Chapter 9 | Legend
Lightningpaw was up at dawn the next day, ready for advanced battle training. Sparrowstar appeared in the clearing. "There's a meeting in MoonClan now, so could you get new moss for everyone's nests? When you're done we'll do three-on-one battle training."
"All right," Lightningpaw agreed. He tugged out the old, stinky moss into the forest, thinking about his dream.
He'd been hunting a mouse, but it had suddenly turned to a hamster. Lightningpaw had let it go in shock, but then an unfamiliar scent had tickled his nose. SnowClan! He'd bounded to the wolf, who'd been a pure white she-wolf with piercing green eyes. He'd attacked her, but something made him stop and the hamster appeared again. It'd turned into a cub, which suddenly grew up to apprentice size and asked him, "Can I chase your tail?"
Then he'd woken up. The dream had been strange, to say the least.
Lightningpaw put fresh, springy moss in all the nests and met Sparrowstar in the training hollow. Yellowtail, Swiftbreeze, and Stormstar were also there.
"Today you're going to have your first assessment," Sparrowstar told him, "and I'm assessing your instinctive fighting skills. It'll be a three-on-one mock fight, which I haven't taught you strategies for yet, but it's going to be made harder than usual. Once you take out a wolf, Swiftbreeze will heal them and they'll be back up in ten seconds. To win, you need to take out all the wolves at the same time and then fight Swiftbreeze, while at the same time keeping her away from her herbs, which are going to be on the edge of the clearing, and keeping her away from the wolves. She's going to fight dirty, too. And if one of the warriors injures you, the fight's over and you lose."
Lightningpaw quickly blunted his claws while Yellowtail and Swiftbreeze retracted theirs.
"Ready," called Swiftbreeze, "start!"
Stormstar and Sparrowstar leaped onto Lightningpaw and pinned him down. He thrashed and was suddenly almost free when Yellowtail jumped in and pretended to claw him. They were minor cuts due to Lightningpaw's wriggling, though, so Lightningpaw wasn't out. He swept her legs, and kicked his back legs out, taking out Stormstar, who'd been sneaking up behind him. He clawed both Sparrowstar and Yellowtail, slicing down Yellowtail's stomach. Stormstar got back up and swept Lightningpaw's legs, and reared up to deliver the fight-stopper. Lightningpaw swept his legs and he hit the ground hard. Lightningpaw battered Sparrowstar's head, and she was out.
Lightningpaw stomped on Stormstar's belly, slicing it, and he was out again. Lightningpaw reared up to meet Yellowtail, and they traded blows. Lightningpaw was tiring from his burst of energy taking out the other two wolves. Suddenly Sparrowstar was there and she knocked Lightningpaw down. All three wolves tried to smack Lightningpaw at the same time, but he rolled out and they were suddenly all in one spot, ready to be attacked.
Lightningpaw got them all out and swiveled to face Swiftbreeze, but she suddenly smacked him from the back and sliced his ears. While he was still lying on the ground, noting that Swiftbreeze really was fighting dirty, Swiftbreeze almost got him out by slicing down his stomach. Lightningpaw scooted back just in time and Swiftbreeze's paw passed through fur. Swiftbreeze scampered to her "herbs", but Lightningpaw was distracted. He scrambled to his paws awkwardly, but Stormstar had been healed and he attacked. Swiftbreeze was attacking too. Stormstar pinned down Lightningpaw, but Lightningpaw head-butted Stormstar and sliced up his side, getting him out again. Then Sparrowstar and Yellowtail were up again.
With a roar, Lightningpaw finally understood how to win the fight, and he dragged Swiftbreeze to the middle of the clearing to get her out. He battered her head. She fought back with slices and bites but Lightningpaw got her out. No one else could heal, so after that, it was easy to defeat the rest of the wolves. Chest heaving, Lightningpaw looked down victoriously, all his opponents defeated.
Sparrowstar got to her paws gracefully. "You realized how to win the fight," she said, eyes gleaming. "You'd be surprised how many apprentices haven't realized that the medicine lion or wolf is the one to take down first. They just keep fighting and every single one of them has been defeated, even if they finally figured it out at the end. Awesome job, Lightningpaw. You passed that assessment with flying colors. Even if you didn't take out Swiftbreeze, your fighting skills alone would've secured your victory."
"Thanks," Lightningpaw said.
"But there's one more assessment you're doing today."
"What is it?"
Sparrowstar launched herself at Lightningpaw. Lightningpaw immediately dodged. "Was that the assessment?"
