Flickerpaw felt her fur stand on end as she walked down the row of cats. Were they even her clanmates? She had been alone her whole life, the only cat she could trust being her sister Hollypaw. She saw Firestar upon the highledge. He looked down on her with a calming gentleness in his forest green eyes. I just need to get my warrior name, then I can go back to trying to figure out who I am and where I came from.
She felt the eyes of the other Thucnderclanner's grazing her pelt like enemy claws in battle. One of these cat is my mother, another is my father.
She and her sister knew they had been found on the Windclan border, their fur glistening with morning dew. Whoever their mother was had been Thunderclan, they could smell it on the newborns pelts, but she never stepped forward to claim her kits. Thus they were handed over to the cruel queen who had just lost all four of her kits to whitecough. As they grew up, Frostrose constantly reminded them she wasn't their real mother, so she never really felt like a mother to them. Though their mother must have been heartless, to leave two helpless newborn kits on the edge of a freezing stream in the chilly hours of dawn.
She heard a cat whisper her name and saw Lionblaze looking at her from the other side of the clearing. She continued walking but nodded slightly and tilted her head a bit his way to make eye contact. Him and his sister had become warriors a week earlier while his brother became medicine cat. Her sister was also training as medicine cat, she had a lot in common with Lionblaze, sometimes Flickerpaw found it scary how much their lives seemed to intertwine.
Before she knew it she was standing right below the rock ledge and Firestar was right above her, his authority radiated from him like a sun. SHe felt every bit of courage she had drain from her and the world around her disappeared. She stared up at him and was lost in his superiority and his words were just mutters in the wind. Then she blinked and reality caught up to her.Firestar had jumped off the ledge and was standing in front of her.
"Will you serve you clan and uphold the warrior code at any cost, even if that cost is your life?" Staring into his eyes, she knew, "yes." He smiled and lifted his head to all his clan. "Then from this day forward you shall be known as Flickerheart! Warrior, of Thunderclan."
Chants rang out as her clanmates screeched her new name to the sky. "Flickerheart! Flickerheart!" And for the first time, since she learned of her birth, she felt like she was home.
Flickerheart felt the tall grass brushed her shoulder and tickled her nose. She held back a sneeze as the pollen filled her acute senses. She couldn't let this rabbit go, it would be her first catch as warrior and would prove she was worthy of the position.
She crouched down but was careful not to put all the weight on her paws so she could stalk her victim silently. She took a few more steps and knew that it was the time to pounce. She quieted her breathing so that the rabbit wouldn't hear her.
She shifted her weight to her haunches and began to adjust to begin a spring. She pushed of the ground and leapt from her cover. She landed on top of the rabbits haunches and sunk her claws into its back so it wouldn't get away. "Oh no you don't!" The brown and white rabbit lashed out with its hind legs as she tried to roll it over so she could get at the throat. It reared its vicious head to bite her paw with its two razor sharp teeth.
By instinct, she felt one of her paws rip lose of its furry flesh and smack its head backwards. She felt the rabbit go limp then looked at its bloody body. This rabbit had put up an impressive fight and she knew that this fat prey would feed multiple cats today. She picked up the still-warm body and headed back to her patrol.
"Thats a nice one!" Amberpelt's eyes enviously grazed Flickerheart's catch. Flickerheart responded with a retort she knew would go straight to the she-cats mousebrain. "Yours is great too!" She shouted over her shoulder at the arrogant cat. Almost immediately Amberpelt glanced down at the small mouse laying limp in between her paws. Flickerheart snickered at the cats stupidity then caught herself. No, I promised myself I wouldn't be that cat anymore.
Cedarstep looked at the two and gave a deep, sharp reprimand. "Cut it out! Lets head back to camp, we have starving cats to feed." Flickerheart fell in step behind the looming giant of a tom. Cedarstep was an ashy grey beast of a cat who was probably the largest cat to roam the forest. He was a worthy battle opponent and was a large part of every victory. She looked back at his apprentice Shadepaw and thought about how hard Cedarstep must push the poor cat. Flickerheart paused for a moment so she was pacing side by side with the small grey tabby.
Flickerheart chuckled as she saw him tripping over the snake he had caughts tail. "Want some help with that?" He looked at her, eyes wide and spoke with a mouthful of scales. "You would carry it for me? But you already have that big rabbit." She laughed and nearly choked on fur as she stopped. "Here stop for a second." Cedarstep glanced back at her and she nodded to show him they would be right there and to continue on. She dropped the large rabbit and grabbed the tail end of the snake. Then she flung it over his shoulder and wrapped it around his neck until it no longer dragged the ground.
"Thank you. Cedarstep never taught me anything like that. I always have trouble because I'm so short." he looked up at her with grateful eyes as green as the grass they walked on and they began to continue on.
Flickerheart felt a large drop of water splash the back of her neck, followed by another on her back, then another on her ear. Great. Now its starting to rain...
