Chapter 3:
This time Flamepaw woke Sunpaw up first. Sunpaw groaned as she dashed out of the den to bump into Rockpaw. "Hey, Rockpaw! What are you doing?"
"I was trying to get to the fresh-kill pile." Rockpaw answered with a playful tone in his voice. "But you got in the way."
"Try me." Flamepaw challenged. Rockpaw tried to swat her with his paw, but Flamepaw was faster than him. She swatted him then he kicked me gently but Flamepaw still saw stars. Flamepaw stomach growled and Flamepaw sat up, my paws in the air. Rockpaw knocked her over and stood over Flamepaw. Then, with her claws sheathed, Flamepaw batted Rockpaw underbelly, pushing him off of her. With that, Flamepaw jumped on him. They rolled around in a huge bundle of laughter. When Flamepaw sat up the world was spinning. Flamepaw stopped moving and the world stopped. Then Rockpaw and Flamepaw padded over to the fresh-kill pile and sat down and shared tongues.
At the end of the day Flamepaw realized that tonight was the Gathering. She went over to Leafstorm, who was eating with Webnose. "Leafstorm? Can I talk to you?"
"Yes, Flamepaw, I'm coming." Leafstorm mewed as she stood and padded over to Flamepaw.
"Leafstorm, can I go to the Gathering tonight?" She thought about this.
"Well," she meowed thoughtfully. "I'm not so sure..." she trailed off.
"But please Leafstorm," Flamepaw pleaded with her. "I want to meet some new cats and hear the news of other Clans."
"Fine. You did catch a rather big squirrel..." she finally meowed. Flamepaw was full of excitement that she almost yowled to thank StarClan. Flamepaw ran to meet the other apprentices that were going to the Gathering. Rockpaw, Sunpaw, and Flamepaw were so happy that they started play-fighting like little kits. Soon the Clan were ready to go. Icestar led them with a flick of his tail to FourTrees.
When they got there, Flamepaw started searching for Thornpaw. She found him talking with a black she-cat with a ginger right hind leg from LeafClan. Flamepaw went up to him and meowed, "Hey Thornpaw! Can I talk to you?"
"It's you! What's your name?"
"Flamepaw."
Flamepaw padded over to an empty area and called for him. He bounded over to meet her. "Thornpaw, have you had a dream with the last leader who died in your Clan?" Flamepaw whispered to him. He looked at her in surprise. "You had it too?"
"Yes," Flamepaw meowed. "And I have been trying to figure out who the other cats are."
"Me too," Thornpaw meowed. Then he frowned. "Rainstar said 'You have been chosen to meet with three other cats at the fourth new moon' so there must be more than just us..."
"I got an idea last night," Flamepaw meowed, "Since our leaders told all of the cats who got the dream the same thing, then the other cats would know that we meet at the fourth moon! So we meet at Fourtrees."
"Good idea!"
"Oh," Flamepaw slowly added guilty. "Is your leg okay?"
"It's fine Flamepaw."Then there was a yowl from HighRock.
She and Thornpaw sat next to each other and looked up at the huge rock. Icestar beaconed Thornpaw's leader, Weedstar, to go first. "CloudClan is hungry and is losing warriors quickly because of the TwoLegs. They are taking over most of our land and killing our prey." Scattered yowls came after that. Icestar silenced them. "Lightstar?" LeafClan's leader came up to stand at the top of the rock. "TwoLegs have been in our territories too," she meowed. "but haven't taken our prey." Then it was Icestar's turn to speak. "NightClan is fine, and we have just apprenticed this young cat. Her name is Flamepaw. And a few others." Icestar flicked his tail toward Flamepaw. Some cats meowed a congratulations to the she-cat. Then Beestar, LakeClan's leader stepped forward and shared the news of LakeClan. But Flamepaw wasn't listening.
She was trying to figure out who the cats from her dreams were. Flamepaw glanced at Thornpaw. He looked like he was trying to figure it out too.
Flamepaw hesitated then whispered into his ear, "It is time for you to go." He jerked out of his thoughts, and looked at the ginger she-cat. They each said good-bye to each other as they padded went back to camp with the other Clan members. Flamepaw went into the apprentice's den and curled up. One cat down, two more to go!
Flamepaw started to walk out of the apprentices' den when she stepped on something sharp. Flamepaw flinched. She lifted her paw to look at the thing Flamepaw had stepped on. She saw nothing except her golden paw. It was probably an uneven piece of grass, Flamepaw thought. No big deal.
Cautiously, Flamepaw padded out of the den. Suddenly, she thought that it would be nice if I got an early start to catch prey. Then Flamepaw remembered what Leafstorm had said to her. She sighed then padded over to Leafstorm, who was just getting up. "Can I go hunting?" Flamepaw meowed impatiently.
"Yes, just wait for me."Flamepaw slowly ran out of the camp and into the open woods with Leafstorm at her heels.
Glancing at Leafstorm, Flamepaw scented the air then reported back to Leafstorm. "Mouse, fresh, a TwoLeg with a dog, scale. They must have been here yesterday. There's something else..." Flamepaw sniffed again. "I don't know what that is." She mewed, shaking her head.
"That's a fox," Leafstorm meowed. "They are slender creatures, they look like a cat but behave like a dog-"
"I know!" Flamepaw rolled her eyes, annoyed. "They sometimes become a threat because they run away with our kits... I know, I know!" Leafstorm shot her a glance of warning and Flamepaw fell silent.
