Chapter 3

"Windy Terrain."

3/7/17 - 3/8/17

Warm gusts of wind blows through the moorlands short grass. Most WindClan cats love the feel of the wind ruffling their fur…

Spiderpaw doesn't.

He almost kicked a chunk of dirt out of the ground as he struggles to catch up to a brown rabbit. Spiderpaw growls and picks up the pace, determined not to let the strong wind push him around. Just as Spiderpaw jumps forward, he lands on the rabbit and rolls with it around the grass.

The rabbit scratches him feebly and Spiderpaw ends up rolling into the stream. The rabbit breaks free with three scratches on its flank and runs into the forest.

"That was just lousy!"

Spiderpaw glares at the light brown, dark spotted she cat standing with a pretty silver she cat.

"What kind of WindClan cat can't even catch and kill a rabbit?"

"That's enough, Cheetahpaw." Violetbloom says sternly. She looks back on Spiderpaw.

"Come on. Let's see Hazelheart before he gets sick."

Cheetahpaw scoffs. "If he gets sick it's his own fault."

Spiderpaw growls and picks himself out of the water as he pads across the hill to meet Brackenfall near the camp.

"What happened to you?"

"Spiderpaw lost a rabbit, again!" Cheetahpaw said rudely. Violetbloom growls at her apprentice as she leads her away.

Spiderpaw flattens his ears. "The rabbit got away, it ran away to ThunderClan."

Brackenfall sighs irritably, and Spiderpaw feels even worse about his failure.

"... It's fine. It's almost Green Leaf, there's plenty of rabbits around this season."

"I tried!" Spiderpaw exclaims. Brackenfall looks at him. "I know you did."

Spiderpaw grabs a finch and eats near the gorse bush nursery. A white flash of fur made Spiderpaw jump with fright, and Cheetahpaw grabs the rabbit immediately.

"Wow. You can't even catch a dead rabbit. That is truly sad." She snickers. Cheetahpaw grabs the rabbit and left with the other warriors laughing. Spiderpaw sees his sister, Softpaw, quickly looking away from him as she follows Hazelheart inside the crevice.

Spiderpaw feels his anger boiling again.

Why did you have to become a medicine cat? You promised me that it'll be us against cats like Cheetahpaw.

A white flash catches his eye and looks down to see a rabbit, and Grassclaw laughing.

"Here, you should eat something more fitting for a WindClan cat."

Spiderpaw snorts and grabs the rabbit and throws it in Grassclaw's face. The dark grey tom narrows his eyes green eyes on the apprentice.

"You disrespectful-!" Before Grassclaw could strike him, Brackenfall coughs and grabs his attention.

"Did you see what he did? He disrespected a warrior!"

Brackenfall flicks his ear. "I saw Spiderpaw disrespect an apprentice rather than a warrior. I find it revolting when young cats are wasting their time picking on apprentices. Why don't you go hunting while the day is still going, Grassclaw?"

Grassclaw gives Spiderpaw a glare before padding away from him.

"Spiderpaw, you need to control your temper before you do something you'll regret."

Spiderpaw was inside of an old fox burrow with Cheetahpaw after a rainstorm appeared. The two being the only warrior apprentices in their Clan, Spiderpaw feels disgust for having to share the same air space with the stuck up she cat.

Cheetahpaw has done nothing but tease him since kit-hood.

"You're too big to be a WindClan cat!"

"How come your father doesn't come to see you? Are you defective?"

It was always one thing after another when it comes to Cheetahpaw. In the midst of his anger, Spiderpaw slowly becomes closer to sleep…

Spiderpaw opens his eyes and sees himself on a steep cliff mountainside. He gasps and backs up for his back to meet a wall, his paws struggle to stay on the small path to keep himself from plunging into the abyss below him.

A low cry of a dog made him hold his breath. Spiderpaw looks over his shoulder. He sees a big, shaggy dog creeping around the corner, glaring its yellow eyes on Spiderpaw in the shadows…

Hold on… Brackenfall told me dogs don't usually have yellow eyes.

The "dog" steps out of the shadows and reveals its grey and white fur. Ears pricked with interest, the "dog" made its way toward Spiderpaw with its huge paws.

Spiderpaw, feeling to have no other options, moves along the small path. The "dog" picks up on his plan and charges behind the WindClan apprentice.

Spiderpaw feels its teeth in his tail and lifting him off the ground. Spiderpaw kicks his back leg in the "dog's" eye, prompting it to let go, and drop Spiderpaw off the cliff.

No!

Spiderpaw kicks his foreleg with effortless results and immediately blacks out. He hears a voice.

"Snow of the rose and night of the falcon, spider woven in web of lies, a restless owl and a towering beech. All must go to the mountain and fight the ancient enemy of cats or risk the fall of the Clans forever."

Spiderpaw's eyes open immediately. He sees the sunlight outside of the fox burrow, and makes his way out to greet the puddle covered camp.

"Move, chubby." Cheetahpaw shoulders Spiderpaw aside with a snooty look.

"Brat." Spiderpaw spits at her. He, however, is still thinking about that dream. And that dog…

No. That looked nothing like a dog, far from it.