A/N: Okay, so this is arguably my worst chapter yet. It seems I'm not quite over my writers block. Anyway, I forgot last time to say hurrah to FallingSnow14, who correctly guessed that Squirreltail is based of my cat, Snickers. Congratulations, you get free virtual pie! Unfortunately, all I have in the way of virtual pie is liver pie, hope you don't mind! :)
Chapter 8, First Day of Training.
Icepaw lie in her new bed in the apprentice's den. The only free one was right beside Skypaw. But Jaypaw, Rockpaw and Stormpaw would no doubt be turned into warriors in no time.
"Hey, Icepaw," Icepaw looked up, Mosspaw was standing directly over her, "how's it feel to be an apprentice?"
"The den's more crowded, but that's pretty much the only difference." Really, Icepaw didn't want to talk much, witch didn't happen to her often. She was worried about Lionsky. Why didn't her other Clan mates like her? She had been a part of the Clan for as long as she could remember, so what gave them the reason not to trust her?
"Hey, what's up?" Icepaw looked up, Skypaw was looking down at her worriedly.
"Nothing, just thinking." Skypaw nodded and lie down in his bed, falling asleep. Eventually, Icepaw drifted off to sleep as well.
The next morning, Icepaw woke up extra early. She was super exited for her first day of training.
After she ate, Icepaw waited for Lionsky at the entrance to the apprentice's den. After a while, Skypaw and Mosspaw joined her.
"Hey." Skypaw sat down beside her, "exited for your first day training?"
"Uh, yeah!" Icepaw squirmed where she was sitting, keeping her eyes on the warrior's den at the moment it was deserted.
"Well, if it isn't the newest apprentice." Spottedpaw came out of the den, Blackpaw close behind.
"What do you want, Spottedpaw." Icepaw asked coldly.
"Nothing, just wanted to ask if you were nervous."
"Why would I be nervous, it's not like I'm going to be made into a warrior on my first day."
"Well, no, obviously not, but you still had better do a good job." Spottedpaw's voice had gained a teasing edge.
"I'll try my best." Icepaw said solemnly.
"You better hope that's good enough." Spottedpaw was standing in front of Icepaw now, who had to lean to the side to keep her eyes on the warrior's den. Honeybadger popped her head out, then came out all the way. "I heard about this one cat, who did really badly on his first day, and they kicked him out of the clan!"
"Where did you hear a dumb thing like that?" Mosspaw scoffed.
"At the gathering. You weren't there, but Blackpaw and me heard some LightningClan apprentice swear it was true! Right, Blackpaw?"
Blackpaw looked down at her paws, and muttered, "Yeah, yeah I heard it."
"Right, whatever." Skypaw snorted with amusement. "What sort of mouse-brain would believe that?"
"You saying I'm mouse-brained, Skypaw?" Spottedpaw asked, sounding as menacing as she could manage.
"I might be." Skypaw said, standing to look Spottedpaw in the face.
"Nock it off, you guys." Jaypaw said, stretching as she came out of the den. "Do you two have to argue every moment of the day?"
Spottedpaw and Skypaw just grumbled, and Spottedpaw walked off to the freshkill pile. Blackpaw followed her meekly.
"What's gotten into Blackpaw?" Icepaw asked, never taking her eyes off the warrior's den. Snowpelt and Thornfur came out together. "Normally she would have gotten right into an argument like that. She hardly said two words."
"She said four." Mosspaw said.
"Three." Skypaw objected, sitting back down.
"Well, three different words, but four words all together." Mosspaw defended. Icepaw looked back and forth, from one tom to another.
"You're both weird." She told them.
Skypaw nodded. "Yup." He said cheerfully. Icekit rolled her eyes. That was when she saw Lionsky come out of the warrior's den.
"I gotta go," She said, jumping up, "see you guys later!" Then she rushed off to her mentor's side.
"What are we going to do today, Lionsky?" Icepaw asked eagerly.
"Today I thought I would show you the Clans territory." Lionsky said. She seemed calmer that day then she had the night before. "But let me eat first."
"Okay, I'll wait for you by the camp entrance." Icepaw raced over to the place where some cats were coming back from border patrol.
"Hi, Icepaw." Squirreltail said, coming into the camp, "First day of training?" Icepaw nodded. "Hey, maybe Mosspaw and me can join you later!" The small cat said. Even though Squirreltail was the smallest warrior in the Clan, Icepaw was still smaller.
"Yeah, that'd be fun." Icepaw said, and Squirreltail walked off to the freshkill pile. Icepaw waited anxiously, shuffling her paws. When would Lionsky finish eating? Finally, after what seemed like ages, Lionsky trotted over to Icepaw.
