Chapter 6- A Close Call
After the ceremony Redpaw slipped away to her new den. The apprentices' den was quite comfortable, but she wasn't tired.
She was mulling over the ceremony when Beesting stuck his head in.
"Ready to start training, Redpaw?" he asked.
Redpaw leapt to her paws and rushed outside. "What are we going to do today, Beesting? Will you teach me how to hunt? Or how to fight?! Or are you going to take me to see the boundaries?"
Beesting chuckled. "We'll go see the boundaries tomorrow. I wanted to see how you hunt today."
Redpaw yowled with joy and darted out of the camp. "Yippee! I'm going to learn to hunt!"
Beesting padded after her, shaking his head fondly, remembering his own first day of training. He had been just like Redpaw. He loved the apprentice's energy; he just hoped she would be a little more respectful and pay a little more attention than he had.
Beesting rolled his eyes when Redpaw popped back into that camp and yowled at him to hurry. She was going to be just like him. He sighed, and bounded out of the camp.
Redpaw kept pace with Beesting as they raced through the trees. Soon the thick brush turned into barren landscape. There was a desert in ShadowClan's territory. Beesting led them on.
"Beesting, where are we going?" Redpaw asked at last.
Beesting stopped and turned. "I'm teaching you to hunt where the prey is scarce and hard to catch. We'll hunt in the trees some other day."
Redpaw nodded and Beesting padded on a little further. He then stopped and signaled for Redpaw to come stand beside him.
"What is…?" Redpaw tried to ask, but Beesting flicked his tail over her mouth and she fell silent.
"Look at those marks in the sand," Beesting whispered, gesturing with his tail. "Those were left by a snake. We need to be careful."
Redpaw nodded and carefully padded after Beesting. The yellow-toned tabby abruptly stopped and Redpaw almost ran into him. She glanced around him and gasped.
Greenpaw was standing a couple of foxlengths away, frozen in place. A large snake was rearing up before her, hissing as its tongue flicked in and out of its mouth. It was poised to strike when the white form of Tidalpaw came bounding up behind it. He grabbed it and ripped its head off. A light brown she-cat bounded up beside him. It was Tidalpaw's mentor, Brownclaw.
Greenpaw stood staring at Tidalpaw, speechless. Tidalpaw flung the snake away and then sat beside her, a curious twinkle in his deep blue eyes. Brownclaw glanced at him and then turned on the green-eyed apprentice.
"Greenpaw, what are you doing out here without your mentor?! It's dangerous outside the camp. You were only apprenticed today, for StarClan's sake! You were lucky that more experienced cats showed up when they did!" As Brownclaw spoke she dug her claws into the soft sand, struggling to contain her roaring anger. She obviously cared very much for the welfare of her Clanmates.
Greenpaw's ears drooped and she scuffed the ground with one of her black paws. Tidalpaw laid his tail comfortingly on her shoulder. Redpaw, feeling that there was something more to Tidalpaw's intervention with Greenpaw, buried her muzzle in her sister's fur.
Brownclaw glared at the trio and then sighed. "Greenpaw, Tidalpaw, come back to the camp with me. Redpaw, try not to give your mentor too much trouble."
The apprentices nodded and went their separate ways. As they padded off Redpaw glanced back to see Tidalpaw hovering beside Greenpaw, his tail just barely touching hers. Redpaw sighed. Tidalpaw seemed to be very fond of Greenpaw. Redpaw was glad her sister had such a good friend. She turned around and bounded after Beesting.
They went on a little ways until they found a small hole in the sand, like a tiny badger set. Redpaw sniffed at it carefully. There was something inside that smelled like a snake, except not as foul. Beesting positioned himself behind the little burrow, ready to leap at a moment's notice. Redpaw watched in fascination as a lizard crawled out of the hole. Beesting waited, and then pounced on it. He snatched up the lizard, killing it immediately. Redpaw watched another skitter out and she pounced on it, forcing one of her claws into its skull.
"Well done, Redpaw," praised Beesting, "You'll make a fine hunter."
Redpaw swelled with pride, puffing out her white chest. Beesting fell to the ground laughing. Redpaw glared at him, hurt.
"You look like a pigeon that's just done its dirt on a cat's head!" he mrrowed. His mouth snapped shut as Redpaw landed on him, knocking his breath away. "Sorry," he gasped.
Redpaw ignored him and began grooming herself. Beesting was another mouse-brained tom, and though he was her mentor, she wanted to lay down the rules.
After a while Redpaw stopped grooming herself and she let Beesting up. The young warrior stared at her in wonder, and then cuffed her ear gently. She batted at his paw, but nothing more.
Beesting became serious again. "Alright, I thought it would be a good idea to teach you how to hunt out here in case you ever needed to. The Clan usually hunts in other parts of the territory, though."
Redpaw nodded, and then hissed as a pawful of sand flew into her face. She brushed it away then stared at Beesting, dumbstruck. He was digging in the sand.
"What in StarClan's name are you doing?!" she asked.
"Digging," he replied.
Redpaw rolled her eyes. "I can see that, but why?"
"We're out in a desert. What's the one thing you need? Even more than food?"
