A/N: Chapter 8, here we go! Please enjoy! And I hope you like the little twist I stuck in at the end. Tell me what you think about it, please! Please! Please! Thank you!
Disclaimer: I don't own Warriors; Erin Hunter does.
Chapter 8
Flamepaw padded quickly and quietly over to the training hollow, where he knew all the apprentices were having a lesson. Jayfeather had given him some time off until sunhigh, so he had decided to watch the apprentices train—and maybe join in if he got the chance. After all, medicine cats were supposed to know basic fighting moves.
Flamepaw stopped briefly to sniff the air as he approached the edge of the training hollow. He was still hidden, and he wanted to keep it that way, to see what would happen. Surprisingly, not only were all the apprentices and mentors at the hollow, but he caught the now-familiar scent of Rosethorn and Thorntail. They must've been brought along to test out their strengths.
Flamepaw crouched down, his only cover now being a few trees and ferns. Keeping close to the hollow, he tried to sneak around to the far side, where the apprentices' backs were facing. Knowing his bright ginger pelt would annoyingly stand out, he tried to keep to the shadows as much as possible. At one point, Spiderleg looked almost at the exact place where he was crouched, but Flamepaw was just barely hidden by a tree.
Finally reaching the opposite side of the hollow, he got comfortable in a crouch to wait for the perfect time to strike at Bluepaw. The two sisters—Bluepaw and Birdpaw—had become increasingly annoying and competitive against him, even though he was a medicine cat. But no matter how hard they trained, he could still keep them at bay.
"Okay, Thorntail," Spiderleg was meowing, "I think we'll match you up with Lionblaze, and Rosethorn will fight with Poppyfrost."
Lionblaze purred, glancing over at the older tom. "Don't you think that's a little unfair? We should see how well he fights before you put him with me, don't you think?"
"Oh, you think I can't fight?" Thorntail meowed confidently, raising his head proudly. Rosethorn watched him, a flash of fear crossing her eyes. Thorntail looked over at her at that exact moment and told her, "Come on, Rosethorn. Just because you've managed to change me a bit doesn't mean I can't still fight like I used to."
"I know," Rosethorn meowed. "Just don't kill Lionblaze." Flamepaw got the impression she had said that just to annoy Thorntail, because the gray tom glanced self-consciously at the other mentors.
"I haven't killed a cat since that time with WindClan," Thorntail mumbled.
Lionblaze purred, flicking his tail around. "Well, if you can fight that well, then I suppose I'll fight you. But be forewarned; I haven't lost a fight since I let myself lose deliberately."
Thorntail shrugged, relieved to have the attention dropped from him. "Fine. I haven't lost a fight either."
Mosspaw, who was sitting beside Rosethorn, leaned past her to meow to Thorntail, "Just so you know, Lionblaze has a special power. He never gets hurt in battle."
"What?" Thorntail meowed, stretching out the word. "Now that's just unfair. What will happen when I beat Lionblaze?"
Lionblaze rolled his eyes and shook his head good naturedly. Standing up, he motioned for all the cats to step back. Thorntail stood up as well, squaring up confidently with him.
Mosspaw slinked back a bit, heading straight towards Flamepaw's hiding spot. Glancing over her shoulder, she turned around and settled down beside him. "What are you doing here?" she hissed, her eyes flickering over to the two cats who were waiting for a signal from Birchfall.
Flamepaw slapped his tail over Mosspaw's muzzle. "Jayfeather gave me some time off, so I came here. Now quiet!"
Mosspaw nodded and slowly pushed herself forward so she wouldn't attract any unwanted attention to Flamepaw.
"Now remember," Birchfall meowed, "claws sheathed. Begin."
Lionblaze crouched down, about to spring. Thorntail stayed standing, his muscles tense and waiting. With a yowl, Lionblaze launched himself straight for Thorntail's back.
Instead of moving out of the way, Thorntail reared up on his hind legs and grappled Lionblaze, pulling him to the ground before leaping away. Lionblaze scrambled back to his paws and instantly flew at Thorntail again.
Thorntail didn't give him the chance to reach him. As Lionblaze was about to hit him, he sidestepped just enough and head-butted him in his flank as he passed, making Lionblaze lose his balance. Thorntail leaped onto Lionblaze to further his fall, but Lionblaze quickly grasped Thorntail will all four paws and went limp, making Thorntail stumble under the double weight.
