The sky above is starless, the breeze cold as Gingerpaw lowers herself into a hunter's crouch. The babble of the river masking any noise she makes as she creeps towards an unsuspecting mouse. Grass shifts around her as he takes tentative paw steps towards her prey. The mouse is running it's small pink paws over its face, cleaning.
A shiver passes through her body, fur standing on end. She knows she is being watched. Blue eyes scan the grasses around her for signs of other cats. It's when she turns to face the river she sees them. Two creatures on the opposite bank. The Ashfield side of the bank. The figures stand with a backdrop of deathly gnarled trees.
There's a tom, a dark hickory brown pelt, blue eyes to contrast. He's broad, with thick limbs, large paws and a broad muzzle. The second cat is taller, slimmer. She knows it's another cat because of it's deep eyes. They're mud coloured. The rest of the cat is mostly hairless, a few tufts of cream and orange fur here and there. The rest is twisted skin. It doesn't have any ears.
The tom looks up at the other cat, a small knowing smile across his muzzle. The she-cat (She thinks its a she-cat) has her eyes fixed on Gingerpaw, her mouth open as if in shock.
Gingerpaw is puzzled. She hears the patter of a rodent in the sand and her attention is divided. When she looks back neither cat is there anymore. She hesitates, unsure what to think before returning to her hunt once again.
Silentpaw sat down next to Gingerpaw, looking up at Nighstar as their leader sat on the high boulder. Her facial expression was dark and made him nervous, especially as Troutfin was the cat the crowd had formed a semi-circle around. Gingerpaw kept blinking, swiping a paw over her eyes and trying to wake herself up.
Today it was obvious leaf-fall was approaching. Whilst the sun was rising it had little warmth to it and was consistently getting blotted out by darker clouds.
Troutfin was staring with scorn and confusion as he complained bitterly, muttering about 'no clue as to what was going on' and 'when I was a kit elders were treated properly'. Silentpaw saw Gingerpaw visibly jump for attention as Nighstar yowled for silence.
"Cats of Duneclan. For the next half-moon Troutfin no longer exists"
Silentpaw and the other apprentices looked up at the leader with confusion. "Oh she's made a new punishment up. This is what she's decided will happen to cats who mention us.." Lilytail muttered darkly.
"He may still shelter in the elders' den but will fend for himself. He will catch his own food. Make his own nest. Pick off ticks from his own pelt" Nighstar smiled at the end, far too serene and calm for the words she was speaking. Silentpaw tensed feeling unease ripple across the crowd. No one uttered a word.
"He'll get sick! He might even die, what happened to caring for cats?!" Lilytail fretted. He forgot sometimes that he was the only one that could hear her and scanned around him as if they could tell a dead she-cat was ranting away in his skull.
His eyes met with Gingerpaw's who looked equally shocked and concerned. Troutfin was ranting now. But no one was acknowledging his presence, they only peered up at their leader.
"Anyone who helps him, acknowledges him or speaks about him to others will join him" The purr in Nighstar's voice sounded unhinged. Glowpaw stood up and opened his mouth to speak, a few warriors gasped and stared at him. "You can't do this, with all respect, but what did he do-"
Nightstar blinked slowly, when her eyes opened they were fixed on the young white furred tom. Glowpaw seemed less sure of himself, Treepaw's tail was resting on the base of his friend's tail in an attempt to get him to sit. To be compliant.
"Would you like to join him Glowpaw?" She asked innocently, glaring down at him. It was a little bit like a standoff. Stiffly the apprentice sat down, looking at his paws as Treepaw shuffled closer and whispered something to him.
"At least someone has a brain here, the brainwashing is quite a feat" Silentpaw silently agreed, the compliance of other cats to mistreat an elder for seemingly nothing was saddening.
"Only at the next half moon will the punishment end. But until then-" Nighstar paused "I don't know who Troutfin is. Meeting over" The black she-cat jumped down into the sand again and padded over to the fresh kill pile as if nothing out of the ordinary had just happened.
The camp ebbed back into normality again, only the apprentices sat looking at each other, knowing what they were likely thinking about but not daring to say it. Troutfin was standing, fur fluffed up, it was like he'd only just realised the gravity of the situation. "You can't do this to me! I'm entitled to my opinion!" Silentpaw watched the elderly tom hobble towards his friend, Firsky. "Can you believe her? She thinks she can do this to anyone! A fox-hearted cat if you ask me !" Frisky looked back at his friend with worry and sped up his pace towards the elders den.
It was almost comical watching the old tom try to run away, the other slow moving tom chasing after him.
"So that's it huh? Gonna treat me like every other bloody cat will? Some friends I have!" Troutfin growled gruffly. "What are you looking at!?" He hissed, turning on the apprentices. The apprentices all wordlessly stood to leave, deciding to congregate outside the apprentices den. Troutfin began another rant but it would fall on willingly deaf ears.
