Chapter 5

Hailpaw awoke to the sound of thunder. It was raining outside, after the long days of heat; it was good that there would be no drought this season. He looked around and saw he was the only cat in the apprentice's den, save his sister. Hailpaw wondered what she would think when she found out he had become the medicine cat's apprentice.

Hailpaw pawed at Dogpaw's shoulder until she stirred, her eyes blinking drowsily.

"Hailpaw?" She mumbled, Hailpaw head-butted her and she picked herself up, stretching.

"Wow. That gathering last night was intense wasn't it?" She asked, not waiting for an answer, she continued, "I wonder who has been committing those murders though, obviously not any of us." She peered outside and gasped. "Look Hailpaw, everyone's up already! I know we're allowed to sleep in, but not this late!" She scrambled outside, Hailpaw followed her slowly.

"Hailpaw!" Came a familiar voice. Hailpaw looked up to see Quickclaw hurrying towards him. "I told Birdstar about your apprenticeship to me, she's going to announce it this evening. Then we'll go to-" Quickclaw cut himself up as he saw Dogpaw staring at them.

"Hailpaw's going to become a medicine cat apprentice?!" Asked Dogpaw, "But Hailpaw, we were supposed to train together!" She mewed, her voice urgent.

"Certain…circumstances have made it clear Hailpaw is destined to be trained as a medicine cat." Quickclaw meowed awkwardly looking at the two young cats. Hailpaw refused to look Dogpaw in the eye.

"Right." Dogpaw mumbled. She had seemed to calm down, and was looking at the ground, "That's fine Hailpaw. I shouldn't be so upset about this. It's your choice what you do." She mewed. Hailpaw walked up to her and licked her forehead, she looked up at him.

"Well, I'll be off! I need to find Grasswhisker!" She said, dismissing the two cats with a tail flick and bounding off towards the warrior's den.

"She seemed to take that very personally." Mused Quickclaw, "Anyway, Hailpaw. I need to inform you that I have been told not to teach you herbs, they are useless to what you're going to be trained for." He finished.

Hailpaw blinked. He had assumed Quickclaw was going to teach him how to actually be a medicine cat, but apparently not.

"You'll like the other members of The Gifted Circle, there is a young apprentice like you there, Rainpaw's his name I think, now his gift is not leaving a scent or shedding his fur, it's quite useful for getting away with what we do." Quickclaw mewed.

Hailpaw cocked his head. What exactly do they do? He wondered. As Quickclaw led him to the medicine cat's den, Hailpaw readied himself for the strange new world he was entering.

It was raining when Rainpaw awoke. He blinked drowsily in the dim light of day and turned his head to Greymask, who was asleep in his nest.

Rainpaw heaved himself up and stretched. He still felt a sense of self pleasure as he thought of the kill he had completed many moons ago. Greymask had refused to take the young tom to the gathering, claiming he would probably terrify the younger apprentices with his strange ways, to which Rainpaw had been furious at.

As the apprentice stuck his head out of his den, he saw other cats perk up and stare at him. Ever since he was a kit, his Clan had agreed something was off about him. They had found it strange that he carried no scent, and of the fact there were dark shadows underneath his eyes made it worse. Some cats even went as far to say he was a symbol from the Dark Forest, the Clan had only let him stay and train was because they thought he would rage war against them for throwing him out.

Clan cats are strange. They believe in such stupid nonsense. He thought to himself as he walked out of the den, flicking his tail at a young tom that jumped and scampered away quickly as he padded past. Rainpaw laughed, they were so easy to bother.

The only cat who actually tried to deal with him, Voleclaw strolled up to him, seemingly not bothered by his glares, he really hated her.

"Good morning Rainpaw. I assume you slept well." She mewed, her voice calm and uncondescending.

"Quite." Rainpaw responded, eyeing her sceptically. He knew she was secretly as terrified of him as the others. She just hid it well.

"Is Greymask up yet? Fishpaw has a thorn in his pad." She asked. Rainpaw looked her in the eyes and sneered.

"I could deal with her myself." He said, expecting her to refuse to let him see the apprentice.

"Okay." She agreed. Rainpaw was inwardly shocked. No cat had ever let him take care of illnesses before. He scared them too much. This was a challenge. She wants to see if I'm trustworthy he thought.

"Good. Bring her to me." He meowed. There was nothing to lose. Now the final cat had been found, there was no reason for him to be stuck in this Clan anymore. He was going to leave, he was going to leave with a bang.