They both rolled around on the ground yowling and hissing. A few times the other cats had to leap out of the way of the writhing ball. Finally, when it was starting to bore Flamepaw, Thorntail kicked out with strong back legs and Lionblaze lost his strong grip, having been thrown off.
Lionblaze skidded on his feet and quickly raced back to Thorntail. The gray tom was too slow to turn around, and Lionblaze took this opportunity to leap onto his quarry's back. Thorntail hissed, leaping around and trying to throw Lionblaze off, but the golden tom seemed experienced about hanging onto cats' backs while at the same time dealing blow after sheathed blow to various places. Finally, Thorntail gave up and dropped down to roll Lionblaze off.
Unfortunately, Lionblaze sensed this and leaped off before he could get caught underneath the large gray tom.
Flamepaw shook his head, unimpressed at Thorntail's frantic efforts to get Lionblaze off. He should've rolled right away instead of hopping around like a maniac.
Flamepaw glanced over at Rosethorn, who had joined Mosspaw once more when the two fighting warriors had gotten a little too close for comfort. Rosethorn didn't seem fascinated by her mate's moves, but maybe that was because she had been a former medicine cat, or at least that was what Flamepaw assumed. After all, how could a loyal medicine cat—unless you were Leafpool or Yellowfang—have a mate?
Suddenly Flamepaw turned back to the two cats, who had sadly stopped fighting. Flamepaw had been enjoying it, and now it was over?
Lionblaze and Thorntail were facing each other once again, their flanks heaving as they panted from their brawl. Both looked up and faced the other with newly formed respect in their eyes.
Flamepaw couldn't tell which cat had won. That wasn't right! Every battle should have a clear winner, or the cats would be unsatisfied. But Thorntail and Lionblaze seemed done.
"That was amazing!" Birchfall exclaimed. "I've never seen two cats so evenly matched."
"Lionblaze wasn't much competition at the beginning," Spiderleg commented. "Were you holding back, Lionblaze?"
Lionblaze looked away from the amused face of Mosspaw. "Yeah," he muttered.
"I'd sure hate to have you as my enemy!" Birchfall purred.
Thorntail studied Birchfall for a heartbeat before glancing at Rosethorn. "The only time you'd be my real enemy is if you're threatening Rosethorn." The ginger she-cat purred softly at the words coming from her mate.
Lionblaze purred as well. "I'm sure most of us can match that feeling," he meowed, looking pointedly at Spiderleg.
The older tom stared back, calmly meeting his gaze. Spiderleg and Daisy had two kits, Rosepetal and Toadstep. But Spiderleg hadn't seemed to love Daisy very much, or his kits, for that matter.
But unknown to any cat except Flamepaw, Spiderleg had started spending more awkward time with Daisy lately. In secret, that is. Flamepaw had caught them once sharing tongues in the forest, away from the peering eyes of their Clanmates—except Flamepaw, and he hadn't had any desire to see that. At all. So he had backed away as quietly as possible, and let the two go on sharing tongues. . . .
Shaking his head to get rid of the disgusting memory, Flamepaw focused once more on Bluepaw's back. He was itching to join the fight—even if there was no fight going on at the moment.
Silently, while the mentors were telling the apprentices something or other, Flamepaw pushed hard against the ground and sailed through the air to land on Bluepaw's back. The screech that came from the she-cat was probably heard in RiverClan.
After a glance over her shoulder at her attacker, Bluepaw dropped down and tried to roll him off, but he had been expecting that, and, like Lionblaze had done, jumped. But he leaped straight up into the air; not off to the side. When he landed, he was standing over Bluepaw again, and Birdpaw just had to come to her 'rescue'.
Forgetting about Bluepaw for the time being, Flamepaw leaped over Birdpaw's back to her opposite side. She spun around and jumped onto his back.
Flamepaw rolled his eyes, slamming himself down immediately to roll. The surprise and impact stunned Birdpaw, and she released her grip.
Quickly, Flamepaw leaped back to his paws and turned back to Bluepaw, who was watching with a look of remorse defeat. Shrugging, Flamepaw sat down and lifted a front paw to lick it. Looking up, he saw the rest of the cats in the training hollow standing still, watching him.
