"No…"
Sparrowpaw blinked her eyes and shook her head disbelievingly. "Stop lying!" She screamed. Pricklestar only gazed at her sympathetically, "I'm sorry" He mewed, hanging his head, "But it's true. He lost too much blood and didn't make it. Mintwillow is devastated, and so is Bubblepaw."
A strong wind blew from outside the den. Sparrowpaw shivered in the cold air. "Why don't you go see the medicine cats," Pricklestar suggested, rubbing gently against Sparrowpaw to warm her up. The dappled she nodded, and padded out of the den.
Maybe Pricklestar didn't know the truth, maybe he is still alive and he only wanted to tease me, Sparrowpaw knew that no matter how much she thought differently, it wouldn't change the truth she knew was true. Antagonizing (Random Comment: They are annoying to Sparrowpaw, don't comment on that T.T) mews erupted from the nursery. "I'M A BIG OL' BADGER!" Smudgekit squealed loudly. Sparrowpaw twitched her ears and padded on, "Well I'm a strong warrior! I can beat a badger! I can beat ANYTHING, even Shadowclan cats!" Sandkit shot back
Shadowclan… more like Jerkclan, or Idiotclan. "Be quiet!" Shimmerkit puffed, "We are going to be made apprentices, so you'd better not distract us!" Sparrowpaw chuckled at the kits' racket, remember when she was a small kit playing with Moonberry. Those were the good old days… She sighed.
As she emerged into the usually sweet, herb smelling den, Sparrowpaw stopped and wrinkled her nose. "What is that stench!?" She exclaimed. She saw Mintwillow sitting with her head down, and Bubblepaw trying to clean up the mess of blood and used herbs. Sparrowpaw's gaze flickered to the corner of the den, where she saw Cherryclaw gazing lifelessly out at the walls of the den.
Oh Starclan, why so young? "Oh, hi Sparrowpaw" Bubblepaw said quietly, flicking her tail. "I didn't notice you were here" Sparrowpaw ignored the greeting, "How is Mintwillow coping?" She asked, staring at the non-moving she. Bubblepaw gaze a contemptuous snort. "She won't do anything. I've tried to talk to her, make compromises, and even physically bumped her, but she won't do anything but sit there and sleep! She won't even eat what I give to her!"
"Oh, she must be really sad about this, I mean, Cherryclaw was her nephew. You really can't blame her." Sparrowpaw pointed out. Bubblepaw growled with annoyance, "Well, I don't care who he is to her, I am not the only medicine cat around here."
"Oh well, I guess I'll be going then," Sparrowpaw meowed.
"Ok bye."
Sparrowpaw exited the den. She felt cold after leaving the cozy place. Fallen leaves coated the ground and more leaves kept falling. Sparrowpaw battered at one and sighed.
"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey, gather beneath the high rock for a clan meeting!" Pricklestar's bellow erupted from the high rock. Apprentice ceremony, I'm guessing.
"Today, we welcome three new apprentices into the clan!" He called proudly, "Shimmerkit, Honeykit, and Firekit, please step forward."
The three kits bounced forward, nearly toppling over one another. Shimmerkit stood in the lead, puffing out her chest in pride. "Shimmerkit, from this day forward you will be known as a Thunderclan apprentice, Shimmerpaw. Your mentor will be Thrushpelt. Thrushpelt, you have had many apprentices, and have taught them all well. I believe you will pass down your skills to young Shimmerpaw." Pricklestar announced. Shimmerpaw nuzzled her father and ran into Thrushpelt, nearly knocking him over as they touched noses. Sparrowpaw watched the eager new apprentices in amusement. Too bad my apprentice ceremony wasn't all happy and fun like that, Sparrowpaw thought.
"Firekit," Pricklestar beckoned him with his tail, "From this day forward, until you have earned your warrior name, you will be known as Firepaw, your mentor will be Dawnheart, I believe her skills will pass down to you, and will make you a great warrior" Firepaw raced over to Dawnheart, then slowed down to touch noses with her. Dawnheart smiled slightly at her new apprentice.
