Warriors: Into The Wild - Book One (Completed)

Chapter Four

Waterpaw awoke with a startle. Her eyes jolted open and she looked around the apprentices' den. She was alone. "Where is everyone?" She meowed softly, looking around at all of the empty nests. She heard a voice outside of the den. It sounded like Tigerclaw, but she couldn't be sure, for she didn't know exactly what he smelled like yet. She pricked her ears and held her breath for a few quick moments.

"Ravenpaw needs to get better, quickly." He growled.

"Yes," Meowed a she-cat, "a pity if, after all your valuable training, he dies in his battle training, eh?"

Waterpaw could hear a teasing purr in her soft mew. Ravenpaw must be hurt pretty badly. She thought to herself. Waterpaw heard nothing else. She had guessed that Tigerclaw didn't respond and just stomped off. As she started to yawn and stretch out her front paws, her mind began racing. What would Ravenpaw be hurt from? What battle move did he try to do?

Another voice sounded from outside the Apprentices' den. Waterpaw blinked away the thought and quickly got up to her feet. "Waterpaw!" Shouted the familiar voice.

"Oh, uh, be right there!" She meowed back, shaking her fluffy pelt a little bit to get all of the extra moss off. She bolted outside through the small brambles and saw Runningwind sitting just outside the den. He looked so majestic sitting there with his tail wrapped around his front paws. "Morning, Runningwind." She meowed softly. "Touring the territory today, right?"

Runningwind nodded softly. "Mmm-mm" he replied, "Let's get some fresh-kill from the pile and then we'll go."

Waterpaw padded by Runningwind's side to the fresh-kill pile. She sniffed around and decided on a small finch. I can't imagine catching one of these. She thought to herself. She took the finch over a few fox-lengths away and laid down, putting the finch in between her paws. She spat out all of the feathers and then finally got down to the juicy meat inside.

"When you're finished, meet me in the middle of the clearing." Meowed Runningwind as he padded to the clearing now.

Waterpaw nodded and continued eating her bird. When she finished, she quickly licked her paws and mouth, then bounded towards Runningwind. "Ready." She purred. She looked over a bit behind Runningwind and saw a flame-colored pelt, tom. Bluestar wasn't too far from him. Bluestar sensed that Waterpaw was here and turned to face her. "This is Firepaw." She meowed, "He will be joining you today. I am quite busy today and can't be training much, and you're also new to the forest, so I thought it'd be perfect."

Waterpaw softly nodded, not taking her eyes off of Firepaw. "You joined recently as well?" She meowed.

Firepaw looked at Waterpaw. Her eyes were a bright amber and he saw a slight glimmer as she spoke. "Yeah." He meowed back. "I was a kittypet as well. I was Rusty at the time."

"We must have been on opposite towns." She purred.

Runningwind cut into their conversation, "We better get going, or we'll lose sunlight fast. It is almost leaf-bare."

Waterpaw hated leaf-bare. Normally she'd be inside almost all two moons, but she knew she was going to be out in the cold with no warmth. It's not like the other cats will want to cuddle with her to keep warm. She bounded after Runningwind and kept up with his pace, while Firepaw had a bit of trouble. "Keep up, young Firepaw." He meowed as he reached the end of the border. Waterpaw could hear running water. She could smell the sweet scent of the mist. It almost felt as if she was in heaven.

"I thought that we'll start off at the borders, so you'll know not to cross here in the future." Runningwind began. Waterpaw then remembered that Oakheart and her had crossed this same river. "The other side is RiverClan, isn't it?" She meowed.