Chapter 5
The sound of Sootpaw and Sorrelpaw chatting about the patrol they were going to be in woke Featherpaw just as the sun was beginning to touch the horizon, a soft, pre-dawn light glowing in the apprentice's den. With a yawn, Featherpaw stood and stretched, careful not to disturb Stormpaw where he lay beside her.
"Sorry, Featherpaw, did we wake you?" Sorrelpaw mewed sheepishly, scuffling her paws in the soft moss of her nest.
"Yeah, her and every other cat in the camp." Foxpaw purred, stretching luxuriously on his back. In a heart-beat, he had jumped to his paws, shaking the moss from his dark red pelt. "Have fun on your patrol," he meowed playfully, making his way to the entrance. "I'll be hunting."
"Really?" Featherpaw pricked her ears, mewing a soft goodbye before following Foxpaw out of the apprentice den. "Sandstorm is taking me hunting, too."
Foxpaw turned dark blue eyes on her, sparking with mischief and curiosity. "Really? Maybe it's a patrol."
"Of course it's a patrol." Dustpelt was strolling towards them, his dark tabby pelt sleek. Featherpaw shied away from him, remembering the way he had snapped at her when she was still in the nursery. Foxpaw didn't seem fazed by his short-tempered mentor though, merely pricking his ears as Dustpelt approached.
"When are we leaving?" He asked, tilting his head.
"Now. Sandstorm's already waiting by the gorse tunnel." The dark tabby motioned the gorse tunnel with a flick of his tail.
"Yes, Dustpelt." Foxpaw flicked Featherpaw's shoulder with his tail tip. "Come on, Featherpaw, let's go."
The gray tabby nodded, hurrying after Foxpaw as he led the way to the gorse tunnel. Sandstorm greeted them with a nod.
"Good to see that you two are up bright and early. A lazy cat will never catch the best prey." She stood, shaking the snow from her fur as Dustpelt joined them again. "Let's go." Sandstorm took the lead up the ravine, Dustpelt right behind her and Foxpaw and Featherpaw scrambling up the ravine side by side.
"It stopped snowing," Featherpaw blinked up at the sky, which was filled with clouds, but clear of the cold flakes that layered the ground.
"That means that more prey will be out of their burrows." Foxpaw meowed enthusiastically, making a powerful leap to the top of the ravine.
"Right up until you scare it all away." Dustpelt cuffed his apprentice over the ear, and Featherpaw swallowed her purr of amusement, watching through bright eyes as Sandstorm's whiskers twitched.
"Sorry, Dustpelt." Foxpaw offered sheepishly, pushing the snow around his paws. "I'll be more quiet."
The dark tabby warrior nodded, before flicking his tail. "Let's make our way to Sunningrocks to see what prey might be catching the little bit of sunlight."
Sandstorm nodded, and Featherpaw followed her pale ginger mentor into the forest, keeping her ears pricked and her pawsteps light. Just because they were on their way to Sunningrocks didn't mean that they couldn't catch anything they found on the way.
"Do you smell anything?" Snadstorm turned, posing the question to both apprentices.
Featherpaw took a deep breath. "Dog." She observed, her soft blue eyes widening. "Should we leave?"
To her surprise, Dustpelt's whiskers twitched in amusement. "No," he meowed, motioning a worn out path winding between the trees. "Sometimes twolegs walk their dogs here. StarClan knows why." The tabby rolled his eyes, and Foxpaw playfully mimicked the motion, earning another sturdy cuff over the ear. "What about you, Foxpaw? What do you smell?"
Featherpaw watched Foxpaw take a deep breath, parting his jaws slightly. "Dog," he acknowledged, dipping his head to Featherpaw. "And mouse." His dark blue eyes scanned the bushes, and Sandstorm crouched low, flicking her tail to where the small gray creature was scampering through the snow-laden undergrowth.
"Remember our last training session…" Featherpaw heard Dustpelt exhale quietly in his apprentice's ear, earning a small, focused nod from the smaller red-ginger tom. Featherpaw watched with wide eyes as Foxpaw slid slowly towards the mouse, his pawsteps silent and his tail still. His crouch was perfectly balanced, and when he finally pounced, there was no way that the mouse was going to escape.
