CH 2- now
"Young apprentice, Kestrelpaw." A voice echoed, and a shadow stirred across the clearing.
He, who the mysterious voice called, looked around, locating the speaker. The shadow came closer, and it was a brown cat.
"I am Reedwhisker, your distant relative. I am here to tell you that a great danger is coming. But someone is coming to save it- soon."
Kestrelpaw's eyes met Reedwhisker's, and he stared at him. "What danger?"
"Some danger that even SpiritClan doesn't even know about. But watch out. You must tell your leader about the danger."
He nodded. "Okay, I will. But who is coming?"
"I do not know that cat's name. That cat comes from far away, though." Reedwhisker informed, and the apprentice nodded.
"Farewell…"
Kestrelpaw shook himself awake. He always had a habit of waking up early.
What cat is coming? Some cat from far away, he said, the apprentice thought as he stepped over the other apprentices. There was Graypaw, his brother, and Littlepaw, a female, who was a very good friend of him and his brother.
Exiting the den, he watched the sun, bright in the morning sky.
The morning patrol will be starting off soon, Kestrelpaw realized. But first, I've got to talk to Nightstar, as Reedwhisker mentioned. Then, I can join the morning patrol.
He walked over to the leader's den, treading over the morning dew on the lush, green grass. The nursery had bracken-woven walls and a dome over it to prevent the rain and snow from falling on the kits and making them cold. Currently, there were no kits. He and Graypaw were the youngest of the clan.
Passing by them, the Warrior's den was the largest of all dens. It had a strongly-woven bracken wall and roof as well.
Finally, he stopped at the leader's den. The deputy's den and the medicine den were beside it. The leader's den was right under the Great Rock, where the leader, Nightstar, held meetings. It was a fairly large den, woven with comfortable material.
The deputy's den was a smaller den, but nearly as comfortable, as mentioned from the deputy, Mapleleaf.
The medicine den, to his right, was just as large, and he could smell all of the herbs from it. Daisypetal was the new medicine cat, after Brookstone, the former medicine cat, had died of old age. She was a kind cat who knew where herbs grew. She had a strong connection with Spirit Clan.
All the clans, Moon, Sun, Cloud, and Star Clan, had all mourned for her. Mostly, the other medicine cats from the other clans did, because she had been with them for a very long while. Daisypetal was still in grief, but was recovering, knowing that Brookstone would always be watching over her.
Kestrelpaw shook out his thoughts and went closer to the leader's den.
Something shifted in the den, and the young apprentice stepped back, cautious.
"Is someone there?" A voice sounded in the shadows.
"Uh, y-yes," Kestrelpaw responded. "I've had a vision today."
The voice, who belonged to Nightstar, paused. "You've had another vision? Come in."
Kestrelpaw came in. When he was born, he was born with a strong connection with SpiritClan. Was it a power or gift? I might have been. He was the one who always had a vision, either of where good prey was, or if other clans were in danger of an enemy. Nightstar had considered that.
His strange connection to SpiritClan was not yet mentioned to his friends, brother, or anyone else.
"So, what is it, new apprentice?" Nightstar inquired.
Kestrelpaw's eyes adjusted to the darkness to see the black cat. His green eyes stared at him.
"It was quite different this time. It was from SpiritClan this time," Kestrelpaw answered. "Someone, who was called Reedwhisker, called me and said a great danger was coming to all of the clans."
"Oh no! Nightstar jumped up. "A great danger? Did Reedwhisker tell you more about this?"
"No, but he did say that some cat from far away would come save us," Kestrelpaw told him.
Nightstar nodded. "Thank you for telling me," the leader nodded. "I will think about this and I might tell about this problem at the Gathering tonight. Well, I'm not going to mention about that mysterious cat yet, until that cat does come." He stretched and yawned.
"Alright," Kestrelpaw said, feeling that the talk was over. "I'll tell you more if I get more visions."
Nightstar nodded. "Good. And, would you mind waking up Rosepetal, Mousetail, Sharpclaw, and Falconflame? You can come along on the Morning Patrol. After that, meet me in the hollow for lessons."
Kestrelpaw smiled. He had wanted to go on the patrol today. "Okay." He exited the den and crossed the camp to wake up his friends.
Coming to the Warrior's Den, he prodded Rosepetal. "Wake up, Nightstar says you're on Morning Patrol," Kestrelpaw whispered into Rosepetal's ear. The red-tinged cat stirred.
Stepping over the other Warriors, Kestrelpaw woke up Mousetail and Falconflame. He came to Sharpclaw.
"Father, wake up. Your're on Morning Patrol," he told Sharpclaw. Sharpclaw nodded and stood up.
