Hey guys, well I two more chapters to write if you include the epilogue, which are both going to be very exciting :D
But for now let's see a dark forest ceremony, oh and I have my summer holidays now, so LOTS OF UPDATES!
Chapter 29: Creating the ultimate warrior...
The group of apprentices gathered below the large rock in the centre of the clearing. Mysticpaw looked around, Darkclan cats were gathered all around in a large semi circle. Tigerstar stood high above them on the rock, his amber eyes boring into the new apprentice's pelts.
"Greetings Darkclan, and newcomers." Tigerstar purred with a voice like honey. Maple and Thicket looked up at the muscular warrior with wide eyes full of awe. "It is time for your apprentice ceremony, step forward."
The two she cats obeyed and stood beneath the large mossy boulder that the leader of the dark forest stood on, he looked down on the sisters with curious eyes. "I say these words before the claws of the Darkforest, as look down on these recruits, they have learnt what it means to be part of Darkclan and I make them apprentices so they can learn more." He leapt down and padded up to Thicket. "From this day, until you receive your warrior name, your name will be Thicketpaw." He glanced at Dawneyes. "Dawneyes you will mentor Thicketpaw, teach her your fierce ferocity, and teach her what it means to be in the Darkforest." He finished with a growl.
Dawneyes trotted up to Thicketpaw looking highly excited. She touched her nose to the golden brown apprentice's and together they sat in the circle, side by side. Mysticpaw nodded his approval, Dawneyes would be a good mentor. "Maple. From this day forward your name will be Maplepaw, your mentor will be Nightcloud."
Nightcloud nodded and padded over to Maple slowly, glancing up and down Maplepaw's figure, almost sizing her up. She touched her nose to Maplepaw's. "Nightcloud you have a fighter's spirit and exceptional fighting skills, I know you will pass this on to Maplepaw." Tigerstar growled.
Again the new mentor and apprentice joined the circle, and with a yowl, the cats of Darkclan began to cheer their names. "Maplepaw! Thicketpaw!"
Tigerstar raised his tail for silence. "I have another duty to perform. Redpaw, you are the oldest apprentice, and fought well in the battle with Thunderclan. It is time you became a warrior."
Redpaw bounded to his paws, making large strides over to Tigerstar with his tail high. Arrogant furball... He came to face Tigerstar, who had now leapt up on the rock once more. "I say these words before the claws of the Darkforest, this apprentice has trained hard and has become a fighter that his clan has become proud of. In return for his loyalty and ambition we make him a warrior. Redpaw, do you promise to uphold the Darkforest code, be loyal to your clan and obey the dark forest without question?" Tigerstar growled, looking down on Redpaw.
"I do." Redpaw growled, his voice full of conviction.
"Then from this day onwards, your name will be Redstorm, fight for your clan till the end of your days until you come here to help us train the next generation." Tigerstar purred. He leapt off the rock and the circle of cats started chanting the new warrior's name. Soon cats started leaking off into the forest, following a dark forest cat that would train them.
Mysticpaw padded up to Redstorm, his former den mate was grinning proudly, his amber eyes gleaming. "Congratulations, it's a great honour to have your ceremony here." Mysticpaw mewed, flicking his tail. It was unusual for a warrior and apprentice ceremony to be carried out in the dark forest, normally Breezestar led such events in the camp.
"I know right! I love my name though, cats won't forget me in a hurry!" Redstorm grinned.
Mysticpaw nodded before padding away from the new warrior, pulling faces as he turned away from him. "Mysticpaw. Your with me."
He stopped dead and raised his head, he found himself eye level with Hawkfrost. He realised he was now fully grown, and was just as big as the huge brown warrior. Hawkfrost's icy blue eyes glared into Mysticpaw's fiery amber depths, the two toms frowned at each other, weighing the other up. Mysticpaw broke the glare when he heard a slight cough. Featherpaw, Rainpaw and Clawpaw all sat in a row, looking fairly awkward. "We're still here you know." Clawpaw growled.
Hawkfrost nodded and swept his tail beckoning Mapleshade who had Thicketpaw and Maplepaw beside her to follow. Mysticpaw also realised with a groan that Redstorm was following. They all squeezed through the small, winding trails, dodging muddy puddles and sticky moss. Soon they came to a thick, green river. It flowed quickly with a dark and sticky gleam.
"As most of you know, I was from Riverclan. So I am very accustomed to swimming. But what will happen to you, if you fight near water? You live next to a lake. A shadowclan medicine cat drowned. You need to be ready for anything. Tonight we fight in the shallows, but that doesn't mean you can't drive your opponent into deeper waters." Hawkfrost finished with a grin.
