Defiance
A part of me craved his respect, another part desired his humility. Either way you looked at it, there I was, scrawny and defiant, standing him down with the sole intention of proving that I wasn't a stepping stone.
"Come on keep up the lot of you! We're almost there."
The sun, barely visible behind a dim shroud of darkness, was splitting cracks of stray light across the dark navy blue backdrop of the morning dawn, breaking across and shining through the canopy tops of trees in a penetrating golden stream that trickled down the stout trunks, highlighting their ancient grooves. Just below the sun's rays, moving about in a monotonous pack, were the indistinct pelts and forms of several cats trailing behind the lead of one significantly larger one.
An exhausted yawn escaped Redpaw's outstretched mouth as he tiredly followed behind the thread of slouching apprentices, a wave of drowsiness oozing thickly from them in a surging swell of lethargy as they struggled to keep their sleep deprived eyelids open.
Blades of grass brushed against the underside of his pads as he treaded lightly on the moss covered forest floor. His ears twitched, picking up the occasional patter of a small animal scurrying in the underbrush, probably beginning their morning scrounge for food. The noise made his stomach growl, reminding him with some dismay that he had not had chance to eat this morning.
"Why do we have to get up so early?" a spotted apprentice groaned wearily, their tail limply being dragged behind them in the grass.
Mutters of shared opinions bubbled among the other apprentices, the heart of this speculation being directed towards the lean slender back of their chaperone and guide, Swiftstep.
Redpaw was curious as well to where their destination lay, briefly recalling back to earlier that morning as they were collectively all shaken out of their slumber and herded out of the apprentice den into the center of camp scarcely at the break of dawn by Swiftstep. From there an order was issued out by the silver grey tom, stating that every cat's name he called was to immediately accompany him out into the forest.
Seeing automatic obvious picks such as Sagepaw and Hollypaw being called to join, Redpaw was already mentally preparing himself for another isolated day settled in the camp. What occurred next, taking him and probably several others by surprise, was when Swiftstep called out his name, sending a mixed concoction of astonishment and elation flowing through him to hear his name called alongside the others.
"You're out here on Crowstar's orders. Now hush until we've arrived and I'll explain everything then," Swiftstep's voice cut through the murmuring. He tossed an annoyed glance over his shoulders back at them, successfully thus halting any further complaints from the group.
Before they knew it, the sun's morning glow was exuding unperturbed throughout the sky, pouring down and injecting light and color into the forest. With the darkness officially lifted now, the vibrant textures and swirls of the Clan cats' pelts could be sighted from a bird's eye view in the sky as the forest floor now glimmered with morning dew.
After some time elapsed the woods around them slowly began to thin and part until finally they came to a halt in the middle of a flat open clearing, wide enough to contain the entirety of BoulderClan and more.
"Okay, line up in a straight line across and pay attention," Swiftstep called, padding off several foxlengths before whipping around to face the assorted group of apprentices.
They acquiesced without further instruction. A kit like buzz of curiosity and anticipation was zipping circles back and forth inside Redpaw's stomach as he took up the spot beside Hollypaw at the end of the line.
Silently appraising the orderly line of attentive cats for a flaw in formation, pleased with his findings, Swiftstep gave a brief nod of approval. "Good. It's nice to see in the short time that you've all been training that your mentors have already engrained a knack for listening and acting in you. Things should go by a lot smoother than I originally thought n-"
"Mind hurrying up and telling us why we're out here now?" An exasperated call sounded from Hollypaw, interrupting Swiftstep's speech that garnered an unpleasant glare from the silver warrior.
The tortoiseshell she-cat was without question the most impatient out of the group of them and she had absolutely no qualms about verbally expressing it for any and all to here.
"Fine then, we're doing battle training today," Swiftstep answered, smiling briefly at the small cheers of jubilation from several of the apprentices at hearing this.
"What do you know? I guess the start of this day won't be as worthless as I thought," Hollypaw mentioned to Redpaw, who vigorously nodded in response, excitement sparking across his own pelt.
This would be the first since becoming the apprentice that he would receive any kind of actual training. To say he was more than a little excited at the proposition of being able to finally learn something was as severe a understatement as any could be made. The ginger tom was absolutely ecstatic.
"The reason all of you are out here with me instead of your usual mentors is because of these new measures Crowstar is putting into practice to ensure the continued protection of BoulderClan. While we're out here today, going over different techniques and learning how to consecutively and successfully work in succession as a unit, your mentors and several other warriors will similarly be on the other side of the territory with Brackentail. Only they'll actually be developing new and inventive battle techniques and formations to be put into practice later should ever we get into conflict with another Clan."
