Hey all, here is the next chapter and I hope you all like it, I promise we will get to some more exciting things soon enough but in this chapter you see more of the disagreements between Swiftbreeze and his father.
Thank you Nova Lioness for your review and your vote on a new story idea! I'm glad somebody responded.
Swiftbreeze stirred from a dreamless sleep as bright rays of sunlight streamed through the leaves lining the warriors den. He groggily lifted his head out of his nest looking around to see the sleeping forms of Birdstrike and Stoneshine in the den with him. The two toms stayed up all night guarding the camp entrance and had probably just fallen asleep. Swiftbreeze carefully stood up and padded quietly out of the den.
He blinked repeatedly as his eyes adjusted to the harsh sunlight and as his eyes focused he could see the camp was alive and resuming their daily routine as if the previous night's events had never happened.
Bluecloud was returning from an early dawn border patrol followed by Drizzlelight and Birdstrike. The brown tabby she-cat yawned loudly before sleepily trudging over to the freshkill pile, nosing through the few remaining stale pieces of prey. She eventually selected a plump robin and two mice, carrying them over to an overgrown holly bush where Birdstrike was waiting to share tongues with his sister.
Squirreltail returned to camp followed by Snowpaw, Mossdapple and Lichenfur, each cat carrying some prey in their jaws from their early morning hunt. Snowpaw headed straight to the elders den while Squirreltail, Mossdapple and Lichenfur dropped their prey off at the pile.
Skyshine trotted over murmuring quietly with Mossdapple and Lichenfur before both she-cats followed him back out of the camp, probably heading to the Shadowclan border on patrol.
Swiftbreeze sighed, his stomach growling loudly, glancing at the small pile of prey he decided against eating, the elders would probably finish off the pile quickly. The morning air was crisp and small bursts of wind ruffled his short blue fur, the ground was damp with morning dew as Swiftbreeze padded forward.
Without thinking he headed straight for the nursery, a primal need to spot the clan's newest additions taking over as he quietly slunk inside the den. His eyes rested on the sleeping forms of Lionstreak and Petalblossom. The golden tom was curled carefully around his mate who looked to be fast asleep. The sounds of soft whimpers drew his attention and Swiftbreeze turned his gaze to where Willowfall was laying down, wide awake with two small bundles at her belly.
The silver striped queen purred "Couldn't resist coming to see them could you?" she teased, stroking the ginger she-kit with her tail-tip earning a contented purr from the newborn.
Swiftbreeze purred "I just came by to see if you would like some fresh kill, the dawn hunting patrol just returned"
Willowfall nodded "Some mice would be good, thank you"
Swiftbreeze nodded, backing away towards the den entrance, before leaving her turned to look at the queen "Did they name them yet?"
"Yes, the ginger she-kit is Rosekit and the silver tabby is Sweetkit" Lionstreak mumbled sleepily as he lifted his head, yawning and blinking furiously as his blue eyes adjusted to the dim nursery lighting.
Swiftbreeze headed toward the freshkill pile, spotting a few mice to bring to the resting queens and Lionstreak, a flash of ginger and white caught his attention as Flowertail approached with her apprentice Icepaw.
"Alright Icepaw, take some prey to the queens and then we can go work on your battle training" Flowertail instructed to the white apprentice.
His blue eyes glowed excitedly "Okay" he quickly grabbed the mice Swiftbreeze had been staring at and raced towards the nursery.
"And be quiet! Petalblossom is resting" Flowertail called after him, rolling her eyes as her apprentice flicked his tail instead of answering her.
Bluecloud trotted over to them followed by Moony, and although the she-cat was blind she still worked hard to retain some level of fighting ability, she was larger than Bluecloud and her muscles rippled under her pelt with each movement. Her long white fur flowed sleekly and Swiftbreeze couldn't help but wonder how she kept her fur so pure white.
"Is Icepaw ready for training?" Bluecloud asked, stretching his muscles and digging his claws into the soft dirt.
