A Rose's Thorn - Warrior Cats Fanfic

Chapter Three

Rose was led through the forest, past a river and toward a clump of trees sheltering a hollow that Wishspark had said to be BushClan's camp, whatever that was.

After following Wishspark into the camp, Rose froze at the sight of everything that lay in front of her eyes. There were dome-like dens woven from reeds and brambles, three on one side of the camp and two on the other side. There was a tall tree at the end of the camp with a hollow at the trunk. There was a white cat sitting among its branches, looking down over the camp.

"Woah," Rose breathed as Featherpaw came to her side. Rose continued to look around the camp and at each of the dens. There seemed to be cats everywhere, even though there were only five cats she could see straight away. Looking toward one of the dens, Rose saw a gray, black, and white she-cat with beautiful blue eyes watching three young kits run around in front of her.

Rose's gaze flitted to the den next to the one with the kits. There were two cats sprawled out in the sunny patches of warmth that shone through the treetops, and one cat watching the three kits play. 

The orange pinkish she-cat could also see a cat not much older than her or Featherpaw sitting at the roots of a tree in the center of the camp. Outside another den was a broad-shoulder black-and-white tom who was laying damp plants on the ground. 

Rose heard paw steps thumping toward her and turned face-forward to see a reddish-brown tom with blue eyes rushing toward the four cats. "Wishspark, Hawktalon, Featherp-" he nodded his head to greeting as he looked from one cat to another. The tom broke off when he saw Rose standing next to Featherpaw. "Who's this?"

"Her name is Rose," Wishspark mewed to the tom. He just narrowed his eyes and examined the kittypet. His slitted eyes focused on her jingling orange collar. 

"A kittypet," he snarled. "What is she doing in camp?"

"Jasperstone? What is going on?" Rose strained to see the white she-cat sitting up in the branches of the tall tree leap down to walk to the tom's side. As she got closer, Rose could admire her pretty pelt. She had soft white fur with flecked with brown. Her paws and muzzle were the same shade of brown, and she had glittering green eyes that gave off the feeling that she was usually a kind cat.

"Wishspark and Hawktalon have brought a kittypet into camp," the reddish-brown tom hissed at the white she-cat. 

"I actually never agreed to it," Hawktalon broke in, staring into the she-cat's green eyes. "Wishspark insisted on showing her the camp and out way of life."

Wishspark nodded. "If she was brave enough to venture over her fence, she'd brave enough to see our camp. Forgive me, Frecklestar."

Rose's eyes narrowed as the cat named Frecklestar stared at her. Frecklestar? How does a name like that make sense?

"What was her name again?" Frecklestar looked at Wishspark.

"Rose."

"Rose," Frecklestar repeated slowly. She padded forward and sniffed at Rose's fur. Rose tensed, the bell on her collar brushing against her fur, hardly muting its jingle. Frecklestar sat back down after a few moments.

"Wishspark," Frecklestar looked back at the ticked orange tabby. "Did you bring Rose here because you thought she'd be good Clan material?"

Hawktalon let out a disgruntled snort. "Clan material? Even if she was born into BushClan, we'd be accused of stealing MountainClan's kit!" 

"She is quite fluffy," Frecklestar didn't look away from Wishspark. "But your name is Hawktalon, not Wishspark." Hawktalon bared his teeth and whipped his head away with a hiss. "Anyway, you may speak now, Wishspark."

Wishspark needed the ground beneath her with anxious paws. "Well, I did find her brave, but I'm not sure if she'd be good Clan material or not. She was born a kittypet after all, and I'm not sure that she'd be a good addition to BushClan."

Frecklestar turned back to Rose. "Rose, do you know anything about battle moves?"

Rose silently nodded to the bigger she-cat. When she was six-moons old, Ghost had drilled her in battle training in his yard incase she'd ever come across an enemy. She'd learnt how to rake a cat's ears, tug a tail, use an attack crouch, and lunge forward to swipe at a cat's front legs. That was all Ghost had taught her. He'd said that he'd teach Rose a few more moves once she was fully grown. 

Now I understand why he didn't want me to leave, Rose thought with a sudden ache in her heart as she remembered Ghost's hurt expression as she rushed into the forest. Even if he disliked me a bit, he wanted me to stay so he wouldn't be lonely. He enjoyed having me around. 

But Frecklestar didn't give her another chance to reflect on her actions. "Well? How do I know if you're being truthful? Show us what you know."

Rose's eyes widened. "But- but how?"

Frecklestar let out a purr of amusement while Jasperstone twitched with inpatience. "By pretended that Featherpaw is your opponent."

Featherpaw and Rose turned to face each other. The two cats were the same age, the same size, so how much more could he possibly know about fighting than Rose? Surely, he'd been taught the same things as her.

Rose let out a sudden snarl and leapt at Featherpaw. She landed clumsily on his back, causing him to drop on the ground. Rose swiped a paw at his flank before leaping off of him, only for Featherpaw to jump back up to his paws and whip around to face Rose. He grabbed Rose with his paws and dragged her to the ground. He managed to flip her onto her back and slide his paw down her belly. Rose twitched at the feeling and squirmed away from the young tom. She quickly lunged forward and delivered a few blows to Featherpaw's front legs. But Rose couldn't dart backward quickly enough, allowing Featherpaw to cuff her ear and deliver a blow to her face. Rose dropped to the ground and rolled out of Featherpaw's way, barely thinking as she reared up on her hind legs and lashed out at Featherpaw's head.

Rose was about to dart over to Featherpaw's other side, but his teeth met her collar, pulling her back and almost choking her. Featherpaw tugged at her collar, pulling Rose with it as he attempted to snap it off of her neck. Rose felt pressure on her throat as Featherpaw gave a final tug and pulled her collar clean off of her neck. 

I feel like this was so badly written. This feels like it's a rewritten version of Into the Wild, but I promise you that it isn't and that I didn't plan for that to happen.