Tigerstar's Family

Tigerpaw

"Tigerpaw, are you keeping up well?" Bluefur called back.

"Yeah, I'm fine!" Tigerpaw's muscles ached and his pads were sore, but he didn't dare reveal that to Bluefur. He was just an apprentice, he didn't want to make his mentor mad at him!

"Alright, good, because you'll need your energy for this," Bluefur meowed. She proceeded to pause. Tigerpaw slowed to a lazy walk, breathing hard. Their surroundings had changed entirely. They'd started off in a sunny meadow outside camp, but now they were standing on a cliff above a gorge. Little stalagmites with flat tops dotted the gorge. "Okay, Tigerpaw. You jump, like this, see?"

Tigerpaw watched as the graceful blue she-cat leapt from the cliff to a large stalagmite near the where he was standing. She leapt to the next one, calling, "Come on! Stretch those muscles, Tigerpaw!"

So he bunched his haunches and leapt. But his long claws scraped his holds away. 

"Help!" he yowled. StarClan, he thought. StarClan, please. I'm too young to die. I haven't avenged Pinestar yet. I don't have a warrior name yet. I haven't done anything yet! StarClan!

"I'll get you!" Bluefur yowled. She nimbly leapt onto the stalagmite and dragged him up. "Why don't we take the easier path today?"

She led Tigerpaw to a winding river, dotted with stepping stones. A large cave mouth hung over it all. "Leap," she instructed, bounding halfway across the river in one large bound. Tigerpaw quickly followed her.

They were suddenly inside the cave. Large stalagmites hung from the cave's ceiling, reminding him of the lichen covering the entrance to Sunstar's den. "Why are we here?" Tigerpaw asked. 

"StarClan," Bluefur replied. Her eyes glazed over and her mouth started moving, but Tigerpaw could hear no sound.

"Bluefur?" he asked. The she-cat's blue eyes were unwavering, however, focusing on nothing.

Suddenly, a white she-cat with brown patches appeared. Suddenly, Tigerpaw could see who Bluestar was talking to. She was talking to a white kit with blue eyes. "I am Swiftbreeze," the brown-and-white she-cat mewed quietly. "Hello, Tigerpaw. I didn't expect Bluestar to bring you to the Star Cave so quickly."

The Star Cave? Tigerpaw wondered. What is that?