CHAPTER FOUR:

Apprentice Ceremonies

Sparrowkit watched as Sandstar and Poppyseed left the camp. He yearned to follow them but he had promised himself that he'd cause no more trouble for a while.

Sparrowkit soon forgot about the AshClan cats appearance and walked toward the fresh-kill pile. Braveheart and his new apprentice, Lightpaw, were sitting and talking as well as Tigerstripe, Specklewhisker, and Dawnsun.

"Hi, Sparrowkit." Dawnsun greeted him. Tigerstripe turned his head, as well as Specklewhisker.

"Hey, Sparrowkit." Tigerstripe and Specklewhisker said.

"When is your apprentice ceremony?" asked Dawnsun. Sparrowkit thought for a minute.

"A couple of day away, maybe." suggested Sparrowkit.

"It may be sooner than that." Tomstar mewed walking up to the group.

"Who's going to be Sparrowkit, Emeraldkit, and Rainkit's mentors?" Dawnsun asked her leader.

"Why, were you hoping you would be a mentor?" asked Tomstar.

"Yeah, sort of." Dawnsun mewed.

"Mysticleaf will mentor Rainkit and Skyheart said he'd like to mentor Sparrowkit." Tomstar mewed. "So that's means that you can mentor Emeraldkit."

"Sounds great to me!" Dawnsun mewed happily.

"Great. We'll hold the ceremony later today." Tomstar meowed happily.

Sparrowkit was beginning to get excited. I get the deputy as my mentor! He thought.

He ran to the nursery to tell his mother. "Mother! Mother!" he yowled.

"Quiet!" shushed Airpelt. "You're going to wake Treekit, Leafkit, and Rootkit. Now, what's so important?"

"I'm going to be an apprentice! And Skyheart going's to be my mentor!" Sparrowkit squealed happily not changing his volume.

"That great!" Airpelt mewed smiling. "Maybe Skyheart will be able to known some sense into you so that you aren't so much of a trouble-maker any more."

"I'm not a trouble-maker!" he protested. Airpelt let out a mrrow of laughter.

"Of course your not." Airpelt laughed.

"I'm not!" he whined.

"That's what I said." Airpelt laughed.

Sparrowkit smiled at her and then ran out of the nursery to tell Rainkit and Emeraldkit they'd be sleeping in the apprentices den that night. He found Rainkit in Mysticleaf's den. "Did you tell her the good news?" Sparrowkit asked.

"What good news?" asked Mysticleaf.

"We're becoming apprentices tonight!" Sparrowkit mewed happily. Rainkit jumped with joy and Mysticleaf smiled at her apprentice's happiness.

"I'm going to go tell Emeraldkit!" Sparrowkit declared, racing out of the medicine cat's den and into the clearing. He saw Emeraldkit talking with Dawnsun and realized that he must have already heard the news. So, he decided to say goodbye to the Treekit, Leafkit, and Rootkit.

As he walked into the nursery he was bombarded by three tiny bundles of fur. The three kits wrestled him onto the ground. Eventually Sparrowkit overpowered them and threw them off. "Sparrowkit, are you really going to leave the nursery?" asked Leafkit.

"Yes." Sparrowkit mewed. "I'm going to be an apprentice come tomorrow. Last night was the last night that I will ever sleep in the nursery."

"Then we'll come with you and sleep in the apprentice's den." Rootkit mewed. "Right, Treekit and Leafkit?"

"Yeah!" the two other kits chorused.

"Not for a few more moons." Spottedpelt, their mother, laughed.

Sparrowkit spent the rest of the day playing with Treekit, Leafkit, and Rootkit and after a while Tomstar leaped on the Highrock to call a Clan meeting. "Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather here beneath the Highrock for a Clan meeting!" he called.

Slowly the warriors of BrambleClan filled the clearing below the Highrock and the meeting began.

"Today I am naming three kits apprentices. Rainkit, Emeraldkit, and Sparrowkit, please step forward." Tomstar mewed.

They stepped in front of the crowd.

For now Mysticleaf stepped forward. "From this day on Rainkit will be known as Rainpaw and will be my apprentice until she earns her full medicine cat name."

Mysticleaf touched her nose to Rainpaw's head.

"Emeraldkit, from this day on until you earn your warrior name you will be known as Emeraldpaw. Dawnsun will be your mentor." Tomstar mewed.

