Dawnstar's Decision

Chapter 9

The hot, green leaf sun bore down on Dawnpaw and her two sisters as they bounded out of the camp and into the woods. Excitement was in all of their eyes as they exchanged glances with their mentors. Today was their assessment to become warriors!
"Can you believe it?!" Speckledpaw squeaked, "we are going to be warriors!"
"Well, only if we pass our assessment," Willowpaw pointed out quietly.
"Oh, I'm sure you all will do fine," Stormfeather rasped.
Longfang nodded, "Each of you have trained very hard, so this will be easy!"
Grassblade sat there staring at his paws, and when he looked up he saw Stormfeather and Longfang staring at him expectantly, "What? Oh! Yeah, you'll do great. Just don't mess up." He grunted.
Longfang sighed, "Now we will be watching you, but you won't see us. So do your best."
Dawnpaw nodded, anxious to get the assessment over with. What if she messed up? She pushed the thought to the back of her mind and got ready to go. Speckledpaw and Willowpaw were already on their way into the forest, walking together. Dawnpaw wanted to be alone so she could concentrate. She walked deeper into the forest, taking in the fresh scents. She hadn't seen Bear since the time she decided to not meet up with him anymore. She hadn't even scented him on the territory. Dawnpaw had been much more focused on her training and had gotten a lot better, though fighting was still not her strong suit.
She stopped, scenting a mouse in the undergrowth. She got into hunting position, and made sure that the mouse couldn't smell her. She leaped on it and caught it with one swift bite. She purred, proud of herself. She quickly buried it and kept moving.
A squirrel was climbing down a tree not too far ahead. Dawnpaw silently moved up towards it, careful not to make a sound. The moment it was distracted, she leaped at it and bit it, killing the squirrel instantly. She added it to her pile.
After a while she had caught two more voles and a mouse. Dawnpaw was so excited about what she'd caught that she barely noticed a thrush right in front of her. She quickly got back into position, but at the same time she leaped for it, Speckledpaw did as well. They landed on top of each other and the bird flew away.

"Hey that was my bird!" complained Speckledpaw.

"No I saw it first!" Dawnpaw argued.

They looked at each other, and then at themselves and burst out laughing. They played around a little, pouncing on each other and swatting with claws sheathed. Suddenly, they heard a sound from a nearby bush, and Longfang pushed his way out of the undergrowth.

"Now I thought this was an assessment, not a get-together." he purred in amusement at the two apprentices.

Dawnpaw immediately sat up, "Sorry Longfang..."

Stormfeather came out of the same bush as well, "I think they've showed us enough of they're skills today, Longfang. They both caught a lot of prey!"

"Yes I think they are ready." Longfang agreed, his amber eyes shining.

Dawnpaw and Speckledpaw exchanged excited glances with one another. They were going to be made warriors! Dawnpaw looked around, "Where's Willowpaw?" she asked.

"She wanted to hunt alone." Speckledpaw explained, "And besides, I felt so uncomfortable having Grassblade watch me since I knew where he was hiding..."

Dawnpaw laughed as the four padded back to camp. She grabbed some of the fresh kill that she caught while Longfang helped her with the rest. Speckledpaw looked at Dawnpaw's catch in awe.

"You caught all of that?" she gasped.

Dawnpaw nodded, unable to speak through a mouthful of squirrel fur. She wasn't the best fighter, but she made up for it in hunting skills. Speckledpaw gathered her fresh kill with the help of Stormfeather, and they padded back to camp proudly. Willowpaw and Grassblade weren't far behind, and their mouths were also full with prey. The clan will eat well tonight, thought Dawnpaw happily.

She, Speckledpaw, and Willowpaw waited anxiously as their mentors talked with Moonstar in his den. Her long, black tail lashed back and forth and she clawed at the grass. Soon, Moonstar padded majestically out of his den, followed by Longfang, Grassblade and Stormfeather. Moonstar jumped on the highrock.

"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather here, beneath the high rock!" the light brown tabby yowled.

Speckledpaw and Dawnpaw leaped to their paws, while Willowpaw let out an excited squeak. Dawnpaw quickly smoothed her ruffled fur and looked up at her leader. Swiftwillow, Agileclaw, and Raggedpelt made their way out of the warriors den. She could see Firepaw and Nightpaw rush out of the apprentices den, while Ashkit watched from the nursery, her blue eyes filled regret as she looked down at her injuries that didn't seem to heal. 

"I, Moonstar, leader of IceClan, call upon my warrior ancestors to look down on this apprentice. She has trained hard to understand the ways of your noble code, and I commend her to you as a warrior in her turn." he said to Speckledpaw. The orange and white apprentice looked up at Moonstar eagerly.

"Speckledpaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect and defend your Clan, even at the cost of your life? "

"I do." she mewed firmly.

"Then by the powers of Star Clan, I give you your warrior name. Speckledpaw, from this moment you will be known as Speckledpath. StarClan honors your bravery and loyalty towards the clan, and we welcome you as a full warrior of IceClan."

It was Dawnpaw's turn, and she shakily padded up the highrock and towards Moonstar. She looked into his amber eyes and took a deep breath.

"Dawnpaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect and defend your Clan, even at the cost of your life? "

"I do." she said determinedly.

"Then by the powers of Star Clan, I give you your warrior name. Dawnpaw, from this moment you will be known as Dawnsky. StarClan honors your intelligence and your readiness at any time to make a good decision for your clan, and we welcome you as a full warrior of IceClan."  

She stiffened for a second, flinching at the word 'decision', but then quickly snapped out of it and licked her leader's shoulder while he rested his muzzle on her head. She backed away as Willowpaw was given her warrior name: Willowfur.

"Speckledpath! Willowfur! Dawnsky!" cheered the warriors in the crowd.

Dawnsky was beaming with pride as she heard her new name. She purred happily and looked at her sisters. She was proud to be a warrior of IceClan.