A/N: Wow, thanks for the feedback everyone! Make sure to keep telling me what you think of Brightspring.
Chapter Two
The two apprentices tumbled down in the training hollow, the trees rising up to block out a harsh sunlight, and bushes blocked any cats from rolling out of the hollow and down the birr-filled slope and down to the lake. Brightspring could heard it's waves lapping at the dirt shore. A couple of figures could be seen way down by the Riverclan border, running through the water. For a moment, Brightspring envied the sleek cats ability to swim so well. But my home is in Thunderclan, and I would never give up the tree tops just to be in the water for a few moments. She thought.
"Cloverpaw, you call that a tackle? Make sure to tuck your paws in when you roll, not fumbling around like a kit." Finchfur's call brought Brightspring back to reality.
Cloverpaw shook her head, sheathed paws scrapping the ground. Swiftly, she threw her body at Ashpaw's and they fell in a cloud of dirt. As the dirt settled, Brightspring saw Cloverpaw's white pelt standing on top of Ashpaw's. "I got him!" she yowled. "Take that Ashpaw."
Finchfur nodded. "Much better. Let's see you do that move against a warrior." His sights settled on Brightspring. "Don't hold back, Brightspring, she needs to stop messing around and know what a battle will be like."
Sageclaw huffed. "You're so hard on her, Finchfur. There's no sign of any battles between any of the clans."
"I want her to be ready." Finchfur said, and Brightspring believed him. The harsh scars on the tom's lower back told her he knew more about battle than any other cat in the hollow.
Cloverpaw crouched into a battle stance as Brightspring settled in the middle of the clearing, tail flicking wildly. Brightspring didn't mind helping the mentors out with their apprentices, that's why she was here anyways.
Cloverpaw let out a battle cry, and Brightspring braced for the impact. The apprentice's paws hit into her shoulders, pushing her backwards to the ground. Oh Starclan, no she doesn't! Brightspring thought, twisting her body from under the apprentices, her back facing Cloverpaw's belly. With a heave of her hindlegs, Brightspring sent Cloverpaw into the bushes.
Brightspring stood, shaking the dirt from her pelt. Cloverpaw's head popped out of the top of bush, leaves stuck in her fur. Brightspring purred in amusement. "Cloverpaw you look like a bush-cat!"
Cloverpaw looked down at her bush body, shaking and growling. "Fear me, for I am bush-cat! I will eat all the squirrels and lure them into my soft bush leaves!"
"Focus!" Finchfur growled. Both she-cats grew quiet. "Brightspring, what was that move you just did?"
"The rolling one? It's what you were just teaching Cloverpaw." Brightspring mewed.
Finchfur shook his head. "No, this one." he replayed the move where Brightspring twisted under Cloverpaw and bucked his hind legs for when she had thrown Cloverpaw off her. "Did Falconstrike teach that to you?"
Brightspring thought back to her mentor. "No." she mewed, slightly surprised. "I've just. . . always known it. Since I was a kit it was a move we used when he use to play."
Sageclaw glanced at Finchfur, both of the older warriors sharing concerned looks. Brightspring sighed, knowing they were thinking about her. Aspenstar had told her that she was not of complete Thunderclan decent, that as a kit she had been found outside Thunderclan's camp. But that doesn't mean she wasn't Thunderclan. A moon earlier a queen, Bluestream, had left Thunderclan. She could be Bluestream's kit as well as any other queen's.
"Well, you should teach that to Ashpaw, too." Sageclaw finally mewed. "It's a good move to know. In fact, I think we should run it by Aspenstar, start teaching it to the warriors too."
Her spirits rose. "I'd be willing to show Aspenstar the move." Brightspring purred, thinking of being recognized by Thunderclan's russet leader.
"Knock it off!" Finchfur growled to the apprentices, who had begun to tussle with each other while they were talking. Sageclaw placed a comforting paw on Finchfur's shoulder, and his voice lowered. "It's time we get back. I have night patrol and want to get some sleep."
Brightspring followed the senior warriors out of the training hollow and down toward the slope that would lead to the camp. The large rocky structure loomed below her, threatening to throw her off if she didn't stop in time. It had always surprised her how quickly the camp could appear; if a cat wasn't paying attention the fall to the camp would certainly break a few bones, or more.
But finding her way down was natural to Brightspring. It was a feat she has been doing since a kit, and her paws knew where to go without her thinking, like a true Thunderclan cat.
"How was training?" A voice came from behind her.
Brightspring turned, to see her friend Mossnose behind her, a plump vole hanging from her jaws. "Great! I get to teach the apprentices a new move, and if Aspenstar approves I can teach it to the rest of Thunderclan."
Mossnose nodded her golden head. "A move from when you were a kit?"
Brightspring sighed, Mossnose always had no problem talking about her kit-hood. "I guess so, it just happened- who are you gesturing too?" Brightspring turned her head to see how Mossnose was wildly waving her tail her tail at.
"Oh no." Brightspring hissed to Mossnose, who still have waving. She tried to duck her head and hide. "Why are you telling him to come over here?"
"Icestrike, I wanted you to tell Brightspring what we found on the patrol today." Mossnose mewed smugly, proud of herself.
Brightspring turned her head to face Icestrike's thick pelt, a bright white with large grey splotches. She almost knew it by heart. Her blood rushed through her, great Starclan she might burst!
"Sure." Icestrike mewed, training his grey eyes on her. "Well were up by the top of the border, and smelled this weird scent." His nose wrinkled. "It was kind of musky. But we found a loner hiding in the bushes. We tried to catch him, but he disappeared."
"You hear that, Brightspring? Wasn't that the scent you told me about the other day?" Mossnose bumped her shoulder.
Brightspring looked at Icestrike, then Mossnose. "I- uh. Yeah they were but. . .um." She glanced at Mossnose. "I have to go. . .eat." Then she turned tail and trotted quickly to the other side of the camp, grabbing a mouse from the fresh-kill pile.
A shadow fell over her. "Very smooth." the milky voice of Silversong mewed. "You know, Icestrike isn't much into she-cat who can't talk."
"No one wants to hear you talk, either." Brightspring retorted. The silver she-cat only laughed. Heat bubbled up in Brightspring. "Just because you're the deputy's kit doesn't mean you get what you want. You have to follow the warrior code just like I do."
Silversong shrugged. "I am. I just follow it better than you do." She padded away, tail flicking carelessly.
Brightspring angrily ripped out a bite from her mouse.
A/N: And welcome to, the love triangle! Don't worry though. We meet a new character in the next chapter, someone who makes a big impact on Brightspring's life!
I always want to know what you think! The box is right below, please give me some feedback.