New Horizons

Chapter 3

After the apprentice ceremony, Wildwillow, Silverwind, and Whiteclaw decided to take the three new apprentices on their first hunt to see what they already knew. "Alright you three," Wildwillow started as they stood by the edge of the river. "Let's see what you-?" he broke off, noticing the look on Nightpaw, Featherpaw, and Mistpaw's faces, the fear in their eyes.

"Mistpaw?" Whiteclaw murmured, moving to stand in front of his apprentice. "Mistpaw, what's wrong?" Silverwind's eyes widened, immediately pushing the three apprentices away from the river's edge as gently as she could. "Silverwind?"

"Don't you remember what happened to them three moons ago?" the light grey tabby she-cat asked, glaring at the other two before checking the apprentices were alright. "Are you three alright?"

"Yeah, what happened?" Nightpaw groaned, sitting up as Mistpaw leaned against him, seemingly drained from whatever had just happened to the three of them.

Silverwind sighed sadly, sitting in front of her apprentice. "You three had a flashback, I think. Of when you fell into the river." Featherpaw glanced at her littermate before looking at the warrior.

"We never fell into the river," she mewed. Silverwind seemed shocked.

"If you didn't fall in, then why in StarClan's name were you three in there in the first place?"

"Because of Ripplebreeze," Mistpaw yawned, resting her head on the ground as she looked tiredly up at Silverwind, Whiteclaw, and Wildwillow. "Ripplebreeze took us out of the camp and took us to the river. She dropped us in there and never tried to save us."

The three warriors were shocked as they listened to what this six-moon-old kit was telling them. However, as they thought about it, it made a lot of sense. Ripplebreeze didn't seem to care an awful lot about the three kits so why wouldn't he have tried to get rid of them in a seemingly innocent way by playing it as if her three-moon-old kits had fallen into the river and were swept away by the current, never to be seen again?

"I think it's best we train before we go near the river for now," Wildwillow murmured, heading deeper into the territory. "I'm talking to Leopardfur and Crookedstar when we get back. We can't let Ripplebreeze get away with this." The other two agreed as the group headed deeper into the territory of RiverClan.

After training until well after sunhigh, the group returned to the camp. "You three go get some rest," Wildwillow murmured, Minnowstripe padding up to them to talk to his kits. "You three did very well today. Try and get some sleep, I think Crookedstar's going to take you three to the Gathering with him tonight." Nightpaw, Featherpaw, and Mistpaw nodded, the three heading to the apprentices den and curling up on the moss beds to try and get some rest.

"Why did they seem so tired? You're pushing them too far, aren't you?" Minnowstripe accused, crouching low. Wildwillow rolled his eyes.

"You know, for being my former apprentice, you really are a mouse brain, aren't you?" hissed the dark brown tom as he headed off to where Leopardfur and Crookedstar were sharing tongues, much like the rest of the Clan were.

"Ah, Wildwillow!" Leopardfur exclaimed, to which the tom greeted the two with a bow of his head. "What do you need?"

"I need to tell you something that the new apprentices told me, Silverwind, and Whiteclaw," he murmured, sitting down, and curling his tail around his paws. Crookedstar gestured for him to continue. "Do you two remember when we found those three in the river? When they were three-moons-old?"

"I do," Crookedstar admitted, looking down at his paws. "Why?"

"They told us that they didn't fall into the river, that Ripplebreeze dropped them into the river instead." He replied, ears drawn back as he glared at the ground. Leopardfur sat up quickly, eyes wide as Crookedstar growled in anger.

"Why would she do such a thing?" the deputy exclaimed, tail slashing angrily.

"I am just as angry as you are, Leopardfur, but please, control your temper," Crookedstar chastised to which Leopardfur bowed her head in apology to the wise leader. "Besides we all know how Ripplebreeze treated the three kits when they were younger. She doesn't seem to care much for Nightpaw, Featherpaw, and Mistpaw so should it really be that surprising? Speaking of the new apprentices, where are they?"

"They're resting in the apprentices den right now. We went to the river's edge, and they freaked out a little bit," murmured Wildwillow. Crookedstar nodded, getting up and heading to where the apprentices den was before heading in, checking on the three apprentices.

"He cares for them, doesn't he?" Silverwind mentioned as she padded up to Leopardfur and Wildwillow.

"Were you listening?" Leopardfur asked with a knowing glint. Silverwind chuckled, nodding.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't help it." she sighed, turning to look towards the apprentices den. "I'm worried about them. What if they can't get over what Ripplebreeze did to them?"

"They will," Leopardfur assured, brushing her tail against the light grey she-cat's flank. "It will just take time, but they'll overcome it someday." Nodding, the she-cat curled into her friend's body, growing tired. "Sleep," Leopardfur advised, rasping her tongue over the she-cat's head. Wildwillow smiled at the two before noticing Crookedstar emerging from the apprentices den seeming angered.

"Crookedstar doesn't seem so happy," Whiteclaw mentioned. Wildwillow nodded, watching as he made his way to where Ripplebreeze was watching Weaselkit and Duskkit playing and started talking to her. The three cats watched as the leader's tail thrashed around behind him in pure rage at what he was hearing. "This doesn't look good."

Crookedstar hissed one last thing at Ripplebreeze before returning to where he was before, the anger seeming to dissipate as he settled down under the large rock. "It's the Gathering tonight, isn't it?" Leopardfur mentioned to which Crookedstar nodded.

"I'm not taking Ripplebreeze to any Gatherings. Who knows what she would do to those poor kits, they're absolutely terrified of her." He growled, ears drawn back as he glared at Ripplebreeze who quickly looked away, Minnowstripe seeming confused as he glanced towards the leader and looked away quickly.

"We should rest for now," murmured Whiteclaw as he and Wildwillow lay down as well, noticing how the three apprentices rushed over to them when Ripplebreeze passed by the apprentices den. "You three are alright, calm down. Come on, we need to rest." They nodded, settling down with their respective mentor before drifting off to sleep. They've had a long day, Whiteclaw thought as he rested with his apprentice.