Chapter 6
Heya! Wow, this chapter is rather violent...Here's Coyotepaw's gorey past!
Coyotepaw listened intently to what his father, Barkfang, told him. The day before this was when Coyotepaw was named an apprentice. "We search for our next master-the next one is supposed to be a she-cat. She could be from any of the four Clans; she has certain features and such…the last few were in fact from RiverClan, but we are here in WindClan today because of…a long story."
Coyotepaw frowned at his father.
"Will you do it?" Barkfang asked.
"Well…so you basically just stalk she-cats?" Coyotepaw asked his father dully.
Barkfang was dumbstruck. "Er, well…kind of, b-but…it's for a mission!"
Coyotepaw shook his head. "I just want to be a normal apprentice, Barkfang. I don't think I want to do this."
His father gave him a bittersweet smile. "Well…alright. But…if you change your mind, come talk to me or Cheetahspots."
Coyotepaw stood and stretched. "Sure, dad, but I don't think that'll happen."
Barkfang chuckled and rasped his tongue over his son's ear. They looked exactly alike;that ran in the Phantom Cat family. So no one would know it changed. When they ran, they were dashing gray-silver blurs.
Calfheart called for Coyotepaw. "C'mon, lets go! We need to go hunting!" Coyotepaw flicked his tail to signal he had heard, and then rasped his ear over his father's.
"Bye, Barkfang!" he called as he ran away. Barkfang smiled back. Coyotepaw flicked his ears to his beautiful and loving mother, Flowerpelt, and she threw him a dazzling smile. He caught up with his brothers, Mudpaw and Clawpaw and their mentors, Firestone and Petalheart along with his own mentor. Petalheart and Clawpaw fell behind.
"Out for a little chat, I presume?" Mudpaw teased playfully, loud enough so their brother could hear.
"A lovers' chat, yes," Coyotepaw joked, winking at Mudpaw, who glared back at them. Petalheart giggled softly and licked Mudpaw's ear, murmuring something Coyotepaw couldn't hear.
Clawpaw and Coyotepaw loved making fun of Mudpaw and Petalheart; it was so obvious he was infatuated with his mentor.
Firestone came over and whacked them on the head with his paw. "Let the poor kid be, and focus on hunting."
"Well then he should focus on hunting, too, instead of his girlfriend," Clawpaw mumbled. Coyotepaw laughed; he loved hanging out with his brothers.
"So, what'd you say to dad about the whole Phantom Cat thing?" Clawpaw came out of the shadows suddenly a few moments later with a vole in his jaws; he lowered his voice on the topic.
Coyotepaw shook his head. "I said no, the she-cats will all think I'm some kinda stalker,"
Clawpaw laughed; him and Mudpaw took after Flowerpelt, and were not in line for the role of Phantom Cat, though of course they knew about it.
Coyotepaw sniffed, and crouched down. "I smell rabbit," he mouthed to his brother, who nodded.
He heard it pass by and took an amazing leap at it, biting down in it's neck.
He looked at it; it was HUGE!
"Wow, Coyotepaw, good catch!" Mudpaw bounded over at the mouth-watering scent of the huge rabbit.
"We'll share it when we get back to camp!" Coyotepaw offered, smiling. His brothers beamed back at him.
The hunting patrol headed back to the WindClan camp, chatting. Suddenly, Coyotepaw remembered his rabbit.
"I'll be back in a minute, I forgot the bunny!" he told Clawpaw, who nodded and kept going.
He found the place where he had buried it, and dug it up. He tore it from the earth; his father would be so proud! This would totally make up for the disappointment he had caused earlier when he declined Barkfang's offer to become the next Phantom Cat.
He ran back to camp, and slipped through the entrance. "Look, Barkfang, I-!" Coyotepaw stopped dead in his tracks, dropping the fresh-kill.
Flowerpelt lay dead, slain on the ground, blood flowing everywhere. A brown, white and black, playful looking she-cat had cornered Clawpaw. A border of other mean-looking cats stopped the rest of the Clan from helping them; they were now caught up with their own battles.
"Chipmunkstripe, hurry it up!" an ugly black tom told the playful she-cat.
She giggled, and leapt for his brother. Coyotepaw was too far away to help, but Mudpaw jumped in with a yowl, pinning Chipmunkstripe to the ground with a furious thud.