"What?" Flamepaw asked, putting his paw back down. His whiskers twitched as they started moving again. Flamepaw could tell even Thorntail and Lionblaze had respect in their eyes as they occasionally glanced at him.
"Flamepaw!" a voice suddenly called, sounding impatient. Flamepaw saw Jayfeather appear in the hollow.
"Yes, Jayfeather?" Flamepaw meowed, awaiting orders. It's already sunhigh? At least I got a battle in before then.
"We're going to see—I mean, collect catmint," Jayfeather meowed, stumbling over his words for once. Lionblaze glanced at his brother in confusion, clearly wondering why he had originally been saying 'see—'
Flamepaw stood up, nodding to the other cats in the hollow, and followed Jayfeather, who was already trotting towards the far end of the hollow.
"You're going to see catmint?" Bluepaw purred. "Can Birdpaw and I come too? You'll be able to bring plenty back to camp with the two of us helping! And I promise not to eat any," she added. Birdpaw nodded, padding up to stand beside her sister.
Jayfeather halted without turning around. "You . . . want to come?"
"Yes, please, Jayfeather," Birdpaw meowed. "We won't get in the way."
Flamepaw rolled his eyes. They'd get in the way with him, that's for sure. He'd had enough of those two for one day.
Luckily, Ivypool spoke up. "Hey, you two aren't excused from battle training yet. Try asking your mentors before you go off, Birdpaw."
Birdpaw looked over her shoulder at her mentor, large, sorrowful eyes gazing at the she-cat. But Ivypool refused to budge. "It didn't work with me when I was an apprentice and it won't work with you."
Birdpaw sighed, the two sisters turning around to continue battle training. Flamepaw purred, thanking StarClan for battles.
"Don't worry," he called back to the two she-cats. "Maybe next time you'll be able to beat me with the help of Dewpaw," he purred, naming the oldest apprentice.
Bluepaw and Birdpaw ignored him, and the two medicine cats left the hollow together, heading straight for the Twoleg nest.
Flamepaw slithered forward, his pawsteps light and delicate on the forest floor. He paused for a heartbeat, then leaped, aiming straight for a small, plump mouse. The mouse heard him just before he landed, and darted off, heading down a small hole in the ground.
Flamepaw sighed, trying not to feel too disappointed. After all, it had been his first try at hunting, and no cat had bothered to show him just how it was done yet. So he turned and went back to sit by the entrance of the Twoleg nest. If he strained his ears, he could just barely hear Jayfeather and Breezepelt speaking to each other. Deciphering the words was out of the question.
Flamepaw shrugged, twisting around to start cleaning his flank. When he was about halfway done, a rustle nearby and then the sound of pounding paws got him to stop and look up.
Quickly drinking in the air, he caught the scent of cat. Not waiting to identify it, he bounded over to the entrance of the Twoleg nest. Hissing quietly into it for the two toms to hide, he turned back around, ready to face whoever it was.
Flamepaw opened his jaws to figure out who the scent belonged to, but before he could, the cat emerged from behind the trunk of a tree. Mosspaw!
His sister padded forward calmly, sitting down in front of him. She was still for a few heartbeats, before finally meowing, "Care to tell me what's going on with Jayfeather?"
Flamepaw stood still, frozen. Jayfeather hadn't explained what he was supposed to tell his sister! Sure, other cats would just agree with whatever he came up with, but Mosspaw was a completely different story. She knew him completely; that meant she also knew when he was telling the truth or not.
Taking a deep breath, he finally got out, "It's—it's complicated."
Mosspaw glanced up, looking past Flamepaw into the Twoleg nest. "I get it," she meowed quietly. "I figured as much."
A familiar scent flooded over Flamepaw. Slowly turning around, he saw Jayfeather standing in the entrance with Breezepelt beside him.
Flamepaw was frozen again. He had failed keeping Breezepelt a secret. Now Jayfeather would make him become a warrior apprentice, all because he hadn't been able to keep Mosspaw from the truth. . . .
"Hi, Breezepelt," Mosspaw purred, breaking the spell on Flamepaw. "Nice to see you again."
The black tom nodded, narrowing his eyes. "So you didn't go telling every cat."
"What?" Flamepaw was thoroughly confused. Was Breezepelt talking about Mosspaw seeing him after the trip to the Moonpool?
