The Rogue Traitor #1 - Beginning of the Curse

Chapter Twenty Five

The next morning, all five apprentices woke up even before the sun had started to rise, fuelled by the excitement of preparing for their very first battle. Birdpaw was the only apprentice that wasn't excited about the battle and only woke up super early because Dewpaw and Emberpaw started play-wrestling, very loudly. The camp was a buzz of activity as dawn patrols became before-dawn patrols and cats scoffed down food before being divided up into training groups, which Stagleap organized. And then, when the before-dawn patrols arrived back at camp, the battle training began, with the clearing and hunting grounds becoming training grounds.

Birdpaw was separated into a group with her littermates, Dewpaw, Honeypaw and their mentors. Dewpaw had been given Foxleap as his temporary mentor, since Silversong was still in the nursery. Whiskerstar was not at the apprentice's training either, since he was helping to train a group of warriors. Sparkclaw unfortunately took charge of the training and was barking orders as everyone he could.

"No Windpaw, swipe then duck. Yes, better but not perfect. Birdpaw, move your legs back to get a better grip. Dewpaw, keep your claws sheathed, we don't want Foxleap to be lacerated." The ginger tom walked behind his own apprentice, criticizing the tom's moves, and Emberpaw kicked out at his mentor, most likely on purpose. Birdpaw didn't blame her brother, Sparkclaw was getting on her nerves, but the ginger warrior didn't even move and if anything, it just made him stricter.

As the day drew on and the apprentices continued training, Birdpaw felt like she was going to drop dead from exhaustion and she almost cheered when Sparkclaw announced they were done for the day, except she didn't have much energy left. They plodded back to camp and almost all of the apprentices collapsed into their nest, except Windpaw, who scoffed down a whole rabbit.

Birdpaw slept well into the afternoon and only woke up when Windpaw complained of a sore stomach and started belching. Emberpaw and Dewpaw managed to shove him into the medicine cat den just before he puked everywhere. The she-cat emerged from the apprentice den and stretched in the sun-set light, giving herself a quick groom. Most of the warriors in camp were sleeping in the last rays of sunshine or lazily sharing tongues, only Silversong's new kits were tumbling around the camp, getting under everyone's paws. Birdpaw watched as Mistykit ran after a butterfly and jumped, her little legs not getting her very far, before she landed with a 'oomph' on the ground. Icekit nudged her back to her paws and soon they were running around again.

"Hey Birdpaw," came a voice and the apprentice looked up to see her mentor standing on her left, "I heard that you and the other apprentices worked hard in training today."

"And almost died from exhaustion," scoffed the she-cat, unable to roll her eyes as she remembered Sparkclaw's training methods, "I swear Sparkclaw was trying to kill us." Whiskerstar chuckled and looked over at the ginger warrior who was grooming a paw.

"I will tell him to take it easy next time," promised Whiskerstar, turning back to his apprentice, "but I came over here to ask you if you wanted to go hunting with me. I understand though if you are too tired from that gruelling training."

"No, not at all," mewed Birdpaw, leaping up with renewed energy, "I would be happy to go!" The leader's eyes glittered with amusement and he waved his tail, beckoning for this apprentice as he bounded away and through the camp barrier. She followed and soon both Clan cats were racing thought the forest, most likely scaring away all of the prey. Wind whistled through their fur and their paws thudded the ground. Running always made Birdpaw feel more alive than she actually was.

Eventually, the two cats skidded to a halt, panting from their run but adrenaline surging through them. Whiskerstar lifted his grey tabby muzzle and sniffed the air, ears pricked and eyes alert.

"There is a rabbit over there," he whispered, nodding towards a pair of tall trees, "walk quietly around the side of the trees and when I nod, scare it. I will be behind it and it should run straight into my paws." The apprentice nodded and very quietly, she began to walk around the two trees, her heartbeat sounding like thunder in her chest. When she was close to the tree furthest away from the leader, she spotted the ginger coloured rabbit and crouched down, trying to stay as quiet as possible. She looked up at her mentor and he nodded, encouraging her to leap forward and scare the living-daylights out of their prey. The rabbit didn't even hesitate to run the opposite way from her, but this rabbit was a smart rabbit and dodged Whiskerstar's paws, causing the tom to miss completely.

"Fox-dung," cursed the leader and he pelted after the rabbit, Birdpaw following suit. They weaved in and out of trees and jumped over bushes, but the rabbit didn't manage to lose them. Whiskerstar was about to reach out and grab the rabbit when a brown shape hurtled across their path. They skidded to a halt and saw that it was Barkheart, who was very frazzled.

"Whiskerstar," panted the tom, "thank StarClan I found you. I have been looking over the whole forest for you."

"What is wrong Barkheart?" asked the grey tabby, looking around to see which way their prey had gone. The apprentice's mentor looked slightly annoyed, which was probably due to the fact that they had just lost a big rabbit that probably would have fed at least two warriors.

"It's Flowerstem," he puffed, "Maplestar has taken her."