"Wow, Foxpaw! That was awesome!" Featherpaw bounded through the snow to where the ginger tom was pushing a small mound of snow over his prey.
He flicked his ears, bending and licking his chest fur self-consciously as Featherpaw watched with twitching whiskers. "It was really nothing…" he muttered, and Featherpaw purred.
"Well I haven't caught a mouse yet." She pointed out, even as they started moving again.
"Yet." Foxpaw's eyes flashed. "I bet you'll be the best hunter out of all of us though, with Sandstorm as your mentor." The pale ginger warrior rolled her eyes at Foxpaw's obvious attempt at flattery, and Featherpaw purred again.
"We're almost there." Dustpelt called softly, beckoning with his tail for Foxpaw to join him as he padded ahead, out onto the smooth stones that Featherpaw had only seen once—that being when she had first learned all of the borders.
"Alright, Featherpaw, let's work on that hunting crouch a little bit." Sandstorm turned, facing her on one of the open stones. The gray tabby obediently dropped into a hunting crouch, doing her best to remember from what Tawnypaw and Bramblepaw had shown them when they were kits, as well as what Sootpaw, Rainpaw, and Sorrelpaw had been showing her in their free time. Her mentor watched through sharp green eyes, careful not to miss anything. "That looks pretty good." She finally meowed, giving a nod of approval. "The other apprentices did a good job giving you tips, but I can already tell that you're a natural hunter." Her whiskers twitched. "So why don't we prove Foxpaw right?"
Featherpaw pricked her ears, sitting up. "Prove him right?"
Sandstorm nodded. "We'll see who can catch the most prey today."
"Alright." Dustpelt had padded over to stand by his friend, his amber eyes flashing. Foxpaw stood beside him, his eyes glowing with mischief. "What do you think, Foxpaw?"
"You're on." He stood, pacing around Featherpaw in a wide circle. "Whoever wins…" Featherpaw felt her paws tingling. Now it's a real challenge…! "Whoever wins get to give the other apprentice all of their elder-duties for a moon."
Featherpaw sat back on her haunches lifting her front paws and swatting playfully at the red-furred apprentice. "Are you sure you want to be taking care of the elders twice as much for an entire moon?"
Foxpaw spun to face her. "You're right, I would feel bad if you missed out on extra training for too long. So half a moon."
"Deal."
Dustpelt rolled his eyes. "If you two are done scaring all of the prey away…" Foxpaw padded back to his mentors side. "We'll keep to Sunningrocks and the forest right around it, meet back at camp at Sunhigh."
Sandstorm nodded. "Alright. Let's go, Featherpaw."
The gray tabby nodded, flicking her tail in farewell to Foxpaw before padding into the trees behind her mentor. Despite the cold, she felt the warmth of a good challenge from her paws to the tips of her ears. I'm so not taking care of the elders for you!
A short ways into the forest, Sandstorm paused, motioning with a flick of her ears a rabbit sniffing the frosty leaves of a berry bush. Featherpaw nodded, dropping into a low hunting crouch, ready to sprint if she needed to. She had an advantage, she realized, when it was snowing, her light gray pelt looking like a misplaced stone from Sunningrocks while Foxpaw's dark red-ginger fur stood out like the last berry on a dead bush. Trying to keep her weight balanced, as to not disturb the layers of snow beneath her paws, Featherpaw drug herself forward, sinking lower into her crouch and pouncing just as the rabbit sat up, it's ears flicking with alarm before it tried to bolt. The rabbit made only one bound before Featherpaw sprang again, capturing the creature in her claws and finishing her kill with a swift bite to the back of its neck. She felt warm all over she straightened up, the rabbit in her jaws. She had just made her first kill for her Clan.
"Brilliant catch!" Sandstorm padded to her side, her green eyes bright. "I was almost afraid it was going to get away from you, but you were right on top of it before it even realized it didn't have a chance."
Featherpaw put the rabbit down, shuffling her paws at her mentor's praise. "Thanks." She purred softly.
