Warriors: Battle of the Stars

Chapter 2

    "Ashpaw? Are you still awake?"
Ashpaw squirmed around, slowly opening her blue eyes. Ravenpaw stood over her, his eyes blinking with worry. Ashpaw got to her paws, following her brother away from the other apprentices.
    "What's wrong? Its moon-fall!"
Ravenpaw shivered as the Leaf-Fall winds quickly approaching.
      "Let's go on a walk. It would make me feel better about this whole thing."
Ashpaw, reluctantly, followed him out of camp. The black tom crept past Icewing, who was sleeping on guard duty. Ashpaw slowly followed him. Once they were outside camp, Ravenpaw sat down, curling his skinny but fluffy tail around his paws.
     "What has been going on?"
She asked, looking at him.
      "I had a strange dream. A dream of...tragedy. I think it's true."
      "What? What happened?"
Ashpaw's voice rose to a whisper shout. Ravenpaw put his tail in her mouth.
      "Quiet! Anyways, there was a grey cat, and a bunch of blood and dead cats! There were cats in collars laughing at some warriors dead body!"
      "Wait, wait, wait! Slow down, Ravenpaw."
The black tom was squirming, his eyes wide.
       "There was a grey cat? Cats in collars? Kittypets?"
Ashpaw whispered, digging her claws into the ground.
        "It was so, so blurry. Everything just slurs of scenes."
Ravenpaw shivered, his neck fur bristling. Ashpaw thrust her nose to his, closing her eyes with sympathy. Ravenpaw opened his eyes and brushed against her.
        "I'll be okay. Let's keep all of this a secret."
Ravenpaw took a deep breath before nodding, quickly.

The silver she-cat and the black tom quickly trotted back into camp, as dawn lights began to shape up in the sky. Strokes of pinks, gingers, and purple drew elegantly on the sky. Ashpaw bounded to her den and tidied up as the other apprentice woke up, pulling brambles and moss out of each others pelts. Astertail poked his head in the apprentices den, glancing at Ravenpaw. Mosstuft swiftly trotted up from behind Astertail.
     She is so graceful!
Ashpaw perked her ears.
     "Come on, apprentices. Hurry up, or we won't have enough sunlight to explore the territory!"
Ashpaw rose to her paws, alarmed by Astertail's strict order. Mosstuft hung behind, nervously. Ashpaw snorted, pushing past to the other apprentices to get out of the den. She dipped her nose to Mosstuft.
      "Are we going with Ravenpaw and Astertail?"
She briefly nodded and froze as Ravenpaw trotted out of his nest.
       "Do we go now?"
        "Yep! Stay behind your mentor."
Astertail replied to Ravenpaw. His dark blue eyes flickered from the siblings as they trotted together. As they reached the exit of the camp, Astertail nodded over to Icewing, who had woken from her sleep.
       "Mosstuft, where should we go first?"
Astertail asked, pointing in different directions.
        "Um, maybe to training pond. They will go there often, so they probably will need to know how to get there easily."
Astertail flickered her ear with agreement. The silver tom lead the apprentices to a small stream that lead off into a larger stream.
        "This is the Training Pond. Many fish travel down this creek, so it is good hunting practice for you guys."
Mosstuft mewed, pointing her tail to the small dip in the ground where the tiny pool was. A large black tree hovered over the land, where the apprentices heard rumors about having to learn to climb the steep tree.
        "Let's follow the creek to the river."
Astertail added, his eyes narrowing at the mist dripping from the trees. Mosstuft shook her pelt and followed him to the clearing. A few tall grass spread out evenly on each side of the clearing. Just past the clearing was a massive stream.
       "This place is the river. Many of the fish that we catch are from this very stream. Basic swimming training is required to become a warrior."
Mosstuft said, angling her ears to the water.

       "On the other side of the river is SageClan. They are restricted from using this river, they have a stream somewhere in their territory."

Astertail added, leading them away from the water. Ashpaw's pelt bristled with excitement as she looked around. As she glanced at Ravenpaw, she knew he felt the same way.
        "Our last two destinations are the ForestClan and DuskClan border and Lightning Bolt arch."
Astertail mewed, bounded ahead, clearing wanting to speed up. Mosstuft leaped onto a tree branch, swinging from tree to tree, not losing balance. She elegantly descended, just a fox-tail ahead of Astertail. He smirked at pointed his muzzle to a strange archway. It was black and crumbled, ashes and fallen rock surrounding it. It was in a shape of a tabby stripe, like the one down Astertail's back.
         "This rock has our leaders, deputies, and Medicine cats scratches on it. When Owlstar became leader, he raked the rock, leaving his claws. This was the first leaders claw marks, right here."
Mosstuft touched the brittle surface. Dust fluttered off of it.
        "Now, just beyond this dirt path is ForestClan, our enemies. Those prey-stealers..."
Astertail muttered.
      This is it, Ashpaw. Your an apprentice now.

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