Chapter 8!
Featherpaw pushed her way carefully through the brambles that made the nursery, a squirrel and a rabbit clamped firmly in her jaws. The warm, milky scent washed over her, and the sound of kits' soft mewls reached her ears. As she entered, Brightheart mewed a soft greeting, slowly sitting up. Her stomach was very swollen—her kits would come very soon.
Just in time for new-leaf! Featherpaw purred her own greeting, setting the fresh-kill down. Dustpelt was in there as well, watching with warm amber eyes as his and Ferncloud's kits stumbled around their nest.
"Thank-you, Featherpaw," Ferncloud purred softly. Dustpelt leaned forward and pulled the rabbit towards his mate, and Brightheart began picking at the squirrel.
"They're growing so fast…" Featherpaw crouched down, closer to their level, watching as they saw her and began stumbling towards her. Ferncloud meowed a warm agreement, and Dustpelt nodded. "Hi little kits…" Featherpaw cooed gently, carefully stretching forward and touching her nose to the black tom's. He blinked wide amber eyes at her, reaching out and resting his small forepaws on her muzzle, standing unsteadily on his hind legs. The silver apprentice exhaled through her nose, watching as her breath tickled his underbelly and Sagekit fell back, squealing in delight. Ferncloud watched through shining green eyes.
"You'll make a great mother one day, Featherpaw," the dappled queen purred as she finished with her meal.
"Really?" Featherpaw sat up, blinking in surprise. Brightheart's tail curled in amusement.
"And a great mentor," she added with a nod. "Swiftstep is dying for his first apprentice."
Dustpelt snorted. "Tell him to enjoy the time off while he has it." Despite the older warrior's dry tone, Featherpaw knew he was joking. Any cat could see how much he enjoyed being a mentor. "Speaking of," the brown tabby added, standing up. "Go make sure Foxpaw is awake—starting today he's going to be doing real training again, so I hope he hasn't been slacking off.
Featherpaw felt her whiskers twitching. "Of course he hasn't," she assured him brightly. "He's so set on going to the gathering he's been doing nearly double of everything. The elders were so pleased with the moss he brought them yesterday that I'm not sure they're going to let any of the other apprentices fetch their bedding again."
"Good." Dustpelt nodded, his eyes glowing in approval. With that, Featherpaw meowed her goodbyes, ducking out of the nursery to find Foxpaw. The camp was just beginning to come to life, the sun breaking the tops of the trees and casting a warm light across the clearing. The silver tabby stretched, pushing her forepaws out in front of her and pressing her chest into the warm sand outside of the nursery. Would I really make a good mother…? She thought of Ferncloud, curled so comfortably in her with her kits, Dustpelt's pressed lovingly against her flank. She thought of Brightheart, who took small walks through the forest with Swiftstep padding protectively beside her, making sure she rested enough and always getting her back to the nursery before she got too fatigued. I do love kits, but… She shook her head. I'm only an apprentice—it's far too soon to even think about having a mate. Right now I need to focus on becoming the best warrior in ThunderClan.
She spotted Foxpaw's bright red pelt as he emerged from the apprentice den, pausing to greet Sorrelpaw and Rainpaw. Forcing her lingering thoughts away, Featherpaw joined them by the tree stump.
"Morning, Featherpaw!" Sorrelpaw called, raising one paw in greeting.
"Morning!" Featherpaw purred, coming closer and greeting the other she-cat with a friendly touch of their noses. "Foxpaw," she turned to the red-furred tom, who pricked his ears. "Dustpelt told me to tell you to get ready for real training today."
"Finally!" Foxpaw jumped to his paws. "Bramblepaw keeps dropping all of these hints like he's going to made a warrior any day now, I can't give him any room to think I'm falling behind."
Rainpaw rolled his eyes. "And what if Bramblepaw is made a warrior?" He teased. "You won't even be close until after me, Sorrelpaw, and Sootpaw are made warriors."
For a moment, Foxpaw seemed unsure of what to say, until with a huff he shook his head. "Still! I've almost caught up to him in battle training."
"Sootpaw's almost better than Bramblepaw at battle training," Sorrelpaw pointed out loftily, giving Foxpaw a playful nudge.
"For now," Foxpaw admitted. "Maybe soon I'll be better Sootpaw."
"Not if you spend all day gossiping." Dustpelt's approach startled all of the apprentices, except Foxpaw, who rolled his eyes.
"I'm not the one who spent three days crowding the nursery to moon over kits." Foxpaw padded towards his mentor, who gave him a hearty cuff over the ear.
"When you have kits one day, you'll understand." As the older warrior spoke, both Sorrelpaw and Rainpaw glanced at Featherpaw with blatant amusement, and the silver tabby blinked, confused. "Now let's go."
Foxpaw sighed, shaking his head, but he followed his mentor. "See you all later."
Sorrelpaw stood as well. "Well, we have to go hunting until sunhigh. See you later Featherpaw! You can let Sandstorm know we've got the elders today."
"Alright, good luck hunting!" Featherpaw watched the older apprentices leave, still feeling puzzled. Do they think I'm going to have Foxpaw's kits one day…? Instantly, she shook her head. But he's like my brother…!
"Featherpaw, there you are!" The young she-cat turned to see Sandstorm padding towards her. "We're on the sunhigh patrol today with Silverstream and Runningwind. Until then, we'll be battle training. Are you ready?"
Featherpaw nodded enthusiastically. "Always."
"Good," Sandstorm purred. "Longtail and Sootpaw are already there, you don't mind sparring with him, do you?"
