Warrior Cats Fanfiction: The Six Trials Series (Book 1): Black Clouds

Chapter 2 - Petal Paw

Petal Paw awoke to the sound of voices in the clearing. She yawned and stretched, then stepped out of her nest. Only she and Gray Paw were still in the den. Just then, Gray Paw lifted her head, her eyes bleary with sleep. The fluff on her head, still downy from the nursery, stuck up in all directions.

"What's going on?" she asked.

Petal Paw shrugged. "I don't know, but I'm going to find out." She pushed her way out of the den with Gray Paw on her heels. They joined the other apprentices.

Doe Star, SilverClan's leader, waited until the commotion had died down. "Bramble Thorn has left us," she announced.

This was greeted by an uproar, though a few of the elders and senior warriors exchanged knowing looks.

Doe Star raised her voice. "He spoke with me last evening, and said that he wished to go home to his family. I told him I understood, and he could go back, but I also told him that if SunClan did not take him in, he would not be welcome here again."

"Why wouldn't they accept him? He is their former Clanmate, after all," some cat called from the crowd.

"Yellow Star is not as forgiving as I am," the Clan leader answered. "He might think Bramble Thorn deserted him. Now, that's enough of that. I just wanted to let you know what happened before rumours started. Feather Step, please organize the patrols." Doe Star leaped off the High-Root and disappeared into her den.

Feather Step, the Clan deputy and Petal Paw's mentor, started to call out names for patrols. "Echo Heart, take your apprentice Silk Paw, Fawn Step, Swallow Flight and River Wind along the SunClan border and remark it. Dark Flower, you'll check GoldClan's border with Blossom Wind, Wasp Whisker, Dawn Fire and Silver Paw."

The two patrols sped away through the entrance and out into the forest. The Clan deputy turned toward the rest of the cats. "I'll lead one hunting patrol with Petal Paw, Rain Splash, Nectar Pelt and Fern Leaf. Reed Whisker, you'll lead the second hunting patrol. Take whoever you wish." Reed Whisker nodded, then beckoned to Dove Heart, Pebble Heart, Moon Wing and his apprentice, Willow Paw.

Both groups headed out into the forest. Petal Paw was relieved she hadn't been chosen for a border patrol. She liked hunting better.

The two patrols split up where the path forked, Feather Step to the right, and Reed Whisker to the left.

The patrol padded on in silence, ever alert for prey. Soon they came to the edge of the trees. Before them, the moor stretched as far as the eye could see. Up above them, the sky was the perfect shade of blue, vast and endless.

Petal Paw liked to hunt in both the trees and on the moor. Today she decided to hunt in the woods. That was more of a challenge, because you couldn't see your prey as well. Though, of course, your prey couldn't see you either.

Feather Step and Rain Splash also chose the trees, while Nectar Pelt and Fern Leaf chose the moor. Petal Paw followed her mentor into the shade of the trees. Rain Splash sniffed the air, and headed in the direction of the SunClan border. He didn't go far, though, before he dropped into the hunters' crouch. Slowly, paw step by paw step, he crept up on his prey.

Suddenly he pounced. He came up with a very large, fat vole in his jaws. Rain Splash's eyes flashed with triumph.

Feather Step purred approvingly, but broke off as the leaves rustled in the tree above his head. A squirrel was descending towards the forest floor.

Petal Paw stiffened. Her mentor was motioning for her to get into hiding. She ducked behind a giant oak tree, while Rain Splash, still with his vole, slid behind a neighbouring trunk.

Feather Step meanwhile had crouched in a small place in between a bramble bush and an ash tree. The squirrel came towards the cats, quite unaware of them. Its gaze was fixed on some beechnuts on the ground. It jumped the last few tail-lengths, and started gobbling up the nuts.

Feather Step crouched lower to the ground, ready to spring, when from the moor, a bird's alarm cry sounded. Feather Step froze, and so did the squirrel, ears pricked.

Petal Paw held her breath.

The small creature suddenly ran for the tree, and Feather Step leaped. He sailed through the air and landed right on the squirrel's bushy tail. He gave it the killing bite, and got up.

"What a jump!" Petal Paw exclaimed in amazement.

"And someday you'll be able to jump like that," her mentor told her. "Let's see how the others are doing, and then head back to camp."

*      *      *

It had been a successful hunt. Nectar Pelt carried two rabbits, and Fern Leaf held a blackbird in her jaws. On the way back, Petal Paw had managed to catch a very fat thrush. Now she carried it proudly, having to stifle a sneeze or two as the Feather s tickled her nose.

"Go and take your thrush to the elders, along with my squirrel," the Clan deputy meowed. "Then you can have something for yourself."

Petal Paw did as he told her, taking the two pieces of prey in her jaws.

As she entered the elders den, she blinked to adjust her eyes to the darkness. A friendly mew greeted her.

"Hello there!" Blue Stripe meowed. She sniffed the air. "I smell prey. A thrush and squirrel, to be exact."

"I don't care what it is, as long as it's edible!" croaked a voice at the back of the den. Petal Paw recognized Crowfoot's mew.

"Crowfoot, be nice to this apprentice! She brought us some prey," an elderly she-cat meowed reproachfully

"Come on, Gray Feather ," mewed a tom. "Let's share the squirrel with Bird Flight. The others can share the thrush."

Petal Paw remembered the tom's name: Ripple Wind, mate to the she-cat Gray Feather . She also realised something – this was not enough food for all six elders.

Petal Paw backed toward the entrance to the den. "Let me get you something else. That's not going to be enough," she mewed.

As she emerged into the clearing, she saw Tree Paw, the medicine cat apprentice, disappear into the nursery with a vole swinging from her mouth.

I guess I won't have to feed Blue Wing right now, she thought. Blue Wing was the only queen in the nursery at the moment, heavily pregnant with Storm Whisker's kits. Petal Paw thought it must be lonely in there, all alone.

She grabbed a sparrow from the top of the pile and gave it to the elders. Then she went back to the prey pile and got Fern Leaf's blackbird for herself. Petal Paw padded over to Silk Paw, who was eating a vole between the fresh-kill pile and the leader's den.

"Hello," Silk Paw mewed cheerfully, her mouth full. "Been a busy day?"

"How could you tell?" Petal Paw asked, surprised.

"It was the way you walked over here, with your head down and tail drooping," she answered, her whiskers twitching with amusement.

"Oh." Petal Paw felt a little embarrassed. Had it been that obvious?

Feather Step was crossing the clearing. He stopped in front of the apprentices. "You two had better get some rest after you're finished eating. You will be battle training together."

"Yes, Feather Step." Petal Paw dipped her head. Silk Paw nodded, having just taken a bite of her vole

Feather Step padded away, heading for the leader's den. He meowed his presence, then disappeared into the den.

Battle training! Petal Paw groaned inwardly. She and her littermates, Willow Paw and Silver Paw, might have been the oldest apprentices, but Petal Paw always seemed to be slower than the others. She was great at thinking up excellent battle moves, but doing them was a problem. She was sure she was a lot better at hunting. At least, she enjoyed it more.

As Petal Paw wearily got to her paws, she was glad that at least she didn't have to go on border patrol. There was always a fight or dispute if one patrol met another. Why did Clan cats have to argue so much?