"Thicketpaw and Maplepaw you just watch this time, you can learn something. However Featherpaw you will fight Rainpaw, Clawpaw you will fight Redstorm and Mysticpaw your with me." Hawkfrost continued. "Mapleshade make yourself useful and teach those two new apprentices something." Hawkfrost spat at the faded orange and white she cat. Mapleshade nodded, with a tight jaw and ushered Thicketpaw and Maplepaw to a spot away from the fighting but close enough to watch carefully.
Mysticpaw shared a curious glance with Thicketpaw, wondering if Mapleshade and Hawkfrost had ever got on well, the dark Riverclan tom obviously had no liking for the faded orange she cat. But the moment of peace did not last long, Rainpaw let out a huge battle hiss and pushed Featherpaw into the shallows of the river, the light grey she cat spluttered, coughing out the putrid green water. Her short fur was streaked with mud and her sky blue eyes were glazed with panic as the water drew her in deeper, as if it was a hungry fox, clawing her closer into its dark depths.
Rainpaw suddenly took on a look of regret as Featherpaw yowled in panic, her looked towards Hawkfrost, his amber eyes willing the dark forest warrior to do something. Hawkfrost kept a glare of thunder and sat down with his tail wrapped round his paws. Clawpaw leapt to his paws and shouted abuse at the tom but still he did nothing. All this time Featherpaw was getting weaker and weaker, her failing attempts at swimming becoming more and more futile. Redstorm glared at Hawkfrost with a hostile fire and yowling his anger at their mentor.
Mysticpaw couldn't stand it any longer, Featherpaw was now underwater, her bubbles becoming less frequent. Without a second thought, he ran towards the river and leapt in.
The dark green fog of the river dragged him down, the arms of the underwater greenery grabbed at his paws, making swimming difficult, he didn't exactly know how to swim but just trusted that his body would react appropriately. He lifted his head out of the water, and took a huge gulp of air, coughing water out as he did so, then he ducked back under the waves and swam deeper into the killer river.
After a short time searching he found Featherpaw, she was still trying to swim, but with her eyes screwed shut and her paws becoming less aimed and more flustered, she wasn't getting far. With a new found confidence, Mysticpaw pounded forwards, and grabbed the smaller she cat's scruff, he felt the air in his lungs start to run out and with huge kicks and with strangled lungs, he broke into air once again.
With a quick scan of his surroundings, he realised they were close to the bank, he continued swimming, trying to breathe through his nose, eventually he felt the mud of the bank on his wet paws and dragged Featherpaw out of the water. With a glance at his now safe burden, he collapsed to the floor and took huge gulps of air, choking on the amount he had taken in so quickly. He felt fatigue drag on his mind but pushed it back by making himself sit up. Hawkfrost nodded his approval. "Well done Mysticpaw, that took true courage. You can be sure that Tigerstar will hear about this, he will be very pleased with your act of bravery."
Mysticpaw felt a burning sensation in his chest and he realised it was anger, Hawkfrost was a brilliant swimmer, he could have rescued Featherpaw without any help or effort made, because of him Featherpaw almost had died. "Why didn't you?" Mysticpaw challenged. "It would have been easy for you, then we wouldn't have been in risk of losing two cats today!"
Hawkfrost's light blue eyes glinted, noticing his anger and slight rebellious hiss. "I wanted one of you to prove yourselves and save her, it was a test, sure not a planned one but I have learnt to take advantage of everything Mysticpaw, and in this situation you proved yourself a worthy warrior, however I want to see you fight before you do anything."
"I have fought, the battle with Thunderclan?" Mysticpaw reminded him.
"I mean a proper one, there will be one soon. Your father is having a meeting with Tigerstar and Brokenstar currently, they are discussing Darkclan's next move on Thunderclan, the plan is brilliant and very bold, but it is sure to work this time. This battle, thunderclan won't get away with just scars."
Mysticpaw glared right into the dark tom's eyes, throwing away his act of being loyal to the dark forest momentarily, he decided to let the Riverclan tom know how much hate he had to for him in that stare, Hawkfrost himself even looked intimidated.
"Now let's begin again, but this time avoid life threatening situations?" Hawkfrost growled.