Dawnsun padded up to her new apprentice and touched her nose to his head.

"Sparrowkit, from this day on until you earn your warrior name you will be known as Sparrowpaw. Skyheart will be your mentor." Tomstar ended. "Now everyone have a good night!"

{THE NEXT MORNING}Sparrowpaw woke up and looked around. Where's Airpelt? he wondered. Then he remembered he was in the apprentice's den.

He noticed he was the only apprentice still sleeping so he quickly stood up and hurried out of his new den. The camp was already busy. That's when he realized he had really slept in.

Skyheart started walking toward him. "I hope you had a good sleep because you missed a patrol." Skyheart mewed sounding sort of upset. On my first day as an apprentice I screw up! That's just great!

"Sorry." Sparrowpaw muttered. "I was really tired last night. I played with Treekit, Leafkit, and Rootkit all afternoon."

"Well, now since I don't have time to teach you any hunting moves we're just going to go on a border patrol when Emeraldpaw and Dawnsun get back from hunting practice." Skyheart mewed. "And in the meantime you can get new moss for the elders' bedding."

"But-" Sparrowpaw held his tongue. He was an apprentice now and that's what apprentices did. "Yes, Skyheart." He walked out of the camp and realized he had no idea where the extra moss was. He decided to ask Mysticleaf. So, Sparrowpaw headed back into camp and into the medicine cat's den. "Where's the moss to replace the elder's bedding?" he asked Mysticleaf.

"I'll show you." Mysticleaf mewed. She turned her head to Rainpaw who was sorting herbs behind her. "You come too."

"Okay." Rainpaw mewed. Mysticleaf led the apprentices out of the den and the camp to a little glade not to far away from the camp. "This is where the best moss grows.

"Thanks." Sparrowpaw mewed digging some up. He shaked the dirt off the bottom and headed back to camp. He went to the elder's den right away and gave it to the only one that was awake, Brightspririt.

"Thanks, Sparrowpaw." the old she-cat mewed. "I was getting tired of this stinky moss from last moon."

"I'll get rid of this one for you." Sparrowpaw offered picking up the old moss in his claws.

"Thanks, again." Brightspirit mewed. Sparrowpaw nodded and took the old moss out of the camp. He threw into some bushes and went back to camp. By the time he was back Emeraldpaw, Dawnsun, and Skyheart were waiting for him

"Brightspririt say you did very well." Skyheart mewed. "Good job. Now let's get this border patrol going." Sparrowpaw followed Dawnsun and Skyheart out of the camp and toward the border.

They went on for a while without scenting anything until they scented AshClan. "I smell AshClan." he growled.

"I do too." Dawnsun mewed. "And I think I also smell... blood."

Skyheart looked at Dawnsun funny. "Are you sure?" He sniffed the air and sure enough faint blood scent was in the air. The followed the border and a few steps later, behind a tree, was a gruesome sight.

Sparrowpaw's mouth dropped open as he saw the bloody body of Foxpaw, halfway between the BrambleClan border and AshClan. "Shroudclaw." growled Emeraldpaw.

"Redpelt will be devastated." Dawnsun said. "His last apprentice died as well."

"Really?" Sparrowpaw wondered.

"Yes." Dawnsun replied eerily. "Heatherpaw was also killed, but by a badger."

"Let's take his body back to camp." Skyheart mewed. "We don't want the rats to get at it."

"Good idea." mewed Dawnsun. So the warriors and their apprentices took the body of Foxpaw back to camp.

Redpelt gasped as soon as he caught a glimpse of his mutilated apprentice. "What happened?"

"We found him like this on the border between our territory and AshClan's." Skyheart replied.

Redpelt's eyes blazed with fury. "I'll flay Shroudclaw!" he shrieked. Then he burst into uncontrollable sobbing. "Why StarClan? Why do you take every one of my apprentices? Am I cursed?"

Then Ravenwing, Foxpaw's mother, came forward out of the warrior's den. "Foxpaw?" She buried her head into her son's blood soaked fur. Behind her was Icepaw, Foxpaw's sister, who did the same thing as her mother.

Tomstar walked forward. "We will hold vigil for Foxpaw the rest of the night."

Sparrowpaw sat down next to Foxpaw. He had never been close to the apprentice but Sparrowpaw knew that Shroudclaw was responsible and Foxpaw was only his first victim.