The Rise of a Tyrant

Chapter 3 // Shadepaw

Shadepaw heaved through the sludgepools, getting more annoyed with each sloppy step. He'd been sent to the edge of Swampclan territory for his assessment. The assessment that he would obviously fail!
Suddenly Shadepaw felt a hard surface, and gratefully stepped out of the mud onto a rock. His blue-grey fur had been completely ruined. Suddenly, he yelped as he realised a leech was latched onto his leg. After shaking it off as violently as possible, Shadepaw crouched embarrassedly. He could just feel his mentor, Barkstripe, watching him from the trees.

Where was he supposed to find prey? How could any cat find anything here?
Shadepaw's stomach flipped as he realised the leech might've been potential prey. The one he'd just shaken off while screaming.
The shame sunk in, even though Shadepaw had never seen a leech on the fresh-kill pile. He just knew he'd messed up anyway.

"I'm done." He called out to the trees. No response.

Silentcloud probably sent me here. And she probably did it on purpose. Shadepaw realised, while sighing.
Suddenly his ears picked up a rustle somewhere in the gloomy undergrowth. Perking up his head, Shadepaw glared into the woods. He opened his jaw slightly to assist his sense of smell, and, albeit through the stink, picked up a slight whiff of Barkstripe from the left.

Dropping into a crouch, Shadepaw stalked across the stone, cautious of any possible mud-patches. He eventually, once close enough, pounced into the bushes, catching a brown furball off-guard.
"Shadepaw!" Barkstripe yowled. "You're not supposed to hunt me!"

"Then what am I supposed to hunt?" Shadepaw retorted, getting off his mentor. Most of Shadepaw's questions seemed to have an immediate answer, but to his surprise, Barkstripe just glanced at his paws with a frown.
"You- you don't know?" Shadepaw gaped. So this was a trick.
"I mean..." Barkstripe began, but trailed off, still frowning.

Shadepaw grunted. "I knew mother- I mean, Silentcloud asked for me to do this on purpose." There was hurt in the grey apprentice's mew. "She doesn't want me to succeed, does she?"
Barkstripe's amber eyes widened. "No, Shadepaw, it's not like that..."
"But it is." Shadepaw responded darkly. Feeling the sticky mud on his legs begin to dry, he stood up.

"Please, Barkstripe, can we go back to the water?" Shadepaw pleaded.
Barkstripe hesitated, before sighing. "Yeah, let's do that."

***

Shadepaw bathed his legs in the clean water of the pondlands. Feeling relieved as the stinky mud detached itself from his fur, he turned to look at Barkstripe on the bank behind him. The brown tom was sitting there, licking his thick pelt awkwardly. Barkstripe didn't like getting wet, because it would take him ages to get dry. The polar opposite of Shadepaw, and the young tom had scowled at that.

He looked around at the lush trees, feeling a slight breeze rustle through their leaves. They stuck out of the ground, straight towards the sky, with tiny, visible roots that dug into the soil through the water. Shadepaw closed his eyes and let himself listen to the slight trickling of water against the bark. He breathed in a fresh, salty sent that relaxed his paws and shoulders and made him feel... free. It made Shadepaw feel like an adventurer, simply wandering through the swamp, ready to explore the next vast territory. Instead of being confined in a camp, full of loud, bossy cats who told him who he had to be and how he had to do it. Instead of Silentcloud, his own mother, wanting to make his life a living hell.

But that lasted only a moment, as Barkstripe had to ruin everything.
"No slacking off, Shadepaw. We have to get going."
Shadepaw hissed. "Fine, coming."

The Swampclan camp was dark and depressing. Dark because of the thick border of trees surrounding it- and depressing because of all the other cats single-pawingly setting the mood. Shadepaw and Barkstripe walked through a gap in the trees, surrounded by a tunnel of thorns, that lead into the camp.
Cats with pelts of brown, black, and cream wandered the clearing, whispering amongst themselves as they saw Shadepaw enter with Barkstripe. Shadepaw didn't like how their voices scratched around under his fur. He turned his attention towards Barkstripe, who was now heading straight for the leader's den. Shadepaw's heart tightened as his mentor padded past the tall rock where Silentcloud would hold meetings, and into the lofty-tree, where her den was.

Shadepaw just knew that Silentcloud was about to smirk at what Barkstripe was about to say. She always stayed in her den, then she would just... use her only son as her source of amusement. He hated her.

Snorting to himself, Shadepaw walked off, not caring anymore. He approached the apprentice den, hopping over a set of stones in the water and towards the tiny, sheltered island. There were two bushes - one being the warriors' den, the other being the apprentices' den. Shadepaw trotted into the smaller hollow bush, catching scent of three cats and fresh-kill. To Shadepaw's surprise, the three apprentices: Mosspaw, Slugpaw and Mangrovepaw all sat around a massive snake. Shadepaw, by instinct, bristled for a moment.

"Shadepaw!" Mosspaw mewed, her amber eyes lighting up. "Look what we caught!"
"What I caught." Slugpaw mewed over his sister. The green tabby she-cat shot him a glare.
"We all worked together, snail-brain!" Mangrovepaw mewed from across the den.

"But how?" Shadepaw murmured.
"We found it sunbathing in the heathlands." Mangrovepaw explained, his blue eyes widening.
"Yeah, I decided to catch it, but they tried to make it look like they did." Slugpaw huffed, his dark grey pelt rippling from his breath.
"Yeah, no, that was because you stood no chance against that thing. Of course we had to help!" Mosspaw argued.

Shadepaw felt small of a sudden. Why couldn't he be allowed to go with the other apprentices? It wouldn't hurt, right? Shadepaw made his was towards the corner, where his nest was, and settled down.
"How are you going to eat that thing?" He asked.
"Well, we're waiting for Marshpaw to come back. He's looking for something we can use to remove the scales." Mosspaw replied.
"You probably all passed the assessment." Shadepaw mewed, melancholic.
Mangrovepaw glanced at him from the side, ears flattening and eyes full of sympathy. Shadepaw immediatly regretted saying anything.

"Yeah. Looks like Slugpaw is going to become Slugbrain soon. I can't wait!" Mosspaw teased her brother. Slugpaw didn't take it lightly, though.
"You're acting as if you're not completely useless on every patrol." Slugpaw hissed. "What do you add, huh?"
Mosspaw paused, looking a bit shocked.
"Slugpaw, I was just-"
"DON'T call me that." The grey tom lashed his tail and stomped out of the apprentice den. "Go enjoy my snake." He scowled.

Mangrovepaw looked as if he had swallowed a fly, and Mosspaw went to lick her paw as swiftly as she could. Shadepaw's pelt tingled as he felt another presence in the entryway.
"Bad time?" Marshpaw mewed, holding a sharp stone in his mouth.
"Not at all." Shadepaw replied, voice filled with sarcasm.
The brown tabby shuffled. "Well, I'm here, so.."
"Come on. We'll eat until there's nothing left." Mosspaw hissed.

Shadepaw blinked quickly. Siblings, he rolled his eyes.
But nothing pleased him more than seeing the blind motivation in Mosspaw's eyes as she spitefully ripped apart the snake.