The tabby she-cat thought for a moment about the conversation she had been having with Foxpaw, Sorrelpaw, and Rainpaw, feeling excitement slowly filling her veins at the thought of a new challenge. "Not at all." She tilted her chin up, and Sandstorm's eyes flashed with approval.
"Good. Let's go."
"Again. This time, don't give him a blind spot to aim for."
Featherpaw pulled herself to her paws, panting as Sootpaw circled her slowly, his amber eyes flashing in the sunlight. It filled her with a small sense of pride to see that his dark gray-black pelt was almost as dusty as her own. Sorrelpaw had not been kidding—Sootpaw was an excellent fighter. But Featherpaw was not one to be defeated easily. She crouched low to the ground, her lean, still-developing muscles rippling beneath her sleek tabby pelt. Watching Sootpaw's slow motion, Featherpaw waited just a heartbeat longer before launching herself at the older apprentice, expecting his instant reaction and forcing herself to stop mid-attack, ducking and darting between his now wide open paws. Her sneak attack worked, forcing Sootpaw back a step. She swiped out with her forepaws, tangling her slender front legs with Sootpaw's hindlegs, forcing the other apprentice to stumble and taking her chance, Featherpaw surged upwards, finally pushing the gray-black apprentice onto his back. She didn't let herself get overpowered by Sootpaw's greater size, but his strength was something else entirely. He cuffed her over the ear—hard—and she stumbled to the side. Almost instantly, she was pinned beneath the amber-eyed tom.
"Gotchya." He teased lightly, stepping away and letting her up. "That was some tricky paw-work though—how did you do that?"
Featherpaw stood again, catching her breath even as she explained. "I just saw an opportunity and took it… isn't that what you do?" She flicked her tail-tip against his shoulder, and he purred.
"Most of the time, yeah. Come on, show me what you did—no secrets between clan-mates, right?" He lay down, stretching forward on his stomach as he crawled towards her. "Please, Featherpaw?"
"Longtail was rolling his eyes, and Sandstorm's tail was curled in amusement. "Sorry, Sootpaw," the ginger she-cat mewed, standing and glancing at the sun. "We've got to meet up with the Sunhigh patrol."
Featherpaw shook the dust from her pelt, and Sootpaw groaned in defeat, rolling onto his back. "I'll make you spill your tricks later, Featherpaw!" He called brightly as the silver tabby followed Sandstorm out of the training hollow.
"Sure you will, Sootpaw!" Featherpaw called over her shoulder, shaking her head good-naturedly.
They met Runningwind and Silverstream just outside of the sandy hollow, taking a winding path through the forest to Fourtrees, where they began padding down the sloping RiverClan border. Featherpaw kept towards the middle of the patrol, Silverstream leading with her head high, always eager to pass by and catch a glimpse of the river. Sandstorm and Runningwind brought up the rear, talking in hushed voices. Featherpaw glanced back and caught Runningwind's tabby pelt brushing against Sandstorm's pale ginger. With a twitch of her whiskers, the apprentice tried not to overhear their conversation, bounding forward to catch up with her mother.
As the river came in sight, Silverstream paused, her eyes shining. "Isn't it beautiful, Featherpaw?"
The silver apprentice followed her mother's gaze, feeling her heart ache a little. She always wondered what it would be like to swim, but her fear of ThunderClan's hatred far outweighed her desires to find out what she was missing. "It is," she agreed quietly. "But so is the forest."
Silverstream purred. "Of course the forest is beautiful as well, but…" She shook her head. "No, you're right. The forest is our home."
Sandstorm and Runningwind caught up, and the pale ginger she-cat gave Silverstream a gentle nudge. "Come on, you can't say that owning Sunningricks isn't an awesome bonus."
Silverstream purred. "I suppose you have a point." Runningwind rolled his eyes good naturedly, cintuing towards the rocks they were speaking of. Featherpaw followed him, Sandstorm and Silverstream right behind her. As they approaching Sunningrocks, Runningwind froze, his hackles rising.
"What are you doing here?" He hissed. Featherpaw froze beside him as she saw what had stopped him—the golden dappled figure of another cat crouched on top of one of the stones. Other cats slinked through the shadows, unsheathed claws glinting in the sunlight.
"We sheltered you during the fire," the she-cat meowed strongly. "We have come to collect what you owe us."
They smelled of fish and willows, and Featherpaw realized that they must be RiverClan warriors. These cats may have been my clan-mates…
"Sunningrocks belongs to ThunderClan." Sandstorm growled, stepping forward, her tail lashing from side to side.
The golden she-cat tilted her chin up, her eyes burning. "Not anymore."
"Run," Sandstorm hissed in Featherpaw's ear. "Run and get help."
Featherpaw stayed long enough to watch her mother step forward to stand proudly beside Sandstorm and Runningwind as a ThunderClan warrior—just long enough to see the enemy warriors launch at her clan-mates—and then she ran like she had never run before.
StarClan give me wings! She prayed desperately as her claws tore at the ground beneath her paws, propelling her forward. I must make it in time to help them!
Hey! I told you the next update would be soon;D So… here's the thing… I adore putting different cats together, sometimes randomly, sometimes to help the story along… so what do you think? Runningwind X Sandstorm? And if not, who should I pair Sandstorm with, if I pair her off at all? And while I'm on the topic of pairings, I just have to ask: Do any of you have suggestions/requests for pairings of ANY of the current ThunderClan apprentices in this story? Im dying to pair Tawnypaw and Bramblepaw off—as well as Sootpaw, Rainpaw, and Sorrelpaw (though I may just leave her with Brackenfur… your thoughts?) So yeah… leave a review and let me know, I'm eager to see how you'd like to see everyone paired up^^ Thanks again for reading and sticking with me guys, you're the best(: