Please read and review. I am always looking for something to make my story better.
Also, if you want to make a cat for my story you may, but I'm not asking for them like my create a cat.
On June 9, school is out for me. I will be able to type up my story much faster over the summer.
Chapter 1 Hiding
"All Stormclan cats gather 'round the rock pile for a clan meeting!" Springstar's voice could be heard every where in the Stormclan camp, and the camp sounded like buzzing bees, every one scuttling to get their place near the rock pile, where they heard Springstar.
Runningmist, brought Finkit out of the nursery along with her siblings, Featherkit and Brackenkit. Finkit's real mother had been Auroraheart, who had died in a fire 5 moons ago, saving Brackenkit's life. Her father was Wolffrost, who was still with Stormclan, as a trusted warrior.
Runningmist smoothed down Featherkit's silver fur, while Brackenkit waved to Mountainkit, who was asleep in the nursery. "Clean you fur, this is your apprentice ceremony. I'm sure your father wants you too look your best."
Finpaw licked her fur, of course, she thought, Runningmist made it clear about saying your father, not your parents, or family. Finpaw sighed, but climbed up on the rock pile, following Brackenpaw and Featherpaw.
"Here you are. Are you ready. It's an important time for you, listen carefully," Springstar whispered. Listen carefully, Finpaw thought, what are we going to do- but was cut off by Springstar,
"We will have 3 new apprentices, who will be part of this clan. Finkit ,Featherkit, and Brackenkit step forward." Finkit caught Featherkit's look of joy, and Brackenkit's look of determination. What was her emotion?
"Finkit, Brackenkit, and Featherkit, from now until your warrior names you shall be know as Finpaw, Brackenpaw, and Featherpaw. Lightwing. Your wisdom and strong attacks will be great with Finpaw. You will be Finpaws mentor. Icewing, your quick thinking and massive blows will be great with Brackenpaw. You will be his mentor. Ad Featherpaw, you have chosen a path –different from your littermates. Spottedpool has agreed and will mentor you, teaching all she knows about herbs, and interpretation messages from Starclan."
"Finpaw! Featherpaw! Brackenpaw!" Oceanpaw and Lightningpaw lead the chant, followed by the rest of the clan. After the clan meeting, cats congratulated them. The mentors, Runningmist, and their father first, followed by other cats, including the Stormclan deputy, Wolfflower. Amberkit, who was 5 moons, rushed up, and congratulated Finpaw as being an apprentice. Amberkit was 5 moons, and she and Finpaw had been great friends since Amberkit was a moon old.
"You ready to explore the territory? Finpaw?" Lightwing was near Finpaw. "Sure, can Brackenpaw and Featherpaw go with us?" "Sorry, Featherpaw will be learning al the great places to find herbs, while we look for all the best places to hunt. But you can go ask Icewing." Lightwing showed her towards her best friend and Brackenpaw.
After Finpaw asked, Icewing agreed. "We can go when you are ready," Icewing said, pointing her tail out of camp.
"Lets go, come on Finpaw!" Brackenpaws excited meow brightened his smile. He looked at Icewing, then back at Finpaw.
Finpaw looked into the forest, it was slightly snowing, and there were trees everywhere. She had only been out in the forest once, when Spottedpool had asked her to help her collect herbs. When they came back, Featherpaw was jealous, but Spottedpool said it was too dark to go back out again. Anyways, Finpaw and Brackenpaw followed their mentors, whispering excitedly to each other. They were talking about how much training they would be doing together. Lightwing and Icewing were best friends, and Brackenpaw and Finpaw were siblings, so they were going to do a lot of training together. Finpaw wished that Featherpaw could be with them. Although, she thought, Featherpaw will become the greatest medicine cat of Stormclan ever! Finpaw believed in her sister.
After a little bit of walking, Lightwing told them to stop. "Smell anything different here?" she asked. Finpaw sniffed the air. When she turned around, she found the most unfamiliar scent.
"What is that?" Brackenpaw beat her to asking. "That is Shadowclan. This is a border that we will be patrolling often." Icewing looked pleased with her apprentice.
"We have to keep going Icewing. It's getting dark, and we have to stop by the Thunderclan border." Lightwing pointed out, and signaled Finpaw, telling her to follow her.
They walked through the snow, and the coldness was burrowing deeper and deeper into Finpaws fur. She looked behind her, and she saw her paw steps appearing, crunching in the snow. They were her paw steps, and Brackenpaw's steps. The steps from an apprentice becoming a warrior. The steps from a warrior becoming a leader, or an elder. Finpaw wanted to be the Stormclan leader one day, but would she be the right cat. She must walk her destiny like any other cat, no matter where it took her.
"Thunderclan," Finpaw heard a hiss from Icewing, "What are they planning on doing, invading?" Finpaw saw some odd cats patrolling their border, trying to get every look they could in Stormclans territory.
"Morningwhisker, Mouseheart, Littlefur, and Emberpaw. Are you looking for something on our side of the border? Or are you planning the best route to invade?" Icewing asked, not intending to be as mean as she was sounding.
"We were actually looking for your patrol to tell you that we chased a couple foxes into your territory. A couple meaning four or five. (A lot, I know.) Desertpool and Shellfur did not have a choice, but to bring it into your territory. Even surviving the are not doing to well. Luckily a hunting patrol spotted them, and supported them."
"Sorry for Icewing accusing you, and thank you for the warning. We must tell Springstar about the fox," Lightwing said, signaling the Stormclan patrol to leave.
Finpaw shivered as they finished the rest of the patrol. At first, being out of the camp was exciting, and some new discovery, but now it was already discovered, and she could come back later.
"Well apprentices that was Thunderclan. They are a really helpful clan, led by brave cats. The clan deputy, Morningwhisker, is actually a really good friend of Springstars. We had better get back to report." Lightwing meowed, as she started to head back to the camp, Icewing and the apprentices following her.
They traveled through the snow shivering. About halfway back to the Stormclan camp, Icewing signaled them to be quiet with her tail, they she scooted her self in the snow. She got into a perfect pounce position, and then did an unexpected leap into the air, bringing a sparrow with her, landing on her feet. She twitched her whiskers, and then followed Lightwing back to camp, sparrow in her jaws.
"Nice catch," Finpaw said. Icewing nodded in response, not wanting to speak and lose the sparrow.
"Nice find. When it's leaf-bare, prey as such as that large bird are harder to find. I didn't even notice it until we stopped," Lightwing praised her best friend.
Icewing tried to speak with the sparrow in her mouth, "We'd better get back to camp and report to Springstar."
Finpaw wondered why they were making such a big deal over the bird, but when she saw it closer, it was huge, and when she was a kit, the elders told her stories about how hard this kind of food was to find. And usually birds didn't survive leaf-bare. This was, you'd have to admit, a great catch. You would have to see it to know it.
"Springstar, we have news to report!" Lightwing called to the Stormclan leader. Curious cats wandered up, asking what this news was about. Featherpaw looked questionably at Finpaw and Brackenpaw. "Listen," Finpaw mouthed at her sister, "you'll soon find out."
Lightwing cast a look at Icewing, telling her not to interfere. "We saw Morningwhiskers Thunderclan patrol, and they had some news to report. They saw four foxes in our territory, and they wished to warn us. They had to chase them towards us to save some of their cat's lives. We should send a patrol to track it." Lightwing said this all in a low voice, which made it very hard to hear for Finpaw, and many cats had no idea what was happening. Springstar nodded.
"All cats who can catch their own prey gather 'round the rockpile for a Stormclan meeting." Palefur came out of the nursery, leading Rockkit, Bramblekit, and Dragonkit. She spoke to them sweetly, "I know you haven't learned to catch your own prey yet, but you can come. You will be learning to do it soon when you are apprentices, and I expect you to be some of the best hunters in the clan." Rockkit nodded happily, while Dragonkit and Bramblekit replied, "But we can hunt," they protested. Runningmist and Larkspirit smiled, leading their own kits.
When all cats were ready, Springstar said, "Thunderclan have warned us that foxes have been seen on our territory. We must track them down. Wolfflower, I want you to lead Brightfur, Oceanpaw, Rainstorm, Lightningpaw, and Wolffrost to track the foxes, looking near the Shadowclan border. And Ebonyflower, I want you to look in the center of our territory, leading Lilysong, Seapaw, Brairpath, Thunderpaw, Lightwing, Sunpaw, and Coralheart. There are up to five foxes, so be careful. That is why the patrols are so big. I want everybody else to stay in the camp, guarding it."
"Springstar! But what if Thunderclan told us this, only to bring every cat out of camp. Is there a possibility this could be a trap?" Rainstorm asked.
"I understand your concern, but why would Thunderclan want to attack." Besides, we have huge patrols on their border. We shall be fine."
"Springstar, may I go too?" Finpaw asked, expecting a disappointing answer. While she said that, she wondered while Springstar herself didn't go. She probably had a good reason though… but what was that reason?
"Sorry Finpaw, but this is your first day as an apprentice. Besides, if they come into camp, we need to have good guards." Finpaw understood how she could not go, but she hated that excuse. If they get into camp, we need you guarding it. Finpaw laughed inside her head. If they got into camp. And if they got into the Stormclan camp, Finpaw would be pushed inside the elders' den (because it was most protected), and would have to stay there while the warriors and queens attacked the foxes. One glance at Brackenpaw and she knew that he really wanted to fight for his clan, but was smart enough not to talk back to Springstar.
Finpaw watched as Wolfflowers and Ebonyflowers patrols were led out of camp. One day she would be leading one of those patrols, but for know, she would have to train and wait.
"Featherpaw, we need to make sure that we have plenty of herbs like marigold, cobweb, and poppy seeds. They are common, but vital herbs that heal lots of common wounds. Marigold is a flower petal that is used to prevent infected wounds. Now, what does poppy seeds, and cobwebs do?" The Stormclan medicine cat Spottedpool asked.
"Cobwebs are pressed to the cat and quickly stop the bleeding. And… and poppy seeds help a cat sleep even with painful scratches." Featherpaw recited, glad that she knew the answer. Spottedpool had told her about the poppy seeds earlier that day, and Featherpaw had learned about the cobwebs when Brackenpaw had fallen into a small pit with some blackberry branches in it. It looked very painful as Spottedpool has smeared marigold and cobwebs around her brother. At that point, Featherpaw had no idea why Spottedpool had put the flower petals on her brother, but she know understood.
"Good job Featherpaw. Keep going like this and Stormclan will have a memorable medicine cat. Now, while I sort out herbs, you can get a piece of fresh-kill. Can you get me some too while your at it? Thanks." Spottedpool meowed. As Featherpaw left the medicine cat den, Spottedpool quickly straightened up the medicine cat den, making all the herbs in organized piles, making specific herbs easier to find in a hurry. Anyways, Featherpaw walked over to the fresh-kill pile. It was oddly silent in camp, and she only saw maybe one or two warriors, the queens, their kits, Springstar, and her brother and sister, looking like they wished that they could be going on the patrol. So Featherpaw looked onto the fresh-kill pile. There were only a few mice and voles, and maybe only one squirrel and 3 birds. None of them were very big. The curse of leaf-bare. She suddenly was glad that she became a medicine cat instead of a warrior. Finpaw and Brackenpaw would be hard to train in hunting, for nobody could no their true skills if there wasn't a lot of fresh-kill out their in the first place.
Featherpaw grabbed a mouse and a vole and headed back into the medicine cat den. As she walked in, she dropped the mouse near Spottedpool. They both ate, and got ready for the warrior patrols to get back.
"Springstar! Ebonyflowers patrol found the five foxes. Wolfflowers patrol heard the struggle, and they are both driving it out of our territory. The reason I came is that Brightfur is extremely injured, and will need to be helped back. The battle is almost over." Thunderpaw said. His left ear was torn, but he was mostly okay. He also looked out of breath though.
"You stay here Thunderpaw. Spottedpool and I will head out there. Finpaw will also be with us, helping to carry herbs." Springstar said. Spottedpool and Finpaw rushed into the medicine cat den, grabbing herbs. Spottedpool made a pile of unfamiliar herbs for Finpaw to carry, and Spottedpool grabbed some as well. Featherpaw mouthed good luck as they followed Springstar, running into the forest. Snow crunched as the three cats ran towards the far center of the territory.
When they got there, Wolfflower, Oceanpaw, Rainstorm, Sunpaw, and Coralheart were crowded around a fallen Brightfur, trying to heal her with what cobwebs they had found. They saw Lightningpaw, Wolffrost, and Lightwing healing other cats, with the other cats trying to travel back to the Stormclan camp. They were all slowly moving, but none would go ahead without the others. Spottedpool and Finpaw dropped their herbs into a small pile, and then Spottedpool went over to Brightfur.
Brightfur was by far the worst injured, followed by Oceanpaw and Coralheart. Ebonyflower, Lightwing, and Sunpaw had some very deep scratches, but everyone else was mostly okay. Finpaw was surprised. She had never seen a fox, but she had never known that five of them could seriously injure two patrols of warriors. It was a good thing that she did not go. Spottedpool quickly healed over here, but then instructed Rainstorm, Wolfflower, and Lightwing to help Brightfur get back to camp. Every time Oceanpaw stepped on the way back, she flinched, very hurt.
When everyone got back, Brightfur and Oceanpaw were placed into the medicine cat den to heal. Also, Featherpaw and Lightwing were sent to go collect herbs. Springstar assigned hunting patrols, and Brackenpaw and Thunderpaw were sent to bring prey and fresh moss to the hurt cats. But every once in a while that day Finpaw thought, how could five foxes do this much damage?