Swiftstep paused to clear his throat before continuing. "And so that's the deal for today. I'll be starting off by reintroducing you to some basic techniques you all should be familiar with before later splitting you all off into groups where things with get more interesting."
Redpaw could barely stand to remain in one spot with the sheer amount of eagerness that was brimming in his chest. A part of himself literally couldn't almost believe this shining light of good fortune that had just been bestowed upon him.
Finally, he thought, itching with boundless amounts of energy. This is my chance to finally prove that I belong here. That I'm just like everyone else here.
There was nothing that could ruin this moment for him. Not a single entity in this world. As he keenly shared enthusiastic glances between himself and Hollypaw, shifting from paw to paw in excitement, Redpaw gleefully braced himself for what was quickly making itself out to be the best day of his life.
"Sorry I'm late, Swiftstep," a serene near melodic voice emanated from the woods, immediately pulling Redpaw's and every other apprentices attention toward it. A slight rustle arose from the bushes before, moments later, out stepped Oakclaw, appearing relaxed and content in form as he drifted into the clearing, a light smile playing upon his lips as he surveyed everyone there. "And a particularly good morning to all you apprentices."
It was this precise moment where Oakclaw revealed himself that I realized that this would not be any ordinary training session. No, prior encounters had already taught me that anything involving the merrily displaced tom was never a situation that operated by rules of the norm.
"Just ignore him," Hollypaw was saying to Redpaw as they practiced slipping and ducking each other's swipes. "You're training under Crowstar's direct order so there isn't a thing he can say against you being here."
Redpaw nodded his head, forcing himself to focus on Hollypaw as he tried to ignore the presence of Oakclaw hovering idly nearby around the clearing. If he wasn't clumsy enough already while practicing moves with Hollypaw, the large tom being in the near vicinity surely wasn't aiding him.
Oakclaw's untimely arrival had completely thrown him off of his game. From what Swiftstep had told them he had expected the large tabby to be with the other mentors, creating new techniques with the Clan deputy, but here he was, lying down and soaking up the sunlight as his massive shadow took up more than an entire corner of the clearing by itself.
Swiftstep, after quickly skimming over an array of different battle moves with them decided then to split them up into groups where they would then partner up and practice among each other, a sharp notice to keep their claws sheathed at all times. Swiftstep had taken the right side of the clearing with half of the apprentices while Oakclaw was put in charge of Redpaw's half that consisted of Hollypaw, Sagepaw, and several others.
Redpaw and Hollypaw had broken off from Sagepaw and the others so that Hollypaw could more easily help and provide him with a direct one on one lesson.
He was still unsure and slightly awkward with his movements and strikes, but thankfully he had Hollypaw for a sparring partner who was much more experienced than him and not at all opposed to tutoring the newbie in the proper ways of how to fight. If anything, Redpaw reckoned she was enjoying the reverse roles of being mentor to him.
"Come on, throw it out faster! Don't worry about accidently hitting me, Redpaw. I'll be sure to dodge it. I'm quick!"
Redpaw flailed his paw out in the direction of Hollypaw, who barely had to nudge back to avoid getting nicked.
"You can do better than that, Redpaw! You have to really mean it and aim when you strike. Plant your paws firmly on the ground and then lash forward, swiping your paw out in an arc as you try and catch your enemy with it."
He gritted his teeth, pressing his paws further into the ground before springing forward and swinging his paw. Hollypaw smirked, standing in place as Redpaw's strike came into hitting distance and then shifted her weight left, opposite direction of the blow, slipping the paw strike and causing it to glance off the side of her head, causing no harm to her other than unsticking a few strands of fur out of place.
"Better," she noted with a wink, causing Redpaw to avert his gaze, embarrassed. "You're picking everything up quickly. All right, now I'm going go and try and hit you, so do your best to either dodge or roll with the momentum like I just did."
"Okay, ready," Redpaw answered, shifting into a defensive position as he awaited Hollypaw's first move. He slowed his breathing, calming himself, and made sure to watch Hollypaw's body for any signs of alteration in her stance. She'd taught him that one way to anticipate when an enemy's attack was coming was studying how their body worked, taking special note to notice the obvious shifts in weight as they moved in to act.
"Oooh, I like that determined look in your eyes," Hollypaw laughed, narrowing her own eyes and she crouched into position. "This should be fun."
They practiced on for a bit more after that with Redpaw steadily becoming slightly more confident in his abilities as Hollypaw took him through a course of standard fighting techniques. He hadn't realized just how knowledgeable and patient she could be at this stuff.
The behavior she was currently displaying now more than contradicted previous statements made by her mentors and others that she didn't listen or could sit still. Maybe their perceptions of Hollypaw were all just a bit off.