Flowertail nodded "As soon as he finishes feeding the queens we can go, Snowpaw won't be joining us, Stoneshine wants him to work on his hunting skills today"
Bluecloud purred "I was wondering why Shimmerlight was planning on putting him on every hunting patrol today" the blue warrior glanced over at Swiftbreeze who was nosing through the prey "Why don't you join us today Swiftbreeze, you don't want your fighting skills to get rusty"
Swiftbreeze unsheathed his claws "Nothing rusty about these skills"
Bluecloud shook a thin layer of morning frost from his pelt, his muscles rippling with the movement "Come on, it will be fun. Besides its not like you have anything better to do today"
"What do you mean?" Swiftbreeze asked "Can't I just do my own thing?"
"You do your own thing enough" Bluecloud hissed "You are a part of this clan and you're going to act like it"
"Amberstar is going to the Moonstone tonight to speak with the ancestors" Bluecloud continued "She is taking all the new warriors with her, it's a tradition that each warrior visit the Moonstone and you and Flowertail's siblings have yet to go"
Flowertail nodded "It's going to be amazing, that's why im taking Icepaw out to train now, we have to be back by mid-day in order to leave on time"
"Oh ok" Swiftbreeze grumbled
"Don't keel over with excitement" Bluecloud meowed sarcastically "This is right of passage among your clanmates. Now let's go" the blue warrior stalked out of the camp, followed by Moony. Flowertail shrugged before following, Icepaw running ahead of them.
"Are you okay?" Flowertail asked as the two warriors padded slowly towards the sandy hollow.
Swiftbreeze nodded "I'm fine" he meowed dismissivly.
Flowertail shoved him with her shoulder "Come on, I know something is bothering you. You can tell me what it is"
Swiftbreeze stared ahead "Its Bluecloud, I feel like he doesn't understand me sometimes"
"What do you mean?" Flowertail asked, a touch of worry in her voice.
"I just feel like this can't be all there is. Take this war with Riverclan for example, why is everyone so okay with it?" Swifbreeze growled "Why isn't anyone trying to change things?"
"Maybe the clan already tried, maybe Riverclan doesn't want the fighting to end" Flowertail reasoned.
"No they do want it to end, none of them want to keep fighting. It's all Reedstar's doing" he snapped.
Flowertail flinched at his words "But you don't know this, there is no way that you could"
"Yeah, I guess" Swiftbreeze grumbled.
"Hey, wanna race?" Flowertail asked "That always cheered you up when we were apprentices"
A small smile tugged at Swiftbreeze's lips "Alright, let's go" without waiting for her response the blue warrior took off, kicking up leaves as his paws left the ground. A surge of energy shot through his limbs and his blood felt like it was on fire as the crisp wind coursed through his fur and whiskers.
He could hear Flowertail's pawsteps thumping just a tail length behind him and he let up a little bit, letting the ginger and white she-cat to gain on him. Glancing to his rights he could see the powerful she-cat right beside him, her green eyes fixed on the forest in front of her. She quickly veered to the right, avoiding a crumbling tree stump while Swiftbreeze leapt over it, continueing on his straight path.
Avoiding the stump forced Flowertail to make up some ground and the she-cat's paw-steps grew less rhythmic as her muscles screamed.
Swiftbreeze narrowed his blue eyes as the ground quickly became sandy, the forest flashed by in a blur and when he reached the sandy hollow Swiftbreeze skidded to a halt sending sand flying. Less than a heartbeat later Flowertail reached him.
"Foxdung, I almost had you" the ginger and white she-cat exclaimed.
Bluecloud flicked his tail back and forth "Alright now that were all here, let's begin"
Swiftbreeze stood back allowing the mentors to instruct their apprentices. He watched as Icepaw practiced defensive moves against larger opponents. Moony easily out maneuvered the smaller apprentice but Icepaw was fast, faster than any of them had thought and he managed to slither out of the larger she-cat grasp.
