Chapter
2
Grasspaw slept fitfully in the night. His dreams were plagued
with images of Yarrowpaw, A warrior, battling with the Current
apprentice Ashenpaw. Grasspaw was there to, But He could do nothing.
"Grasspaw!
Grasspaw!" Ashenpaw was screaming. "Grasspaw!"
"Huh?
Wha?" Grasspaw sat up. He was No longer suspended in the moment
of battle, but curled warmly in his den. Pinewhisker was standing
over him. "Grasspaw, Wake up, We have a busy day ahead of us."
Slowly Grasspaw got up and stretched. The fear in his dream was
fading and he looked forward to the challenges of apprentice-hood.
Once he exited the den, he was surprised to find it was a chilly
morning. He shook himself to get warm but nothing seemed to help."
It will get warmer later" Meowed Pinewhisker "But don't
worry, you won't notice." Grasspaw padded over to his mentor
and looked at him questioningly. "Ok..." Pinewhisker
started "Today I was thinking we take a small patrol Across the
Burrowclan Border and then Hunt a little. After that we'll see if
we can squeeze in some training. Sound good?" Grasspaw nodded.
"Well then let's set off!"
After scrambling out of
camp, Grasspaw and Pinewhisker went with quick pace towards
Burrowclan terrortory. "Pinewhisker?" Grasspaw called out.
"Yes?" Came the reply." What did Burrowclan used to be
called? Wasn't it like Nightclan or something?"
Pinewhisker
slowed down a little. Letting the apprentice catch up."Close."
He meowed. "It was called ShadowClan. Haven't you heard it in
Elders tails?" Grasspaw tail Twitched. "Yes, but just bits.
The elders say it's a Grand
Story
And is such an Effort
to tell." He looked hopefully to his mentor. "Fine. But
were not stopping. Try to keep up."
"Well... Where to
start?" Pinewhisker Meowed." Well, I guess we can start with
the original four clans. No Not the four Great
Clans, But the ones that settled here.
At first there were four
clans. WindClan, RiverClan, ThunderClan, and ShadowClan. And for
Many, Many season cycles they lived in peace. But then one day, a
thick fire Swept through Windclan territory. The cats were
devastated. You see, WindClan cats were Very lean because they mainly
hunted Rabbits, So when All there prey was killed in the fire, They
had no way to survive. Firstly they went to Riverclan but there
Leader, Snowstar; Said That It would be unloyal To Care for another
clan. Starclan Punished them By Sending clouds to cover there
Territory for many moons until they were Starving because of there
lack of fish. Snowstar Found it simple to change to Cloudclan. Ah,
Were Here."
Grasspaw had forgotten that he was even on a
patrol He was just envisioning the lean Ashen Cats approaching the
great Snowstar only to be turned down. And then Seeing Starving Sleek
pelted Riverclan cats howling at the sky for rain.
"What
happened to the river? The lake? Riverclan?" Grasspaw asked.
"The river shriveled, the lake shrank, And Riverclan, after
admitting there wrongs, Changed there names and ways. Starclan then
sent Mutch rain and prey for them. I shall tell you the rest of the
story later. Now, The border..."
For the rest of the day
Grasspaw was kept buisy. He learned to Catch Voles, but could find
none. He then learned How to defend himself in battle and where the
border Of Burrowclan was. By the time he reached camp he was all but
dead on his paws.
"You did well today Grasspaw. Go Get some
fresh kill and rest. You have earned it."
Grasspaw nodded
and headed toward the pile. Still no Rabbits. "Hey Grasspaw!"
Grasspaw picked up a thrush and turned. Ashenpaw was loping across
the clearing at full pelt. Grasspaw Jumped aside as the small ashen
tom tried (Failingly) to stop. Once Ashenpaw regained his footing he
started talking in jumbled sentences." Wow! Todaywasgreat!
Taverntail took me out hunting! I Caught a Bird! A real one! Then he
taught me this!" Before Grasspaw could blink Ashenpaw Had leapt
into the air and landed on top of the fresh kill pile.
"Ashenpaw...Ashenpaw! Calm down. I get it! You had fun! But
you cant keep going at this rate. Now breathe... Don't you want to
hear about my day?" Panting, Ashenpaw Nodded."Well, lets go
over here then. Come on! I've got a story to tell!"
The two
apprentices settled themselves comfortably on one of the ledges
around the camp." Today Pinewhisker and I were just supposed to go
check the border of Burrowclan. But then, I asked him something about
ShadowClan, You know, the old Burrowclan?" Ashenpaw nodded.
"Well, I bugged him enough and he told me a little about the can
history. Apparently, Elders were more willing to tell a story back
then!" He stopped to let out a purr of laughter, but Ashenpaw
wouldn't allow it." So what did he tell you?" Ashenpaw
demanded.
"He told me about the great fire and..."Grasspaw
told the whole story from memory and by the end he could tell He was
in big trouble." So the leaden of Riverclan decided to change there
name to Cloudclan." He was right. By now, Ashenpaw's eyes were
bigger then moons. "And..?" He asked in a voice as soft as
kits. Grasspaw rubbed his ear irratibly."Well...Then we arrived at
the edge of the territory and Pinewhisker stopped."
Ashenpaw
could have exploded." What!?! That's unfair! I need to know the
end! Grasspaw!!!"
He moaned. Grasspaw purred. "Don't worry, I will! But you
better act better than that! Dont you want to go to the Clan
Meeting?" Ashenpaw stopped howling. Grasspaw Sniggered. He liked
how Ashenpaw was like that, on and off. Often Rusttail Said that
Ashenpaw was a copy of his father. Unfortunately, they had never
known him. His father, Snakefur, Had been killed by a vicious,
Disgusting, And All around horrible creature called am wolf. Often
Grasspaw and Ashenpaw asked for descriptions of wolves by any
Clan
members But they all just shook there heads saying that they werent
old enough to know.
"Grasspaw-Hey-Grasspaw!" Grasspaw
snapped his attention back to Ashenpaw. "Lost ya' there for a
moment." Ashenpaw purred. "So, do you think we'll be going
to the Clan meeting?"
Grasspaw Considered this. He didn't
see any reason why he wouldent, but the fight between Ashenpaw and
Yarrowpaw Could have been enough to suspend them.
"I Dunno.
I guess we'll both have to be extra good huh?" Ashenpaw nodded,
and then went into the extremely Long story about his day. Grasspaw
yawned. The
clan meeting
He thought. Wow.