All of the awakened cats stepped into the clearing outside of the Warrior's den.
"You are coming with us?" Falconflame yawned as the group headed to the bramble tunnel, which was the exit of the large camp.
Kestrelpaw nodded and followed.
Outside of camp, the forest was damp with dew. Some birds up ahead chirped. In a farm some distance far away, a rooster crowed with the morning light.
The group of five padded into the forest, patches of morning light warming their fur. After a while of walking, they reached the border of SunClan. SunClan was bold and bright, and fierce too. MoonClan, which was the Clan Kestrelpaw lived in, was not as fierce. MoonClan was relatively peaceful and was a happy clan too.
SunClan had a thicker forest. Kestrelpaw had heard that they fished sometimes, but mostly hunted for birds.
After a scan around for anything suspicious, the five walked on, knowing that nothing seemed wrong at the border. They arrived at the Gathering Rock, where all Clans gathered at the Full Moon, where it would be bright enough to meet.
Walking a long way on a trail, they reached StarClan's border. Nothing seemed wrong here as well.
StarClan was a sly clan often, having tricks to deceive their enemies. That came from the numerous foxes and owls who hunted there too. That place had rich prey. Even in Leaf Bare, the StarClan cats would still get full bellies. Kestrelpaw envied that, but knew his own clan was just as good.
Cloudclan was the fastest clan. They often watched clouds go by too on their wide, flat meadow. Though it didn't seem to be a safe place, being not as guarded as the other camps, it actually was. High rocks surrounded this meadow, where the CloudClan Cats would watch from. They had good hunting, but not as good as StarClan's hunting.
The patrol was soon over. Falconflame, Sharpclaw, Rosepetal, Mousetail, and Kestrelpaw returned to camp. All of his other campmates were awake. He saw that Bramblethorn, Pinecone, and Frostslash were on a minor hunting patrol. They were the best hunters of the Clan, and they usually got a lot of prey.
Remembering his lesson, he went to the hollow. He and Nightstar were always the first ones to train.
"Kestrelpaw." Nightstar was waiting in the hollow, sitting on the dusty ground.
"I'm here," Kestrelpaw ran over, his strong legs carrying him across. He sat down next to his mentor.
Nightstar started. "Today, we will practice hunting. For the first seven days you're been mentored, I've only taught you battle moves. You seemed to like to fight more, right?"
He nodded at his mentor.
"Hunting is just as fun in my opinion. So, here's how you crouch. Keep your tail down, or your prey will see you…"
During the time the sun rose, Kestrelpaw trained how to hunt.
"Good… No! Keep your tail down! Now leap, when you are close enough… Excellent, excellent…"
Kestrelpaw had gotten used to the basics of hunting by the end of the session.
"You've done well on the first day. Now, you can train later on your own, and I'll teach you more tomorrow. Now, Littlepaw has to train with her mentor, Rosepetal."
Kestrelpaw nodded and went to rest in his den after the intense training.
As he went, he passed by Littlepaw. She had two weeks more training than he and his brother, and was quite skilled already at both hunting and battling.
"Hi, Littlepaw, how are you doing?" Kestrelpaw asked.
"Good," Littlepaw nodded. "I'll see you later then. We can practice with Graypaw too!"
They both walked off opposite ways.
Bramblethorn and the others had returned from their patrol.
"Here, have a vole with me," Graypaw called from the clearing. He was sitting next to Sharpclaw, who was having a sparrow.
Kestrelpaw sat down and ate, hungry from the training. The three all talked, and Kestrelpaw shared what he learned in hunting today.
"You two will turn out to be fine Warriors," Sharpclaw praised, and the two brothers smiled.
They lay on the rocks on the far side of camp. The gray rocks were heated and felt nice. Kestrelpaw closed his eyes, enjoying the sun. His brother and father was too.
After a nap, Sharpclaw stood up and yawned. "Grawpaw, meet me in the hollow for training."
Littlepaw had finished her session, and it was not Sharpclaw's turn to train Graypaw.
Graypaw nodded. "Okay."
Kestrelpaw watched his little brother leave the rocks and get to the hollow. Once they disappeared out of sight, he lay on the rocks again and enjoyed more of the sunlight. Apprentices weren't required to do much. Training took four hours, and since Kestrelpaw had taken the Morning Patrol, he didn't need to do anything else.
Maybe he'd help with the Evening or Afternoon patrol. Or, he could talk to his campmates about other things.
But what occupied his mind currently was that mysterious cat.
Who is that cat? And when will he or she come? He stared up into the sky, worrying a bit, though he knew he had nothing to really worry about.
I'm worrying too much…