The next few days were occupied by hunting.
Snakepaw spent a lot of time learning to land his leaps, and Patchpaw was still perfecting her crouch.
Today, though, Crowwatcher had promised Patchpaw they'd start on their battle training.
Snakepaw, Patchpaw, Bluepaw and Silverpaw were grouped together by the camp entrance, waiting for their mentors to finish eating.
Snakepaw, Bluepaw and Patchpaw were sharing tongues while Silverpaw picked a thorn from his paw pad.
Eventually, Rednose, Crowwatcher and Adderthorn approached the three, and the group headed towards a spot in the woods designated for training apprentices.
Snakepaw stepped into the bare spot in the woods.
They were surrounded by pine trees, but the clearing was completely empty aside from the fresh snow that had returned overnight.
"I want Bluepaw and Silverpaw to show these two what you've already learned," Rednose spoke. "-then we will pair you up to practice."
Bluepaw and Silverpaw separated themselves from the group, standing facing each other.
They both backed up until there were a few fox-lengths between them.
Silverpaw jumped down into a crouch, and Bluepaw followed.
Snakepaw watched the way Silverpaw held himself. The ambition in his green eyes was unmissable.
Bluepaw's focus was on his target, but he was otherwise calm. Silverpaw had something else stirring in his head.
Without any verbal cue, Silverpaw launched himself off his haunches toward Bluepaw.
Bluepaw predicted this move and darted under the tom, quickly turning around and biting into Silverpaw's fluffy tail.
Silverpaw let out an exasperated yowl as he was tugged off his feet.
Bluepaw took the opportunity to jump onto the tom's back, pinning the tom down with soft paws wedged between his shoulder blades.
Silverpaw was able to shuffle his legs under him and forced himself upward.
Bluepaw scrambled to hold onto the tom's back, but Bluepaw, not wanting to hurt Silverpaw with his claws, slipped down onto the ground next to him.
Silverpaw turned and placed a paw on the smaller tom's back, rendering him unable to stand.
"That's enough," Addorthorn called, his voice gruff.
Silverpaw's mentor, Twigrush, wasn't here to keep him in line, and Adderthorn clearly wasn't impressed with the apprentice's display of strength.
Rednose looked at Snakepaw and Patchpaw expectantly.
"Bluepaw is smart. He predicted that Silverpaw would rely on his strength rather than his witts, but Silverpaw is larger and stronger. Bluepaw, I want you with Patchpaw. Silverpaw, you're with Snakepaw."
Rednose and Adderthorn stepped back to give the four apprentices more room.
Crowwatcher gave Patchpaw a supportive lick on the shoulder before joining the other warriors.
Snakepaw padded over to his section of the clearing, stretching out his legs.
He dropped down into a ready stance, preparing for whatever Silverpaw was capable of.
On the other side of the clearing, Patchpaw was preparing herself to spar with Bluepaw.
Silverpaw gave a subtle nod to Snakepaw, letting him get the first move.
I need to avoid his paws.
Instead of darting forward, Snakepaw slowly lurked toward the larger apprentice.
Silverpaw had a look of bewilderment on his face, followed by frustration. He jumped towards Snakepaw, but the calico tom was ready to dart out the way.
Instead of turning and attacking, he kept on the defensive, turning and hopping out of the way of Silverpaw's blows.
The larger tom eventually cuffed him over the ears realized there was a cut on his ear only once it started to burn
Finally building the confidence to strike; Snakepaw lunged toward Silverpaw's shoulder.
He slammed his paws into the tom, knocking him off caught himself on his paws and turned, ramming into the tom's flank hard.
Snakepaw expected Silverpaw to fall over easily, but the tom only stumbled. He raised an aggressive paw and slammed down on Snakepaw's shoulder, forcing him down to the ground in a single powerful blow.
He held the tom down by placing a paw on his jaw. Snakepaw squirmed defiantly, but realized he was only hurting himself by doing so.
He let himself go limp and let out a defeated huff.
Silverpaw stepped off of him and Snakepaw immediately hopped up, rubbing his sore jawline with a paw.
On the other side of the clearing, Patchpaw and Bluepaw were circling each other. They both seemed to have the same strategy, and neither was getting anywhere in the fight.