"No, but you have good reflexes. This is the assessment." Sparrowstar, Stormstar, Swiftbreeze, and Yellowtail held Lightningpaw down. More MoonClan warriors appeared to hold him down. Silverflame took Sparrowstar's place; Oakfur took Swiftbreeze's place; and Cloverpaw and Mousepaw together took Yellowtail's place.
"What's going on?" Lightningpaw cried.
"Now!" called Sparrowstar. She, Swiftbreeze, and Yellowtail dove in and started tickling Lightningpaw. He couldn't resist, and soon he was squirming around, laughing hard. Suddenly, the wolves and lions disappeared and a shadow loomed over Lightningpaw.
He scrambled to his paws and looked up. "Leopardclaw?" He was still squirmy and kind of distracted and all over the place instead of focusing on one thing due to his tickling.
Leopardclaw growled, "Just try to defeat me, apprentice!" Leopardclaw was a huge MoonClan warrior and a legendary warrior. He was a legend in WaterClan. It was said that he once defeated the whole of FrostClan with only his claws and his wits, but mostly his claws. Lightningpaw's eyes stretched wide. Was he really going to have to defeat Leopardclaw to pass the assessment? He hoped not.
In an instant, Lightningpaw was pinned down and Leopardclaw had clawed his stomach open and sliced his face. He wasn't actually hurting Lightningpaw though; it was a mock fight. Lightningpaw looked helplessly to Sparrowstar on the edge of the clearing. Her blank face offered no help.
Lightningpaw was on his own.
He ducked and rolled into a tiny space that wasn't pinning him and sprang to his paws. Leopardclaw was already rearing. Lightningpaw reared to meet him, but Leopardclaw was still two tail-lengths above him. For the first time, Lightningpaw realized that there was no way he could win the fight. The best he could do was to delay his defeat.
He ducked and rolled, making himself a smaller target, and at the same time he swept out Leopardclaw's legs. But somehow Leopardclaw twisted in midair and landed on Lightningpaw, crushing the breath out of him. Lightningpaw knew there was no getting out. "I… surrender," he growled. There was no way he would say those words ever again.
Instantly Leopardclaw jumped off of Lightningpaw and helped him up. "Great job, apprentice! You're the hardest single wolf I've ever fought! That duck-and-roll move was so slippery!"
Lightningpaw sighed inwardly with relief. If Leopardclaw himself was complimenting Lightningpaw, then he'd probably passed the assessment.
Sure enough, Sparrowstar came up and chimed, "That was the greatest fighting display I've ever seen! You pass this assessment and the next twenty after it! Honestly, I was expecting you to give up once Leopardclaw pinned you the first time, but you escaped! You're better than me at fighting now! Can you teach me that?"
Lightningpaw was jostled and complimented by everyone in the clearing. Once everyone had gone back to MoonClan and the two lions were cleaning up, Stormstar and Quailfur appeared.
"That was amazing, Son!" Stormstar complimented. "You're getting so good at fighting that I'll bet once you're full-grown, you'll beat Leopardclaw easily!"
"Yes. Everyone was giving their strength to Leopardclaw, too," Quailfur revealed. "That's why he was so huge and strong. Great job, Lightningpaw! You'll be a warrior soon!"
His parents faded away, but Lightningpaw felt warm, happy, and content. He'd be a warrior soon! Soon, WaterClan would be back to its former glory.
Suddenly his mood turned dark. FrostClan will pay for what they've done, he thought darkly. There is no forgiving for a crime like that. Snowstar will regret that she ever decided to invade my Clan.
Swiftbreeze woke up sweating in her nest. It was hot and stuffy. Greenleaf's almost here, she thought, stretching and yawning.
She was interrupted by sounds of yowling. Swiftbreeze listened to what was going on. She couldn't figure it out.
Silence.
Yellowtail walked into the medicine den. "Lightningpaw got injured," she reported. "I think it's something related to a thorn."
Swiftbreeze laughed. "Did he step in one?" she asked, getting up and walking out.
Yellowtail walked with her. "I don't know, but he's sure making a big deal out of it." The yowling had been replaced by whimpers.
Swiftbreeze located the sound and tracked it to a large thornbush right below the leader's den, which had Lightningpaw-shaped footprints in the dust. Swiftbreeze leaned over the bush. "How did you get in here?" she asked the whimpering ball of fur. Lightningpaw's thick winter coat was being replaced by a slightly thinner summer coat, so the thorns must've pierced his skin.
"I wanted to go in the waterfall to get the dust out of my pelt but I slipped and fell in this bush," Lightningpaw mumbled, embarrassed.