The small apprentice moved back and forth, hopping like a rabbit, and continually moving which prevented Moony from being able to use her full weight against him as she struggled to pin point his exact location. As he continually bounced in and out of the she-cat's reach, Swiftbreeze saw Moony's movements were slowing and felt a smile tug at his lips.
"Icepaw is trying to tire her out by moving in and out of her reach; Moony is using up a lot more of her energy by having to adjust her position for a new strike and then have to pause and adjust again once he moves. Very smart" he thought, his ears pricking in interest when suddenly Icepaw's strategy changed and the apprentice launched himself forward, sliding just underneath Moony's outstretched paws. He quickly readjusted himself and kicked a forepaw out, knocking the larger she-cat over. While Moony scrambled to regain her footing, Icepaw leapt onto her belly and pummeled her soft belly with sheathed claws.
"Alright that's enough" Flowertail meowed "Very good plan Icepaw, it worked well against your larger opponent, but the point of this exercise was to defend against the larger opponent not attack them"
Icepaw scuffed the ground with his forepaw "But can't attacking be a kind of defense?"
"I guess, but the point was to practice your defense moves" Flowertail reasoned.
"Aw lay off Flowertail, he did great, I never would have thought of that" Swiftbreeze complemented "I didn't know you were so smart Icepaw"
Icepaw ducked his head licking his chest-fur self-consciously.
"But lets' see how you do against me" Swiftbreeze challenged, stretching out his stiff muscles "But I'll warn you, I'm a lot faster than Moony" his eyes glinted mischievously.
Swiftbreeze began to circle the white apprentice, flicking his tail back and forth in an attempt to unnerve the inexperienced fighter, Icepaw just watched him with calculating blue eyes, un-wavered.
Swiftbreeze leapt forward, in an attempt to gauge the apprentice's strength, landing on the apprentice Icepaw let Swiftbreeze knock him onto his back. As soon as Icepaw was on his back he thrusted upward with his hindlegs, propelling Swiftbreeze over his head and into the sand.
Swiftbreeze stood up, shocked at the apprentice's quick thinking, shaking sand from his pelt he leapt forward again. Icepaw leapt backwards as Swiftbreeze leapt forwards. With each hop Swiftbreeze grew more and more frustrated that he couldn't land a hit on the apprentice. He was unaware that with each leap the two cats were moving closer to the stream that cut the sandy hollow in half.
Suddenly with a burst of energy Swiftbreeze surged forward, colliding with Icepaw, instead of dodging the attack the apprentice quickly ducked and kicked Swiftbreeze's paws out from under him causing the warrior to lose his footing, toppling head first into the stream.
Swiftbreeze felt the cool water on his pelt before he realized he had fallen in. Spluttering as he choked on water he propelled himself upwards until his head broke the surface, taking a deep fresh breath Swfitbreeze confidently paddled forward until he reached the bank, there he easily pulled his soaking wet body from the river's icy clutches.
When he climbed out he found himself facing four fear stricken faces.
"How did you do that?" Flowertail asked, her hackles raised in fear.
"We thought you would be thrown down the river for sure" Bluecloud murmured.
"How did you learn to swim?" Icepaw asked, amazement shining in his blue eyes.
Swiftbreeze shook his pelt, sending icy water droplets flying everywhere "I don't know, instincts I guess"
Ignoring the stares his clanmates gave him he shook some more water from his pelt before looking up at the sky "It's getting close to mid-day, we should probably head back to camp"
Swiftbreeze ignored Bluecloud's disapproving look as he trotted past him, leading the patrol back to the camp, in order to prepare for the trip to the moonstone.
Review Responses
Nova Lioness: thanks for the review, it was the first one in a long time and I was super excited to see it lol. I am also partial to idea 2 as well but would need to hammer out what the sickness would be, possibly the panic fever from before? Idk and I would need to introduce more characters from the other clans. If you have any suggestions please PM me with your ideas, I would love to hear them!