Their fur was ruffled, so there had obviously been some form of a tussle, but Snakepaw had been unaware of anything but Silverpaw during their match.
Patchpaw eventually jumped forward towards Bluepaw's side and nipped at his flank. The tom turned at the last moment, and all that Patchpaw caught in her teeth was a clump of short fur.
"No teeth!" Crowwatcher yowled. Patchpaw spat the fur out of her mouth and looked toward Crowwatcher with a worried expression.
Don't let your guard down!
Snakepaw wanted to yell, but it was no use. Bluepaw had already lept onto her and was holding her down.
"Good," Adderthorn meowed, stepping forward and signaling Bluepaw to step off Patchpaw with a tail flick. Rednose stayed where he sat, clearing his throat.
"Snakepaw, you do a good job protecting yourself. But in the face of a true threat, you won't be able to depend on staying defensive. There will come a time when you have to fight multiple cats at once, and you need to be ready to fight back from every angle. Patchpaw, you let your guard down. Never take your eyes off the enemy, not even for a moment."
Rednose's stare on Patchpaw was cold. Snakepaw could tell he was being stern, not because he was scolding her, but because he was concerned for her safety.
"Other than that huge blunder, Patchpaw, you did well against a cat with more experience than you. You both did." Snakepaw nodded, taking in the criticism.
This wasn't something he could afford to be honorary about; he needed to learn how to fight to defend himself and his clan.
"Bluepaw, Silverpaw," Rednose called. "Thank you both for taking time out of your training to help these two. Thank you, Adderthorn, and please tell Twigrush she has my thanks as well."
Silverpaw gave a nod, standing and padding back into the pine forest. Bluepaw followed closely behind with Adderthorn by his side.
Patchpaw gave a look to Crowwatcher, who then dismissed her with a nod. Patchpaw trotted back toward the camp, and Snakepaw bounded after him after Rednose gave him a tail flick.
Snow started to fall as Snakepaw picked up his pace to catch up to Patchpaw. The pair ran through the snowflakes, eventually making their way back to the ShadowClan camp.
To Snakepaw's surprise, Bluepaw was sitting out in the camp clearing. His gaze was fixed on the falling snow. Snakepaw separated from Patchpaw and trotted over to him, clearing a patch of snow from the ground so he could sit comfortably.
The nick in Snakepaw's ear had stopped bleeding on its own, and it was nothing more than an itch now.
He drew a paw over his ears to clean them, straightening out his whiskers in the process. Bluepaw gave him a glance, followed by a purr in greeting.
"The gathering is tonight," Bluepaw meowed, returning his gaze to the sky.
I completely forgot!
Snakepaw's fur stood on end. "Rednose hasn't mentioned it- do you think I'll still get to go?"
"Apprentices usually don't get to go to the gathering on the first full moon after their ceremony," bluepaw's tail flicked away the snow on the ground as he spoke.
"-but if Elmstar said you're going, I wouldn't see any reason he would've changed his mind. Not without you knowing about it."
Snakepaw let his fur lie flat. Bluepaw's reassurance calmed him.
It was just before sunfall when Elmstar climbed his way on top of the largest branch of the hollowed oak.
Rednose sat near the base of the tree, and any cats interested in the gathering had already left their dens to wait for Elmstar's call.
"The full moon is tonight, and I have chosen which warriors and apprentices will go to the gathering." The old leader's gaze swept over the clearing, as if he was making sure his chosen cats were in camp to hear their name be called.
"Rednose, Geyserwing, Gingersnap, Adderthorn, Crowwatcher, Twigrush, Patchpaw, Snakepaw, and Silverpaw will represent ShadowClan at the gathering. We will leave soon."
Elmstar hopped down off the tree. The named warriors were making their way to the front of the clearing to join him.
Snakepaw hopped up onto his paws, giving Bluepaw a friendly nudge. "I'll tell you if anything weird happens," he promised, starting to trot toward the gathered cats.
"You better!" Bluepaw returned as the padded off.
Snakepaw stood tall on his paws as he tried to find Patchpaw in the gathered cats.
Eventually he spotted her tricolored coat and made his way over to her. Silverpaw was there, too, but the two weren't talking to each other.
