By the time Dawn had come upon the Lake the cats had scattered and slept, the past few days of turmoil had afforded no time for proper recuperation, and as the Sun rose many cats found themselves awakened with dreary eyes and stressed expressions. Frostpaw was no different, and as he slowly came too he realized that every nerve of his body told him to stay in the nest. He hadn't realized it last night, but the journey to the gathering had taken a lot out of him. He was only 7 moons old, and walking all the way across known clan territory was a task even warriors often preferred not to take.
It took a moment for him to work up the strength and will to get out of his nest. His muscles ached severely and his paws were more sore than ever. Even the outlands hadn't put so much pressure on the paws of the apprentices as it was still in Thunderclan Territory at least.
When he finally rose, he noticed the other apprentices had gone from the den and he was alone. Perhaps it was good they did not see his struggle for it took him longer than he'd admit to escape the warm bedding.
Once he was in the clearing he scanned the Camp, it seemed no one else slept for it was bustling, he saw groups of warriors chatting in a corner and he even saw Brackenstar and Applefern having a conversation near the Medicine den. He continued to look for the apprentices when he saw them speaking to one another near the camp entrance. He bounded to them quickly, and in his morning state he nearly tripped over his paws. He saw Dawnpaw giggle and he shot her a glance before giving a nod to his brother Shrewpaw.
"Have you heard about what the warriors were talking about?" Graypaw said, the older apprentice was the size of a warrior now, and he was much larger than the younger apprentices.
"No, have you?" Dawnpaw asked, her tail swishing sideways with curiosity.
"I have." Viperpaw said, "I heard My Mentor talking about it earlier with one of the other warriors, they are planning on attacking Skyclan!"
What? Frostpaw exclaimed in his mind, surely they weren't considering an attack so soon? More lives lost won't help the clan, or anyone for that matter.
As he pondered this Flamewing walked right up to the grouping of apprentices.
"Brackenstar has informed me that there will be no hunting training for today due to the risk of attack by Skyclan and that instead we will begin combat training." Flamewing meowed to them.
"Combat training?" Shrewpaw asked, "Isn't hunting for the clan more important?"
"Typically yes, however Skyclans attack means combat is absolutely necessary." Flamewing meowed.
"But what about food? Won't the clan starve?" Frostpaw asked.
"There are plenty of Warriors in Thunderclan to resume hunting patrols even today." Flamewing purred, "But even then It's more worthwhile to make sure you can defend yourselves first than be able to hunt. You will learn how to hunt once you can learn to not suffer the fate of that patrol." Flamewing said, then paused as he realized what he had just said to a direct family member to one of those cats.
"Uhmm…yeah, once we finish combat training we will do hunting training." Flamewing said, Frostpaw wasn't at all angry since the Orange Tabby Cat was absolutely correct, in these times hunting should come second to the defense of the clan.
"Anyway, I have already asked your mentor's when you bunch would be ready for combat training and they all thought Today would be the best day to start, although Graypaw already knows his way around a fight." Flamewing said.
His apprentice, Graypaw, Nodded. Graypaw was already as big as his mentor and was less than a Moon away from becoming a warrior surely. In fact, he wouldn't be surprised if the Apprentice was made a warrior tonight. Dawnpaw was practically bouncing on her paws to begin combat training but he and Viperpaw were more reserved. They knew exactly what being an apprentice meant to them, they would be warriors. He had been so excited hardly a few sunrises ago but now the cold reality beared down on him that Thunderclan Wasn't safe because of Skyclan.
Graypaw himself seemed unafraid to help the other apprentices train, probably because he himself felt confident in training, why he could feel so confident when 6 full grown warriors were outright slaughtered was beyond Frostpaw, but at least he wasn't as Enthusiastic as Dawnpaw, who was still shuffling her paws in excitement.
"Calm yourself." Flamewing meowed to Dawnpaw, who finally stood still for a moment.
"Now, we will begin Combat training at Sunhigh, so I want the lot of you to be ready by then, plenty of time to get prepared for your real first day." Flamewing meowed, the warrior heightened his ears as Frostpaw heard Brackenstar distantly called his name and wandered off, probably to talk to Brackenstar.
"What do you think that was all about?" Shrewpaw asked, his brother seemed less uneasy than Frostpaw, who was having a tiny bit of trouble containing his emotions.
"Probably something about that raid the other warriors have been talking about." Graypaw muttered, grooming his pelt. Frostpaw looked around, spotting a few warriors conversing in the nearby clearings. He tried to listen in, but they were too distant for him to make out anything among the various other sounds of the forests.
"I hope there isn't a battle, More Death is the last thing this clan needs after all." Graypaw said.
He agreed with Graypaw, but they couldn't let Skyclan go unpunished right?
"I bet we'll see all of Skyclans Fresh Kill in our camp by Sunset tomorrow!" Viperpaw said, the Tom was around the age of Frostpaw but still had obviously been out once or twice more since he could see light muscles bulging between his Spotted White and Black Pelt.
"Yeah!" Shrewpaw said, his brother Grey Pelt rose with excitement, "We'll Cut those Skyclan cats down! We're Thunderclan, after all!"