Redpaw murmured a silent prayer to StarClan and then looked at Beesting. "Water?"
"Yes! Water! It took me a whole day to figure that out. Lionmane made me stay out here until I did. You would think a dry mouth would have been a good clue. Ha, it took something a little more, uh, drastic, to make the idea pop into my head. Well, you're certainly smarter than I was, Redpaw."
Redpaw swelled with pride again, but this time she made sure not to fluff out her fur. Beesting continued to dig. Soon nothing but his swishing tail was showing above the rim of the hole he had created. Redpaw was just beginning to wonder if the heat had gotten to him when the yellow-toned tabby yowled and jumped triumphantly out of the pit.
"Water!" he shouted.
Redpaw scrambled to the side of the hole and peered down into it. Sure enough, the bottom was full of dark, gritty water. She skidded down the side and landed in the muck. It was deep enough to soak her belly fur and it made her shiver, but the water was welcome after the long heat of the desert. She lapped up a few drops. The water was indeed cool, and only a little gritty.
Suddenly Beesting landed beside her, splashing the sandy water all over Redpaw's fur. She immediately turned on him.
"You mouse-brained piece of foxdung!" she yowled, "Look at my fur! It's ruined!" She then launched herself at him.
Beesting dodged nimbly aside, but Redpaw twisted around, pushed off the side of the pit, and bawled her mentor over. Claws unsheathed, she aimed a blow at Beesting's neck. As she swung she heard a faint voice in her ear.
"Redpaw, sheath your claws!" it yowled.
Redpaw obeyed and her paw struck Beesting's neck harmlessly. She blinked, and realized that if she had not sheathed her claws in time she would have killed Beesting. She glanced into her mentor's eyes. He was genuinely scared.
Redpaw licked his ear comfortingly. "I-I'm sorry, Beesting. I-I don't know what got into me…"
Beesting was still breathing heavily. He stared at Redpaw. "Redpaw…your eyes…your eyes…I saw a great river…a great river of flowing…blood." Beesting whispered the final word, causing Redpaw to step back.
She felt distress clutch at her, and she began to mewl like a kit. "I'm sorry! Beesting, I'm so sorry! I don't know what got into me! I-I just got so angry!" As she spoke Redpaw felt a cat's breath gently brush her ear. She glanced to the side and saw a soot-furred tom with yellow eyes standing beside her. His ears and tail were torn and ragged. Stars seemed to cling to his fur and dance around his paws. He nodded, and then disappeared.
"Let's go back to camp," meowed Beesting.
Redpaw nodded, and followed Beesting out of the hole. They filled it up as best they could and then bounded back to camp. After slipping through the gap in the thorn barrier they separated. Beesting headed for the warriors' den and Redpaw for Brightwhisker's.
Inside, Brightwhisker was talking to Rattooth, one of the elders. Rattooth had been Shadowstep's mentor, but he had become an elder when Redpaw was two moons old. He turned towards her as she entered.
"Hello, Redpaw. Congratulations on being apprenticed," meowed the dark brown tom, sighing. "It's too bad Raggedear and Warmstar can't be here, but I know they're watching you and your littermates from StarClan."
Redpaw suddenly remembered what her father had told her about Rattooth. Raggedear had been his littermate, and Warmstar was his older brother.
She nodded thanks to the elder for his congratulations, secretly admiring his sharp teeth, and then turned to Brightwhisker.
"I need to talk to you," she meowed, "Alone."
Brightwhisker nodded and bade Rattooth goodbye. He then called to the back of his den and Lionkit scampered out. Once she had gone, Brightwhisker gestured for Redpaw to sit down. The cats made themselves comfortable and Redpaw took a deep breath.
"Beesting took me out to learn to hunt in the desert. He also showed me how to find water. Well… he splashed sandy water all over me, and I lost control. I almost killed him, but then…Beesting isn't hurt!" Brightwhisker had leapt to his paws, but at Redpaw's reassurance he sat back down and nodded for her to continue. "A-a cat whispered in my ear, a StarClan cat, I think. He told me to sheath my claws, so I did. I-I saw the cat. He had soot colored fur, and his tail and ears were ragged. Oh, and he had yellow eyes! But, just before I saw him, Beesting said…he said that while I was attacking him, he had stared into my eyes, and he had seen a great river of flowing…blood! Can you tell me what it means, Brightwhisker?"
The medicine cat pondered Redpaw's story for a moment. What did it mean? Who was the StarClan cat speaking to Redpaw? It had been almost unheard of, StarClan communicating with normal cats instead of just leaders and medicine cats. Although, they had spoken to Firestar, the great ThunderClan leader that had beaten the evil Tigerstar, before he had even become a Clan cat. And StarClan had spoken to the cats that had made the journey to the sundrown place and guided the Clans from their first home in the forest to their second home around the lake. There had been several other instances, too. So why shouldn't StarClan be speaking to this apprentice, he finally decided.
Brightwhisker sighed. "I don't know what it means. StarClan hasn't told me anything. We'll just have to wait and see."
Redpaw nodded, and then she got up and padded out. She was worried. If she had almost already killed her mentor, what would happen after she'd had some battle training? She tried not to think about it as she bounded into the apprentices' den.