"Come on." The pale ginger warrior flicked her tail. "Dustpelt and Foxpaw may have already found prey as well."
Featherpaw gave an enthusiastic agreement, following her mentor further into the trees. There's no way I'm going to lose!
Sunhigh came along far too quickly, and despite the heavy snow, Featherpaw was proud to add a sparrow and a mouse to the rabbit she caught earlier. Sandstorm had even snagged a scrawny vole, though this far in leaf bare, plump prey was rare. Dustpelt and Foxpaw were waiting for them at the ravine, and Featherpaw rushed up to meet them, depositing her catch next to Foxpaw's.
"Three? Really?" The tom's eyes widened in slight disbelief, and Featherpaw felt her tail curl.
"What's the matter? Only catch two?" She teased, looking at their combined pile of prey for the elders.
"No," Foxpaw laughed. "It's a tie!"
Featherpaw purred, noticing that Foxpaw had in fact caught three pieces of prey—the first mouse, another mouse, and a water vole. Dustpelt gave an approving nod. "It looks like ThunderClan won't have to worry about being hungry with you two out hunting."
Sandstorm purred. "Go ahead and bring that to the elders, then take a break, you both deserve it."
"Yes, Sandstorm." Featherpaw dipped her head, picking up her prey and leading Foxpaw back down the slippery ravine, pushing her way through the gorse tunnel and into ThunderClan's camp. At sunhigh, the entire Clan was active. Brackenfur, Tawnypaw, and Swiftstep were getting ready to leave on the sunhigh patrol, Fireheart calling to Brackenpaw for a bit of battle training. Featherpaw knew that Stormpaw was already in the training hollow with Whitestorm, while Sorrelpaw and Sootpaw were sharing a piece of fresh-kill by the tree stump. Rainpaw was carrying old moss out of the nursery while Runningwind and Mousefur were pushing snow away from the center of the camp.
"Come on." Foxpaw mumbled, flicking his tail and leading the way to the elders den. When they arrived, they were greeted with warm purrs and welcoming mews. Dappletail dipped her head, being the closest to the entrance.
"You can leave that there," she purred. "We'll get around to it soon enough."
"It looks like you kits are shaping up into fine young apprentices." Smallear added, his whiskers twitching.
"Thank-you," Featherpaw purred as she deposited the prey where Dappletail had requested.
"Thank-you," Foxpaw echoed, before giving Featherpaw a nudge. "Come on, I'm starving."
The elders murmured quick goodbyes as they began settling around their meal, and Foxpaw bounded to the fresh-kill pile, kicking up snow. There wasn't much there—only two mice and a squirrel. Featherpaw sighed, wishing that they were already warriors, and could go out hunting again on their own. "Let's share one." She finally meowed, earning a nod from Foxpaw. "You can pick."
Foxpaw rolled his eyes, bending and picking out one of the mice. "You're too nice," he mumbled, padding towards the tree stump.
"Hey," Sootpaw greeted them, swiping his tongue around his jaws as Sorrelpaw finished the vole they had been eating. "Been hunting, huh?"
Featherpaw nodded, settling down next to Foxpaw. "Yes, we were trying to have a contest, but it ended up being a tie."
"Only because I went easy on you." Foxpaw rolled onto his back, giving her a playful flick of his tail as he did so.
"You couldn't have been going easy on me," Featherpaw cuffed him gently over the ear. "I was going easy on you."
"You've done a lot better than some of our hunting patrols today…" Sorrelpaw mewed absent-mindedly, her amber eyes traveling to the fresh-kill pile.
"Maybe Longtail and Graystripe will let us go hunting for the Clan, since Foxpaw and Featherpaw have already seen to the elders," Sootpaw mentioned thoughtfully. Featherpaw felt a flash of jealousy even as she took a small bite from the mouse Foxpaw had chosen. I can't wait to be able to go on hunting duty and put my prey in the fresh-kill pile…
"Let's go ask!" Sorrelpaw jumped to her paws, suddenly excited. "See you later!" She called back as she and her brother raced across the camp to where Longtail, Graystripe, and Dustpelt were talking by the warriors den. Cindercloud soon exited the nursery and joined them, only murmuring a few words before padding across the snowy clearing towards Foxpaw and Featherpaw.
