apprentices went to go help their elders. Robinpaw groaned and sighed every time she had to dip her paws in the mouse bile and pressed it against the elder's fur to get the ticks out.
"Back in my day, the apprentices would stay quiet when they cared for the elders. After that they got lots of time to play." Rushtail meowed.
"Sorry Rushtail, Robinpaw is acting a bit annoying today." Gorsepaw mewed. Robinpaw hissed as she heard Gorsepaw's insult.
"So, Gorsepaw, I hear you're going to be a warrior soon. Is that true?" the old tom asked. Gorsepaw nodded his head proudly. "Well it's about time!" Rushtail meowed.
Gorsepaw nodded. He was eager to become a warrior. He wanted to prove to his mother that he can fight for himself and the clan. Becoming a warrior would be a big accomplishment for him.
The next day, Gorsepaw woke up bright and early. He went outside the apprentices' den and stretched out his long limbs and yawned. After a few moments, Onewhisker came out of the warrior's den and approached Gorsepaw. The young ginger tom was excited to see his mentor.
"You're up. That's good. Would you like to practice fighting?" Onewhisker asked. Gorsepaw nodded excitedly and the two cats went off to a vast open area in Windclan territory.
"Ready to fight?" Onewhisker asked. Gorsepaw nodded. The brown tom lunged forward at Gorsepaw, the young ginger tom dodged his mentor's attack. Onewhisker landed on the ground, Gorsepaw quickly turned around and jumped on to Onewhisker.
Onewhisker tried to toss Gorsepaw off, but he couldn't. The apprentice bit onto Onewisker's leg, making the brown tom fall to his side. Gorsepaw pressed his paw down on Onewhisker's chest and lightly bit Onewhisker's throat.
"That was very good." Onewhisker meowed proudly.
"You're a good mentor." Gorsepaw mewed as he got off his mentor. "Want to get a drink from the river?" he asked. Onewhisker nodded. The two toms went to the river and beagn to drink the water.
Once Gorsepaw was done, he raised his head and breathed in the fresh air that was surrounding him. He could smell something odd. He leaned a little forward and began to sniff the air.
Onewhisker raised his head in curiousity. "What do you smell?"
Gorsepaw took another whiff before responding. "I smell Riverclan."
"In our territory?" Onewhisker sprang up onto his paws.
"No, the wind is just blowing in this direction and Riverclan is right across from this river." Gorsepaw meowed.
"Yeah I know that. What's so odd about that?" the brown tom looked across the river.
"I smell Riverclan fear-scent." The young apprentice mewed.
"They're probably just scared of those Shadowclan cats. Remember? RiverClan and ShadowClan have formed Tigerclan." Onewhisker recall.
"Yeah…" A cold shiver ran down Gorsepaw's spine. "I'm glad we didn't join."
"I'd rather be Firestar's friend than Tigerstar's." Onewhisker meowed. Gorsepaw recalled that Onewhisker was a good friend of Firestar. "Let's hunt on the way home, I'll tell Tallstar that you did well."
"Really?" Gorsepaw meowed. "Yes! I'll finally be warrior!"
It was Sunhigh and Tallstar had gathered all the cats to attend young Gorsepaw's ceremony. Morningflower was up in the front twitching hertail excitedly. Her eyes were filled with pride and joy as she watched her son sitting in front of Tallstar.
"I, Tallstar, leader of Windclan, call upon my warrior ancestors to look down on this apprentice. He has trained hard to understand the ways of your noble code, and I commend him to you as a warrior in his turn." Tallstar meowed. "Gorsepaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and protect and defend this Clan, even at the cost of your life?"
Gorsepaw straightened up. "I do." He meowed firmly.
"Then by the powers of StarClan, I give your warrior name." Gorsepaw's heart began to beat faster and faster. "Gorsepaw, from this moment you will be known as--"
Suddenly a loud, terrifying yowl sounded out behind the gorse tunnel. A large tom tabby tom raced in, behind him were dozens and dozens of other cats.
"Tigerstar!" Tornear yelled.