"Ready for your first day of training?" She asked. Icepaw nodded enthusiastically, and raced out of the camp. Lionsky came up behind her, and watched as she ran around a small tree trunk, talking excitedly to herself.
"I'm going to learn to hunt," she was saying, "and fight and protect my Clan, and I'll be able to go to the Gathering, and go on border patrol and everything!" Lionsky purred with amusement.
"First, before you can do any of that, you need to know the limits of our territory." The older cat said. Icepaw immediately stopped spinning and stood in front of Lionsky, looking very serious. Which was hard to do, as she had gotten herself very dizzy and could hardly see straight.
"C'mon, Lionsky, let's go!" Icepaw wanted to get started.
"All right, let's get going then." And so Icepaw's first lesson started.
First they went behind the Clan Camp to the LightningClan border. Lionsky told Icepaw to sniff, and what Icepaw smelt wasn't that different from her own Clan's scent—probably because they lived in the same forest—but she would never mistake it for her own Clan's smell. The LightningClan border was at the thickest part of the forest, and it looked like it only got thicker from that point on. Icepaw felt sorry for the LightningClan cats, they didn't have hardly any room to run.
After re-scenting the lightning Clan border, Icepaw and Lionsky continued to a spot just north (Lionsky told Icepaw how to tell the directions from the moss that grew on trees) of the camp. There was a strong smell of dirt in that area, and Icepaw scrunched up her nose. She noticed another smell to, but it wasn't cats.
"What is that smell?" She asked.
"Those are the horses." Said Lionsky, "This is where the horseplace starts."
"What are horses?" Icepaw had never heard of a horse before. Ether Lionsky was making it up or the Clan cats just didn't talk about the horseplace.
"I'll show you." Lionsky said, and she led Icepaw through a particularly big bush and into a clearing. Icepaw was shocked at the size of the space; the training clearing could fit into it and still leave plenty of room!
"Wow." Icepaw started forwards, but Lionsky stopped her.
"Wait, look, smell." The warrior said. Icepaw stopped. She looked, and saw wooden spikes, like small tree trunks, and more wood in-between them. It was the oddest thing Icepaw had ever seen.
"What is that?" She whispered.
"A fence. The twolegs build then to keep things in, and to keep other things out."
"Twolegs…" Icepaw whispered. She had heard of them before.
"Come on, we should go. There's lost more to see." Lionsky said.
"But you said you'd show me horses!" Icepaw objected.
"Some other time, alright?" Icepaw didn't like it, but she went along anyway.
"So, where do we go now?" Icepaw asked.
"Well, you've already seen the Thunderpath," Icepaw shuddered then, she didn't want to go back there anytime soon, and she had a feeling Lionsky didn't ether. "So I guess we'll go to the little village."
"What's the little village?" Icepaw asked.
"Twolegs used to live there," Lionsky said, "they don't anymore though. It's full of old twoleg dens, and they're all breaking down. Sometimes twolegs walk their dog through there, so you have to be carful."
They walked up to a thin path smelling slightly of what Lionsky told Icepaw was twolegs.
"They smell odd, like flowers and trees." Icepaw observed.
"That's because they wear scents to cover their own." Lionsky said with disgust. Icepaw wondered how she knew that.
The twoleg scent was old, so the two cats crossed the path.
"We'll be coming up to the little village soon," Lionsky warned, "so mind that you keep your nose alert." Icepaw nodded.
The thin trail came into view again, and then it thickened into a dirt road. On each side of the road were depleted-looking twoleg nests. "Wow," Icepaw muttered, "this is so weird. Twolegs really lived in these things?" Lionsky nodded. "Could we hunt here?" Icepaw asked as a small bird took off from the roof of a nearby twoleg nest.
"No." Lionsky said, "Our territory ends with the forest. You don't leave it unless you have good reason." Icepaw committed her mentor's instruction to memory, and felt slightly relieved she wouldn't be hunting around the deserted twoleg nests. A sudden flash of black caught Icepaw's eye.
"Lionsky!" She exclaimed, "I saw a cat in the village!"
"What?" Lionsky looked around curiously, "There can't be a cat there, I can't remember any rumours of loners or rouges around here ever. Come on, let's go back to the Camp."
As Lionsky turned away, Icepaw looked closer at the abandoned twoleg nests.
"C'mon, Icepaw!" Lionsky called. Icepaw turned and rushed through the forest in the direction of Lionsky's voice. But as she ran, she felt sure she had seen a glimpse of green cat's eyes in the shadows of the nests.