"... from this day forward, until she has earned her warrior name, this apprentice will be known as Rosepaw, your mentor will be Mapleheart. She is a dedicated warrior to the Clan, and ThunderClan is honored to have her as our warrior. I hope that she will pass down all she knows to you." announced Nightstar. The ThunderClan cats cheered.
"Rosepaw! Rosepaw!"
Nightkit felt extra nervous and overwhelmed by her Clanmates' cheers. Blazepaw had already been apprenticed, and was now sitting smugly next to his mentor, Shredpelt.
She gulped when her Clanmates' gazes rested on her. Pawstep by pawstep, she padded forward and looked at her grandfather straight in the eye.
"Nightkit," Nightstar purred. "You have reached the age of six moons, and it is time for you to be apprenticed. From this day forward, until she has earned her warrior name, this apprentice will be known as Nightpaw. Frostpelt, you have shown great skill when it comes to hunting and fighting. You will be Nightpaw's mentor. I hope that you will pass on all that you know on to her."
"Nightpaw! Nightpaw!"
Nightpaw relaxed as she heard her Clanmates chant her name. It wasn't so bad after all. She reached up and touched Frostpelt with her nose, meeting his icy blue eyes, yet his eyes glowed with warmth.
Rosepaw bounced over to Nightpaw, Mapleheart trailing after her. "We're apprentices!" she sang. "I'm so excited, I can't wait for our first training session!"
"Don't get too excited, we're only apprentices, we have to do the most boring jobs," Blazepaw told her.
Rosepaw batted him with her tail. "Then we can enjoy the nice ones while we can! Oh Mapleheart, when can we go train?"
Mapleheart let out a mrrow of laughter. "Well, in fact, we're gonna take you two--" she indicated Nightpaw and Rosepaw "-- to explore the ThunderClan territory, from here to the lake, and then along the WindClan border!"
The two apprentices chattered excitedly. Blazepaw, on the other hand, was annoyed.
"So they get to go out, and I'm gonna be stuck here?" he demanded.
Shredpelt flicked his ear with his tail irritably. "You're going to go to the ShadowClan border. And no complaints along the way."
"Okay," Blazepaw muttered.
"C'mon Nightpaw, let's go!" Rosepaw bounced past her.
"Rosepaw, that's the wrong way," meowed Frostpelt, amusement glimmering in his eyes.
"Oops, sorry!"
As they stepped out into the forest, Nightpaw breathed in the fresh, inviting scent. She gazed around wonderingly, purring as the sunlight warmed her pelt. Rosepaw bounced around, occasionally sniffing at this and that curiously and batting her paws at a butterfly.
After a while, they reached the lake.
"Wow! It's huge!" Rosepaw exclaimed.
Nightpaw agreed. It was even bigger than she had imagined it. She could barely make out the RiveClan camp on the other side. She stared at the murky water curiously and touched it with her paw.
"Aah!" she squeaked. "It's cold!"
The other let out mrrows of laughter.
"Let's go to the WindClan border," Frostpelt decided.
"Will we see WindClan cats?" asked Nightpaw.
"Maybe, if we're lucky," her mentor replied.
The muddy ground around the lake soon turned into the soft grass of the forest. Nightpaw raised her muzzle and sniffed the air. Mmm, squirrel, and a-- is that a rabbit?
Mapleheart stiffened. "I scent rabbit," she announced quietly to the patrol.
Frostpelt nodded. "This will be good experience for the apprentices. You two, copy what I do."
He dropped onto the hunter's crouch. "Rosepaw, you're leaning a bit on the right side. Fix your position. Nightpaw, yours is perfect, but tuck your hind legs in a bit more," he instructed. "Now, we stalk the rabbit. Keep your paws light, or the rabbit will hear you. We'll go around it, because it won't have anywhere to escape, and we're downwind of it." The apprentices followed him. "Crouch here, and prepare to leap."
Nightpaw struggled to catch up with her mentors words, but got the idea of what to do anyways. Eventually, the plump rabbit came into view. Then Rosepaw unfortunately stepped onto a twig. The rabbit looked around and Rosepaw sidestepped behind a bush just in time. They were relieved when the rabbit seemed to think that it had imagined the noise.
"I'll go scare the rabbit into the trap," whispered Mapleheart. The others nodded.
She worked her way around it, and when the moment came, she gave a terrifying yowl and bared her teeth. The rabbit squeaked in terror and ran directly into the trap. Nightpaw tensed, ready to leap, but then she spotted an opening on the other side and sprang in the way. The rabbit turned around, truly terrified now. Then it ran directly into Frostpelt's paws. He held it down and gave it to Rosepaw for the killing bite. Nightpaw heard the spine crack and the rabbit fell to the ground. She went to congratulate her sister.
"That was great, Rosepaw! Now Blazepaw won't have to complain about the lack of food!"
"You did a part of it too, the rabbit would have escaped if you hadn't blocked that hole," Rosepaw said shyly.
"We all did a part of it. This could feed the whole Clan!" said Mapleheart. "Let's bury this, and when we come back, we can pick it up."
They buried the rabbit and headed towards the WindClan border. The forest suddenly ended and a small gurgling stream marked the border into WindClan territory. Nightpaw wrinkled her nose as she scented the WindClan markers.
"How do they live with that stench?"
"We might as well ask you the same," growled a voice. Nightpaw looked up to see five WindClan cats, lean and wiry, and carried the scent of moorland.
"Wow, WIndClan cats!" Rosepaw exclaimed.
"Wow, ThunderClan cats!" a small black-and-white WindClan apprentice said at the same time.
They both blushed and ducked their heads.
"Greetings, Swiftwind, Mudpelt, Thornwhisker," said Frostpelt coolly, ignoring the apprentices. "How's it going in WindClan?" he asked politely.
"Good, thank you," a dark brown tom replied, narrowing his eyes. Then he looked around. "Have you seen Dust-"
Thw WindClan tom's sentence was abruptly cut off as another apprentice barreled through the patrol, chasing a rabbit.
"Dustpaw!" the brown tom yowled, as the apprentice leaped the border stream, and caught the rabbit. He was about to pick it up when his mentor lunged and yanked Dustpaw back onto the WindClan side.
"WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNT ABOUT THE WARRIOR CODE?" he screamed at Dustpaw furiously. "STEALING PREY RIGHT IN FRONT OF THUNDERCLAN? ARE YOU MAD?"
The ThunderClan patrol stared at the two cats in shock, while the WindClan cats glared and hissed at the apprentice.
"I-I'm sorry Mudpelt--I didn't mean to--" Dustpaw stammered and faltered under his Clanmates' furious gazes. Nightpaw felt bad for him, but after all, he had broken the warrior code and tried to steal ThunderClan prey.
Mudpelt closed his eyes and opened them. He seemed to breathe heavily. "I'm sorry about what just happened. I promise this StarClan-forsaken apprentice will be taught a lesson. You can have the rabbit," he told the ThunderClan cats.
Frostpelt dipped his head. "Very well. But make sure no other apprentices -- or warriors -- tries to steal ThunderClan prey again," he warned.
"They won't," Mudpelt promised grimly. "Especially this one." He glared at Dustpaw. "C'mon, let's go," he called to the patrol.
As the WindClan cats padded away Nightpaw distinctively heard Mudpelt scolding Dustpaw, "Crowstar will decide what to do with you. And never, ever do that again."
YOU ARE READING
The Endless Prophecy - Night
Fanfiction"There will be three, kin of your kin, who holds the power of stars in their paws... This is how it has always been, and how it will always be." All those famous warriors of the past... from Firestar to Nightstar (Nightheart), from Dovewing to Sunbe...