The big ugly tom sighed and jumped over to help his sadistic friend, but Petalheart cried, "NO!" and dashed over to him just in time; his killing blow went to her instead of Mudpaw.
Mudpaw, disconcerted with grief, loosened his grip. "PETALHEART!" he screamed. Chipmunkstrie took her chance, and ripped the apprentices' throat. She was spattered with blood, and began to giggle maniacally. The ugly tom rolled his eyes.
"No!" Coyotepaw choked; he looked over at Clawpaw with moisture in his eyes.
Clawpaw was putting up a fight, trying to battle three other cats at once, which was completely unfair. He bit at his enemies anywhere he could. Coyotepaw dashed over to help, and raked his claws across one of the cats' ears; he growled back at the apprentice, and leapt on him, pinning him to the ground.
Another body rammed into the huge tom on top of him-Whitestripe, an elderly warrior. They fought fiercely, and Coyotepaw crept away to help his remaining brother.
Only to find he was already with StarClan.
"NO!" he shrieked like a kit.
"ENOUGH!" his father's strong voice bellowed from across the battlefield, and everyone stopped battling, except Whitestripe's opponent, who cheated and took the moment to slay the warrior.
A cool, sleek body came out of the shadows. "What do you want, old man?" she asked, evil glimmering in her eyes.
Barkfang growled like Coyotepaw had never heard. "For you to stop this pointless fighting."
The cat let out a sick chuckle. "I'm sorry, but Vixenpelt doesn't take orders from petty Clan cats."
"You were one yourself, you dishonourable rogue," Barkfang snarled.
Vixenpelt growled and leapt for the warrior. She bit at his neck fur, but he flipped her over and tore her flank with his claws. She yowled in pain, but recovered quickly, raking her hind claws across Barkfang's belly, then shifting her weight just enough that Barkfang lost his balance. She snapped once again at his neck, but he batted away her muzzle and attempted to get away. Vixenpelt, however, had predicted this and landed on top of him, stabbing her claws into his neck.
Coyotepaw never forgot this whole scene of events, especially when he saw Barkfang's eyes look over to him, and watched the light leave them.
They were all dead.
He couldn't remember what happened after that.
All he remembered was going to Cheetahspots to tell her he was going to take the position of the Phantom Cat.
The scene replayed, over and over and over, again.
Coyotepaw let out a shrill, ear-splitting, blood-curdling scream from his dream.
"Coyotepaw! Are you okay!" Inkpaw's anxious voice was in his ear, along with the breathing of all the other apprentices. His eyes flicked open, his panting echoing around the room. He staggered to his paws, disconcerted from the replay of the worst time of his life.
"Yeah…dream…again…" he mumbled, sorrow stabbing his voice.
Firestone shouldered his way through the crowd, then grabbed him out into the sunlight.
"Breathe, man, breathe!" he said, swiping his tail over Coyotepaw's face.
Coyotepaw shook his head, coming back to his senses. "Oh…yeah! S-sorry…I guess Bubblepaw's grief is bringing back my own…" he looked away.
Firestone's eyes narrowed. "You like her that much, eh?"
The apprentice looked into the warrior's eyes. Coyotepaw nodded so slightly it looked like his head was still.
"I won't tell," Firestone whispered in his ear.
"Thanks," Coyotepaw sighed.
"On one condition," he finished, smirking. Coyotepaw blinked, confused. "You go and get her, be her warrior-in-shining-fur(lol)," he winked.
Coyotepaw stared incredulously, knowing this was stupid. "But…then everyone'll know anyway."
"So? They'll know either way. Choice two is better, in my opinion. Go get her out of that funk!"
The possibilities flooded Coyotepaw's mind. Suddenly, Clan differences didn't matter.
He was going to save Bubblepaw.
"I'm sorry, I'll be back, whether you like it or not!" he called to WindClan. Cranestar was there too.
"And where are you going?" she asked, her ear twitching.
"To save my friend!"
He shot off, out of camp, across the RiverClan border.
He passed a patrol easily, and stood at the entrance of RiverClan camp.
A snarling face met his; Dreamfur.
"What are you doing here?" he asked, his voice dripping with acid.
"Bubblepaw," he responded confidently.
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