"Hmph! I can't believe you didn't trust me," Mosspaw meowed, lifting her chin defiantly. "It's not like I don't hold a few secrets of my own."
"Hello . . ." Flamepaw meowed, drawing out the word. "Some cat tell me what in StarClan is going on!"
"Oh, nothing special," Mosspaw purred, turning to her brother. "I caught Breezepelt outside this nest. Said he came out for some 'fresh air'."
"I did!" Breezepelt insisted. Jayfeather rolled his eyes, flicking his tail against Breezepelt's flank.
"If Mosspaw hadn't caught you when she did, you would've eaten precious catmint stalks," Jayfeather meowed. Breezepelt glanced at him, then whipped his gaze around to glare at Mosspaw.
"You did tell a cat!" he hissed. Flamepaw was worried he was really angry and wouldn't forgive Mosspaw, but his eyes held a good-natured gleam in them.
"I won't tell any cat about Breezepelt," Mosspaw meowed, looking at Flamepaw. "If I was planning on doing that, I would've done it right after I first saw him, by the Moonpool."
Flamepaw shook his head, still confused as to what had happened. But from what he had managed to gather, Mosspaw wasn't going to go tell RiverClan. Or StarClan, for that matter.
Flamepaw stood by the fresh-kill pile, trying to find something suitable to his taste at the moment without messing up the nicely arranged prey. Thorntail padded up as well, with Rosethorn hanging back a bit. Flamepaw stepped back, motioning for Thorntail to take his pick first.
Thorntail dipped his head. "Thanks." Without hesitation he reached out and grabbed two robins. "That was some pretty good fighting back there in the training hollow, Flamepaw. I was impressed," he meowed around the robins.
Flamepaw looked up at the older tom, surprised to hear Thorntail acknowledge him that way. "Thanks!" he purred. Glancing at the robins, he curled his lips. Robins still were the worst prey in the forest. Snowpaw had once brought a couple robins for him and Jayfeather in the medicine den, but it wasn't an easy task to force down all the meat mixed with a few feathers here and there.
Hearing a purr from behind him, he glanced over his shoulder and saw Mosspaw watching him shudder as he thought about disgusting robins. "You sure don't like robins," she purred.
Flamepaw shook his head violently, pushing the thought of birds to the back of his mind. A sudden gust of wind caught him off balance. Looking up at the sky, he saw clouds forming quickly with the scent of rain in the air.
"It's going to rain soon," Mosspaw meowed urgently. "I'm going to go settle down for the night before it arrives."
Flamepaw touched his nose to her ear affectionately. "See you tomorrow."
As fast as he could, Flamepaw randomly grabbed a squirrel for himself as well as a rabbit for Jayfeather and Briarlight. He raced across the clearing to the medicine den, but the rain was too fast. He had to run the last few pawsteps through the rain that was steadily getting heavier.
Entering the den, he shook some of the rain off and carried the fresh-kill further into the den. Placing it down, he turned to focus on grooming all the rain off him. When he was finished, he quickly stuck the squirrel in his nest before returning to the rabbit.
Picking it up, he brought it over to Briarlight, who looking drowsy in her nest.
"Here," Flamepaw meowed, laying the rabbit down in front of the she-cat. "That's for you and Jayfeather. Where is he, anyway?"
"I'm not sure; he hasn't come back yet since he left before sunrise," Briarlight answered, lifting her head to sniff the rabbit. Flamepaw watched her, wondering why Jayfeather was spending so much time with Breezepelt and away from camp. Cats were starting to talk.
A cat brushed through the entrance of the den. Flamepaw turned around, wondering what self-respecting cat would go out in rain like this to travel to the medicine den, when he saw that it was only Blossomfall.
"You again?" he meowed, not having forgotten the way she had treated him like a kit. "Now what is it? Are you here to ask if you and Toadstep can be excused from warrior duties to sleep in the nursery together?"
Blossomfall glared at the apprentice medicine cat before meowing, "No." She was silent for a moment before she suddenly burst out, "How did you know it was Toadstep?"
"I honestly wish I hadn't, but I saw you and Toadstep together, looking deep into each other's eyes, in love," Flamepaw replied, turning away to glance at Briarlight, who was watching the two of them with amusement.