Gingerpaw couldn't get away from Troutfin any quicker as she followed her friends to sit outside their den. Silentpaw tagged along instead of returning to the medicine cat den. They sat down in relative silence. Glowpaw's brow was creased disapprovingly. "So then-" Shadedpaw started awkwardly. A long pause. "I haven't got anything I guess" He sighed.
"Great conversation starter, I feel myself becoming engaged" Glowpaw muttered sarcastically.
"Shut it groucho, like to see you do better" Shadedpaw huffed, moving away from the other tom to sit next to Gingerpaw. She felt his tail brush hers.
"You two should fight or something, get your angst out" Treepaw nudged Glowpaw half-heartedly. Glowpaw's face brightened a little and he snickered.
"Shadedpaw fancy being a punch bag for a bit?" Glowpaw crept towards him with a menacing grin. "Now? Really? You're like a kit in an older cat's body" Shadedpaw was edging away. "I smell your fear-" Glowpaw chuckled.
Gingerpaw giggled. Over Glowpaw's shoulder she could see Crabfang approaching. His gait was definitely better then a couple weeks back but a slight limp remained. The large tom smiled at her in a 'Come over here I have news' type of way.
"Think Crabfang wants me, I'll be back later" She mewed, giving Shadedpaw and head butt and then Silentpaw. "Enjoy killing each other!" She laughed as she skipped away to meet with her mentor.
"Ah Gingerpaw! Got the all clear from Cloudfang to give you some swimming lessons!" Crabfang smiled at her. Her own face had a mini-crack, her smile being wiped off her face. At least it was him and not Brambledip. "Oh not so much of a fan of swimming?" He asked her. Gingerpaw shook her head. "I'm not very good at it," She mumbled.
"That's alright, with a little more confidence you'll be the strongest swimmer in Duneclan. I can't do it this morning as I need to be shown a few more exercises. Cloudfang said swimming can also help as I'm not putting any pressure through my leg. I'll go out with Cloudfang this morning and then in the afternoon we can get you swimming. Sounds good?"
She nodded hesitantly. She saw brambledip walk past with Shadedpaw, shortly followed by Glowpaw and Ghostfalcon. "Great! I'll see you later" The cream tom padded away, humming to himself like the world was all sunshine and daisies. She turned to re-join her friends outside the apprentice den, but it seemed that everyone had left for training.
She thought of Silentpaw, he was probably still in camp. She'd be bored if there was no one else to hang out with.
Gingerpaw walked in as Cloudfang was explaining something about muscles to him. The young tom listened attentively, something she probably couldn't do. She was glad she was going to be a warrior and not a medicine cat. Silentpaw's ears pricked as she entered and he smiled fondly at her. Cloudfang turned to see who it was.
"Ah good morning Gingerpaw, I'm afraid if you've come in here for Silentpaw we'll be leaving camp soon with Crabfang, I'm assuming he told you about being able to teach swimming again?" Cloudfang asked matter of factly. "Uh yeah he did, alright then, have fun" As she turned to leave with disappointment she bumped chests with Nighstar.
"Oh! Sorry!" She blurted out, a feeling of fear in her presence. "It's alright' The she-cat responded, looking in the den, gaze fixed on Cloudfang. 'I would like a word with Cloudfang'' Cloudfang flicked an ear but his expression remained characteristically neutral. Silentpaw seemed to become visibly tense.
"Of course. Why don't Gingerpaw and yourself go and collect me some reeds from the river? I need some more to fix broken bones. Collect as many as you can and leave them above the den to dry out in the sun please" Silentpaw nodded and looked at Gingerpaw hopefully.
"I can help Crabfang without you Silentpaw so don't worry about missing out or taking too long" Cloudfang smiled but it seemed more of a reassuring front then a genuine smile.
Reviewer responses!:
ReadingEevee: Thank you so much for reviewing every single chapter thus far in one sitting, I'm impressed lol. I'm glad you like it and are enjoying reading.
Vixen: I think your the first person to ship Silentpaw and Gingerpaw. If they ever did become a couple, lets face it, it would be chaos lol. Thanks for your review!
Succulentsofa: I enjoy writing the apprentices (Well it probably just means Glowpaw, Shadedpaw, Treepaw and Gingerpaw). Glowpaw has a big personality as does Gingerpaw so It's fun just to see them tease and have some good old fashioned banter
AzurineCielo67: The apprentice gang pretty much just tease each other without mercy, but they do genuinely get on. Leopardheart's death and the disappearance of the kits was sort of a catalyst for a series of events so I'm glad it was impactful :)
Thank you to everyone who reviewed! The last chapter I definitely got a boom of reviews which is nice to see, the original EK only got 19 by chapter 17. I've spent a lot of time trying to plan ahead so chapters will probably be a little slower as i'm alternating between writing and planning. Thank you again and reviews are appreciated :)