Patchpaw seemed too focused on Elmstar to even notice Snakepaw approaching.
"We leave now. Geyserwing will lead, the apprentices are to stay in the back of the group with their mentors." Patchpaw turned to walk toward the entrance and ran right into Snakepaw.
"Oof!" She exclaimed, stepping back. She let out a snort when she saw Snakepaw standing in front of her with ruffled fur.
"You've got to be more aware of your surroundings," Snakepaw teased, turning to walk alongside her.
Silverpaw followed from behind. Adderthorn, Twigrush, and Crowwatcher were in front, following Geyserwing's lead alongside Adderthorn.
Elmstar was at the front of the group, leading them through the clan exit and toward ShadowClan's border.
The group approached the far end of ShadowClan territory. Snakepaw peered over the larger cats to get a better view of where they were going.
Snow was starting to gather on the cats' pelts, and occasionally a warrior would shake out their pelt to rid of the piling snow.
There was an odd-looking twoleg nest in front of them, surrounded by a hard stone similar to the Thunderpath.
None of the warriors seemed wary, though, so Snakepaw followed them with confidence.
"This is the Greenleaf Twolegplace," Rednose said. Snakepaw was glad the deputy noticed that he had no idea what he was looking at.
"Twolegs only come here during greenleaf to swim in the lake, then they pack up and leave before leaffall."
Uncharacteristically quiet, Patchpaw followed the group in silence, focused on where she was headed.
She probably doesn't want to get lost, Snakepaw thought. He understood her fear.
"We will be crossing RiverClan territory soon, but we are allowed on their territory within a fox length of the lake in order to travel to the island. We won't be on their land for long."
Crowfeather looked over his shoulder to speak to the apprentices, keeping his pace so as to not fall behind the other warriors.
Patchpaw seemed to appreciate the constant reassurance from the warriors. She affectionately pressed her pelt against Snakepaw's as they crossed over into RiverClan territory, nearing the fallen log that led to the Gathering Island.
"You all walk too slow," Silverpaw complained, still at the back of the group.
Snakepaw and Patchpaw ignored the older apprentice's grievance. They were focused on the large fallen tree that they were approaching.
A group of unrecognizable RiverClan cats were crossing the log with careful paws.
Their pelts were short and sleek, and their ears were smaller than Snakepaw was used to seeing.
Even with their swimming expertise, falling into the lake at this temperature would surely be a death sentence.
Snakepaw silently hoped that the log wasn't frozen or covered in slick snow.
The closer they got to the log, the larger it seemed. Snakepaw eventually realized they'd have no problem crossing the fallen tree due to its size.
Snakepaw let out a sigh of relief as Elmstar hopped up onto it, the warriors following behind and eventually the apprentices too.
Snakepaw's senses were flooded as he hopped off the end of the log and onto the frozen island ground.
There were more cats than he'd ever seen. He stood frozen for a moment, but relaxed slightly when he felt Patchpaw walk up next to him.
Patchpaw's ability to seem undisturbed in any situation was admirable. He had no idea how she wasn't in awe of the amount of cats in front of them.
There were at least twenty cats from each clan, much more than Elmstar had chosen to bring from ShadowClan.
Elmstar and Rednose had already departed from the group. Snakepaw didn't notice until he saw Elmstar up in the massive tree at the edge of the island.
The tree's large branches supported the three other leaders as well; cats Snakepaw once again didn't recognize.
Rednose was accompanied by the other deputies sitting along the twisted roots at the base of the tree.
There was a group of other cats, too, who Snakepaw assumed were medicine cats.
Geyserwing made his way toward the two apprentices, sitting behind them.
"That massive tree is called the Great Oak. The four leaders sit on the tree's branches for the gathering. The cat on the far left is Heronstar, leader of RiverClan."
The mentioned tom was beige with a white undercoat. He had folded ears and a bobbed tail.
His short coat was unable to cover the scars that laced his body.
"To his right is Sugarstar, leader of ThunderClan."
The she-cat sat tall. She was white with darker points on her face, paws and tail.
"Next to Elmstar is the WindClan leader, Vinestar." The large tom was positioned on the branch in a way that made his muscles visible under his sleek black pelt.