"Hi, Cindercloud." Featherpaw greeted the dark gray she-cat warmly. Her mother and Cindercloud had grown very close, and Featherpaw saw the darker gray she-cat almost like a second mother. Foxpaw mumbled something incoherent around his mouthful, and Cindercloud gave him a hard stare.
"Don't meow with your mouth full."
The dark ginger tom made a show of swallowing, his whiskers twitching as he jumped to his paws and gave her shoulder an apologetic lick. "Sorry."
Cindercloud shook her head, looking amused. "I actually need you two to do something for me." Foxpaw sat again, his ears pricked, and Featherpaw sat up beside him. "Brightheart told me that there's a draft in the nursery, and Dustpelt said I could have you two patch it up."
"Sure." Featherpaw nodded, standing slowly and stretching. "Let's go now, and fetch some sticks to weave into the brambles."
"Alright." Foxpaw shook the snow from his pelt, his eyes flashing in amusement as Cindercloud hissed good naturedly as he covered her in the frosty flakes. "We'll be back before you can say 'mouse.'"
"Mouse." Cindercloud teased.
Foxpaw rolled his eyes, and said with exaggerated pronunciation, "S-l-owwwwww-l-y."
"Get out of here," Cindercloud purred, flicking a small clump of snow at them. With a playful yelp, Featherpaw scampered away, Foxpaw on her heels.
They were carefully weaving twigs between the patchy fronds of bramble when Stormpaw got back from battle training. He mewed a greeting to them, sitting down and watching them work. Featherpaw purred as the toms made light conversation when the work became too slight for Foxpaw's slightly larger paws, the ginger tom then letting her take over as her small paws made quick work of the tiny gaps in the brambles.
"Hailpaw should be back soon, right?" Stormpaw was meowing as Foxpaw pushed the next thin branch towards Featherpaw.
"Yes," Foxpaw glanced at the gorse tunnel—not for the first time since they had begun working on the nursery.
"It's not a short journey," Featherpaw reminded them softly, sitting back and admiring her work. "How is that, Brightheart?" She called. The ginger and white she-cat poked her head out of the nursery entrance.
"That's perfect, it's already warmer."
"Great." Featherpaw purred.
Foxpaw suddenly leapt to his paws, racing across the clearing just as Yellowfang pushed her way through the gorse tunnel, Hailpaw right behind her. "They're back!" Featherpaw raced after Foxpaw, Stormpaw right behind her.
"How was it?" She heard Foxpaw asking as she approached. Hailpaw's eyes seemed to have gained a new light, as if all of the knowledge of StarClan already swam within their icy depths.
"It was… unlike anything I've ever experienced before." There was a breathless excitement about him, as well as an air of mystery, and Featherpaw knew instantly that he wasn't telling him anything—as well as knowing that as a medicine cat he really couldn't share everything.
"Tell us more about the journey while you eat, you must be starving." Stormpaw was already padding towards the fresh-kill pile, which had grown while they had been working on the nursery. After a quick glance at Yellowfang, who gave a nod of approval, Hailpaw hurried after him, as did Foxpaw and Featherpaw.
There's so much to do now, she thought as they settled outside the apprentice's den. So many things are different from when we were kits… She glanced up, to where Silverpelt was slowly appearing in the still somewhat-light sky. But we're ready. Ready to change the way cats view "half-clans" and ready to be the best warriors ThunderClan could have!
Finally, I have managed to upload the next chapter… This one took forever for me, and I have no idea why. I apologize for any errors, I'm generally the only person that proof-reads this before posting, so I know I miss a lot of them. Maybe I'll go back and edit it later… I think I've pretty well decided on the names I'll be using, and I really think that I'm going to leave Stormpaw and Featherpaw's names the way that they are in the books… Unless you guys want them to have new names? I changed Cindercloud's, so it's not entirely impossible for me to change theirs, as well. Let me know what you guys think, and I apologize again for the kind of slow beginning. Thanks to Frostflower223 for reviewing, I really appreciate the feedback(:
Thanks for reading!