"Now, Honeykit," Pricklestar called gently. The small kit scrabbled onto the rock, next to her father, "Honeykit, from this day forward until you have earned your warrior title, you will be known as Honeypaw. Mousefoot, I believe you are ready for your first apprentice, so I will give you Honeypaw." Honeypaw calmly padded down next to his new mentor. Mousefoot was already looking excited. "He seems more excited than his apprentice," Heatherpaw whispered to Sparrowpaw, chuckling.
"Shimmerpaw, Firepaw, Honeypaw!" The cats chanted the names of the new apprentices. "Shimmerpaw, Firepaw, Honeypaw!" Sparrowpaw cheered along, only half paying attention to what was going on. She could only think about the notorious Shadowclan and their old belligerent leader, Wolfstar. If it weren't for him, Cherryclaw and Mosspelt… and Cherryclaw would still be alive.
"We also need a new mentor for young Airpaw, since she is no longer a Windclan apprentice" Pricklestar announced, "Airpaw, your new mentor will be Turtlemoon, since she no longer has her kits to deal with. I trust she will pass down much knowledge to Airpaw."
Airpaw purred and touched noses with her new mentor. "Dismissed!" Pricklestar finished, leaping off the rock. The cats below soon dispersed back to their dens. Oceanfall was down organizing patrols. "I want Creamfur, Dawnheart, and Firepaw to patrol the border near Shadowclan," She directed, "And for Sparrowpaw, Onefang, and I to go hunting,"
The cats on the border patrol nodded and left. "Alright," Oceanfall beckoned Sparrowpaw and Onefang, "Let's get our hunting on,"
Oceanfall took the lead and padded onward, leaving Sparrowpaw and Onefang to follow. I guess I should try to focus, so I don't make a dope out of myself, Sparrowpaw told herself, trying not to think about Cherryclaw and Shadowclan.
Onefang opened his mouth to taste the air. "I scent mouse," He grunted, "I'll go find it, and try to catch it," He turned and stalked away towards the scent. That leaves the two of us, Sparrowpaw thought.
"Sparrowpaw, do you smell that?" Oceanfall asked. "Smell wha-"Sparrowpaw broke off as she scented a shrew, "Hey, I'll try to catch that!" She said. Oceanfall purred, "Go for it, and remember to meet back at this oak by sun-high,"
Sparrowpaw dipped her head and padded off. The cool wind blew past her fur, and it was challenging for s hunter to not rustle up the leaves piled up on the ground. "I've got to be careful" Sparrowpaw whispered to herself as she stalked slowly up to the shrew. When the scrawny rodent came into sight, she flattened herself to the ground and moved slowly. I can catch this, I can catch this… The shrew looked up and ran away. "No!" Sparrowpaw yelled and she took off after the shrew. She ran as fast as her legs would carry her and pounced square on the shrew.
"Huh, Congratulations, you barely passed your first hunting assessment," A familiar deep voice rang from the bushes, "If you'd didn't run fast enough, you would have blew it." Sparrowpaw spun around, seeing Pricklestar smirking right behind her. "Assessment?" She echoed, confusing edging her voice. "Well, I wanted to… surprise you," He snickered, flicking his tail. Sparrowpaw flattened her ears and dug at the ground, "You could have told me, I might have done better if I had knew"
Pricklestar's nose twitched with annoyance, "You passed, didn't you?" He retorted, "And besides, you need to hunt well all the time, not just during an assessment." Sparrowpaw didn't reply, knowing he had a point. "Okay" She mumbled. The Thunderclan leader let out an amused snort and opened his mouth, "You might want to head back to camp, the nests in the nursery need to be taken out."
Sparrowpaw sighed, "Why me? Can't one of the newer apprentices do the dirty work?" Pricklestar narrowed his eyes and lowered his head to hers. "Don't talk back to me, I am the leader as well as your mentor, I make the decisions. Maybe you need to do more than just cleaning nests." He scolded. "No, no! Just cleaning out bedding is fine," Sparrowpaw insisted. Why is he so mean all the time? She wondered.
Sparrowpaw didn't really feel as if he were mean, she just wished he were more considerate. Maybe he is a good cat on the inside… Maybe there is a warm flame trapped inside all that ice…
She padded off to camp, ready to clean out the nests.
I need to break that ice