New chapter guys! Today, we'll meet Hailbreeze in further detail!
Silverpaw was unnerved.
Hailbreeze stood tall. His eyes had not a flicker of emotion, looking cold and hard like chips of grey ice. Silverpaw, not wanting to be scolded like Stormpaw did on his first day of apprenticeship, stayed quiet. But his mentor was silent, looking as if he would rather be anywhere else at that moment.
Just as he opened his mouth to speak, Hailbreeze looked directly at him. Silverpaw closed his mouth quickly, waiting for instruction.
"Today," Hailbreezes voice was deep, but not unpleasant, "I will be assessing your endurance to see how to start your training,"
I thought we were supposed to tour the territory? Silverpaw shrugged inwardly.
He followed his mentor out of the gorse tunnel, remembering how he'd gone the same way with Kestrelpaw just that morning. Something ached in his heart as he remembered his sister and Amberclaw.
Silverpaw shook the thought from his mind. As they reached the fallen log, Hailbreeze turned around stiffly.
The dark tom's hackles raised. "You will run from this log to Owl Tree and back."
"But I don't know where that is!" Silverpaw objected, nose twitching. Hailbreeze's eyes narrowed.
"Then you look around until you find it," Hailbreeze growled in response. "That is an order."
Silverpaw raced through the undergrowth. A thick tendril of bramble swept the ground from underneath his paws. Silverpaw landed on his side with a gentle oof. Scrambling back up, he continued to run. Ears back, eyes screwed up, he streaked through the bushes, branches and leaves slapping his face. Silverpaw skidded on a patch of wet earth, almost falling into a small stream. He carefully picked away across it, wincing at the cold dampened his belly fur.
Suddenly, Silverpaw realized an important thing.
He had absolutely no idea where he was going.
For everything, he could be running in the wrong direction!
Stopping, Silverpaw opened his mouth. He had often overheard Featherpaw and Rainpaw discussing the pungent odor that the owl had left in its tracks. He snuffled around in the leaves, mewing in surprise as a paw sized object fell into his open mouth. Spitting it out, Silverpaw turned the pod over with a claw. The pellet consisted of short brown fur, marrow, and a skull.
Silverpaw looked up cautiously.
A huge oak, tall with gnarled, twisted roots, stood before him. In the upmost part of the bark contained a knotted hole.
Silverpaw turned tail and ran, leaping over the stream. He missed by a tail-length and plunged into icy waters. The water went up to his chest at the deepest part. Without hesitation, he darted out and shook while he ran. Water splattered onto nearby leaves, dripping and wetting the ground.
Panting, he stopped in front of Hailbreeze, shoulders hunched. His mentor took in Silverpaw with narrowed eyes, from his drenched form to his exhausted stance.
The grey tom leaned his snout close to Silverpaw's face, lips curled back into a scowl.
"Listen, kit. If you think that you are someone special, think again. You are nothing. Nothing. Look at yourself. A six moon old cat unable to navigate his own territory. When I was your age, I was fighting battles for my clan."
Silverpaw stared at his mentor in shock.
"If you make it to the rank of warrior, although I doubt you will, you'll be struck down in your first battle. Unless I can knock some sense into you before your timely death, you won't make it past this moon."
"Now you better go on your little excursion once more, before you pass from a mere chill."
Silverpaw's lungs burned. But not from his weariness.
Anger burned deep in his very being.
Silverpaw bit back a retort, forcing a respectful expression to his face as he nodded to Hailbreeze.
Why do you hate me?
EPICLINEBREAKHERETROLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLHERPADERPDERPDERP
Silverpaw collapsed into the medicine den, dry heaving as he convulsed on the ground. Pinespring had not moved from his post beside Amberclaw. To his immense relief, Silverpaw's kin was still breathing. Flamekit was asleep, lulled by soothing herbs and poppy seeds.
Kestrelpaw noticed Silverpaw and rushed to him, eyes concerned.
Instead of asking him what happened as he expected, Kestrelpaw simply shook his head in disapproval.
"He shouldn't be training you this hard," The dark brown tabby sighed. Silverpaw coughed.
Kestrelpaw pawed a small, delicate flower toward Silverpaw.
"I suppose I can give you some chamomile. Just chew it up and swallow."
Silverpaw felt better almost instantly after gulping the plant down.
"How are they?" Silverpaw asked, gesturing at the two ginger cats.
"Flamekit will be better in no time. Amberclaw- only time will tell," Kestrelpaw looked at him sadly.
Feeling worse than he had when he walked in, Silverpaw padded into the apprentice's den quietly, crestfallen.
Featherpaw looked at him excitedly.
"We're denmates now!" The light tabby she-cat declared.
Aspenpaw trotted into the den, offering the haunch of a rabbit to him.
"No thanks, I'm not hungry," Silverpaw lied between his teeth. At that precise moment, his stomach rumbled loudly.
Aspenpaw's eyes sparkled with amusement. "Who isn't hungry?"
Silverpaw grinned sheepishly.
Tearing into it, he purposefully smacked his mouth loudly. Featherpaw's lip curled back in mock disgust. Silverpaw pushed the rabbit to the tabby she-cat.
"You can have the rest. I was hungry, but not anymore," Featherpaw grimaced.
Aspenpaw gestured to a nest at the edge of the den.
"That was Sparrowpaw-no, Sparrowcloud's nest. It's yours now,"
Muttering a quick thanks, Silverpaw settled into his nest. The moss smelled stale and crunched under him. He would have to change it tomorrow.
Closing his eyes, he awaited the relief of sleep.
Will Amberclaw make it?
Hint: If you've read battles of the clans, you know the answer!
QOTD: What do you think about Kestrelpaw?