A/N: We're really into this story, and we're glad other people like it too! All the new characters might seem a little confusing, but don't worry, you won't need to know them all. The ones that are essential to the plot we'll be introducing, and the other apprentices will just be minor characters. Similarly, you won't need to know all their mentors; if that comes up in the story, we'll just tell you who the apprentice's mentor is.
I don't think we've mentioned this before, but we do not own Warriors or any of the characters (not that we used any of them). The only things we own are our OCs (of which there are many).
Enjoy!
Chapter 17 | A New Hope
"Accept a rogue?" Lightningclaw was aghast and the two lions winced.
"Lightningclaw," Swiftbreeze said reasonably, "if we accepted Frostfur and Windrunner and Riverclaw and their cubs, we should allow Sunrise into the Clan. He's Yellowtail's mate."
"I don't know what I would do without him," Yellowtail whispered. "He and my cubs are my life."
"I guess we could try it," Lightningclaw mused, settling down. "But if he shows any signs of disloyalty…." His eyes hardened. The lions didn't have to ask what Lightningclaw would do.
"Thanks, Lightningclaw!" Yellowtail squealed, elated. "Sunrise is going to be so happy!"
()()()()
Five moons later, Swiftbreeze returned to her den to find Hollycub telling her littermates Honeycub and Dustcub furiously, "No, you can't get in here! The herbs in here are dangerous!"
Swiftbreeze agreed, "Yes, cubs. The medicine den isn't a playpen."
"But we're bored!" protested Honeycub.
"Yeah, and Poppycub dared us to get honey," Dustcub piped up.
Swiftbreeze sighed. She ducked into her den and returned with some honeycomb. "This is for all of you except Poppycub. Tell Dawncub, Stormcub, Thundercub and Falconcub they can have some honey. Poppycub can't have any."
The cubs raced off. "Wait!" Swiftbreeze called. "Hollycub, come back!" The black cub turned and padded back.
"What is it?" Hollycub asked.
Swiftbreeze waited until no one could hear her. "In a moon, you'll be ready to be apprenticed," she began.
Immediately Hollycub squeaked, "Can I be your apprentice? I want to be your apprentice! Please please please? I really want to be a medicine wolf!"
Swiftbreeze laughed and said, "All right. You can be my apprentice, I promise. That was what I was going to ask, too."
"Thank you Swiftbreeze!" Hollycub darted back to the nursery. "Falconcub, I bet you can't find a beetle faster than Thundercub!"
Swiftbreeze sighed as she watched the energetic cubs. I'm older than Yellowtail now. I'll probably die in another twenty seasons. And look at all these cubs… The IceClan invasion will happen soon and we'll be spread thin trying to protect our territory and the cubs. I hope the invasion happens after the cubs have had a chance to train. Luckily IceClan won't have a reason to invade soon since they don't know we have cubs.
()()()()
One day, Riverclaw, Lightningclaw, and Yellowtail came back to camp with seven IceClan warriors following them: Quietrain, Growlthroat, Ferncloud, Redheart, Firefoot, Hazeltail, and Songbird. The cubs, who were playing in the clearing, flattened their ears and bared their tiny little teeth at the warriors. Thundercub snarled softly, "Intruders! How dare they come into our camp?" Frostfur came trotting over and put herself between the IceClan warriors and the cubs, as though shielding them.
She growled through gritted teeth, "I don't know, Thundercub, but the warriors must have good reason to bring them to camp."
Windrunner ran over to the IceClan warriors and circled them, growling. Sunrise came also, baring his teeth. Although he hadn't been to a Howl Time before, he felt fiercely loyal to WaterClan, and he knew that IceClan was an evil Clan.
After talking with Redheart, Lightningclaw raised his head and announced in a clear, strong voice, "These seven warriors wish to join WaterClan. They do not agree with the evil of IceClan, and wish to join us."
Songbird nodded and added, "Yes. We do not like what IceClan and Snowstar have been doing, which includes torturing SnowClan warriors and brutally raising our cubs to fight like monsters. My only cub, Blackcub, was tortured and killed to make an example. We wish to join WaterClan."
Frostfur called out, "FrostClan and ThornClan have long been known to be sneaky. What if these warriors are here to spy?" The IceClan warriors looked shocked at the very idea of them spying, but said nothing.
Riverclaw responded, "Lightningclaw, Yellowtail, and I are well aware of these possibilities. However, we should not judge each other just because they come from a hated Clan. We will give them a chance to prove that they really are loyal to WaterClan." Turning his head to the IceClan warriors, he said, "But don't think that you are off the hook. We will be closely guarding you, but if you prove yourselves to be loyal WaterClan warriors, we will trust you as full Clanmates." The IceClan warriors nodded in agreement.
Lightningclaw spoke to the Clan, "These warriors are Growlthroat, Quietrain, Ferncloud, Redheart, Firefoot, Hazeltail, and Songbird." Then he said to them, "You can go collect moss for your nest. Sunrise and Riverclaw will go with you." With that, they filed out through the fern tunnel.