"Hollypaw, I need a more skilled partner to practice with and these guys aren't cutting it," Sagepaw said, sauntering over to them with the swagger of a cat twice his own, already large, stature.
Hollypaw didn't even turn around. "Find someone else. I'm busy helping Redpaw with his sweep."
"Aw, come on," Sagepaw pressed, coming to stand by her. "You're the only cat that can actually put up a decent counterattack."
"Not to be rude, but you're the last cat I'd want to train with, Sagepaw, especially with those clumsy badger paws of yours. I'm not a fan of being stepped on, whether intentional or not."
Sagepaw snorted in response, shaking his head in awe at Hollypaw's blatant dismissal of him. Realizing a lost cause when he saw one that was when his gaze averted towards Redpaw. "What about you then, huh? Up for a friendly spar, little red."
Little red. He hadn't been called that by Sagepaw since they were in the nursery. Although Redpaw wasn't exactly what you'd consider tiny, he had always been on the scrawnier side of most kits, having been waned off milk earlier than he should've thanks in part to the queens who were vehement in their stance towards Crowstar that their actual kits took precedence over any other when it came to feeding.
"Come on, there's nothing to be afraid of," Sagepaw prodded, smirking slightly. "Think of it as one of the games we used to play as kits. Look, I'll even make it more like one. I'll obviously play the role of leader of BoulderClan and you can be the leader of SwampClan. First one to pin the other wins."
"Back off, Sagebrain," Hollypaw growled, intercepting Sagepaw's ploy. "I already told you, I and Redpaw are already training together. Go play in the dirt if you're that bored."
Sagepaw shrugged. "Hey, I'm just trying to see if little red is cat enough to accept a friendly challenge. If he's scared that's all he needs to say and I'll leave."
A familiar twinge of something recent began to take root within Redpaw's chest as he stood there silent, taking all of Sagepaw's snide remarks as he had as a kit. He was used to this type of attitude from him, but something about the way Sagepaw looked at, that snarky smirk of his that goaded him to respond, lit a fire under the usually timid apprentice.
His thoughts rewind back to a few days ago to the image of Sagepaw's beaming face as he was praised by Brackentail while he sat off displaced, watching as cloying sensation overtake his senses. That same cloying sensation had resurfaced now, standing front center and defiant in the face of its target.
Redpaw let it overtake him, feeding off of the burning passion to step forward and confront Sagepaw.
"Fine, you're on."
Hollypaw paused from her verbal lashing of Sagepaw to gape at Redpaw in surprise. Sagepaw too seemed momentarily taken aback to have Redpaw agree to his challenge before immediately recovering himself and spreading his smirk out into a grin.
"This'll be fun."
"Redpaw, are you sure about this?" Hollypaw asked, following him as he and Sagepaw padded a few foxlengths from each other. "Whatever you think you need to prove to Sagepaw is stupid. He's just a mousebrain with a head too large for his own shoulders."
"Don't worry," he told her. "Everything will be fine. This is just something I need to do, okay?"
Hollypaw frowned, clearly not a fan of what was transpiring before her, but oddly hesitant to stop it. "He isn't as fast as he thinks he is," she suddenly stated, her eyes narrowed in annoyance, as she took a step back. "If you stay agile and move around his lumbering paws, you'll be fine."
Redpaw nodded, signifying that he'd heard her advice and turned to face Sagepaw. The russet tom was eyeing him with a gleam in his eyes as he slowly stalked forward. Redpaw imitated the act and slowly edged forward also, taking special care to watch the larger tom's body for an indication when he would pounce.
Sagepaw slunk around Redpaw, smirking as he continuously moved from a crouch position to a charging one. Redpaw kept Hollypaw's words to heart, moving around a lot more than the predatory stalking of Sagepaw to make himself hard to pin down.
If he could wait for just the right moment, than possibly, just maybe he catch an opening and make Sagepaw take heed, even briefly, that he was here for him to walk over anymore.
Sagepaw partially started forward, causing Redpaw to flinch and start back. The russet tom continued to smirk as he edged ever closer, closing the gap between the two of them inch by inch.
It didn't take much for Redpaw to realize that he was merely being toyed with. Sagepaw didn't take him seriously as any sort of credible threat and it showed in how he held himself. He had only just learned earlier that same day from Hollypaw that pouncing crouches usually were a lot lower than the one Sagepaw was using against him.
Apparently using proper technique wasn't necessary when facing someone like Redpaw, and the fact that he was so blatant and nonchalant about it drove Redpaw to react out of anger. He dashed forward, ignoring the use of any feints and swung as hard as he possibly could towards Sagepaw's head.