"I'll get that mouse," Flamepaw murmured. She sniffed the air again. Flamepaw pinpointed the mouse; it was in the bushes, stuffing small berries into it's mouth. Suddenly, it scurried out, not noticing the two silent cats. It sat and started to wash itself. Flamepaw instantly started to stalk the mouse. It took no notice of her, only when Flamepaw slipped and almost fell. She caught herself and Leafstorm couldn't help but give her a look of impression. Flamepaw looked at her and her ears pricked up with amusement.
Slowly, Flamepaw got into a hunter's crouch and sprang. Leafstorm let out her breath and meowed, "Good job, Flamepaw! Let's go back."
"Can we go to the training hollow? I'm dying to go!"
"Okay. We can go to the hollow, after we drop off that mouse. Next time, don't make me report you to Icestar for talking back to me!" Leafstorm scolded.
"Sorry. It just slipped out!" The two she-cats padded back into the NightClan camp and plopped the mouse into the fresh kill pile. Flamepaw stretched her limbs one by one then meowed to Leafstorm,"Beat you to the training hollow!" Flamepaw pelted to the training hollow. Leafstorm came padding slowly after her. "You didn't even try!" Flamepaw meowed to Leafstorm when she got the the hollow. She purred. "I don't need to. If I did I would have beat you." She teased.
"Would not!"
"Would too!"
"Would not!"
"What should we practice?" Leafstorm changed the subject. "I want to practice…" Flamepaw trailed off.
"Do you want to practice… finding your opponent's weakness and strategies? Or leap and hold?" Leafstorm asked. "Yes! Both!" Flamepaw meowed with excitement in her eyes.
So they practiced that until Flamepaw was bowling Leafstorm over with battle moves. "Well done!" Leafstorm gasped, out of breath, as she struggled to her paws. "Let's go back to camp."
Flamepaw and Leafstorm padded back to camp to find Rockpaw rushing up to Flamepaw. "Flamepaw!" he meowed as we touched noses. "Do you want to finish meeting the other warriors, apprentices, queens, elders, deputy, and medicine cat?" He finished out of breath. I forgot all about that! Flamepaw thought. She looked at Leafstorm and she nodded her permission. "Sure!" Flamepaw meowed and then Rockpaw and she went to meet the other Clan cats.
"There are two more warriors you must meet, and then we can go meet the apprentices." Rockpaw meowed. "This is Glowstripe and Snowfrost." He pointed to two young cats grooming their fur together. It was easy to tell who Snowfrost was because Snowfrost was a white tom with blue eyes and Glowstripe was a black tom with brown flecks and green eyes.
Glowstripe smiled at Flamepaw and meowed playfully, "Hey, I know this cat." Glowstripe was Sunpaw's mentor and one of Flamepaw best friends. "Let's go see the apprentices," Rockpaw meowed. "This is Lightpaw." He nodded his head toward the two cats. Lightpaw was a brown tom with white paws and icy blue eyes. Snowfrost must be his father, Flamepaw thought suddenly. The two cats went down to the apprentice's den and peeked inside. "This is Smokepaw and Amberpaw, You should know them. You sleep next to them!" Rockpaw mewed.
"I do! I just need a refresher sometimes," Flamepaw mewed.
"Right!" Rockpaw meowed, rolling his eyes.
Amberpaw was a sandy colored she-cat with brown eyes and paws. Smokepaw was a gray tom with blue eyes and black paws. "Can we meet the deputy now?" Flamepaw asked Rockpaw.
"Yes, we can." Rockpaw meowed. We walked over to the deputy, Silverheart. "Flamepaw, this is Silverheart." Rockpaw meowed. "It's nice to meet you." She mewed as she nodded her head in greeting. Rockpaw and Flamepaw padded over to the medicine cat's den. "Rainfur?" Rockpaw mewed into the den. There was a crash. "Who is it?" Came the answer. "Rockpaw and Flamepaw." Flamepaw meowed, slowly and clearly. They backed away from the den as a brown she-cat with light green eyes came tumbling out.
"Sorry," she muttered. "This kit won't take his medicine." Rockpaw purred gently to her, "Promise him that you'll give him honey if he takes it. It always works. Trust me," Rainfur nodded.
"I'll try it Rockpaw. But if it doesn't work, you'll need to get me more honey!"
"Elders next!" Flamepaw meowed to Rockpaw. But before the apprentices could move a whisker, there was a yowl of terror. Then there was a cat pelting out of the camp.
"GET HER! IT'S SILVERCLAW, CAT OF CLOUDCLAN!" yowled Leafstorm. "ICESTAR LOST A LIFE!" There was a twinge of grief in her yowl.
Geez, Flamepaw thought. How did a cat get in here without getting noticed? That's just wrong.
Without waiting for another yowl, Flamepaw tried to charge after the fleeing she-cat into the woods. But she was gone. Flamepaw knew that she could easily kill her so she decided not to follow Silverclaw. There was another yowl so Flamepaw turned tail and ran back to the heart of camp. "WHERE ARE RABBITPAW AND WAVEPAW!?" yowled a white queen with brown and black flecks and amber paws, named Frostblaze. "WHERE ARE THEY?!" Then it hit Flamepaw. Silverclaw had taken the two apprentices. Or the apprentices followed her. Flamepaw carefully checked the place where the she-cat had gone, but there was nothing left except a piece of brown fur.