CHAPTER TWO
Gorsekit was bouncing up and down with excitement. Today, Broken Ice and Blizzardfur were taking she and Solid Pebble to explore the moor, while Pikekit and Snowkit stayed behind with Mouseflower to check out the pines. Blizzardfur had explained that they were trying to see if each of the kits were ready for apprenticeship.
Solid Pebble definitely wasn't a tiny kit anymore. He was nearly as big as Gorsekit, although they were almost a moon apart. The flecked fur on the blue-gray tom's massive shoulders rippled in the wind.
"Isn't this great?" Solid Pebble whispered to his denmate. "Broken Ice tells me that she catches lots of rabbits here."
"Who knows?" Gorsekit shrugged. "We might even catch one, if we're lucky."
Solid Pebble gave her a friendly nudge. "Come on, we're getting behind!"
The two kits ran as fast as they could to fall back in with Broken Ice and Blizzardfur. They made their way over a rise, finding a large scooped out piece of land surrounded by gorse bushes and thorns.
"Are there rabbits here? Is this why we've stopped?" inquired Solid Pebble.
Blizzardfur dipped his head. "You're learning quickly. You'll make a good apprentice," the mottled tom praised.
As Blizzardfur spoke, a hare emerged from the thorns and looked around with beady eyes. Broken Ice showed Solid Pebble and Gorsekit how to get into a hunter's crouch, advising her son to lift his tail out of the heather.
"Let's see if you can catch that," the creamy white queen whispered, a look of encouragement gleaming in her eyes.
Gorsekit flexed her claws anxiously as the hare began to edge closer to them. The wind was in the cats' favor. Solid Pebble and Gorsekit gave chase at the same time, but the older kit was in the lead and leaped onto their prey. She sunk her claws in. Solid Pebble jumped in front of them to keep the hare from bolting away and dragging Gorsekit with it.
With one swift bite, the creature was dead. Gorsekit and Solid Pebble dragged it back up to the rise with each of their kin looking satisfied.
"It's time you became apprentices," mewed Blizzardfur. Broken Ice nodded in agreement.
"Pikekit, from this day on, your name shall be Pikepaw. Your mentor will be Mouseflower. Gorsekit, from this day on, you name shall be Gorsepaw. Your mentor will be Broken Ice. Solid Pebble, you and your mother have agreed to change your name to a Clan name. From this day on, your name shall be Pebblepaw. I will be your mentor. Snowpaw, Broken Ice and I will both be mentoring you." Blizzardfur finished his statements with a proud puff of his chest.
Gorsepaw looked around at her littermates and Solid Pebble. Pikepaw was chatting with Mouseflower while Solid Pebble and Snowpaw were discussing training schedules with Blizzardfur. Broken Ice was looking expectantly at her golden apprentice. Gorsepaw shook her whiskers, trotting over to Broken Ice with her head held high.
"Hello, little one," purred the creamy white she-cat. "I promise I'll make you the best warrior you can be. Now, we'll begin trying out battle moves tomorrow at dawn, but first, we're going to explore the forest."
"Great!" Gorsepaw exclaimed, giving a little jump of anticipation. I'm going to be the greatest warrior StarClan's ever seen.