Beyond The Stars

Chapter 3

Goldenpaw stretched and yawned, her sharp white teeth gleamed like sharp fangs as she opened her jaws to scent the air. Her light golden fur glowed in early morning sun, making her look like a drop of sunlight in the pale green grass that waved slightly from side to side in the wind.

Beside her, her sister flicked her tail from left to right, her bright green eyes narrowed into slits and her ears pricked in preparation for an oncoming attack.

"Hey Goldenpaw and Sweetpaw!"

The two apprentice's whipped their heads around to face the owner of the voice.

"Huh? Oh, hiya Saptail!" Goldenpaw mewed, greeting her mentor with a friendly smile. "Is something the matter?"

Saptail chuckled and flicked an ear in amusement. "Come along Goldenpaw," she mewed with a small laugh. "We're going to do some battle training."

Goldenpaw blinked. "Can Sweetpaw come too?" the golden-colored she-cat asked her mentor with a pleading look on her face.

Sweetpaw smiled and bounced on her paws excitedly. "Yeah, can I go Rippletide? Can I? Please? Please?" Sweetpaw begged, staring at her mentor with those oh-so-adorable kitty cat eyes.

Rippletide sighed and rolled her eyes in fond exasperation. "Yes you may you little troublemaker!" she purred, chuckling softly and padding alongside Saptail and Goldenpaw with Sweetpaw racing around her paws like an eager newborn kit.

On their way to the training hollow, the four cats ran into Silvershore, the Clan medicine cat along with Silvershore's apprentice, a soft pale cream she-cat with light brown markings and dark amber eyes named Palepaw.

"Hey Palepaw!" Goldenpaw called out cheerfully. "Have you seen Sparky around here?" Palepaw purred and put a paw over the golden she-cat's muzzle.

"Don't you mean Sparkpaw?"

Goldenpaw rolled her eyes and gave Palepaw a cheeky smile in response.

"Ah whatever!" she waved a paw in a dismissive tone, smiling softly and batting at a stem of marigold with a golden-colored paw.

"What do you have there Goldy?" Silvershore meowed, patting over to see what the young apprentice had found.

"I found some marigold leaves!" she responded sweetly. "I think I also found some raspberry and blackberry leaves as well," she added after a short pause.

Palepaw frowned and tilted her head to the side. "But that's my job!" she retorted with a playful pout on her face.

"Ok you two little troublemakers," Rippletide meowed to get the other two apprentice's attention. "Aren't we suppose to be heading to the training hollow?" she motioned with her tail to the direction of said training area.

Goldenpaw and Sweetpaw laughed nerviously before saying a quick farewell to Silvershore and Palepaw and heading to the training hollow with their mentor's.

•••

When Goldenpaw and Sweetpaw arrived at the training hollow, they were delighted to see there friend, Dawnpaw, was also there. She was training with Emberdusk, her mentor. The older black long-haired she-cat was teaching her some kind of advanced move. Goldenpaw wasn't great at fighting. But her cleverness made up for it.

"Goldenpaw! Today I will teach you the claw-up swipe move."

Saptail demonstrated it by rearing up her hind legs and swiping upwards. Goldenpaw sighed. It was going to be a long day.

•••

"May all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather beneath Sunstone for a Clan meeting!"

Goldenpaw and Sweetpaw both spun around to see Calmstar sitting on one of the many ledges on the top of the Sunstone.

Once all the cats in the Clan had all gathered around the Sunstone, Calmstar began to speak.

"The biggest honor a leader can do is to turn an apprentice, or two in this case, into warriors. Goldenpaw, come forth." Goldenpaw then went to the base of the Sunstone to meet Calmstar. "I, Calmstar, leader of PoolClan, call upon my warrior ancestors to look down on this apprentice. She has trained hard to understand your noble code, and I commend her to you as a warrior in her turn." She then looked at Goldenpaw, who raised her head. "Goldenpaw," Calmstar continued, "do you promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect and defend this Clan even at the cost of your life?"

"I do." Goldenpaw replied. "Then by the power of StarClan, I give you your warrior name. Goldenpaw, from this moment on you will be known as Goldencloud. StarClan honors your cleverness and spirit, and we welcome you as a full warrior of PoolClan." When she was done, Calmstar then rested her muzzle on Goldencloud's head, who then licked the leader's shoulder. "Goldencloud! Goldencloud! Goldencloud!" the whole Clan cheered. Sweetpaw and Redclaw chanted the loudest.

After Goldencloud stepped back it was Sweetpaw's turn to step forward. "I, Calmstar, leader of PoolClan, call upon my warrior ancestors to look down on this apprentice. She has trained hard to understand your noble code, and I commend her to you as a warrior in her turn." She then looked over at Sweetpaw as she raised her head. "Sweetpaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect and defend this Clan even at the cost of your life?" Calmstar said. "I do." Sweetpaw replied with determination. "Then by the power of StarClan, I give you your warrior name. Sweetpaw, from this moment on you will be known as Sweetfrost. StarClan honors your bravery and intelligence, and we welcome you as a full warrior of PoolClan." She then put her muzzle on Sweetfrost's head, who licked Calmstar's shoulder.

"Sweetfrost! Sweetfrost! Sweetfrost!" the Clan chanted Sweetfrost's new name. Sweetfrost then went to sit beside her sister. "As of tradition, Goldencloud and Sweetfrost will sit in silent vigil all night and guard the camp while the rest of us sleep. You are all dismissed." When Calmstar was finished a few cats went to the prey pile to get something to eat before going to sleep for the night.