The Clash of Stars Book 1: The Key

Chapter 5: Wolfpaw

Wolfpaw sat on the edge of the hollow, sighing as she watched Dapplepaw and Birdpaw dive at each other, swinging their paws in feigned attacks. Their claws were sheathed, as all cats were required to do during training sessions. A few tail-lengths away, their mentors, Leafwish and Pumpkinfeather, watched, nodding with approval as Dapplepaw flipped Birdpaw onto his back, pummeling his stomach with her hind legs.

Wolfpaw's mentor, a golden point molly named Yarrowfoot, waved her tail to signal for the apprentices to jump away from each other. Why she and Wolfpaw were in a training session with two younger apprentices, Wolfpaw didn't understand.

"Let's split into teams," Yarrowfoot suggested. She nodded to her apprentice. "Wolfpaw, you'll help Dapplepaw out, and Birdpaw can train with me." She flicked her tail to Leafwish and Pumpkinfeather nearby and added, "Your mentors can tell us what we'll be practicing and check your progress."

Wolfpaw groaned as Dapplepaw trotted over to face her. Dapplepaw had fawn-colored, curly fur that always made the small molly look disheveled. Wolfpaw frowned at her excited expression, shaking out her gray and brown mottled fur as she dug her claws into the soft moorland earth underpaw. She was Peonystar's daughter! Her mother was the leader of BlossomClan, and here she was, out doing training drills with two apprentices fresh out of the nursery! Of course, it would still be a couple moons until she was made a warrior, but surely she wasn't as inexperienced as these two?

"Yarrowfoot, don't you think I'm already ahead of this?" Wolfpaw called to her mentor, who was squaring up against Birdpaw. The latter of the two looked very nervous to be training against the warrior.

Yarrowfoot didn't turn her gaze to look at Wolfpaw. "You're the only other warrior apprentice, and Clanmates help one another," she reminded her. "You don't get a pass because our leader's your mother."

Wolfpaw groaned, granting her an indignant look from Dapplepaw that Wolfpaw couldn't take seriously. "You're just nervous that I'll beat you!" the smaller molly taunted.

Wolfpaw snorted. "I doubt that."

Without a warning, Dapplepaw suddenly leapt at Wolfpaw's flank, almost knocking her over. With luck, Wolfpaw managed to grip the ground under them, shaking Dapplepaw off. She turned to watch Dapplepaw with sharp eyes now as she recovered, springing at her opponent again.

Wolfpaw reared up on her hind legs to meet Dapplepaw, just managing to grapple the smaller apprentice around the middle. She slammed Dapplepaw to the ground, holding her down. With a wince, she realized how much effort it'd taken to fend off her denmate.

Despite being defeated, Dapplepaw looked very pleased with herself in a way that was very frustrating.

Wolfpaw looked up to see that Birdpaw seemed to be doing well training with Yarrowfoot. Dapplepaw's mentor, Pumpkinfeather, trotted over to praise his apprentice. Wolfpaw let Dapplepaw up off the ground, glaring at the smug look Dapplepaw shot her.

As they headed back to camp, Wolfpaw darted to Yarrowfoot's side, nudging her. Yarrowfoot frowned, flicking her tail for the others to go ahead of them. Once they were out of sight, Yarrowfoot sat down and faced Wolfpaw.

"Yarrowfoot, that was embarrassing!" Wolfpaw burst out. "I'm basically a warrior, and I just had to prove myself to some apprentice!"

Yarrowfoot stared at her, then snorted with laughter. "Wolfpaw, you've only been training for, like, four moons."

"That's four more than them!" Wolfpaw retorted, indignant that her mentor was laughing off her concerns.

Yarrowfoot shook her head, fixing Wolfpaw with a firm look. "Notice how I trained with Birdpaw and didn't complain?" she said. "You just need to get used to it. When you're a warrior one day and have an apprentice of your own, are you going to have a problem when you have to train them?"