"Attack, TigerClan!" the large tom ordered. The cats lunged forward, knocking down the WindClan warriors. Gorsepaw watched Tallstar leap over him to attack one of the invading warriors.
Gorsepaw sniffed the air, he could smell the mingled scents of Riverclan and Shadowclan. As he was about to lunge forward, he glanced back to where he was sitting before. He was just about to become a warrior. Frustration began to rise in his body. TigerClan had ruined his ceremony.
"Why me?" he mewed to himself. Without another moment to lose he dashed forward knocking down a Shadowclan tom. He fought furiously, making the tom run away in fear. Gorsepaw heard a wail from nearby.
"Mother!" he yelled. He lunged towards his mother. He saw Tigerstar ripping her beautiful coat into pieces. "Stay away from my mother!" he snarled. He crashed into Tigerstar, making the large tom lose his balance and fall to his side.
The large tom, almost twice the size of Gorsepaw, lifted himself from the ground and pinned the young apprentice to the ground. Morningflower got up on her weak legs and crawled over to Tigerstar.
"D-don't…hurt him." Moningflower begged. Tigerstar raised his paw and swatted Morningflower. His powerful paw made Morningflower fall to the ground. Gorsepaw struggled and hissed as Tigerstar did that.
"Don't touch her you piece of fox dung!" he spat.
"You're quite annoying." Tigerstar meowed. "I might as well kill you now." Just as he was about to cut Gorsepaw's throat, Onewhisker jumped forward.
"Tigerstar!" Onewhisker yelled as he flew forward with his lip curled, ready to bite onto Tigerstar's throat. The large tabby ground swung his claw around and cut Onewhisker's throat. Onewhisker stumbled to the side.
"No! Onewhisker!" Gorsepaw yelled, believing his mentor was dead.
"TigerClan, guard me!" Tigerstar yowled. Gorsepaw struggled to get free but he couldn't. Suddenly a bunch of ShadowClan cats and a few RiverClan cats gathered around and surrounded Tigerstar.
Deadfoot lunged forward at one of the Shadowclan warriors. The warrior scratched Deadfoot's chest then another pinned the black tom down and began to rip him apart. Runningbrook, a silver she-cat, came to Deadfoot's aid but a RiverClan warrior and a ShadowClan warrior killed her before she could reach her fellow clan mate.
Gorsepaw noticed all the cats dying around him. Suddenly fear filled his eyes. The horror of seeing the deaths of his clan mates started to make him more nervous and scared. Tigerstar sniffed the air then looked down at Gorsepaw.
"I smell fear. Are you afraid now?" he meowed darkly. "You should be."
"Please leave! Don't hurt us…" Gorsepaw begged.
Tigerstar ignored him and looked up. "WindClan! Hear me out!" he began. Tallstar raised his head, a ShadowClan warrior was right behind him ready to attack if Tallstar moved. "I am serious about creating one clan, together we shall live in peace. If you don't join, this will happen to your clan." Tigerstar yowled.
"What will happen?" Webfoot asked weakly, barely a meow loud enough to hear.
Tigerstar looked down at the apprentice and his eyes narrowed. He raised his claw, ready to swipe down and kill Gorsepaw. The young apprentice began to squirm and squeal like a small, helpless kit.
"Mother!" Gorsepaw cried. "Mother!"
Tigerstar's claw came down rapidly. Gorsepaw's eyes widened. He heard a wail of pain and fearfrom behind him.
"My kit! Gorsep--" his mother's cry was cut short. Darkness surrounded him.
"Mother…" he yelled out helplessly. "Where are you?"
So sad...I'll miss Gorsepaw, he was so cute and innocent. Oh yeah, Robinpaw becomes Robinwing, she isn't metioned at all until the allegances of Dawn, so yeah...I finally found out what happened to Runningbrook (you'd know what I'm talking about if you read my otehr story, 'Run with the wind') I forgot what had happened to her...yeah..she died. Anyways, thank you all for the reviews and suggestions. I'm still accepting suggestions if you have any. Although, I have quite a few already. Thank you for reading and reviews are very much appreciated.