Chapter 2

Smudgekit peered into the nursery. Inside it was cozy and warm. The milky smell of kits spun in the air. There were four other cats inside, and as Smudgekit walked in, they all nodded a greeting. Smudgekit glanced around warily, wondering if he should say anything. Before his mind landed on a decision, a pretty golden queen spoke up.

"You don't need any of us to suckle you, Smudgekit, but you do need a mother. For now, I will take care of you for the quarter moon that you are here. I am Goldenflower, and this is Frostfur, Brindleface and Speckletail. We discussed who would act as mother to you, and as I said before, we decided on myself." Smudgekit glanced at the other queens, who were gazing at Goldenflower, their expressions plainly saying 'rather you than me'.

Smudgekit spent the afternoon wandering around camp with Graypaw and Firepaw. Graypaw introduced them to all the cats they met, and they spent quite a long time having a conversation with Spottedleaf, the tortoiseshell she-cat that Firepaw had been staring at during the Clan meeting. Smudgekit asked Graypaw all about Clan life, about the queens, elders, medicine cats and the warriors. Smudgekit noticed that Firepaw looked thoroughly put out when Graypaw explained that medicine cats were forbidden to have mates.

"Who are the other apprentices?" Smudgekit asked.

"Well, there's me, Firepaw, Sandpaw, Dustpaw, and Ravenpaw. Ravenpaw went out with his mentor, Tigerlaw and the deputy, Redtail. They went to Sunningrocks to fight off RiverClan again. And they took other warriors too, like Mousefur an-Oh! Speak of the devil!" Graypaw mewed as a skinny black tom staggered into camp. His shoulder was bleeding badly and Smudgekit stepped aside as Spottedleaf shot past them with a wad of cobwebs in her mouth.

The medicine cat crouched over Ravenpaw and pressed the cobwebs onto his wound. Smudgekit felt Firepaw stiffen beside him as a second cat, an enormous, dark tabby, padded in through the gorse tunnel. In the tabby's mouth was the red body of a cat.

"That tabby is Tigerclaw, and that," Graypaw nodded to the motionless heap of red fur. "Is Redtail." Tigerclaw padded past his wounded apprentice and dropped Redtail's body in front of Bluestar. In a low voice, he murmured to Bluestar. Smudgekit guessed that he was explaining what had happened to her deputy. Bluestar nodded sadly and pulled herself slowly up onto Highrock.

"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather beneath Highrock for a Clan meeting." Her words sounded hollow and empty, and as the cats clustered below her, she gazed back at them all with eyes filled with sorrow.

"Smudgekit!" it was Goldenflower. "Smudgekit come here, Bluestar said 'all cats old enough to catch prey' to join the meeting. You are too young to attend." Smudgekit felt a twinge of annoyance, but realized that Goldenflower was treating him as she would any kit, and he was grateful for it. He padded over to her and she touched noses with her before she swept him into the brambles.

Smudgekit waited, tense and anxious. He had stayed in the nursery with the other kits as Goldenflower had instructed, but he knew that Firepaw and Graypaw would come in and tell him about the meeting. He leaped up excitedly as the brambles rustled and his two friends padded into the nursery. Smudgekit led them away from the other kits, and in hushed tones they discussed the meeting.

"Tigerclaw said that the RiverClan deputy, Oakheart killed Redtail. Then he said that he had avenged Redtail's death by killing Oakheart. Other than that, no cat is injured. Oh yeah, and Bluestar named the new deputy, it's Lionheart." Graypaw mewed, pride swelling in his voice for his mentor's success.

"How's Ravenpaw?" Smudgekit asked

"He's with Spottedleaf." Firepaw meowed, his eyes glowing.

"Ooooh, Spottedleaf," Smudgekit teased. "You have good taste, Firepaw. She's very pretty." Firepaw aimed a cuff at Smudgekit's head, but the black and white tom was too fast.

Smudgekit spent his days sitting outside the nursery, watching warriors and apprentices come and go. This activity he thoroughly enjoyed. One warm evening found him lying outside the nursery, a quarter moon after his arrival, sharing tongues with Firepaw. Smudgekit was so peaceful, he jumped as Goldenflower padded up to him with Bluestar. Firepaw and Smudgekit mewed their greetings and dipped their heads respectfully to the Clan leader.

"Come, Smudgekit. We are holding your apprentice ceremony right now." Bluestar mewed. Smudgekit tried to control the happy bubble that at swollen in his belly, after all these dawns, he was going to be a real part of the Clan. Bluestar padded over to Highrock while Goldenflower rushed up to her foster child.

"Look at the state of your fur!" She fussed, licking him all over to smooth his fur down. When Smudgekit was a kittypet, his soft fur was easy to groom, but in his time with the Clan, he was starting to look mottled and dusty, just like everyone else. His body shape was different to. He was leaner, not the plump, soft muscled kitten he had once been.

"From this moment on, until he has earned his warrior name, this apprentice shall be known as Smudgepaw. Lionheart, Tigerclaw and myself will share your training, now that I am Firepaw's mentor. Smudgepaw could have leaped around like a kit out of happiness, but he held himself back. He was an apprentice now. Even though Bluestar couldn't spare a warrior to mentor him, he was proud to be an actual part of the Clan.

Smudgepaw padded into the apprentices' den, he had been there before, to share tongues with Graypaw and Firepaw. He even had a nest in there, although he only used it for sitting in when he was with his friends. He bounded over to it and settled inside the nest of soft moss and waited for the other apprentices to come in. Sandpaw and Dustpaw came in first, caught sight of him and turned right around and padded out, only pausing to shoot disgusted looks at him over their shoulders. Ravenpaw came in next, and nearly died of fright when he saw Smudgepaw.

"Relax, Ravenpaw," Firepaw mewed, stepping into the den after the black cat. "It's only Smudgepaw, and don't get too comfortable, Tigerclaw, Bluestar and Lionheart want us to go training at sunhigh. Hey, Smudgepaw, you want to come with us on a tour of ThunderClan territory with us before training? It'll be a boring training session if we show you it then. If we show you now, we can learn hunting or fighting with our mentors." Graypaw mewed,

"Ravenpaw can come to if he likes." Smudgepaw struggled to his paws, anxious to step out of camp for a while. Ravenpaw followed, though cautiously.

The tour of their territory would have been much more thorough if a mentor had shown it to him, but Smudgepaw had to admit that it was a lot more fun with just his friends, and he could hunt or fight with his mentors. By the time they had returned to camp, the four young cats were exhausted, but they had no time to rest their sore paws. Tigerclaw, Lionheart and Bluestar were waiting for them at the camp entrance.

"Where have you been?" Tigerclaw snarled. The dark warrior towered over the apprentices. Smudgepaw looked frightfully at his companions. Firepaw was looking scared, Graypaw worried, but Ravenpaw was shaking, plainly terrified of his mentor's anger. He even made small whimpering noises, as if Tigerclaw was going to slash them open with his claws, and judging by the look on Tigerclaw's face, Smudgepaw privately felt that he wouldn't put it past him.