"I knew you were mooning over Toadstep when we were apprentices! So what are you here for, Blossomfall?" Briarlight purred.
"Oh . . . well, Jayfeather hasn't told me if I'm with kit yet."
"You do want to be excused from warrior duties!" Flamepaw flashed at her. Blossomfall ignored him, looking over her shoulder, only to step aside to allow another cat into the den.
"Oh, hey, Jayfeather." Flamepaw greeted his mentor before either of the two sisters could say something. "Blossomfall came to ask if she could be excused from warrior duties."
"I did not!" Blossomfall hissed. She regained her composure and looked over at the medicine cat. "I came to ask if I was with kit. Flamepaw seemed to have forgotten to tell you to check me."
Jayfeather shrugged, shaking his head. "He told me. I just forgot."
"You forgot?" Blossomfall gasped.
Flamepaw turned around to keep the other cats from seeing his expression, but he couldn't help exclaiming, "He forgot! Jayfeather forgot to check Blossomfall! How awesome is that?"
"Well, checking for kits isn't exactly a top priority of mine right now," Jayfeather meowed flatly. Flamepaw turned back around to stare at Jayfeather.
No kidding, he thought. His top priority is Breezepelt it seems.
"Anyways, yes; you do have kits, Blossomfall. Now leave me be," Jayfeather meowed, sitting down to stare eerily at the she-cat.
"I am?" Blossomfall squealed, not noticing the weird look he was giving her with his blind eyes. "Should I move into the nursery now?"
"You do want to stop doing warrior duties!" Flamepaw exclaimed. "Admit it! Confess! Confess! Confess!"
"No . . . You don't have to go to the nursery yet," Jayfeather muttered. "You can still hunt perfectly well. In about a quarter moon you can move in, but for now just avoid fighting ShadowClan."
"Okay," Blossomfall purred. "Thanks, Jayfeather." She turned to leave and trotted out of the medicine den.
"Oh; is that for us, Flamepaw?" Jayfeather asked, finally noticing the rabbit still sitting in front of Briarlight. Flamepaw nodded, and Jayfeather acknowledged his nod with a flick of his ears. Flamepaw shook his head, padding over to his nest.
How in StarClan does Jayfeather know what I'm doing?
Flamepaw settled down to chomp on his squirrel, ripping a few bites from it. Suddenly he wished he had chosen a mouse; the squirrel was almost as bad as a robin, what with half of it being fur.
He forced it down, finally able to stop eating and start grooming himself. When he was about halfway down his tail, his vision suddenly flickered, then became black, as if night had fallen at the time of the new moon. He let out a sharp cry, stumbling out of his nest in search of Jayfeather. Was this what it was like to be blind?
Suddenly he felt fur press against him comfortingly. "Relax," he heard Jayfeather murmur. "StarClan is trying to tell us something."
Flamepaw took a deep breath, relieved to be beside his mentor. Was Mosspaw having this happen to her as well?
Something flickered at the edge of his vision, and he eagerly turned to it, only to see large white fangs glistening before they disappeared. A heartbeat later, a pair of eyes appeared, staring straight at Flamepaw. They seemed to be beckoning him to come, come forward. But Flamepaw was frozen stiff with fright. The eyes closed and disappeared, and a low growl was heard before Flamepaw's sight returned.
Breathing hard, Flamepaw swayed on his paws, feeling Jayfeather come up and steady him. The young apprentice looked up at his mentor, eyes full of terror. "What was that?" he breathed.
Jayfeather shook his head, unable to answer. He had never seen anything like that before. There was something familiar to the way the fangs were shaped, but he couldn't place where he might've seen them before.
"Here," Jayfeather murmured, guiding Flamepaw back to his nest. "You should try to get some sleep. If you have any more dreams or visions about that . . . whatever it was, tell me."
Flamepaw nodded, lowering himself down shakily and curling up. It took him quite a while to fall asleep, but when he finally did, his dreams were undisturbed and he slept peacefully.
A/N: So what did you think? Please send me a review; I love reviews! (And I'm not getting enough of them...)
Next chapter is going to be awesome; according to my standards, anyway. Keep watch for it! And review while you're waiting! It might make chapter 9 come sooner...
Oh yeah; if you see any mistakes, please mention it to me. It would be greatly appreciated.