He had a white belly that ran all the way up his side, like a vine was wrapping his shoulder.
Snakepaw tried to remember all of their names, but the sound and scent surrounding him was making it difficult to focus. Thankfully, he didn't have to deal with it for long.
Snakepaw's ears perked when he heard Vinestar yowl.
"Cats of all clans, the gathering has begun!"
Almost all at once the gathered cats fell silent. There were a few distant murmurs, but the leader's had the majority of the clans' attention.
Vinestar waited for a brief moment before continuing. "WindClan will go first. All clans struggle with leafbare, but WindClan has not faced any difficulties we haven't dealt with in the past. Prey is slow but sustainable. My warriors will be very happy once Greenleaf starts,"
the tom's tail settled over his front paws as he gave a glance to Elmstar, dipping his head.
Elmstar cleared his throat and straightened his posture.
"ShadowClan is well. We have introduced two new apprentices, Patchpaw and Snakepaw."
Snakepaw's pelt grew hot as his name was mentioned, but thankfully, no cat knew who he was, so their eyes remained on Elmstar.
"We are starting to rely more on the reptiles in our territory to eat, but we have faced no other issues following leafbare."
"Can I go now?" Sugarstar snapped the moment Elmstar was quiet for more than a few seconds.
Elmstar lowered his head in respect to the younger leader. Snakepaw's pelt prickled.
Sugarstar has no right to treat Elmstar that way!
Sugarstar stepped forward on the branch that held her. "ThunderClan is thriving. We have five new apprentices here tonight. Blackpaw, Boulderpaw, Featherpaw, Bearpaw and Kestrelpaw."
Snakepaw could feel Patchpaw shift beside him. "Five apprentices in training?" she whispered.
"We will need lots of prey to support our clan, but it has not been a problem as of now."
Sugarstar continued, finishing her announcement with a flick of her tail.
Heronstar uncomfortably took his eyes off of the ThunderClan leader and faced the gathered cats.
"RiverClan has no issues to report either. Our rivers are beginning to freeze over, but that's to be expected.." the tom's voice trailed off.
"That is all," Heronstar finished. Elmstar's green gaze moved between the other leaders before he confidently spoke.
"The gathering of the four clans is over. You may share tongues with each other for a moment longer, and then we will leave."
Snakepaw and Patchpaw eventually found their way over to the large group of ThunderClan apprentices.
Snakepaw's attention fell onto the one cat that was separated from the rest. She was a beautiful light brown with darker flecks tracing her pelt.
The fur on her tail grew long at the end, mimicking the shape of a feather.
That must be Featherpaw.
Snakepaw also recognized Blackpaw as the other apprentice that he spotted across the border alongside Boulderpaw.
The closer he got to the apprentices, the more he realized how thin they were. It was hard to tell against her white pelt, but Sugarstar seemed slim, too.
Snakepaw wasn't sure if Sugarstar simply wasn't allowing her clan to eat enough, or if she'd lied about how much prey they have in their territory.
Snakepaw decided to not converse with the other apprentices, favoring the cats of his Clan that he would be returning to.
He spotted his clanmates naturally beginning to gather separately from the rest of the cats and started to make his way toward them. Patchpaw followed him quietly, seeming overwhelmed by being in the center of the crowd.
Snakepaw heard Heronstar call his clan from a distance, and Elmstar's voice soon followed. "ShadowClan, we are going home."
Twigrush, Gingersnap and Addertorn quickly pushed their way through the crowd.
Silverpaw fell in behind Twigrush, keeping close to her as the group headed toward the fallen log. Snakepaw made his way towards him.
"What do you think is going on with ThunderClan?" Snakepaw spoke quietly. Before he could elaborate, Silverpaw replied.
"They're a bunch of mouse-brained liars, that's what." Silverpaw's witty remark caught Snakepaw off guard. The silver tom pushed forward, leaving Snakepaw behind.
Patchpaw was watching from a distance, shuffling on her paws. She was trying to keep the tiredness out of her eyes, but Snakepaw could tell she was nearly asleep where she stood.
He was tired, too, and couldn't wait to get back to his nest.