Warrior Cats SERIES 1: North and South (Book 1)

Chapter 5

Green grass tickled his white paws, the bright sun shining down on his cream pelt, making the contrasting colours of his brown stripes greater. Meltedfur didn't stop for him whatsoever and Northpaw had no trouble catching up every so often either. He had a slim, small frame and was a lot faster than most cats his age. RiverClan was usually known as graceful and fast, not strong and messy, like ShadowClan. ThunderClan was skilful, courageous and strong, while WindClan was fast and had a lot of stamina.
          "Where do we meet the others?" Northpaw meowed curiously. He wanted to meet the other medicine cats and their apprentices, if they had any. He had heard from Meltedfur that medicine cats don't take on many apprentices, usually only one in their lifetime, unlike warriors who usually took on about three or four. And, unlike any other apprentice, medicine apprentices trained for longer and received their medicine cat name when their mentor thought they were ready. They did not have to take an assessment, like regular apprentices. Even when medicine apprentices received their full medicine cat name, they would still be apprentices until their mentor died.
          "Not long now. Here's WindClan border - keep up your senses. We're free to travel through here but any patrol could mistake us for warriors. We don't want any trouble." Meltedfur warned, her voice careful but firm. The shecat was often very blunt and could find herself snapping at him, even though she was a rather quiet cat in general. Northpaw found that his mentor was more confident to her apprentices, just like how she was to Gentlepaw, the black apprentice who had been Meltedfur's apprentice before she died when he was only two moons old.
          "We must stay three tail-lengths away from the lake. Follow me, Northpaw. Be careful - I don't want to rescue my own apprentice from drowning, especially when we're in RiverClan." She sighed.
          Stars reflected on the colossal lake and seemed to remind Northpaw of something. He remembered when he saw an outline of a starry cat that faded into the sky of the apprentice den, before he realised he had been staring through the vision at Cottonpaw. He twisted his head and followed through the mucky land. His paws made a sucking sound when he pulled them out the mud, though the dirt slowly cleared out as they went deeper into WindClan territory. Scents hit him like a monster speeding down the small thunderpath and Northpaw realised he should make note of WindClan scent, for he would need it in his training. Though medicine apprentices took on a different responsibility, they still learned the necessities to live in RiverClan territory. They would often patrol their borders with their mentors or warriors so they can memorise it and know where herbs grew.
          The lake was adorned with water moss around the edges, where the water reached land. A few weeds stuck out the lake like a sore thumb, though most of them were slowly dying. Leaf-bare would come down even harder than the year before.
          Meltedfur hopped out of the mud and Northpaw noticed that it had stopped abruptly, with only rocks and pebbles on the shore of the lake. He leapt swiftly out of the boggy land and into the shallow water. It covered his paws, only reaching up to his wrist, though, not to his hock.
          His mentor suddenly bounded away into WindClan's territory and Northpaw stood, dumbstricken. Was his mentor really invading another clan's territory? The distance the shecat was was most certainly more than three tail-lengths. Northpaw spotted a fluffy frame his mentor had gone over to and he concluded it must have been the WindClan medicine cat.
          "... yes, and this is Northpaw." Meltedfur was saying as she trotted back over to him with the light brown cat. Northpaw could tell by the scent that it was a shecat.
          "Hello, Northpaw. I'm Mothchaser." Her smooth voice almost instantly calmed him. He let his fur lay flat and remembered he must be nice - he didn't want any foes between him and the other medicine cats.
          "Hello, Mothchaser." Northpaw greeted, trying to be as polite as possible. The shecat dipped her head to Meltedfur.
          "Should we continue? I bet Petalstem is already waiting for us - and maybe Shredspot too. He's always impatient. Our ears will be ripped off if we don't hurry!" Mothchaser giggled and bounded away. Meltedfur smiled and followed on. Northpaw rushed over to catch up, though he was in shock from the fact his mentor had just smiled. The WindClan medicine cat must be a close friend, he told himself.
          An odd scent was carried down by the gush of wind. It was most definitely another clan, but it wasn't WindClan this time.
          "That's ThunderClan territory coming up next. We must travel through there to get to the Moonpool." Mothchaser whispered back to him, as Meltedfur wasn't too excited on telling him what was happening next. "Ooh, and look. That's Petalstem and Shredspot. Petalstem is the ThunderClan medicine cat, and Shredspot is the ShadowClan medicine cat." Northpaw looked over and squinted through the sun to see the two figures. As he got closer he could pick up the cats' appearances. Northpaw picked up another scent, more dirty than the ThunderClan one and he guessed it was ShadowClan.
          From where the ShadowClan scent was strongest there sat a slim tomcat with long legs. He had a pale white pelt with a few black smudges. His right eye was surrounded with black fur unlike the left, which had white around it. The tomcat's peircing green eyes slightly reminded Northpaw of his own, which were a much lighter, softer green.
          To the tomcat's flank was a short shecat. Her pelt was a beautiful cream, like Northpaw's, only it was splattered with white splotches. That must be Petalstem, he thought. She had a strong ThunderClan scent. He couldn't remember the name of the ShadowClan medicine cat. Spot-something, Northpaw wondered.
          "Hello, Meltedfur, Mothchaser and who's that? I heard you had taken on an apprentice, Meltedfur, but I didn't catch his name." The tomcat purred in greeting. "He does look like he has potential, that's for sure. Look at his handsome pelt." Northpaw frowned - how was he saying compliments so easily.
          "That's-"
          "I'm Northpaw." He cut off his mentor. He didn't need introducing. "Who are you?" Northpaw's eyes flashed with wonder. He glanced at the shecat. "You're Petalstem, aren't you? Mothchaser mentioned you earlier."
          "Yes, I am." Petalstem meowed with surprise. She looked over at Mothchaser and stepped toward the WindClan medicine cat, starting conversation.
          "I'm Shredspot," The tomcat spoke up at last. "Nice to meet you, Northpaw, I suppose."
          "C'mon, let's get going." Meltedfur hissed a little, her amber eyes nearly slicing Northpaw's head straight off. Had he done something wrong?