()()()()
One moon later, Thundercub, Dawncub, Falconcub, Stormcub, Poppycub, Dustcub, Honeycub, and Hollycub stood proudly, with their fur well groomed and their eyes sparkling in excitement. Lightningclaw stood in front of them, with a proud expression on his face.
Lightningclaw said, "Thundercub, Dawncub, Falconcub, Stormcub, Poppycub, Dustcub, Honeycub, and Hollycub, please come forward." All eight stepped forward, their eyes shining. Lightningclaw continued, "From this day forward until you receive your warrior names, or medicine wolf name, you will be known as Thunderpaw, Dawnpaw, Falconpaw, Stormpaw, Poppypaw, Dustpaw, Honeypaw, and Hollypaw. Thunderpaw will be with Redheart, Dawnpaw with Windrunner, Falconpaw with Firefoot, Stormpaw with Riverclaw, Poppypaw with Songbird, Dustpaw with Growlthroat, Honeypaw with Hazeltail, and Hollypaw with Swiftbreeze."
Lightningclaw took a step back, and, raising his eyes to the sky, he howled, "Thunderpaw! Dawnpaw! Falconpaw! Stormpaw! Poppypaw! Dustpaw! Honeypaw! Hollypaw!" The rest of the Clan joined in, raising their voices to welcome the new apprentices.
Lightningclaw raised his voice and announced, "One more thing. Ferncloud is expecting cubs! So is Quietrain!" The Clan fell silent for a moment, but then burst into a volley of congratulations for Redheart, Ferncloud, Quietrain, and Growlthroat.
The warrior apprentices all swarmed out the exit to camp on a tour of the territory, Windrunner and Riverclaw carefully watching the FrostClan warriors. Soon Hollypaw, Lightningclaw, and the lions were the only ones left in the near-empty camp. Yellowtail and Sunrise left on hunting patrol, and Lightningclaw went to patrol the ThornClan border.
"Can we start training now?" squeaked Hollypaw. "Dustpaw's always getting thorns stuck in his paw. Actually, can we tour the territory? I want to- No wait! I'm going to sleep in the apprentice den!" Hollypaw let out a high-pitched squeal. "Actually- no wait-"
It was obvious that Hollypaw was too excited to decide on something. Swiftbreeze laughed with her energetic apprentice and wondered how in MoonClan she was going to train this energy ball. "Let's go get some herbs and I'll show you the territory on the way. Then I'll show you how to get rid of a thorn in someone's paw."
"YES YES YES!" Hollypaw bounced around until Swiftbreeze hauled her through the entrance by her scruff.
"If you don't calm down I'll feed you poppy seeds," Swiftbreeze half-jokingly warned.
Hollypaw immediately became more subdued. Even she knew that poppy seeds would put her to sleep and she didn't want to sleep through her first day of training. "What's that?" she asked, pointing to the Cold Cave entrance.
"That's the Cold Cave," Swiftbreeze explained.
"Ooh! Windrunner told me about it!" Hollypaw kept on chattering until Swiftbreeze faced her and Hollypaw ran into Swiftbreeze's flank.
"What did I tell you?" Swiftbreeze chided firmly.
"Sorry."
Swiftbreeze sighed. "This is watermint," she said, pointing to a clump of lush blue-green leafy plants. "It grows in water and is used to treat bellyache."
Hollypaw screwed up her eyes, thinking. "I didn't see much of it. Do we need to get more?"
"Yes, we do," Swiftbreeze said, impressed.
Immediately Hollypaw carefully and deftly plucked the best watermint leaves. "Can I bring these back to camp? I remember where it is."
"Wait," Swiftbreeze said. She pointed with her tail to a clump of leafy green plants. "That is borage," she explained. "It is used to help-"
"Oh, I know, I know!" Hollypaw interrupted. "Borage is used to help queen's milk flow. We will need some for Ferncloud (I noticed that she is expecting cubs) when she moves to the nursery. And, I think Quietrain might be expecting cubs. She might just be fat, but I don't know."
Swiftbreeze was impressed. "How do you know all this stuff? I never taught you anything."
Hollypaw replied happily, "Well, one day I noticed that Ferncloud was a little slower than usual, and now I'm kinda noticing Quietrain looks heavier too. I know about the borage because, well, I don't know. I think I remember smelling it in the nursery because you fed it to my mother, and her milk flowed heavier."
"Wow," Swiftbreeze breathed.
Hollypaw asked, "Can I go drop off these herbs back to the camp?"
"Sure," Swiftbreeze said. Hollypaw dashed off to camp. "Better burn off some energy," she muttered under her breath. She couldn't believe how smart her apprentice was. Hollypaw's eyes missed nothing!
Hollypaw was back in a blink of an eye and seemed less energetic from the sprint. "Where next?"
"I'll show you the territory and where everything grows," Swiftbreeze said. They patrolled FrostClan and ThornClan and met up with the other apprentices at the Howl Time place.
