Hi everyone! I'm starting to run out of jokes to put my starting Authors Notes, so no joke to day, just story.
Four days passed, and Tadpolepaw began to settle into apprentice life. She now had something to do with her time. She learned to hunt and had even caught a couple of frogs, and learned a couple of basic fighting moves. While the WindClan warrior's threat continued to hang in her mind, hunting or fighting kept her mind off him. It was when she was bored that his threat would appear. So, she decided to take on as many roles as she could in the clan to help out to keep her mind off that WindClan warrior.
Tadpolepaw was sharing a starling with Owlpaw when she heard a large amount of clamor coming from the other side of the camp. It looked like Shadepaw was arguing with Frogeyes. Their voices became louder and louder until the whole camp could hear their argument.
"But I don't want to clean out the elders den!" protested Shadepaw "Some other cat can do that! I want to go on a patrol with Honeypaw!"
Tadpolepaw then heard the quieter, yet strained, voice of Frogeyes.
"You're acting like a kit. Every apprentice has to clean the elders den at some point, quite frankly, you're lucky you've avoided it so far. Now go clean the den."
"But there is so many more helpful things I could do!" cried Shadepaw
This went on for a little longer, until Tadpolepaw could stand it no longer. Abandoning the starling, in a cloud of anger for her mouse-brained brother spoiling her meal, she stomped over to where the two were arguing.
"If it will shut you up, Shadepaw, than I will clear the elders den. Now go on your patrol with Honeypaw!"
Shadepaw looked shocked at the outburst she had made, but did not say anything, and instead meekly nodded his head and exited the camp to join Honeypaw's patrol, who had been watching the whole thing.
"Thanks," growled Frogeyes "He will clean the nursery tommorow, that, I will make sure of."
Oh great, thought Tadpolepaw, rolling her eyes, we can have another scene tommorow. She then wandered over to Weaselfoot, wondering how in StarClan she had managed the courage to yell at her brother in front of the entire clan.
"It's OK if I clean the elders den, right?" she asked her mentor, suddenly realizing that she was only an apprentice and that there were decisions that were not hers. She wanted to be swallowed by the ground after making such a big scene.
"Yeah, it's fine," Weaselfoot mewed. "Just make sure you are well rested after you finish. There's a gathering tonight and I've been told that you are going to go." Tadpolepaw nodded, relieved that Weaselfoot did not have any problems, and went to gather moss.
Tadpolepaw collected moss until about Sunhigh, and it was not a job that she wanted to volunteer for again. It was painstakingly slow, and most of all boring. When she was finally done, she took all the moss to the elders den in a few trips and prepared to give the elders their new bedding. Of the three ShadowClan elders, Darksun, Fallentree, and Magnepelt, Darksun and Fallentree were in the den when Tadpolepaw arrived.
"Hi Tadpolepaw," mewed Darksun when she arrived. "Good to see that we've got you cleaning our bedding rather than that loud, mouse-brained brother of yours."
Tadpolepaw didn't respond. She didn't want to defend her brother, after he had been so, mouse-brained, and left her with this annoying job, and she didn't want to end up in an argument with her elders as well. So she just vaguely nodded.
"Shall we get out of the den and let you work?" offered Fallentree.
Tadpolepaw nodded and the two elderly cats slowly got out of the den and into the camp.
"It finally seems like the tensions between us and WindClan are peaceful again." commented Fallentree
Tadpolepaw felt a cold chill run down her spine. Ever since the WindClan warrior had attacked her, WindClan had backed off with the prey stealing accusations. It made Tadpolepaw wonder whether attacking her was all they had really wanted.
"Bah!" responded Darksun. "We and WindClan are like cats and dogs. Always destined to fight. They'll be accusing us of some other false accusation soon enough. Mark my words."
"Have tensions ever been so bad?" wondered Fallentree
"There was the aftermath of the deathberry attack" mewed Darksun, his voice becoming lower.
Tadpolepaw's ears pricked up. She had never hear of the deathberry attack before.
"What happened during the deathberry attack?" she asked, fighting down a bout of nervousness. Where was the courage she had felt to yell at the entire clan earlier?
Darksun looked at the ground. "One of ShadowClan's darkest moments." He looked back up at Tadpolepaw again. "We're a proud clan, Tadpolepaw, we don't like to admit our mistakes."
"But what happened?" Tadpolepaw pressed
"Tell her." mewed Fallentree encouragingly
Darksun closed his eyes and began his tale.
"It was several moons ago, before Seedstar was leader of ShadowClan. Anyway, we got news at a gathering that WindClan had launched an attack on RiverClan over some border dispute or another. RiverClan had retaliated and had launched several attacks of their own. You could be forgiven for calling it war."
"Our leader at the time, Acaciastar, like most of ShadowClan, felt that WindClan were in the wrong and were also sympathetic to RiverClan. We would have joined the battle on their side sooner then we planned to, but most of ShadowClan were still recovering from a nasty bout of whitecough, so we were a bit weak. But Acaciastar announced that we would attack within a few days.