Swiftbreeze tried not to laugh as she carefully pushed the thornbush apart so Lightningpaw could walk out. His pelt was covered in thorns. Most of them were just stuck in his fur, but five of them had pierced his skin: two in his pads, two in his flank, and one in the thick skin right above his stomach. One of the flank thorns had blood trickling out. "All right, come on over to the medicine den and I'll get you fixed up before training," Swiftbreeze ordered.
Sparrowstar appeared in the clearing. "Where's Lightningpaw? It's past dawn."
"He had an argument with a thornbush," Yellowtail explained as Swiftbreeze plucked the thorns out, using a bit of moss to stop the bleeding in one of them.
Swiftbreeze came over. "I think he'll be fine. If you're feeling up to it, Lightningpaw, could you get some honey from the beehive past the Cold Cave? I'm running low and I think we all deserve a honey treat. It's optional, though, if you don't want to get stung. If you do, I have plenty of dock."
"I'll do it!" Lightningpaw announced instantly.
"Are you sure? What if you get stung in one of your thorn wounds?"
"I'll survive, don't worry," Lightningpaw laughed. "Besides, honey sounds really good today." He didn't mention that after his embarrassing fall, he wanted to try and get some respect back. He knew the lions still respected him, but he didn't really respect himself. Risking bee stings for honey that could soothe a wolf's throat seemed like the perfect way to respect himself again.
The female lions probably didn't have that urge. It was probably because Lightningpaw was a male wolf that he was so willing to risk bee stings. They were tiny, but Lightningpaw was prepared to admit that they did hurt like crazy if he had more than two.
"All right," Swiftbreeze said. "Have fun!" Lightningpaw disappeared into the woods.
He trotted towards the Cold Cave and leaped gracefully over the log, heading towards a low-hanging branch with a beehive swinging in the wind. He slowed down and quieted his footsteps, careful not to alarm the bees. Then, fast as lightning, he stole some honeycomb with gooey honey along with it and shot away as fast as his paws could take him.
He wasn't fast enough. The bees stung him five times, but they were all in his tough flank and he didn't really notice the hurt. He jumped over the log to the Cold Cave and the bees suddenly stopped pursuing him. Lightningpaw panted, pushing through the ferns to camp. Swiftbreeze was there immediately, expertly pulling out the stings, rubbing dock over them, and wrapping up the honey so it wouldn't ooze out.
"Great job, Lightningpaw! This is a lot! I'll have all the honey I need for the next twelve seasons!" Swiftbreeze broke off some honeycomb and gave it to Lightningpaw. "Here. You earned this." She gave some of the more liquidy honey to herself and Yellowtail and then wrapped the rest up in a large leaf.
Sparrowstar shimmered into existence in the clearing. "Ready for training?" she asked Lightningpaw, who quickly ate the rest of his honeycomb.
"I'm ready!" he said enthusiastically. "What are we doing today?"
"We'll be doing border patrol, and then Leopardclaw is coming from MoonClan to teach you some of his techniques." Her eyes gleamed.
"His secret techniques?!" Lightningpaw gawked in disbelief, his eyes stretching wide. "He's never told those to anyone, ever!"
"He thinks you show promise. You'll be the first wolf to ever equal Leopardclaw's skill in fighting. Your final assessment will include battling him again, by the way. I expect you to beat him."
For a second, Lightningpaw felt overwhelmed that Sparrowstar wanted him to beat Leopardclaw; then he remembered that Leopardclaw would be teaching him.
"I will, don't worry." But for the first time, he did worry. He was destined to save WaterClan, and MoonClan had given him advantages, but what if he wasn't up to the task? What if WaterClan collapsed because of him?
He gave himself a shake and headed out of camp for border patrol. If WaterClan did collapse (which it wouldn't), it wouldn't be because of him. He would give his last breath, he would die fighting to save WaterClan. Nothing else mattered but the future of his Clan.
Border patrol concluded without incident, and Lightningpaw sat in the training hollow, gathering his strength and his focus for Leopardclaw's training session. Sparrowstar suddenly appeared in the clearing, bringing Leopardclaw with her. "Hi, Lightningpaw," she greeted. "Leopardclaw, I hope you teach him a lot. Lightningpaw's better than me at fighting now!"
Leopardclaw's massive bulk was thrown into shadow from where he stood. His deep voice rumbled, "Lightningpaw will learn a lot, if he is up to the task."
This sounded too much like a challenge to Lightningpaw. "I am ready," he growled. Sparrowstar stepped off to the side of the clearing.
"Prove it," Leopardclaw growled, and leaped at Lightningpaw. He ducked and rolled, but Leopardclaw was ready.
Lightningpaw's most difficult, and most important, training session had begun.