Featherpaw continued to sit on the ground, her breathing ragged and her pelt fluffed up. Rainpaw refused to fight her, and sat beside her, licking her fur and quietly mewing his sincere apology. Clawpaw glared at Hawkfrost when the dark warrior had his back turned, Mysticpaw remembered his near death experience with the young tom, when they were made to go into the land of the lost souls, whisperers with tormented minds that had gone mad long ago, Clawpaw had almost died from that, and he still bared the scar, he also had never trusted any dark forest warrior since. He shared Mysticpaw's conceptions on whether the dark forest was all that they were told they were. Mysticpaw remembered being told stories of how they helped his father create Darkclan, to give a home to unwanted cats, but now it seemed like their oh so great act of kindness was just a way to have a clan full of bird brained followers.
But Mysticpaw could not afford to be rebellious, he needed to seem as loyal as possible to the dark forest, he had accidently heard a meeting where they were discussing his fate if he ever rebelled against them, everything he cared about would be tortured and killed, and once that was done and he had watched it all he would be killed too. He wished with all his heart for that horrible fate never to happen, his only option was to do as he was told and turn into the Dark forest's ultimate warrior and unhinge himself from all emotion.
"Mysticpaw! We don't have all day!" Hawkfrost snapped, calling him over. Mysticpaw decided to take his anger out in battle and without warning leapt for the dark tom, he slashed Hawkfrost's shoulder, feeling the satisfaction of the scarlet blood dripping on his claws. Hawkfrost grinned in approval, knowing his attack had surprised him, he crouched down before leaping up and pushing Mysticpaw to the floor, being slightly bigger he had an advantage, but Mysticpaw had speed. He rolled over and in a swift movement leapt to his paws and jumped over the tom, clawing his back as he did so, as he landed he tucked his head in and forward rolled away from his opponent, Hawkfrost had a clawed back, while Mysticpaw had a torn shoulder. They circled each other for a while, looking deep into each other's eyes looking for fear, anger or calculation, for any clue for when the other was going to strike.
Hawkfrost yowled and leapt forwards, grabbing Mysticpaw's head and dragging him in a messy backward roll. Mysticpaw rolled away, dodging a belly rake, getting to his paws as quick as he could he fought back his other enemy, fatigue. He breathed deeply and knowing he had to be more going for the kill he ran towards Hawkfrost, dodging the claw swipes he got, remembering everything he dodged in a zig zag pattern and leapt up to Hawkfrost's throat. He sank his claws into his neck fur and kept them there, Hawkfrost now panicking, latched his claws into Mysticpaw's sides, and sank his teeth into his neck fur. Mysticpaw felt his teeth pierce his skin, and realised with a shudder that blood was being drawn, he reached his own muzzle forward and sank his teeth into Hawkfrost's ear. The tom let go of his neck, yowling in agony as Mysticpaw tugged at his ear, knowing he had to finish it quickly.
With a last heave and a hiss, he yanked hard on Hawkfrost's ear, feeling the tom latch onto his neck again, he tightened his jaw on his neck, and Mysticpaw bit back a yowl of agony, he tightened his claws on Hawkfrost's throat, and continued to yank on his opponent's ear. Tightening his jaw, he yanked a final time on Hawkfrost, suddenly he fell backwards, with a relived sigh he felt no teeth meeting his neck, he looked up at Hawkfrost and saw him panting hard. Part of his left ear was missing, a huge tear had taken place where part of his ear used to be. Mysticpaw suddenly became aware that he was holding the ripped part of Hawkfrost's ear in his mouth, spitting it out quickly he glared at him, waiting for his next attack.
None came.
Hawkfrost's chest heaved heavily, and Mysticpaw suddenly became aware of the tear in his neck, blood was collecting on the muddy bank, and gently mixed into the water of the river, spreading out and turning a tiny patch of the river a faded red.
"Training is over, go home."
Mysticpaw looked to see Tigerstar nodding approvingly at him, he dipped his head in respect and padded up to him.
"I see you've ruined my son's good looks. Well done, you fought well and without mercy, Hawkfrost won't die from this wound but any worse and he could have. I would make you a warrior but your too young, and I want to see you fighting in the battle to come, then we will talk with Breezestar about your warrior ceremony. Now go home and get some rest, I need to have a word with my son." Tigerstar's amber eyes gleamed with approval as he padded away. Mysticpaw dipped his head, and found a patch to fall asleep on, as he closed his eyes he filled with dread, he knew when he became a warrior the Darkforest will truly begin to use him for their plans, when he became a warrior, it would all begin.
Well then, I don't know what to say..
Except:
THANK YOUUUUUU! FOR ALL THE REVIEWS, FAVORITES, FOLLOWS AND BRILLIANT PEOPLE WHO SUPPORT THIS SEREIS!
*HUG*
Thank you
Neon xx (Nemo for jayleaf1 :D )