Air rushed from Redpaw's lungs, painfully whistling out as quicker than he could even register with his eyes, Sagepaw sidestepped the strike and shot headfirst power ramming his head straight into Redpaw's chest. The ginger tom felt his body locked as he was unable to supply air for it, and with a sweeping club like blow Sagepaw knocked him onto his back, slamming his paw hard down onto his chest, holding him tightly in place there.
Redpaw struggled weakly in vain to usurp the burden off of him, but Sagepaw held him down with relative ease, grinning widely as he laughed at the ginger apprentice's fruitless attempts.
"How pathetic can you get?" he exclaimed, his tone laced with disdain. "Is that it? Is this all the BoulderClan outcast has to offer? You're nowhere dangerous as-!"
The weight was suddenly lifted from his chest as Sagepaw disappeared in a blur of darkness. Redpaw leaned over, coughing brusquely, as he took in several huge mouthfuls of air. What had happened? Where was Sagepaw?
Redpaw slowly made to climb to his paws before immediately being swept off his paws and pinned down by a singular large brown paw. From his wedged position of being pressed into the ground Redpaw felt movement beside him and looked to the furious squirming form of Sagepaw who lay in a similar predicament as he did.
"Oh, did I forget mention that I'm playing as the leader of MeadowClan?" Oakclaw innocently stated, causally looking up to glance around the clearing at the appalled collection of apprentices watching the spectacle. "Just because someone takes down your enemy, it doesn't automatically mean they're on your side," the brown tabby airily chanted. "Cats careless enough to disregard such a possibility could very well die. That's a lesson that all of you could stand to learn."
"What's the problem over there, Oakclaw?" Swiftstep called out, noticing the commotion.
"Oh, nothing, just giving these apprentices a light lesson in tactical warfare," he responded jovially. "By the way, Sagepaw, I must ask that you refrain from picking anymore 'mock battles' with your fellow apprentices. Your father happens to speak very highly of you and your extreme discipline and immaculate reasoning. It would honestly be a shame for the Clan deputy to discover the kind of things you get up to when he's not around to witness his son's impeccable patience and sound reasoning in action."
Sagepaw gave a gruff grunt of affirmation and with a brief nudge Oakclaw released him from under his hind paw. The russet apprentice scrambled up, quickly dipping his head to the larger tom before scampering away across the clearing.
"Redpaw, are you okay?" Hollypaw suddenly appeared at his side, eyes alight with worry.
Oakclaw's gaze drifted up to the sky before pulling his paw off of Redpaw, allowing him to sit up as Hollypaw checked him over. "Fortunate for him I stepped in when I did. A second later and I would've had to pin all three of you down to keep you from reducing one of Sagepaw's ears to a nub, Hollypaw."
She grunted casting an infuriated glare in the direction Sagepaw had fled. "That jerk! I should go over there now and shred both of them!"
"Your rage is justified, but I'd strongly advise against you acting upon it," Oakclaw said. "Attacking a Clanmate is cause for severe punishment, whether or not you feel they deserve it."
Redpaw shakily rose to his paws, checking his body for any apparent injuries. It seemed other than his sore chest he had gotten off scratch free in a skirmish thanks to Oakclaw's timely intervention. However, Redpaw wasn't exactly sure how he felt about having had to be saved by the tabby. Even then at his time of needs never once had he once looked or directly spoke to him. The polarizing behavior was more than enough to leave the ginger tom on edge.
Hollypaw made to move closer to him and inspect his flank, but Oakclaw whipped his tail in between them, briefly shaking his head in her direction.
"Sorry, Hollypaw, but that'll have to wait I'm afraid. I'll be stepping off for a brief moment to share a few necessary words of wisdom with this apprentice."
This apprentice, Redpaw noticed bitterly. Not even enough care to refer to him as his own apprentice. He definitely wasn't thankful to have been rescued by Oakclaw now.
Hollypaw glanced from Oakclaw's bemused expression to Redpaw's glum one, opening her mouth to say something in response when Oakclaw shot his tail out to cover it.
"Now, now, don't worry," he chuckled, removing the tail to signal to Redpaw to follow him. "You have my word that no harm will come to him. We're just going to talk."
Talk, huh? The last time he and Redpaw 'talked' he had told him that he would no longer speak or train him until he was able to answer his ridiculous question about the Warrior Code. Suffice to say, a foreboding sense of apprehension was tingling up and down his spine hearing this as he slowly trudged on after him.
I wouldn't be ready for the talk that was coming my way. I severely doubt even now with what I know that I would. Trapped in such a dire, soul depleting position than the one I had when I was forced to verbally confront Oakclaw about the direction of life up to that point, there would never be another situation in which every single shred of my being, ideals, and aspirations would be attacked so ruthlessly and viciously without remorse.