Rivers and Trees: A Warriors Fanfiction

Chapter 4: Wood and Brambles

Eaglepaw saw cats gathering in the clearing, murmuring surprised words. Adderstar exited his den and hopped up on a tree stump, sitting as tall as he could.

"Quiet!" He yowled. "We have a new addition to RiverClan," He began. There were many murmurs and surprised glances from the cats in the clearing.

"I scent ThunderClan!" One shrieked.

"I thought I saw a strange cat!" Another glared at Adderstar.

Adderstar ignored the angry cats. "Woodpaw, come to the stump," He beckoned the new cat. "Woodpaw from ThunderClan has decided to join RiverClan," He eyed the surprised cats in the clearing. "Since you now no longer have a mentor, I will assign you to Poppyheart," The tortoiseshell warrior called Poppyheart padded up to Woodpaw, accepting her happily into the clan as her apprentice, quickly touching noses with the young she-cat.

"She doesn't have clan blood! If she were to have kits here, they would be half-clan!" A furious gray tabby stood up.

"Well, remember Adderstar was a rouge!" A cat Eaglepaw couldn't see retorted.

"Then we should make Woodpaw and Adderstar's kits rogues! They're half-rogue half-RiverClan!" The gray tom growled.

"Not Juniperkit!" An apprentice wailed. "I've been waiting for her to become my denmate again!"

"My kits will not leave the clan, Stripedcloud!" Adderstar glared at the gray tabby. A light gray tabby she-cat padded over to Adderstar beside the tree stump.

"Listen," She began. "If being born outside the clan was bad, would the legend Firestar have existed? Would Adderstar be the leader?"

"Firestar is a legend as you said, Brightstripe, how do we know if he even existed? Also, I don't think Adderstar should be leader!" Stripedcloud growled.

"Enough!" Adderstar hissed. "Woodpaw is joining the clan whether you like it or not."

"You won't listen! If Firestar's legend existed, we wouldn't be right here! In the legend this territory was destroyed by twolegs and covered with twoleg nests!" Stripedcloud continued to argue.

"That's it! You are going to bring Woodpaw her food, clean her bedding, and do whatever else she needs until I say you can stop," Adderstar glared at Stripedcloud. "The meeting is over," Adderstar padded back into his den.

"What?" Stripedcloud's eyes widened.

Woodpaw bounded away from the stump towards the apprentice den.

"Your brain is fox-dung, the size of a fly!" Stripedcloud tried to rile up the leader, but was ignored, except the few cats scrunching their faces and glancing at him.

"Woodpaw!" Ashpaw bounced. "Come on, I'll help you find a nest!" Ashpaw lead her into the den. Eaglepaw padded in after them.

"Eaglepaw," A calm voice called behind Eaglepaw. He turned around and looked up at a grayish-brown she-cat with bright amber eyes.

"What is it, Thrushfeather?" Eaglepaw asked his mother.

"Adderstar wants the nursery to be expanded. He wants you, Ashpaw, Woodpaw, Poppyheart, and Stripedcloud to help," she told him.

"Oh, should I tell Ashpaw and Woodpaw?" Eaglepaw glanced at the apprentice den, which he was right outside of.

"Don't worry, we heard you!" Woodpaw mewed. "We aren't deaf!"

The brown, tabby she-cat and the dark, gray tom bounded over to the nursery. Then, Eaglepaw spotted Poppyheart's tortoiseshell fur and Stripedcloud's light gray tabby fur.

"Go on," Thrushfeather beckoned him with her tail.

"I know a great place to find brambles!" Ashpaw bounced.

"I think we all know about that place, especially after Stormkit got caught in it after venturing out of camp," Stripedcloud growled.

"No, not that place! That was way out of camp, but I'm talking about a place closer to camp," Ashpaw bounded towards the camp entrance and beckoned them with his tail, "come on!"

Eaglepaw raced after Ashpaw. Woodpaw ran ahead of Eaglepaw, kicking dirt into his face.

"Hey! You're making it hard to see!" Eaglepaw shouted.

"Sorry!" Just then Woodpaw halted to a stop. Eaglepaw ran into her.

"What? Why did you stop?"

"The river, see?"

"I can't see since my face is covered in dirt!" Eaglepaw scolded Woodpaw as he licked his paw and brushed it over his face.

"I said sorry!" Woodpaw glared at him.

"Whatever, hurry up and catch up with Ashpaw!"

"But... the river..."

"Jump!" Eaglepaw shoved Woodpaw making her screech. She barely made it to the other side of the river, tumbling when she made it to the other side.

"Hey! I nearly fell in the river!" Woodpaw sat up.

"Well, what's wrong with swimming?" Eaglepaw narrowed his eyes.

"As you remember, I was a ThunderClan cat, and not a fish!"

"Whatever" Eaglepaw mumbled. He leaped over the river.

"What are you, slugs?" Stripedcloud scowled.

"Fox-heart!" Woodpaw whispered into Eaglepaw's ear. Eaglepaw shoved her away and bounded over to where the rest of the patrol was.

"Wait!" Woodpaw raced after him.

"What took you so long?" Ashpaw inquired.

"Woodpaw was scared of the river," Eaglepaw rolled his eyes.

"I wasn't! I was just trying to... to find a safe way to get across," Woodpaw lied.

"Scaredy mouse," Eaglepaw mumbled.

"Hey, why is your fur so... messy?" Ashpaw examined Woodpaw's fur.

"Eaglepaw pushed me, and I nearly fell in the river! I had to jump to the other side, but I lost balance," Woodpaw glared at Eaglepaw.

"You were taking so long!" Eaglepaw defended himself, yet Ashpaw was also glaring.

"Hey! There's the bramble patch!" Ashpaw raced over to a patch of big, brown, thorny, and leafless bushes.

Each member of the patrol took as much as they could carry. Once they were back at the nursery, they got to work. It was a lot of long and challenging work, but by sundown, the nursery was much bigger.

"Eaglepaw!"

Eaglepaw jumped and turned around. Foxfoot was giving him a stern look.

"Go take a piece of fresh kill from the pile and rest. You've worked hard," He flicked his tail towards the fresh-kill pile.

Eaglepaw padded over and took a plump trout with a boost of confidence. Once Eaglepaw finished eating, he padded drowsily to the apprentice den and plopped down into his nest.

Wow, he thought. A compliment from Foxfoot!