By the time Hollypaw and Swiftbreeze got back to camp, it was almost twilight. Swiftbreeze went out hunting and told Hollypaw she could have something from the fresh-kill pile. The other apprentices and their mentors thundered back into camp right before Swiftbreeze returned.
Honeypaw and Dustpaw, Hollypaw's littermates, settled next to her on the flat rocks.
"Growlthroat showed me how to hunt!" squeaked Dustpaw.
"But you didn't catch anything," Honeypaw pointed out.
"Swiftbreeze is going to show me how to hunt tomorrow," Hollypaw said. "I'm going to hunt and fight and heal for WaterClan!" She growled in a slightly squeaky way.
Honeypaw laughed and said, "Well, Firefoot and Hazeltail showed Falconpaw and I how to collect moss!"
"That doesn't sound very interesting," Dustpaw said hesitantly.
"It's not," Honeypaw sighed, dramatically flopping a paw over her head. "It's the most boring thing ever…"
"Honeypaw's just mad because Hazeltail wouldn't let her pretend to be leader at the Howl Time place," Falconpaw teased, joining the conversation.
"Honeypaw!" Dustpaw gasped. "You tried to be leader?!"
"Um…."
"Honestly, I wanted to pretend to be leader too," Falconpaw defended. "But, um, I have more self-control."
"You do not!" Honeypaw snapped. She tackled Falconpaw, who quickly rolled out of her grasp.
"Hey!" Falconpaw teased. "Tackling me is against the Rules of Apprenticeship. I'm going to get Firefoot, my mentor, to ratify that."
"Just you? Only tackling you is against the rules?" Hollypaw checked.
"Yes."
Immediately Hollypaw lunged for Honeypaw and pinned her. "Hey!" Honeypaw protested, but she couldn't get out of Hollypaw's death grip. "You wait until Hazeltail's made me a warrior and you won't be able to tackle me! Hazeltail's better than your mentor!"
"No trash talk," Falconpaw warned.
"You are not a warrior yet," Dustpaw pointed out.
"I will be!"
Honeypaw finally got Hollypaw off her by enlisting Falconpaw. "Falconpaw! Help me!"
All littermates, Thunderpaw, Dawnpaw, Stormpaw, and Poppypaw came bounding over, each with fresh-kill in their jaws. Just as Falconpaw lept to Honeypaw's rescue, Stormpaw came charging in and bowled him over. Dawnpaw came and shoved Hollypaw off of Honeypaw, mock fighting her. Soon, all the apprentices were engaged in a huge mock battle.
Lightningclaw, Frostfur, Swiftbreeze, and Songbird stood nearby, watching the fighting apprentices with amusement. "They'll make great warriors one day," remarked Lightningclaw.
"Yes," Swiftbreeze laughed. "Looks like my apprentice doesn't need battle training." Indeed, Hollypaw had dominated Honeypaw and it took Falconpaw, Thunderpaw, and Dustpaw together to get her off Honeypaw.
"Look at Thunderpaw!" exclaimed Redheart as he padded up to join the other warriors. "He's using that battle move I showed him!" All the warriors watched as Thunderpaw lunged up, and instead of squashing Dustpaw, dived under him and kicked Dustpaw across the clearing. Then he raced over and mock scratched his belly.
"Don't stay up late!" Frostfur and Windrunner called to their cubs. "And don't disturb Yellowtail's cubs! They're two moons younger than you are."
"We won't and we won't," chirped Falconpaw.
"Isn't Falconpaw so smart and cute?" Honeypaw fawned to Hollypaw.
"Um, I guess so," Hollypaw said. Being a medicine wolf apprentice, she had no interest in Honeypaw's love life nonsense. "Bye." She padded to her nest in the medicine den.
Honeypaw kept gazing after Falconpaw. She whispered to Dawnpaw, "Do you think Falconpaw notices me?"
"Males don't notice anything," scoffed Dawnpaw. "Wait, do you like him?"
"Keep it a secret!" Honeypaw growled.
"All right," Dawnpaw agreed, a little taken aback at Honeypaw's sharp tone. The two she-wolves curled up in their nests next to each other. They'd been friends since their birth.
Falconpaw tugged his bit of moss next to Dawnpaw and Dustpaw. He'd liked Honeypaw and Dawnpaw as friends since he was two moons old, but he wasn't blind. He could tell that Honeypaw kept sneaking looks at him. But training came first. Once he was a warrior, then maybe he'd have a mate. He whispered to Dustpaw, "Who's your mentor?"
"Growlthroat," whispered Dustpaw. "Who's yours?"
"Firefoot."
"Be quiet!" Thunderpaw growled. "Some of us are trying to sleep!"
"Yeah, guys," Dawnpaw agreed.
"Sorry," whispered Dustpaw and Falconpaw.
A/N: Sorry about all the confusing characters! For now, you just need to know about Lightningclaw, Yellowtail, Swiftbreeze, Frostfur, and possibly Riverclaw. Later on a couple of the apprentices will become important but we're really planning on developing those characters.
Thanks for reading and please review!