Blood and Snow

Forest of Night

"Wake up already!" a voice teased. Snowpaw woke up. Darkness and red surrounded her. Just like every night. She had been coming here more and more often this past moon. She turned to see the more petite ginger tabby. His eyes were bright yellow and full of mischief. "Tigerstar is waiting for us!" he told her. Snowpaw nodded.

"I'm coming Snappaw, just hold on," she told the dead apprentice.

"Would you like me to tell Tigerstar that?" he asked.

"No!"

It felt awkward to be around Snappaw, but he was the only other apprentice here. Even if he was dead. He said he came here because he killed his sister, but she sensed he caused a whole lot more. Snowpaw stood and up stretched. The smell of rotting fresh-kill and damp earth filled her nostrils. She gagged but kept going. Snowpaw hated coming here most of the time, but she knew it was helping her catch up with the other apprentices who were two moons ahead of her in training. This would help her catch up fast. Snappaw ran around the trees, which seemed to have no end, she followed close behind. They reached the place where the island was. Snappaw had told her about all of the history that had gone down at this place.

"This was Ashfur's camp before it became flooded! But since he died from stupid Bristlefrost the water receded." he had told her. Snappaw suddenly stopped as they reached a clearing. The ground was lined with a thick fog, making it hard for Snowpaw to see her own paws.

"Do you know what we are doing today?" she whispered into Snappaw's ear. He shook his head and turned to her, and had an eerie smile on his face.

"I hope something bloody." he squeaked. Snowpaw sighed. All Snappaw wanted to talk about was death it seemed. Amber eyes gleamed in the darkness. Tigerstar stepped out with two of his companions. They were not Hawkfrost or Mapleshade, those two were off doing other things, the two cats that accompanied him now were called Shoretail and Cardinalclaw. Snappaw looked at Tigerstar hungrily.

"So, what are we doing today? Fighting?" his eyes gleamed.

"What else?" Tigerstar replied smoothly. "I want you two to team up against Shoretail and Cardinalclaw. It will help you fight as a pair when the time comes."

"But isn't Snappaw dead?" Snowpaw blurted out. "How can he fight with me?" she realized she had made a mistake as she saw the sorry look in Snappaw's eye. Tigerstar smiled.

"You'll see sooner or later," he replied. Snowpaw cocked her head but brushed it off. It probably was nothing. She and Snappaw squared up in front of the two other dark forest cats. Cardinalclaw's russet fur bristled and his eyes were narrowed. While Shoretail looked calm as can be. Snappaw was the first to leap on top of Shoretail. Snowpaw braced herself to fight until someone called her name and she felt a paw on her shoulder.

"Snowpaw!"

She flicked open her eyes to see she was back in WindClan. Anger surged through her. She would have gotten in another training session in without this cat waking her up. Who woke me up anyways? Snowpaw turned to see Silverpaw. Her blue eyes glimmered with worry.

"Are you okay? I woke you up because you looked as if you were having a nightmare!" she told her. Snowpaw shrugged, her heart beating fast. There was something off with this pretty silver apprentice. Whenever Snowpaw was around her she could sense there was some sort of a connection. Though, she also couldn't tell whether she hated her or not. Silverpaw was practically royalty to every cat here. All of the apprentices and young warriors bowed down to her. Silverpaw was also very skilled and talented in everything, while Snowpaw was like a turtle when it came to hunting after rabbits. Silverpaw had everything Snowpaw didn't. That's still no excuse to hate someone. You are just jealous, how could you hate someone like her?