"But one of our few healthy warriors, Lilacpelt, felt angrier at WindClan then most for some reason. She was a young warrior, and quite impatient. So she resolved to take matters into her own paws."
"What did she do?" asked Tadpolepaw, although she had a feeling that she knew what was coming.
"She caught several mice and pretended to offer them to WindClan as a gift, pretending to be sympathetic to WindClan, and understand their cause. WindClan gratefully accepted, as most of their warriors were stuck in battle rather than hunting. But what she didn't know was that Lilacpelt had stuffed each mouse full of deathberries."
"I don't know what death by deathberry looks like, Tadpolepaw, but I've heard enough from Stormbreeze that it isn't pleasant. Anyway, fortunately only one cat, her name was Duskflower, I think, ate one of the mice before WindClan figured out what was going on. Unfortunately, it was too late for her. She died. The WindClan medicine cat realized what the symptoms were and what had happened. So Lilacpelt was found out."
"Acaciastar was full of rage. Lilacpelt was instantly banished. I don't were she went. Some in the clan, say, or hope, that she was killed on the thunderpath. Others think she headed beyond highstones. I don't know. But she left us a mess to deal with. The war between WindClan and RiverClan stopped because of it, funnily enough, but WindClan were now angry at us. Acaciastar was forced to give WindClan hunting rights on our territory for a moon. It was humiliating, watching those filthy rabbit eaters hunt on our lands. I don't think Quickstar has ever properly forgiven us."
Tadpolepaw had stopped making the nests, and had been listening intensely to Darksun's story.
"Wow." she softly mewed
"It's definitely a story that ShadowClan wants to forget." said Fallentree.
"I guess I better get back on the nests" Tadpolepaw mewed
After Tadpolepaw had finished with the nests, she went and had a nap in the apprentice's den. As Weaselfoot had said, she was going to the gathering. Shadepaw was also coming, along with Ashenpaw and Owlpaw. But not Honeypaw, much to Shadepaw's annoyance. But Shadepaw's protests were no match for Seedstar suggesting that Shadepaw clean the elders den and the nursery for the next moon, with no help from Tadpolepaw. So Shadepaw reluctantly went to the gathering without Honeypaw.
"Welcome to Fourtrees!" announced Ashenpaw happily
"The trees are pretty big, eh?" mewed Owlpaw
Tadpolepaw couldn't agree more. The four large oaks seemed to be as tall as the sky itself.
"It seems RiverClan are already here," observed Shadepaw, who seemed less interested in the trees than Tadpolepaw. "But ThunderClan and WindClan aren't."
Tadpolepaw had been so focused on the trees that she hadn't noticed the RiverClan cats. It was nearly leaf-bare, but the RiverClan cats seemed to still plump, their pelts glossy, from their rich diet of fish. Meanwhile her gaze shifted to the Great Rock, which Seedstar and the RiverClan leader, Crystalstar, sat on top of. It was just all so big.
"Ashenpaw!" A happy voice called out. From within the crowd of cats, the oldest cat Tadpolepaw had ever seen came out, a light grey RiverClan she cat. She was probably around when those big oaks were saplings! Tadpolepaw thought.
"Hi Sheerain," mewed Ashenpaw warmly, touching noses with the RiverClan cat. "How runs the prey in RiverClan?"
"The river hasn't yet frozen over, so there is still fish to eat. And the apprentices are so good to me. You should have seen the carp that one of them brought me a couple of days ago….
Whatever else Sheerain was saying, Tadpolepaw didn't hear it. She soon saw the new arrivals at the gathering. And she had smelled their stench before. WindClan. Leading them, she saw the mottled ginger-brown tom that must be Quickstar, leader of WindClan. But the cat next to him turned his ginger head and looked at her.
Tadpolepaw froze.
She was staring at the WindClan warrior that had injured her.
You know, I always wondered why the tactic of hiding deathberries in prey was never used in the Warriors universe. Sure, its a pretty dishonorable and disgusting tactic, but there have been some pretty dishonorable and disgusting cats in the Warriors universe.
Reviews…
A Sky of Blazing Stars: Thank you! Although I'm not sure what you mean by one-shots. I said I didn't have anymore planned, at least for the foreseeable future.
SomeoneI'mSure: Thank you. That really means a lot to me. I feel sorry for her as well, although apprenticeship seems to have helped her out a bit.
Maple Dapple: Thank you! And I will!
I-really-hope-not: Ha! Love that add on to that saying. I especially chose Weaselfoot to be her mentor, as his personality seems to fit best with Tadpolepaw.
ExplodingQuasar: Yeah, PTSD will play a big factor in this story. Thanks for adding their age, that helps me out with the timeline. For Flightpaw, I think she will appear in the next chapter. However, I don't have as much plans for her as I do for Ashenpaw and Owlpaw.
That's it! Thank you all for the reviews so much! And please keep them coming, as they keep me going and I will see you all next time!
Thanks!
- Willowstorm
