Warriors: Powers of The Clans ~ Paws of Life (Book 2/6)

Chapter Three

(cat featured above is Marblekit)

"So, what are you thinking of playing today?" Flameclaw asked, looking around the camp.

Dockkit turned her head to the leader's den, tilting her head. "Can I meet Spottedstar? I haven't ever spoken to him, and last time he met me I was just born." Flameclaw flicked his tail.

"If that's what you want!" Flameclaw smiled, beginning to walk over to the leader's den. Dockkit smiled, her heart racing nervously. Such an honor to meet the leader one on one! Spottedstar was lazing under a shaded spot, talking lightly with Sunpelt, who dipped his head and led three other cats out of camp.

Flameclaw approached Spottedstar, who was blocking Dockkit from Spottedstar. "Hello, Flameclaw." He greeted, smiling. Dockkit peeked out from behind Flameclaw, and padded out, standing as tall as she could. "And you must be young Dockkit." Dockkit smiled.

"Sure am! But I'm not that young. I'll be an apprentice within a moon, and a warrior not long after." She boasted, puffing out her fur. Spottedstar laughed.

"Of course you will." He smiled. "I just know you'll save many lives defending them, as a strong little warrior." Pride surged through Dockkit, but when she glanced at Tansypool, who was walking over, her face was serious.

"Hello, Dockkit." Tansypool dipped her head in greeting. Tansypool exchanged a glance with Spottedstar, and Dockkit sat confused.

"Should I know something?" Dockkit whispered to Flameclaw.

Tansypool eyed her warily. "Nothing at all." Dappledfur rushed over, his eyes wide with terror.

"MoorClan patrol! We've been ambushed!" He yelled.

Spottedstar stood up, beginning to send cats out. "Goldenfeather! Barleyflake!" Flameclaw stood up.

"I'll go too!" He offered. "Sorry, Dockkit, I'll make it up to you later." He growled, rushing out of camp with another patrol. Dockkit sighed, looking to where her brother was sitting. She walked across camp, joining him, and following his gaze to where Mosskit and Thistlekit tumbled through the undergrowth by the nursery.

"Why don't you join in? Why just watch?" Dockkit asked, wondering aloud. Sootkit shrugged.

"They need time for just brothers." He said plainly. Dockkit sits beside him, looking down at her paws. The moon is slowly rising, and casting a moon-lit glow on her white and orange fur.

"Do you wish you had a brother instead?" She whispered, her heart racing, nervous for his answer.

Sootkit looked up, his eyes wide. "Of course not! I would never trade you for a brother!" Dockkit smiled, hope returning to her.

"Same here." She smiled. She swatted him over the ear, as he reared up, bringing his paws down on her ears.

The night passed quickly, and the kits had regrouped. Marblekit and Sootkit were mock-fighting now, and Mosskit and Thistlekit had kept together, talking with their heads bent together. Dockkit sat alone in contempt, licking her paw and washing her ears. She stood up, padding slowly over to them.

She sat down beside Thistlekit, who kept talking. "I wish I could see what a patrol is like." She mewed half to herself.

Thistlekit and Mosskit followed her gaze to Petalsplash, who had been organizing the night patrols, sending cats off. Her mother had joined another patrol, and was sharing a starling with Cinderstripe, who laughed easily with her.

"Okay," Thistlekit tilted his head at her. "I dare you to go out on a patrol, and come back- without getting caught, then tell us how it was." Dockkit looked away from him, and back to her mother, thinking.

"Do you have bees in your brain?" Mosskit hissed, quietly. "Patrolling is dangerous for a kit as young as her, or any of us!" Dockkit considered it in her mind, lifting a paw curiously.

"Ok. I'll do it." Dockkit meowed.

Thistlekit smiled, saying "Really?" at the same time as Mosskit yelped, "What?" Dockkit turned to them.

"I'll be fine. I will join my mothers patrol, that way, if I am in trouble, or get caught, she can help, and it won't be as embarrassing if I'm scolded by her, instead of some random warrior." Dockkit explained, thinking it through.

"Am I the only cat who has sense here? I want to go on patrol as much as any of you, but I wouldn't dare! Do not go." Mosskit warned.

"Don't listen to him." Thistlekit rolled his eyes. "You can prove that a kit of any age can go on adventures, and that the rule for apprenticeship is dumb."

"Yes!" She leaped up, her tail flicking excitedly. "I'll be the first kit ever to go on a patrol!" Dockkit, Thistlekit and Mosskit waited beside a bush at the exit of camp, watching as her mother gathered the cats on their way to a patrol. Sagespots, Goldenfeather and Barleyflake followed her mother out of camp quickly. Mosskit thought quickly, and leaped out of the bush, asking everyone why Winterpaw wasn't going. Thistlekit shoved Dockkit, who raced up the slope, thankful for Mosskit's distraction. Dockkit ducked behind a bush, staring at the whole forest in awe. It's huge! The forest was massive, with all the trees everywhere, and in the way instead of cleared out like camp.

"Wow." She breathed. She took a deep breath, sighing with happiness as she experienced the patrol. Dockkit followed the patrol, who began walking in one direction. My first patrol! Dockkit couldn't keep the excitement in, and raced off towards the patrol quickly, and quietly, as she stalked through the undergrowth.

Dockkit followed the patrol for what seemed like hours, and her paws began to ache. She gratefully layed down beneath a bush as the cats stopped, sniffing and marking their scent on what Dockkit assumed was a border. Dockkit closed her eyes for a moment, settling into the moss around her.

Suddenly, a loud barking noise rang in her ears, snapping her eyes open. Dockkit flinched in horror as she looked up to see a large, red and brown cat standing over her, larger than any cat she has ever seen before. The cat loomed over her, its eyes jet-black and unforgiving.

Dockkit scrambled up, and beneath the bush fully, gasping for air. "I-I-I'm nice, sir." She explained, but the cat snapped at her muzzle, missing it by a whisker. Dockkit screamed, turning around and racing out of the bush. The cat followed, on her tail.

"Help!" She yelled, as loud as she could, hoping the patrol would hear her. The hot breath of the cat was on her back, and Dockkit didn't dare look back. It snapped again, catching some fur from her tail. Dockkit yelped, pain shooting through her nub-tail. Is that creature even a cat? It doesn't seem to understand me. "Smoketail!" Dockkit screams, her heart racing as she slowed down, closer to the large cat, which she now assumed to be a fox. The fox snapped once more, grasping onto her hind leg, and dragging her back. Dockkit yelled, the pain worse than any pain before. Her head pounded, as her leg felt pulled on, blood covering the blurry ground around it. Dockkit attempted to stand up, but her balance is thrown off by nothing, as she slips, slamming into the dirt. Her jaws snap onto something bitter, and gross, and the juice of the leaves spread through her mouth. As the fox stalked closer to her, a fluffy dark shape burst through the bushes, hissing fiercely.

"Stay there Dockkit!" A voice calls. Dockkits vision blurs and she can't see straight. Pain is shooting through Dockkits leg, and her whole body aches with no energy. The cat fights off the fox, screaming as it snaps at her. The other cats on the patrol come to help, and the fluffy shape falls to the ground, panting. Dockkit closed her eyes, terrified as her heart pounded, her leg throbbed, and the bitter leaves danced on her tongue.